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Journal :: July 2005 << previous || archive || next >>

01.07.2005 (fri) It's July and everything is more expensive. Just because no government has the guts to go after the big corporations and football clubs that refuse to declare or pay their taxes properly, everyone else gets less and less for their money each year. It's quite revolting, really. I'm on day 2 of using the ear drops and see no improvement. Considering that I'm only supposed to do the treatment for 4 days, I'm starting to think it's not going to do anything at all and it hurts more and more. The main problem is that being pregnant means I can't take medication, and since it's not a life or death issue, I may have to put up with this for the rest of the summer before I can treat it properly. The phone rang and I had a contraction when I got up to answer it. The most annoying bit was that the person hung up when I answered. Why do people still do that? And these days I can't even get the caller's number to complain about it or call back to try and figure out what the hell they want! My father sent me a message saying that my cousin Susana had her baby yesterday, which makes me the last pregnant woman in the family. This birth was a bit early due to problems with the placenta and also ended in a C-section. I have now ceased to believe that induced labour actually works - From the three pregnant women I know who had children in the last couple of months, not a single one had a natural birth. It seems a bit like torture - you still go through the usual pain for 10 to 17 hours trying to dilate properly and then end up getting cut anyway and having to spend the next couple of months trying not to move too much while recovering from surgery AND take care of a kid. ^ Top

02.07.2005 (sat) My mother went to see my cousin at the hospital and then came over to check my ear because the pain is increasing, despite the medication. It seems the ear is getting better so, as unlikely as it may seem, it now looks like I have a tooth on the same side as the ear that is the real cause for the pain I've been feeling. The news about my cousin were not good either - it seems she's going into a severe depression. I didn't think this kind of depression would be so immediate but it made me think about my own fears regarding the birth. I'm not afraid of the birth itself but more so of what it's going to be like after. I don't think I can see myself as a mother and although I don't feel I have a depressive personality I'm afraid of feeling overwhelmed by the new responsibilities together with the isolation I already feel now. And as often as I think 'that's all perfectly normal' it doesn't change the fact that I'm aware I have no idea what I'm doing or how I'm going to handle it. I'm coming up with new practical solutions all the time to fool myself into believing I can handle it, like using ear plugs while the baby is crying so I can take the noise without driving myself crazy and be able to think and function a bit better during a crisis. We'll see if it works. We went for a walk in the park this afternoon and talked about all this. I think it's good to do this sort of thing because we get a chance to talk a bit more than usual and I move around for longer than on my daily walks. But it was really hot today and it became uncomfortable really quickly. So we found a bit of shade by the duck pond and sat for a while. After the park we went shopping. This year, instead of buying each other some useless anniversary present we decided to agree on something we both wanted and go with that, so we bought a photo printer. We went round in circles trying to decide which one and ended up buying the same model my brother and my father have, mostly because the prints are a lot less expensive. So now I don't have to round up the pictures I want to print in a CD - I can just do it myself. Cool! ^ Top

03.07.2005 (sun) I was able to play Sims 2 today. Don't know why exactly - last time I tried the computer would crash just trying to load the game. Since I still have the exact same computer it's a mystery why it doesn't do that anymore. I also had a little nap in the afternoon, did a few house chores and later in the day I started a cross stitch bear on a bib my mother gave me. It should be finished by tomorrow. My usual quiet sunday. ^ Top

