Another week of ridiculous highs and OMG kill me now lows. Three evening consultation meetings on the trot is no way to live, but they all went well, even the one which turned unexpectedly contentious in the middle.

I survived and so did my colleagues. My director is off on Monday and Tuesday which gives me two whole days to clear a mountain of work and host another consultation.

We getting closer to have a joined up approach to what we're doing even if it's like wading neck deep through quicksand at times.

Small victories, I treasure them.

But it's Friday, I've had a hot bath, I have a giant mug of tea and an Oreo cupcake (with so much sugar in it) and I have laptop loaded with shows to watch.

And I don't have to leave the house to get to the residents conference until noon tomorrow. The next 13.5 hours are ALL MINE!

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/544541.html.

Yesterday morning I was involved in a discussion about zombie culture with two colleagues (not as in brain eating but as in management speak). So naturally I crashed down last night exhausted at midnight and water caterpaulted to wakefulness at 2am by dreams of trying to outrace zombies, throwing the severed zombie head that had found it's way under the car seat out of the window, rescue friends and race to Wales where our plan was to blow the bridges to Anglesey and form a zombie free enclave. Brain then proceeded to wake me up every 45 mins or so throughout the night with an OMG!ZOMBIES dream on loop.

Told colleague K she was the reason I looked like one of the Undead this morning!

( Blogging about workCollapse )

So yeah, work is very stressful (but not in a bad way), fun, and I'm slowly edging my way along the top of the out of control juggernaut that is Big Project in the hopes that I might be able to get in front of it an apply some level of control before Xmas.

Tonight saw a trip to Hoxton to (a) hang with some of the usual suspects and (b) attend a Steve Carlson gig. Which was great because I've missed the last 5 or 6 gigs Steve has played over here. Also new music! New album and news songs. \o/

My calendar for the next month is beyond fucked. I'm conventioning this weekend, scuttling round the country to gigs during the following week whilst firefighting like fury at work, next weekend is the annual Horbling trip which I have to come back early from on Monday for major work meeting and then there's a series of evening consultation events and a major workshop, plus another gig, the Saturday is the Vision & Pathways day for the local voluntary group, Sunday is hopefully a Teddy Thompson gig, and then it's another week of consultation events followed by a Saturday event for the voluntary group. And there goes November (assuming I survive it).

How the HELL did all of that happen? I need a PA to sort out my damn diary and make sure I'm not over committed.

Somehow in December I need to research, write and sign off two major publications to go to print in January and plan the launch event for a seamless delivery in the first or second week of Feb.

Plus side? I'm so busy I have no time to be bored or clock watch!

And now I'm going to drag my computer to bed and catch up on Revolution before I crash for the night.

At least tomorrow I have the day off to iron ALL the things, have a long hot bath, dye my hair, pack and head for the con.

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/541241.html.

Survived week 2 (which was a very short one thanks to migraine on Monday and long weekend coming up)! Being back at work still a novelty. Bus commute is stupidly easy (apart from the traffic bottle neck in Streatham) but am getting my bike serviced next weekend so I can start cycling in Week 4. \o/

New job and org now revealing all the things they don't tell you at interview. *G* Project I'm delivering the comms for is great, but historically there's a lot of negativity, local politics and low morale to overcome. On the plus side it's a challenge, could potentially be a huge boost for the local community, there's tons of (fun) work associated with it. Also because of REASONS I'm going to have a free reign and the ability to work direct to the CEO, Directors, Chair of the Board etc. Lovely new boss lady goes on maternity leave at the end of the year, so management structure for next year is...um...up in the air?! LOL. Have spent a large part of this week cornering people at their desks and asking them to talk to me. Or having them sneak up or corner me and vomit words all over my desk! Suspect much of next week will be the same. How does this work, what are the issues/problems, OMG PLS LET ME HELP YOU. Their grateful little faces make me feel a bit like King Arthur brandishing a Very Large Shield and a Very Big Sword. Now I just need a sparkle!pony. It's nice to feel useful.

This week is the final hurrah for Connotations, a lovely little UK slashcon. moonlettuce and temaris have decided after 10 years to put it to rest. I suspect tears before Monday. :o( But in the meantime it's a last chance to geek out and make merry with fellow fans over all things slash and witness yet another great hard drive migration. Panels, chat, pimp your fandom and Slash Pictionary and the memorable raffle for charity. Next October won't the same...unless some brave souls step up to continue the tradition.

Tonight I still have to grab my suitcase from the attic, sort and pack the tech, clothes, swimming gear (for there is a pool & spa at the hotel - BLISS), tidy the flat, put the rubbish out, deal with all the post I've been ignoring this week, reply to some email and maybe watch some of Tyler Hoechlin's everything.

In between doing all this I am still having ALL THE TEEN WOLF FEELZ EVER (Tumblr is my new addiction). And yes I did repeatedly vote for Sterek in the AfterElton poll. Why do you ask?! Right. Packing & cleaning.

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/538964.html.

Surviving so far!

Day 1 was spent (a) ringing IT a lot (I had a working computer and phone but things like drives needed mapping, printers installing, permissions giving etc etc) (b) working out where everything is in Sharepoint (a system I've not used before), (c) trying to remember how the fuck to use Outlook (Gmail is so much better) and Windowx XP and (d) hacking through the astonishing amount of emails I'd accumulated. IT here is clunky and OMG soooooooo slow. Every time I try and open one small pdf from the website it crashes my browser. Ooops?

