Friday, October 31, 2003

Happy Halloween

Hello everyone. Hope you’re having a great Halloween. The fireworks are in full effect here in Belfast. I’ve got a lovely view of them all here from our mountain. Suzanne got back from Holiday late last night and Peter is expected back tomorrow. I woke up about 11:00, cleaned the kitchen, then took a nap until about 2:30. I hurried up and phoned and taxi and got ready while I waited for it. I was meant to catch a train at 3:30. I went down to a small town called Lurgan to meet a friend called Gavin. He is from Lurgan, but currently lives in London. He was in town for a few days to visit his family. We had a good time and he got drunk off two pints (sorry, mate) and I took the express train back to Belfast. We ran into one of Gavin’s nephews randomly on the street, and he came to the pub with us, which was good fun. Oh and after the pub, the nephew left and Gavin and I had some absolutely gorgeous chips! Yummy. (For my American friends, chips means fries, and they are a way of life here.)

I came back to Belfast via Botanic station, which is in Jay’s neighborhood, so I rang him up and paid him a visit. He was getting ready to go out for another ‘lad’s night out’. I told him every night out is a lad’s night out! Anyhow, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but Jason and I are friends. I was mad for a few days and made a cathartic web page (see October 28th) and then I was over it. I’m glad that we’re friends and I hope we stay so for a really long time.

After Jay’s it was back to my house and I watched a bit of the fireworks, had a soup and sandwich and here I am. My throat is killing me, though, and I’m finding it difficult to swallow properly (no comments from the peanut gallery, please.) I was thinking about how often I winge and moan on here, but then again, this is a journal thing. Gavin was intrigued by my whole site and the premise of an online journal, and it started out as pragmatic, but it’s turned to something else. Making the page about me and Jay breaking up was the best therapy I could’ve had. Putting the England section on there felt great, and I kept going on and looking at it. It’s like my personal scrapbook. I want to add more and more and then I can clearly look at what I’ve done, what I’ve felt and what I thought when I was going through it all.

That’s more than I ever expected to get from doing a silly web site!

Hope all is well with everyone.

Lots of love, Sabrina
(the teenage witch mwuahahaha) :-)

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Cathartic

Ah, it's amazing how cathartic making yesterday's page was for me.  I feel all better now!  The photo above is from this summer when I volunteered in England.  The staff spent many nights hanging out on the beach. 

Last night, I met a new friend named Philip. (Not to be confused with the old friend named Philip.)  It was nice to have company since I'm here in the house all by my lonesome. 

Today I felt all better mentally, but am physically sick.  Ah, the twists and turns of life.  The cold I mentioned yesterday has come to fruition, and I have been nursing it with coffee.  Hey, it works for me, okay? Orange juice made me cough more. 

I've managed to do a good portion of my laundry today.  Yay me!  I still have a load sitting over in the cottage in the dryer, but umm, it'll still be dry later, right? :-)

My aunt and cousins are at my parents' house visiting.  I phoned earlier to speak to them, and I wanted to be there so badly.  I told Mom to just put me on speakerphone and then I could hang out with them! ;-)

Well, my stomach is grumbling, and as much as I've tried to ignore it, I know I can no longer wait to get off my bootay and make me some pasta.

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

 
This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/12/13, which is archived here www.geocities.ws/sabrinigreen/Oct292003.html

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Jason rant

I am not dealing with this very well, I think. I can’t sleep, yet I can’t get up off my bootay to do anything productive. I had dreams about John Edwards (Crossing Over) last night (by last night, I mean between 5 and 8 am) and a cursed tray and a floating head and arms. I have way too much free time on my hands right now to go through a break up. I am on holiday and so that means I have absolutely nothing to do. I can’t find a decent radio station for anything, and I am genuinely perplexed as to why washing machines take two hours over here and only thirty five minutes in America. I am irritable….at everything. If I eat another Bourbon Cream, I think I’ll be sick. I feel pathetic. I called Jay before he left for work this morning. I’ve never called Jay in the morning, but now that we broke up, I feel that I must speak to him as soon as he wakes up? When did I become some needy puppy dog?




I’m losing my voice and getting some kind of cold I think. This may have contributed to the fact that I woke up with drool all over my face and literally felt like a puppy dog. This didn’t help the pathetic factor, either. My housemates are away on holiday and I am here, typing, on the computer, about how pathetic I feel.

