Pass or fail...

So here I am...less than 48 hours away from doing what could be my last CA exam. I really really really want this to be my last exam cos I'm soooo ready to move on with my life but I have to pass it first. And here's what I'm thinking...

• Passing is probably easier than I make it out to be considering that I've passed 4 of these so far and there is an 80% pass rate.
• On the other hand, failing happens. These exams are tough and I know people who have failed modules who have put in just as much effort as I have and that's just depressing.
• Passing would be awesome. I keep thinking about how ecstatic I would be on the day that I get my results and find out that I've done it. Finished. Finally. That inspires me.
• Failing would be earth shattering. I've put in consistent effort over the last couple of months, sacrificing things I want to do and time with people that I'd like to see. Not to mention what will end up being 10 days straight of doing nothing else but study various accounting concepts.
• I constantly doubt myself. The only person who doesn't seem to believe in me is...me.
• I'm thinking of sueing the Institute for emotional distress and false imprisonment.
• Why am I doing this qualification again?
• Pass or fail...life will go on.
• There are far worse things in life than failing a CA exam, some people don't have homes.
• I'm hungry, time for dinner.

Isn't it ironic...?

I got home from work last night to find some mail waiting for me on the kitchen bench. So I opened the envelope but cursed when I received a big fat paper cut on my right thumb in doing so. And here's the ironic bit...the letter was from my bank in relation to injury protection insurance. I wonder...do they sharpen the paper on their envelopes as part of their sale strategy?

The truth hurts...

Prone to bouts of cynicism, sarcasm, and thorns, you excite a certain kind of man. Hoping to gather you up, he flirts and winks and asks you out, ultimately professing his love. Then you make him bleed. Why? Because you're the rare, independent, self-sufficient kind of woman who does want love, but not from a weakling.

Suprisingly accurate quiz result...

Almost a bachelor...of business

Hey there Computer Peeps. As of today I've finished uni and am set to graduate. I had my last exam of four this morning. It has been intense but I've made it through. Woohoo! Party time!

Starved for affection...

It's getting kind of boring around here but for those that are still checking in on Janelle's Reality every now and then...allow me to update you on my Man-fast. I haven't kissed anyone since my last post!!!!!!!! I never thought I'd be excited to say such a thing but it's true and I'm just as surprised as you are. I thought that either A) I wouldn't be able to resist temptation or B) I'd just go completely insane. But it turns out that I can and I haven't.

Ok, I'll admit there have been several close calls where I've had to get myself out of some "situations" but the important thing to focus on here is that it's been three weeks and I (technically) have not been involved in any unnecessary physical contact with a member of the opposite sex. I rock!

The Man-fast...

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing...

I'm hitting the bench.

Fierce competition...

I struck an untapped resource this weekend and all I can say is...you better watch out guys, the next generation are putting you to shame! I've never considered dating someone younger than me and I still probably wouldn't go there but I thoroughly enjoyed my interaction with the 19 year old I met on Saturday night. I haven't been chatted up that well in aaaaages, I was surprised and impressed, which unfortunately doesn't happen very often anymore. And it wasn't just this particular guy that had a unique talent, Steph agreed from the conversation she had with his slightly older friend that our normal target age group of men are just getting damn lazy in comparison. Don't worry I'm not gonna go getting myself a toy boy now or anything...I'm just disappointed that guys more my age can't be as...charming and irresistable. It's time for the old dogs to get some new tricks!

How embarrassment!

QUESTION: What's the best way to get over an embarrassing situation?

ANSWER: Tell as many people as you can, let them laugh at you for their own personal enjoyment and embrace the reality that you're not perfect. So here goes...

I'm at Essendon train station waiting for my train to uni. I've been running late but I've managed to make it there from my house in 6 minutes (my new PB). The train pulls up to the platform, I move towards the door, I slide it open, I step forward and my shoe slips off. "Oh dear" I think to myself "That's awkward" and I turn around expecting to find my shoe still outside the train but alas! It is not. So where is my shoe? I cast my eyes downward and there it lies on the train tracks between the train and the platform. I have no choice but to disboard the train, limp up to the ticket booth and ask the station people to retrieve my shoe.

