elanya

Hi all! Rising from the dead to direct you to my Yuletide Reveals post if you are interested in things I have written!

It's been a big busy year for me - I officially started my Collections Manager position at work, we moved into a house, Jola died.... Ups and downs, I guess. 2020 is looking to be busy and hectic as well, as things never seem to really slow down at work. We are working towards a big revamp of our public spaces (at least) in the next few years and are jumping into planning mode for that, and I have a lot of stuff to do with that. Especially after our exhibit person leaves in April (at the latest). She's delightful and has done so much good for our office culture that I will be very sad to see her go, though her husband is not working in Ottawa, so even if her contract wasn't ending I can't imagine she'd stay here.

I am hoping to keep up better with writing in the new year - I have so many ideas and so little time, as always. I'm hoping to get signed up for Chocolate Box this week though, so I guess stay tuned for that if you're interested? And meanwhile I will see about finishing off a few lingering things from 2019.

I finished a wingspan shawl before the new year, though! other than end weaving and blocking. So... yeah.... now my 'to-be-blocked pile of shawls is about 4 deep :x But we have more space in the new house, so I am hoping I can get that worked out if I get some good mats.

I also joined... one and a half more games? Maybe? One of them (monster of the week) may not be continuing, and the other (Changeling) I can't actually attend the scheduled sessions for so am mostly doing stuff around the edges, but of course I adore both my new characters and my head of full of ideas for them! but also my old characters.... so many stories, so little time :3

Hey all!

I've been terrible at doing much of anything lately. I haven't written a word since jukebox was due (I did a reveals post over here, and I think the story I wrote for my main assignment is definitely some of my best work. I'm stuck in my big complicated shawl and also the shawl that was supposed to be easy and mindless that i started because I don't have time to concentrate on the other one. My socks are going okay but I'm getting a little bored, tbh >.>

Work is just utter barely managed chaos and I feel like I'm dropping a million balls all the time. I am currently managing 7 people, between volunteers, students, and staff folks. They're all great, luckily! They're not all around every day and most of them are pretty self-sufficient. On Monday I'm lucky enough that I'll be able to start two of my volunteers in actual paying jobs (only min wage, which sucks, but better than nothing) on short-term contracts. But that is starting up a whole other major project _@

I seems to be falling into older fandoms more than anything else recently. I'm watching the original Japanese Macross series (I grew up on Robotech. Lisa Hayes was a personal role model). And of course I have fallen into a deep deep Good Omens hole after the new mini series. Unfortunately all the copies of the book in the house appear to be packed, or I'd be re-reading that too. David Tennant and Michael Sheen just really killed it, of course, but I keep wondering if I am the only one who thinks that Anathema gives off some strong Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vibes?

Anyway, I don't have a lot to say about life.... It's otherwise about the same as ever?

I keep meaning to get back into a more regular journalling habit, and I keep... not doing that. Patlry because I need mental time to decompress from work and what time is left I usually use for other things like games, or writing, or other social things.

But I'm still here! I read more than I comment on most stuff. I'm probably most active on tumblr, if by active you count just reblogging all the things with no commentary and half the time no tags. It's just so easy to be mindless :p I watched all of The Dragon Prince and I think probably that's been dominating my fandom content lately. Aaravos is just so damned pretty.

I have been doing other things. I still have three games - Ye Olde Adventure Worlde, Ashnabis, and Fuck Squad. And Larp. So four but I always categorize LARP differently. I'm like....close to being finished another shawl already. This one has gone super fast. I recognize that being 25 rows from the end of a half circle shawl is sill pretty far off but it has been going really fast! It is not my usual colours, but I'm hoping I will still wear it. I'm also most of the way through another pair of socks, which is good because I'm starting to loose some to wear. Oh well, I know what my next sock pattern will be already! I've been on a kick for fairly simple patterns lately, so they've been going fast. I've also been writing more regularly without as much of a post-yuletide slump. I'm hoping I can get finished another short fic for this fan-flashworks - I'm close to being finished the row on my card, and I've been enjoying contributing there again. ON the other hand, I'd started this year with plans to maybe start writing an actual novel and that has completely not happened even a little. Or, well, I made half a page of notes and a playlist. I haven't forgotten, I just haven't done anything with it yet.

The biggest news is that I am officially getting promoted to Collections Manager at work. This is basically reflecting what I have been doing since September anyway, but it comes with a significant raise over the contract position I was hired into to years ago, which was explicitly not a management job (even though I have been managing people and resources there from the get go). The authority and responsibility are still a mental shift, but the pay is like...even more of a livable adult range than what I had been making. And I'm not really planning to change my living arrangement so hopefully I can start ding other adult things like actually saving for the future, or getting a car. This is still a contract position, but considering where things have been going and how much responsibility I'me being given, I am confident that even if this contract doesn't get renewed as is, there will be something for me, and if there isn't, I should have enough experience to move on easily. So apparently I have a career and I feel pretty good about that except for the impostor syndrome and general traumas of academia, wooh! I do find it difficult to reconcile different aspects of my life, but I do plan to continue enjoying it as much as I can. Work can be stressful and frustrating but I feel like what I am doing is important and meaningful and it can be pretty rewarding. I'm hoping I can keep making things better.