04.07.2005 (mon) - 30 weeks I had a terrible night. I couldn't sleep for all sorts of reasons like having an increasing tooth-ache, a chestburster bumping around like he was trying to get out and an unfortunate 3 AM couples therapy session among other things. So that's how our 7th wedding anniversary began. Typical. The afternoon was spent at the dentist's office trying to get an emergency appointment and then spending the next hour with my mouth open and two people poking at my teeth trying rather unsuccessfully to figure out what was causing the pain. These efforts culminated in the thing I dreaded the most - X-rays! Nothing like a little radiation to make you feel like you're an unfit mother even before the kid is born. They gave me a led vest to put on but I still feel awful about it. Eventually they found out that the tooth I thought had to be the culprit, and that they thought couldn't be because of a previous root canal, still had part of its nerves intact, something that was apparently missed. So they drilled a little more and did another root canal without any anaesthesia cause I was feeling bad enough about the X-ray. It hurt but for someone who has been living with an increasing tooth-ache for the last couple of weeks (masquerading as an ear ache), and has to get ready to deliver a baby in a couple of months, I figured it was a good practice. I just closed my eyes and tried to relax and it ended up not being as bad as I feared. I was actually glad when it started to hurt because by then my biggest fear was that they wouldn't find what was wrong. When I got home I was starving. Since they didn't say anything about the 'not eat for an hour' rule, I fixed myself a sandwich but soon realised it was a mistake and the stuff they put on the tooth was coming off. I stopped while there was still enough to cover the important bits and I just hope it holds for a week. But now I'm still starving and don't know when I'll have the guts to try again. When Pedro got home we went out to dinner. It was nice but we're not used to restaurant portions anymore and it felt like too much food. When we got home we started watching Lost until we were interrupted by a phonecall from my mother which was fine until she started on the whole Tai Chi thing since she had just come from class. She has become so obsessed with it that she has to tell you everything about in the smallest detail and even tell you the same stories two or three times. I don't think she even realises she's doing it but together with the fact that when she's on a roll she doesn't listen to a word I say, it can get on my nerves a bit. The proof is that I told her we had gone out to dinner because it was our anniversary and when she's saying goodbye she goes 'OK, go have dinner then' so I had to repeat it and it still didn't sink in because she sent an SMS at 11 PM wishing us a happy anniversary instead of doing it on the phone an hour before, so she didn't hear a single word of it. She could win the world championship for selective hearing. But I'm used to it by now. ^ Top

05.07.2005 (tue) Today was put aside to deal with all the little beginning of the month tasks. Unfortunately by the time I had everything filled out and was ready to go, it was closing time for a couple of the places I had to get to, so I had breakfast instead (yes, I know, I should do that as soon as I get up, not at lunch time) and waited for 2.30. It as hot outside and I had to wait in line for a long time at the post office but I eventually got everything done and returned to the climate controlled flat. I had lunch and then spent most of the afternoon dealing with paperwork. At 6 PM I had my second pre-natal class and was joined by a new girl on her 32nd week. She was a bit stressed about the fact that her belly was so much bigger than mine despite there only being 2 weeks difference between us. I've come to realise there's a bunch of doctors now who seem to be a little too insistent when it comes to the weight gain factor in pregnancy. I mean, people are all different and you can't expect everyone to follow the average chart like it was the law or something. It's as if women didn't have enough self image problems already and as if the weight thing wasn't already a constant worry for most of us that they have to get all nazi if you gain a couple extra kg while you're pregnant. Personally I find that offensive. The class was pretty much the same as last time with only a couple of extra exercises at the end, specifically contracting and relaxing face muscles, which must have looked really funny from the outside :) ^ Top

06.07.2005 (wed) I was home all day feeling really tired. This always happens now: the day after I have to go somewhere and move around a bit more than usual, I always feel like a zombie. I entertained myself playing with the Google Earth software and marking all the buildings I could recognise from my home town. I also watched the movie Wrong Turn which is filled with cliches but an effective horror film. It's a bit too gross for me right now, though, mainly because I usually prefer mentally deformed characters or a supernatural origin rather than physically deformed ones. I think that's just like making movies where some animal is killing people - from Jaws to Anaconda, it just makes me feel like the animals are just an easy target to pick on. And I did like Jaws but it certainly gave sharks a bad name, to the point where people go out hunting those tiny ones that are actually quite harmless, just for the fun of it. ^ Top

