I’ll Admit (Part III)

I’ll Admit:

* Now that Portugal have fallen out of the World Cup, I don’t see any reason to continue watching… except, perhaps, the finals – for curiosity’s sake.

* I own two DRAGONBALL Z action figures. I was young. Plus they were a gift.

* Speaking of DBZ, I always preferred Vegeta. And Gohan used to annoy the daylights out of me.

* Watching the same Scooby-Doo film night after night as a means of falling asleep has actually made me wonder if there really is a star/ constellation called Beetlejuice… (Note: of course there isn’t! It was merely a thought at 2 AM.)

* Going on a two hour mini road trip with my parents tomorrow is an exciting prospect, even though my dad will be working. Am I getting old or merely being sentimental that I enjoy their company so much?

* Owning a cat is absolutely terrific… even though she hogs the bed sometimes.

* If “celebrity is as celebrity does”, according to Gilderoy Lockhart in the 2nd HP film, I hope they aren’t setting up a measurable standard for the rest of us to live by. What makes them so newsworthy? Who cares that Kate Middleton is pregnant, and that it is a so-called scandal because she and Prince William just got engaged? They’ve been together for how long. Plus if they weren’t famous, it wouldn’t matter! This happens to ‘normal’/’regular’ people all the time.

* The best sleep is those two hours after my Significant Other has gotten up and the bed is all mine. Soon I won’t have that luxury anymore, though…

* Being a working woman scares me. What if I mess it up? What if I’m not cut out for the industry? What if I’m better off being a housewife?

* I haven’t watched the Twilight saga, and I have no intention of doing so in the foreseeable future.

What a weekend – happiness 1, depression 0

I’ve been meaning to blog since Friday afternoon, yet somehow I haven’t been able to get around to it… I had plenty of time, granted, but with many an ‘activity’ lined up before me, by the end of the day I was too tired to type.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

I believe that this was a good weekend. Sure, every other day of the week feels like the weekend to me, as well, and most weekends feel like any other weekend. Still, I believe that this was truly a lovely weekend. Friday was a definite highlight… but I’ll get to that later.

Saturday saw the 28^th celebration of my parental pair’s fond exchange of nuptials day. Or, put differently, their 28^th wedding anniversary. It was a simple, relaxed evening, though by no means lacking in enjoyment. My younger sister lost her temper and nearly made me cry; I sat in the kitchen staring out the window and eating two rolls, which I shouldn’t really do as white bread and such makes me nauseous and gives me indigestion since my operation; my clean hair – which I had washed that morning – got completely smoked up while standing outside by the fire… and I had a great time with my father outside, sharing stories and jokes, and with my entire family inside as we sat by the table, talking about all kinds of things (especially things not fit for ‘dinner table talk’, something we seem to lapse into quite comfortably all the time). Just your run of the mill get together – and boy, do I love my family.

Yesterday we had an afternoon braai (barbeque) at my second parental home – id est, we spent some time with my Significant Other’s family. As always, the conversation was cosy, the food was terrific, and we got to sit outside in the sunshine, simply having a slightly-lazy Sunday (my not-so-clean-anymore hair assaulted for a second time by copious amounts of smoke). Late in the afternoon my older sister and her husband came to pay us a visit at our apartment, as I promised to make her lasagne today if she brought me the ingredients. And the funniest thing happened: Smudgy actually went to have a lie-down on my sister’s lap! This is a sight so infrequent, I had to take a picture of it.

Liebe & Smudgy

My Significant Other and I spent the evening watching episodes one to twenty-three of THE BIG BANG THEORY, finishing the second series and thus causing me to have to keep up my end of the bargain I made with my S.O. – I promised that, once we finished the second season, we could start watching the entire DRAGONBALL Z series. Two hundred and seventy something episodes… what have I gotten myself into…

On a different note, Friday was superb. My Significant Other dropped me off at my parental home at lunch time, as my mother had extended an invitation to me to come over and watch Portugal’s third World Cup match against Brazil on the telly with them. Granted, we went a bit overboard as we got all kitted out for the ‘event’. I painted my toenails red and green, wore a red jersey, and opted for a light yellow shirt, as I didn’t have anything green to complete my ensemble. Luckily, my father was able to help here. He arrived at home at about 2 pm, two hours before the game, and produced a large Portugal flag, which we put in the living room, as well as a mini flag for each of us (my mum, younger sister, and myself). Furthermore, he and my mother bought us two siblings Portugal scarves. This was the overall effect:

Forca Portugal!

Needless to say, we had a fantastic time watching the game, which ended in a tie. Tomorrow evening Portugal are playing against Spain, so my scarf and flag are close at hand, and I’m excited to watch the game 🙂 And yet, that wasn’t the pinnacle of my pleasure for the weekend. Naturally, when having a pleasant time, there has to be something to set it off. A catalyst, if you will. For me, it was checking my cell phone at 11 AM…

…only to discover that I had been awarded an internship… at Oxford University Press, no less! Oh joy, oh rapture, oh happy, happy day! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t on the verge of doing little Snoopy dances (although I’m still waiting for balloons, streamers, and a cake emblazoned with the word ‘Congratulations’ in nyummy frosting).

Oh, dictionaries, how I dost love thee...

*i has a happee*

It’s ironic, actually. Here I am, having searched and applied for many positions tirelessly over the last eight months, feeling disheartened, and then having doubts about applying for an internship (and the publishing industry in general), and then boom! – life surprises you.

I’ll just have to keep up my good grammar, and leave the LOLspeak to the kittehs in my inbox.

NEVER trust car dealers

I’m not someone who get angry very easily, but at the moment I am downright p*ssed off.

And I feel that I have a right to that.

My Significant Other took his car in for a service last Tuesday. Upon purchasing the vehicle (at Hyundai), a service and maintenance plan was included with the overall cost, and they told him that the car was supposed to go in for its first check-up after 105 000 km.

Yes, this is where the first screw-up comes in.

When he arrived at the place where the service was performed, they informed him that his car was actually supposed to have come in after 100 000 km. My S.O. phoned the dealership, but apparently they were in ‘meetings’, et cetera, so he had to pay the R 2 300 for the service himself, otherwise he couldn’t get his car back. The dealership said they would pay him the money back.

Ha. Ha. Ha…

He phoned them on Thursday – they said they’d get back to him on Friday. No word from them on Friday. He phoned them on Saturday – they told him that the only person who could authorize the payback of the money was on leave until Monday. Does anything happen Monday? Not really, now. Just empty promises. Now we’re on Thursday already, and the money has yet to be paid into his account.

But wait, it gets even better.

The regional manager of Drive Plan or whatever they’re called was supposed to phone my S.O. yesterday already… because, in fact, his maintenance/service plan isn’t even on their records!! They messed up completely, and now that he had to phone them today, he’s told that his service plan isn’t even registered…

…and he’s already paid for it.

Now there are two options. Either they reimburse his service plan, and then he has to take out a new one anyway, so he doesn’t get any money. Or they can pay him back the money he had to pay for the service, yet I’m not quite sure how that works, because he’s busy on the phone now and I’m not quite sure what’s going on. Either way, they made a right royal huge messy screw-up of it, and now he’s going to be at a loss.

And he doesn’t really care (!!!)

He has copies of his plan (valued at approximately R 18 500), all the signed documents, et cetera, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter, if they’re so lax that they don’t even contact him, but he has to phone around because of their mistakes.

I know one should cut your losses and move on… It doesn’t help abate my anger any, that’s for sure… But I suppose I should just smile and turn the other cheek.

And then people wonder why I don’t drive or own a car.