WTF?!

I decided to give myself a weekend off from the 'quake coverage, because it was becoming all-consuming and I think was contributing in large part to my weird emotional state last week. It didn't really work, because I've dipped in and out of the news all weekend - but at least I didn't sit there glued to it, and I think I've given myself a much-needed bit of emotional space.

I built a barbecue that we bought on sale on Monday. We don't have a gas bottle for it yet, so it's sitting in the garage all newly-made, pristinely clean and virginal, waiting for that first sausage/burger/delicious butter-slavered foil-wrapped corn cob. All the while we was building it, Himself and I were congratulating ourselves on the fact that we now finally have an Emergency Cooking System in the event of a natural disaster. Way to keep It our of your mind, there, Wiggle!

Himself and I started painting the guest bedroom, in preparation for suzycat 's inaugural visit. It'll also be used later by Whizmum and Roo towards Christmastime, and I've been slowly buying in nice things to make it a lovely room to stay in. Like the rest of the house, the room has the "coloured feature wall" scheme of decorating, which to be honest I'm not a fan of. However, I'll stick with it - but I'm not sticking with the horrible mid-to-deep blue in the guest room, and instead have opted for a soothing soft green. Bringing the painting forward did two things - made me feel like I was doing something for suzycat , in a weird and mostly impotent and irrelevant kind of way, and gave me a great deal of kind of zen type peaceful enjoyment. I always loved painting and decorating my spaces, and it's been two years since I was able to. I'll probably get in trouble with the Letting Agent for changing the property without permission, but I REALLY don't care at this point.

I gave myself Saturday and Sunday morning off from talking about work. Or thinking about work. That didn't really work either, because I did talk about it and think about it a bit. I mostly spent Saturday Skyping with Whizmum and chatting online with a good friend, and naturally the work thing came up. *sigh* I've decided that I need to let go of being concerned that my team might be edgy and nervous about having a new manager, and not take responsibility for that. I need to just be myself, go through my normal decision-making process and stand my ground. Some of my decisions may be wrong and/or unpopular, but that's mine to bear. The only way they can get rid of me is to put a complaint in to my boss, and as long as I stick my usual decision-making and thinking processes, they won't have a leg to stand on if they do that.

I also bought more booze and chocolate, and have consumed some more quantities of both. WHAT?!

I heard (in a ridiculously circuitous route via other rellies in Oz) about the Christchurch rellies. All are OK.

Both of their family houses are destroyed, and they've been evacuated to Civil Defence shelters. But no-one is hurt, and that's the main thing.

I'm watching the news at the moment and it's terrifying and sad - and I feel so selfish for just being glad that everyone we know (thus far, although we've still to hear from two friends) is OK, when there are families out there in that lovely, friendly city whose loved ones won't be coming home.