07.07.2005 (thu) I was having a quiet morning, just doing chores when I got a message from Pedro asking if I knew what was going on in London. He was at work attending a press conference about the work he's been developing and didn't have access to his computer, so I turned the tv on to see what was happening. When I checked there were reports of 6 bombs that soon became 4 and nobody was quite sure exactly what happened yet. Then I saw some interviews with people who had been on the trains that exploded and I was struck by the fact that despite being covered in soot and some of them bleeding, they were quite articulate and looked extremely calm and collected. It's the kind of attitude that truly separates nations. But all I can say is that it must be great to have people like these in a crises - it must make it easier for the emergency services. So once again some group of lunatics finds it a good idea to blow up innocent people to get attention. It's just sad to see that human beings don't really evolve that much. In the afternoon I went to my class which went on a bit longer than expected and so when I got out hubby had already arrived from work and went to pick me up. Soon after we arrived my parents dropped by so I joined them at the coffee shop for a chat. ^ Top

09.07.2005 (sat) Family day with lots of food. We went over to my aunt's house for my cousin's birthday party. We managed to arrive before my parents (my mother is always late) and got to see baby Daniel (who's 12 days old) before lunch. You can't tell exactly how tiny he really is until you see him uncovered. I guess the head-to-body proportion fools a bit. He slept for most of the time, opening his eyes on occasion when there was noise or someone close by and that was it. I listened to the tales of the recent parents and had a nice lunch. We left at around 4 PM and I came home to do some laundry before leaving again for dinner with my in-laws and Pedro's uncle and aunt. After dinner everyone else went to see Batman Begins and we did some shopping before going home. I bought 'The Machinist'. I'm happy it's finally out and just a little disappointed that this edition doesn't have any extras - I should have bought the British edition instead. ^ Top

10.07.2005 (sun) I had a very disturbing dream and couldn't go back to sleep so I was up by 7. At lunchtime we went out to see War of the Worlds. I liked it more than I thought I would, even though there are a couple of things I found a bit unnecessary, but it's fun and less mushy than I feared. The only thing wrong with it was the couple behind us that wouldn't stop talking. I hate being a shusher but it was getting a bit too much - it's like they thought they were at home or something and didn't even bother to try and keep it down. So after telling them to be quiet twice with no success, I got up, stood in front of them and shouted 'look, I came here to see a movie, not to listen to a couple of idiots talking, so shut up please!'. I feel under the circumstances I was quite polite actually - I even said please. They kept talking on occasion but at least kept it down from that point on, so it was worth it. If they kept going I think I would have pulled a Monty Python on them and start beating them with my hand bag :) I'm not proud of it but I just get so angry at the complete lack of respect some people have. Plus, I'm probably watching too much Seinfeld - I feel this is the kind of thing Elaine would do :) On the other hand I feel people like to complain a lot after the even but never actually do stuff in the moment for fear of retaliation. But if I get angry enough there's no telling what I might do, actually. In the past i've only stopped myself because I know Pedro would be embarrassed and I didn't want to make him feel bad because of me. But since he has actually hit someone once I think he's lost the right to anything about what I do. After the movie we met my in-laws who had bought some clothes for Alex (for one year olds, so they won't fit him till next summer) and then spent the afternoon cleaning the flat. I got a lot done but very slowly because I get tired so fast. ^ Top

11.07.2005 (mon) - 31 weeks I slept a bit better tonight. I got up, fixed breakfast and got to work. I did what I had to do but I still need confirmation that everything is working properly so I'll be spending the day waiting for the phone to ring and that always makes me nervous somehow. I know that by now it shouldn't but when it has something to do with technical matters that I'm not so comfortable with it always makes me stress more. I stopped around 1.30 PM to have some lunch and watch Monarch of the Glen. ^ Top

12.07.2005 (tue) There was a slight work-related panic in the morning but it turned out to have been the client who made the changes that resulted in the site being down, so there was nothing I could do to fix it except mail them the details of how to correct the matter. In the afternoon I had another class. The other girl didn't show up and so we wasted half the class waiting for her and ended up doing everything in a bit of a rush. Normally there's no need to rush because the class after mine was supposed to be empty at the moment since the woman had to quit because she was having contractions, but she turned up today. In the end it was fine because she didn't feel up to doing any exercises and was just there to get a bit of the theory, so at the end of class we talked about the stuff we need to take to the hospital and what are the most important things we should start buying. I have most of it but some of the more subtle stuff, like the plastic slippers that you can walk around AND shower in, I still have to get. And some of the information is specific to how this hospital operates and it's good to have an inside perspective. When I got out hubby was home already so he went over to pick me up. ^ Top

