Kitanzi's Colloquium

Well, the insanity is officially done at work, at least for me. As of today I am back to working one job, for one manager, and the cleanup on the cluster... er, special project for the other department proceeds completely without me, including accounting for a large (and indeterminate) number of missing files. I like it that way. I got out of work after only working EIGHT HOURS today! On a Monday! I even took a lunch break! How decadent and slothful. ****pppppbbbbbbbbt**** I even ran out of things to do at work today, it's amazing.

Back at home we have just under two weeks until the move, however, and I'm at the point where I'm ready to start simplifying my life with a flamethrower. The apartment is overrun with full boxes, empty boxes, piles of stuff, and half packed clutter which drives me nuts. There's very little left to pack that won't actually be used before we go, though, so blitzing through that doesn't make much sense either.

The upshot is that ACat and I are sitting at home in the middle of a halfpacked yard sale, and our lives feel like we're marking time - mostly because we are. We both seem to be a little down, a little unsettled, a little too quiet. I finally have the energy to realize that I feel like every thing is on hold, and I miss people. Me, the introvert. (A cynical corner of my mind wonders if this is because nearly all the books are packed. Shut up, you.)

Still, I do miss folks and while it's not quite the same I should finally have at least time to catch up on LJ. I'm looking forward to the July filk, too! (And I'm still planning some kind of housewarming thingie once we're unpacked. Yeeeeah, how long do you suppose *that* will take?)

I am currently waiting for the rain to start so I can go run around in it like a mad thing. I used to do that a lot, it used to be fun. I currently look like the losing end of an epic battle with a horde of mad dust bunnies (maybe rabid, definitely pissed off) because I have been packing books. And more books. And moving around the boxes of books already packed.

We are not moving until the end of July. I started out justifying this as the fact that however early you start packing, it's never done in time, so I should really at least pack up the books. I think it's mutated into some sort of coping strategy to deal with months of transition betwee "we live here" and "we live there", when I don't even know yet where there is. (I don't do transitions and change and in between stages very well.) Whatever the reason, we have a wall of boxes of books in the bedroom now which will certainly surprise the cleaning service tomorrow, and many clots of grey dust drifting and sticking and drifting some more. I think some running around in the rain like a ten year old sounds like a really good idea, if only the rain will break.

(Remember, this is Georgia. I would probably not be planning this for the beginning of April if I were still in NH, but here it's actually very reasonable!)

We've been pulling out of a financial hole slowly and steadily over the last six or so months. We actually have been batting around the idea of stretching ourselves enough to achieve any ONE of several possible fun things, possiblities which included Concertino, or travel, or one of several possible spiffy things for ACat's Bday.

Unfortunately, shit happens, and it's really not anything to blame anyone for.

$500 in unexpected emergency expenses this weekend make all of that reeeeally unlikely, short of winning lotteries that we don't actually enter. *sigh* This is all just a really good reminder that we need to get OUT of debt, and establish a cash reserve for crap exactly like this. Part of it was a very simple, unexpected accident which ACat is still castigating himself for, most of it is just computers crap the bed every so often.

Still... lots of little things are likely to be cut back for a bit, and Concertino is no longer a hope. Sorry to all who we talked to about it being maaaaaybe possible. :(

EDIT: Sorry for alarming people - not an auto accident at all, but ACat's very necessary cellphone getting crunched, and then his video card dying spectacularly. Not even remotely dangerous, just frickin expensive. Please, please don't jinx us. *G*

I have a spiffy new computer desk! And the snake has a cleaner perch! And the houseguesting harp has a hat! (And by no means least, my shoulder stopped hurting after nearly six months, hurrah for keyboard trays! (And boo for it taking six months to figure that out, and no thanks to doctors!))

( Big damn photos back here, courtesy of ACat )

The good: I had been scheduled for a week long training class down in Northside in a couple weeks. This would have required me to get up at an indecent hour of the morning to either battle Atlanta rush hour traffic all the way there, or a smaller portion of rush hour traffic in order to take the Marta train there and arrive by 9 am, and then the reverse home. This has been cancelled in favor of either a virtual class in smaller chunks over a longer time (my preference) or another face to face class HERE rather than there sometime in August. I am MUCH relieved.

The bad: A couple nights ago I had what sure looks like a migraine in retrospect - I earnestly pray to whoever may give a damn that I never have that again. I came home from work and became unconcious as quickly as possible, then spent most of the next day feeling like I had a hangover worthy of a five day drunk. Gahhhhhh. Much better now, though, but some people have these regularly and still function? I'm cringing considering it. I do wish I had some idea what caused it, and it's a damn good thing it happened when it did and not last night, or I'd never have gotten through today which has been insanely busy until now.

The silly: Dayna has laryngitis, or at least sounds like it. She seems perfectly healthy otherwise and not at all in distress, but now we have a little black kitty imperiously demanding attention with a sound like a broken noisemaker (you know, the kind you grab by the handle and whirl around to make a grinding clicking noise) so ACat will hopefully have called the vet today to ask if we should be concerned.

