Of course … setting the f*($#!%$#!%$ing thing up is an entirely different story. Needless to say I threw a tantrum and gave up.

The new apartment is great  - very fluffy carpet, very nice bright walls, lots of natural light, brand new everything. I might have almost gassed myself trying to figure out how to use the oven (this story ended with me deciding not to use the oven, and I still don’t know how it works.)

Bella however is not so convinced. She spent the first few hours hiding in her litterbox, then graduated to hiding under the dresser, and now is going for her masters in hiding under the bed.

I’ll post pics once the place looks decent. It’s pretty good but there are still boxes lying around, not to mention some abandoned Ikea furniture …

In other news, Matthew and I are moving apartments on Saturday! I’m really quite excited about it, can’t wait for a new place!

So it’s birthday season around here (Natalie, Mike Jung and Matthew all within nine days of each other!) and Matthew’s caps it off. The plans are as such (it’s a many-day celebration!) - family night tonight (aka Nat, Matthew and I go for dinner across the street.) Then wine tour in Temecula on Saturday (actually just a coincidence, friends organised it, but a great way to celebrate all these birthdays!) And next weekend is October movie night/Matthew’s birthday - aka watch a movie and go for dinner and drink and play video games … well, that was the plan ‘cept Matthew’s XBox started showing the Three Rings of Death so it’ll be Wii games or nuthin’ …

In honour of this day, I have a little pop quiz. You win absolutely nothing except boasting rights about knowing way too much about Matthew.

1. Where was Matthew born?
2. How old was Matthew when he first had sex?
3. Does Matthew have furry toes? (T/F)
4. What is Matthew’s favourite beer?
5. What is Matthew’s contact lens prescription? (Close answer will be accepted.)
6. What instrument/s does Matthew play?
7. What is Matthew’s favourite season?
8. What type of food can Matthew not eat?
9. What is Matthew’s favourite video game?
10. Who is Matthew’s favourite cat?

Smart ass answers will be accepted.

*clear throat*

HAPPY NATTYDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY NAAAAAAAATTYDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTYDAY TO NATTY! (Well come on, who else would get Nattyday? It would sound a little ridiculous for anyone else.)
HAPPY NATTYDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Haha you’re now as old as me!

1. Yesterday it rained. An office full of people lined up at the window to watch. Yes, wet stuff falls out of the sky sometimes. Fascinating!

2. Today it is 90 degrees (aka 30 degrees celsius.) And yet they are in the process of installing an ice skating rink in the middle of the Irvine Spectrum shopping center.

Riiiiiiight …

And in other news, Matthew and I are moving to a new apartment on November 8th. The best part? We’re hiring MOVERS! YEAH!

(Not heard that? A psych experiment put a bunch of gorillas in a room, and a banana hanging from the ceiling with a ladder under it. As soon as a gorilla tried to climb the ladder, they sprayed the room with water. Soon the gorillas learned not to try. They then took a gorilla out, and added a new one in. When he went to get the banana, the others attacked him. Soon after, he was attacking other new gorillas for trying to get the banana, and of course he had never been sprayed and didn’t know the consequences. The psychologists found you could change the gorillas five times over, and that not one of the gorillas had ever been sprayed with water, and they would still perform the same behaviour.)

Anyway, it started out neck and neck, and at some point in the second quarter, Hawthorne scored one goal that made Natalie and I go “Yup, it’s all over.” Pure Geelong football - passing backwards, kicking about a billion behinds. (Hehe, that sounds dirty!) Of course, Hawthorne helped us with that by rushing the ball through our goal all the time! They oughta make the penalty for that three points not one, like in the pre-season. Anyway, suffice to say some obnoxious (seriously, way obnoxious) Hawthorne fans were way too happy and Geelong fans bummed.

Mom and Niblet - I hope the hangovers don’t hurt.

The situation with Rowland is over as far as I am concerned.  The story is that El Jefe took offence to the fact that I would not make an OT scheduling decision whilst I was on summer vacation without first talking to the rest of the OT’s.   My contract was terminated because of a personal disliking.  This is where the story gets interesting.  I have a lot of friends within that district, I still do.  She didn’t like that.  She still doesn’t like that.  Stories were fabricated to validate my termination.  People were told I was rude to parents and other staff in meetings (not true, I have a fabulous track record with parent and related services satisfaction), people were told I was “negatively influencing the other OT” (if you’ve met Asia you’ll know I cannot possibly do that!) and here’s the real screamer - people were told I was given a disciplinary write up by one of the school principals (completely fabricated seeing as how I had never MET this principal and a write up would involve meeting and my signature on a piece of paper!).  Interestinly though, the people spreading these stories (Senor Usless, El Jefe and the newly found out Backstabbing Biotch) were telling people who they knew would tell me! 

And that’s that.  I was thinking of taking legal action based on personal and professional defamation but that would be playing into their game.  By telling my friends these things they have shown themselves to be vindictive - though not at all imaginative.  The Special Ed department there is in a free fall at the moment so I’m going to sit back and watch them all self destruct.

The new job is fantastic.  I am now at Orange Unified School District, again in the Special Ed department and again working my thing with preschool through 3rd graders.  This district is huge in comparison.  We have resources!  We also have administrative staff who are therapists themselves so, unlike Senor Useless, they KNOW what we do and they care!  It is also a rather large OT team. 

I do miss the Rowland crew and the kids out there will always be special to me.  You’ve all heard me talk about Miss Olindcey.  I miss her.  But there are other kids who will, no doubt, become just as special.  As for the people, I do miss working with them.  As someone pointed out to me though, my real friends know what happened and the rest aren’t worth knowing.

So there’s my ramble.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!