kellan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kellan_the_tabby) wrote2004-03-08 10:50 pm
kellan_the_tabby) wrote2004-03-08 10:50 pm
Playing catchup...
...now that I'm awake.
Every five years or so I look back on my life, and I have a good laugh...
The van is _huge_. First time I tried to park it I almost ran it up on the curb because it's about two feet wider than I expected. I now understand why peole who drive big vehicles tend to hang to the left side of the lane and shine their lights in my eyes - it's easier to hang to the left side of the lane simply because you can _see_ where that side is. I do plan to learn how not to do that, but it's gonna take me a bit.
The thing is so big that it's possible to stand up and go wandering around it, as Lewis did on the way home from the event Saturday night. Wound up sprawled in the back seat. I'm surprised he didn't fall clean asleep back there...but I'd'a hollered at him if he did.
So, on to other things. The stress...well, let's just say that I've had three headaches in the last week. As my normal rate is much closer to perhaps one headache a year, this is beginning to worry me. If it keeps happening, I'm goin' to the doctor.
Had a long and frequently annoying discussion on Herald's Mush a few days ago that really got me thinking about the ways that the rules and customs of the SCA make it hard for those of us who are interested in serious authenticity. With the old persona, it was the red sash that I couldn't wear; now, there's not so many obvious issues since my new persona is much closer to 'SCA-standard' but there's still bunches of things my persona could do that I can't. Easy enough to avoid, but getting more annoying...
So with that fresh in my mind, I went to work Thursday steaming at the world. I was also a fair bit annoyed at having to work - Mom had asked me to drive her to the airport Friday, which I agreed to, but the way the work week happened meant that that was really the only reason I had to go in Friday. Vaguely annoying, but life goes on; I figured I'd work ahead, get some of this week's stuff done; I knew I wanted a lot of this week off to pack for Gulf Wars.
So partway through the day Mom says "Oh, and you can pick me up Thursday, right?"
Uh.
I waffled, or tried. "Mom, I really don't know for sure when I'm coming in next week; I've got a lot to do before Gulf Wars."
WHich she took as 'I can't work at all next week' for some reason. And there she is laying the guilt trip on me: "I was _depending_ on you to help Bill out...just _once_ I'd like to leave for vacation and not be worried about everything getting done..."
I didn't blow up on her, but it was a close thing. I didn't say 'And I was depending on having a lot of next week to pack'. I said that I had a lot of stuff I had to do, and that I would be in for a few days and just didn't know which yet, and let the whole thing blow over.
I got home with a pounding headache and a foul mood, had just barely started to calm my butt down, when Jim Freaking Watts shows up at our front door for the first time in about two years and wants to know if he can borrow our back yard to get married in. (Note, not to the same woman he was going to get married to two Southern Region War Camps ago...)
Fortunately it's the same weekend as KWHS. I hope he doesn't go changing the date just so his Old and Dear Friends can attend (and not-so-incidentally provide space and house and probably a lot of the effort...)
Buh.
Got rid of him around 10, at which point I gave up on any sort of civility and curled up in a little ball with dinner. Yeah, I hadn't eaten yet and didn't dare say anything with Jim Freaking Watts still in the house, as he'd only invite himself over for food and I'd've had to break him.
Wound up blowing off poor Meradudd as my eyes hurt too much to look at a computer screen, which I feel fairly bad about, but he had Lewis and Gise to talk to.
As if in recompence, Friday was a _lovely_ day at work; I got wads done and had a couple good laughs and the ride down to the airport was pleasant. Got stuck in traffic on the way home and had another headache, but prompt application of a big glass of water and chicken paprikas did a lot about that.
Lewis and I talked that night about work and how much it's been stressing me. He pointed out that with my commute, I'm likely not actually _making_ very much money...I worked it out:
92 mile commute x .39 (standard rates) = $35.88
roughly 3 gallons of gas/day, at current rates = $4.50 (at the lowest)
2 hours of my time, at the (relatively paltry) rate I make at work = $21
Which adds up to $61.38, which is most of what I make in a day.
I think after the busy season, I'm gonna talk to my mom. She's gonna have a hard time replacing me...but it'll be easier that way than if I blow up out of sheer frustration and quit at the beginning of May some year.
