This week has been busy.

On Monday I continued the battle (started last week) with the MYOB/GST monster. That battle was not finished.

On Tuesday I sorted stone artefacts. Or rather, I started to learn to sort stone artefacts. I will be a bit better at it next Tuesday. I can almost identify quartzite with confidence. Stone artefacts are actually pretty interesting, for a bit of an intro this page on European stone artefacts is pretty good. Of course, I’m aware that you might not find them as interesting as I do. I hope to learn how to make stone artefacts in the near future.

On Wednesday I wrestled again with the MYOB/GST monster, and again the battle was not done. I will have to continue it over the weekend.

On Thursday and Friday (today) I helped a friend paint his workshop. I’m currently still high on paint fumes and I know a headache is not far away. I really can’t be bothered cooking, and I’m hanging out for a quick dinner at the markets, but a storm is brewing and the wind is so strong that I’m likely to fly in one direction and take forever in the other direction. I wonder which way its blowing? (Oh, it’s coming from the North? Well that will just blow me over coming and going.) And then I will come home and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer while I still can, and then try to get the paint off in a nice long hot shower while I can still have them.

(Hmmm, a storm from the North? I should investigate that further….)

Tomorrow is Saturday, so that means garage-sailing with Grant and Dad. The rain overnight and tomorrow morning will put a bit of dampener on that, but its my last outing before I go, so I can’t cancel! Maybe the miracle that happened a few weeks ago will happen again, the one where Dad rings at 6am and says “bugger this its too cold and wet, dont come over till 8am”. Fingers crossed. I’ve spent the last few weeks of garage-sailing doing my best not to buy anything, but last week I found a very cute and ultimately irresistible red jumper for $2, and then subsequently discovered it was mohair! Bargain!

Sunday will be spent wrestling (hopefully for the final time) with the MYOB/GST monster, with lunch at the fabulous Zen House with a Japanese lady recently arrived in Adelaide in the middle of the day. Looking forward to Zen House, and to finishing with the monster.

But for now, if you are an Aussie, you should look at this before it gets taken down: Election 2010 spoof.

Only a few days left in my home, my world, and then its all gonna change…

Today I signed a contract. Part of that contract is a confidentiality clause. I’m not publicly allowed to talk about what I am doing, or where I am doing it. I can say that I’m going to be working at Olympic Dam, but apart form that I can’t really talk about the details or the specifics of what I’m doing there. Nor can I take photos of where I’m working, unless it is part of the job, and in that case the photos do not belong to me, but to the company, and I do not have authorisation to use them.

In other contexts in which I might work in the future, the confidentiality clause works a bit differently. If the site is an Aboriginal one, then the confidentiality clause is pretty strict, and I need permission to show the photos or talk about the work from the traditional owners, who may or may not give it. In any case, it is illegal to advertise the location of a site of significance to Aboriginal people, possibly because there are cultural protocols, but definitely because there is the risk of vandalism.

Historical archaeology does not have the same cultural restrictions, but there is still some risk of vandalism. And in both cases, photos and any information discovered about a site are generally the property of the organisation that commissioned the work.

So as you can see, all of this makes archaeology a pretty poor source of blogging material. So I wont be blogging much about work. But seeing as I don’t blog much anyway, really, that won’t be much of a problem.

But anyway, today I signed a contract, and I will be working 12 hrs a day for every 13 out of 14 days, and that will start on July 15. The first stint will last until August 23. I’m not sure when I will work again after that, but if I’m useful, they will give me more work. And there is plenty of work. I am fortunate to be working with some of the top people in the field, and that will look stupendous on the resume. It will be a complete culture shock, but I love culture shock, so I’m prepared for that and even looking forward to it. Can’t wait in fact - bring it on!

It’s on again, Wednesday nights from 9pm. I missed the first two episodes of the season,but fortunately the episodes are downloadable from here. Wednesday night happiness returns after a long break!

I’m between jobs at the moment, and since the next job will entail getting up ridiculously early in the morning, probably around 5am, I am taking advantage of this break to have a sleep in. Although I was only working 3 days a week at my last job, I still didn’t really sleep in much on my days off, but now I’m going completely overboard. If I let myself, I can sleep until 10.30am without any trouble. I wake at 7.30, wake again at 9 when the traffic noise suddenly stops, and then wake again at 10.30. It doesn’t matter how early I go to bed, I can still sleep to 10.30am. I cant really sleep past that though, no matter how late I have gone to bed, and on the very rare occasion that I do, I wake up stiff and sore.

How delicious that morning sleep is, so warm and snug, nothing to rush towards, full of active dreams. I have turned into a hibernating bear.

