Yes, of you! I was trying to get him to meet you backstage after the gig but I didn't get a reply.

That was very rude of him Sue. I wonder if your letter got lost in the mail. I would reply to anyone who e.mailed or posted a letter to me.

Highs:
*It rained a bit yesterday - just over half an inch which won't go astray.

*Had two phonecalls from long lost friends this week both out of the blue. One is an old friend from school who works in a gaol and had to ring head office who told her to fax some stuff in to him. When she asked his name for the attention of she worked out it was my brother

*husband and son have gone away for three days. They left this morning and I apart from a bit of station work I plan to do some spring cleaning, craft stuff, lay around for a bit and NOT watch Hi-5. Bliss.

Low: *the house is awfully quiet!

How nice to have some peace and quiet around the house Copago.

My low this week is my cleaning lady found a full time job so won't be cleaning for me anymore. SOB! Have been cleaning all morning.

The high is that my daughter went back to work on monday. We were all a bit afraid but so far she has managed the stairs to her office just fine.

High of the day - this is my 5000th forum post and I have achieved the esteemed title of Forum Champion!

Congratualtions! But we knew you were a champion anyway

Champion cheerleader Cinnam0n! Congrats! Boy, you guys sure have a lot more than pitiful ole me. Guess in another 10 years I may get to 3,000.

On my high side, the cabinets got finished in my kitchen yesterday and tomorrow the template will be made for my countertop. At last! Then in a couple of weeks it will be installed. Yippee!

Whoohoo! I just graduated, too.
I am now 'Prolific'. Which sounds a whole lot better than 'Mainstay'--that made me feel rather like "Ole Reliable" or something.

I still have a ways to go to 5000 posts, though. Congrats, cinnam0n!

Congratulations to you both. I am shortly going to have to think up a title for 60,000 for 'you know who'.

Perhaps the title should contain 'fossel'.

This is pretty amazing, firstly since I started playing hard core I almost got the 10/15 required in impossible a couple of times and then did within a day, and yesterday got very close to the obscure badge, then today missed the smartest badge by misreading a question and then got the obscure badge straight after.

I then told a few people how odd it was I seemed to get very close to a quiz winner badge or score just before I actually get it, and then an hour ago guess what, I also won the smartest!

I've only been playing them regularly for a couple of months, but that totals about 600 quizzes over the two categories in that time, so what is the chance of getting both on the same day? (I also got the two easier timed quiz badges the first day I tried them, but they were probably questions I'd seen a few hundred times already).

Congrats satguru how nice to win 2 coverted badges in one day.

My high point to my week was I got to talk to the only co-worker I've got with any sense of humor. We don't get to work together that often so I take advantage of the times I get to visit. He's a Red Sox fan so I got 1.5 hours of "So, what happened to the Rockies?". I didn't mind because I knew he was joking. If we get quiet and formal at work, then we know someone's mad.
The low point was the vicious sweeping of my Colorado Rockies. But, that's okay, we made it and maybe we can do it again soon.

A couple of highs and a low.

First high has been mentioned in another thread, the purchase for £1 of a sand picture, so entertaining. I have wanted one for years but begrudged the money but at £1, I couldn't resist.

Second high was the form in the local newspsper to be completed if you will be 60 before the end of the year but are not in receipt of certain state benefits - it is Christmas Bonus time! £89, or £79 if you will be receiving the measly tenner from the UK. Jersey introduced the £10 Christmas Bonus the year after the UK but unlike the UK, it is 'index-linked' so the buying power of £10 way back then is now £89. I have filled in the form and will get it posted.

Low is that someone appears to have given me a cold and I really don't want one this week thank you. I have stocked up on vitamin C, fruit drinks etc.

Well, I had a Halloween with a nice high and a rather depressing low.

The high was a very successful trick or treating excursion with my girls. We had in the past gone to the event at the mall, since it was indoors and not quite as much walking, but it's gotten too crowded and the stores often run out of treats because they start giving things out way before the official start time. Anyway, we decided this year to go in the neighborhood, and it was great fun. I was worried that the little one--not quite 3--wouldn't be up to it, but she outlasted the rest of us. She kept shouting 'trick or treat!' all the way down the street and then of course forgot to say it when we'd get to a door. It was loads of fun.

The low was about an hour after we got home and I was in the bedroom with said little one trying to get her to sleep, there was a drive-by shooting about 100 feet or so outside my window. Two teenagers (13 and 15) were hit (one of them the friend of the son of my husband's co-worker), thankfully not fatally. Now, this isn't the best neighborhood, but certainly not the worst either and although there are some problems, something like this is really quite rare. One of those 'irrational' fears I've always had is a stray bullet coming through my window or wall--well, it doesn't seem quite so irrational now. The police were in fact checking the wall right outside my window for holes. Well, this is life in the big city these days, I suppose.