13.07.2005 (wed) I got up at 6.30 AM after dreaming that someone was pushing my face into a pillow and woke up with my nose completely blocked (as usual). I'm supposed to be sleeping more and instead I end up sleep 2 to 3 hours less than normal. I think it becomes obvious that I'm tired because I don't even have the patience to write a lot. I just want to go back to sleep. But if I try going to bed I don't fall asleep anyway so I just go through the days feeling heavy and tired. Fortunately it' not making me particularly cranky. I think I'm actually accepting it rather well since usually I'm a lot like a baby and start getting angry if I'm tired and can't sleep. I suppose it's all practice for the months to come. I had breakfast and watched some TV and then made burgers and other chores till lunch time. The belly is starting to weigh me down so I started avoiding things that make me have to bend over or similar efforts. It's not that I can't do it but it's becoming increasingly difficult to get back up again without help or pain. So when I'm particularly tired, like today, I just don't have the guts to even try. In the afternoon I went to the dentist again, and because they don't want to do anymore X-rays while I'm pregnant, I'm going to have to go back and change the medication they use to plug the hole every two weeks till after the kid is born. ^ Top

14.07.2005 (thu) Had another work related panic alert today but there was still nothing I could do - there seem to be too many departments in this client's company and apparently nobody's talking to each other so it ends up being up to me to explain why things are going wrong when I didn't make them that way. In the afternoon I had another class and this time we discussed actual labour and the practical things around it like at which point is it worth going to the hospital and what is the window for the epidural and so on. People keep telling me not to stress about this but I'm not stressed or worried. All I want is to know as many details as possible so i can be prepared no matter what happens. It's just my organised personality at work and nothing more. The rest I leave for the actual day. I'm sure worrying about it before it happens wouldn't help me be more prepared. ^ Top

15.07.2005 (fri) I have recently realised that we've been spending a lot more money than we should. We should be saving some for the months to come, especially since I won't be working for a while, and we continue to shop unrestrained and without even bothering to check how much we have actually spent at the end of the month. So today I sat down with the bank statements and did the math. It was quite scary, actually, and we really need to start being a little more careful or I need to get a better paying job :P ^ Top

16.07.2005 (sat) I started getting the hospital bag ready and came to the conclusion I should get a couple more baby clothes. I bought everything for 1 month and up and now I need 3 sets of baby clothes to take to the hospital and I thing most of the stuff I have is huge. Plus I discovered that the Benetton outfits that were labeled for 3 months are actually for 1 month, 2 tops, unless the baby is really tiny. So now I have all this stuff for 1 month and little else. Will the kid even get to wear all that before he outgrows it? So we went shopping. I got a nursing bra that I hope will fit when the time comes - I bought it a bit loose so I hope so - some underwear for the kid and a cute babygrow that is a little thicker than the ones we already have. Since I don't know what kind of weather we'll have when he's born I have to be ready for any eventuality. When we got back I got to work on the baby clothes, removing all the labels and getting them organised into light and dark colour piles for washing. Seeing all the baby clothes drying on the line for the first time was weird. At first I got this 'oh no! my clothes have shrunk' feeling and then it was just weird to be washing baby clothes. It's like the first actual realisation that my life is about to change A LOT. ^ Top

17.07.2005 (sun) We got up late and I spent most of the afternoon ironing baby clothes and getting the hospital bag ready. It's a bit early but since you never can tell when it will be necessary, it's better to be done early than have nothing ready when the time comes. The thing is, I hate ironing, so this was a real sacrifice. Plus, being on my feet all that time made my ankles swell to the size of tree trunks. But it's done now and I probably won't touch the ironing board again for at least two months. ^ Top

