I went to the ballet last night. I really enjoyed it. The first half I thought was a bit wanky with the "let's use technology lots and not dance quite so much and when we do dance it's going to be a bit weird." Also, I ate too much dinner and was rather uncomfortable during the first half. Stupid me :P The second half was much better, with lots of dancing and twirling and music and many parts were very pretty. I think I enjoy the ballet after experiencing the second half. Now I'm looking forward to Aida in a couple of months to do the ballet/opera comparison thing. :)

Steph and Chris, Miranda, Jacinta and myself went out for dinner first at my favourite restaurant and that was really nice. The place with the excellent cherry tomatoes ^.^ Then afterwards we went to Brian's going away party as he's going to Canadia for 5 months. Yes, Canadia. :P :D

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in 3 weeks and it can't come soon enough! They're fine most of the time, but every now and then they'll be all painful. And they pushed my teeth out of alignment slightly. Which is kind of very annoying because I've always had straight teeth. I've never needed braces and if I want straight teeth again, I'll need braces. Annoying! Can't wait for these teeth to come out!

This morning I need to drive little sister to the airport and I'm going to miss out on church. This is also rather annoying. I love my church, they are just like a family to me and I love seeing them every week and doing the church 'thing' with them. *sigh* I can probably swing by once I have dropped her off at the airport, but I would have missed out on most. Oh well.

Oh, when I was visiting Lise yesterday, my mp3 player was stolen!! I accidentally left my passenger side door unlocked (my car door locks are screwy - don't ask) and when I came back 2 hrs later, it was gone, as was the cord that connected my mp3 player to the auxiliary port in my stereo. HOWEVER, nothing else was missing!! My stereo was still there, Laura's luggage in the boot, my cds, the car! Still there. It was only the mp3 player and cord missing! So thank God for keeping everything else safe! I am a little annoyed still that it was stolen. But it wasn't very expensive - in fact, I only ended up paying $10 for it due to various factors. I'm VERY glad that the face from my car stereo wasn't nicked.

I installed my car stereo today. I had half put it in, but the cords at the back were not connected because I didn't have the right connectors. But I bought one from Auto One today and connected the wires while watching The West Wing. Then I installed it in my car, turned on the battery and it worked! Hurrah!

I bought it from Strathfield for $90, but I found the same model on the Sony website here and it's $199!! So w00t for a super cheap deal. I remember batting my eyelashes and pouting at the time, so maybe that helped. The guys probably felt sorry for me or something, lol.

I'm VERY pleased with myself. I installed my stereo all on my own! (*cough* with the directions of some helpful and friendly people at Auto One who told me what I should do)

Today I was out and about. I went and had my legs waxed FINALLY! They were man legs, now they're women's legs again. Hurrah! Then I bought a new car stereo for cheaps (and later tried to install it by myself for free. FAILS!). I went into the city, to Target to see about getting my mp3 replaced because it broke and it's under warranty. I read the first two chapters of New Moon at Borders, but didn't buy it. Then I visited Lisey at hospital and that was nice. I ate too many sour worms and felt a little ill. DAMN WORMS! so tasty though...

Although the car stereo installing didn't work out so great, I was pleased by how far I got. I managed to take off the front panel (which was hard work!!) and take out the old one, but the cables and cords for the new one were rather different and I think needs a look at by an experience mechanic/electrician. I put in the new one anyway, I just didn't hook it up at the back. Then I put everything back in its place. I hope I didn't forget any screws. That would be SCREWY! HAH!

Capslock ftw.

Last night I went to Dawn's house because I thought something was on, but it was cancelled last minute and my phone was dead so I didn't know. However, she felt so bad about it (I was rather embarrassed too) that she gave me free dinner and afterwards we went out for half price waffles at Gelare. YUM!

So on Wednesday, I made it as far as Geraldton before my car broke down. Thank God it didn't break down till then :D. I actually made it all the way to the Anglican Cathedral. The first mechanic I called was booked up till mid next week, but he gave me some number of other mechanics I could call. The next one I called could look at my car immediately and even drove out to pick up the car (time that they graciously didn't charge me for). Thank God there was a mechanic available to look at my car at such short notice. They told me my clutch needed replacing. But thank God there was a second hand clutch in Geraldton. About an hour after I was returned to the Cathedral, they called me to tell me it was actually the gearbox that needed doing. But thank God there was a second hand gearbox available in Geraldton and that the clutch didn't need replacing after all.