What else... Jola is still doing about the same. Her lump has grown more, but she's been more active since the weather has started getting warmer and has really been pressing me to go for longer walks. I need to find a way to protect her foot though, because she drags it a bit and it is wearing down her nails so much they'd been bleeding. I have paw protectors I use for her in the winter, but the friction is not really what they're built for and they've been wearing out too fast. I'll have to see if I can get her a more durable bootie and hope she'll wear it. Because the top of her foot is what drags, I'm afraid anything else is gong to have the same issue. But I guess I'll get 4 in a set and only need 1 at a time, and I don't really know how long they need to last still >.>

I think that's it! I have 10 days of vacation this year and am trying to decide how to use it. I think I might go see my dad on my own for a bit, as I know he'd like that. Maybe we'll do Webercon again this year too. And then - I don't know. I have so many friends scattered all over the place that I'd like to visit, and I might try and set aside some time for a trip out west to see people there if I can. 10 days in a year is really not so much, unfortunately, but I'm lucky as I do also get some days around Christmas and New Years that aren't counted towards that.

My plans this weekend though are to see if I can finish this story, work on my Jukebox signup, and have game tomorrow.... not so ambitious.

I wrote a reveals post for Chocolate box. I was INCREDIBLY spoiled!

In other news, I am "finished" the shawl I was working on in the sense that it needs blocking and washing and end weaving and I have no idea when I'll have a chance to do any of that. I've started a new shawl that I got the yarn and pattern for like a yer and a half or more ago, and I'm loving it! I also cast on some socks for bus knitting.

I've come to the conclusion and also come to terms with the fact that as much as I love my Karbonz needles, they are really hard on my hand. The rigidity and texture of the carbon fiber is nice in some ways, but I wind up holding all the tension in my fingers and after a while they ache. Wood or bamboo too better at absorbing the energy, so I don't have the same trouble. I'm slowly replacing all my dpns and circs, but I'm sad about it. OTOH painless knitting is definitely worth it.

Jola is doing okay - thanks to everyone who left comments on my post a while back, I appreciated your kind words <3. She doesn't like the cold overly much, so that's not helping. Today was a little warmer and she practically ran out of the house and wanted a much longer walk than she has been having lately. I think he mass had another small growth spurt a while ago, and she is on NSAIDs now instead of what she was on before, but otherwise shes been stable. I go back and forth on how long I think she's got.

Work is still busy but while there isn't really less to do, and my new contract is actually going to have a lot more responsibility on paper, but I am not feeling constantly overwhelmed. I'm getting into the swing of things and the new normal. Having things be less up in the air has been really helpful. I'm feeling much less pulled in different directions and I'm happy to see things moving forward.

I went to the Powwow at the museum today, and it was fun! I mostly wanted to go to some of the workshops and talks and such, but I missed a few of them. I caught the end of the one on the medicine wheel, and the end of the one on traditional harvest stuff. I did catch the whole one on traditional food, but a native dietitian, which was neat, and most of the one on corn as well, and in general I learned a lot throughout the day, which was my goal. The only things I bought were a taco and some quilt raffle tickets for one of the indigenous support services places that has some cool programs.

Then I came home and fell asleep for a while, because it was quiet and I hadn't had tea (and I even survived the day without much of a caffeine headache, wooh!) The kids were having a sleepover, which meant pizza for dinner, and then I did a little bit of RP for Underworld, and a whooole lot of tag modding for Yuletide! We've gone through maybe... 1/3 of the tags, but we start with the easy stuff so that doesn't mean too much. I'll do some more before or after game, or both. But for now, I'm ired and my allergies are acting up (I hope), so it is bedtime!

Had the first session of my friend's new Pathfinder game this week! The party gelled really well - we all used to work at or hang out at a circus together, and so we;re all already friends. We got sucked into some kind of game thing and need to find these tokens to get out. I got mine by using the only skill I have: intimidation. I terrified a bugbear into giving me his, upon which he immediately died. Score? I'm a necromantic oracle, basically. It's pretty rad. I have a skeleton kitty. This kitty used to be a jerk kitty who peed on all my things, bu now it is a skeleton and that, and hairballs, are no longer an issue! We have a ranger who is a trick rider, an acrobatic rogue, and a cleric of Desna who mostly used to hang around and gamble a lot/cheat at cards.

