Dear life

Wow! Just Wow…and NOT in a good way. Last week you did your utmost best to make my life an absolute misery…the really sad part was that the week was a really short one.

While technically the week started off well as I spent Monday and most of Tuesday in my home town visiting the parentals, the rest of the week did not have quite the same vibe. On Tuesday night, shortly after returning to Jozi, The Italian and I broke up. Now I realise most of you don’t even know about The Italian…this was done mostly on purpose…but just as he was starting to weave his way into my social media life it all came to an end. I suppose as far as breakups go it wasn’t that bad. We had a long talk and parted ways very amicably….for this I’m grateful. Breakups can be so messy and horrible…I suppose I’m kind of lucky. Anyway…despite the fact that we parted ways amicably, breakups still suck. I don’t easily let people in…and the fact that someone I trusted enough to let in was just no longer there is not only painful, but also slightly depressive.

So anyway…my week was NOT going well and then of course YOU had to make it worse. On Friday morning, shortly after having seen my chiropractor and getting awesome feedback from him, some idiot in a BERCO express delivery van (with bullbars) decided NOT to stop at the red traffic light. The same light where a whole bunch of other cars had already stopped and had been waiting for the light to change for some time. Needless to say he smashed into the back of my car pretty hard….there goes all the progress I’ve made with my chiropractor. But worse than that…my poor 4 month old car:( I’m still heartsore when I think about it.

Look, in all honesty the actual damage isn’t that bad. But I still have to go through all the admin of an insurance claim and I’ll still have to drive around in a stupid rental while my baby gets fixed. I’m not impressed.

So right now the scoring is as follows: Life 2 Ruby 0. Now you might have won this particular battle, but I can assure you that you will NOT win this war. Prepare to kiss my ass.

Regards
Ruby
xxxx

Dear Bosslady

So, today marks the one year anniversary of becoming self-employed. Yay me! It has not been easy and at times it has been down right stressful. But I have to tell you that not for one single second in the last year did I regret my decision. It has been an amazing learning curve, not only with regards to my trade, but also with regards to myself, my friends, my faith and life in general.

So here’s to stepping out, to being brave and to doing my own thing. Happy anniversary to me:)

Dear 2012

It’s been so long since I’ve typed a blog post that sitting here doing “this” feels rather strange. But here I am, nevertheless, getting back into the swing of blogging…finally:)

It’s only the end of February and 2012 has already proven to be quite the year. So many things have happened, so many changes have taken place. 2011 ended and 2012 started with a big bang. The adventure of a lifetime. Jetting off to the States with my best friend to see all the sights and sounds of Washington and New York and to most importantly spend New Years eve in Times Square. This has long been a big dream of mine and I can not even begin to describe this experience to anyone. It is overwhelming, amazing and now when I sit and look at the million of pictures we took I can not believe we were actually right there in the thick of things when it happened. Such memories:) It was not my first trip to the States, but as it was my friend’s I was lucky enough to once again experience some of the most amazing places and to experience some I had not yet seen.

Much shopping was done, plenty of fun was had and we came back with so many memories and experiences. I look back and all I can do is smile. I was also lucky enough to extend my stay in the US with another week to go and visit my brother and sister-in-law. As many of you know they are expecting, and it was also during my trip that we found out I will be aunty to a little boy. I was also blessed enough to experience listening to his little heart heat and to feel him kick. The emotion this brought, I can not even begin to explain. I’m by no means broody or in any state of mind where I want my own. But there was something that touched my heart so deeply that tears were very very near the surface when I heard that little beat.

Anyhoodle, enough with all the emotional stuff…I’ve included a few pictures of the holiday. Between the 2 of us we took over a thousand and choosing only a few is hard and does not do justice to it. But here they are never the less:)

At the Lincoln Memorial....being a tourist

I could get used to sitting in the Oval office

Half frozen pond in Central Park... -11 will do that to you

Happy little family - Sis-in-law, bro and Charlie the dog

With my bro - even though his eyes are shut

P1050433 — Just a tad of the craziness that is Times Square on New Years Eve

P1050469 — Happy new year!!! Blessed 2012!!!!!!

Unfortunately, while 2012 started off well, I was greeted with a consultants worst nightmare when I came back. Our investigation had finished and we had not yet been reassigned to a new one. While I had no doubt that I would be reassigned, it did meant that I came back to 3 weeks of unemployment…..and in the consultant world no work = no pay. It was just a TAD stressful, but thankfully all that has been resolved now, and February saw me returning to more regular (almost full) working hours.

But things weren’t all bad:) There were also a few really good things that happened along the way. For one, I’ve finally received something I’ve been waiting for since October:) It is gorgeous and I love it to bits.

