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| Friday, May 25, 2007 |
| The Ferocious Cats |
Some months ago, Mr Ata's mother handed on a large collection of schoolwork from primary-school days. Tonight, we sorted through it and then threw it out. From the collection, however, comes this little gem for your reading pleasure.
The Ferocious Cats
By Mr Ata, 1987
Setting: On top of a cliff
Plot: The characters meet an old woman who has 30 mean cats.
Characters: pie maker, girl who is brave but clumsy, a boy who is lost.
One cold day on the top of a cliff an old woman was playing with her thirty mean cats in her tent when a very weary traveller passed by. Just as the traveller was going past the tent one of the cats jumped out and attacked the traveller. The traveller was so tired he couldn't get away in time and was knocked over they the cats. Once the traveller was down the cat meowed to the other cats to come and have dinner. The old woman came out just a little too late and saw the traveller lying face down on the ground dead and half eaten. She scolded the cats and sent them inside.
Just then the town's pie maker arrived at the old woman's tent to ask if she wanted to order any pies when he saw the corpse and ran away shouting and screaming about a murder or something of the sort.
When the pie maker arrived back at town he told the sheriff and by about lunch-time every one was talking about the murder.
A little girl who was thought to be brave but known to be clumsy heard about the murder and wanted to investigate it, but her parents wouldn't let her.
So at about 10:00pm when every one was asleep in bed the little girl put on her clothes and sneaked out into the cold night air.
As soon as she got outside, she started to shiver with cold but she didn't give up. She started to run towards the old woman's tent. On the way, she heard some crying from behind a bush. When she had a look, she saw that it was a small boy who was crying. She asked him what was wrong and he replied, "I was going for a walk with my father when he suddenly wasn't there any more." he little girl said that she would take him back home.
After the little girl had taken the boy back to his parents she set off again for the old woman's tent. On the way she tripped over a few times just to show you how clumsy she was. But she still continued to the tent.
When she got there the old woman was asleep. The old woman awoke at 4:00 am and the little girl questioned her.
The girl said, "did you kill the traveller?" but the old woman replied "no, my cats did."
So the little girl went back to the town and told everyone that the cats had killed the traveller. At first the people didn't believe her but when they saw the cats they soon did.
And from that day on nobody ever came near the tent until all the cats had died. |
posted by Ata @ 7:14 pm  |
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| Sunday, May 20, 2007 |
| Homed! |
| So, it seems that we have a place to stay when we move to the UK next year. Friends of Mr Ata's parents (whom we have met on a couple of occasions) have suggested that we could use their house while they are away on holidays. They will be away for three months, with the beginning of their holiday scheduled for - conveniently - around the time we will probably move. So, we have free accomodation for up to three months in Headley. And the paperwork for the Highly Skilled Migrant Program visa has been sent off - Australia Post promise it will get there in 10-14 days, which sounds ridiculous to me, but at least it will get there. We've had two painters in for quotes, the bathroom guys are booked in... could it be possible? Will it all come together? |
| posted by Ata @ 9:44 pm |
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| Saturday, May 19, 2007 |
| Ebay me, baby! |
I have begun EBaying things. This is part of the reductive effort, to hopefully have a certain amount of stuff disposed-of well before crunch time comes.
So far I have listed a bundle of rubber stamps & embossing powders (barely used), a pair of vintage 1920's shoes (well used, but not by me), and a peachy coloured jug-and-basin set. Which brings me to today's story.
Ata did a first go-through of cupboards the other week, pulling out things that were no longer wanted and could possibly be sold on EBay. One such item was a jug-and-basin set. You know the sort of thing - it's a jug that sits in a shallow round basin, a decorative version of something that may once have been used to wash one's face with Back In the Day before civilities like running water and ensuite bathrooms. It has been lurking in the spare room for some time. Once, Ata put flowers in it. It is a peachy colour, decorated with painted flowers, and looks out of place even in Ata's junkheap home decorating theme. Ata plonked it in the top of a box containing Phantom comics, a pair of binoculars in hard leather case, and an assortment of other unwanted goodies. The box then went in the study to await the listing of it's contents on EBay.