So I walked the length of the platform with my head held high disregarding the train full of people and the crowd of highschool students watching me walk around with only one shoe on. When I got to the booth the lady looked at me a bit funny after asking her politely if she could get my shoe off the train tracks but all's well that ends well. I got my shoe back and went on my way. Personally, I don't think I could've handled the situation any better...

Bits and pieces...

Once again it has been a long time between drinks for us here in Janelle's Reality...but allow me to update you on recent events:

• I finished uni for the semester including my exams. For two weeks I studied hard, snuck in a few extra curricular activities on the side (a girl's gotta have a life) and generally just kicked butt on everything. Only one more semester to go now!
• After that I had a little break from uni, work and all things time consuming to just kick back and relax. I also used this time to catch up with a few people who I hadn't seen for awhile and rekindle the passion that once was.
• Now I am back at work full time and might I say, it's good to be back. I feel like I've finally got my life back. Yeah, I have to spend the entire day at my desk but it's not like it's bright and sunny outside and I'm missing out on some major frolicking (word of the week). And I'd rather be doing stuff resulting in some sense of achievement then sitting at home in my PJs with Oprah.
• Shivalry isn't dead! I was on the train this morning and a guy offered up his seat up to a young lady standing in the ailse. Kudos to you, knight in shining armor. I'm still waiting for the day that a gentleman throws his coat down over a puddle for me.
• I know, you're thinking "Hurry up, get to the good stuff" but I can't really talk about my love life right now...there are eyes everywhere nowadays. However, if you have any burning questions deep in your loins feel free to leave me a comment and I'll get back to you in much detail.

10 REASONS WHY...

FINDING A MAN IS LIKE SHOPPING FOR THE PERFECT TOP

1. It looks great on the rack, but once you get it to the changeroom and try it on, it doesn't look as good as you thought. (You prefer to just look at it on the hanger)
   
   
2. Wandering around on your lunch break you see something that looks hot but can't afford it right now. To your disappointment you return later to find it's unavailable.
   
   
3. You buy it, take it home, wear it around for awhile but quickly get over it when you discover it has many flaws.
   
   
4. It looks great but they don't have it in your size. You make a few calls, find one over the other side of town then question whether it's worth the trouble.
   
   
5. It's totally your style but the colour just doesn't suit you.
   
   
6. You fall in love with it but it doesn't really fit that well. You get it anyway figuring with a few accessories you could probably pull it off.
   
   
7. You buy it but by the time you get home it doesn't excite you anymore. It hangs at the back of your wardrobe for when you have nothing better to wear.
   
   
8. It's not really your thing but the "sales assistant" convinced you it was a great buy. You never cut the tag off and end up returning it to get your money back.
   
   
9. Your mum picks one out for you and has it laid out on your bed when you get home. Unfortunately, her taste leaves much to be desired. You find it utterly repulsive and dump it at the nearest Brotherhood bin.
   
   
10. After hours of shopping you finally spot a hot one in the window of a store you wouldn't normally go into, just waiting for you to walk past. When you put it on it fits perfectly and makes you feel beautiful. (Awww, vomit. Hehehe.)

Copyright 2007 Janelle & Stephanie

I love the night life...

It was Saturday night. I was jumping on my bed, dancing in my underwear to Powderfinger's (Baby I've Got You) On My Mind when my phone rang. It was my very best friend Stephanie. She had just finished up a day at work. "How was it?" I asked. "Yeah, ok." she replied and we joked about annoying customers. "So..." I said, getting down to business, "What do you wanna do tonight?" After a quick analysis we concluded that we both had some energy to burn, no pressing engagements to prevent post night out recovery and the weather was looking pretty good considering how cold it had been lately. The answer became blatantly obvious...time to head into the city. I immediately got dressed, threw some stuff for an overnight stay into the car and headed over to Steph's to group for departure.

