elanya

There is an interesting meme going around which asks for Ten things that you think are common in your fic, Ten things you think are uncommon in your fic although commonly found in fic in general, and Ten things you wish were more true of your fic. I posted my answers over on my writing journal, if anyone is curious!

On LJ | On DW

I am chilling out atm, while nephews watch/play Nick Junior loudly. longpig had to go get bloodwork done this morning, so I was Sole Adult for a while, bt all is well. I am adjusting to Life With Small Children, and have had various Standard Bathroom Experiences so far, including being busted in on while in the bathroom and while in the shower, and assisting with various bodily excretion issues (butt wiping, cleaning up accidents, eating leftover drooly cupcake bits (because cupcakes).

Longpig has also gotten me to sign up to go to the gym with her, and we've gone twice so far. The first time was awful, because I hadn't been in years. Lats night was not as terrible, but was a good workout. I remembered why I hate the shoes I have though - they make my toes fall asleep if I am on the elliptical, and I don't want to do the treadmill or the track because my knees are not ready. Maybe after I'm back into the squat groove I can give it a shot, but they sound pretty bad when I'm going up the stairs here. I mentioned that this is a three-level house, right? >.> Anyway, I am glad for the activity!

I need to get some other stuff organized too - I need to apply for my health card (not that I can get it for three months :p), and get a dog license for Jola. I think that is probably important even if I'm not sure how long I am going to be here. Plus I still need to look into museum volunteering and temp work.... and oh yes, continue applying for jobs, wheeee! I do feel like I am settling in here, I just need to make sure I am settling into a *useful* routine. I haven't done' any knitting or writing beyond a drabble or two though, yet - The kids do make it hard to concentrate, and I feel bad ignoring them or leaving Longpig to deal with them alone when I am here and can help out. I'll sort it out, but I'm not quite there yet!

So, the last time I managed to update was before I left the US.

( Now I'm in Canada, yaaaaay! )

( Miramichi is only home because that's where nmy dad is, but that will do! )

But for all y'all, have my photogenic Canadian eagle ^-^



And in other Adulting news, this week I applied for a job in Edmonton and also submitted a book review to Historical Archaeology

From the opposite of the arctic ground though - I am hoping it will be much nicer in New Brunswick than it is here!

( Pics of dad's place from last summer )

Those are a couple of pictures dad sent me last summer, though I think there is a bigger garden this year - the second one is looking off the porch.they have I forget how many kayaks now, plus a canoe. My sister will be there, and my adorable nephews who are 2 and 3. there may be fishing.

I should be able to keep up with most of my other stuff - wrangling stings and tag staff things (though I may miss the next meeting), gaming things if they happen. Maybe do some writing. Maybe some job applications? I probably should start at least looking at this point... Anyway - I'm looking forward to getting away. I'm definitely going to miss my pets though :3

I suppose I should probably get on that whole 'packing' thing tonight then >.> We'll see how things go I suppose. Expect a list at some point :p

I will go back and fill in that last post, really I will. Hopefully sometime this weekend!

I am going home to visit my dad and his wife (who I like fine but it still seems off to refer to as my step mother as they only married after I was no longer living at home), and see my sister and my nephews. I leave next Friday and (but really I don't get in until 11 pm -_-), and then I get back the following Wednesday evening. Fun times ahead! I have only been to my dad's place once, a few years ago, when it was a recent acquisition. It was the middle of the winter then as well.Now a lot of the repairs and renovations are complete, and it will be summer, so I can take more advantage of the fact that they live right on the river. You can walk into the river from their lawn. They have several kayaks and (I think) a canoe as well. There may even be fishing involved. It's gonna be amazing.

But since I'm leaving on Friday it means I need to start getting stuff ready now, so I'm not trying to rush through things in the evenings! I'm doing laundry now with an eye towards being able to at least set stuff aside, if not actively start packing. It is also making grocery shopping a bit weird - mind it has already been weird this month for other reasons. But weirder, let's say. I need to pick up a few things on Monday that will hopefully just get me through until Friday morning.

I also have one big thing on my plate, which is a book review for SHA! I keep forgetting hoe long it needs to be - I should go check gain. Either 500 or 1000 words (I'm preeetty sure 500). I have it started, and I'm hoping to get it mostly knocked out today, and then have some time to get it polished up. Plus there has been some movement on the pirate book I submitted an article for ages ago - it will be nice to finally get some material from my first (Sheffield) MA published!

