It's all numbers

I've been thinking of numbers a lot this week for one reason or another. On Thursday, I was rather melancholy and thoughtful....

"We're a quarter of the way through the year. I'm pretty much half-way through my life. In terms of my dreams and goals, the clock is ticking - very loudly. My life so far has been one of revving engines, tyres spinning in mud, occasionally moving a few inches ahead, even more occasionally moving ahead by a couple of feet - very often just sinking further into the mire.

My tendency to find humour in life has been a survival tactic. If I don't, the misery and, yes, bitterness may just swallow me up. Like many take a pill against what ails them, I take smiles, laughter and positive snippets daily, sometimes hourly. It's my 'silver bullet' against melancholy."

Thankfully, my inner ponderings were disturbed by the arrival of my student. I guess my point was that I felt I was running out of time to get to where I want to be. I've been accused of being Miss Glass-half-full before. I don't mind that, except that it doesn't always come naturally. It often takes a lot of work : )  Luckily, working on being happy isn't odious and it does actually make life a whole lot more tolerable.

So... numbers... for one, I don't mind getting older. I'll never be one of those people who celebrate their 29th birthday till they're 90. Age doesn't worry me. It never has. As a teen, I found it easy to get into age restricted movies... probably because I wasn't trying as hard as the other girls with high heels and makeup. I'd pitch up in jeans and trainers with no makeup and casually go in while they seethed in their dolled-up glory. Now, apparently, I don't look old enough to have a grown daughter *shrug* Hey... I earned this grey hair. It deserves recognition! *laugh*

Thanks so, so much for all the birthday wishes. It made me, once again, aware of how big my tapestry of friendship is. I had wishes from far and near... and even from some fairly unexpected sources. It did, however, make me miss my loved ones terribly. Thank goodness for technology! Of course, the day wouldn't have been complete without a 2 hour power failure. Jurgis woke me with a mug of coffee and a bowl of hot oats. Nice! My morning student had cancelled, so the day was pretty much free. For supper, I made us some crumbed chicken with roasted veg. I wanted to make the magic chocolate pudding, but the power failure nixed that idea. Yes, I do cook with gas, but the recipe was on my computer. Not a big issue. There was ample delicious cyber-cake going around ;)

More on numbers, I got a belated birthday gift today. My student this morning announced that the metro is finally open from 4:30am to 11:30pm!!! Now why didn't they tell me that last week. It would have made my logic puzzle sooo much easier to work out! It's an easy 20 minute walk to the metro and from there, a quick hop right into town. I've been waiting for this for years!

I stitched up a pair of shorts for Jurgis today. I've decided to turn the waffle weave fabric I posted about into a hooded cape for winter. It's just warm enough, I think, and I do love capes. It won't be a particularly long one, but hopefully it will be enough to keep this garoa off. Yep, we've gone from torrents into garoa... a fine, drizzly rain that swirls in all directions; thus rendering umbrellas quite useless. Tomorrow, I'll be preparing for the week. I have 2 confirmed new students and one half-confirmed. Then I have to reorganise my schedule and transport. I can leave for work a whole hour later!!! Yes, that is how much the metro cuts off my travel time!

Night everyone! Thanks again for making my birthday special : )

Wednesday's logic puzzles

I love the look on this guy's face - very apt for me today
Guess who forgot to reset the alarm last night... so I woke up at 4:30am instead of 6am. For the uninitiated, I wake up at a different time every day, depending on my schedule. Well, if nothing else, by the time I headed out, I was quite awake and could take my poor beleaguered limbs on a somewhat less frantic walk today - stop for a photo or two, then later to wish on a dandelion clock before ambling, nay, make that limping into the metro station.

I am sore... so very sore. Monday, I walked to the metro station, a 1.8km (1.1 mile) walk, then back again after the earlier students. I now do that walk at least twice a day, sometimes 4 times. It's not arduous. Because the bus route to my evening student is 100% ghastly, I decided to walk to his offices - an easy (or so I thought) 4.5km (2.8 mile) walk away. I figured it was no less than my workout walk. Ha! I was wearing fairly comfortable shoes that are just a smidgeon too big for me. I walked briskly, not wanting to chance being late and the sooner I could get there, the more time I could give myself to cool down and look less like I've just run a marathon before meeting the client. By the last mile, I felt as though both legs had full-on cramps and my left heel was one big open blister. Nasty. Otherwise, it was good. There was a nice breeze blowing that made it bearable - as long as I ignored my lower limbs.

I felt those lower limbs for the rest of the week... I won't even talk about the blister.

Back to Wednesday morning...
Ugh, the temperature is at a 'fresh' 24ºC (75ºF) and is now deemed too 'cold' for the fans and aircons to be on. Why on earth do Brazilians always look cool as cucumbers, while I look like a roasted pig with sweat tapping off in a highly unladylike manner?? The metro is packed. They really should open it earlier. I was off to a meeting with a new student. It went well. I'm still trying really hard to convince her to have her classes via Skype. I'm not pushy or anything, just hell-bent and determined *laugh*



Juggling three heads... yep, that's me!
I have spent the past two days frantically trying to squeeze 3 more classes into my morning and another two into my afternoon. You know those logic puzzles? The ones where Mary likes apples, but doesn't like bananas, Joe likes peaches, but is allergic to mangoes, Jack hates apples, but loves papaya, etc... and you have to figure out who gets to eat what in the end? I sucked at doing those, so I avoid them. Right now, my schedule is like a logic puzzle, except without the logic and too many 'Janes' like 'peaches'. Everyone wants the 8am slot. Mary wants any day of the week, except Mondays. Janet wants any day except Friday. Thursday is taken by John. And so it goes on.

I ended up dropping one student and convincing another that she can only have one class per week, instead of two. She may just decide on another teacher with that kind of condition *sigh*

I'm itching! I'm sooo over mosquitoes!! Most things in nature, I can figure out why they were created, but mosquitoes.... ?? Can anyone tell me??