I love going out. The music, the lights, the dancing, the drinks, the seductive little stares, the flirtatious, witty banter, the random pashing. It's all part of an atmosphere that you can't find anywhere else. Add to that the fun of getting all dolled up and the hilarious conversations on the way home in the car and you have the most fun you're gonna have in your entire life.

Above is Saturday night's example of our newly developed ritual: pre-night out team photo. These shots are primarily so later on we can look back at them and say, "Look at us there. We had no idea what was about to happen that night." Sometimes we take a quick pic when we get home too for our own "Before" and "After" amusement. I won't be publishing any of those on here though. They're generally not a good look. Hehehe.

There's gotta be more to life...

There is a new post here!!!!! Woohooooooo! Sorry it's been so long blog-lovers. I have been busy adjusting to my new life which consists of various levels of uni, work and social activities. For awhile there I was feeling a bit confused. First adjusting back to uni where lectures, tutorials, assignments and expensive text books are constantly hanging over your head and then combining that with being at work two days a week and having it be near impossible to get anything done...I was overwhelmed. Especially when you mix in going out and catching up with friends during every period of time I have left over. So now my life has become all about time management, planning ahead, using the calendar function in my phone so I know where I am supposed to be and with whom and what assessment is due in. Needless to say, I am not enjoying myself. At the beginning of this year I was excited about getting back to uni having had enough of working full time...it was time for a change of scene. I was hoping to savour my final year of what I thought was to be full of sleep ins, late nights and chilling out. Well, no. That isn't what this is like at all. I don't have time to scratch myself! And I like to scratch myself, figuratively speaking. So now I'm looking forward to getting this year over and done with so that I can get back to my real life! Nothing is being savoured!

Thought for the Friday Day!

Hello loyal blog readers with varying degrees of mental capacity. It is I...you're number one source of entertainment and intrigue...returning to post for your personal voyeuristic pleasure.

Now I pause, tempted to blog about all the things that have massively sucked in the last couple weeks...but no...I refuse to become a victim of pessimism...I pause again...this time taking a moment to cherish the things in life that are filled with joy and happiness and perhaps yet to be experienced. After this moment of deep thought I take to the keyboard with only one thing to say..."Sometimes doing nothing is a strategy. Don't worry about the future. It will unfold and all will be revealed."

What is it with Valentine's Day..?

Today we ask the question...what is it with Valentine's Day?

I looked up the history of V Day on the net and found that no one actually knows who the heck St. Valentine was. He's either A) a priest who performed secret marriages for young lovers when the evil emperor decided that single men made better soldiers and outlawed marriage, B) a guy who helped release tortured prisoners from jail or C) a guy who while in prison fell in love with the jailor's daughter and sent her a letter before his death, signing it "From your Valentine". Some even believe that all three were the same person.

So anyway, when this Valentine's Day Festival started happening it was originally a festival of fertility and some pretty weird crap went down. Priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility and all the young men would slice up the goat's hide into strips, dip them in the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide. What the heck? If someone slapped me with a piece of bloody goat butt I wouldn't find that romantic at all...call me crazy. After all the slapping occured, later in the day, all the ladies would put their names into a big urn and they'd have a round of pairing up the "bachelors" and their "chosen women", which would often end in marriage. You'd want to be feeling lucky that day.

And that's the story kids...somehow from there the goathide slapping was replaced with greeting cards and bouquets of flowers. It is a strange world that we live in.

So if you're feeling a little low today cos you didn't receive a text from that guy or your boyfriend didn't get you a nice bunch of roses, just sit back and appreciate that you weren't slapped with a piece of goathide this morning on the way to work.

In commemoration of Harley J Thomas...

It is a sad week at JTP as we farewell Harley J Thomas, the longest serving member of the "Veggie Patch". Harley leaves us to embark on a journey that most of us can only hope to have the opportunity to experience. Yes, he will be sincerely missed and his absence will felt deeply by us all.

Harley J was not just a work colleague...he was a friend. Harls was always there for me whenever I had system errors with my PC. He audited my super funds with such unbridled enthusiasm and showed me what it means to be a moral citizen...encouraging me to take the first steps towards rehabilitation regarding my water wasting addiction.