Damn you, Jay! I offered you a no strings attached relationship with no commitment and it was YOU who insisted on being “together”. To see only each other, to be boyfriend/girlfriend. I was dubious, but went along with it. As I really started to like you, I told you, and I said, “Jason, you better be sure about this, b/c my emotions are getting involved now.” You were sure, you assured me. I talked about how I hoped that you could patient with me until I got the courage to allow myself to open up, to care, to be cared for. You said it would just take time. I asked if you would still be there when I sorted it out. You said “yes”.

Never once did you happen to mention that you yourself won’t open up at all to anyone. You failed to mention that you knew this relationship was going nowhere b/c you had made that decision upon its creation (which, I may reiterate, was YOUR IDEA!) You didn’t hint at the fact that you’ve already decided you will never love again b/c it hurt too much. No, you let me think it was ME with all the issues. I cared for you more and more, but you, your feelings never got any deeper than they were when we first met. And you wonder why I was afraid to open MYSELF up. I couldn’t have been more clear about what I was feeling and why I was feeling it. You repeatedly assured me, that yes, everything was fine, you were being straightforward, etc., etc. I believed you. Silly, silly me.

And then, after I remind you of all this, all you can say is, “I guess I wasn’t really listening to what you were saying”. HUH?!
I really, really hate what you did to me, Jason. It’s not as if I just got the wrong idea. It’s not as if I backed you into a corner. I offered you what you (I now assume) wanted and no, you said you liked me, you wanted to be with me, only me. End of story. I warned you that I was starting to care, you told me it was alright. Then, out of a post coital comment, I find out that you never had any intention of really caring? And then YOU accuse ME of taking things too seriously. My God, no wonder I’m bitter.

This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/12/13. Geocities closed, but it is archived here http://www.geocities.ws/sabrinigreen/Oct282003.html

Monday, October 27, 2003

Aftermath







I feel pretty miserable today. Last night I felt okay, mostly because of the shock of it all and I focused on the fact that I was brave enough to let go and that there was nothing I could do to change his feelings. Nothing to be done, so why be sad? Well, today I feel like crap.

This is better, though, than how I dealt with Jonathan. In order to avoid this feeling, I played along like everything was fine, and three years later, he still didn’t love me, and I was hurt even more. Yes, this is better, but it still sucks.

Sunday, October 26, 2003

Jay and I broke up


I can't sleep.  I keep waking up thinking, "oh yeah, it's real."  Followed quickly  by, "but there's nothing to be done about it."  The sheet is off of my bed, so I must have tossed and turned quite a bit.  Yes, Jason and I broke up.  To make a verbose story less so, essentially he could never, ever love me and he only liked me to a certain extent.

I believe all people are beautiful and I can look into their eyes, see their vulnerabilities, strengths and hopes for the future.  This time, though, I am not going to let this gift harm my heart. 
"Watching you walk out my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love, but rather, makes me realize that if I wanted so badly to be with the wrong person, how beautiful it will be when the right one comes along."
 
This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/12/13. Geocities closed awhile back, but page is archived here http://www.geocities.ws/sabrinigreen/Oct262003.html

Saturday, October 25, 2003

Jason Weightlifting

Jay weightlifting (this was at another competition)
Today I went to watch Jason compete in a weightlifting competition at Jordanstown University.  I took a cab to the train station b/c my housemates weren't going out to the city until later and I wanted to be sure I caught the earlier train so I would be there in time to watch Jay lift.  So, I called and ordered a taxi an hour before I needed it and told them what time my train was, and we worked out a time for them to get here. 

The taxi showed up fifteen minutes late.  I phoned at the ten minute mark and they said it was on its way.  He shows up and then hits a dip in the mountain, curses, stops and gets out to look at his car; then goes the long way off the mountain and poof...I miss my train.  I was so upset, b/c I felt horrible that I might miss Jay lift. He had phoned earlier in the day to make sure I knew which train I needed and all that.  Anyhow, I waited an hour for the next train and I made it alright in the end.  I saw Jay lift, and he did really well.  Way to go, Jay! :-)

I just finished eating Chicago Style Pizza.  Yummy.  If you remember, I wrote in one of my first entries that I had bought Chicago Style Pizza for a laugh, but now I bought it b/c it's the only good pizza I've had since I've been here! 

Tomorrow I am going to the Ulster Orchestra with some children from the Family Centre.  I'll let you all know how it goes.