There is a fold out bed in one of the offices at the Cathedral, but Wayne and his wife Gladys live next door to the office and had a spare room, so they let me stay there instead and then feed me fantastic lasanga for dinner. Thank God for their generousity! The next day I kept busy by helping to paint the sign out the front of the church (Google doesn't have all the answers) and I was told my car would be ready by about 1-ish. It was ready at 1:30, but I didn't end up leaving Geraldton till 3, which meant I'd be driving the last hour or two at night. But thank God He kept me safe from kangaroos and other cars. There were quite a few cars on the road actually which helped me to feel safe because it tricked my mind into thinking that kangaroos will be more likely to stay away from busy roads (no idea if that's true or not, but I suspect not because of all the carcasses I saw). It was rather scary actually. Since hitting that kangaroo a couple of year ago, driving at night in the bush kinda freaks me out. Especially as my car had only just been repaired (for the bargain price of $1200).

Anyway, yesterday I saw Batman with Lise and it was fantastic and my crush on Christian Bale is a helpful (albiet unrealistic) distraction from having crushed on other men in my life and then I went to Little Creatures in Freo, spent good time with friends and ate great pizza.

Today is laundry day and I also intend on planting some seeds into some dirt and going rock climbing.

The End. :D

I worked in baby wear today. It was good because it was easy, not busy and the day passed quickly!
On Sunday night the power went out, and I was a little late getting up. It's wasn't too much of a big deal, but I was in a hurry to get to work and I didn't have time to stop for petrol. When I finished work at 1:45, I had to hurry into the city to meet Steve at 2, so I didn't have time to get petrol. I made it into the city, but didn't have time to find a parking spot, so my plan was to park in a 15min parking bay, rush upstairs to say I was here, rush downstairs and find somewhere else to park and then get on with the meeting. But phase two never happened, so I ended up praying that no parking inspector would come by.

Steve and I talked about me going on a short term mission trip to Japan next Christmas holidays for 3 months. That took up a bit of time, and it's quite a process to prepare for it. But I'm looking forward to it. I went back to my car, thanked God for not having a ticket! (Hurrah!) and started driving down St Georges tce to get home. However, my car stalled as it was out of petrol! :( So I ran over to the Duxton across the road, acquired directions for the nearest petrol station, left an apologetic note on my dash in the hopes no one would give me a ticket/wheel clamp because I wasn't meant to be parked there, although I had my hazard lights on. I walked to the petrol station, bought a jerry can and petrol, hiked back to my car, filled up, drove home, collapsed. I'm pretty thankful that I kept my grumpiness at bay for so long. I decided to think of things to thank God for, instead of complaining about my circumstances. It worked pretty well until I arrived home. Hopefully next time I'll do better, but I'm rather please regardless right now!

Tomorrow I have a doc's appointment to check out my foot, although it's been doing better yesterday and today. Then I'm going to Ali's to help construct invitations! :) Yay for the rain!

I have work early tomorrow. But I finish early too. Work was good today. I go now.

Tomorrow I use my slow cooker for the first time. There isn't much difference between my ice cream and normal cream. But at least the consistency is good. But there is much to improve upon. :P

I saw Jupiter last night and the four moons around it. VERY cool.

I've been having dreams of cars and roads and freeways and getting lost and going the wrong way on the roads in my cars. I think it means something. But I don't think it's important.

I should update you all on the happenings in my life.

On Thursday night I did a night shift at subway, then I got home bout 11ish, went to bed and then didn't actually get to sleep until 1ish, because Dad decided that would be a good time to watch TV loudly until. Then I woke up at 5 on Friday morning, so Dad could drive me to the train station to get to work by 6. BLEH!

I don't like back to back shifts. But I had good time on the train to read my Bible and pray. So I was very blessed in that regard. Also, continual blessings in that I stayed rather cheerful for most of the day. I left at 2, called a taxi to pick me up, and I made my way to kid-sit for the weekend. Looked after those kids I'd sitted for two weeks and then one week with leshara previously. Because they already knew me, the weekend was pretty smooth.

The only complaints from me, was Andrews continual grumpy attitude towards EVERYTHING and the exhaustion of only getting 4hrs sleep in between two shifts and going straight to kid-sitting. But I went to bed at 8:30 after the two youngest were in bed, so I was happy. The oldest two are very responsible, and so got themselves off to bed well enough.

Saturday I worked from 6-2 again. I had a LOT of bread to bake as rugby was on that night, so work was very busy. And then when I got home, I had a nap, and potted about a bit. We watched a movie that night and Andrew and Simon stayed up a bit longer than I would have liked. But that was due to me not having dessert ready on time (I promised them, so I couldn't renege).

