elanya

This is the first week of having Fridays off through the end of the fiscal year to use up my vacation, and I'm looking forward to having a long weekend. I keep thinking that they are never going to give me a raise at work ever, even though minimum wage has gone up over two dollars since my last contract, and I'm the only person who works there full time who is making due with a single income. Sort of. But if I didn't live with my sister I wouldn't be able to afford to work there! This is partly because Hades is so expensive (big dog, lots of food, also not the healthiest dog, and his daily meds certainly add up). But in the end its the same. What I keep thinking about is whether I could convince them to reduce my hours so I am down to 4 days a week regularly. I feel like that would do a world of good for my work life balance, giving me back the 10 hours a week I lose currently in transit commute. I don't think they would really go for it though, though I did just waste some time looking at indeed for points of reference. there really aren't a lot of jobs like mine out there. My job is a really cool special thing, and in that I'm lucky, but they don't really compensate me fairly for it, which is shit. I can barely afford to go away for an occasional weekend right now, let alone plan a longer trip without going into debt. in other work news, the heat is still broken but will hopefully be fixed on Monday.

Other than that - I can't remember what I said in my last update, but I finished candyhearts and posted two treats! I started my next AWRR AU fic that's been eating my brain for months. I also signed up for EAD's Lunar New year: wood Snake flash exchange, which seems like it should be lots of fun! I have a vague idea of what I want to do for it, and maybe I'll get a few treats done also, as it is also just a short thing. We'll see. I'm pretty sure I know what my candyhearts gift is, also.

I'm listening to the Odyssey now, the Emily Wilson one, and am already about halfway through. It's wild to me how much shorter it is! but that works out because I want to cancel my free audible trial on the weekend, and I should be able to get through it by then. Unless they offer me some kind of fabulous deal, I'll probably just stick to what I can find on Libby/Overdrive - I'm hoping if I start getting enough holds on things, they'll start coming regularly available. But we'll see! Maybe this phase won't last. Not sure what I'll go for next, anyway.

Nary and I are close-ish to finishing Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. We're on the last chapter/case. It is a wild ride but I really do love all the characters. After that, in theory, we are going to see about doing Baldur's Gate 3, which i got for Christmas. She's not sure if she'll enjoy watching me play, and her computer isn't good enough to run it. But I don't really have the time to play it just on my own. So we'll see. I could try and play it with my sister but she is also really busy, idk.

It is almost ladies Night, which is something I started during the pandemic to keep in touch with some grad school friends, the folks I used to do a fandom podcast with, so Nary, earis and lukoni. Every second Thursday we try and get together and just hang out online. It's been really nice, actually, so stay in touch with folks!

I'm probably forgetting something to talk about here, hmmm... I guess on Tuesday I went to a talk by a local nature group and learned that the Canadian Supreme court recognized climate change in a decision, so that is nice, and also that having pollinator gardens may actually be covered by the charter right to freedom of expression, even if municipalities try to legislate against them. "Municipalities do not have the right to legislate aesthetics". So that's nice, although they are legal in my city anyway. They are also trying to push for urban gardening, which is cool, but are eyeing 'underused lands' like park space but a lot of 'unused' and underdeveloped parkland in this city and I suspect in the province are actually archaeological sites so. That's a conflict I'm not sure is even on their radar.

Okay, I think that might actually be all I have to say for now!

I finished listening to the Iliad this morning - it really was a fantastic experience, I am just salty that the version I listened to is an audible exclusive and I'm unlikely to stay signed up, so I don't get to 'own' it or have access to it. just let me pay money to own the thing! Insert rant here about late stage 'capitalism' where consumers don't even get to own products let alone their own labor. Grump.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it! If you are on audible and want to listen to a guy with a Shakespearean actor quality narrate classic text in a lyrical prose, and also don't mind graphic (graphic!!!) depictions of violence, I would highly recommend it. I might try an Odyssey next, which seems to be more widely available - but I'll probably do audible again just to use my second 'free' credit. After that, idk!

Meanwhile I will have a sulk that we are missing the full epics that actually covers Achilles' death and the sack of Troy.

Otherwise - things are fine. The heating is broken in the repository at work since last week, which is not ideal, but I'm glad it is winter and not summer. Heat is a lot more damaging than cold. Also I'm reminded that I saw that there is some cellulose nitrate in a new collection and I need to decide what to do with it. It's just a small bit, but nevertheless it should probably be isolated. I had a long meeting yesterday that I didn't really need to be in, but I also think that ti is nice to not have everything completely siloed, its just that my boss can't run a streamlined meeting to save her life. There was a bit of awkwardness in there too around some miscommunications, because she also is not always very good at listening and remembering context. I mean, most of the time she is great but there is definitely a solid percentage of time where I want to throttle her.