So my dearest 2012…we’ve gotten off to a fairly good and somewhat rocky start. We’ve got 10 months left to make this the best year of my life. Let’s do this!

Love
Ruby
xxxxx

Dear license renewal people

On Monday morning I decided to embark on an adventure. I had to renew my driver’s license. Fun right? So after I spent the morning sleeping through 3 alarms, setting off my house alarm, knocking my shoulder alarmingly hard against a door frame and launching a mad search for my ID book which suddenly decided to disappear I finally ventured to your offices.

Your staff was less than friendly from the get go. No clear directions on where you are supposed to go or who you are supposed to speak to could be found. After pulling a ditzy blonde move some other victims of the system indicated where I had to go wait in line. It was a LOOOOONG line. I was quite happy to stand and wait my turn…but then I was instructed to “SIT DOWN!!!” rather loudly. I gave the filthy, sweat and germ infested fabric coated chairs a swift once over and politely declined, stating that I’d rather stand. A rather intense tongue lashing quickly changed my mind and I found myself balancing right on the edge of the chair, trying my best not to actually touch anything with my bare skin and cursing myself for wearing a short little dress.

But this was only the start. It was HOT and there was not a fan or an aircon in sight. I feel for the staff…I really do…it can’t be easy having to work in those conditions..but trust me..they sure as hell made sure we understood what an absolute pain it was for them to work there O_o. After not moving at all for what seemed like an eternity, the line finally started moving. This meant more filthy chairs, more balancing acts and, in an attempt not to be bored to death, chatting with the people sitting around me. I was then shouted at for talking to much by one of the people working there…REALLY??

When it was nearly my turn for eye tests etc. I had the unique opportunity to tweet the following:
(Arch being catch of course) Yeah that was pleasant…NOT. I had absolutely no idea how to react. Do I ask him what the hell he’s doing? Do I shout and throw a little tantrum and risk getting shouted at again? Do I make a joke about it? I just didn’t know how to deal with it…but was luckily saved from having to deal with said neighbour for much longer when it was my turn.

I smiled all friendly like, said “Hi” and started asking the guy behind the table a question. Right in the middle of my question he started talking. Then proceeded to shout at me saying: “Stop talking when I’m talking!!!”. Excuse me??? I was talking FIRST! I think you could literally HEAR my jaw dropping when he followed that up with a “Now be quiet!”. Really? Firstly…you interrupted me and then you shout at me??? What the hell? I could have sworn I had walked into a parallel universe when I entered that building.

So I promptly snapped my mouth shut and listened to his instructions very carefully. Pull the little lever in the direction of the solid line. That shouldn’t be too hard right? Except that he informed me I needed glasses and failed the eyetest completely. It was at this point I finally snapped, figured out he explained the procedure to me incorrectly and then told him in no uncertain terms that he better allow me to do the eye test AGAIN or I would make the rest of his human life a complete and utter misery. I was allowed to retake the test…my eyesight, as 5 years ago, is perfect.

I was then sent to a new line in order to pay…oh joy! another line of dirty, sweaty, germy, fabric covered seats….at this point in time I was tired of being surrounded by freaks taking pictures of my feet, the heat and being shouted at…I couldn’t wait to get out of there. The payment line went smoothly and quickly except for one incident where the girl working in front stepped out to shout at EVERYONE waiting in line telling us that we’re useless because ONE guy didn’t have his R300 ready and waiting when he got to the front. He had to actually take it out of his wallet… SCANDAL!

So guys…please…train your staff…send them on a people skill course…clean your waiting area….allow people to stand if they so choose and for goodness sake install some aircons or fans in that place!

Regards
Ruby
xxx

Dear Diary

I learned a couple of things this weekend. It wasn’t pleasant…in fact…it was awful, mostly….

1. People are cruel
2. Being snubbed by people who used to call themselves your friends hurts
3. It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked to get where you are…some people will always try to break it down
4. No matter what you do…for some people it’s just never good enough
5. It hurts when people who were once close to you takes everything you’ve worked so hard for because you were working towards a dream and with one foul swoop of their tongues diminish it to superficial things you do to impress superficial people
6. People who claim to be non-judgemental can be awfully judgemental
7. No matter how many times you tell yourself it doesn’t matter and no matter how well you KNOW that you shouldn’t let it get to you….it hurts
8. Realising that you’ve outgrown people is both freeing and sad
9. Having your best friend give you a hug and comfort you makes it a lot better..makes you more grateful…and makes you realise what you do have. I am happy, I’m working towards my dreams in a big way, I have friends who care about me more than I can ever realise, I have a family I love and adore. So you know what…take your superficial little friendship and your little clique and go play all by yourselves in your limited little world. I’ll stick to being happy and chasing my dreams and having people around me who care about me, thank you very much.

Regards,
Ruby

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Category: Life