Not dead, just tired
Nov. 17th, 2012 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornThings are happening in my life, and if I do not give myself amnesty for all the postings I meant to write, I will never write another posting again, I feel. So, amnesty given.
Work, and commute
October 1st I "officially" started the new job. The job description is the same, the company is the same, but the department, the location, the boss, the other team members, and the tooling used are new (to me). Which would have been okay on its own, but the transition was the opposite of smooth: Old topics would not let me go, new ones could not be started because people were unavailable.
To make things harder, my nice "five minutes by bicycle" commute is now one hour by bicycle: 20 km instead of 2.5. I dislike commuting by car, so I cycle. A lot. Which means, I'm not going to the gym. Which means, my knees and my back are very unhappy with me. It also means that I seem to have gained 3 kilos, fortunately mostly on my butt, which can really use it (especially as I spend two hours a day on a narrow bicycle saddle!).
I will continue commuting by bike as long as the weather stays dry and not too cold (-2°C is my limit.) If the weather worsens, I will look into public transportation. However, it is unlikely that I have to, this year, because...
Move, upcoming
... I have so much vacation days and overtime left that the coming week is my last work-week of the year. Seven weeks of comp time and vacation (with the option of an eighth) upcoming, and boy, can I use it.
Not only because I am exhausted on all levels, but also because I am moving. (Not far: Less than 2 km.)
I did not especially want to, and I sure had not planned to. I like my place. It's largish, inexpensive, close to all my friends, at the edge of the forest but only ten minutes from the city, and I'm used to it.
However, circumstances have conspired to get me to buy a flat. So, that's what I did. (Circumstances were extremely persuasive.) New flat will be a lot like old flat when it comes to the rooms. Main difference is an open kitchen: So, cooking can be the shared activity that I like it to be. And there will be a dishwasher! And a very large balcony! Also, the new place is really brand-new, quite shiny, and closer to the train station.
I had a look at the nearly-finished flat last Thursday, and found the expected amount of things having gone wrong: Wrong handles on the windows, power outlets in the kitchen in the wrong place, painters left tape on the walls,... . All minor issues, fortunately.
I am going to get the keys on November 29th. Kitchen appliances will get delivered December 4th. Kitchen will be installed December 7th. On December 8th and 9th there will be a "packing, cleaning, cookies, pizza"-party at my old place for all willing to come and help. On December 10th the movers will take all the gear to the new place. After that, I have to get the painters in, because the cats damaged the wallpaper beyond all hiding or repair, and get the trash taken away. (I expect the latter to be impossible, or at least extremely difficult.)
In the meantime, I have to see what I will do about the kitchen in the old place (it needs to go), declutter with a vengeance, get stuff installed in the new place (cat nets!) and... ... ...
... yes, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. I will have been in this flat for 11 years and 363 days. I am scared at the thought of how much stuff I have accumulated. I am worried about the cats. I am worried about committing to stay -- yes, I know how silly that sounds (twelve years!), but in the past I always knew that if my job went somewhere else or if I got trouble with the neighbours (cat nets...) I could leave. The thought of being unable to leave makes me feel trapped.
Music
The ensemble had been asked to sing at some festivity in October, but the organisers stumbled into a bucket of fail and the event got cancelled. The choir has its next gig in March next year (except for a tiny one in December, which we are going to do from what we already know well), so practise is relaxed and without pressure. The ensemble is doing a Christmas song which is sweet and complicated, with the lead moving between voices and the others singing instrumental patterns.
I had been to two concerts myself: The Wise Guys, which was very well done but not that, hm, involved? rousing? dunno... and Magnum (I was a big fan of them in the late 80s), which was "OMG everyone's so old, is that keyboarder still alive, and why is he playing in a different key than the guitarist?" but loud and fun, with shouting and clapping and singing along, and it made me feel happy. The music had hardly changed.
I had planned to see Perpetuum Jazzile later this month -- I had heard them in Stockholm in August, and they are good -- but the tickets cost about twice what I was willing to pay. :-(
Regarding my own "band", we moved to a new practise room, which is not as nice as the old one: It's a big building with dozens of practise rooms, so someone is always making a lot more noise than we, playing unplugged, can. We really need to get a plug. *G*
I had felt that we had been focussing too much on our instruments (which are not our strength) and had let our strength (vocal harmonies) slip, so that is what we try to get back to now -- that we can, any time, any place, any song, just open our mouth and sing it in (near-) perfect harmony. We're getting back there, and IMO our practise has become a lot more pleasant for it. I would really like to get us on stage, but I feel that we are very far from good enough. (I will always feel that, I guess. Ars longa.)