Home is also fine - IL's mom left on Monday. It was nice to have her around, and she is nice to talk to, but also weird having someone who is more extroverted in the house... or at least an extrovert who had any interest in engaging with the rest of the residents, perhaps. IL is still down in the US. I think they are out of the hospital but they basically stopped relaying updates to the 'family' chat so who knows. They were progressing really well in the immediate aftermath and probably still are.

I actually went away last weekend to visit Nary, which was a nice break. We binged watched the second season of Castelvania Nocturne, ate some nice food, and went to see Nosferatu )(second viewing for me) at the upgraded theater near her. It was one movie company that took over the theater from another and their base layouts are very different. the old one had their big concessions stand right in the center, and the new one just has them around the edges, so there is all this big open empty space... The old theatre also believed in colour (blue and yellow) and the new one is more 'no we are a Serious Fancy Place for Adults!' so everything is grey and it just looked very sad and empty to me. Maybe they will add more stuff over time. The seats themselves were very nice. They are a step up from the 'regular' recliner ones most theaters in the region seem to have now, with warming seats, and they all had the haptic stuff to make the seats vibrate and whatever, and had a butt warming feature. They also had their own little side tables, and the seats were semi-enclosed in a little cubicle thing with a place to hang up your coat. So it was nice not to feel too crammed in. Not all the seats were that style, but Nary splurged :3 Then we had our normal Sunday afternoon game that we are all in, and then dinner, and then home, womp womp.

I made a cake last night, and somehow under iced it but it is still quite tasty! And I finished my main candyhearts assignment and am just about done a treat, and then have to decide if I want to do another treat or start something else. And EAD decided to do a snake flash and I am having a quick little think about that, as there are some OW options and I could ask for that. But alas all the sneks I really want fic about are ocs :(

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.

Remember when I used to scramble last minute before midnight to try and make a daily post? Let's try something like that because I feel out of touch.

Work is entering a phase of being bananas that is likely to last quite a long time. We just got in a collection of about 2000 boxes (may not refer to actual boxes), many of which need to be repackaged/rehoused pronto, including/especially some of the boxes that didn't quite make it through the move. Amazingly, the move was finished before about 3:00 today, having started at 8:30. I actually had the easy part, overseeing things leaving the other facility, as opposed to the stuff coming in on our side. But everything about the collections is My Job, or my job to organize (I don't have to physically do it, thank goodness), and that's on top of my regular work. Fortunately I seem to have a decent amount of help at the moment! but there a bunch of other stuff going down along side it too that makes it all extra cray cray.

I went to a Pi Day Pie Party tonight! I made my poison pie (chocolate almond cayenne), which I managed to make totally gluten free! I made an almond flour crust which turned out really nicely, and I subbed 2 tbsp of cornstarch for the flour in the filling, and used a non-glutenous chocolate. A piece was saved for someone who wasn't able to make it and I hope it doesn't kill her! It needed more cayenne, though :(

What else what else... Games continue to all be awesome! I have been reposting my GM's game writeups on my tumblr for pathfinder under "the fuck squad" as a tag. My other games are all online text ones and the logs are on the rocksfall wiki. The sessions are all broken up into scenes and there are summaries for each, if ever anyone was curious.

I've been having issues with my hands lately so I haven't been doing too much crafting. I did a little weaving to use up some stash yarn and made a dish towel and cloth, but they wound up narrow. I've been working on the same pair of basic socks for ages because I keep having to take breaks. And I'm still working on Skara Brae... But it is coming along pretty well now that I am giving it attention again! And I'm just about to start the gusset on my second sock, so really they are almost done. I already have a next sock pattern lined up too...

I think that's basically my life? It is march break and Wererogue's mum is up visiting for a few weeks so I am having to adjust to having an extra person around, though she is't staying with us. I mostly see her in the evenings. I think Longpig is pretty thoroughly DONE though. Two more days - you can make it!

I'm being eaten by Christmas and Yuletide. ON the point of the latter, I have written over 10k this season @_@ Probably that's all? Maybe some drabbles? I dunno!

Work continues bananas cray, and will be until... forever. We are merging wth the museum, which was supposed to happen in a year and a half and instead is happening in May. So yeah. I'm lucky it wasn't pushed to Jan 1 @_@

I meant to post more Windsorcon stuff, but I was tired/busy... I did write my usual post con drabbles on MOnday.