18.07.2005 (mon) - 32 weeks There was some work in the morning and then took a shower. My brother called and told me all the news about the new house he's buying and we arranged to meet later this week. Then I went out to the drugstore and to mail stuff. After looking at the pictures of my brother's new house I checked out other houses by the same real estate agents because Pedro and me have also been talking about moving out of the flat and into a house. The problem is that I want a garden and most houses that are on the market in this area are either terribly expensive or have almost no garden at all. We figured it would cost less to buy the land and build the house to our taste later on but there is so much red tape and complications that I'm not sure we would ever actually get around to it. I've been thinking of it as a two year plan so we'll see. Right now is all wrong anyway, for several reasons, mainly the baby on the way and the fact that the flat doesn't seem to be worth what we paid for it two years ago. At half past five I decided to get a haircut. It was a spur of the moment thing due to looking at myself in the mirror after letting my hair dry naturally. I already feel like a beached whale, I don't need bad hair on top of that. Because I didn't remove my pants when I got home and they tend to be a bit tight when I sit, when I looked at my feet at night I couldn't believe how swollen they were. It seems impossible that the skin even stretches that much! Hubby did a massage and everything but I don't think anything would have made a difference at that point. Mental note: do not wear non-stretching clothes at home. ^ Top

19.07.2005 (tue) I normally get really sleepy around 4 PM. I take a little nap on the sofa with Jonesy cuddled next to me. Because I can't sleep well at night and certainly nowhere near the amount of hours I should be sleeping, I can now do this without feeling too guilty. Today was no exception but then I had a really hard time getting up for class. I got ready in a hurry and still managed to catch the last bus that gets me there on time. It was so hot in the bus I was completely dehydrated by the time I got there. The temperature is becoming unbearable but I don't even notice till I go out because I generally keep the AC on to keep me from swelling too much. The classes are getting longer each time. I try not to talk too much, so as not to delay things, but I had a few questions today and we end up talking more than we should. In the end the class went on till 8 PM because the exercise was followed by a talk about breastfeeding. It was nothing I hadn't read about already and my doubts are entirely on the practical side so I just have to wait and see if I can cope with it. It seems my cousin will finally be allowed out of the hospital, 20 days after the birth. She must be going crazy by now. She really had a nasty infection and even though she's not entirely recovered yet, they are letting her out but she still has to go back each day to get her medication. ^ Top

20.07.2005 (wed) I had a bad night and got up around 9 something. I was fine till about 5 PM when I had to lie down because my back was hurting a lot and I had to let my back muscles relax for a bit. In the end I didn't really do anything productive all day and feel a little bad about that. For some reason I felt like listening to Duran Duran today. It was the first band I ever liked and I only own 3 records so I went to Amazon to listen to a few clips from the albums I don't know so well and add them to my wishlist. In the middle of it all I remembered the Arcadia project, a record I would have given anything to listen to at the time but I spent years checking out local record stores and was never able to find it. I only knew two songs that I liked so I wanted the album or at least to be able to listen to it once. Only now, 20 years later, all it takes is an internet search and I can finally listening to it for the first time. But even though I still like it it's not exactly the same treat it would have been for my 12 year old self and it makes me a bit resentful of the fact that I didn't have internet twenty years ago. The other thing I found was that I started listening to pop music a few years before I thought I did. I was convinced I didn't really pay any attention to it until I was 11, when I bought Arena (my first LP ever) but I remember quite clearly that I had a picture of Duran Duran's first album cover, from 1981, stuck on the side of my bedside table at my grandmother's flat before that. I know it doesn't mean that I actually got it in '81 but it was no more than a year after that because I was still spending the night at my grandmother's on occasion and a bit later than that I started going home after school instead of going there. So I must have been between 8 and 10. A year or two may not seem like much but to me, listening to this kind of music and having that fan type response to a band, with the consequent crushes on the pretty boys, was the thing that marked my passage from childhood to a teenager, so it's interesting to me to figure out exactly when it began. The other funny thing is that I only got seriously interested in learning the english language because I wanted to know what the songs were about and my parents were not a reliable source and didn't really have the patience to help me out with that. I guess it's true that if you're really interested in something it becomes much easier to learn, no matter what the reasons are. ^ Top

