Ms Fifikins

I’ve never been to New Zealand. If (when?) I do go I might be tempted to watch some telly as it seems they have some amusing hardware ads…

One of the email lists that I have been a member of for almost 11 years, had a post today asking what we are thankful for. A lovely topic and one that may be prompted by a holdiay in one part of the world, but doesn’t have to mean that others can’t stop and think about what they are thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating it today.

I’m thankful

• For my many friends, a lot of whom I have never met personally, but who are still firm friends.
• That my children are growing up to be independent thinkers (perhaps I am not grateful for this all the time!) and pretty nice people.
• That although times are pretty tough, I can still put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads.
• That I have a lovely boyfriend (the gorgeous MIML™) who is also my best friend.
• That I have a job, even though I curse it at times, and I have options for the future (if I ever finish my thesis!)
• That the uni is understanding about my studies and the way life has intervened.
• That I have freedom of speech and am not discriminated against because of my sex, belief system, political persuasion or ethnicity.

So what about you? What are you thankful for?

I have just spent half an hour or so reading through quotations on failure. I can’t find the right one to express my emotions, so perhaps I’ll just have to relive my experience here…

For a while (even before I met MIML™) I have thought about getting my motorbike license. I have never been into the whole leathers and tattoo scene and can’t see myself joining the Hells Angels or Rebels or even owning a Harley, but it is something that has intrigued me. 

My father had his motorbike license. I think there is a photo of my brother or I sitting on his bike as a pre-schooler. I wouldn’t have been that old because I remember Dad getting rid of the bike after one accident too many. He had broken his collarbone this time and the bike was dispatched before he did any more serious damage.

I remember as a teenager learning of the death of the son of family friends who had been riding pillion, but without protective clothing.

I don’t see myself as a risk taker. I have had some periods in my life where I have undertaken some behaviour that could be seen as risky, but I have never yearned to jump from a plane or bungee, or see how fast my car will actually go on an open stretch of road. I even steered clear of the drug scene at college and could count on one hand, with fingers left over, the number of cigarettes I have smoked.

Yet riding a bike has always had an appeal. I rode one once on a farm as a teenager and remember getting up to second gear. I still remember the buzz riding down a dirt driveway.

When I first rode pillion with MIML™ I just fell in love with the experience. Feeling the wind rushing around you. Experiencing the smells, hearing the revs of the engine and knowing how close you are to the road is a thrill.

So I decided to look into getting my bike license. Queensland has the some of the slackest rules in the country. To get your learners you need to answer 5 multiple choice questions, that even if you haven’t read the manuals or visited Queensland Transport’s website are pretty easy. Actually they are the same as on the trial questions on the website. 

Then you have two options. You can hold your learners for six months and then take a test with Queensland Transport, or you can do a QRide course. Most QRide courses go for two days and once you have finished these two days you get a certificate which states you are competent enough to get your RE or restricted license and can ride a bike up to 250cc engine capacity.

So I turned up yesterday morning for the course. I got through yesterday without too much hassle. I found the slow figure of eight work a challenge, but was getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Then last night I developed a migraine. Well it was either that or heatstroke, or low blood sugar or something but it involved a headache, nausea and feeling generally blah. So I had an early night and felt a lot better this morning.

I passed the slow riding competencies this morning. I could travel 5 meters in 11 seconds or whatever the requirement was and I managed the figure of 8 4 times in a row without stalling, hitting cones, putting my foot down or losing control.

Then we had the emergency stops which I did really well. We did swerving and slaleming (using counterbalance techniques) which I got after a few attempts. Breezed through the theory.

After lunch we had a simulated road set up on the driving range. I got through it, but it was challenging. Then we hit the road. I had a fluro yellow vest with a big L on the back and the three of us (instructor and the other course participant) set out. I totally misjudged the first roundabout and it is a miracle I did not come off the bike. I went up over the kerb, over a drain, down the other side and back onto the road. Thank ceiling cat there was no oncoming traffic or cars behind me. The instructor was out in front and the other course participant behind me was far enough back to avoid me. I could not stop so carried on, but was shaken.

We road a circuit around Yorkeys Knob. I kept forgetting to turn off my indicators. Then I misjudged the same corner a few times. I was told I had one more chance. And I blew it. By this stage I was totally shaken and was amazed I hadn’t gotten myself seriously injured or killed. I felt like a failure. And I had to ride back again. My braking was all over the place, time after time I forgot to cancel my indicators and I misjudged simple bends. 

I get to go back for another day but it is still very scary. The instructor assured me that he thought I would be able to do it after one more day and he recognised that I freaked out, but also said that if I freaked out riding next weekend by myself I could seriously injure myself or even kill myself.

I admitted that I felt too scared to go out on the road by myself so the extra day will be good, but I am already wondering what if that isn’t enough. 

My parents (wisely) insisted I take riving lessons before I got my car license. I probably would have had 10-15 lessons (probably more) over a six to nine month period. Expecting to get a bike license in a weekend is a big ask I suppose, but plenty of people do it.

