Yaeli's Blog: February 2007

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Some kids will eat anything...

... And Ben's nephew is one of those kids, as evidenced by this photo!

Friday, February 23, 2007

Dan... Get over it!

It seems like February is the month when long lost weirdos come out of the wood work.

Earlier this month I was reminded that it was also international asshole apology month thanks to Mr Complicated ( Thanks to the new blogger I can't put links to my old posts but some of you may remember the total shit who dated me, dumped me, fooled around with me, screwed around with me and fucked with my head for 18 months - if you're wanting more background browse my archives from 2004 and 2005.).

Mr Complicated sent me the following e-mail out of the blue and after 12 months of no contact:

Yael,

This message will come out of the blue, but I compelled to write it. Recently I was cleaning up some of possessions when I came across some e-mails and messages I had sent you. I found this address, and felt I must write you.
I re-read what I had sent and I felt deeply embarrassed by my actions towards you. I felt I must write you to state the following words:

I am deeply sorry for my actions in the past. The nasty things I said and wrote to you were not true. I retract it and I wish I could erase such things from existence.

I am not asking for forgiveness, nor is this done as me seeking pardon for my actions. I do not expect, nor want a reply from you. I simply wanted to write to you, to say I am sorry for what I did as it was an act of bastardry.

You deserve better than anything I ever said or promised you, I hope that you have all the happiness you truly deserve.

I have to say the words mean a lot less when you consider that I received a similar e-mail at about the same time last year. I'd completely forgotten that it was time for his annual apology.

Needless to say I didn't respond to this... What's there to say? "gee... ummm... thanks for pointing out once again what a cock you were?" Not worth my time really.

Those of you that have read the comments on my last post will notice that some kind anonymous person who doesn't like airing dirty laundry in public has decided to...well... air dirty laundry in public! And while I'm sorry for any hurt that I may have caused this person in the past I don't particularly appreciate them tracking me down via myspace, posting anonymous comments on my blog claiming that I'm "tortured" by past demons, and then surveilling my blog waiting for a reply to their whiny "look at me, I'm a victim" comments.

Am I a bitch? Hell yes I am!! Deal with it D. Shit happens. This post is dedicated to you.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Happy Birthday to me.... I'm one hundred and three!!!

It's officially my birthday!!! Yay for me!!! Is it a problem if I still haven't worked out what I want to be when I grow up?

In other news I've been having a fire sale of my furniture and bits and pieces on e-bay. It's been hard letting go of my stuff but kind of exhilarating and liberating as well (plus the extra cash is much needed). It's exciting to think that I'm starting a new life and part of that new life is to make a home with my partner and things that belong to the both of us!

It makes me feel so grown up!!

Friday, February 16, 2007

So much to do... So little time!

I have been working my arse off all week in my "new grad" position at my local hospital and I have to say that I am absolutely stuffed!!! I'm working on an orthopedic ward and every shift has been absolutely hectic. Today was shift 5 of 6 consecutive days, and it consisted of much chasing down of doctors to write / correct medicine orders, trying to get my non english speaking Armenian patient to do what needed to be done, and doing an emergency catheterisation on a poor lady who had nearly a litre of urine retained in her bladder. I'm very much looking forward to my three days off starting on Sunday!

So far I'm still alive and so are all my patients, which is probably a good sign, but for a psych nurse orthopedics at a hospital which is a major trauma centre is a massive crash course in the world of medical / surgical nursing. I have spent much time this week feeling overwhelmed and daunted by my position. This has made my resignation from the job (in light of my new employment in Vanuatu) somewhat easier, not because the ward has traumatised me in any way, but because it has highlighted for my where my skills and, more importantly, my passions lie. My final shift will be Friday 2nd March, so only 2 more weeks to go.

It is now beginning to hit home that the huge task of selling off all my furniture and packing everything up cannot be put off any longer. And while I know it is all only "stuff" I still can't help getting a bit sentimental about my grandparents chairs and my super comfy bed.

Has anyone else ever been in this situation? And is there any advice you can give me that might help me to part with all my useless rubbish?

Sunday, February 11, 2007

It's the time you've all been waiting for...

