Toothless

I'm still finding that I have vast tracts of time away from communicating with the world. I spent last weekend at home (when I say 'home' I mean my parents' place) and my dad had switched ISP and dismantled the wireless network we once had so I was glued to my laptop but without internet for an entire weekend. Do you know how frustrating that is? Still, I got a lot done.

Anyway, last Friday I went to the dentist for my regular check-up and it turns out that I may have to get my three remaining wisdom teeth out at some point next year, a prospect I'm not inherently fond of considering that I've already got the first three months of 2008 more or less planned out (January = Sydney Festival, February = brother's wedding and enrol at TAFE, March = go to Japan) and I don't want wisdom-tooth related surgery to interfere with any of it.

In other news, I finished my three month probation at Loyalty and am now officially an employee there. On top of that, my editor said she was happy with my work and gave me a 5% pay rise, which was nice. No one has ever voluntarily given me a pay rise before so it actually means a lot to me. Especially because I wasn't expecting it, having asked for more than they were offering initially.

I spent a good part of my weekend hanging out with my parents eating junk cos they had no proper food (they're going to China for a month). It was weird being home; strangely familiar. I think I said this the last time I stayed over (last Christmas?). It was doubly weird not having any dogs in the backyard, no creeping around trying not the wake them just to snatch something off the clothesline. God, I miss them. Goldie, the dog next door, came and said hello though, and it was nice hanging out with her for a while.

On Sunday I was supposed to go to San Churro, the Spanish chocolate place in Glebe, with my friend Skippy. Trouble is, Skippy has chronic tardiness, which was further compounded by the fact that daylight savings began and we lost an hour. I initially suggested that we leave at 2:15pm to get there at 3pm but she said she had to be at the airport at 7pm so we moved it back a couple of hours so they (she and her b/f) didn't have to hang around for too long.

She calls me at 4:20pm saying she hasn't started packing yet, can I come by at 5pm? This was okay as I was in the midst of locking up my parents' place (my aunt had taken them to the airport earlier that afternoon), which took nearly half an hour because I had to hunt for all the appropriate keys (my mum and dad had had an argument that morning about the best hiding place for the keys - if it wasn't so frustrating for me, it'd be funny).

Anyway, I get to Skippy's (mum's) place at 4:50pm because she only really lives down the road. She's nowhere near packed. Realising that I'm not going to get any chocolate, I sit and watch her flit around the room. After an hour elapses, she gets a call - it's a friend of hers, waiting for her at San Churro. This other friend had driven from Newport to Glebe (it's about an hour's drive, possibly more). At the rate she's going, we'd be lucky to make it to the airport on time.

After apologising profusely to her friend, she lies down on the floor, unable to reconcile her guilt. At this point I suggest it's best to go straight to the airport so I take them, in my dad's car (bright yellow Mitsubishi Lancer with spoiler), via the motorway. And all the while she analyses her temporal problem when the only thing I can think of is "you're over-analysing this, it's easy to be on time if you care enough", which is basically what I tell her.

It's hard, you know, being logical when you have a neurotic friend. I was just miffed that I didn't get lots of chocolate and instead had to pay $20 for parking at the airport. Oh well, the pay rise will cover it. Might save her the trouble and go to Brissie next time instead. Even though I said my next domestic trip would be Melbourne.