Media
I haven't had time to be fannish about anything. I haven't had time to watch TV except for "Avengers" and the second season of "Sherlock". I went to the cinema twice in the last few months (Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, which was so-so, and Skyfall, which I liked a great lot, even though something in my head was doing a running commentary about tropes and narrative conventions.)
Writing
Don't ask...
I finished my current Perry-Rhodan fic at 52K words, and now have to do a full edit. Two of alpha readers (Ceridwen and flederkatz have it. I think Snow will want it, too.
Because of some weird trouble with the company hosting my web page (they say I am not their customer, after I wrote them a mail from the account I have with them!) I am not able to edit my webpage at foni.net anymore. So I have, for now, copied the whole shebang to Netzbändiger.
I need to update Real Soon Now. But first I need to find out if I can make my host remember me, so that I can, at least, delete everything and (hopefully) leave a pointer to the new site.
(The links to my webpage in LJ and DW still go to the old place. Depending on how it works out with the hosting company, that might change.)
Everyone else
Speaking of Flederkatz, she has Things Going On in her life, too. I visited her at the beginning of the month. It was raining continously (the drive back was nightmarish), and we mostly hung out, talked, drank tea or coffee and ate cake. I even got some writing done.
I___ is at a health resort for Not Being In A Good State Overall. N___ and I are going to visit her tomorrow.
J___ turned 49 a few days ago. I was at his party and hardly knew anyone, but it did not matter much, I still had interesting talks with some people, and I also talked a lot with R___, who is always so clear-headed and reasonable that talking to her is like decluttering my brain. The first of J___'s birthdays I went to was his 25th. *is shocked*.
Everyone else is slogging along some way or the other. Among those of my age, I seem to be one of the very few not suffering from some chronic condition. I can't remember my parents or any of their friends being in that bad a shape in their mid-forties. As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the mileage." But where the hell have we been to acquire that much mileage?
Cats
The cats are fine. I managed to get them to the vet for their vaccinations in October. Tully is now 5.7 kg, Jerry is 4.7. They haven't fallen into the bathtub for quite a while. Jerry has discovered that it is fun to climb on top of open doors, but not much fun to come down again. I have given them wet food once, because I had a free sample. Never doing that again: Tully freaked out, hissed and growled and tried to hide the whole bounty under the sofa.
Right now, they form a heap of cat in a basket in front of the radiator. Tully is snoring softly.
New flat will have floor heating. I wonder how the cats will like it.
And that's it, more or less. Well, less, actually despite this being a long post. It has been a long year. And now there are Christmas decorations outside in the grey and dry November overcast.
Work, and commute
October 1st I "officially" started the new job. The job description is the same, the company is the same, but the department, the location, the boss, the other team members, and the tooling used are new (to me). Which would have been okay on its own, but the transition was the opposite of smooth: Old topics would not let me go, new ones could not be started because people were unavailable.
To make things harder, my nice "five minutes by bicycle" commute is now one hour by bicycle: 20 km instead of 2.5. I dislike commuting by car, so I cycle. A lot. Which means, I'm not going to the gym. Which means, my knees and my back are very unhappy with me. It also means that I seem to have gained 3 kilos, fortunately mostly on my butt, which can really use it (especially as I spend two hours a day on a narrow bicycle saddle!).
I will continue commuting by bike as long as the weather stays dry and not too cold (-2°C is my limit.) If the weather worsens, I will look into public transportation. However, it is unlikely that I have to, this year, because...
Move, upcoming
... I have so much vacation days and overtime left that the coming week is my last work-week of the year. Seven weeks of comp time and vacation (with the option of an eighth) upcoming, and boy, can I use it.
Not only because I am exhausted on all levels, but also because I am moving. (Not far: Less than 2 km.)
I did not especially want to, and I sure had not planned to. I like my place. It's largish, inexpensive, close to all my friends, at the edge of the forest but only ten minutes from the city, and I'm used to it.
However, circumstances have conspired to get me to buy a flat. So, that's what I did. (Circumstances were extremely persuasive.) New flat will be a lot like old flat when it comes to the rooms. Main difference is an open kitchen: So, cooking can be the shared activity that I like it to be. And there will be a dishwasher! And a very large balcony! Also, the new place is really brand-new, quite shiny, and closer to the train station.
I had a look at the nearly-finished flat last Thursday, and found the expected amount of things having gone wrong: Wrong handles on the windows, power outlets in the kitchen in the wrong place, painters left tape on the walls,... . All minor issues, fortunately.
I am going to get the keys on November 29th. Kitchen appliances will get delivered December 4th. Kitchen will be installed December 7th. On December 8th and 9th there will be a "packing, cleaning, cookies, pizza"-party at my old place for all willing to come and help. On December 10th the movers will take all the gear to the new place. After that, I have to get the painters in, because the cats damaged the wallpaper beyond all hiding or repair, and get the trash taken away. (I expect the latter to be impossible, or at least extremely difficult.)
