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Quite a few things have been happening this week, mostly good, but also one thing which irritated me at the time, but now seems funny looking back.

Firstly for the good things – on Friday after work, I went to the opticians to collect my new glasses. On the first day, it was really weird trying to get used to them. When I first tried them on, they made my eyes water a little bit. As I was walking down the street, I kept getting the feeling that I was going to bump into someone, but luckily that never happened. Objects also appeared to be smaller than usual. Luckily, I’m used to them now, and everything seems normal again.

I am having my bedroom decorated at the moment – previously all my bedroom was blue (except for the curtains, which are yellow). Now I’m having the two long walls painted cream, and the two short walls painted a paler blue (my bedroom is a rectangular size). I’ve already got a new bed, and it is much more comfortable than my old one, which must have been nearly 10 years old. I’m sleeping better now, and I don’t feel so tired during the day.

As for the thing which irritated me at the time – on Wednesday morning when I was getting ready for work, and I was just about to leave the house, when I noticed my jacket wasn’t hanging in the hallway. I then looked in my bedroom and in the lounge, in case I had taken it off in there the previous evening, but it wasn’t there either. As it was getting late, I left the house anyway, assuming that I must have left the jacket on the back of my chair at work. Luckily it wasn’t too cold that morning, although it was certainly colder this morning. When I arrived at work, I looked at my chair and there was no sign of the jacket, so then I asked my colleagues if they had seen it. They said no, but there was a small possibility the cleaners might have moved it, so they told me to ask at reception when I go for my break. For most of the morning I felt a bit stressed about this, as I thought I might never find it again, and it was fairly new. But at break-time I phoned home, and told my stepdad Terry to check behind my bed and behind the sofas in the lounge, as I know my niece Emily has a habit of hiding things to play tricks on people. Most of the time it’s just small things like remote controls. And there the jacket was, stuffed behind my bed! I suspected it might have been there, but I simply didn’t have the time to look there myself in the morning. At least I will know where to look if things go missing anymore in the future.

On Wednesday evening my friend Naomi and I went to the cinema to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was really good, and I preferred it to the original – this version was funnier, and the ending was better. It was a good remake. I organised this cinema trip because I was feeling bored, and I hadn’t seen my friend for a few weeks. It is difficult to see each other so often these days, as we are both working full-time. When we were at high school, we would see each other virtually every day.

One bad thing that’s happened in the local area recently – from Thursday (just passed) up until Wednesday next week, there is a bus strike in Norwich city. This means that my stepdad Terry is having to drive me to work, as otherwise it would take me about 2 hours to walk there, as the local bus service is completely shut down. The reason why the strike is happening is because virtually all of the bus services in this city are run by just one company and there is a dispute over wages. I’m aware that the bus drivers are very low paid, and it must be difficult for them to be able to pay for their homes and families on that amount of money. Most of the people I know are sympathetic towards the drivers, even though the strike makes it difficult for them to get out and about.

This has been going on for a long time now; the last time there was a bus strike in the city was about 2 and a half years ago, and the local retail trade is said to have dropped by 50% during that week, as many people could not get to the shops. Luckily that time it didn’t affect me, as I was still at university then and it happened during the holidays, so I didn’t need to travel to lectures or anything like that. I think this time the impact on the area will probably be the same, as when I wander around during my lunchbreak, the streets definitely seem a lot quieter than usual. I just hope this can be sorted out soon and that the drivers would be paid a living wage, otherwise it seems that this is just going to keep happening. It will be much better for everyone in the long run – what’s the point of having a company where all the staff are angry and distressed all the time?

Today I had my eyes tested at the opticians (I have been short-sighted ever since I was about 6 years old), and they said my vision has deteriorated I little, which was as I expected. I noticed my vision has got a little bit blurrier in the last few weeks, and it might be partly because my job involves working on a computer all day. The opticians had a buy-one-get-one-free glasses offer, so I bought one pair by French Connection UK, and the other by Osiris. I will pick them up after work on Friday. After the appointment, I went shopping to buy some new warmer clothes for work, as the weather is starting to get colder by the day as we head towards autumn.

Tomorrow I am going out to Somerleyton Hall with Mum, Terry, and my nieces Anya and Emily.

The reason I haven’t posted for about a week is simply because nothing spectacular has happened in my life, outside work. I suppose I should write/text one of my friends, and see if they want to go out with me one evening sometime.
I haven’t had any emails for a day or two – very much “nothingness” and boredom.

As for what’s been happening at work, on Friday they trained me how to use the company’s database system (MS Access), and I found it OK, although I did need to think hard about certain things because it’s been several months since I last worked on a database. I did some extra reading at the weekend though, and practised using Access on my own computer, in order to refresh my memory.

I’ve been having a good time at work recently – on Friday evening after work, 2 of the other girls in my team (including my supervisor) invited me out for a drink. We discussed my ambitions for the future – I am a temp at the moment, but I am very keen to become a permanent employee as soon as possible. My supervisor said that she had already told the team manager that this is what I want, and she also said that there should be some permanent vacancies in the team coming up soon, so I may be considered for one of those.

Another really good piece of news is that my supervisor said if I do get taken on permanently, I will have the opportunity to study for a masters degree (to do with databases), paid for by the company. I would be able to study for it part-time on Thursday mornings, and the lectures will take place on-site. It is a two-year, coursework-only course. This is really exciting for me! My supervisor also said that in the coming weeks I will be given some more interesting work to do, such as running SQL queries on databases. I am happy doing the work I do at the moment, but it doesn’t use all my capabilities, so I look forward to being given more responsibilities.

And now the bad news: When I checked my blog comments this evening, I noticed someone had posted a message complaining my forum had given them a virus. So I went to have a look at it, and I noticed my phpBB forum (Creamed Coconut MB) had been completely cracked and destroyed. The cracker had put a massive Turkish flag on the front page of the site, along with some Turkish slogans which I can’t understand. I believe this must have been a random attack, carried out just for kicks – there is nothing on my site which could possibly cause offence to anyone, and nor do I have any online “enemies”. I attempted to upgrade to the latest version of phpBB, and restore my database (I do keep backups of my site), but it didn’t work – presumably because the SQL script is not compatible with the latest phpBB version. So I have now decided to move to using the PunBB forum software, which will hopefully be much more secure, although it does mean I have lost all members and posts. So follow the Creamed Coconut MB link on the left, and feel free to register and post – everything is looking pretty bare at the moment in there! It’s a shame, but I will be more vigilant in the future, and always remember to upgrade to the latest version of software before trouble strikes!

At the weekend I went to see my Dad – I had not seen him and my step-mum and baby for a long time, as I had been on holiday, and the previous weekend they were on holiday in Paris. My baby sister Jasmine is now almost 19 months old, and although she still cannot talk yet, we are not really worried because I was nearly 3 years old before I learnt to talk (that’s what my Mum told me).

Oh, I’ve just remembered to mention that I’ve just added a new page of jokes (click here) to my site. Go take a look – they are really funny!