Sunday we went to church. That was pretty cool. Then we came home and pottered about until Wendy and Ian arrived home from Sydney at about 3:15. Wendy then drove me to Ian's (different Ian) so I could grab a lift to kid's church with him, because this whole time, my car had been out of action thanks to a bad battery and alternator. Ian had been stupid by not getting sleep. And he didn't have Malcolm's car to use, so his Mum let me drive her car. And that was a bit weird, as I'm so used to driving a manual. I kept wanting to put in the clutch, but there wasn't one to put in. :P

Kids church was a piece of cake. I was looking after the little fish, and they are so cute. Then unichurch afterwards was really good. greygnome had rocked up, so he was thankfully able to give me a lift home! yay! Then home I went, checked updates, went to bed. Then went to work this morning from 10am, until 4pm. And now I'm updating you on my week. :D

Experimental food
I tried a couple of different things over the weekend.
-Friday: Lamb and Banana curry.
A bit too spicy for Andrew, but with a hint of banana, very nice. Had it with spiced hot chocolate that the kids didn't like, but I did, so more for me! =D
-Saturday: Crumbed Chicken.
Done with bread crumbs, coconut, oats and ginger. The kids all really liked this one. But the chicken took forever to defrost, so dinner was a little late. :P
-Sunday: Apple Pancakes.
Nicolas didn't like them, and Andrew apparently wasn't hungry, but Rachel, Andrew and I had our fill. Easy peasy, sliced apple mixed in with a thinner pancake mix and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top as they're cooking!
-Monday: Crusted Lamb Chops
I volunteered dinner cooking tonight at home. So I did herb crusted lamb chops. Didn't turn out as I had in mind, but the family really enjoyed them anyway! Also, it was hard to get them all cooked uniformly as the heat was being weird and others were really thick cuts. But all good in the end.

I finished the book of Nahum on Friday. It was interesting. A reminder of how separate sin and God are and how offensive it is to him. But with that, also comes his grace and forgiveness. God had given the Ninevites many opportunities to turn back to him, but his judgment wont be held off forever. So I was encouraged to take evangelism a bit more seriously. Also, for those who have repented, the judgment that we would have faced, has already been faced in fullness, by Jesus on the cross. And just as the Ninevites faced God's wrath, so will the world. Jesus came bringing a message of peace to those who would be reconciled to God. But also a message of warning to those who ignored him or rejected him.

ALSO! Chesca, Emily and Chan, you're invited to ma berfday par-tay. Along with your significant others of course. 30th of June. Put it in your diaries!

I've been spending a bit of time on this Christian girls forum board recently. It's been really encouraging. The environment is just really comfortable and loving. So that's been helping me in that sin I've been having problems with. *grin*
Also, being open about my struggles has made this thing easier. It's been difficult to reveal how weak i can be. But it's worth it. :)

In other news, my car is broke again!!! The alternator (the thing that gives the battery power) has broke, which means my car eventually runs down when the engine can't power the battery anymore. So it got picked up this afternoon by the towing dude. *sigh* I is going to be broke again.

Also, saw Pirates 3. Was a good adventure. Not much plot (ah, I'm going to get shot for saying that) or characterisation and some bits were really corny. But it was good fun!

God is good.
There's that story of the footprints on sand, and when the man walking with Jesus was going through the worst part of his life, he looks back and there's only one set of footprints on the sand, and he asks Jesus where he was during that time. And Jesus says, 'I was carrying you.' It felt really true for me this afternoon as I was thinking about the battle with this sin I've had. I've been scared of saying no to God. But he's been carrying me all this time. Even though I haven't seen it.

Oh Lordee Lordee. lol

I went to bed at 9:45 last night, and woke up at 8. This means I managed to get 10hrs sleep! w00t. After the extreme lethargy of yesterday, I didn't want to feel crap at work. I'm feeling chuffed that I managed to get so much sleep. A bit grandma-esque for going to bed so early, but I really couldn't stand to be up for much longer. I had a very small nap on the couch while I was waiting for dinner to finish in the oven. Dad made me make dinner - so bad when ill.

My car is still in getting all the dents knocked out of her. hurrah! Mum isn't working today, so she's letting me borrow her car to get to Hub and then drop Lise off. hurrah again!

Still in pj's, soo good. *goes to actually eat breakfast* <-- omg!

