elanya

The baconpit is particularly bacony this morning, but at least the RH in here is not too terrible.

We have a fancy HVAC system. It does not work properly, and has not ever. We were basically grossly mislead about how it would work for us, and also the actual unit we got is kind of a lemon. This has been ongoing for like...a year now, almost? Anyway, we might maaaaaybe be going to get things settled out here? Maybe? We'll see :p Maybe I'll even be here for it, who knows!

I had a sort of interview on Monday with a local museum about their curator position which either is open or is opening soon. I'm not really sure how it went? I need to email back the woman I met with with some information about visa stuff. She also asked when I could theoretically start, but that's.....complicated? I'm not really sure, I guess. I'd like to stick it out here through March at least? And, like.... I really need to be able to drive to take this job, which would be easier to sort out if, like the driving school here would ever return my calls and emails. But I think I have something worked out with friends, if I can stick to it >.> Of course, then I'll actually need to get a car... If I can get a job though, I should be able to work that out? Maybe? With my, uh, non-existent credit rating? >.>


I woke up this morning early worrying about stuff - I have plenty of my own stuff to worry about, clearly, but apparently my brain would rather I focus on the problems of people who are Not Me, so I woke up worrying about friends instead. Bleh. I don't even know that to do with that, which is probably why it is keeping me up more. At least I have a range of options for my own things. Which reminds me that I need to work on some other applications this weekend... that curator of Anthropology job would be pretty sweet, if it is still open, and up north close to homefolks, as well. So, we'll see. I had some good advice on redoing my CV from forthright, so we'll see how that goes for me, I guess...

In other news, I'm still waiting to hear anything from She Walks in Shadows, and I might have missed my shot to try and get another story into another Lady Writer Lovecraft anthology, but I should double check. And maybe dust off Shadows of a Place and give it a new shot... We'll see. I really want to finish the Diablotin story I'm working on, even if it has a very limited audience. I think I'm pretty close. I also have some staff stuff I need to finish tonight, probably, hmm.

I guess I should do some work and write that email, hmmm?

A. The 'post lines from three WIPs' meme! I'm doing two lines each because context :p
1: Ralf could tell Ander was pissed off, more than he let on, he just wasn’t exactly sure about what. It was in his movements, usually casual and fluid but now carried out with an overly efficient economy of movement. (Diablotin, current active WIP)

2: You might think it silly, but I imagine what disagreements we might have over foolish things like what colour or style of drapes is more suitable, and I try to work though how best we might compromise. I know you told me that as I am living there on my own for the moment I should simply do as I wish, but I would rather at least have the illusion of your presence. (Diablotin, on-hold WIP to be resumed maybe after trope Bingo stories are done?)

3: Attal had never felt betrayed by Kai Leed until she'd found her working with Odos Caan. By now they'd crossed blades many more times, but her feelings were still mixed about her old master – her old friend. (Star Wars, WIP in sort of weird limbo :/)

B: ( I had a weird dream last night. )

I woke up at 7 from this and I miiiiight have taken my acid reflux meds or I might have only dreamed I did. I was uncertain enough on the point after I woke up from dozing again a little while later that I opted not to take them again, so hopefully that was the right choice because I am almost out of backup heartburn stuff :p

C: I really just want to work on writing, because between last night and this morning I have things better sorted out, I think, for my plot progression. However I am also trying to do a job application a week at this point and I haven't done anything in that direction yet, so I need to get a handle on that. If I can find something good. maybe a WW first though.... and a staff meeting later this afternoon. Wheeee!

Hello journal-land! I'm still out here, still trying to stay connected. At least, still shouting into the void (mostly void, partially stars).

I keep having Things I want to Write About - yesterday when I was walking Jola it was about storytelling media and how I feel more engaged by participatory stories, but they are harder to share with non-participants. Shorthand whining, I suppose for "no1 currrrrr about my game-inspired fics". The same old thing. I just wish I could find more effective ways, because I have always felt way more 'fannish' about these kinds of things, but they're so limited in audience. But those are the stories, for the most part, that consume my brain. I was going to rite about this in more detail, but apparently this is all you get. I am dedicating my Trope Bingo line to some gaming characters though - pre-canon (mostly) NPC adventures, so as to limit my audience even further... I suppose I could argue that as they are 'pre-canon' they might be more accessible to outsiders, but I don't know if that is at all true. I've realized that I really am terrible at gauging accessibility in that regard. If I tell you something doesn't require canon knowledge - well, I might be wrong. But try it? It could be good anyway :V be bring so much to the table when we are engaging with fanworks, and we're not always conscious of it all.

What else. I am working on my second story involving those characters, not for trope bingo. I am enjoying treating it as a serious story, thinking about structure and plot and pacing and stuff, and not just 'these are the things that happen and the feels that are felt', but how those things are communicated to my non-existent audience. So that's good practice, I suppose, if nothing else?