I had pretty seep post-social funk at the beginning of the week and had a hard time making myself do, well, anything. I did do things, at least sorta, but not much of them. Work was being depressing - everything is so uncertain all the time and it can be hard to deal with. I know that the museum doesn't think it can maintain my position past my contract date at this point, so unless things turn well around by then I will need to look elsewhere. But this job is not really going to have prepared me for anything much else. Well no - that's a lie. I will have to work to make it look good on paper, though. Also a lot of the stuff I am currently working on is stuff I know will be de-prioritized or even mothballed, so it is hard to keep up the momentum. By the end of the week, though things were super busy. Friday was kind of a blur.

I think that one thing I need to do is, like, sit down and really think about what I want out of my life - what I like and what I want to change and how I can achieve those things. I feel like I turned down a path away from what I wanted, or had thought I wanted, and have basically been costing along since then. It is a really interesting time to be working in archaeological collections care in Ontario though. The Truth and Reconciliation movement and also the implementation of UNDRIP have such interesting effects, and I wish I could engage more at that level. But then I also question if it is my place, and so on. I ran into the concept of rematriation (as opposed to repatriation) the other day and it was just really inspiring to think about. But I don't think I have either the authority to d anything with that idea at work. And then I see all these gross patriarchal structures being replicated and it is depressing to know that we have this vision and it is both so much better than anything else going, and yet so deeply flawed. Anyway. Mixed feelings and a lack of direction is not doing me a lot of good.

In other news.... I finished a scarf at Windsorcon, and I finished a sock on the bus as well... I've picked up an older WIP for knitting that I set aside util I'd finished Pulled by the Sunset. I'm over wordcount on my yuletide and have a fair idea where the story is going. I have a pinch hit and I know what I want to write for it as well. I did a bunch of cleaning this weekend too, mostly vacuuming, though I also cleaned the upstairs bathroom. I also went to a local spin-in yesterday for a few hours, and it was really nice, and we had the first session of the new Ye Olde Timey Adventure world game this afternoon, which was also fun.

Now I'm going to go take the dogs out before dinner since Longpig are going out to a friend's to watch a movie.

Heading out for Windsorcon tomorrow after work. I'm hoping to leave early.

I made a very fancy pie! It is a cranberry pie with gingerbread cookie crust. I hope it turned out and is actually good. I'll try and get a picture tomorrow.

The 3d printer is just a big mess forever. It will cost between 2-3 thousand dollars to fix. I cry.

I had fire extinguisher training at work, which meant I got to go to campus for a bit.

I feel so lost and directionless at work right now. Like, yes, I have things to do. But I have trouble finding motivation because who knows if that effort is going to be worth my time in the end...

I really want to like my job but the work and environment make it difficult.

But this weekend should be good, even though this will be two weekends away in a row!

I did manage to get packed and finish up some stuff for my game this weekend at least, so success?

I am at an archaeology conference this weekend, for the Ontario Archaeological Society. This is my first time! I'm here for work and networking, basically - I'm not presenting this time, though I kind of regret that. Maybe next year?

The theme of this year's conference is From Truth to Reconciliation: Redefining Archaeology in Ontario, and there are some really cool sessions planned around those themes, and around collections stuff, and also maritime cultural resources, so.... here I am! Unfortunately there is a lot of overlap between the papers I want to see, because of course there is.

But also, the opening reception had free drinks (2 each), and actually had people wandering around with trays of food, which legit until this point in my life I have never experienced, and it was great! My favourite was the grilled cheese with smoked salmon and some kind of maple cream drizzle @_@

I stayed for about an hour and a bit, which is pretty good for me considering I really know very very few people in the room. But I talked to people I knew better first and then the people I knew less well, and then was encouraged to go talk to people I didn't know and I actually did!

Of course by then I'd had my two complimentary cocktails, and of course that's when someone asked me tough questions that I'm not able to answer well at this point in time ;p But then we exchanged cards and this person (who works at the Canadian Museum of History, in Gatineau (not Ottawa!!!)) is going to send me some interesting maritime installations and also a shipwreck from on the Hudson Bay coast which sounds cool to me :V I talked to a few folks at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport as well, which was nice. Anyway. I did some networking, which I hate and am generally terrible at, so good on me.

And hen I came back to my hotel room and watched the end of Stranger Things with Nary. I liked this season quite a bit, especially all the Aliens references and nods.

And now it is much later than I intended to go to bed! So I better do that I guess...

Well okay, probably not everything, but it's been a not great day.

3dprinter is still broken. I am having a hard time focusing at work.

The bus, which had been on alternate routing for months was suddenly changed back today with no notice or signage. So I spend 20 min standing in the cold soaking rain with no umbrella, and was super late home.

The water issue in the basement is actually worse than we realized and I had to preventatively move more shit downstairs, and also no take a bath/shower.

I'm still sick, and have been having sinus pressure issues all day.

I'm going to bed.