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This is post number 300 on this blog. Yay me and three years as well.

I sat my exam. I’m quietly confident. I’ve also since developed obsessive compulsive disorder in checking for exam results twice a day, at least. My paper selection for next semester is done, but its up in the air right now as MIT ‘aren’t happy’ with my paper selection so I have a meeting with them next week. Thinking I might try for a cross credit for the business computing paper, but will see how it goes.

Chopper the Cockatiel is settling in nicely. We haven’t managed to convert his diet and if it doesn’t happen soon I will be booking him into the vets and paying them to change his diet for us. He also isn’t quite used to us, and so being handled isn’t great for him. He will get there. His disposition is lovely. Introductions to Cookie have been stressful for Cookie. She will get used to him sooner or later.

I’ve now lost 7kg. I fell off the rails last week and ate a lot of pizza. It was a meal of circumstance. LOL. Three nights in a row of pizza. Eugh.

Also, this blog post serves as an official memo that I’ve cancelled Christmas. I cannot get into the spirit. Any year. I’m already over it.

Oh, and another thing, I’m itching to get behind the camera. I will very soon! Hope I get something wonderful to share with all three of you soon.

This post has nothing to do with November, or wind. Sorry. Just wanted a cool title to call this post because it touches on a few things.

At the moment, I’m studying for my one exam for tech. It’s on Thursday morning and is the first exam of the exam period for MIT. Good in a way I suppose, bad in that I have to wait a month for the results. Hopefully I will soon find out how my assignment did too. I did the practice exam today and did it in under 3 hours, but there are definitely some gaps in my knowledge, so I will work on those areas of weakness and do a general revision the night before.

Re-enrolments have opened and I’ve signed up for all my papers next year. Semester One (2012) sees me taking Accounting Practices and Business Computing and Semester two (2012) will have me taking Economic Environment and Organisation & Management. I have a feeling it will get harder from here.

I’m also finally getting on top of this illness that I’ve struggled with since the start of the month. I know, 20 days. That is 20 days of headaches, sore throats, feeling like I’ve been punched in the face, upset stomach and generally feeling like crap. I’m still not 100%, but I finally feel like I’m getting there. Sure, the lack of rest hasn’t helped my cause. This weekend has been the first weekend off in ages, so I took full advantage of getting a few things done around the house, and getting a facial too!

The diet thing is working well. Back at the start of November, I got a copy of EA Sports Active 2 for my PS3 on sale from Mighty Ape and I’ve done a few workouts on it when I’ve been in better health. I did one today actually. I hope to complete the 3 week cardio kickstart programme this time! And then I have a goal to move on to the 9 week challenge and see how that goes for me. Anyway, since changing jobs, I’ve managed to lose 6.5kg. I’m stoked. The goal is to lose another 2.5kg in the next two weeks. Probably a bit ambitious, but I’ll give it a good try all the same.

Oh and while still mourning the loss of our beautiful little boy, we got a new little cockatiel. He is all of 11 weeks old at the moment and we’ve named him Chopper! Chopper is a lutino cockatiel and he is very beautiful and hand raised. He can mimic rainbow lorikeets and loves to play with toys. He isn’t sharing a cage with Cookie yet, but these things take time. I’m sure he will get settled soon enough.

Lucky, our lovely little boy, passed away early on Wednesday morning. From the minute he choose us, he shook up our lives and started to gnaw his way through the perches and through our hearts.

In his short five years of crazy, he drove us nuts and he loved Cookie unconditionally, but his love for her was unrequited but that never stopped him trying to get just one ounce of affection from her. He was the chalk to her cheese. He walked differently, talked differently and above all else, loved to swing. When in doubt, swing. He developed the awesome knack of swinging sideways but keeping his head still.

But Lucky’s brand of crazy burned bright and fast and he left us far too soon. He fell ill on Tuesday night with a respiratory infection and he gave a brave fight because he wanted to remain with his Cookie and with us. But, early Wednesday morning, he’d lost his fight and left us all heartbroken.

We buried Lucky in the garden beside the patio, because he never liked being left out. He was buried with part of his favourite towel and his swing. He always wanted to be outside and now he is.

Our little ‘Buddy Boy’ – our psycho parrot – our beautiful Lucky has left a huge hole. Cookie cries out for him, she sees his photo on the wall and tries to climb up to see him. She did love him. I wish he knew.

And we’ll always have the fun memories. Like Lucky’s ability to steal earrings without the wearers knowledge and his love of anything shiny. Fingernails were a huge fascination, and you could set a watch to his 9pm tantrum. And his vocal welcomes at the end of a work day. How will the neighbourhood know its 9pm? How will they know we’re eating dinner? The silence is painful. Although he was a pain and often ended up getting a towel on the cage, he never learned and it probably became a game.

I’d give anything to have him back. To see him swing, listen to his noise, watch him jump around from perch to perch, see him find 10 different ways to fall off anything – but he is free now.

Goodbye my beautiful Lucky, our little Buddy Boy. You were too crazy, too handsome and gone too soon.

So, here I am, a fortnight out from my final exam on this first paper and I’m not freaking out just yet. I re-enrolled today for next semester. I’ve picked up two papers – both are core papers for the NZDipBus with accounting focus, and one of the two is a core paper for the other qualification I’ve decided to aim for which is the NZIM Diploma in Management.

I worked out that with clever picking of my papers, I could get two diplomas for the cost of one. So, that is what I am going to do! Also, doing two papers per semester now means I can do them in a faster time than I anticipated. However, the harder paper of taxation, will be done as a single paper one semester. I’ve been warned its very hard and may make my brain explode. Lol.

Motorsport has been okay. Tiring. I haven’t been in the best of health the past week, so working the last three days at Pukekohe has knocked me for six. It was stressful, and tiring, but I loved that once again it challenged me. I also got the news that I’m being up skilled to another radio channel. I’m excited and incredibly nervous all at the same time. Last night I kept waking up in a panic over safety car procedures.

Something I did get to try on Friday at the race track was Race Radio. I’d never paid any attention to how race radio works, so had to take my queues from someone who doesn’t normally do it either. Comment was passed that I am a natural. But don’t worry, I’m not after that role anytime soon.

Hopefully I get better soon. I’m skipping going to camera club tomorrow night. Given that my final exam is looming and I’m unwell, I’m going to curl up with a text book.

Did I mention I finished my assignment? That was an effort. Phew!!

Anyways, one day I will give this blog more attention, tonight I’m just looking at hotels and flights for a midwinter break in Aussie. Any donations to the ‘Alikat needs a holiday fund‘ will be greatly appreciated.