is this a hickey or a bruise???

I'm completely in love with Katy Perry's new song "Last Friday Night", which is where the title of today's post comes from. One of the other things I love most about the gorgeous Katy is this..

I want, I want, I want! Her new perfume is just the bomb. Luckily my birthday is next month and I've been dropping major hints to Neil haha.

While on the subject of cats, I totally love the new comic from Yasmin at Cat Versus Human:

This is EXACTLY how my friends react to my cat-fluff-laden house and clothes. But what can I say, I love Charly to pieces and if she wants to sit on my best sweater or sleep on my pillows, she is more than welcome! Thank heaven I found a man who loves animals just as much as I do!

Things with me are going okay. Still exhuasted and nauseous, I have an appointment with my GP this afternoon to find out the results of my blood tests. Am going to get an appointment with Dr Paul, my lupus specialist, in the next month or so (hopefully) to see if this is a lupus flare or something else. I had a great weekend, though, mainly because of the Eurovision Song Contest, which regular readers will remember me raving about last year. I just love it, lots of Australians watch it each year even though we're clearly NOT part of Europe LOL. It's kitsch, quirky and in bad taste sometimes, but some of the music is awesome and I love learning bits and pieces about other countries. This year's winner was Azerbaijan, who were one of my top 5 acts. Neil looked up Azerbaijan on wikipedia after the win and we learnt all about their independence from the former USSR, and that the capital is Baku and the population is approx 9 million. It's a Muslim country, and they were the first Muslim country to initiate voting for women (in around 1918, so years before the US or UK!). We're such a romantic couple, laying in bed googling hahahahaha.

Thanks for everyone's support over the last few low-mood posts. I'm so grateful for this blog, and the blogs of my friends, which help keep me moderately sane! I'm also grateful for my readers, of whom I now have 103!! Thank you for reading, commenting, emailing (-:

Things I love just now...

* Cats

* Neil

* Coffee

* Blogs

* Survivor's Boston Rob - bless his heart xx

* Adele's CDs 19 and 21 (anyone who hasn't heard her, look for her Brit Music Awards performance on youtube, it's just amazing)

* Buffy

Adjustment

I had such high hopes for part-time work - namely that my two days off during the week would be filled with exercise, socialising, blogging, writing, homework and housework. I'm now two weeks into my new life, and am loving every minute of my job. But the days off have been almost ENTIRELY filled with sleeping and laying semi-comatose on the couch. I think (hope) it's a period of adjustment -- after 4 months of being on disability I had become used to rest being the norm rather than the exception. So when I have the chance, my body is desperately trying to catch up. I'm also dealing with the 3 hours travelling each workday, which means that come Monday and Thursday the LAST thing I want to do is go anywhere.

Other than the tiredness, and lack of accomplishment on my days off, I think I am doing well. Dr A has been in the US for 2 weeks, so I've been "untherapied" but none the worse for it. I'm looking foward to catching up with him and sharing some positive news for a change. I'm getting to do some interesting and challenging work at DF, and most of the time have support and backup whenever I need it. I wish I had found work in the charity field years ago... the atmosphere is completely different. My last job, at the Evil Empire, seemed to be entirely about money and the bottom line. Now, every cent and every atom of energy spent is towards helping people. Whether I'm typing, filing, writing or updating the website -- everything is done with the ultimate goal of helping people. I feel like I'm in heaven. Gush gush...blah blah.

Being part of an entirely female workforce has its downside. The communal lunch stretches from half an hour to an hour sometimes, as people share stories of ex-husbands, recalcitrant kids and horror stories from the news headlines. Mostly, I eat my lunch and then go back to work. I've never been one for group sharing lol. No-one seems to mind, as I pick up the phone while they can keep nattering. Because they are a disparate group of women, I neither fit in or don't fit in, if you know what I mean. They seem to be thrilled to have me there, and use my skills, and have said I am wonderful and capable. Phew.

I really think Dr A has a point when he talks about moderate BPD (the category he puts me in) being helped by the structure and purpose of work (fulltime, part-time or volunteer). He was telling me once that quite a few mental illnesses are made harder to cope with when you add work to the mix, but Borderlines often improve when they can find a healthy work/life mix. I was starting to think he was full of crap, and no doubt not everyone has the same experience as me, but so far I am finding everything easier to cope with now I am working somewhere positive. My last job was definitely a major contributor to my breakdown and illness. But part-time work, and work in a positive environment, is a whole different kettle of fish. I also find that being out of the house, and away from the family stressors, has helped my mood.

In other news, last weekend was exciting because of the two semifinals and the final of Eurovision. I was disappointed in the eventual winner, Norway, who was a sweet enough lad but not one of my favourites. Here are two of my favourites, Portugal (who came 15th out of 25 countries) and Estonia (6th), both of which had completely beautiful and talented ladies out front who made me wish I still lived in Europe:

Eurovision Song Contest

One of the few things that can make me smile at the moment is remembering that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest is on next week. It's been one of my passions since the mid 90s when I lived briefly in England, where it's very popular. Australia doesn't enter, for obvious reasons (though these days the countries involved are further afield than traditional Europe!) but the contest has always been screened here, with a bit of a cult following. It's one of those mad, fun, weird things that I don't fully understand, but I love it. You never know what to expect from Eurovision -- some of the artists and songs are truly brilliant, and yet more are truly tragic. The voting is by telephone, by the public, and there's always some "bloc" voting (with neighbouring countries voting for each other, etc). The usual commentator, BBC's Terry Wogan, has retired after umpteen years, which is sad because he managed to be reverent yet slightly sarcastic in his comments. Often we would be laughing so hard at his commentary that we would miss some of the songs!

This year's contest is held in Russia, as they won it in 2008 (a very cute boy named Dima won with his song "Believe"). There are so many countries now that they have two semi-finals, which are on the 12 and 14 of May, with the final on the 16th. Mr Ex is also a huge fan, as is my family, so we usually have a party with international foodstuffs, quizzes, games, and costumes. Big, big deal! Last year, it was the weekend Mr Ex and I made the decision to part ways, which naturally put a dampener on celebrations. I'm hoping this year will be more enjoyable...

I've decided to put here on my blog some of my favourite Eurovision acts from last year. Bosnia & Herzegovina's entry came 10th...it's so weird and catchy! Makes me smile...



Latvia was one of the favourites last year, they've won the contest before - this entry came 12th. I absolutely love it.



Earlier today I really felt bereft. So hard to get motivated, crazy and harmful thoughts going through my mixed up head. I feel a lot better now, thanks to my litle Eurovision hobby/obsession. I have CDs of previous contests, and the last ten years on video, and youtube has stacks of clips. I think I will spend more time in Eurovision world this week.