I wrote a while back about how I have discovered that I clench my teeth, and the problems that was causing me. I talked about it to a few people as well, and since then a number of people have said to me that they clench their teeth too, so I thought I should follow up. It is pretty common, and it is not necessarily stress related. For a lot of people it is just something that has become habitual. The fact that it barely requires any movement and is (often) imperceptible to others, and in may cases to the person doing it as well, makes it that much easier to slip into.

Putting the reasons WHY it happens aside for a moment, if you know you do it then it would be a good idea to try to stop. I thought it might be a good idea to pass on what I have learned from the jaw specialist, especially since it costs me $90+ each 15min visit I have with him, and I’m sure you don’t want to end up having to pay something like that.

First of all, why try stop clenching? Well, it is likely to be causing you headaches, or at least contributing to them. Also the clenching causes jaw inflammation which ends up limiting how wide you can open your mouth. It also damages the little disc that allows your jaw to open and close, and as I’m sure you already know, any kind of damage to a disc between joints leads to less flexibility in the joint and also to pain when using the joint. Plus, if you do it for long enough, it ends up just hurting all the time. All good reasons to stop.

Stopping is tricky. Clenching is an unconscious activity. The key to stopping is to make it conscious.

Remind yourself of what relaxed feels like: Lay your fingers flat and gently over your temples or just above, and then clench your teeth. Feel the muscles move under your fingers? Those are the muscles that are getting stressed out and contributing to headaches. Unclench and feel them move into a relaxed position. This is how your jaw should be. Try to hold the relaxed position for as long as possible. Put your fingers against your temples regularly (once an hour? a couple of times an hour?) and unclench to help reinforce what the relaxed position feels like, and to check whether you are doing it.

Know the danger times: Often when you are doing other things, you are clenching at the same time. Periods of concentration and focus are particularly bad - watching tv, working at the computer, reading a book, watching a movie, doing the dishes, housework, cooking, that kind of thing. I find that when I am leaning forwards doing an activity I clench, and any time when I am about to exert myself physically.

Check in regularly: What is my jaw doing now? Oh, it’s clenched again. Figure out your danger times and pay attention then. Keep checking yourself, as often as you can, and when you find you are doing it, unclench and go on. It feels ridiculous, but until I can bring it out of unconscious and into consciousness I wont be able to control it. I know I do it in my sleep and I am so used to checking in now that when I wake during the night I check in and unclench. Cos I’m nearly almost always clenched. In fact, even when I am paying attention to it I find myself still DOING it. I lean forward and, knowing that this is likely to trigger a clench, I pay attention and then clench!!! It drives me crazy.

These points are all pretty obvious. It’s not rocket science. But like any habit it is ridiculously hard to train yourself out of it. The doc is happy with me tho. I told him I didn’t want the $500 mouthguard for night-time, that I wanted to work on making it conscious. He was skeptical that I would be able to do it, but gave me a chance. In turn, I’m skeptical that the mouthguard will help - having something in your mouth keeps you salivating all the time which makes sleeping hard - and I suspect I’m likely to just spit it out, either consciously or unconsciously. But he gave me a chance and I have surprised him. My vigilance has resulted in a decrease in swelling and an increase in movement range. He is willing to give me longer to work on it, and the incidence of pain/headaches continues to decrease.

On a slightly different matter (while I’m here, cos its not likely that I will be coming back here on the blog again) survey results indicate that everyone holds their mouth a bit differently. Some people create a vacuum in there and others don’t. Some people’s tongue live pressed against the roof of their mouths; some keep the tongue further back and down. Everyone is different. I find it fascinating. I suspect that the vacuum and the tongue living up on the roof of the mouth increase the chances of people clenching. If you do this, watch out! Start checking in on whether you are clenching. And as for what we do when we are sleeping, apparently quite a lot of gnashing, clenching and grinding is pretty normal in the general population, and very very difficult to control.

I wish I could transfer clenching my teeth to clenching my abs. How good would that be!

What is your experience with quitting a habit, or clenching your teeth?

Core from which flakes have been struck, WA, Mt. Ridley National Park.

It finally seems safe to say that I am about to start a new job. I have resigned from my current job and only have one week to go. The new job is in the archaeology field; out in the field as an assistant to a junior archaeologist, working on a salvage operation ahead of mining development. The job entails working a few weeks away at a time and then back in town for blocks in between. The finer details are sketchy at this point - the start date is still shifting around and has recently (no promises) come forward to July 1st. The pay is good, but the experience is worth a lot too, and will lead to more lucrative positions in the future. Can’t wait for the new phase to start! I have a whole new wardrobe of Mongrel boots, King Gee pants and R. M. Williams shirts, plus a hat Auntie Sandy gave me. Yeeeehar!