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

Friday, October 24, 2003

Holiday





HAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPYYYYY DAY! We are on holiday now. A week off for Halloween. Yes, Halloween is a big Holiday here in Northern Ireland, which is in contrast to their English counterparts.

We made our weekly trek to Tesco. No better way to spend a Friday evening ;-)

I can't think right now, I'm too excited about holiday. Yippee!

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

Lovely Licorice! My family's new pup
This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/12/13. Geocities closed, but the page is archived here.http://www.geocities.ws/sabrinigreen/Oct242003.html

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Horoscope

Cancer
You're usually content to stay within the comfortable confines of your own home, but right now, a roommate or family member is challenging your right to spending some peaceful time alone. Instead of getting angry at them, why not try to explain how you feel and hope they get the message? If they just don't seem to get it, you might have to go to your room and close the door in order to get any kind of peace and quiet. Make sure you grab what you need from the kitchen so you don't have to cross paths with them again later if you get hungry.
- By Astrology.com

Could my horoscope be any closer to the truth?


Here's a story about Sabrina A that's not about me.

Pasted in from old geocities blog on 2/28/13 - archived here.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Confidence

I felt very confident about my skills as a youth worker today.  I was praised by my co-workers and the children and young people showed respect for me.  I learned that one of the children specifically mentioned me when talking about our group to her older siblings.  That felt nice. 

After the session was over and my co-workers said, "Hey, that was great what you had going on over there", I was a little taken aback, b/c I didn't even think of it and it all seemed so natural to me.  That was indeed a great feeling, though, and it helped boost my confidence and made me think maybe I can do this.


Random site of the day 


Pasted in from old geocities blog on 2/28/13 - archived here.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

October 21, 2003

Terrific Tuesday.

Random site of the day

This was pasted in from my old geocities blog on 2/28/13, which is archived here. Back then, I made a page for every day, so I made pages ahead of time and sometimes never got around to blogging that day.

Monday, October 20, 2003

October 20,2003

Just another manic Monday...

Random site of the day 

This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/28/13, which is archived here. Back then, I made a new page for each day's blog and would often make the pages up ahead of time. Sometimes, I didn't get around to blogging that day, which is what happened here.

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Hanging with Jay

I spent all day at Jay's house.  It was nice to be off the mountain, and since he is centrally located, I could walk to shops and stuff while he was working on his Master's work.  It was nice.  I finally got to go to a charity shop - the Cancer Research shop.  Funny, that is the place I worked for in London the first time I went.  Anyhow, the charity shops are really small here, so the prices are a bit high, so I just got some wee toys to put on the bus for the kids.  I also found a Halloween color-in for the wee ones, but I needed a photocopier to make copies, but of course, there is not a photocopier to be found in Belfast on a Sunday.  In the end, I took some booklets from a video store called Xtravision, b/c they had a coloring contest thing in them.  :-)

Now I am cooking some french fries and I'm going to make a veggie burger.  Jay and his housemates ordered pizza, but Jay failed to mention to them that I don't eat meat, so there was none for me :-(

Somehow, slowly, but surely, I have managed to spend a lot of money this weekend.  All I really wanted to spend money on was my photos that I wanted to pick up from the pharmacy, but the two times I've gone, they've been closed :-( Doh! Now I probably can't even afford to pick them up!

Just have to make it through this week, then I'm on holiday for a week, yippee!  I am going to Enniskillen, which is an area with lakes and it's supposed to be really pretty and all, so that should be nice.  This week at work, we'll be doing the Halloween celebrations with the after school kids, so if you have any cool Halloween activity ideas, please let me know!

Well, I think my fries are done, so I'll be off. 

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)


Random site of the day 
My housemate Peter's web page 
Northern Ireland Tourist Board 
A paper about Quaker Cottage 
Some photos of the cottage 

This was pasted in from my old geocities blog on 2/28/13, which is archived here.

Saturday, October 18, 2003

Happy Sweetest Day!

Happy Sweetest Day! :-)

Ah, the joy of Saturday. I woke up at 8:30 am, just b/c my body clock is used to that, so I had breakfast, chatted to my housemates and then back to sleep I went. My housemates went to climb one of the mountains in the Mournes today. You'll note that I took a pass on that one. I did ask Peter if you could swing by the pharmacy so I could pick up my photos, but alas, there was not enough time, b/c they were taking a bus that left at 9:40. Ah well, maybe I'll take a cab later on today.