Today I've got my access cards, need to sort out where the shower is and how to access the parking area to get at the bike racks. Might be able to cycle in on Thursday. This afternoon I get more up to speed on Sharepoint and find out how to update the website. (OMG the website is giving me conniptions. Not particuarly accessible, hidden pages which cannot be navigated to eaily...etc etc).

Found out new boss (who is lovely) is about to go out on maternity leave at end of Dec, and her replacement is not coming back until mid next year.

Also had a mini-crash course in local council politics - which are not entertaining and which I will be trying to avoid as much as possible.

Project I'm working on? Still interesting but now have a better grasp of HUGE scope and potential for FUBAR'dness *G*. Next 12 nmonths are going to be interesting.

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/537230.html.

As of 10am next Monday I'll be resigning my membership of the great unwashed & unemployed (I'm speaking personally here, my boiler is on the blink so I'm without hot water or heating at the moment - thank god for Indian summers and sunny September's) and returning to being a wage slave. Luckily I'll be a decently re-imbursed wage slave and you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to that first deposit hitting my bank account. *G*

This is going to be one heck of a shock to the system after 2.5 years of kicking back, chilling out and having fun. (Thank you redundancy package & house sale). All of which means I have 5 days to do ALL the things, but make that 3.5 days because Saturday and Sunday are going to be eaten up by involvement with the TTT Foodival event.

So what have I done today? Finished clearing up the flat? Sorted out clothes for work? Made sure my bike is oiled and checked? Cleaned up the garden? Started in dejunking the attic? Dealt with some bills?

Nuh huh. Priorities I haz them so today:

I've spent an inordinate amount of time reading TeenWolf fic thanks in part to anatsuno's crowd-sourced bottom!Derek fanfic list - because apparently that's going to be one of the many, many, many things about the show and the fandom I like - subverting the alpha male trope FTW. \o/

I don't do Tumblr other than to reblog posts and the #tyler hoechlin, #dylan o'brien, #sterek and #hobrien tags can provide endless hours of amusement. To those few who follow me on Tumblr? I'm sorry, I'll get it under control soon. Hopefully.

Stephen Lunsford (who played Matt in Teen Wolf & came very close to breaking my heart in episode 2x10) is on Twitter - where he's (a) encouraging his supporters to vote for Sterek in the AfterElton poll and (b) dress up for Halloween and send him pix! He also has Tumblr which is one of the most hilarious and alarming places I've ever visited. The asks are often unbelievable - but he has a deft, gentle and dryly humourous way of dealing with his fans (despite having his house broken into and being phone stalked). WTF fandom?

And when not reading I've been frenetically writing because I have the genesis of an idea for my twreversebang story. (Dear brain, the entire story does not have to go into the first scene, pacing, learn how to do it). And I learned a valuable lesson from working with ravurian on the inception_bang. I can't outline to save my life, I write my way into a story which means I need to leave enough time for furious re-writing, realizing I've started in the wrong place and there are vast chunks missing and editing. The good news is that it doesn't need to be 80% complete until mid-November. Um. I forsee cycling to work with my lappy strapped to my back and spending the lunch hour in the local Costa or breakroom with fingers glued to keyboard.

Onwards. I WILL cross a couple of things off my To Do List tonight.

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/535522.html.

( Productivity with furniture upscalingCollapse )

HR dept from new place of employment rang today while I was in the Land of Nod. Surreal conversation about starting dates. "When can you start?" "Next Monday?" "Oh I know K wants you to start ASAP she's desperate but I don't know if payroll can get your contract ready by then." *blinks, thinks um...and this is my problem how?* Suggested they speak to K and call me back. which they did, she was in a meeting and they'd ring back/email later. Not a squeak since. Obvs totes jinxed myself by Tweeting that I expected to have a start date by the end of the day. LOL. Oh well. There's always tomorrow!

The After Elton Ultimate Slash Poll has gone the way many of us thought (despite the fab David Hewlett lobbying for McShep on Twitter) and is a showdown between Stiles/Derek and Dean/Castiel. And it's going to be a closely fought battle for ultimate supremacy (Mwah ha ha ha). BUT! There's a Sterek Campaign Song!. LOL LOL LOL TEEN WOLF FANDOM ILU SO VERY MUCH RIGHT NOW. There's even a @SterekCampaign twitter \o/. Two guesses as to who I'm voting for. *G*

Just in case this has all passed you by this is Stiles (on the left) and Derek (on the right)



And this would be Dylan O'Brien (Stiles) and Tyler Hoechlin (Derek) providing epic amounts of fan service.



I mean how can you not? TeenWolf fandom, giving me (as the cool kids say these days) all the FEELS forever. Tsunami levels of FEELS I haz them.

Finally since this has turned into an inadvertent picspam post have one more.



Murawai Beach, New Zealand, Jan 1999 - possibly one of my favourite photos from the holiday's I had there, rediscovered while sorting out paperwork. One day (soon!) I will go back.

This entry was originally posted at http://ruric.dreamwidth.org/535210.html.