To Do Lists and Monday Morning Rambling

I seem to have fallen off the edge of the earth in the last few weeks. It wasn't by choice though! I thought that I'd be able to enjoy my last week of holiday by getting all my work done and then being able to relax, but things didn't go quite as planned. The other receptionist at work got tickets to one of the World Cup semi-finals, which meant that she and her family drove down to Durban for 3 days, so I ended up working for a couple of extra mornings and didn't get as far in my work as I would've liked. I did some fairly productive stuff during the week, and decided to just give in completely and enjoy my last weekend before varsity started. He of Many Sports Injuries and I ended up spending most of Saturday helping friends of ours to paint their 2 bedroom flat which they're hoping to sell. That was pretty exhausting, especially since the blue paint in the lounge just refused to go away, even after multiple coats. HOMSI and I then spent the evening watching DVD's and eating pizza (the Greek pizza from Roman's is SO good!!). I was terribly amused by HOMSI's reaction to the Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn movie "The Break Up" - he thought that Vince Vaughn's character was such a moron and so painful to watch that he actually went to have a bath while I watched the rest of the film! Weird!

Sunday was spent shopping for my birthday gift. HOMSI - in typical He of Many Sports Injuries style - decided to buy me new running shoes. They're really pretty and shiny - and insanely comfortable, which is probably the most important part! I also finally got a throw for my study - it actually matches the curtains (who knew that there were so many shades of lime green?!?). On Sunday evening, we watched the World Cup finals with Sarah and Graham. I only actually watched the first half - by half time, I was asleep on the couch and totally over all of it! Besides, I had to be up at 6am on Monday morning to transcribe an exam for a student at Wits, which was quite an exhausting process!

Starting varsity again has been quite a shock to my system! I have to do an entire research project for a course, while also working on my current research project, and I'm juggling Masters interviews, working at the vet and tutoring at the same time! In the midst of all of this, HOMSI and I are planning on going away for a long weekend, which will be a welcome break! Let's just hope that I can get through all my work first! HOMSI is also looking to buy an apartment, so our Sundays are currently being spent driving around and looking at places that are on show. It's quite fun and really exciting - mostly because of the prospect of him moving away from the evil dirt road that you have to drive on to get to his current place!

In the hopes of having a productive week, here is my to-do list:

• finish writing tutoring assessments
• answer my emails
• type up research instruments (yes, that one has been on the list for a while)
• go for a run, despite the enormous amount of pain in my Achilles tendon (the biokineticist told me to do it!)
• be pretzelled by said biokineticist
• organise my diary with dates of interviews, marking, etc
• s...t...r...e...t....c..........h!
• find accommodation for the weekend away
• start my neuropsychology assignments

I think that that's more than enough! Happy Monday everyone!

Of engineers, sleep-deprivation and sore ankles

This has been one of the stranger weekends that I've had in a while! I didn't do terribly much and it wasn't very exciting, but it's still flown by.

I didn't do anything on Friday night, as He of Many Sports Injuries was at work. 2 of the guys who usually work the night shift at his company were sick and so he's been working from 23:00 until 06:00, going home, sleeping for a couple of hours, going back to work at 11:00, going home at 18:00, getting some more sleep and then starting all over again at 23:00. Thankfully, this is all over now, and he's finally caught up on his sleep. Because I was worried about him having to drive all the way to my place and all the way back to his place (a 70km round-trip), sleep-deprived, on a Saturday night, I went to Al and Chantelle's engagement party by myself. It was a really lovely evening (even with everyone asking me where the plus-one was, to which I replied "At home, asleep.") and I got to catch up with all my old engineering friends, like Tom and Chris. Engineers are a strange breed (although I get along strangely well with them) and the girlfriends of Tom and Chris (Rachel and Katy) and I eventually ended up having a very intense discussion about our hair and styling products. It was obviously all that testosterone from the engineers which drove us to this point...

I left the party at about 23:00, mostly because I was exhausted. I ended up nearly being hit by some silly driver who clearly thought that stopping at red traffic lights is optional - never mind the fact that he was doing about 80km in a 60km/hour zone. I got into bed, read a bit and then tossed and turned for about 2 hours, unable to get to sleep. This meant that I was in the worst possible mood on Sunday. I was sleep-deprived, had no chance to have a nap, had to be sociable and I hadn't seen my boyfriend in ages (okay, it was 5 days, but it felt like more!). Luckily, I managed to pull myself together (with the help of a lot of caffeine) and made it through lunch with my mom and cousin. Seeing He of Many Sports Injuries definitely helped as well - we had supper and watched TV and spent most of the evening being nauseating and telling each other how much we had missed each other (you'd never know it had only been 5 days!).

I'm feeling a lot better today after a solid 8 hours of sleep. I also suspect that my less than delightful mood had a lot to do with my ankle having been very sore this last week, which has meant that I haven't been running and so my endorphin levels have dropped, leaving me grumpy and shouting at spoons (it's a long story). I hope to start running this week - we'll see what the biokineticist has to say this morning.

How was your weekend? Happy Monday!!

Thoughts while working on my research...

I have spent the morning sitting in front of my computer, with the intention of making some progress on my research (i.e. type-setting demographic questionnaires, scales about superstitious beliefs and personality tests). In between, my mind has gone wandering (or wondering, depending on your preference...):

• why on earth did I decide to use a modified version of a scale which has changed items from "Do you think that the number 13 is unlucky?" to "Is seeing a lone dove or pigeon flying bad luck?"?!? Yes, I know my study was supposed to be appropriate to a South African population, but I'm not sure that these item changes are actually helping! Argh! *grumble grumble*
• where is my mom? She went for an x-ray and ultrasound on her shoulder more than 2 hours ago. Is it time to send out a search party?
• why is my other ankle now aching?
• ooh... Just found a slab of chocolate in my desk drawer.
• where am I going to find 50 people to participate in my research after having used pretty much all my friends last year? Oh dear.
• why is the femur/hip currently the bone of choice to break or injure? I know 3 people who've had to have pins put in their leg/hip or are having operations on their hips - and none of them are older than 30! Strange!
• why does it get cloudy and freezing cold when I decide to go for a run? I'm just saying...

Happy Friday!

To Do or Not To Do

I go back to university on the 12th of July, which leaves me with only 11 more days of holiday! As such, I've decided to work like a crazy person in the next few days and then have a proper holiday before term starts. As such, there are quite a few things that I need to do:

• sort out my research. This basically involves organising and typing up the questionnaires that I plan to use. I also need to start finding participants (i.e. lab rats), which usually involves using and abusing friends and relatives. Having had no time for my research for the last 3 weeks, I now really need to get cracking, especially since my supervisor sent me an email yesterday (probably to check if I'm still alive!).
• finish my application forms for Masters courses and get all the documentation together. Yes, I'm putting myself through the process again!
• edit and put up photos from the World Cup and graduation.
• finish decorating my study. This involves touching up some of the paint, finding my gran's collection of Buddha's, moving the TV set into a less annoying position and buying a thrown and matching cushion
• sort out the chaos which is my bedroom cupboard (and maybe go for counselling afterwards - it's that bad!)
• bake biscuits for He of Many Sports Injuries, who is having a really tough time at work at the moment.

I think that's it. Probably not, but at least I'll be busy for a while - and still have enough time to relax a bit before term begins!