Dropped Lise off after church. On way home, picked up some comfort food in the form of Red Rooster. I thought, the greasier the better right? So wrong! I feel ill, although, it might just be a too-much-oil sort of illness. I think comfort food should be limited to chocolate and nothing else. Man, I think I'm spending too much time on the internet, this is the 3rd post today. *is a loser*

Car is getting repaired tomorrow. Is costing me $950, though, that's just insurance excess. And I actually have the full amount of money on my own. OMG, I've saved over $500! Usually I earn, and then I spend. But this time I've saved *is proud of self*

I'm also going to Mars, ought to be good. Catching up with Lise, Clare and Hilary. *sigh* um... yay by default. Would go yay if I had the enthusiasm

So I've dug out my flash cards for Jap kanji and I've started going through them again. And my lord, I've forgotten a lot. boo. But, at least I'm on a head start to remembering them again. Yay. And hopefully I can remember all of semester one's kanji, and then all of semester two's kanji, which would be very very helpful when I actually get to semester two. A lot of Jap is remembering words. What they mean and how to write them. So if I can get a head start on that, then ideally, all I'll really need to remember is grammer. Wish me luck! :D

In other news, Gene came to church last night. omg! ^.~ It was really nice that he came and afterwards, we went to a cafe and had a big long chat about religion and the Bible and Christianity. Was good.

Sunday school beforehand though, didn't go so well. The kids were being really bratty. I don't know why they were being so bratty. They're usually a little bratty even on the best of days. But I was in a meh mood, so I let them play a game so they could get their giggles out, and then when we were discussing the lesson, they were still being stupid so I had to be all firm and tell them all off. I even sent one of them out of the class after 3 warnings.

This morning Dad woke me up early so I could go with him to drop off his car at a smash repairers and I could also get my own car assessed. So we did that, and then I drove him back home. At last, I'm finally getting something done about my car. It's happening pretty quickly actually. To the point that it's getting fixed next monday. Which is very ideal because I have that day off work. Still, hopefully I can borrow Mum's car or something in order to get around for the day. I'll be glad to get my car repaired, so that I don't have to worry about the headlights. The duct tape holding them in place is falling off a bit in the rain. Which means they drop low and I cannot see the road properly. :P But yay, getting fixed! :D

Got my car looked at today by some smash repair dude. Repairs are going to come to over 2 grand. Thank goodness - yet again - for car insurance! I'll only need to pay $900 of the repairs. uh... w00t?

in other news, going to sort out enrolment whatnot at uni today. woohoo? uh, I had a bad dream last night that I was doing jap again (good thing) but I was doing badly all over again. I don't want to do badly. My japanese at the moment is completely shocking. I think I need to start studying it again so next semester will be much easier and I'll be better prepared. I want to do very well second time around.

Last night I had some peoples over to my house sitting house for pizza and general hanging out. Oh wait, I should start from the start of the day.

Yesterday leshara and I went shopping. First I went to Centro Galleria in the morning because I had a gift certificate for it, and I bought a dress from Just Jeans. Then Lise and I went into the city after she'd finished work. Lise currently doesn't have a bank card, so I used my debit card and she'll pay me back sometime. She bought new jeans, boots, a dress and new tops. I bought two other new dresses and a light jumper. It was really nice going shopping for the day. I don't do it that often, and it was all stuff Lise needed (new shoes and jeans... seriously, her old ones were over five years old and falling apart). And also some staple winter fashion items. If you buy maybe 3-5 new things each season, you can combine it with other older items, but basically keeping everything looking up to date. :D I was musing on how I'm a geeky metal-head who manages to keep fashionable (when I can be bothered wearing something other than t-shirt-and-jeans).

Then afterwards, people came over to mine for pizzas and hanging out. Much mess was made :D, and we pretty much spent 5hrs chatting - which was lovely. It was a nice relaxing evening. I pointed people in the direction of milk/kettle/clean cups/oven/pizza making things, and they did everything else themselves. I'm a pretty lazy host. But I did cut up the pizza food! And then this afternoon, I made myself a massive pizza using all the leftover foodstuffs. Today was nice and relaxing.

Tomorrow I need to get a quote for the small damage at the front of my car. I need to sort out uni biz, and make my weekly call in at MARS to make sure people know I still exist and want to be a continuing member of the committee. Even if I'm not prez, I still care about the club.

Ok! So, I didn't update you all on my car yesterday, so here it is.
I got it back yesterday afternoon. Gene was being a big sweetie, and let me borrow his car. When I finished work, he came by, we drove to John Hughes. I picked up my car, Gene drove home in his and I drove to Lise's in mine. Hurrah! My car is all better. And the clutch is all squishy and soft. I'm so unused to it. What's more, Dad's taking money out of my trust fund investments to pay for it, which puts neither of us out of pocket for the repairs because the investments have grown heaps from when Dad put a little money in them.

Yay!

Also, OMFG! (that's Oh My Freakin Goodness too everyone out there who says differently) Blind Guardian is Freakin Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!1!
*jumps up and down**jumps in circles**trips over the mess in my stoffice*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BlindGuardian!BlindGuardian!BlindGuardian!BlindGuardian!

