Ugh, how is it February already?
Feb. 6th, 2019 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusSorry folks (the few who're still reading this), I'm not sure what happened to January at all as I'd been meaning to post an update but it just didn't happen. So, let's talk about life and all that...
First off, I now am significantly poorer but also have central heating that actually works. This, along with a big fleecy jumper, has been a godsend on a few days here but so far the winter has been pretty mild in this part of the UK. A few miles further north, where it gets hilly, there was snow for a while but I've literally had just a sprinkling here and nothing more. Still, I'm completely sold on the concept of heated windscreens for cars, as by the time I've scraped the other windows, the screen is clear and I'm ready to go.
I did some work for the local university but not as much as previously, due to my other commitments. We're reaching the tipping point there between 'this money is useful to pay for my expensive hobby' versus 'I hate getting up at the buttcrack of dawn' - the next big lot of exams isn't quite so bad because at least it would be daylight when I got up, but we'll see how I feel after that.
Work trundles on as usual, except for the fact that I now have two job-sharing bosses instead of one single one. The single one has been talking for years about retirement anyway and the appointment was from inside the team, so someone who knows how we work and doesn't want to fix a system that's not broken. That seems to be the more senior management's job, which is one reason I didn't put myself forward for a minor job enhancement opportunity that came along recently - extra work and the hours to do it but otherwise just what looks like a lot of hassle. I'd rather spend my time and effort getting as good at what I'm doing now as possible than try and take on more, especially potentially-stressful more.
I'm still fencing at two clubs, which is working out well even though I was so cold at one of them last week I had to give up early and throw on multiple layers instead. The epee coach is back, though there's still things she can't do, but I cooled down so much during the group lesson that I just couldn't get going again after and felt really rough. This week (tonight) is looking like being much warmer so I need to get my practice in, as I've got a competition coming up this weekend.
I'm still creeping up the national rankings and am just outside the top 200 in the country, so a good performance at this would hit another target for me if I jump inside that bracket. I'm massively inconsistent, though - had another competition a few weeks back with 2 rounds of poules where I did quite well in round 1 but failed to stick the landing (to mix sports metaphors). However, even the worst competition performances tend to come with silver linings; I finally beat the woman who's been my nemesis for a while and who I often end up fighting in poules - we started fencing around the same time and she's at least 20 years younger than me but this time I absolutely thrashed her.
I also need to get on with planning my holidays for this year. I've got an attending ticket for WorldCon in Dublin but haven't sorted anything else out yet - the hotels are fiendishly expensive, making Helsinki look quite cheap, which was a bit of a revelation. I also want to visit a few other places in the country (neolithic stuff, mostly) and would also love to get over to the west coast, but need to really sit and figure out what's realistic. If it weren't for WorldCon, I definitely wouldn't be there in August, which is crazy tourist time anyway. I'm also thinking about doing another survey at Easter but might run out of time to organise that, we'll see. It's half term soon, so I can do some proper planning then.
The weasels are fat and healthy, with big winter coats and shiny eyes. I need to get some current pics of them and spam everyone as they are so pretty. Hard to believe they'll be two in April!
First off, I now am significantly poorer but also have central heating that actually works. This, along with a big fleecy jumper, has been a godsend on a few days here but so far the winter has been pretty mild in this part of the UK. A few miles further north, where it gets hilly, there was snow for a while but I've literally had just a sprinkling here and nothing more. Still, I'm completely sold on the concept of heated windscreens for cars, as by the time I've scraped the other windows, the screen is clear and I'm ready to go.
I did some work for the local university but not as much as previously, due to my other commitments. We're reaching the tipping point there between 'this money is useful to pay for my expensive hobby' versus 'I hate getting up at the buttcrack of dawn' - the next big lot of exams isn't quite so bad because at least it would be daylight when I got up, but we'll see how I feel after that.
Work trundles on as usual, except for the fact that I now have two job-sharing bosses instead of one single one. The single one has been talking for years about retirement anyway and the appointment was from inside the team, so someone who knows how we work and doesn't want to fix a system that's not broken. That seems to be the more senior management's job, which is one reason I didn't put myself forward for a minor job enhancement opportunity that came along recently - extra work and the hours to do it but otherwise just what looks like a lot of hassle. I'd rather spend my time and effort getting as good at what I'm doing now as possible than try and take on more, especially potentially-stressful more.
I'm still fencing at two clubs, which is working out well even though I was so cold at one of them last week I had to give up early and throw on multiple layers instead. The epee coach is back, though there's still things she can't do, but I cooled down so much during the group lesson that I just couldn't get going again after and felt really rough. This week (tonight) is looking like being much warmer so I need to get my practice in, as I've got a competition coming up this weekend.
I'm still creeping up the national rankings and am just outside the top 200 in the country, so a good performance at this would hit another target for me if I jump inside that bracket. I'm massively inconsistent, though - had another competition a few weeks back with 2 rounds of poules where I did quite well in round 1 but failed to stick the landing (to mix sports metaphors). However, even the worst competition performances tend to come with silver linings; I finally beat the woman who's been my nemesis for a while and who I often end up fighting in poules - we started fencing around the same time and she's at least 20 years younger than me but this time I absolutely thrashed her.
I also need to get on with planning my holidays for this year. I've got an attending ticket for WorldCon in Dublin but haven't sorted anything else out yet - the hotels are fiendishly expensive, making Helsinki look quite cheap, which was a bit of a revelation. I also want to visit a few other places in the country (neolithic stuff, mostly) and would also love to get over to the west coast, but need to really sit and figure out what's realistic. If it weren't for WorldCon, I definitely wouldn't be there in August, which is crazy tourist time anyway. I'm also thinking about doing another survey at Easter but might run out of time to organise that, we'll see. It's half term soon, so I can do some proper planning then.
The weasels are fat and healthy, with big winter coats and shiny eyes. I need to get some current pics of them and spam everyone as they are so pretty. Hard to believe they'll be two in April!