I need to be applying for more jobs still. I have two in my sights and I will be screaming into that void tonight. One is in Saint Louis, the other in South Orange, New Jersey. We'll see. I have not heard back about a single other thing I have applied for so yaaay.

I also have some Wrangling Staff work to keep at. I have been doing little chunks in the morning to keep on top of small things, but there are some Big Things that Need Lots of Brain I want to focus on and I've been having trouble with that. balancing with job searching and everything else is a little wearying, honestly. But I'll survive. I need to get back on top of some of my wrangled fandoms too, as far as the freeforms go. Holding on there too, at least!

so, that's me. I'm back home as of Sunday, and Maze has been velcro kitty since then. He is clingy in the colder months already, but this is pretty spectacularly so. I have two knitting projects on the go,. which is not my usual modus operandi - one for home, and one for work. I may have said this already. I already fucked up the lace in my Ishbel >_<

Okay, back to working at the job I have for the moment!

Today was my first day back to work after the break and boy, was I ever unproductive. I had no drive whatsoever, and was intent on engaging in every delaying and distracting technique under the sun. I think I am quite honestly ready for a change. I have been cataloguing this collection - and doing practically nothing else at work - for over a year. I would dearly love to have a job that is a little more dynamic. But that is going to be in my future one way or another, so - hey!

Other things I didn't miss about working - I left the house at 7:20 and got home 11 hours later. I don't even have a long commute, really, just that the buses run kind of stupid. I catch the bus at about 7:30 and get to work (in my proper workspace) by about 7:50, give or take.

Today, I had to stop at the grocery store, and then stop home to take care of my kitty (change his litter box), which added about another hour-ish? Maybe more? To the total? I don't actually have a car, so this entails leaving early form work, catching the bus to the store, catching the bus from the store to the stop close to my own place, walking there, taking care of kitty, walking up to the Dog House where I am currently house sitting. While I was home, for all of 20 min to clean the cat box, said cat chewed his way into the tortillas I'd bought to make turkey enchiladas :p

So then I got home, fed the animals, put away groceries, sat down for a bit, made a terrible dinner, and here I am. I haven't taken the dogs out yet but I should...

As long as I am chronicling minor complaints - my jaw is still sore >_< Not the way it was before Christmas - I'm not having that kind of pain for the most part, but chewing hard things likem say, dove chocolates, or tortilla chips, still makes it sore. Probably this is wht I get for eating all of Ginny's chocolates! I meant to get more at the store today too, dangit.

The dogs have settled and I think ehy will be okay without a walk. I think. What I should do now, then, is get up and put together those enchiladas, so that I can have them for lunches/dinners in place of/as well as the turkey soup I have.... I also need to deal with the rest of the stock in the fridge. Going to do turkey with black beans and yogurt (terrible me is considering the neufchatel in the fridge though, but noooo, be strong!) in a green chili sauce. I'll see how that goes, I guess!

Hopefull, when that is all done, I will have some energy still for writing! I signed up for trope bingo today (see above re:distractions: and have pretty much plotted out what I am going to write. Mostly - things no one else will care about save for like... two other peoplel, maybe. *sigh*. Ahh well! I want the sories and this is how they will get told.

In other creatively news, I now have *two* knitting projects started! I am making a little scarf/shawlette thing, and started a pair of socks at lunch today as well as a knit along with tethys123 and longpig. It is a chart, but it looks like a pretty simple one at least...

Off to the kitchen with me, then!

Things I ought to do today include:
Laundry for work
Bake brownies
Work on this story I started
make a storium post
solo for D3
shower?
knit!
game (this is when I will most likely knit...)

I feel like there were more things. This is my last day of vacation, too, bleh.

Oh I suppose I should keep applying for jobs - I have sent out two applications this weekend, one for a job in Oromocto (practically home!), and another at Arkansas State University. I'm probably not really qualified for the latter, though.

Tomorrow, I am going to call the local driving school and set up a few lessons with them and arranged to really really take my test, no really, and hopefully pass the damned thing.

We'll see how it all goes.

In other news, in the spirit of the holiday season, Santa Claws visited last night, and brought me a (mostly) dead rat. Just what I always wanted to get out of bed in the middle of the night to deal with!

~On the 11th day of Christmas my kitty brought to me....~

I guess this means he likes me?

How is everyone else doing out there?

The purpose of the posting meme was, in part, to get back in the habit of posting more regularly. So I should try to follow up with that, I suppose?

Yesterday I had people over for dinner, which meant that I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I cooked a turkey with roasted vegetables(potatoes, carrots, celery, turnip, some squash) and made some pre-prepared stuffed baked potatoes. And then I made rhubarb tarts to go with it. I also tried to make little no-bake cheesecake tartlettes, but the shells were too thick and the no-bake cheesecake didn't set well enough that I could pipe it into them as I had intended.