23.07.2005 (sat) We went to the beach for the first time this year. Thanks to advice given my my sister-in-law, we went the long way round to avoid traffic and opted for a beach on the opposite side from where we normally go. The parking is a robbery and the beach is still full but at least it doesn't take us an hour to get in and out. It was a nice afternoon, I got a lot of reading done and the cold water felt great on my swollen ankles. The only down side was that one of my feet got a mild sunburn. I know I put sunscreen on it but maybe it didn't spread too well because of all the sand. At least it doesn't hurt - it's just a little red. We left before 6 PM mainly because I had to pee (surprise, surprise). The thing I don't get is: how can doing nothing all day be so tiring? ^ Top

25.07.2005 (mon) - 33 weeks For the first time in I don't even know how long I wrote a new song today. It felt really great. I had nothing to do this afternoon and started getting that itch that means 'I must work on the songs somehow'. I started with the basics: going through the lyrics and putting together all the bits of lyrics or just lines that I write down on my little notebook. Every time I go through the lyrics I change something. There's always a line that's not quite right. Sometimes I change the entire thing and I'm still not happy with it. A good example is a song that was completely written but just didn't work for me so I wrote a new set of lyrics for it and trashed the old ones. But the funny thing is that if it wasn't for the original lyrics I probably wouldn't have come up with that melody. When hubby got home I played him the song and I'm not sure if he liked it or not but he said it sounded 'like a real song' or something along those lines, which I understand to mean that technically my songwriting is improving. I feel really happy with it because it's got more detail than some of the previous ones and I managed to write what I intended instead of ending up with an accidental song that I didn't plan but simply showed up. I love those as well, but they make me feel like I had little to do with them. It's like they exist in the atmosphere, like electricity, and I get shocked and they just come out. I have no control. It's good to start feeling like I know what I'm doing, at least a little bit :) ^ Top

27.07.2005 (wed) I didn't get to sleep till 2 AM, so when I got up this morning at 8 I knew it was going to be a rough day. But I had to go do my blood tests so I couldn't hang around the flat trying to go back to sleep. Hubby drove me and I was poked and probed enough for a lifetime. Then I had to drink that sweet water thingy and wait an hour to take out some more blood. I left the clinic a little after 10.30 with a band aid in each arm and walked home. I was starving by now so I had breakfast at last, checked my email and tried not to fall asleep because I had to leave for the dentist early in the afternoon. I had lunch, got a tomato stain on my shirt (despite the apron I put on before eating), brushed my teeth and left. This time I decided to take the bus because it's getting harder to walk uphill, but that got me there too early. I had a book to read but I was getting increasingly sleepy as I waited. I only got to the chair at half past three and the appointment took forever because there was work to be done on 3 different teeth. The dentist usual deal with one or two at a time but since he's going on vacation next month he wanted to leave everything as ready as possible. It was a bit uncomfortable but I only have to go back in September, so it was worth it. The worst bit was that as soon as they leaned back the chair my stomach started acting up. I got home and waited an hour before eating anything (just in case) but I still didn't have the guts to try resting because of the stomach. It seems that as soon as I lean towards a more horizontal position it starts to hurt. All it takes is picking up something off the floor or a low table. When I think that there's still one and a half months to go like this, I start going mad! At night hubby wanted to get a haircut and I went along and did some shopping. I found the perfect pair of shoes for what I need right now: neutral colour, a bit of a heel but not too much, they're also not tight anywhere and they're fresh. Plus they were really cheap. What more could I ask for? Well, if they last the full two months I need them to I'll be very happy indeed. I also got some comfortable pants - the kind that can be either sweat pants, pajama bottoms or whatever else I need - stretchy comfy fresh fabric - and a couple of wrap-around shirts that will work as well now as they will while I'm breastfeeding. Not a bad shopping expedition. Before leaving I also got the new Harry Potter book. Pedro hates Harry potter with all his might because there's such a hype around it but I couldn't care less. I don't think it's wonderful but they're nice friendly books that I enjoy reading. I agree that people do make too much of it but it'll pass, like every other fashion. ^ Top

