flamingo

I got a reply from my boss to my apologetic email, saying that she didn't think I had been rude at all, and not worry about it. AND she said that she was sorry to hear that I had been feeling sick and if there was anything she could do to let her know. I couldn't even detect any sarcasm! I think I officially have the best boss in the world. But I will never say ANYTHING in the restroom again!

She said that going home to not read work material sounded reasonable. I went out and got drunk with some co-workers and danced until I felt better. Now I am home and ready to face her tomorrow (although I think I will have the mother of all hangovers...it has taken me ages to type this semi-conherently). If nothing else, I have supplied my work place with a msjor laugh. Am going to drink a load of water and take some haedache stuff to ease my 8 am start. Thanks! Ypu guys are great at making me feel nerrer

Yeah, there was one or two other people in there. One who was in the meeting.

I was in the bathroom stall at work and a work friend was in the next stall. A voice from the next stall asked me if I felt OK (as I had to leave the meeting half way through to splash water on my face as I was feeling off-colour). I thought it was another of my co-workers, so I said " I feel a bit better, I just wish people hadn't talked so much in that meeting! I felt like yelling stop talking!" I said I thought I just needed to go home and sleep for a while, read some non-work related material. THEN I realised that the voice that had asked me was.... my boss. Who chaired the meeting. Who did most of the talking in the meeting. Who is very nice and who I happen to like alot. I wrote her an email after the fact, telling her that I realised what I said was extremely rude and I only said it because I was feeling ill. I really hope she is in a forgiving and not a firing mood. Do you think it is a fire-able offense? I am so mortified!

Hi Rhys, Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I have recently moved from Australia to the US and have had to sort out a car, etc. Here is what I found out. The International Driver's License you can get from the NRMA before you leave Australia. It is simply filling out a form and $50 AUD if you are not already a member and it is valid for a year. Then theoretically you can drive using your NZ/Australian license AND the IDL. I got my IDL before I left, and when I got here I rang up the governing body that issues licenses here in TN just to double check that I was doing the right thing with regards to licensing. After checking with many people, they told me they don't recognise the IDL it and I needed to get a TN license within 30 days. This, however, may have been because I was intending to stay here to work for an extended period of time. You will probably be fine as a tourist, particularly if you are hopping state to state. And you might as well get the IDL, then you can always feign ignorance if you get pulled over. I bought my car from a guy who was leaving the company I was in and I got a good deal because he literally needed to sell before he left the country in 5 days time. To insure it, I did some internet searches and came up with a few places that allow you to get an online quote. I asked around and everyone said that the price quoted seemed reasonable and that they were reputable. I did the whole thing online, got the papers emailed to me, signed 'em, sent 'em back, got my insurance card and policy stuff a few days later. You do get shafted with international license, but it is not too bad. I have no idea if the company I went with is US wide, but if you want I can send you the company website in a pm. I am not sure if they require a US address, I put it in because I had one.

Lasagne. Perhaps not the best choice as I am DYING of HUNGER here, waiting for it to finish baking.

Having received a scholarship is a nice line on your CV, so it would be silly to give that up regardless. That aside, I think there is a difference between living with other students who are doing similar courses and living with friends. I have no idea what you son and his friends are like, so this is no reflection on them, but I think if I was in that situation I would be much more likely to study and less likely to get up to stupid shit if I lived in the dorm (at least, until I made irresponsible friends in the dorm). It would at least force you son to broaden his horizons, meet new people, get exposed to new ideas, etc.

Try this time wasting game: Whack a pollie Hours of fun (or at least a minute). The only thing is, the cartoon heads of John 'n' Kev look much much cuter than they are in real life. Not as satisfying to hit.

Michele, I don't post much on here and generally just use it as an escape from work. From what I can tell from your posts, you are an incredibly caring, smart and beautiful person who never has a nasty or judgemental thing to say about anyone (which is rare in this world!) and although this seems to have knocked you on your arse, you will get back up. Sounds like you just need time to reload before you go out again, guns ablazing! I know this probably doesn't help you much when you are feeling crappy and alone. I know from experience, six months after doing the whole break up thing with the love of my life, I am only now starting to realise that it might be possible for me to be happy again, abeit by myself. Drinking heavily did make me feel better in the short term, mostly because I was drinking with friends, letting them know how bad I was feeling and letting them tell me that this sucks and it is awful and it feels like someone punched my right in the solar plexus. But it did pass, and it will pass for you. The trick is to keep on keeping on until that day. It sounds from the replies on here that alot of people care an awful lot about you (I count myself among them) and want nothing but the best for you. With all these people behind you, how can you do anything BUT move forward?! xo Mary

I am currently about 6 months (depending on whether the experiment gods are smiling on me) away from completing my degree and am slowly coming to the realisation that I might just get out of it alive with a small shred of sanity intact. I was lucky, though, in that I managed to fool a government organisation to give me a scholarship, otherwise I would not have been able to do it. As for a job afterwards.......I might need alot of tequlia and alot of sitting on a beach smoking many illegal substances in a bid to erase recent school related events before I can bring myself to think about looking for a job in an industry I am now not sure I want to work in. Hang in there.

I am trying to write my thesis so I can get a real job where they pay me more so I am not reduced to eating frozen garlic bread for dinner. So far, not working out too well.