In the meantime, I have to see what I will do about the kitchen in the old place (it needs to go), declutter with a vengeance, get stuff installed in the new place (cat nets!) and... ... ...
... yes, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. I will have been in this flat for 11 years and 363 days. I am scared at the thought of how much stuff I have accumulated. I am worried about the cats. I am worried about committing to stay -- yes, I know how silly that sounds (twelve years!), but in the past I always knew that if my job went somewhere else or if I got trouble with the neighbours (cat nets...) I could leave. The thought of being unable to leave makes me feel trapped.
Music
The ensemble had been asked to sing at some festivity in October, but the organisers stumbled into a bucket of fail and the event got cancelled. The choir has its next gig in March next year (except for a tiny one in December, which we are going to do from what we already know well), so practise is relaxed and without pressure. The ensemble is doing a Christmas song which is sweet and complicated, with the lead moving between voices and the others singing instrumental patterns.
I had been to two concerts myself: The Wise Guys, which was very well done but not that, hm, involved? rousing? dunno... and Magnum (I was a big fan of them in the late 80s), which was "OMG everyone's so old, is that keyboarder still alive, and why is he playing in a different key than the guitarist?" but loud and fun, with shouting and clapping and singing along, and it made me feel happy. The music had hardly changed.
I had planned to see Perpetuum Jazzile later this month -- I had heard them in Stockholm in August, and they are good -- but the tickets cost about twice what I was willing to pay. :-(
Regarding my own "band", we moved to a new practise room, which is not as nice as the old one: It's a big building with dozens of practise rooms, so someone is always making a lot more noise than we, playing unplugged, can. We really need to get a plug. *G*
I had felt that we had been focussing too much on our instruments (which are not our strength) and had let our strength (vocal harmonies) slip, so that is what we try to get back to now -- that we can, any time, any place, any song, just open our mouth and sing it in (near-) perfect harmony. We're getting back there, and IMO our practise has become a lot more pleasant for it. I would really like to get us on stage, but I feel that we are very far from good enough. (I will always feel that, I guess. Ars longa.)
Media
I haven't had time to be fannish about anything. I haven't had time to watch TV except for "Avengers" and the second season of "Sherlock". I went to the cinema twice in the last few months (Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, which was so-so, and Skyfall, which I liked a great lot, even though something in my head was doing a running commentary about tropes and narrative conventions.)
Writing
Don't ask...
I finished my current Perry-Rhodan fic at 52K words, and now have to do a full edit. Two of alpha readers (Ceridwen and flederkatz have it. I think Snow will want it, too.
Because of some weird trouble with the company hosting my web page (they say I am not their customer, after I wrote them a mail from the account I have with them!) I am not able to edit my webpage at foni.net anymore. So I have, for now, copied the whole shebang to Netzbändiger.
I need to update Real Soon Now. But first I need to find out if I can make my host remember me, so that I can, at least, delete everything and (hopefully) leave a pointer to the new site.
(The links to my webpage in LJ and DW still go to the old place. Depending on how it works out with the hosting company, that might change.)
Everyone else
Speaking of Flederkatz, she has Things Going On in her life, too. I visited her at the beginning of the month. It was raining continously (the drive back was nightmarish), and we mostly hung out, talked, drank tea or coffee and ate cake. I even got some writing done.
I___ is at a health resort for Not Being In A Good State Overall. N___ and I are going to visit her tomorrow.
J___ turned 49 a few days ago. I was at his party and hardly knew anyone, but it did not matter much, I still had interesting talks with some people, and I also talked a lot with R___, who is always so clear-headed and reasonable that talking to her is like decluttering my brain. The first of J___'s birthdays I went to was his 25th. *is shocked*.
Everyone else is slogging along some way or the other. Among those of my age, I seem to be one of the very few not suffering from some chronic condition. I can't remember my parents or any of their friends being in that bad a shape in their mid-forties. As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the mileage." But where the hell have we been to acquire that much mileage?
Cats
The cats are fine. I managed to get them to the vet for their vaccinations in October. Tully is now 5.7 kg, Jerry is 4.7. They haven't fallen into the bathtub for quite a while. Jerry has discovered that it is fun to climb on top of open doors, but not much fun to come down again. I have given them wet food once, because I had a free sample. Never doing that again: Tully freaked out, hissed and growled and tried to hide the whole bounty under the sofa.
Right now, they form a heap of cat in a basket in front of the radiator. Tully is snoring softly.
New flat will have floor heating. I wonder how the cats will like it.
And that's it, more or less. Well, less, actually despite this being a long post. It has been a long year. And now there are Christmas decorations outside in the grey and dry November overcast.