We ate, then sat around for a few hours playing with fire and shooting the shit/ A pretty successful endeavour I think! I go the stock made last night, and the first run of dishes is currently in the dishwasher. when it is done, I am seriously considering taking a bath, and maybe reading one of the pile of books I got for Christmas.

The other thing I ought to do today is apply for more jobs - it has come to that time of year - I said I would start looking more seriously in January, and here we are. There is one in Canada that I have the cover letter written for. I need to check and see if they wanted references from the get go or not. And then I found a few others this morning to apply for in the US - one in Arkansas, one in Colorado, and maybe one in Maine.

We'll see how things go...

I also need to finish replying to yuletide comments! I still have a few stories to get through! If you are curious what I wrote and received, you can find the relevant posts over on my writing journal, measured_words.

There is a yuletide friending mere going on in the LJ community, but I always feel weird about these things, since I feel like I am not fannish in a very normal/regular way, or about a lot of normal fannish things. But I do like having people to talk to and not just feeling like I'm chattering into the void so... we'll see I suppose. I am having a kind of meh day - it fees like vacation is over (even though I still have the weekend), plus I don't waaaaanna do job search things. I will though.

I will also have that bath, and walk the dogs. But while I'm still waiting for the dishwasher I may as well look over the cover letter....

I am very very close to finishing knitting Martinmas. After putting it in time out for almost two weeks, I finished the first section on the weekend and am halfway through the second, which I started on Monday.

My life has been mostly Gaming, Gaming and More Gaming. I am enjoying thins as it is one of my favoured creative outlets, but I also realize that I have done almost no writing since Jukebox fest, other than some drabbles (I may have some outstanding ones, I should check) and one story for Fan Flashworks. I should have a little bit more writing town soon, as I think I have made almost all of the characters I am going to need. As long as I decide I don't need to write another elaborate background for a secondary character I should be good. Then it is on to fic about gaming :V I have two wsip, both game related -_- And yuletide is approaching! Submissions open for a female author Mythos-related volume in November and I feel like I should try and come up with something for that, too. I really wanted to send them Cursed Wreck, but it is far too long. I could try and cull it, but I might need someone else with a red pen to give me a hand. I'm sure it would be *better* if it were tightened up, so there is that. I have some ideas where I can cut, but I don't think it will be enough. We'll see!

I can't comment on livejournal posts from my Chrome at home, which means, for the most part that I haven't been commenting on lj posts, even though there are several I have intended to! I do read regularly at least. *Hugs* offered to all in the journaling world, whether you are doing well or poorly or somewhere in between.

I finished up the glass at work, and in theory am moving on to the paintings. In practice this has also meant finally (!!!!) moving into the gallery's very own collections space. It is nice and quiet and very isolated from everyone else's offices. My gallery's office is up two floors and down the hall, the other gallery is up one flight and down a longer hall. Since its kitchen is more convenient for me at lunch, I've been leaving my stuff there in the mornings, but I took all my tea and snack supplies upstairs. Also I am near the cafeteria kitchens and the grease trap and there is an occasional linger smell of old bacon grease or a Denny's breakfast that has sat out too long. Blegh.

I haven't actually started working on the paintings. I'm working on getting a form ready for it, and I have been going over records in the database and fixing up missing information, typos, etc. I'm going to try and go through a certain amount of them each day. I am going to start actually working on paintings today though - my form is almost ready! But I am going to do a lot of the record data entry before I do the condition reporting anyway, so it is all good. I will probably go up there in a bit and get the files I need to get myself started.

I have slowly started applying for a few jobs here and there, but I am not going to make a concerted effort to do so until later this winter I think. For now I'll cherry pick what looks good and worry about throwing myself everywhere in desperation as my contract end date gets closer. That said, one of my co-workers here quit yesterday and I am considering whether I want that position. It is an Education Curator position - honestly I'll have to see how they are going to handle filling it with the hiring freeze, such as it is, still on. The grip has loosened slightly, as not everything has to get approval at the presidential level. Honestly it is less of a 'hiring freeze' and more of an increase in the bureaucratization of the hiring process, with stronger emphasis on demonstrating necessity for positions to make us try and be more efficient. It still sucks, especially for ppl I know who are looking for jobs locally. This digression (and honestly most of the impetus this post) was brought to you by an awesome looking job that turned up in my inbox this morning working for a US Navy museum that sadly requires US Citizenship. Much woe!

