Only twenty seven more Stair Walks…
*Just added! Photos taken at Stillwater on Friday 14th August – just after settlement – are available on the “As Seen On…” page!
Woo-hoo! Well, I might be starting a bit later than usual, but I did my evening Stair Walk before I started writing, so the number of Stair Walks is correct for the number of days left. Mind you, there’ll probably be one extra Stair Walk involved – I simply can’t imagine walking out of this apartment and off into the sunset (or should I say “the dawn of a new era”? 🙂 ) without one last Stair Walk… but really, a lot of it depends on the time – if we don’t leave here until, say, twenty to twelve or something, then it’ll probably be two extra Stair Walks – it’s just habit – f’rinstance, at such-and-such a time, I get up and go for my (whichever) Stair Walk – regular as a rusty old piece of clockwork! 🙂 Actually, I very nearly didn’t go for my morning Stair Walk today – remember I told you about going to look at mirrors the other day, and after that, out to Rowville to look at the Stair Walking machine, and that I’d done a lot of standing up and walking around? All the time, Julian’s saying “Why don’t you sit down on that chair over there”, and “Are you sure you’re alright? You can sit down…” blah, blah, blah… *sigh* And of course, I have to be tough, don’t I! I have to show everyone that I’m strong – I don’t need to be coddled and cosseted and sit down, do I! There’s a special word for that sort of independent stubbornness – it’s called “stupidity”! 
and I’ve been paying the price ever since. The reason I nearly didn’t do my morning Stair Walk today was because my damn back was so… buggered and sore! It’ll be better tomorrow (it will, truly! especially if I sit down a lot over at Stillwater tomorrow…)
Anyway, today… well, last night, really. We got a phone call from the Hardly Normal delivery people at around twenty to ten last night, to let us know what time they’d be delivering our flat packs. They told us “between 8.30am and 10.30am” – ye ghods and little fishes! 8.30am! I’m hardly even awake by then! So… another early start! (methinks we’re going to be having quite a few of those over the next couple of weeks!) However, because Clarke had put today off until tomorrow, I elected to stay home, and do my morning Stair Walk after breakfast, instead of before it, as I usually do – Julian only had to be over at Stillwater to take delivery of the flat packs – there was nothing else that needed to be done over there today… and if the delivery arrived early rather than later…? Julian was home by about a quarter past ten, so we did have our day on The Tarken Glacier, after all! And a good day it was, too! 🙂 We dinged level 65! 🙂 I died twice 😦 and Julian died three times – and it cost us a pretty platinum for healing, too – but there’s plenty in the Guild Bank at the moment, so we weren’t too distraught 🙂 But despite dying so many times, and despite the fact that we started late – actually, you know, we didn’t start late at all! We’d had an early morning! We usually don’t start playing until after about ten thirty on Sundays, because we allow ourselves the sheer luxury of sleeping in for an hour, and don’t get up until 8.30am! But I think we did well – we both had about two and a half “bubbles” to go before we dinged, and usually those bubbles grow at such as slow rate as to be almost imperceptible! But we did it! We made it to level 65! 🙂 Now the sixty-four thousand dollar question is, of course, “what do we do now?” We can keep on playing – there is more to the game than just getting to level 65 – we’re in the middle of a quest chain at the moment (which we have done before, but I can’t remember exactly what happens next!) and there are other quest chains after that – but do we really want to keep playing, without the sense of achievement, or the thrill of gaining experience? We’re both max’ed out on our Skills – nothing more to learn there (well, there are new “recipes ” for making things, but they’re things we either don’t really need, or that don’t sell well, and besides… the materials for making high-end items can become extremely expensive!) So what we’ll do from here on in is up for discussion – it’s very highly doubtful that we’ll have a chance to play next Sunday (the 23rd of August, not tomorrow!) and very possibly, not even the following Sunday, either! I’ll be sure to let you all know what we decide, anyway! 😉