There was a baby fawn at work today. Mother deer sometimes leave them in the village, and that's fine - that's how deer do, basically - but this one was right on the edge of the open field and right where people were going to be conducting a field school. But it was fine, we closed up the village early and it left with its mother :3 Seriously, it was teeny tiny, probably born that morning :3

( pic! )

I also started reading my book of indigenous sci fi short stories (Mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling) - there are some really great omes so far. I'm super pleased with it! There are some authors in it I'll probably try and find more works by, for sure. Especially if they have short story collections.


And I got the corrections on my story for RTSW, though I haven't looked at them yet....And now I have, and they look fine. Only 3 places where they have a comment or need clarification, and more minor corrections other than that. I'm so excited, still!

Tomorrow I am going to try and do more writing in the evening! I also need to dig out my goth prom clothes for Saturday. I should probably also figure out if I need to be at work on Monday....

Tomorrow, I have to help give a skype tour about 3d printing to a group of grade three students. I have no idea how this is going to go!

I am already experiencing pushback for certain things and coinflicting vision things. *sigh* Day 3! Also complete lack of vision things. Well, we'll sort it out, probably.

Less cool is me pointing out that MCTguy is trying to bully me about billing things. Grr. How do deal? He might be right, maybe it isn't worth making a deal out of in this case - I don't know, I barely know the rules at this point. Bah. I tell myself it doesnt mater because we aren't going to be keeping it, but.... what else are we going to to with a million dollar machine that had to be installed via a crane? Well okay I have some ideas on that front, but we'll see. Push it into the creek has often been proposed but never yet implemented. At least it seems to be working now. For now. Ish.

Anyway. I've actually been feeling pretty alert/awake in the evenings so far. And tomorrow is Friday woooh! So I am transitioning okay. I had a meeting on campus this morning though that went well - I hit it off with the woman reviewing my benefits stuff really well, so it was...kind of fun? But I suppose that is literally her job, so - good on her! Also I was in the middle of drinking a giant tea.

Non-work things: I've been bad at Weather this week. Yesterday I wore my rain boots thinking it was supposed to pour, and it hardly rained at all and never while I was out. Today I wore my new sandals (I got Teva Tirras because they had good reviews and were relatively cheap - bets on whether they last me the summer!), and it was rainy *and* cold. I really need to just wash the mud off my boots so I can wear them again :P I didn't get rained on until my way home, at least, but I'd decided to go out to dinner since the fam was going out practically as I'd have been arriving for an event at the kids' school, and it BUCKETED as I was getting off the bus to that end. The sandals are fine in water, but my pant legs got wet and it was cold :( I got home, dried my feet, put on wool socks and my rubber boots, and had to take the dogs out. I really really need insoles for the boots though! Ahh well.

Also I write a star wars drabble: Symbol. It is not what I was meaning to write, but I still like it. It is about why Jedi always cut perfect circles with their light sabers. Wheee!

I still have no cake. If it hadn't been pouring and the dogs hadn't been waiting, I may have gone searching. Another time, I guess!

I can sleep in the teeniest bit tomorrow, as I only have to go to *campus* for 9, and not all the way up to SA. So that's probably about half an hour of time saved? Well... okay... like 15 minutes maybe, BUT STILL!

Today was pretty busy. A lot of figuring things out. A lot of emails. Tomorrow may involve *shudder* phne calls. But hey, I'd better get used to that.

I need to sort out and think some things through in terms of how to approach them. But I'll probably focus on the easy stuff first, like figuring out Peoplesoft, and worry about how to balance short term versus long term agendas and the people that come with those.

I am almost done the pair of socks I am knitting, but also I have discovered that one of the legs is half a repeat longer than the other. Ugh! Well, that's just going to be how they are - I'm just about to start the toe on sock #2.

Watched another episode of Jessica Jones tonight. Still good. I feel like if this had been made in the...2000s, JJ woudl have been played by Eliza Dushku. Or maybe she just reminds me of Faith.

I didn't do too much today.

I had a meeting with Neal, and took those notes and put them in Trello. I need to start sorting out some issues tomorrow - figuring out who to call to get some things fixed. I think there are more things to sign as well?

Anyway, I wound up going to campus to get a new card because I could snag a ride, then I spend the afternoon at home reading the employee handbook. Woooh!

I need to remember to bring in a few more things - notebooks, some kleenex... I do at least have some pens.

So tired though - I need to get used to going to bed early and (ha) sleeping :p

Can't sleep. Remembered that I hadn't posted for Saturday, so here we go!

Slept for crap yesterday because Nary's dog was having some kind of mysterious anxiety freakout and wouldn't stop panting/whining/pacing all night. She had it worse than me, though :/

I took her and her son to the museum this afternoon, which was cool/fun, but we had to leave early because I locked my sister out of the house. Whoops!

The three of us went to see Logan tonight, which was great! I'd already seen it, but they hadn't. But it is really​ tight, and I enjoyed it a lot - I noticed a lot more subtle background things the second time through that build on/set up some of the world building they did, too.

We also started reading the Ventris novel, which so far has no Ventris.

I should try to go back to sleep :/