The Announcement

If you were reading at the weekend, you'll remember I was expecting to find out if I had a job (well, more accurately, if I had a job I wanted, I know I'm not being made redundant, but there is still scope for ending up with a job I don't want to do) on Monday. Here is a blunt summary of what was said:

Umm... we haven't quite decided yet. We had hope we would have... but we haven't. In fact, we're not even sure we're close.... we'll get back to you when we think we know when we'll think we know...

So there you go. Stay tuned, they may or may not know any time soon. You usually have to pay for this kind of edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Holiday Checklist

The end of what feels like the shortest week of the year (doesn't it always when you're on holiday?) Here's how I've faired against the list of approved holiday activities from last week:

Sleeping.

If I hadn't at some point this week I'd probably have collapsed and been taken to hospital by now. So yes, done pleanty of this.

Watching daytime TV and despairing at how rubbish it is. But not turning it off.
Not done much of this, and tended to watch the music channels when I did, because everything else was even more rubbish than they usually are (they're sometimes actually quite good, between all the R&B stuff)

Playing computer games.
Yup. Decided to get and play through Warcraft III, since I never did when it came out. That's been quite fun. Done a bit of my usuals too (EVE and City of Heroes)

Browsing the web.
Yup. Well duh!

Going up into the attic and getting childhood toys out and feeling nostalgic.
Not putting the toys away again.
These two grouped together.. didn't do the first so couldn't do the second. Another holiday no doubt, it's a long time since I've played with my old Lego models.

Hanging around half dressed because I don't plan going out that day.
Usually only the hour or so between getting up and lunchtime.

Running to find clothes to complete the half-finished getting dressed operation when a deliveryman calls.
The only delivery-person called when I was still asleep, so I didn't bother getting dressed. I'm sure they're used to people answering the door in dressing-gowns.

Hurling abuse at the phone after hanging up on the cold-callers who phone every day to ask for some bizzare gross mispronunciation of our surname. "Mr She Jakquewesee?" "No. No Jakquewesee live here, sorry"
Only a couple of cold calls, and one was actually for me. I didn't want them to save me money, or give me free stuff, or whatever they were pushing.

Emailing the people at work and resisting the urge to gloat about the fact I'm not there.
Only a couple of times. And no gloating done.

More sleeping. During the day, because I’m such a rebel.
Technically yes, since I didn't get up very early. However I didn't do any of the old-person style having-a-nap-after-lunch type sleeping.

So, a successful week off then. Back to work on Monday to hear the result of the departmental reshuffle. Here's hopeing I still have a job!

Approved Holiday Activities

Next week, I have my first days of annual leave since March. This of course means that I worked later tonight than I have in months because there was so much I wanted to have completed. There still is. I'm obviously quite insane because I considered cancelling the Monday and going in to work, and taking the day off some other time.

I do have a slight problem, in that the adults in my family (the rapidly approaching quarter-century doesn't mean I think of myself as an adult) don't really understand the whole concept of "time off" or "holiday". To them, it's "the time when you do all the work you don't have time to do while doing the day job". In fact, they're positively anxious and distressed if they don't have a bunch of things to do, and will go looking for things to occupy their time with. This isn't watching TV or reading the paper... it's "hey, lets re-turf the garden!" and "why don't we re-paper the staircase?" So I say "I've got some holiday booked next week" and they say "oh good, I'll get you a list of jobs"

No.
No.
No.

This is "time off" its "a few days when I don't do anything you could describe as a job or work". I want to use it to relax, recharge, and enjoy myself. Maybe I'm odd, but I don't find paving the drive or painting the dining room relaxing, and I don't enjoy scrubbing the bathroom ceiling or unblocking the drains. These things are not on "Sarum’s list of approved holiday activities". Here are some things that are:

Sleeping.
Watching daytime TV and despairing at how rubbish it is. But not turning it off.
Playing computer games.
Browsing the web.
Going up into the attic and getting childhood toys out and feeling nostalgic.
Not putting the toys away again.
Handing around half dressed because I don't plan going out that day.
Running to find clothes to complete the half-finished getting dressed operation when a deliveryman calls.
Hurling abuse at the phone after hanging up on the cold-callers who phone every day to ask for some bizzare gross mispronunciation of our surname. "Mr She Jakquewesee?" "No. No Jakquewesee live here, sorry"
Emailing the people at work and resisting the urge to gloat about the fact I'm not there.
More sleeping. During the day, because I’m such a rebel.

The Lighter Side of Darkness

It seems to be a long time since I made a post where the entire point was to be funny, to make the reader smile. I'm not sure why. I can't believe that this is because my life has been devoid of humour for that length of time, or that I've failed to see the funny side of things. Sure, in many ways I've had a tough year. But I've achieved a lot too. I'd done a lot of things I've really enjoyed doing, and I don't think there is anything I'd go back and do differently given the choice. Certainly there are a lot of things I'd have liked to have turned out differently, but I believe that in the main, the things I've done have been the right things to do, so I wouldn't do them differently purely to try get a different outcome.

Do I feel some odd requirement to angst in my blog, rather than use it to report the amusing things that happen? Maybe I feel that posts that question and dissect who I am carry more weight and merit than those that just smile at the trivialities?

There's always more than one way to approach a problem, and I think I've been overly negative about mine recently. So while this post again lacks any laughs, in the future I'll try and find the lighter side of things, at least occasionally.