Just deciding that has done a lot for the stress-level.
Picked up the van Saturday morning. It's huge. But I did that bit.
So we drove it to the event, of course, just to show the thing off. Much jealousy. Francesca thinks we're nuts and so does Adhemar.
Bought a good eating knife (at a discount I'm not sure I understand the reasoning for, but hey, I ain't dumb). Ate a lovely dayboard. Almost were foolish enough to go off-board until we succeeded in remembering that Christopher was doing the feast, and so got onboard.
Helped with a few consults. Those went well. Straggled upstairs for the final round of the competition. Four very good performers, and I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to choose. Laughed my head off.
Afterwards, followed Ro up to the Royal room to pester Adhemar. Got caught up in being useful. It was...interesting. I guess the theory is they'll let you in there as long as you're following someone who's already supposed to be in there, and then once you've been in there once, you're allowed back. Either that or as long as you look like you know what you're doing...
Learned a lot, in any case. Listened to them pick Siobhan and Arden for Bardic Champions, and I shan't give more detail than that. Had to keep quiet about Siobhan for the longest half-hour of my life, except for one brief moment in which I explained to Lewis that, no, he _did_ have to go to Court...
Court. Siobhan turned purple and almost fell over. It was _lovely_. She's all full of plans for what she's gonna do now.
In other news, Eldrich and I vaguely discussed forming a household for the Loyal Opposition. He's all over the idea now; it's fairly amusing to watch. :)
Slept in Sunday. Was briefly useful. Went out for late breakfast, shopped. Was briefly useful. Opened windows. Took shower, promptly napped for three hours. Was briefly useful. Ate dinner, went to Olwyn's to fix her computer, which consisted of sitting around snuggling cats and talking about Tiernan's book.
Came home to a cat-peed bed. Slept on the futon, downstairs. Buh.
Tired today, but got a lot of work done. Was fairly worried about Tim, as I'd barely heard from him since Thursday when I blew him off. But we're talking now and all seems to be good.
Bed soon.
Also I need to learn how to do cut-tags.
[ edit: having learned how to do cut-tags, added probably way too many... ]
Every five years or so I look back on my life, and I have a good laugh...
The van is _huge_. First time I tried to park it I almost ran it up on the curb because it's about two feet wider than I expected. I now understand why peole who drive big vehicles tend to hang to the left side of the lane and shine their lights in my eyes - it's easier to hang to the left side of the lane simply because you can _see_ where that side is. I do plan to learn how not to do that, but it's gonna take me a bit.
The thing is so big that it's possible to stand up and go wandering around it, as Lewis did on the way home from the event Saturday night. Wound up sprawled in the back seat. I'm surprised he didn't fall clean asleep back there...but I'd'a hollered at him if he did.
So, on to other things. The stress...well, let's just say that I've had three headaches in the last week. As my normal rate is much closer to perhaps one headache a year, this is beginning to worry me. If it keeps happening, I'm goin' to the doctor.
Had a long and frequently annoying discussion on Herald's Mush a few days ago that really got me thinking about the ways that the rules and customs of the SCA make it hard for those of us who are interested in serious authenticity. With the old persona, it was the red sash that I couldn't wear; now, there's not so many obvious issues since my new persona is much closer to 'SCA-standard' but there's still bunches of things my persona could do that I can't. Easy enough to avoid, but getting more annoying...
So with that fresh in my mind, I went to work Thursday steaming at the world. I was also a fair bit annoyed at having to work - Mom had asked me to drive her to the airport Friday, which I agreed to, but the way the work week happened meant that that was really the only reason I had to go in Friday. Vaguely annoying, but life goes on; I figured I'd work ahead, get some of this week's stuff done; I knew I wanted a lot of this week off to pack for Gulf Wars.
So partway through the day Mom says "Oh, and you can pick me up Thursday, right?"
Uh.
I waffled, or tried. "Mom, I really don't know for sure when I'm coming in next week; I've got a lot to do before Gulf Wars."
WHich she took as 'I can't work at all next week' for some reason. And there she is laying the guilt trip on me: "I was _depending_ on you to help Bill out...just _once_ I'd like to leave for vacation and not be worried about everything getting done..."