I spoke to Jason at 2:00 a.m. this morning. He went out with his flatmate and had said that he might come over to visit afterwards, so I was up waiting for him. Well, actually, I fell asleep about 11:00 pm and then woke up at 2:00 am to wait for him. He didn't come over in the end, and I don't even know if he made it home safe last night. I haven't talked to him yet today.

My dreams last night were so bizarre. I keep having dreams of Grandmother, where she's alive, again, after she had been dead. (For those that don't know, my Grandmother passed away in March of this year). I also dreamt that I traveled back in time and saw my Mom and Dad when they were kids, and my Grandmother when she was younger and I was there with them, just watching their actions very closely. Grandmother was taking care of my great-grandmother (whom I never met), who was actually not here mother, but her husband's (my Granddaddy) mother. It was all so real.

This time next week I should be in Enniskillen, which is a town in Northern Ireland. We are on holiday next week. Yippee! Oh darn, I just remembered that Jay's competition is on Saturday...think I'll have to change my hostel reservation. I'm just taking a bus there, so I'll buy a ticket that day.

I really need to take a shower, so I best be off. Hope all is well with everyone and you have a great Sweetest Day!

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

Belfast Photos


This was pasted in from my old geocities blog on 2/28/13, which is archived here.

Friday, October 17, 2003

TGIF

Friday, yippee!

We are all so glad it's Friday, it's unbelievable. We're getting along good today, b/c we share in the joy of the weekend. We made a house trip to Tesco to get our groceries, which is a Friday ritual, b/c that's when we get our money. We dropped Suzanne off at the bottom on the Shankill Road so she could mosey about and then Peter and I were going to pick up my photos from this summer when I volunteered in England, but the place closed at 6:00, so I was s.o.l. Ah well, it's been 4 months, what's another day or so?

I worked a bit on this website and added a new photo page! Yippee! There is a link to it on the home page, but in case you missed it, I've put one over to the left here.

Tomorrow is Sweetest Day. I'm sad to say, that they have never heard of this holiday here in Northern Ireland. I guess Hallmark has yet to penetrate this market!

Hopefully, I'll be able to see Jay tomorrow, but who knows with the amount of work he has on. I am going to see him in a weightlifting competition next week. I get so nervous with those sorts of things, though, b/c I care so much about how they do. Like it was a good while before I ever saw Brian perform stand-up, and when I finally did, I was so nervous that I felt like taking a Xanax!

Hope all is well with you.

Lots of love,
Sabrina

XO

Photo page

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Cubs & Babies

Hello all. I just had some country vegetable soup and I was reminded of my old British friend, Phil. He had went grocery shopping with me when I first moved into my house in London, and he made this soup for me, b/c I couldn't even figure out how to light the stove! It was my first meal in my new home. Funny how things trigger your memories.

So, I don't find out about the Cubs until yesterday and then find out today that they lost! You're breaking my heart here, people. Keep a girl informed, would ya? I tell you, though, I really do feel sorry for that guy who got that ball in the previous game. I really believe he didn't see that the player was trying to catch it. Poor guy.

Today was a fine day. I had three wee babies this morning, all three months (they were all born in July, and no, they're not triplets) and wouldn't you know it - they all three started crying at the same time. I managed to hold two at once and rock one in her little car seat thingie, so it all worked out in the end. In the afternoon, with the 8-10 year olds, we made loads of Halloween decorations, in preparation for our celebrations next week. We're doing the Halloween stuff next week since the Centre is closed the week of Halloween and we're all on vacation.

Talked to Jay briefly. Oh, you can see a photo of me and him on yesterday's page. Poor guy has so much going on and my schedule isn't exactly flexible either, so we might get to see each other at the weekend, but we'll see...

I better go. Ta ta.

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Today we didn’t get out of work until 8:00 p.m. Considering that we start at 9:00 a.m, that’s one heck of a long day, wouldn’t you think? Yes, but it’s a labor of love…no, really. It’s been a bit more work this week, because we’ve started a new group of families, so a lot of our groups have doubled in size, and we’ve been learning people’s names, their likes and dislikes, and trying our darndest to entertain them, or at least engage them in interesting tasks. This week has been mainly Halloween decorations, which has really been loads of fun. My personal favorite are the paper chains because they are so easy to make and really easily make a room look decorated. The kids get such a kick out of how long their chain gets. Next week will be Halloween parties, so that should be even more fun!

