More news.

1. The dog.

Further to my polite and eloquent but scathing letter to the dogs home, I received lengthy correspondence back from the director along with a forwarded (and severely mispunctuated) letter from the alleged previous owner. The letter from the director was very, very unsympathetic towards us, essentially defending his, his employees and the owners actions, but what it lacked was a request to give up the animal, only asked us for a “fair outcome”. 

We called his bluff – a very short curt reply was given saying essentially “thanks but no thanks, we do not intend to hand back the animal and don’t try to correspond with us again”.

This is fucked up. They are pushing us. We are steadfast. It is upsetting, though. The sad truth is that they want to avoid legal action by applying pressure to those who adopt their animals. If that is what it comes to, we are prepared to fight back. I may have a chat with the ombudsman though, if he will listen.

 

2. Running.

Went for a run with shells yesterday, we covered about 14 km and chatted and stretched and drank and made toilet stops along the way. It was very pleasant.

3. Shopping (or: My name’s Sassy and I’m a shopaholic.)

I helped my  brother in law move in to his new makeshift flat in the city today and I could not resist heading out to the shops. I put on layby some leona edmiston dresses and some sass and bide jeans that make my butt look nice.

After getting all that off my chest I am still very upset.

(They tried-a make me go ta rehab) I SAY NO, NO, NO!!

Oblique references to the famous Amy Winehouse song. My job is assessing people (mostly elderly) to go for rehab or “GEM” (geriatric evaluation and management). I often say NO, NO, NO……..with good reason.

Monday – very pissed off indeed. Wanna know why? A lady from the lost dogs home rang me up and said that the old owner had come forward…..the owner who had not bothered to get the dog registered or microchipped under her name but could prove “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that the dog was hers…..I became very upset. Sought some advice from animal welfare who said that the owner of an animal is the one under whom the dog is registered. The lady was a bit unprofessional, hinting at legal action by the alleged previous owner.

I say, fuck off to her!!!!!

I said that we would not be handing back the dog (a vague contract says “hand the dog back to the previous owner if they come forward……sure, but surely a statute of limitations applies). I then wrote a very strongly worded and eloquent letter to the managing director of the Lost Dogs home and promptly got a reply back saying he would look into it.

We are not giving up our beautiful dog….they will have to fight us for it and it sounds like this stoopid lady has no legal claim to the dog anyway. Our baby is staying with us!

Tuesday morning I did a body attack class. One word, yeow! The instructor was on speed, I suspect. Nobody is naturally that energetic at 0615 hrs.

Today I think I got delayed tiredness and muscle soreness (and possibly coming down with hubby’s lurgy which I have had tested and is NOT swine flu) and went home early. A sleep did wonders. Went out for a lovely linguine (real pasta is such a treat) and an even lovelier pinot noir.

Tomorrow, I am going to work out with a personal trainer….my sis (the one that I am in and out with) has been working out with one and she looks fab and has lost 8kg off her 5’1” frame. Am a little jealous! Hopefully I am not really coming down with anything.

anyway I had better get going.

A Miscellany.

People like to call their blogs about multiple things random, however the latter part of gen y have taken over this word and over-used it i.e. “that is soooo random” so it has lost some of its lustre. Miscellany sounds much better.

1. Mr. Sassy Ill.

He has been ill with flu symptoms for the last couple of days, he is a health care worker also. I have done a throat and nose swab on him and sent it off JUST IN CASE…..though I would love to be able to call him a swine. 😛

 

2. Perving on Chicks

Today I went to work to do a quick round, as I was driving along, I saw a tall, fit looking, muscly tanned chick who looked hot. I was also scoping out what other chicks were wearing: cool, fashion victim, too short, old school etc etc.

3. My body

Most of that 1.5kg has been peed off, think it was the “that time of the month” fluid. Yet dang, I wish my flabby bits (saddle bags, bingo wings, thighs) would go. Out damn spot, out I say!

4. Peas.

An ode to peas:

Peas, I love you peas!

Tasty little round spheres of green goodness.

Why, why oh why

are you so misunderstood?

5. Running

Going on a long run with Shells tomorrow. I am very scared.

 

My boss said to me yesterday “your mind works in straaange ways”….to which I replied…”and it only took you this long to figure that out?”

WTF?

1.5kg has been added to my body weight out of nowhere. Maybe delayed weight from holiday and Sydney weekend? Though I thought with the dysentery I had that I wouldn’t have put on any weight.