The sillier: telynor is borrowing my car this week, so she's driving me to work and picking me up most evenings. This morning we were leaving the apartment complex and happened to drive by an enormous mulcher on a truck - I don't remember the company name, something or other Mulchers. We have a running gag about how much I love to mulch people who deserve it (hey, It's a short list, and I'm ecologically minded!) so as we came up on it we both cracked grins, then I pressed my face up on the window as we passed like a fascinated puppy, crooning "Mulcher! It's a MULCHER!" and getting veeeery strange looks from one of the men using it to, well, mulch some sort of reddish wood stuff and leave piles around for the landscaping. Telynor was in near hysterics, and we kept riffing off it for a good five minutes - Night of the Living Mulcher, Dawn of the Mulchers (the sequel), and all sorts of classic C horror movie titles.

Laughter's a lovely way to start the day, and she's a lovely person to be able to laugh with. :)

Right - it's been too long and too busy and I can't really do a good job going back and describing the past month or so, but the longer I leave this the more intimidating it will be and the more I'll procrastinate. I'll break it down a bit, though, and I hope anyone who feels left out or shorted will forgive me.

( Long, long ago... )

Just a few bits and pieces, because I'm still here but I still don't have a whole lot interesting to say.

They didn't make it in time for Protection from Porn week, but our Queen of Wands Tshirts came in today and I love them! They have this on the fronts - white on black for ACat, white on gray for mine: http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20030328.html

Work is going well - took my first calls today, with someone sitting and prompting me at nearly every turn but I did. I'll have backup for the rest of the week, then next week I'm on my own and watch out! (End of the year training then, too.... headfirst into the firestorm, to hear the rest of them. We're getting temps in, too, for about a month. I'm finding it much more pleasant to be on this side of that equation this time.) I do still like this job, but I'm still in a weird headspace that veers drastically and rapidly from "This is too easy for what they're paying me for it" and "This has toooooo much detail, I can't do this, I'm gonna screw it up." I know perfectly well that it's somewhere between, but the extended training period, without any real tests or ways to check how well I'm assimilating what I'm learning, or if indeed I'm learning anything at all or just nodding and going UH HUH leaves me feeling very insecure. Taking the calls is helping a bit - I do need a lot of prompting, but I can feel things sliding into place, and this makes me feel much better. The much, much nicer paychecks don't hurt either. >:)

We have a cat now - Dayna, the cat ACat has in his icon. She's a sweet kitty, but since she's always been indoor-only, apparently she never got fixed. Apparently she's in heat. Apparently she's getting fixed damn quick when she's done. Cats in heat are damn annoying. Ap-PAR-rently! (Sorry, gratuitous Coupling reference. Oh yeah, we got the second season on DVD, too! Much Fun!)

ACat finished all the major location moving for work as of tonight - at least, I think so. The office remains to go, but that should be doable without him being dragged out of his comfy bed next to me, and off to the office to do midnight moving madness. I think I'm almost as happy about that as he is.

The con crud is essentially gone, FINALLY, but the cough lingers. If it lingers past this weekend, I'm going to the damn doctor's to get Something Done. I dunno what, but I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. No kidding.

Off to bed!

Gahhh... my home computer has been getting increasingly flaky and strange over the last week or two. As of yesterday I declared it bad enough to need professional help, and it will get it, but it hasn't yet. I figured no huge deal - I have net access at work, and I can do LJ and any really urgent email from there. Unfortunately, I can read LJ and I can post LJ, but for whatever fricking idiot reason, I cannot comment on anyone else's LJ post - at least, the last 7 attempts all refused to work. This particularly sucks as there were several posts about this weekend from the other people involved and I can't comment on them! Grrrrr!

Please all consider yourselves hugged and snuggled? ***sigh**

Although autographedcat has been here a few months longer than I have, the furniture was very minimal when I moved in. I brought very little myself, and no furniture at all, since I had reduced everything I owned to what would fit in a Mitsubishi Mirage and still leave comfortable room for two adults (one of them over 6 feet tall!) to drive from NH to GA.
We've slowly accumulated a few pictures, and some bits of furniture due to various friends - a computer table, a couch, bedside tables, a bureau - but thanks to telynor we've just acquired the last few bits to make this place feel furnished. We now have a larger bed (queen sized, wheeeee!), another dresser (with a pair of mirrors) and - A BIG BOOKCASE!
Yep, that's what was missing. It's an entertainment center style setup, so the TV is surrounded by and properly cowed by rows and piles of books, as it should be. We both have taken to breaking out in spontaneous grins and smirks whenever we happen to walk into the living room and see it. We've rearranged the books and stuff several times each, I think. I suppose this says a lot about us, but we agree that it seems to be what this place needed to make it feel settled and finished - a BIG BOOKCASE, now crammed with all the books that had no homes! I do hate moving, but nesting can be a subtle pleasure in itself.