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

Me & Jay
On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Chewing Gum & Skeletons

Well, today I had the great pleasure of sitting on chewing gum. Yes, if you’ve experienced this pleasure, you know what I’m talking about. Nothing like getting a big load of gum on your nice clean jeans. And when your jeans take three days to dry by hanging on the rack, that’s just an extra kick in the butt! Ah well, it’s just part of the joy of working with kids. In their defense, though, I should say that the gum was on the floor, not on a chair or anything, but still, gum should go in the bin, am I right? Sure, I am.

So, with the wee ones we made some skeletons. The problem with making skeletons with wee ones is that at least one of you should know where the bones go. Secondly, we had to make the connecting holes for them and put in the wee fasteners, because it was all too much for their little hands. One girl was complaining that her hands hurt from just cutting out all the bones.

Tonight I was supposed to go to my counselling course at the local university, but I didn’t go. For one, we didn’t get out of work until about quarter to seven (the course starts at seven). Secondly, I couldn’t get a ride; Peter wouldn’t give me one and I can’t afford another taxi cab this week. Third, I have developed the beginnings of a “changing of the seasons” cold and all I really wanted to do was go to sleep, which is exactly what I did, at about half seven (7:30). I couldn’t even be bothered to make myself dinner. However, when the phone woke me up at what seemed like the middle of the night (11:00 p.m.) my stomach was growling, so I had a bowl of Cocoa Rice cereal. I was not happy with the cereal. I expected it to be like Cocoa Krispies or whatever it’s called, but it was not. I mean, sure it is a knock off brand, from Lidl, which is just like Aldi, but still, I was unpleasantly surprised with what was going on in my mouth. I forged ahead, though, determined to make the rumbling in my stomach cease, and finished off at least half of the bowl, like the trooper I am :-)

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Monday, October 13, 2003

Cramps, alarm & new group

Well, I was pretty useless most of the day and lay in my bed, on the floor, the couch, or wherever was handy, moaning in pain. Yes, my friends, today was cramp day, and that means I was not in full working order. I was mostly lying about in the fetal position whimpering like a small child. I did manage to make it over to work for most of the day (the bit that involves actually working with the kids, not the clean up or set up or any of that business). We had a new group starting today and I really wanted to meet them all and get to know them.

Also, the burglar alarm went off again this morning, so I phoned up the company and they said, “we’ll send someone right out.” I was like, no, please don’t, b/c firstly, I want to sleep, and secondly, we’ve got new folks coming in and I’m sure we want to not have any work going on while they’re here. “Oh, but he’s in your neighborhood, and he’ll be in and out, no noise or anything, plus it’s included in your contract.” Well, what can I say, the guy wouldn’t take no for an answer. So alarm guy comes over, despite the alarm having turned off on its own. What is the first thing alarm guy does? Yes, that’s right, sets the alarm off. Oh, sure, that’s no noise at all. My chances of sleep or shower (b/c there was a strange man in my house) are completely shot by this time, so I just go over to work.

The new children were just absolutely lovely. This is like our (the volunteers’) special group b/c we’re meeting them on day one, and we’ll be here for their full year. It’ll be so interesting watching their progress. Just in the month and a half I’ve been here, I’ve seen the kids develop so much, imagine what we’ll witness within a year’s time!

Then it was back to the couch, floor, or bed and wingeing and moaning.

Oh, but then I went to the doctor. I got some more Paxil. Yippee yi yay. Oh happy days. They don’t call it Paxil here, they go by the generic name, but it’s the same thing. That appointment meant I had to miss counseling this week, but I phoned her up and I’ll just see her next Monday. This doctor thing absolutely had to get taken care of. I swear, for awhile there, I thought I was going to have to fly back to America to get my bloody medicine. But all is well, now.

Hope all is well with you.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Driving Lesson & Shopping

I had my second driving lesson in the bus. This time, though, I drove Wee Bessie, which is not as wide as Sunny Boo, the bus I drove yesterday. It’s easier for me to handle in that way, then, but the clutch is a bit funny, and my driving instructor said (based on his driving it) that he thinks there may be something wrong with it. That’s all fine with me, b/c I’d rather contend with that clutch that the wideness of big old Sunny Boo.