So I am back to reality and back to training in earnest for the half mara. Back to eating well, very well actually. Back to exercising every day. Went for a run last night, didn’t wear out as soon as I thought I would but jeez louise I was sore today, only ran about 3km. Will need to x7 this….am I kidding myself? I have been doing lots of step classes and working up a good lather of sweat. Tonight I actually put the step up a level for a couple of tracks…..might try it for one more track next time. Only about 10cm higher but noticeable.

Going for a nice long run with Shells on sunday, hopefully it will be nice. Could get ugly and may very well result in me swearing and or crying. We will plan weekly long runs together and I will do lots of varied exercise in between. 

Have been diligently taking the stairs at work. When I have to take the lift (up 7 or 8 flights) I am always annoyed to see able bodied (and usually overweight) staff taking the lift instead of walking up 2 or 3 levels….would do them good. Does the phrase “incidental exercise” mean nothing?

And in reply to Em, errrrmmmm, no, I wasn’t planning on taking spanish or french lessons. Maybe whipping out a phrasebook or getting on the net to learn some stuff. When I went to the Netherlands in 2002 I realised only on the plane over there that I didn’t know a word of Dutch….6 weeks later I could cope out and about reading, speaking and understanding without a single formal lesson of it. Immersion is the key to languages! And I know Italian so could probably understand enough Spanish to get by. 

Been quite busy at work today, lots of referrals to see. Did manage to get away at about 4 ish so I could catch the train home in order to get to Step class….don’t mind public transport, can look at stuff instead of getting angry at the traffic. And if bus and train connect well, it can take only about 40 mins to get home.

Think I might go to bed now…..

I am going to SPAIN!!!

I have booked my Contiki “Spanish Spree” trip, paid the deposit. It will be in January when I have more annual leave.

The plan: Go to langkawi for a week then leave the hubby to go home. I jump on a flight to singapore then off to London to see my mate, then off to spain and maybe a few days in the south of france. 

I RULE!

This weekend, geriatrics training.

Yesterday, went to body jam class. Was not glad I did. Lame. Instructor was like Mr. G on Crack.

Today, off to Annie Smithers Bistrot in Kyneton for a belated mothers day lunch. Yummm….

Need to pull the finger out and go for a run.

Note to self: Don’t sing during body step.

Well I have been slack-aroo with blogging, have pulled my finger out (pop) and dunnit.

Last weekend was busy, went up to Sydney with the Deltamed team to teach the Sydney docs how to pass their FRACP clinical – it is all expenses paid, with a great dinner and a night in the Shangri La. We flew up on the friday night to see our mate Dazza and have some very late drinks. On saturday was the teaching and on Saturday night we went out for the Deltamed group dinner. It turned out to be a very boozy weekend and my my my was it difficult to string coherent thoughts together on Monday. On Wednesday morning, still more tired, I moaned to my boss when I first saw him “I need coffee” and he very thankfully said “Yes, lets go down and talk work over coffee”. Aaaa, a good old caffeine conference. I could buzz my way through the ward round.

Last night, I became obsessed by seeing the quickest way I could get a free business class seat with my Singapore Airlines frequent flyer points…….it would appear that there is no way, quick or otherwise….dang. Wanna fly business class. Don’t wanna pay for it. 

Today, I went to wound clinic and nearly wet my pants with excitement because I saw a person with a rare condition, and there is a world expert on the condition who is a consultant at my hospital who used to be my boss so I rang him and said “I am nearly wetting my pants with excitement, let me tell you about….”. He was very helpful.

This arvo, a half day off to see the dog behaviouralist that we have hired…though we got our times mixed up and I missed her by an hour. I had rushed home via public transport (hubby had car). So I got some much needed snooze this arvo. We had watched the Dog Whisperer video the night before and found out some interesting bits of canine psychology (foremost being that dogs respond to edible treats, but many less obvious gems).

Off I went at 6:30 this evening to body step, which I am rediscovering my  love for; I have been to 3 classes this week! I have been trying all the advanced plyometric type moves in the class and have picked them up well. I went to my sweaty happy place and tried to sing the song lyrics to the final track….very difficult!  Off then for a Japanese dinner with hubby and a well worked up appetite.

Only a day of work lies between me and the weekend, but unfortunately this weekend will be busy…..I will be attending a training weekend for geriatrics, along with a free dinner on the Saturday night….good to know dinner is free if not business class seats!

Back to reality (and work)

Well it has been a very busy week at work and I have been coming home quite tired. The diarrhoea is better but my body is possibly still weakened by it. I have not had any time to cook or tidy; think I might give teaching a miss tomorrow, need to get a doctors referral for the headshrinker.