A passionate debater, the trivia king, an all round nice guy.

P.S Aaron Jennings is cool.

Random blah blah...

Ok, so here is just some random blah blah from me.

1) Went out to dinner with my gal pals on Monday night. The waiter at the cafe we went to was HOT! And not just "Oh yeah, he's really good looking" hot. More like "He's so hot I can't peel my eyeballs away." I think I enjoyed the scenery more than Steph and Mel did. Or at least they didn't go on and on about his hotness. But I couldn't help it. He was a babe! Dark blonde hair, rugged manly muscular physique, nice and tall, dreamy blue eyes. I was overwhelmed with attraction. It resulted in one liners like this for the duration of the evening:

Mel: Let's have a photo.

Steph: Who's gonna take it?

Mel: We'll just grab the waiter.

ME: I'd like to grab the waiter. Hahaha.

2) Tuesday night was the extreme heat policy night with the blackout. Originally I was meant to be going to the Australian Open with work but that idea was scratched and I changed my clothes anyway for comfort purposes and headed to the station to catch my train in my mini skirt. The first train was cancelled and so was the one after it and then the one after that was delayed. When I finally got a train it was packed to the max but I squished my way on anyway. As I was slowly moving through the crowd I was up mini butt grabbed. Yes, that's right. At first I thought perhaps it was an accident. But no, it was definitely a grab. I turned around not being able to clearly identify the culprit but finding a group of young boys doing the "act natural" look. I didn't say anything, seeing as I'm non-confrontational and I actually found it to be quite amusing. I hope he enjoyed himself. And let's face it, had I not been wearing a mini skirt, it probably wouldn't have happened.

3) I'm 21 on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! Triumph!!!!! Finally I am going to be...as my parents say...a "real adult". Even though you're supposed to be an adult at 18 my parents intelligently decided that no, that is not the case cos you're still eight-TEEN ie. still a teenager. Same goes for 19. When I got to 20, I thought HA! Got rid of the teen on the end of my age so now i am an adult! But they said "No, you're not a "real adult". You're just at that in between age where you're not really a teenager but not really an adult. You'll be an adult when you're 21." Grrrr. So on Saturday...No more excuses Mum and Dad...I'll finally be a "real adult". Which is stupid cos nothing much will have changed between now and then. But, whatever.

Nellie is back!!!

Happy New Year blog readers! I realised today that my blog is officially a year old and I thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts with me over 2006. Last year didn't really end well for me and I've avoided my blog for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, I drafted a post explaining the entire story to update you all but it was more of a venting exercise so I've decided for now to keep that to myself. Besides, it's a new year and there's lots to look forward to in 2007. On Friday I head off to lead on ESA summer junior camp for a week in Marysville. I'm looking forward to it heaps. I remember it was this time last year that I was about to head off to my first ESA camp and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was an amazing experience, very rewarding, lots of fun and it's where I met Carris. I can't believe last year at this time I didn't even know her. She's such an awesome chick, a great friend and I love her to death. Carris lives in Wodonga so we keep in touch by email and our blogs of course. I'm extremely excited about hanging out with her for a week.

After I return from camp, a week later it's my 21st birthday. Woohoo! I haven't really been that excited about my birthday really, other stuff on my mind. The plans for my party have taken a back seat for a while now but I'm sure it will come together. So look out for your invitation in the mail soon. The party won't be till February.

Speaking of February, by the end of that month I'll have finished up working full time at JTP to commence my final year of uni. Yay! I'm looking forward to going back to uni life and finishing my course. I'll still be part time at the firm doing a day or two a week but I'll be trading up early mornings and less holidays for homework and exams.

So, that's what's on for 2007 at the moment. Who knows what else will happen in my reality. Guess you'll have to keep an eye out.

My new leaf...