Other than that, I have some drabbles to finish up, and god frickin damnit I need to get the stitches picked up to do the neck edging on firelight. I just can't get it even and it makes me want to burn the whole thing, argh. I don't know why I have such trouble with this - it was the same on ease :( I'm afraid it is going to look awful because I've had to undo it so many times. It shouldn't be fucking rocket science. And yet -_- I should just stay away from patterns where I need to pick things up I guess :p

I have many things I want to write about and do!

( Mostly this is rambling about my trip )

Hello! Once again, it has been a while >.> But I do at least read regularly, and honestly there isn't so much of interest gong on in my life that you're missing out much if I don't post regularly ;p

But, there have been some things! Last Sunday was my birthday, and tethys123's birthday is the day before (I have a *lot* of friends with early October birthdays @_@), we went to a Spin-In at WC Mercantile in Navasota. I don't spin, but she does, and it is always a good kick in the pants for me to work on (or start!) various knitting projects. Also the store is really cool (especially for spinners), and it is neat to see what so many people are working on. I wound up buying some reaaaally nice carbon fiber dpns and some sock yarn to make myself Night Vale socks (Welcome to Sock Vale!) in black and purple. I am going to try altering this pattern so that the boxes have yarn-overs in the center to look like eyes. or something. I'll play with it! these will be my first tow-up socks... This is probably a Good Decision based on what happened to my last socks, where I messed up the cast-on on the second sock, didn't notice until I was about to weave in the ends (argh), and then had to unpick the cast-ons on both socks and re-bind them off. Getting the messed up cast-on out of the second sock took Tethys and I a good two hours, combined -_- However, I *did* finish them (last night), and also started fringing my shawl, which I have also since finished (I'll put pics at the bottom of the post :) On Sunday, I had a few people over for general hangouts and snacks. there was going to be cake, but instead there was a nap! but that's cool - it was nice to get folks together in any case.

Other than that, I've been flailing over various writing exchanges and knitting projects and completely neglecting anything Academic. once I finish the story that is due next however (for the Night Vale exchange, due on Oct 24), I am going to take a fic break and make myself read the book I have to review (not actually due until December), and get together copies of my dissertation for people. I need to find a binding service that won't cost a million dollars >.>

Meanwhile, I have Plans to go home for Christmas! And by home, I mean Montreal, which is actually my sister's home, and not someplace i have ever lived. I get off Dec 23-Jan 1, so I can be gone for quite a while, which is nice. And it will be nice to have a taste of Real Winter! I already have things sorted out for Jola, but need to figure out some kind of care for Maze. I think that is a little long to leave him with just food and extra litter, and I don't know who I know who will be around over the break. We'll see though. I also need to um, actually buy tickets >.> probably the sooner the better on that, too. *Sigh*. And if I can figure out some way to see naryrising while I'm in-country, all the better!

In more current holiday news, I have a pumpkin pie in the oven, and am mostly writing this to kill time because I don't want to start anything until it is really out. It is taking longer than the recipe claims (of course) so I have to check it every 10 min or so... Mmm, pie. Happy Thanksgiving, Canadafolk! I also have pulled pork in the crock pot and a nice bagged salad (don't judge me >.>) in the fridge for dinner later :)

Anyway, that's about all that is about all the news worth reporting. Although I am learning a lot about 19th century art glass... That's a transferable life skill, right?

( Knitting pics ho! )

Well, okay. Technically I have a job I have been hired for, yes, but I can't actually start work until i get my Visa, which I'm hoping will be by the end of the month. Really *really* hoping.

For now... Well, there are things gong on. My dad is coming down here on Wednesday for my graduation on Friday morning. He flies out again on Tuesday morning. I have no ides what all we are gong to do, though - he doesn't really want to leave the sweet protection of the air conditioning ;p I guess I can get him to listen to Night Vale? Watch Firefly? I dunno :3 I'll figure something out, I suppose. Theoretically on Sunday night I have my game, but I'll see if he minds if I play, or what.