Enter Ata's mother-in-law. Ata invited her into the study to show off a selection of Hobbling-A-Day shots, and some Stuff-On-My-Cat. While they were discussing the planned move, Ata waved to the box of goodies on the floor.
"See!" said Ata proudly. "I'm already getting ready to pack! I'm going to try selling all this stuff on EBay!"
"Hmm," said Ata's mother-in-law, focussing on the jug-and-basin sitting lopsidedly on top of the collection, "Didn't I give you that?"
Cue awkward silence.
Ata decides that confidence and positivity will carry her through. Besides, why should she have to lug unmatching pottery around just because her mother-in-law gave it to her? Bad enough that she should have to provide a home for the writing desk that her mother's father made and her mother wants kept but doesn't want to take home herself. "Yes," said Ata, in a firm tone. "And I have enjoyed it" (Smoke! Are those MY pants on fire?) "and now it is time for someone else to enjoy it."
Short, thoughtful pause.
"Well," said Ata's mother-in-law, "I bought it at a second-hand shop."
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| posted by Ata @ 4:57 pm |
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| Monday, May 14, 2007 |
| Ata (heart) Tim Buckley |
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| posted by Ata @ 5:53 pm |
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| Friday, May 11, 2007 |
| I Keep My Brain In A Jar |
All that running around, fruitlessly searching... today I spent another hour combing through piles of paper (there's nothing quite like being told "You could look over there - it's just a pile of stuff and we don't know what's in it) and examining every file I could think of that I might have accidentally filed the missing invoices from the other day in.
Then I discovered something.
I didn't discover it all-of-a-sudden, rather, it dawned on me slowly - first the nagging sense that there's something I'm not considering, then the inkling that there's something I need to check, then the final realisation congealing slowly like fat in chicken stock turning into hard lumps so it can be grasped and strained out.
I never had the invoices.
When I was first given the file - over a month ago - there were three invoices missing. They'd all been paid together on one remittance statement, and I ended up entering the details onto my spreadsheet from the computer accounting software. Problem is, that only tells me how they were actually paid, not how they should have been paid. Which is why I need the original invoices. When I thought I photocopied them, I'd actually photocopied a batch of invoices for another reconciliation, and filed those ones in the appropriate places - then I'd planned to do the same for this company. Either I got distracted before opening the file & realising I didn't have them, or I opened the file & didn't find them but assumed they were somewhere and THEN got distracted and didn't look for them. Whatever. I then mixed up the memory of copying invoices for the OTHER company with the intention to copy them for THIS company... and bingo, a whole lot of stress ensues. How did I get a diploma in Business Management? How did I pass a Bachelor of Speech Pathology? For that matter - how do I manage to find my way to the kitchen every morning? |
| posted by Ata @ 5:50 pm |
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| Wednesday, May 09, 2007 |
| Anti-Midas |
You know how everything King Midas touched turned to gold?
Well, that is the very opposite of the kind of day Ata has had.
Do you remember the company that Ata brought to a grinding halt by faxing them an enormous document?
Well, Ata has been working on their account again.
Today, she finally got to go to the Branch and discuss the account. This was alright. She had been promising Natasha - from the Supplier whose account I am working on - that they would get paid some money as soon as Ata had been to visit with the Branch. Ata's supervisor was organising the Branch meeting, and it has taken some time to get arranged. In the meantime, Ata has had several... uncomfortable phone calls from Natasha. So the meeting was much anticipated by Ata.
On returning to the Office, Ata settled down to get the invoices ready for payment. This is where she hit hurdle #1.
The figures in the summary Ata put together (some weeks ago, now) bear no relevance to anything else in the account. They don't match up against ANYTHING. They are supposed to show how much we have purchase orders for and how much we don't have purchase orders for, but they don't. Because of this glaring discrepency, Ata did not notice another glaring discrepency when she was at the branch - that is, that the Branch Person has written far too many purchase orders for several invoices in an effort to get the account fixed & paid. Oh well. That can be dealt with. Where the numbers came from, though, is anyone's guess. It was so long ago that the work was first done that Ata cannot remember what she intended a particular number to represent, despite having spent at least an hour yesterday going over the numbers to be sure she could explain it to the Branch.