I think I need another cup of coffee… Well, we don’t have to be up early tomorrow – we’ll still get our “sleep-in”, because we don’t have to meet up with Clarke until noon. Which reminds me – I’d better make a detailed list of all the things I want him to do for me in the bathroom… … …ummm… that doesn’t sound very… er… good, does it! OK then, “I must make a detailed list of taps to be changed and “cosmetic” reconstruction to the bath that I would like Clarke to have done for me” – there, that sounds a bit better! 🙂 I also want the shower hose changed – I don’t like the one that’s there…
Grrr! Windows went and installed some updates a few days ago. Yesterday it told me that it was shutting down, (right while I was in the middle of writing yesterday’s blog!) or did I want it to do that later? I, naturally, said “I don’t want the ruddy updates anyway!” – well, I didn’t really say that, but I thought it – and I told it “Later”! And then I forgot all about it (as one does!) …until a couple of minutes ago, when my machine gleefully informed me that it was shutting down in fifteen minutes! No “do you want to do it later?” this time, this time it was out to get me! I had files open all over the place! A new header I was working on, the photos of Stillwater for the “As Seen On…” page… dictionaries… calendars… files scattered from here to eternity, and I had to rush around and save them all – including what I’d been writing here – before I lost them! I was not amused! (but I have my coffee, so I do feel a little better! 😉 )
Weigh-in this morning. Much more betterer! If anything, a little too betterer! I went down four points – from 79.1kg to 78.7kg! So while I’m very pleased about the drop, I’m also just a little worried that it might bounce back to bite me! We’ll see… I guess my body is still trying to acclimatise to only one anti-fluid tablet instead of two…
*sigh* – I’m sorry, I’m afraid it’s this time again…
+————————–+ * Dinner & Television Break * +————————–+
Well, that was quick, wasn’t it! 🙂 Here I am, back again, almost before you knew I’d gone! Julian and I were just “blocking out” next week – I can’t say “planning out”, because really, you can’t “plan” anything when too many things depend on something else happening, and if they don’t happen, then neither can anything else that was supposed to follow on after it! We’re seeing Clarke tomorrow at noon – then we’ll come back here and Julian will continue packing things up. On Monday, the cleaners are coming in to give Stillwater the sort of cleaning that its previous owners should have given it before they handed it over to us. Julian spoke to the “Professional Flat-Pack Assembler” who had been recommended to us, but he was vague, said he had the flu, and wouldn’t be able to do anything before “Thursday or Friday” anyway – hardly the sort of response to inspire certainty and confidence – so we’ll see if there’s anyone else who can competently bolt together our glass-top table-desks, Julian’s office desk, filing cabinet, bookcase, and the small sets of drawers… before the rest of the furniture arrives next Friday! And that’s pretty much what I meant about things having to happen in a certain sequence… Oh well, “I’m sure it’ll be alright on the night!”, as they say in the theatre! 🙂 Then we’ll have the weekend to glue together all the things happening at Stillwater, because the packers are supposed to be coming over here on Monday 24th August – though exactly what they’re going to pack I have no idea – I don’t think Julian plans on leaving them anything to pack! And the next day, Tuesday 25th August, we move out ourselves and re-locate at Stillwater! If everything goes to plan! And with that, once again that’s about all from me for tonight! 🙂 Do drop in again tomorrow night to see what Clarke had to say for himself, and whether he can install an en-suite door, a walk in wardrobe door, and put a “cap” on the waste-of-space bath in my bathroom – all before Tuesday week! (no, I don’t really expect him to be able to get all that done by then – just…. most of it! 😉 ) It’ll also be interesting to see if my weight bounces back up again after a nice drop of four points! (Oh! I hope not! I rather like being in the 78kg zone!) and I’ll let you know how my little fishies in the TinyPool are 🙂 There’ll be lots of other news and stuff to tell you about tomorrow night too, but until then, please bee good, always remember that a day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work, and don’t forget to keep warm, to drive carefully, and to look after yourselves… but most importantly, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 