How to Have a Bad Week

Welcome to How To Have a Bad Week 101. In order to past this course, you must undertake the following:

1. Fill your week with an immeasurable amount of stress - this may be related to exam pressures, family issues, concern over friends, and a lack of time spent with your boyfriend due to his new position. For maximum results, all of the above should be undertaken.

2. Attempt to fit in study around this.

3. Attempt to fit work around this. (Please note: it is highly unlikely that you will be successful in steps three and four if you have successfully completed step one).

4. Become sick. If you have undertaken the above steps correctly, step four should be a natural occurence.

If you have completed steps one through four, you have fulfilled the requisites for How To Have a Bad Week 101. The secondary course following this subject is How to Feel Better and Recover 202. The following are necessary in order to ensure optimal outcomes for this course.

1. Step back, and realise that exam concerns are easily put to rest.

2. Take a short break and return to study fresh-faced.

3. Realise that your work friends are extremely supportive, and relax, because they will help with your shifts.

4. Take some cold and flu medicine, get some light exercise and drink more than your usual amount of tea.

5. Watch Veronica Mars.

6. Look forward to the good things in the near future.

It is likely that, in finishing all of the tasks set out for you in How to Feel Better and Recover 202, you will have completed your week. It may have been a tumultuous one, but it's over, and you can now move on.

Last week was long and hectic, but it's over now. It finished on a good note; Szilveszter and I went to a friend's house, and we played Battle of the Sexes and had a few drinks. It was a triumphant win for the girls; the boys, when asked where the female scapula was, came to the conclusion that it was "something they do their eyes with". It is, of course, the shoulder blade, which is in the same place as the male's, obviously...

I have plenty of good things coming up over the next few weeks, the first of which is Szilveszter's 24th birthday party on the weekend. I can't wait to catch up with our friends, both old and new! Then on Sunday, Szilveszter and I have booked two nights away at the Crown Plaza at Surfers Paradise to celebrate both his birthday and our two year anniversary of being together. I can't wait to relax at the coast (even though, unfortunately, it will be Schoolies...), it's my favourite place to be. This afternoon is my work friend Ella's formal, and my mum is styling her hair for it. I'm excited to see her all dressed up for her formal! Then in early December, I have a couple of Christmas parties; one on a boat cruise down the river with my mum's work and some of my work friends (our parents work together), and then our Famous Footwear one at the coast, which is semi-formal, how exciting! During the day, on that same day, I'll be returning to my prac class for their Christmas party at the local bowling alley. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to all of it.

I love Veronica Mars at the moment. I'm late to catch onto most trends, unfortunately, and I realise she had her boom a while ago, but still. Anything where the protaganist is an outcast is generally guaranteed to click with me.

Hoping everyone's had a good week!

claire. x.

A Lovely Weekend, Actually.

Today I've given myself a day off. As I've mentioned previously, I've been busy with uni assessment and study, prac and work, so this weekend, I took some time out and decided to give myself a break so that I'll be fresh for my last few days of prac and study for my one and only exam on the 14th.

Friday night, I went to a Halloween party at Garden City, where I work. Szilveszter and I ordered costumes online for pretty cheap, and I had a Queen of Hearts dress. I've always been a bit fascinated with Alice in Wonderland, so I was glad to come by the costume, which had a ribboned bodice and a skirt made of playing cards. Szilveszter was Batman, and after a few drinks, felt that he embodied the role appropriately. It was a great night, and the costumes were most certainly the highlight. I caught up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while, so that was excellent. The group who organised and threw the party are in definite need of commendation, and I look forward to their next event!

After work on Saturday, I went to a work friend's house with one of the girls from our store. We had dinner together and had a few drinks. It was relaxing to sit around chatting, and then we watched Love, Actually. One of my favourite movies! I think everyone relates to at least one of the stories in it. The scene where Emma Thomspon's character is standing in her bedroom listening to Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now usually makes me cry, also. But in a good way, I suppose. But who could resist smiling when the children's lobster-inclusive nativity scene raises its curtain to reveal Prime Minister Grant locked in the much anticipated embrace of the sweet and bumbling Natalie? Just the thing to put you in the festive mood...

















I am so excited about Christmas. I can't wait for my exam to be over (although yes, I know I haven't got much of a complaint, what with having a single exam and all...). The decorations have begun to be put up in Garden City, our local shopping centre, and at work, we're planning the rosters for the late night shifts over the weeks leading up to Christmas. I know it may sound wierd, but I actually love working over Christmas. I love it when you start to see bulk-purchased rolls of wrapping paper in people's overfull shopping bags as they approach the counter, and when the staff of various stores begin to don Santa hats. I don't even mind the fact that I can't get to the foodcourt because Santa's got such an extensive queue of children waiting to put in their requests for this year. This will be my first Christmas at Famous Footwear, and I've already anticipated the Santa hat, and so I have purchased red ballet flats (well, I initially bought them for the Halloween party, but they'll double as Christmas shoes!). I guess that the fact that we work so extensively over Christmas means that we essentially share Christmas with our workmates, and given that we've got such a fantastic staff at FF, it's going to be great.



Since my last post on A Great and Terrible Beauty, I've read Rebel Angels, the sequel, and have almost finished Hush, Hush, the highly anticipated Nephilim romance, among a few more insignificant things. I'll most certainly update on Hush, Hush when I get it back from where I left it at my friend's house (oops), but a post on Rebel Angels will follow this one. I've also fallen in love with the New Moon soundtrack, which I didn't particularly like the first time I listened to it. After putting it through the motions a few more times, I find this soundtrack somewhat more atmospheric than Twilight's, and obviously it's a little bit darker, given the painful nature of the book itself. My favourite song is Thom Yorke's Hearing Damage, among others. It's inspired me to hunt down some Radiohead this week.

Hoping everyone's having a lovely week, and is anticipating Christmas as highly as I am!
claire.x.