No, it's not really! It just looks long when I type it out like that. Trust me, if you tried it, you would think it was worth it! It keeps you really full and it is good for you. Plus, because you are making it yourself, you can customise it and only put things in it you like. I think grating the apple in it in the morning is too much trouble, thats why I don't bother with that and put any other fruit on top instead. I really don't like most breakfast cerals, they taste like cardboard, especially raisin bran! The other thing I like on cold mornings is porrige with a little brown sugar, yogurt, strawberries and flaked almonds! Yumm!

I have recently started eating bircher muesli every morning, and it usually keeps me going until at lunch time, a major breakthrough for someone who usually has lunch at 11:30 because I can't wait any longer! I am definitely alot hungrier in the mornings! Anyway, I brought some store manufatured stuff and it was so sugarly I enaded up making my own. It is really simple and yummy and you put it in the fridge to soak over night so there is no preparation in the morning, just eat and go. For those that want to try it Grab some rolled oats (NOT the quick cooking type) Seed mix (I have one with brazil nuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds) Dried apricots Other dried berries (I like wolf berries and cranberries) Some wheatgerm if you like Walnut crumbs (particularly good for you if you are female) Good quality fruit juice (I use fresh cloudy apple or apple and mango) Slice up the apricots and chuck 'em in a bowl, add some of the other dried fruit. Throw in some seed mix, walnuts, oats and wheatgerm. I make a heap of this dry mix and store it in a seal container in the pantry. The night before, scoop out some of this mix into a bowl, pour in enough juice to just cover the mixture. I actually use a a bit of juice and then top it up with water otherwise it gets too sweet for me, but if you have a sweet tooth you might want to do all juice. Cover and put in fridge overnight. Next morning, add yogurt and fruit and eat! I get this Jalna biodynamic yogurt which I love. I would recommend a nice natural yogurt, none of that flavoured stuff. Traditionally, grated apple is added, but I prefer peaches and banana. The oats are nice and soft and the yogurt makes it creamy without being bad for you! I am addicted.

Do not want this done with my body, but it is an interesting idea...mildly creepy in my opinion, but interesting... http://www.lifegem.com/

It is one of my dreams to soar with eagles, but maybe not get this close... http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/top-paraglider-attacked-by-eagles/2007/02/02/1169919511496.html

There is a large apartment block right next to my place and the fire alarm seems to go off almost every second night lately! Appartently, it takes a vist from the fire brigade to turn the damn thing off, so if the alarm whooping right next to my ear didn't wake me up, the fire sirens will. My flat mate came into my room with a crazed look in his eyes and wanted to us to go and do some "investigating" as to who or what was starting the alarm. This is the seventh night it the past 10 it has gone off and the second on tonight. I am going to buy some hard core ear plugs tomorrow. ARRHHHH! Now I am really tired and can't go back to sleep! My neighbours are the devil!

I work with a German guy who says that that kind of tattoo (i.e. on the lower back) is really common in Germany, so much so that they have a name for them. I cannot reproduce the German name, but it translates to "arse antlers"

Growing up, I always thought my Dad was always a bit too grumpy and not a cuddly type Dad. His relationship with my Mother sometimes seemed volitile. He worked night shift, wasn't around much during the day and was fairly strict. One lasting memory I will always have of my Dad is early one morning, when I was about 10. My Mum had recently saved two kittens from a certain death and we had been allowed to keep them as pets. My Dad had been against the idea, saying something about how they kill native wildlife, etc. and hadn't really had much to do with them. Anyway, this particular morning, I was walking out the back door and saw Dad sitting on the stairs the lead off the back varanda. One of the kittens was batting his feet. I looked around for the other one and saw it was on his lap and he was patting it. My big strong grumpy Daddy was playing with the kittens! I think that was when I stopped being so critical of him. As he has got older, he has mellowed considerably. He has told me storied of his childhood, which have helped my understand why he feels so strongly about somethings. I will always remember long holiday drives in the car with us three daughters in the back, fighting or singing and him in the front, threatening to "turn this car around", hep with school projects, how he patted my head when I was in hospital until I fell asleep and then slept in the chair by my bed. Despite everything, I always knew he loved me. I love my Dad more than I can say.

I am a science graduate "student" technically, which just means they can pay me crappy money and work me into the ground. Contract says I work minimum 38 hours a week, in reality to meet deadlines I work about 50-60. But I graduate in a year, yay me! I am actually looking forward to writing my thesis because it means I get to escape the bench.

Amanda needs a wise friend to tell her that this too shall pass. Hmm...too true at the moment ! !

Yeah, the beer usually wins. At the moment, my diet consists too heavily of rice for my liking. As in, rice with soy sauce, rice with cheese, etc. I am a sydney girl. Which might explain why I am always poor!

I am also not rich. I do have a scholarship for which I thankful for, but I wouldn't mind it if they increased the amount of 0s on the end. I mean, part of being a proper student is developing a certain alcohol consumption habit, right? How am I meant to do that and pay my rent?!?! Plus saving for a rig?!

I am just about to ring work and tell them I am not coming in. I am obviously not going to tell them the truth, so should I just say that I have the flu or should I lay it on a bit thicker than that? What is your best GOOW (get out of work) excuse? And why haven't I got any ((vibes)), damn it! I thought this was the STFU ((vibes)) thread?! You guys suck! FUCK YOU! P.S. sorry, still working that agression out. I think the preservatives in the sour cream and onion chips I am eating are not helping.

They aren't my type. They are a gay couple who are not particularly attractive.

I have the boobles if you have the camera