Anyhow, we drove all over the place, and I was really feeling good about it. I told him about how I always had a small car at home and if people there could see me driving this big old stick shift bus on the other side of the road, they wouldn’t believe their eyes! Hill starts are definitely my weak point, but I just have to practice at it. I’m quite content with my progress. First I learned how to drive a stick, in the car I was comfortable in. I also learned how to drive on the other side of the road. Now I’m learning how to drive a bus that is a stick. I feel like it’s just lots of bits to learn that just get put together bit by bit.

As soon as I got home from the driving lesson, me and the roomies hopped back onto Wee Bessie (Suzanne insisted on the front seat, which was a bit weird) and went to pick up Peter’s German friends and all go to Tesco. Yippee. I spent a whopping £16 on groceries, which is the most I’ve spent since I’ve been here, but £5 was on a special shampoo and I bought like body wash and whatever.

Hope all is well.

Lots of love,
Sabrina :-)


Give us some of yer banter!

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities page, which is archived here.

Saturday, October 11, 2003

Driving the bus

I had my first driving lesson in the bus. Peter was away and he took Wee Bessie, which is the bus I had wanted to drive, so I had to drive Sunny Boo instead. Sunny Boo is newer, but it’s bigger, and it is really bumpy. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what time my lesson was today, so I was just ready by noon (the earliest we’ve had a lesson) and waited around. It was at 2:00.

Can you tell how exciting my weekends are?

The lesson went fine and I drove all around, though, I was mostly on empty roads, but empty roads mean higher speed and higher speed means less control and less control means one concentrating Sabrina. The instructor kept looking over at me asking if I was okay. I think maybe he was just projecting onto me, b/c I swore I saw him praying once!

Hope all is well with you.

Lots of love,
Sabrina
the bus driver :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities page, which is archived here.

Friday, October 10, 2003

October 10, 2003

Friday! Yippee!

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.
At that time, I made a new page for each day's blog, and often made up the pages ahead of time. Sometimes I didn't get around to blogging for that day, which is what happened here. 

Thursday, October 09, 2003

October 9, 2003

Thursday.


This was pasted in from my old geocities page on 2/28/13, which is archived here. Back then, I made a new page for each day's blog and would often make the pages up ahead of time. Sometimes, I didn't get around to blogging that day, which is what happened here.

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Long Day & Dishes

The longest day of the week -Wednesday. We work the latest on this day because the after school group starts an hour later. They are the oldest group, so I think that has something to do with it. I was so tired at the end of the day. Yet I managed to stay up until about 11:30 to do a load of laundry and take a shower. I feel like I'm so behind on everything. I have to schedule time to make a routine phone call. Because we work during all business hours, for me to make a phone call is like a special treat. This is not like calling home or whatever, but you know, the day to day business of life.

I cooked again for the mummies today. It went fine, but it wasn't as good as yesterday. I felt like an overworked housewife! While I was cooking, someone was telling me to get back to the babies, and vice versa. Then I had to clean up after everyone when they left!

It was nice to see our babies again, though. This group is the group we went on residential with. We all felt so much closer to them all. One of the wee girls started walking since last we saw her! Awww...

Then I came the five steps over to my house and had to do everyone's dishes here! It's my week for dishes, but I felt like I'd been cleaning all day! Oh well.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Cooking & Counselling Course

Wow, I guess I haven't updated this in awhile...It's now Thursday.

Anyhow, on Tuesday night, I went to my class at the local university. I am taking a counseling course. It will last for ten weeks. It was so nice to get away from the cottage for a bit. It was also nice to be in the university setting again. Since it is a night class, there are a range of ages and professions in there. It was nice and people talked to me during the break and after class about things I had mentioned during class, which I thought was nice. All very friendly.

I had to cook for the mummies today. We all take turns and this is my week. My boss, again, flipped out. He didn't like what I was going to make and then was like, "well, what are you going to do, I have to have a lunch for them today" and just freaking out. I was as cool as a cucumber anf was like, hey, chill out, I'll make spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread, ya big goof. He comes off as laid back and all, but he's been freaking out on me lately.

The lunch went super, though, and they ate it all up! :-) It never pays to panic.

Hope all is well.

Love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Monday, October 06, 2003

Boss drama

I am feeling in a pink kind of mood today. I guess it is appropriate since it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Anyhow, it was back to work today. We basically just cleaned everything, including the buses.