The thing that made it really depressing for me, however, rather than just scary, is some of the messages I read on the local newspaper's message board. This neighborhood is largely Latino, there are a fair number of illegals here, but mostly not. The thing is, you really can't tell the difference unless someone is willing to tell you outright. But reading the uninformed opinions of those message posters, you'd think that all the ills of mankind were caused by these illegal immigrants. The truth of the matter is that the ones causing the problems are the 2nd, 3rd, etc, generation young people with too much time on their hands and too many drugs in their pockets. The hard workers, the quiet respectful ones, the ones who are steadily working to support their families here and back home--those are more often the illegals. (I'm not saying all the illegals are 'good' and all the American born are 'bad'--it's just a mistake to think if they're doing the 'right' things, they must be legal. And vice versa.)
I am just sick unto death of bigoted people who've never even taken the time to get to know someone in their neighborhood saying that those people are ruining their way of life. I am not defending illegal immigration--far from it, I think it's a big giant problem that we need to find creative, humane solutions for--I just don't approve of blaming someone for something based on their ethnicity, skin color, religion, whatever. It is very distasteful to me, and reading all those many ignorant posts on that board just totally depressed me.

Thank you for letting me rant. I love you guys!

Highlight of my week was going away for the weekend with Mum, my sister and her husband. We went to Blackpool, to catch the Illuminations before they finished, and had a wondeful relaxing time. It was great fun, just a really nice family occasion. Even better, we're doing it again, just before New Year (another long weekend, return the day before New Years Eve )

High was my brother's dance performance and interview for a trip to Nicaragua through a program I'm part of. I took the interviewer to the performance, since I didn't want to miss it and we didn't have enough time to interview beforehand, and she liked it too

Low point was this morning at breakfast, when I broke down under stress, provocation, and criticism. Feeling better now, but still can't concentrate and have several hours of work left to do.

Hope the cold is getting better, Sue!

Taesma, what a shocker! I can't blame you for being shaken up after that.

Been a week like any other here so no real highs or lows

It's good to hear nothing happened to you and your kids, Taesma. That must have been scary!

Wow, Taesma, what a scary thing to experience. It's such a good thing you and your girls were home before it happened!

No major highs or lows here, but after your experience that's probably a good thing.

The sad highlight of my week has got to be a trip to IKEA. Like lots of ladies I love a trip to IKEA now and again, but the nearest one to me is a two hour drive away. I obviously can't go during the week and at weekends it's crazy busy. Having a day off last Friday I thought it was the ideal time for a trip. As my Dad is visiting he decided to come with me.

The lowlight of my week was that once we got there it was busier than ever. We spent 40 minutes driving around the car park looking for a spot, only to leave in vain and end up parking in the middle of a roundabout (ssh! don't tell!!! ) half a mile away. Things went from bad to worse and in the end we queued for over an hour at the checkout to pay for the darned stools which were the initial excuse for the trip. The 26 other checkouts had even longer queues than the one I was at, so at least I'm not the only sadd-o who hung around so long!

The things we do, eh?

I guess the re-highlight of my week has to be the five brand-spanking new stools adorning my bar

I've spent a whole lot of my almost non-existent spare time preparing to teach a series of lectures for the very first time. The reason I've been spending the last 5 weeks fretting over small beans is because I was being assessed to deliver the course on an international basis. My high of the week: I am now accredited!

I truly believed that I had worked myself up into such a state over this course, I had achieved true "Drama Queen" status. I found myself having central chest discomfort, palpitations, and being short of breath in the past 5 weeks. I thought my 'so-laid-back-I'm-damn-near-unconscious' attitude had deserted me, and it was time to take out the tiara for polishing prior to wearing. I had previously made an appointment with my GP about another matter, and hemmed and hawed this morning about attending the appointment because I figured I could use the lie-in rather than have to pay out money and get up early. 3 times I picked up the phone to cancel, but eventually decided to go anyway.

My GP did an ECG, looked at me with a concerned face, and promptly uttered the words "Do you know the Valsalva?" (well, D'uh) while booking me into the cardiac lab for a holter monitor fitting. Made a point to tell me that no, it's not acute angina (I could have told you that - nothing about me has been described as 'cute' for a very long time), and yes, you will be attending. No arguments, no entertainment on policy.

Can I bring back the tiara - I'd rather that than the Holter.

ecnalubma I feel for you, shortness of breath isn't funny especially when related to cardiac issues, I have a couple of mechanical valves so wear the t-shirt. I hope your problem isn't as bad as you fear, problems in that area are not exactly ideal in your occupation.

Indeed, Sue, not ideal. I have been looking for a move into education (so I can warp more of them into my mould), but it would be nicer if it were a choice.

Que Sera Sera. I've had a very pragmatic approach to life for some time - we'll just wait and see what happens. Mountains and molehills, what.

I don't know about a high or low but it was amusing.

This afternoon I went for my routine mammogram, we get called every two years. So there I am stripped to the waist, three of the four pictures have been taken and I have been 'positioned' for the fourth one, just as the radiographer was about to press the button to take the picture an alarm sounded. She said "That isn't supposed to happen, perhaps deodorant has set it off". With that she released me and said we have to evacuate the building just in case it is a fire. so there I am in just a hospital gown with the prospect of going outside in November to await the arrival of those hunky guys in the big red fire engine.

Low is they realised it was a false alarm and cancelled the fire engine. We got the all clear and I had the other picture taken. If it had been for real it would have burnt my bra as I had to leave my clothes in the changing room.

Oh my! I can't tell you how long it has been since I last logged in here.

It's so nice to see all the familiar usernames and avatars once again.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Cheers,
-DH