I mentioned last week that I had news that I could not reveal as it had not yet been confirmed. In the last 48 hours I have received confimation, so I am pleased to announce... (drum roll please)...

As of the end of March I will be blogging from Port Vila, Vanuatu, as I have been offered an 18 month contract working for a NGO (or non-government organisation for those of you that are wondering), and I have decided to accept! While I will initially be starting out doing a combination of financial management and project programming, the position is a fluid and flexible role that will change over the 18 months in order to meet the changing needs of the organisation. It is a very exciting time to be getting involved with this organisation as it's a time of big change and development within the organisation.

The added bonus of this job is that I get to go and live in my crazy little house at Blacksands with my honey. (For a description of our house click on the link to a previous post. Photos of our two little rooms are below.)

Our bedroom...

Our living room / kitchen... (the bench with our gas camping stove is on the right out of the shot).

To those of you who were convinced that I'm pregnant, sorry to disappoint. I know sprogs don't necessarily follow plans, but we won't be expecting any "little guests" until 2010 if all goes to plan.

I will leave you for today with one of my more artistic photos from my trip. We lit a big bonfire on the beach the night before New Years Eve and I was playing with my digital camera, which I bought just before I went away. I turned off my flash, pointed and shot and this is the finished result...

Friday, February 09, 2007

Vanua-tutu

Here are some great photos of my "monkey man", who decided it would be a great idea to climb a tree on the copra plantation for some "nafele" (a kind of nut).

He thought he was being so clever and cool and decided to show off half-way up the tree...

In the process he gave me a complete heart attack and I was sure that he would fall... (Look how high up he is!!!!!!! AND he went even higher!!!!!!)

Needless to say, he lived to see another day (although I nearly killed him for scaring me half to death) and he promptly sat down with his cousin and his cousin's wife to enjoy his nuts. He's nuts.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Whatever happened to freedom of choice?

Blogger has forced my hand and made my decision for me...

I have been toying with the idea of changing over my blog to the new Blogger system, but after hearing about Dave's issues with Blogger beta and then this new Blogger venture, I'd decided that I didn't want to risk losing everything.

Today I logged on to find that Blogger has removed the decision from my hands and is forcing everyone to change over to their new system. My fingers are crossed that I don't encounter the same problems that Dave has.

This could be a blessing or a curse... Only time will tell.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Vanuatu...

Unfortunately as I have not yet received confirmation of my big news the big announcement can't yet be made (much to Dave's annoyance I'm sure). As soon as it's 100% official (now it's only 90%) I promise I'll let you all in on the big secret!

Instead this post is dedicated to Vanuatu and I will share a few photos with you from the last 5 weeks!

For those of you who haven't "met" my gorgeous fiance, this is Ben. And before anyone asks the baby isn't ours... She was "borrowed" from the lady who owns the rent house where we live in Port Vila. Our little home is one room with a partition in the middle to separate our bedroom in the back half from our living / kitchen area in the front. We don't yet have electricity and town water hasn't reached our place yet so we get our water from a well in the yard. We have a little room separate from the house where we shower (or "swim" as we call it) and a little outdoor dunny nextdoor to that.

A couple of days after I arrived in Port Vila we managed to find a boat to take us out to Ambrym island so we packed up our things and jumped aboard the Dinh 1 for a journey that was a comedy of errors and was far too long. It took us 48 hours to get to North Ambrym and the highlights of the journey included engine failure that caused us to make nearly the whole journey on 1 engine, a mishap with the compass which took us about 7 hours in the wrong direction, and getting shipwrecked on the coast of Malekula island which meant we had to wait 8 hours for the tide to lift us off the rocks!

As you may have guessed from the photos, the Dinh 1 is a cargo ship that takes passengers but doesn't have appropriate passenger accommodation. The photo above is Ben lying on our "boat bed", a pandanus mat on the floor between the life jacket cabinet and a bench. Not the most comfortable of places to sleep but one makes do with what one has.

The final photo for today is my beautiful man on the boat as we are approaching Ambrym.

I will post more photos tomorrow and throughout the week so don't forget to keep checking back.

Yaeli's Blog