pack the bags and go

"Addressee no longer lives at this address. No forwarding address left."

Shake hands, and let's be done. 'Till we meet again in another place, another time.

shhhhhhhh

Umm. Yeah.

on to the next

Summer School is over and I have about four days to tie up loose ends and begin on our report. I start a new job developing visitors' programs at a museum next Monday.

rue the day you let it slip

So, the weekend.

I have been staying on-site this past week, to be near at hand. It's been convenient - I don't think I could have handled the late nights and early morning starts and still remember to eat and sleep, otherwise - but it's not home. So I came home last night, to chill on my own, and to do laundry. After a week surrounded by people, I needed the solitude and silence of home - to recharge, gird my loins, so to speak, before returning tomorrow to College for our last week.

We had fifty plus very late enrolments, which created havoc for the timetabling and scheduling I devised. I was heard to mutter violently to people, "Late enrolments suck. IDIOTS. Completely disorganized kids. Stupid. We should have said enrolments closed or something, last week, just to give us enough time to process all these."

Someone said, two days later, "We should charge a processing fee for late enrolments."

Why didn't we think of that?!!

I have no idea what I did in the first two days. I have a vague recollection of either being on the phone to some random person, or sitting in front of the computer wrestling with timetables, or cajoling the photocopier, or running around but not exactly where I was running around to. Either way, I suppose I was busy, and my stress levels were dangerously high. But me being me, I didn't notice.

My team members noticed, however, and ordered me out of our office for a break. I ignored them. They repeated the order. I answered the phone and dealt with an enquiry. When I ended the call, I realised Chris and Michael was behind my chair. Before I knew it, one said to the other, "Okay, let's do it."

They gripped my chair, lifted it - with me still in it - and physically carried me out. In between my, "GUYS, PUT ME DOWN", I yelled out, "Late enrolment coming tomorrow!" They wheeled me across the floor to the lifts and would have dumped me in it to take me downstairs if I hadn't jumped out in time. As it was, someone was trying to block all possible means of escape.

The looks on the students' faces as the boys rolled me across the floor and me shrieking my head off ...

It was funny and a good joke. But as I went back into the office to resume work, they yelled at me to get out again. I got the message, grabbed my phone and left. Can't remember what I did with myself that afternoon. I was amused, but figured that was that. I could go back to work the next day. But that night, they announced that I wasn't going to work till 9.30am. I got a little upset then.

True enough, I wasn't allowed to leave till the rest left. And when I finally arrived, they kicked me off the computers. I took myself off to chair a lunchtime session and when I returned, Al yelled, "Make sure you're in the office at 3pm."

I asked why. He wouldn't say as he sped off somewhere. When he got back, he repeated his order. I asked why again. He turned to Kell, "Tell her she has to be in the office at 3." Kell repeated it, then turned to Al, "Why?"

"Because Cynth is taking you out at 3pm."

"Why? What for?!!!"

They were kicking me out again. I rebelled and said, "I am not leaving with Cynth" and stalked off to find P. But Cynth tracked me down, so I had to leave with her. Two hours later, I was the proud possesor of a brand new leather handbag and a little more relaxed.

By the next afternoon, I had decidedly chilled. Sarah said, "You looked spaced out, Liv. Where did you disappear off to this morning?"

"Yeah, where were you? I turned around and you weren't there," said Kell.

I smiled mysteriously, "Was with Pete."

"What did you do? No, don't answer that. I can guess."

I laughed and finally, started to enjoy myself.

Apart from the financial side of things, which Kell has now taken over, thank goodness, everything else is running itself. I didn't have to do a thing yesterday or even the day before. I said to P, "I answered five emails, made two phone calls, drew up a poster for Chris, went on a walkabout with Chris and Adri to stick posters up. Isn't that wonderful? You know what, I even wrote a personal email yesterday!"

I'm having fun.

Thanks, Chris. Please, pass on my compliments to the rest of your team.

and in the midst of it all ...

The two-week program that I devised, slaved over and almost single-handedly created will be implemented tomorow. The butterflies in my stomach are dozing absent-mindedly now, but they'll be fluttering with a vengenance tomorrow. For a while there, no-one thought we could have pulled it off what with our parent company going into provisional liquidation, but we steered around it. I had a little glow when it came to me that one of the ex-directors had said, "I'm impressed. Never thought you guys could do it, what with everything that has happened this year."

Thank God for P through it all.

I am almost homesick right about now. But mostly for the food. I miss old friends, but after this crazy year, I am a bit anxious I will have very little in common with them now.

Let it come

Happy New Year. How did you celebrate it?

I was with P, his parents, friends of his parents and his eldest brother on Phillip Island (128km away) when Livinia Nixon and John So, Mayor of Melbourne, counted down to 0 and Melbourne was lit up by fireworks from about five spots around the city. A friend who was there, on site, said it was fantastic, twelve minutes of gorgeous fireworks display and from the news, I could see there were thousands of people on the streets. So much so, majority of them were stranded in the city after public transport ended for the night.

I didn't wish I was in Melbourne. Frankly, the dense-ness of the crowds would have made me very nervous, and claustrophobic, and I wouldn't have enjoyed myself. I wanted a quiet one (as I always do with important occasions), and I got a quiet one. Though, to tell you the truth, P and I were half asleep for most of the night - we reckoned we overeat at dinner (or tea as the country folks calls it).

Fireworks for us was at 9.30pm, Phillip Island having followed Sorento's example from last year and banned all entertainment after 9.30pm to discourage youthful revellers and general all-round louts. Didn't seem to have worked. At 3am, the young 'uns were still walking the streets and hooting! I suppose it was safer at any rate. Alcohol was banned on the sidewalks so there weren't teenagers on the street drinking and getting disgustingly drunk and hence, rowdy. We went down to the beach and had an unobstructed view of the fireworks which was set up on the pier about one and a half kilometres away. With the seabreeze, the cool sand beneath our feet, and it being late dusk, it was wonderfully idyllic.

There were fireworks - I suspect illegal ones - at midnight. We stood outside for awhile watching it before going in. His parents were on the balcony. I stopped awhile, chatting to his dad before P came barelling out to pull me back inside, where I found Livinia Nixon counting down. Couldn't figure out if Livinia was late or if our watches were fast. As fireworks erupted over Melbourne, and the people next door lit sparklers, he turned me around and we kissed. Funny how it doesn't matter to me in the least if there were strangers about but when we were in the presence of people we know, I get all bashful.

2003 was a humdinger of a year. P said, "What a year it has been," and indeed, it has. I realised my relationship with my parents are best conducted, at the moment, with a continent separating us. I discovered I adored the creativity behind planning and organizing events. I worked hard, and played hard. I met a wonderful person who supports me in every way imaginable and lends me strength whenever I need it. I have grown cynical about people, but that has been countered by P's thoughtfulness. I am finally growing into my name, but Liv still reflects the core of me.

I have grown a lot in the last year. I have felt it, but I'm having trouble articulating the changes. I'm too close to the subject. You, who have followed pieces of my journey - please let me know what you've noticed. True reflection comes from with-out, rather than with-in. Let this be an exercise in peer evaluation for improvements in the year ahead.