The dog has been a problem, she is lovely when we are home but apparently she cries during the day when we are at work, and the neighbourhood is talking about it! This is mortifying firstly because our little dog is suffering during the day (parent’s guilt is coming early) and secondly because the neighbours might think we are dog torturers or something nastly like that (and thirdly because our next door neighbour has had a little baby and I am scared that the doggy is waking them up).

We have sought the assistance of a “Dog whisperer” to assist us, hopefully this will help allay Candy’s separation anxiety.

I will re-join the gym tomorrow and hopefully get a step class in tomorrow evening. I did pilates early this morning, Aimee (the instructor) is fantastic but her strong Kiwi accent can grate a little (sorry kiwis). The good thing about working at the Austin Hospital is that there are many staircases and I have been using them, to the point where my legs are fatigued at the end of the day.

Home.

To uninterrupted electricity, clean, western style (cf squat) toilets, hot water and cold days. I am happy but still in “holiday mode”.

For the latter days of my holiday, I had quite severe diarrhoea, and the effect of multiple days of this was dehydration. At the airport yesterday, I felt weak as a kitten, walking very slowly and generally feeling very lethargic. Hubby ensured I drank plenty of water topped up with rehydration salts. At the check-in counter in Kathmandu, I was asked by the lady if I was unwell. I replied: ” I do not have swine flu”.

The check in, security and customs process in KTM was a bit farcical; the check in took ages, it was near impossible to find any departure forms not in Nepali and seriously, 3 security “pat downs’ is a bit excessive. All the people checking our bags were wearing respiratory masks, but most of them had them only covering the mouth!

The flight was fairly uneventful, always a pleasure stopping at changi airport and we arrived home this morning. I had swollen ankles! My weight doesn’t seem to have changed on the scales which is good.

When we got home, we found a note on our door from a concerned neighbour, worried about our dog because she heard her crying a lot. (FYI we had Mr. Sassy’s brother house and dog sitting). I promptly rang her up and explained that we had been away and invited her around. She bought her labarador with her and unfortunately said lab and candy did not get along. she had offered to dog- sit for us while we were away at work, which was a very kind offer. It is a bit hard to know what to do, but there is a “lonely pets club” near here.

Well I had better get to unpacking, I have gotten Mr. Sassy to do some grocery shopping, get some takeaway and fill the car up.

work tomorrow – I have planned no exercise as I know tomorrow will be struggle enough.

Nepal II – nearly time to go home :(

On our second day in chitwan, we came home from our bed bug infested humpies and went to our nicer hotel. In the arvo – elephant rides. Initially I was scared of the saddle falling off and me breaking bones but as time went on I relaxed. Four of us were on an elephant. I felt sorry for them but with their weight it is the equivalent to us carrying a 5 kg backpack. It was great, loping through the jungle, seeing rhinoceros doing rhino things, deer, boar and macaques. Also lots of butterflies. A magnificent jungle sunset followed. The elephants seemed quite chilled out, very happy to grab tree branches with their trunks as they loped along. When we hit the streams, the elephants stopped and splashed themselves with water, getting us wet in the process.

Yesterday, a ride up to KTM from chitwan (another 6 hours) with some time to think (more on that later) and in the arvo I did some helping of the Nepali economy (shopping). The squirts are ongoing but partially held at bay with imodium. I did get some nasty cramps yesterday, and i asked a local lady to use the shop toilet. It was fetid so I did not partake. I am glad that morsey got a giggle from my predicament, it is kind of funny in retrospect, like most uncomfortable or scary circumstances  🙂

Early this morning, we took a flight over the himalayas and saw everest and her sisters close up, I got some good photos and we all got to go up to the cockpit to look out. Well worth the $160 USD to do.

This arvo, a tour of the temples and maybe some more Nepali economy supporting.

Tomorrow we fly home.

First, a few thoughts on my fitness regimen, had a bit of time to think yesterday.

• truth be told, I enjoy the long runs with shells far more than I do the running club. Running club is also quite onerous, time wise.  I think I will quit running club and re- join the gym. I enjoy step classes and I may get myself a personal trainer; I think my fitness would benefit more with a personalised approach. There are also hints and tips in runners world. No, I won’t quit running, just supplement with other things, like doing the intervals on the tready, x trainer etc etc.
• I also enjoy multiple different things like dancing – I think fitness needs to be in multiple domains. Also, I need to work on my flexibilityand balance with yoga classes. I would also like to have a go at parkour. (look it up!)
• A girl on my trip will be going on to trek to everest base camp – a lofty aspiration!