My boss pissed me off today. Oh dearie me, was I livid. If you know me, you know that I am not one to keep my feelings to myself and well, this was no exception. I was not rude, but I was forthright. "I do not like your tone; I don't like what you're implying; that's not true", etc, etc. Essentially he was giving me grief b/c I didn't tell him about my anxiety at the time of application. First of all, I swore that I had, but apparently that was with the organizations I had applied to, and secondly, he didn't ask. It has not affected my job performance, and the only reason he knows is b/c I told him. I was asking about seeing a dr to get some more of my medication. He just flipped his lid. I could go into more detail, but frankly, it pisses me off to think about it and I talked about it at length with my counselor today.

Today was clean up day. We all cleaned our assigned rooms and I did the mountain of dishes that had piled up. We'll see how it goes.

My roommates are sitting here in the living room. They are watching a game show which is asking a man very hard questions. So far he has gotten 25 correct. I don't know how many they ask. Suzanne just said he's brilliant. Peter said he's not normal.

Now we've moved on to a guy who kissed his girlfriend's brother...oh British soaps...

Check out the links on the side over there. I've put some new ones on. Hope you like it!

Love,
Sabrina :-)

The Onion
Common Dreams
Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Craig's List

On 2/28/13 this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Sunday, October 05, 2003

Jay's new place

Hi there,

I wasn't able to update this yesterday b/c geocities was having technical problems or something.

Well, I had a driving lesson. It went super and I was driving all over the place, changing gears with no problem. Next weekend my lesson will be in one of the minibuses. Yippee! It is so defeating when I feel so confident in the car but can't do a thing in the minibus.

The roomies and I had a meeting about chores and what not b/c the state of our house is a bit atrocious. I wrote out a schedule of dish weeks and allocated rooms and it should work out well. I think up to this point, no one wanted to step on anyone's toes about the issue.

I went to Jay's last night and saw his new place. It has like six stories with a few rooms (or even just one or two) on each floor. It's very interesting. You wouldn't find a place like that in America! We would never allow for all those stairs!

Things with Jay are going pretty well. We are just taking things slow. I have to say, though, that it is so nice to have someone actually remember something I said to them. Like, when I tell Jay I have a driving lesson, he remembers, so then the next time I speak to him after the lesson, he'll ask me how it went. Simple things like that mean so much...especially when I haven't had that in forever.

Well, that's all the news for now. See you later, gators!

 Love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Saturday, October 04, 2003

Forgotten Pay

I feel much more well rested today. I have a driving lesson at 3:00 pm. I’m excited about it, but feeling a little weary, as when I tried to transfer my awesome driving skills to the van, I landed flat on my face. Oh well, I’ll just have to keep on practicing.

Grant “forgot” to pay us on Friday and so now we have to wait until Monday for our pay. I spent my last few pounds on pizza last night. My stomach was grumbling, grumbling, and I already had to go to the cottage to borrow two pieces of bread for a sandwich at lunch time, and the “Sabrina, the animiated series” pasta shapes I heated up were disgusting. I just bought them b/c they had my name on the label :-)

I have pizza left over for lunch today, though. Maybe my roommate will drive us to the grocery store so I can buy a loaf of bread for 38 pence and a frozen pizza for 50p. That should do me until Monday.

I should be hanging out with Jay and the boys tonight watching DVDs. I’ll get to see his new place. Should be fun.

If you’ve noticed that my entries have been shorter since residential, it’s b/c I sliced my finger with a knife (on accident, just to be clear) so I’m typing with the wrong fingers, which goes very slowly, makes for lots of typos, and annoys me. Thus, I keep it to the point!

Until next time, my friends…

Love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.

Friday, October 03, 2003

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Okay, so I’m back. I sliced my finger open, got beat up repeatedly by ten year old boys and changed diarrhea-ridden diapers that would shame a grown man, but I had a great time! No, really. I’m super duper tired and still have to do loads of laundry and clean out the buses, not to mention shop for next week, as I am cooking for the mummies, but it was great! Hey, I’m serious here!

I worked mostly with the after school group, which are children aged 5-15. I did spend one day with the wee ones, though. I feel really close to them all, and hopefully they to me. It will be interesting to see how our relationships are when we’re back in Belfast.

Perhaps I'll fill in more specific details later, but I just wanted to say that it went well. Yippee!

Love,
Sabrina :-)

On 2/28/13, this was pasted in from my old geocities blog, which is archived here.