I don't think I have too much else going on at the moment. It is nice to have ore regular social gatherings locally though. One of my games is a weekly in-person one where we have dinner together and then play, which is very nice. I also had people over on Saturday for tea and cake, which turned into tea and cake and watching the Batman Animated Series :3 This might become more regular, or semi regular. What else - I've been watching and enjoying In The Flesh, the British post-zombie rising drama, which explores various issues surrounding re-integrating post-death syndrome sufferers into their community. It is good but the series (two so far) are very short and some of the plotlines feel very rushed accordingly. Still quite fun, and exceptionally British. I also have a new Raksura book to read, but I haven't quite cracked it open yet as I've been using my limited reading time for knitting... See above!

Traditional weekend, but of course not everyone's day off. Mine though, woohoo! However I am not leaving the house this weekend, or not planning to, because it is a football game day and there are thousands of extra people in town, and more thousands of locals out on the roads and in the stores. the one exception is that I have to go pick up Jola at some point - there was a major storm yesterday that I didn't want to venture out in - and walking her more generally. I will still take her to get my Sunday morning breakfast burritos, at least. It is busier in there on game weekends, but not too crazy, and I walk rather than driving - it's just down the road, through the park.

I have a bunch of stuff to work on today - mostly house things. I need to cope with the kitchen's mountains of dishes. Most can go into the dishwasher once I've finished emptying it. I need to vacuum. I should apply for some jerbs even though I dunwanna. My supervisor told me yesterday that she will go mad once I am gone and she wished they could find some way to keep me, but, alas, that's not really feasible. It's a nice sentiment though!

I feel like there was more, but that was before I took the recycling outside. Of course there is always more I *could* do...

I want to work on my character for Diablotin this weekend as well, and do some knitting, and I have game on Sunday night. I also need to make food of some variety to at least feed myself this weekend and Monday. This reminds me of another thing, which is that out Thursday GM (Kennesaw) has started making feeding people before game a Thing, which is awesome because he is a good cook and it means I don't have to rush around trying to find something to eat in the like....10 min I have between when I get home and take Jola out and get picked up. But the night of not making food and not having *time* to make food usually leave me scrambling a bit for lunches or to have something ready for Friday, and I need to start planning better around that. This week I just dumped a bunch of stuff in the crock pot on Wednesday night and hoped for the best. It turned out okay. This week was a little worse than usual as I had stuff going on on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as well.

Anyway - time to get on with the kitchen, then decide what to tackle next.

I think I am starting to burn out at work - I'm having a harder time making myself actually sit down and do stuff, and this is annoying because I am really really soooo cloooose to done with the major part of it. But I'm getting annoyed at various things, like about how in some ways I am really honestly the only one who understand how our system works and what you can and cannot do with it - and even I am not always sure, but damnit I also feel like I am the only person who a: is willing to contact our support desk for the software and b: is about to do so in a non dickish way. I have seen other ppl's emails that they've sent, and no wonder they feel like the ppl don't want to help them! To be fair, the worst offender has gone - she was a GA and has graduated. (She sent them a message once which was basically "This isn't working, fix it." No explanations of the problem (probably because she didn't understand it) and not even a 'please'!) I'm not being egotistical here - I use the system every day, and everyone else does so rarely, and when they do they are mostly just looking at things I put in it, because that's my job. I don't blame them, it is just frustrating, because the information on how it works is readily accessible.

I really need to start looking for a new job seriously. The Edmonton thing I'm guessing at this point did not pan out, and while I've been keeping an eye on the Canadian site there really has not been much that I'm qualified for come by there. I need to figure out the best places to look for USian jobs as well, because someone else might want to renew my visa even if A&M doesn't (the fools - see above about no one else really knowing how things work >.>) I'm also frustrated about having the same conversations over and over because ppl don't remember how they have told me to do things. I am trying to be understanding because this is something that I deal with every day but they maybe look at once a month or so, if that. But it is still annoying. So yes, I'm looking forward to being done with the stuff I'm working on now, which should happen in the next few weeks.

I'm trying to find a good time to get my spirals tattoo finished. I love it so much, and I also have a really hard time explaining why to anyone else. It just feels really right to me and for me. Hopefully I can get it done the last weekend this month.

What else - I am going to a birthday thing tomorrow and I am going to make pistachio pudding squares because they are delicious and I know the birthday-haver loves pistachio flavoured things, so errybody wins. I need to go start those shortly.

I didn't get all my to-do list sorted yesterday, but I did get to my gaming, and I got my knitting un-fucked at lunch today (more or less), and I am probably going to go dye those pants here in a few minutes, or maybe after I start the squares. And then I can cut JJ's nails once she is home, and I will spend the rest of my night writing fun things instead of looking at job stuff, and maybe eating more terrible food. Ugh. So far September is not my favourite month this year :p

As an aside I just have really been feeling the weight of a lot of the negative things flying around in my online spaces. None of it is directed at, or even relates directly to me or even indirectly, but I just find it all very wearying and I can't seem to disengage. :/