I didn't blow up on her, but it was a close thing. I didn't say 'And I was depending on having a lot of next week to pack'. I said that I had a lot of stuff I had to do, and that I would be in for a few days and just didn't know which yet, and let the whole thing blow over.
I got home with a pounding headache and a foul mood, had just barely started to calm my butt down, when Jim Freaking Watts shows up at our front door for the first time in about two years and wants to know if he can borrow our back yard to get married in. (Note, not to the same woman he was going to get married to two Southern Region War Camps ago...)
Fortunately it's the same weekend as KWHS. I hope he doesn't go changing the date just so his Old and Dear Friends can attend (and not-so-incidentally provide space and house and probably a lot of the effort...)
Buh.
Got rid of him around 10, at which point I gave up on any sort of civility and curled up in a little ball with dinner. Yeah, I hadn't eaten yet and didn't dare say anything with Jim Freaking Watts still in the house, as he'd only invite himself over for food and I'd've had to break him.
Wound up blowing off poor Meradudd as my eyes hurt too much to look at a computer screen, which I feel fairly bad about, but he had Lewis and Gise to talk to.
As if in recompence, Friday was a _lovely_ day at work; I got wads done and had a couple good laughs and the ride down to the airport was pleasant. Got stuck in traffic on the way home and had another headache, but prompt application of a big glass of water and chicken paprikas did a lot about that.
Lewis and I talked that night about work and how much it's been stressing me. He pointed out that with my commute, I'm likely not actually _making_ very much money...I worked it out:
92 mile commute x .39 (standard rates) = $35.88
roughly 3 gallons of gas/day, at current rates = $4.50 (at the lowest)
2 hours of my time, at the (relatively paltry) rate I make at work = $21
Which adds up to $61.38, which is most of what I make in a day.
I think after the busy season, I'm gonna talk to my mom. She's gonna have a hard time replacing me...but it'll be easier that way than if I blow up out of sheer frustration and quit at the beginning of May some year.
Just deciding that has done a lot for the stress-level.
Picked up the van Saturday morning. It's huge. But I did that bit.
So we drove it to the event, of course, just to show the thing off. Much jealousy. Francesca thinks we're nuts and so does Adhemar.
Bought a good eating knife (at a discount I'm not sure I understand the reasoning for, but hey, I ain't dumb). Ate a lovely dayboard. Almost were foolish enough to go off-board until we succeeded in remembering that Christopher was doing the feast, and so got onboard.
Helped with a few consults. Those went well. Straggled upstairs for the final round of the competition. Four very good performers, and I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to choose. Laughed my head off.
Afterwards, followed Ro up to the Royal room to pester Adhemar. Got caught up in being useful. It was...interesting. I guess the theory is they'll let you in there as long as you're following someone who's already supposed to be in there, and then once you've been in there once, you're allowed back. Either that or as long as you look like you know what you're doing...
Learned a lot, in any case. Listened to them pick Siobhan and Arden for Bardic Champions, and I shan't give more detail than that. Had to keep quiet about Siobhan for the longest half-hour of my life, except for one brief moment in which I explained to Lewis that, no, he _did_ have to go to Court...
Court. Siobhan turned purple and almost fell over. It was _lovely_. She's all full of plans for what she's gonna do now.
In other news, Eldrich and I vaguely discussed forming a household for the Loyal Opposition. He's all over the idea now; it's fairly amusing to watch. :)
Slept in Sunday. Was briefly useful. Went out for late breakfast, shopped. Was briefly useful. Opened windows. Took shower, promptly napped for three hours. Was briefly useful. Ate dinner, went to Olwyn's to fix her computer, which consisted of sitting around snuggling cats and talking about Tiernan's book.
Came home to a cat-peed bed. Slept on the futon, downstairs. Buh.
Tired today, but got a lot of work done. Was fairly worried about Tim, as I'd barely heard from him since Thursday when I blew him off. But we're talking now and all seems to be good.
Bed soon.
Also I need to learn how to do cut-tags.
[ edit: having learned how to do cut-tags, added probably way too many... ]