My father and step-mother foster very small children who are in need of emergency, short term care. They currently have three little ones from one family - 6mths, 2yrs and 3yrs old. The youngest is relatively easygoing, but the two older ones are running rings around my poor step-mum! She asked for some help from the agency in charge of the situation, and was provided with access to a nanny a couple of times a week. The nanny is about 20, great with the kids, but yeah, back to that bit about them being 6mths, 2yrs and 3yrs, removed from their family, two weeks into foster care - they are certainly on the chaotic side.

So one afternoon the nanny comes over and takes the two older ones to a nearby park. The 3yo runs straight for the equipment at the other end of the playground, but the more timid 2yo is overwhelmed by the activity and the other kids running around, grows roots and starts wailing her desire to leave. As the nanny tries to smooth it over with the 2yo a nearby middle aged man comes up to her, starts waving his finger at her, and says to her “You shouldn’t have had a second if you couldn’t cope with the first.”

Its my birthday this week, so last weekend I took myself off to visit my good friend Ms. Indigorayz, who lives in Melbourne now. She has just finished a degree in acupuncture, moved house, started a business, and it was her birthday back at the end of March. I was missing her and needing a dose of hanging out with her, so I decided to treat myself to a weekend in Melbourne. We didnt get up to all that much while I was there, but there was a bit of shopping in Smith Street, hanging out at home, going out in Brunswick Street, wandering around, hooping and general catching up. It was great, a good little adventure and I don’t know why I haven’t done it before. I have gotten out of the habit of traveling I think, but now I’ve “broken the seal” and I foresee future weekends in Melbourne! Thank you for spoiling me while I was there, Ms. Indigo!

I clench my teeth. All the time. Im trying to stop now because after probably years of doing this, its starting to cause jaw problems and headaches. But I cant stop, because I don’t realise Im doing it. I have to catch myself and then relax my jaw, let it drop, let the muscles around my temple go.

Im trying to figure out why I do this, and all I can think of is this one time standing on the subway, someone’s upwardly mobile elbow caught my chin and clattered my teeth together, rattling my brain. I remember thinking it was careless of me to have left my jaw open, surely it was safer closed? I don’t know how it became a habit. I remember the increasing regularity of painful episodes last year, but I cant pinpoint when the painful episodes merged into a constant ache.

In any case, why is not as important as undoing it, and I’m fixing it now. When the dentist told me that my teeth werent supposed to be touching except for when I eat, I was quite surprised. Who knew?!?

Im learning that my body is stronger than I think it is. That even my casual, half-forgotten intentions can become reality, and that I might not even notice until it is too late. And that I can endure quite a lot of pain before finally dragging myself to a health professional.

I have had an interesting couple of work weeks with two very difficult volunteers at one of our shops. They are husband and wife, and they both think I am the worst person on the planet. Well, at least the last couple of weeks it has been me. I’m sure it changes with frightening regularity.

We have had a few work-related phone calls, some of them have gone better than others, and there has been a frightening regularity in the faxes, all in capital letters, containing very specific orders for me and my organisation. These orders are frequently ignored by my manager who hopes that these volunteers will get bored and go away. Apparently I am a bossy, uppity secretary with no common-sense who is in league with the lazy woman who is the other coordinator, protecting her from getting fired and encouraging her to be lazy so that the shop can go further downhill as it fills up with more and more rubbish furniture instead of the clothes we should be selling. My manager and I were surprised to discover that I, and not my manger, was behind all the ‘ridiculous’ decisions that have ever been made, that I have been hiding those weekly shouty faxes my manager received. Even when my manager spoke to both the husband and the wife in person and told them that none of those decisions had been made by me, that they were all directives from the manager, even then they did not believe him.

I was pretty pissed off at first, but it has become clear whilst attempting to disengage ourselves from these two that they will believe and say anything that suits their purposes, and instead I have become kind of amused by watching these delusions lurch along entirely under their own steam. Their view of me, my manager, of the shop, of our organisation is so foreign to me and so removed from reality its hard to see how they got to that point. Actually; “women are stupid” and “big organisations are always out to exploit their workers” and “head office doesn’t know what they are doing” and “everything I think is true and right” and “I should be in charge” would get you a fair part of the way to that point.

I’m hoping that one of two things happens - that they are either so desperate to keep the drama going that they get bored by our lack of response and turn their attention to other matters (hopefully not other people, but the chances are slim) in order to maintain that rush; or that they are satiated and will go away now and rest for a while. In either case, I feel sorry for the charity they have already moved on to. Always ask for references.