I'll be through house sitting next Monday, and then back at the condo. There was someone who was interested in renting the other room, but I never heard anything more about it, so I assume that is not happening. ( This turns into rambling about money things )

That is really not what I meant to write about when I sat down to do thins though. I meant to talk about the fact that I am already flailing about uselessly due to the lack of structure. It used to be I would get home from work/social lunch at like 2:30 and do fuck of of use for the rest of the day. I mean, I've written a lot in the past couple of weeks/months. A *lot*. And that's great! I do enjoy it. I'm having a lot of fun playing in the Night Vale fandom. I even got a tumblr! That should really tell you everything about how my days have turned into a wasteland of uselessness (measured-words.tumblr.com, for the record. Reblog allll the Night Vale @_@). I'm one of the tag-wranglers for the fandom on AO3 and it is hopping. My co-wrangler cleared out the bins of new stuff earlier this morning, and there are already 17 new ones. I'm slow and picky about it too, so it eats time, but I enjoy it as well. But at the same time, it is not precisely helping me get ahead in life. Okay, so it is actually very similar to what I will be doing with my new job, on a smaller scale, but I'm not sure how I'd put it on a resume :p

I'd meant to be doing all kinds of useful things with this time. I thought I'd have started the new job a lot sooner, and that I'd be acclimatizing to a real, actually busy, 8 hour work day, but that once I'd done this, I would start, say, putting together course syllabi and trying to get articles published from my dissertation research. I have done... none of this. I was planning to read more academic stuff on fandom and poke at my co-hosts to keep gong with more ficthropology stuff, and that hasn't happened either. And just read more academic stuff in general! I have so many books I've bought and have only really just peeked at, or read parts of, or never even opened. I need to read more - I have the time now - I should do that right? Heck, there are books in this house I should read if I have time in the next week :p

Anyway. I have a lot of time on my hand, and I'm having trouble organizing myself to make good use of it. I have writing commitments, and I have story ideas and I have original material I want to do Something with. I have knitting to work on. I have articles to write and courses to design. I just need to figure out how I can make myself do these things. Maybe I need to make more lists? Schedules? I don't know. If you see me online too much, make me do something useful. If I'm being morose and whiny, tell me to have some tea. I was feeling meh when I started this, but now I have had tea and feel less meh and more just... bored I guess? I know not having concrete things to do is not going to be good for me longterm :p

Right now, I'm going to go make lunch. That should help too. And after that... I dunno. Maybe I'll read, or knit. Maybe I'll do some market research for stories. Maybe I'll do something with friends in town...

Dad and Jennifer are still here, but are heading out tomorrow back down to Galveston. We mostly just chilled out yesterday - they spent the afternoon shopping, and we went to the NYE buffet at taz fir dinner. Itvwas sooooo gooooood! They had lamb! It was declisions! And all kinds of other stuff, nom nom nom. They also let us bring it our own bottle of wine, though we discovered that wine and Indian spices don't mix especially well. D'oh! I will try to do a fuller write up later about the trip, but, uh, don't hold yopur breaths ;)

Today, I slept most of the morning after getting up to walk Jola, and dad Jennifer made the booking for the rest if their trip. Now dad is making sandwiches, and afterwards I think we are going to Huntsville! Should be fun to poke around a bit, though I suspect a lot of stuff will be closed. We shall see!

<3 and Happy New Year to everyone :)

While I am not here under the best circumstances, I am trying to take advantage of it as much as I can.

I got to see a bunch of my relatives yesterday, including my one aunt on my dad's side, and some second(I think) cousins I haven't seen in an age and a half. Also my sister!!! <3 <3 <3 *more hugs*

I am at my dad's now, spending some time with him and his wife (I like her, but it just seems weird to consider her my stepmother, since they got married after I'd left home!). I just ate a canadial maple donought, and am drinking a chocolate iced cap, and have some timbits downstairs. Tonight we are having salmond and scallops and fiddleheads!!!

Tomorrow, we are going canoeing somewhere, and Satruday I am going to the Fredericton Farmer's Market, after which I hope to spend the day hanging out with friends I haven't seen in aaaages! Hopefully, anyway :o I'm still looking to get a drive back to Monkeytown on Sunday moring, but I am confident something will work out.

Now, if only I hadn't left my powerbar at the Moncton hotel. Bah, I blame the Dutch.

Also, during my ridiculously long layover in To, I am going to get to see Rob, and possibly my cousin Melissa, who I also haven't seen in forever :)