28.07.2005 (thu) I slept all through the night (with no bathroom breaks) but woke up at 6.30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Why can't I sleep longer than 6 hours? I got up, had breakfast, watched an episode of Jonathan Creek (I love my DVD recorder - I always have something to watch!) and then went back to bed. I couldn't really sleep as deeply as before but got a couple more hours rest anyway. Then I got up again and started tidying up the flat in case our cleaning lady shows up today (she's been on vacation this month). There was still no water so I had to use our bottled reserve to brush my teeth and wash up, but around noon the water came back so I used the opportunity to get the washing machine going because last time the detergent chip got caught between two plates and didn't actually do anything. I had lunch and afterwards I went to the bank. I noticed the main elevator was still not working and when I got downstairs I realised the water problem hasn't been fixed like I thought - water is still dripping down the stairs and walls and making a bloody mess. Why did they turn the water back on? Don't they know there's a draught? Since the problem isn't fixed and they may turn the water off again at any time, I refilled all the bottles and took a shower while it's an option. We always have the chance to 'produce' water because of the AC - since the neighbours complaints about the drips we pulled the water pipes in and have been collecting the water in bottles that we can use for other stuff like watering the plants (as long as I add some fertiliser) and we can also use it to fill up the toilet flusher, so it's actually an ingenious solution during a water shortage situation like this. ^ Top

29.07.2005 (fri) I woke up with people drilling right outside my door. Because of the ruptured pipe the building administration went ahead with the previously planned substitution of the entire plumbing system in the building and they're starting to drill the wholes through which the pipes will go through. It's loud but necessary, I suppose. ^ Top

30.07.2005 (sat) We went out to lunch and then went to the beach. As soon as we got there we realised it was not going to be an easy task - the wind was absolutely ferocious. We settled down as near the water as possible but, after being bombarded with sand for about ten minutes, gave up. Hubby took all the stuff back to the car and I waited for him by the ocean because we didn't feel like giving up right away. When he came back we took a long walk - the only mildly pleasant thing to do there. After a while my legs got tired and I started to feel the need for a bathroom so we left. But by then it was half past five so it wasn't a complete waste of an afternoon. The trouble with these beaches has always been the wind. It's actually the reason I stopped going to the beach a few years back. It just gets so incredibly uncomfortable that I don't understand how other people can take it. Still, better them than me. ^ Top

31.07.2005 (sun) We went to see the Fantastic 4 movie at lunchtime today. Hubby's a fan of the comics and he always likes to see these movies and I don't mind either way, so we went. As it turns out it's not that great. Jessica Alba seems completely incapable of showing emotion, even though her invisibility is supposed to be triggered by her emotions, so it was a bit sad to watch. Yes, she's very pretty but she's hardly the kind of actress that will be able to move you through the characters she plays. The other thing that bothered me a bit was the fact that they seemed to be in love with the effect of the guy on fire and used it continuously. I'm not saying it's a terrible movie - it really isn't - but it felt a bit sappy and lacked humour. I wasn't expecting depth but I just got out of the theatre with that feeling of 'ok, fine, whatever'. I guess that after seeing Batman Begins I might have been expecting too much :) After the movie I had to go to the bathroom and it was closed because they were cleaning it. This seems to happen all the time lately and today I had to wait so long I got seriously pissed off. I've actually been very calm lately but once in a while I just lose it, especially when I'm feeling this uncomfortable. I mean, I don't ask for preference anywhere - I don't even like to park in the reserved spaces, I let people get in front of me in store lines and I generally behave in exactly the same way as before without expecting special treatment. But I REALLY NEED TO PEE EVERY 3 HOURS so a huge mall like that should be damn sure they have available bathrooms for situations like these! In this case they only had the wheelchair-friendly bathroom available and 3 or 4 people still managed to cut in front of me, who couldn't care less about how pregnant I am. I don't expect them to care, but I was there first, so it would be common courtesy to wait THEIR FUCKING TURN!!! After that I just left. It was either that or start assaulting people. ^ Top