This week I had a client meeting at 9am on Monday morning so I had to get up at 6:30am (like I'm supposed to) to ensure that I was at work on time (8:45am) ready for the meeting. See, usually my alarm goes off at 6:30am, I hit the snooze button once...then again...and again...until it's about 7am. It's a real battle for me to get up in the mornings. It takes me the full half hour to talk myself into it. "Ok Janelle, you're about to get up...in three...one, two, three...nah, just five more minutes." When I have eventually gotten out of bed and spent way too long in the shower I usually leave my house around quarter past 8. This is no where near enough time to get to work by 8:45am so I usually rock up somewhere between 9 and quarter past 9. I wasn't always doing that. I used to be on time every day, sometimes even early but in the last few months I've begun to run out of steam and started to become later and later every day.

Anyway, this Monday morning I made it to work by 8:30am and felt quite good about my achievement. (I rewarded myself for my fantastic effort with a Macca's hash brown.) I didn't have to walk from the train station at a pace where I felt like my legs might fall off or try and sneak into my cubicle undetected. I walked into the office, had a leisurely chat with a few people, checked some emails, prepared for my meeting and it was nice to not feel so rushed for once. So, I am now turning over a new leaf. Trying to get to work on time. I'll admit, this is no easy task for me, I am late everywhere I go, it's genetic. But so far, it's been going well.

Take today for example. I don't run to catch the train. If it's gonna go, it can go. I would rather be late than have to run. But, in accordance with my new leaf, I made an exception and gave it my best shot. Still half asleep and wearing heels, I ran my little heart out. I made it too. Just in time. The doors were closing and making that beep beep beep noise as I jumped on the train. Excellent timing! As a result, I was only five minutes late for work instead of 25. Yep, I'm just taking it a day at a time.

The Controversial Zone II

Yesterday morning as I was on my way into work , there happened to be two young men coming towards me. I had almost reached the office building when one of the men, too busy blatantly staring at me and grinning, tripped over the front step. As I passed by them the other young man said to me with a smile, "Excuse my friend, he has trouble walking around pretty girls." I smiled back and continued into the building. By the time I got to the lifts I couldn't help but giggle as I replayed the incident over in my head. Good times, good times.

The other day I was telling my dearest and favourite brother, Pauly about another incident that occurred a couple of weeks ago. I was driving down Mount Alexander Road when I noticed two teenage boys approaching a pedestrian crossing. I stopped to let them walk across, they hesistated so I gave them a little wave to let them know I wasn't gonna run them over. As they crossed one of them smiled and continually waved at me with his friend pulling at his sleeve until he had reached the other side. I just shook my head and laughed. When I told this story to Paul, he asked me when I was going to stop enjoying attention from the opposite sex. Come on, that is one of THE most ridiculous questions I've ever heard. The answer is NEVER. I made some comment about it being flattering and Paul said it shouldn't be flattering because they don't know me at all, they are just reacting to my appearance. Well, duh! That's the point. He also said something about how it's the same when someone trys to pick you up in a bar; they don't know you, they're just going by your looks. I don't think that's unreasonable though. Let's face it, your appearance is what always initially attracts a person. I'm not saying beauty is everything, I mean, you're gonna need more than a pretty face to sustain someone's attention. And everyone has their different idea of what beauty is anyway. But you can't get to know someone if you don't talk to them and you're not going to approach someone who you don't find attractive. End of story.

On a side note, the saying you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover...true. But I haven't voluntarily read a book in my life that I didn't pick up because the front cover caught my eye. Yeah, I've probably missed out on reading some good books but if you're going to write a great book, why not put the effort in to slap a nice cover on the front? Do you want people to read your book or not? To say, "My book is a best-seller, I shouldn't need a nice cover to get people to read it" is just pure laziness.

Those summer nights...

I have waited all year in great anticipation for this season. It's summer!
Reasons why I love the summer time:

• Sunshine (everything looks brighter)
• Christmas spirit (tis the season to be jolly)
• Trips to the beach (bikinis, shirtless men)
• Time off work (enough said)
• Mini skirts and singlet tops (casually sexy)
• BBQs (bringing people together...with some snags)
• Warm nights (put away those flannels, more shirtless men)
• Romance (summer flings, valentine's day)
• Cruising in the car (sunnies on, music up, windows down) Traditional tunes: Ride Wit Me by Nelly and Miss California by Dante Thomas