Some other figures were very simply reversed - Ata had filled in how much they had purchase orders for where it should have shown how much they didn't have purchase orders for. As it turns out, this was not a problem caused by the Branch, but by Accounts Payable, so that's okay - at least, the Branch couldn't have helped anyway, and Ata has to investigate in Accounts Payable.
Last, but not least - yesterday afternoon, in preparation for the meeting with the Branch, Ata photocopied a number of invoices. She then returned to her desk with the originals and the copies. She put the originals back in their folder, and intended to put the copies with some other paperwork to take to the branch. Today, however, Ata can find neither originals nor copies. Anywhere. She looked high and low, behind desks and in the bins, behind the photocopier and in the files of every other account she's worked with in the last two days. They are gone. Just - all gone. Frantic, Ata even searched the Accounts Payable area, which meant that eventually, she had to explain why she was hunting through sheaves of paper with a desperate expression on her face. They were sympathetic. Ata heard them laughing after she left the room, though - for which she cannot blame them.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Definately an "I should not be allowed to tie my own shoelaces" day. Probably just as well I was wearing zip-up boots. Why is it that, despite being almost 30, I still make the kind of mistakes I'd expect from a new highschool graduate? And why does making these mistakes make me feel like a six-year-old? Everything I touch for this company turns to a steaming mound of... well, it's not chocolate pudding, I'll tell you that much. Surely the only reasonable explanation is that they are cursed, and none of it is Ata's fault.
The paperwork remained unfound despite an hour of intense hunting. Tomorrow, Ata will have to call the company and ask for copies of the invoices. At least I will be able to tell them they're getting some money with this week's payment run. |
| posted by Ata @ 5:54 pm |
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| Sunday, May 06, 2007 |
| Retraction |
| Can one partially retract an apology? Well, I suppose I do not want to retract the apology so much as add to the details. It appears the Confused Forces of HR are more confused than we had originally hoped. The payslips were stamped, signed and sent to us - but one is missing. The missing one is the one that had a missing amount on it. As a result, the year-to-date figures take a sudden, unaccounted-for leap at the end of November, because the redundancy payout is on the missing payslip, plus it appears that we managed to pay an enormous sum of tax on a taxable gross amount of nothing. And the letter that we requested does not state the information we need. Idiots. We're trying again. What do we do if we don't get the right info this time? We want to submit the application at the start of June. |
| posted by Ata @ 5:50 pm |
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| Friday, May 04, 2007 |
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| posted by Ata @ 8:33 pm |
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| Thursday, May 03, 2007 |
| Ata Apologises |
I have an apology to make.
Apparently the forces of HR are not Tyrannical, merely Confused.
Mr Ata spoke with the manager of the person he has been dealing with. The manager assured him that she has spoken to the person he has been dealing with, and that she now understands what he needs and they can supply it with no problems.
It has, of course, taken over a week to find this out.
Nevermind.
In other news, tonight I booked accomodation in Singapore. We will be staying at the Albert Court hotel. However, I did accidentally book through the American Expedia site instead of the Australian one, which has two ramifications:
(1) I didn't get as good a discount as I thought I did
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(2) I may get charged a foreign currency transaction fee. Okay, make that WILL get charged a foreign currency transaction fee.
Bugger. Buggerbuggerbugger. Oh well. What can you do? I can think of more costly mistakes to make. I was booking accomodation for my parents as well, so fortunately my mother isn't bothered by the unexpected price hike.
This is the hotel. I'm not putting too much store by the pictures, but the Lonely Planet gave it a good review. In Korea we are staying at the Eastern Child Welfare guest accomodation, where we stayed last time... don't really know where it is, or how much it costs, but at least we've got a place to stay! |
| posted by Ata @ 6:45 pm |
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