Just after the dust settled on a first up Redemption win for 2006 and another balmy Dunedin autumn day, the floodgates opened on a week of turmoil for extreme blogger Donaldson. The stomach bug which has destroyed mere mortals struck on Sunday afternoon and the effects were felt until now with carnage enveloping The Opoho Street Ghetto. The minute consolation comes from three days off work, a chance to take it easy and recharge the batteries and hang with my other sick flat mates (it was army hospital for a day!). This rest is needed after the fireworks engulfed the bathrooms and left an unsatisfying sense of lethargy on my aching bones. It provides many great stories of battle wounds and the one that got away!
These events occur so infrequently that it takes time for the body to recover, so I decided to err on the side of caution and take three days off it is now a matter of being re-entered into society. Most people struggle to lose an appetite; I am still getting mine back!

It is amazing how life has changed in the past few days. I decided to try my hand at walking into University to check what is happening in cyber space. Usually when I am in using the University computers after work (my flat mate’s password) I never see anyone I want to like Project X or anyone. The walk to University left me shattered and feeling like a fish out of water. The raucous noise streams of students, a far cry from the solitude of lying in a snug bed on a grey autumn day sleeping. I just kept either bumping into people or seeing friends, mates, colleagues and or special Project Xs. The irony of the situation! After holding a conversation with a guy named Tom (I was battling with the bug), I saw about three people I knew in the distance. (This is my gift which Dom, Jon and Matty Dalman there own of!) My gift saved me from showing my pasty skinned, malnourished ass to people of genuine importance like Project X and others who I feel I should look respectful to. So I ended up walking straight home dejected. Another chance meeting with Project X quashed. I could have played the sympathy card, but I didn’t’t.

Being sick has also made me wonder how I used to fill in my days on the doll. I guess it is different when you can’t physically do anything because you are sick. I find myself sitting outside getting some Vitamin A listening to J2 on SKY. It is a very inspiring and thought provoking atmosphere. From here I can write down my thoughts as to where I am at with God, other people and how my life long plans of success and world domination. I had actually organised to meet with my Boss to get a general consensus on what role Council has in my life? I better bottle this fresh air (I haven’t seen much in days!) and save this to my flash drive and take it into Uni tomorrow to put on my Blog, this stuff is gold!

I am back at work and after initially ruing living with noisy students who play music until midnight I realized that I was once there, not playing music but watching TV etc. I would like to offer a huge apology to Josh Woodside and Tim Borrer who were working when I was flatting with them and would’ve had to put up with me amongst others keeping them awake. I am in the equivalent bedroom to Josh this year above the lounge and he without complaining suffered through me, Stevo and Sammy playing Jonahs until the wee small hours and Hayds playing guitar. What a star!

Today I actually had a chance meeting with one of my bosses who told me of a few areas I need to pull my socks up in like showing up to work before 8:30 and working faster before the end of April if I am to get a pay increase. These are two areas of constant struggle for me not being blessed with the fastest dexterity (I think that is why we mainly have females) and I usually arrive at 8:30 but you have to be ready at 8:30 and it takes time to log into the computers. The irony of it all is that I thought I was being paid fine. The craziness of the situation is that if I am to go up a scale I would be one level below the maximum 100% pay for the position. But this meeting provided me with an opportunity to tell her of how I am feeling about potentially moving on. She said that her son is the same age and doing the same thing. She said I could contact HR and potentially get like a 3 month sabbatical. I will look into it. The only problem is can I get out of it if I find myself the ideal job overseas?