Well, this sucks. Normally I pop a double dose of immovaine before I crash at night, but even then I normally wake up around 0400 or so. It’s not that I seem to be able to have an afternoon nap lately either, so I’ve been getting a little tired & grumpy lately – nothing major, ‘cause I can manage well on 6 hours sleep a night, it’s just I don’t really like being awake so damn early every morning. There’s no Kate Beckinsale to keep me amused, you see ;)
Anyway, to get to the point. Last night I figured I was only going to take one sleeping tab instead of the usual two, & I also took it a fair bit later than is the norm, with the idea being that if two tabs aren’t really doing the job anyway – I mean, I should sleep till next fucking week sometime after a double dose – let’s see if I can get away with just taking one. Ok, so the logic of reducing the dose when it’s not working too well also kinda escapes me at the moment, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, & there’s no way in hell I’m going to swallow a triple dose.
But did my little experiment work?
Fuck, no.
And this is after popping the tab on top of swallowing a reasonable amount of beer at super, you understand. I’ve been awake since must be bloody 0200, & all that drinking the tab on top of the beer has done is give me a bloody headache. Actually, that could be dehydration come to think of it, ‘cause the beer is literally all that I had to drink all day yesterday.
But don’t mind me – it’s just early, I have a headache, and there’s no Kate Beckinsale to keep me amused, nor any bloody coffee either because some fucktard blew the damn kettle up this last week. Bastard. Of all the things adding to my general “grumpy bastard” disposition first thing in the am, the no coffee is the worst, & I’m really missing my caffeine fix right now.
But at least I’m putting the time to constructive use – I’ve already got one load of washing about to go into the tumble dryer, & as soon as that’s done I’ll be giving my sleeping bag, pillow, & body armour a trip through the spin cycle. The body armour – well, the fabric part of it anyway, not the ceramic plates – really needs it, as I never seem to remember to wash the damn thing, so it’s looking a touch “manky” by now :p
I’ll also spend a little time when the washing is sorted out putting together the next package to send home, a whole shit load more coffee – which should make Shirlz happy ;) – and the last of the little sundries I can live without here, crap that is just taking up space & weight. The hardest part about that is finding a box large & strong enough to pack the coffee & so on into, but the guy who runs the canteen is a mate, and he should be able to organise a few empty boxes for me.
Otherwise, aside from not sleeping well at all I’m in a pretty good mood, & I’ve had a pleasant enough time of it since I got back to town. The shower when I got back to base was especially welcome, after having had to make do with a “splash bath” out of a fucking bucket for the last two weeks. That’s the one thing about Mwaro I don’t enjoy – everywhere else has reasonable ablution facilities, but at Mwaro you’re stuck with making a plan with a bucket, and it’s a serious schlep.
Anyway, after the shower it was off to Chinese to eat more than is likely healthy for a body, and as usual the food was great. The restaurant here isn’t in the same league as Maan Hing, but it’s still bloody good & I really enjoy their food. I have to laugh at Hans though – we go there together often, & every time he orders the same bloody Sweet & Sour Pork without fail. No sense of adventure, that lad :p The cold beer really went down well, given that Hans & I were both taking strain with the increased humidity here in town as opposed to Mwaro. Not to put too fine a point on it, I was sweating like a cheap ho, so I don’t think that first beer – and we’re talking 750ml’s here :p – even touched sides lol
After Chinese it was off the net café to catch up on the email, blogs, & so on, though I’ve not had chance to look at them yet. I also managed to get in a quick look at the Pond, & also a chat with Wes which I really enjoyed. I gather he’s not too well right now, a stomach bug of some sort, & I hope that clears up soon as it’s evidently rather uncomfortable for him. I should probably be careful about chatting to Wes though, as he has this knack for pointing out nice photography stuff to me, which promptly has me struggling to keep the credit card in the pocket lol
Last night it was the new Canon D5 he showed me, & I have to say it’s bloody nice…… but R25K!!! Actually, I’m going to hold off on upgrading the camera for quite awhile I think – lenses are a different story though lol – until Canon bring out a 20D equivalent in the 12MP+ range, and I also want to see what happens with the fovean sensor technology first. That looks really exciting, & it looks to be the way forward in terms of addressing the colour accuracy issues inherent in digital cameras at the mo – the way CCD & CMOS sensors work is that each photosite on the sensor only records one colour, red, blue, or green, and then software fills in the gaps through interpolation and educated guesswork. It does a pretty good job, but it’s far from perfect, & this is one area that film still has digital solidly beaten in. The new fovean sensors that are coming out look to fix that problem though, as each site on the sensor records all colours, & colour reproduction is evidently far more accurate than with the CCD & CMOS sensors. It’s a technology that comes with its own problems though, so I think I’ll wait awhile to see how it develops before I upgrade. Besides, I’ve still got a long way to go towards knowing what I’m doing with the 20D, so it only makes sense to learn how to use that properly first lol
Another person I had a chat with on MSN last night is a guy called Riddick, though I have absolutely no idea who this person is, & in fact I’m rather interested to know where he got my msn id from……. on reflection his story that he got it from the NAG forums just doesn’t ring true, ‘cause I don’t think I’ve ever posted on NAG in its new incarnation, & I certainly never added my MSN details to my profile there. I shall perhaps have to take a look at NAG later & see just what’s going on there.
Enough of that though. Probably the highlight of yesterday was getting chance to call Ash after I got back from the net café, & it really was good to hear from her again. I also tried to get hold of Shirlz & G last night, but couldn’t get through & unfortunately ran out of time. I’ll have another go tonight though, with hopefully better results.
I gather Ash must have been in a somewhat “cheeky” mood yesterday though, as she sent me a rather unexpected sms just as I got back to town, & I see another arrived last night after I crashed lol We had a good laugh about it on the phone though, & I really enjoyed chatting with her. It goes without saying that I’m really looking forward to seeing her again, & I’m really happy that we’re back to a close, happy and comfortable friendship, especially given how much hurt & anger there was floating around when I came up here. Where to from here still remains to be seen, and will require a great deal of careful thought, but it really means a great deal to me that we’re such good friends again.
Ross, however…… let’s just say my opinion of that little boy remains unfavourable, and leave it there.
Anyway, that’s about it for now, & it’s time to go check on my washing and sort out that parcel. I’ll be going through to the HQ today, even if I am on leave, on what will likely prove to be a fruitless search for info about my extension – I’m expecting “we’re still waiting for a reply from Pretoria”, like fucking always. But maybe somebody has pulled their thumb from up their ass and finally made a decision, in which case I’ll let everyone know what’s happening asap. After that I’ll be heading back to the net café so that I can get as much of my admin done now as possible, so that if I am only going to be home for a few weeks, I won’t waste time on little shit that I can just as easily do here. I’ll update the blog while I’m at it, & also hopefully get chance to chat with a few people on MSN / YIM.
Till next time though ;)
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