Have I ever been this excited before? I don't think so!

car update:
I need a new clutch kit which will cost about $750. There might/probably be damage done to the gear housing, which will cost about $600. Bleh. Car was worked upon today, and hopefully will continue to be worked upon so it can be picked up by Friday at the latest.

I received phone calls throughout my shift at work today. Yay for a nice working phone, and a bluetooth headset to make using handsfree and cordfree talking easier.

Dinner tonight for Malcolm's 23rd. Was good fun. Lots of people there, very good food, as usual for Toba. Had fun.

Happy Singles Awareness Day everyone! =)

car has just been towed and will be looked at. I'm posting updates on it here because I think people care. That is all

Ok, so after calling a whole heaps of mechanics in the area, I eventually caved and called John Hughes, the uber-expensive-but-can-be-relied upon-to-service-my-car place to go. So I'm getting it towed within this hour sometime, and then have to find my way around Perth on a tight schedual for the rest of the day. I might have to swing by my unit and pick up my bike. Though God knows how I'm going to get down to Margaret River with my busted car. Unless the repairs are done before Sunday *crosses fingers* In fact, I don't know if I should be crossing my fingers. I'm going to pray instead.

( a prayer )

OMG!
So I worked a double last night. Gene came and spilt a bucket of water on the floor at Subway. Then we went to Lise's house and watched some Harvey Birdman whilst drinking beer. Hilarious! But then I went to give Gene a lift home coz he lives down my way. Anyone who's been in my car at all knows that there's a portal to hell inside it. But last night, the pitch of the noise rose. And now it's squealing and gears aren't changing like they should ( I think I need the engine revs at a particular place before they change). This is going to be expensive.

*groans* Kat is not happy. Kat is not happy at all. But this needs to be fixed NOW. Cannot be put off. So I'm going to call up somewhere and see if they can take me in. Somewhere close. I don't want to be driving my confunded vehicle while it's in this state. And this is my busiest day of the week and I had to cancel this morning's breakfast with a friend so I could find time to take it in.

*sobs inwardly*

MY POOR CAR!!!!!

So I was driving away from the house today to get to Nic's so's we could then go on to the beach, and have an inpromptu surfing lesson. However, at a stop sign maybe 2minutes from my house, I accidently rear-ended another car *facepalm*

Other car escaped damage COMPLETELY! and my car has no damage that stops it from working. It's just the bonnet's been pushed in and things are a little squishy at the front... but she still drives fine. *sigh* Stupid me. Oh, and I'm fine. Thanks for asking, :D

In other news, I went on a date last night. It was a very nice time and I really enjoyed myself. I think we're going out again on Monday as we're doing a 'can-Gene-and-Kat-get-to-know-each-other-in-a-week-by-going-on-some-dates' experiment. Lol. For all my St Matts readers, fret not! Yeah, he's not a Christian, but we're not serious; about this week or the future. We're just getting to know each other better and going on some fun dates. So there you have it, gentle reader. I went on a date and enjoyed myself... and lo and behold, it didn't lead to all sorts of badness that my 14yr old self might have thought it would.If only I could have told myself earlier (many years ago) that worrying about this relastionship stuff is stupid. I mean... relationships are different according to people and I don't think there's any point over thinking it or placing too much pressure on something that isn't even there.

So what if you date without ever getting married!! Just so long as you maintain sexual purity, you should be right!

So we saw Miss Potter, which was quite charming and feel-good. Cept for the part with me and the tears. It was a sad part. But overall, a very nice movie.

*sigh* Whatever happens, car or otherwise, I should be good with my jar o' dirt. *points to icon*

There's a show that's being advertisted to start this year on 7 called Heroes. [Bad username: fergmonkey"] suggested that I would enjoy it. So a few days ago I downloaded an episode. It's very addictive and I realy do enjoy it. I've only downloaded 4 episodes so far, but it's great. I love getting to find out what the characters can do, and how everyone else around them reacts to their abilities. And then you know that eventually they're going to come together to save the world from an explosion, but so far, they're so far apart... and yet so close!

It's just a great series, I really recommend it to anyone who has a tv... or better yet, an internet connection to download it. *squee* hurry up and finish downloading new episode!!!

In other news, my car got serviced 2 days ago, and it's running beautifully. No random noises from beneath the boot, no leaking power-steering fluid/coolant., 100% working brakes. I'm really impressed by the guy who did it. He completely cleaned the engine out. He's a small business owner and works out of home, so I was a bit hesitant going to him. But he did a great job and saved me maybe a grand, if I'd gone to a big-business car place instead.

*sigh* work again tonight.