I know I am not ready to be let loose on the roads, yet it still hurts to discover this. I suppose I want instant mastery, in the same way I want my thesis to be instantly written. I know I am putting it off for fear of failing it. I know I need to get it finished. I know I will get a better job once I have finished it. I just need to know I can do it. Just as I will be able to ride a bike.

Perhaps one of the first quotations I found in my search this evening is the most apt:

The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. (Sven Goran Eriksson)

Yeah, twice a year Myer offers family, friends and suppliers staff discounts (and we get double discounts or something!)

So download the Myer Family and Friends Flyer and get shopping! Tell them Fifi sent you!

I have lived in Cairns for nearly 6 years. How time flies when one is, er not watching a pot or something.

Early on I learnt about the Cairns-Townsville rivalry. Each city seems to think that it is the capital of the Far North. Townsville used to always have the spot on the Australian Weather map, but Cairns stole it because it has more tourists.

Even locals talk with disdain about visiting Townsville (aka Brownsville). When I told colleagues I was visiting Townsville this weekend I was usually asked why. When I explained it was for MIML™ to sit his AMC exam it was then ok- I had a reason. I was basically told that one would not go to Townsville for pleasure.

Even yesterday when MIML™ was sitting his exam and I had time to explore local shopkeepers asked me why on earth I was visiting Townsville. I was given lectured to by one about how much more cultured Cairns is and how Cairns people are less redneck. Ok… if they insist…

But my impressions were different. Townsville is a gorgeous city. It has old buildings. It has the best coffee I have tasted in a while. It has more Irish pubs than the rest of Australia put together (Well I think I saw 7!) and it has a bottle shop on every corner, with one or two within every block.

Apart from getting lost after relying on my jebusPhone’s maps, I found it a pretty easy city to navigate. There are so many shopping malls and whilst there is no Myer, Myer is meant to be moving there in the next few years.

The feature that got me the most though was The Strand. Yes, The Cairns Esplanade is lovely, but The Strand is something else. It has a beach! It has lovely cafés with homemade cakes and ice-creams. It has views over the harbour at night with lights. Last night the moon was almost full and MIML™ was holding my hand as we walked and I melted. Now it was warm but the company and the scenery was superb- pretty magical in fact!

I am rather taken by the place. Could I live there? I don’t know. Perhaps not with everyone dissing it so much. We do hope to go back, not for more exams, but to take the kids and explore it a little more.

I found this on Justine’s awesome blog. This guy is clever- way clever! And he has pretty good taste in shirts too.

You know that whinge about my jebusPhone? The one where I crapped on about Sweety and her ineptitude and telling me that I may have to wait 6 weeks for my jebusPhone to be repaired and that the stoopid toy phone they gave me was the same as an iPhone?

Well all is somewhat forgiven! I did ring them Monday to ask and was told that the repairers don’t liaise with them and she didn’t know when it would be back. She also told me that most iPhones are back within 3 weeks. Made me wonder how many have had issues. So imagine my surprise yesterday when I had a message that it was back! Of course I got this message at 5.15pm after I had been napping on and off with this damned chest thing and realised I wouldn’t make it into the shop before it closed.

So I headed in today and Sweetie was there. Training a new team member. Poor love. Trying to sell someone a phone. Almost went up and suggested the cheapy Telstra number because it does everything an iPhone can do, but decided against it. The chap looked like he settle for an upper range Nokia anyway.

Saw a Lovely Lass who went and got my brand spanking new jebusPhone! That’s right! Not resurrected but regenerated! New IMEI and all. And all they did was try and do a software restore and when that didn’t work they just replaced. I could have told them that a stoopid software restore was not going to work as I had already tried that. But the thing that clinched it- Lovely Lass handed it to me and said ‘Wow, you must be glad to get this back, how could anyone cope without it?’ She knew what I had been through. I handed back the loan phone and told her I hadn’t used it because I had another one lying around the house that was older but more advanced. She smiled.

The sad thing is that Lovely Lass will probably get a much better job soon and leave Telstra, whilst Sweetie will be stuck there forever. Perhaps that is punishment enough!

Apparently all the cool bloggers are putting up a post a day or something in November. Good luck to them. I’m with the gorgeous Kelly though… Ive joined:

Yep, if you are lucky posts will be at their usual regularity- that is when I damn well feel like it!

I still think the twitter rant is funnier, but this still made me laugh…

I have been struck down with a case of bronchitis with asthma thrown in. I went to the GP because I had a tight chest and breathing was a little hard and received a lecture on taking time off work when I am sick. So I have Wednesday through Friday off this week. At least I have sick leave.

I had wanted to blog about the US elections, but there is plenty out there already. I can’t imagine choosing not to vote. I think most edumacated peeps who read this or who are on facebook or twitter or plurk or whatever understand the need and can make an informed decision…

So I share this:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.