For the Benefit of Mr Kite

Let me begin by answering Andrew's comments:

I've never seen Death of a Salesman performed before. My play watching experience is sorely lacking unfortunately. I do love going to the theatre though...I chose to read this play purely because I know that I should. As I said, I wasn't really expecting to enjoy it but I did.

The grass is different on the other side. I feel that I'm learning more than I could ever have learnt had I stayed with Club Ed. On the other hand, I don't have a lot of time left for me anymore. However, that's changing and I'm gradually moving towards a better balance.

Thanks for asking! (c:

Well, it seems that Death of Salesman has sparked something in me. I have remembered how much pleasure I get from reading a good book. Following theme of books I should read, I picked up David Malouf's Johnno. I can't say I enjoyed this as much as Death of a Salesman, but I still enjoyed it. I found the writing very good and it was this that kept me reading the book. However, I did like the end of the book.

Perhaps the most interseting thing about the book was the descriptions of Brisbane long before I knew it. I can't say that I'm that familiar with Brisbane's history in the 20th Century...the stuff on either side, yes.

Johnno is quite a short book...more like a long short story than a novel. I think this suited me and it suits the story...it's not really a story, it's more like a long character description. Until the end of the book, it really doesn't really matter what's going on in the character's lives unless it serves to symbolise something the characters are feeling.

I enjoyed reading Johnno - I pretty much read it in one sitting. Liek Death of a Salesman, I would recommend it and I'll most likely read it again someday.

Before this play, I've never actually read a play before. I can think my woeful high-school English classes for that. Every time we did a play it was, to put it bluntly, painful. Everyone taking turns to be a character and reading aloud. It still makes me shudder.

Anyway, I finished Death of a Salesman this morning and I really enjoyed it. I thought that would find the endless dialogue tedious because I generally find it a bit boring in most novels but I powered through this play (it's not long). Because it is a play, the dialogue is everything and therefore a lot of thought has gone into. Also, if I skip the dialogue, I skip the whole story!

Another thing that I enjoyed about reading this play, was deciphering the characters. Without the actors and director, the dialogue just gives a basic shell of each of the characters and I found to interesting to see how they developed just through the dialogue alone. Although it's pretty clear from the start that Willy is crazy, the other characters a bit more subtle. I quite liked the boys.

Speaking of characters, towards the end of the play, I was beginning to hope that Willy wouldn't die. A silly wish clearly, as the play isn't titled Death of a Salesman for nothing.

In other news: I have succumbed Tom's cold. It could be Vanessa's but it's more likely to have come from Tomas. I struggled through work today; Fenella is growing quickly. She was sleeping on me today and she's getting so much bigger than when we first got her; Tomas went to Port Macquarie today for site visit. He left a 4am and got back at 4pm; and I took some pseudoephedrine about 2 hours ago so now I am wide away but I need to sleep...

Too bad, so sad to you if you don't want to hear about Fenella because that is what I am blogging about tonight.

Fenella is settling in well. She is adjusting to well to our routine - I think that we are having more trouble settling in our routines with her ini it. Right now she is tumbling all over me which is nothing new as it seems that her favourite thing to do is be in the same place as I am. She has been chasing her favourite toy (a shoelace) for a while whilst I dragged it behind me while cleaning the house and more chasing on the couch as I browsed the web. Soon she will fall asleep which of course means that she will climb up onto me, attempt to clean me and my hair (especially my ears) and after a couple of meows she will settle down as close to my face she can get.

We haven't had any litter box or food problems yet our biggest worries are her climbing habit (she will climb up your pants), teaching her not to attack our hands, feet and in my case, sometimes face, and the fact that she licks absolutely evrything, litter included.

Tom has finally figured out how to play with her and she no longer thinks of him as part of the furniture which he is pleased about. She even chose him for a cuddle yesterday.

More pictures to come...as well as some video. How exciting!

For the past three months, I can been working on a project that has
been affectionately titled "The Black Hole". The project manager for
my job is (and I'm being nice here) far too busy to manage the project
properly and as such it has gone down the toilet.

A few weeks ago, I began implimenting a plan to stop the black-hole
effect, where any work I do the project is swallowed up by more
changes from the client. I will admit that I was a bit lenient with
the client and let them have some changes that they shouldn't have
been allowed. Today however, that all stops. No more. I am putting my
foot down. I don't want another repeat of last week where I almost
lost it at work because I felt so overwhelmed.

I received yesterday a document from the client with a lot of changes
in it. Some of them are content changes. Others are not. They are not
getting the others. No more functionality. The buck stops here!

Oh and Fenella is settling in well. Today is her first day home alone.
I am hoping that I come home to an unsoiled house and a not too upset
little kitten.

After almost a whole day with us, Tomas and I decided on a name for our new kitten - Fenella. Fenella is a Manx name so it is somewhat appropriate for our little Manx cat.

When we went to pick her up, she was playing outside on the lawn. I have to admit that I felt a little bit guilty taking her away from the grass and her brother and sister (who she was pouncing all over) but after she figured out that she couldn't escape from the carrier she settled down. Settled down so much that before we had gotten to the end of her street, she had fallen asleep. She stayed that way until we got home which was good. I was expecting crying and general discomfort but sleeping was nice and very cute as you can see.

So far she is settling in well. She is still mainly confined to the bathroom as we are not entirely convinced that she knows exactly what the litter box is for. The first kind of litter that we got for her, stuck to her feet and she didn't like that. Especially when she tried to lick it off and it got stuck in her mouth. We got her another kind of litter and she seems happy to use this one. She is very active and loves to play with her toys. She likes her multitude of ping pong balls and Mr Chirpy, her grasshopper who chirps when pounced on or kicked.

Right now she is running around atfer dinner in her bedroom (the second bedroom). Pouncing on paper, hiding in her box and trying to make the cat in the mirror go away. All very cute kitten behaviours.

If you would like to see more of her - check out my flickr photo set.

Those of you who have spent any time with me in the past week would now be well aware that today is Caturday. That's right, today is the day that we go and pick up the kitten. In typical excited Amanda fashion, I have been awake since the sun came up. Tomas of course, is still in bed. He is not as excited about today as I am.

Anyway, I have a lot to do before we leave on the 2 hour round trip to get the kitten. I haven't done anything to prepare the hosue for her, so I need to get started on that.