Adventures of the Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief

Long time no post. I have been busy. With work and life and house and avoiding responsibility (it's a gift).

But today warrants a post... why? Because today, I get out of the sticks and back into chez Beth. Ok, so I still don't have a shower because the plumber may have cocked up the pipes and then plastered over it, and we don't relish the idea of pulling all the plaster out and redoing that shit. And obviously because of the pipe issue, the bathroom hasn't been tiled yet. Nor has the kicthen, and we don't have an extractor hood for the hob yet. And I could really do with another kitchen cupboard and work surface, but they'll have to wait. And the builders threw away the shelf that the tumble dryer sat on, so there's no telling where that's going at the moment.
But I have water and heating and an oven, and by the end of the day there will be nothing of mine left at my dad's place, which is just as well as I think Kay might be ready to just throw me out (I acknowledge that I am messy and somewhat set in my ways, and was only supposed to be here for a couple of months).

So yeah.

Woo and yay!

But for now I need to pack more things, maybe actually get dressed, do laundry and stuff.

I actually put socks on to eat dinner. This may not seem like a thing, but I HATE wearing socks (and shoes, but people look at me funny when I go out without shoes, and yes, I did end up walking round work without shoes on, but that was a dire circumstance and I really shouldn't repeat it). But mostly I wore socks because it was cold. I haven't had them on all day which has been great, but its suddenly gone really cold, and I was wandering about in the kitchen which has tiled floor, so, socks.
Blech.

Um, I had something else I was going to say. Fuck knows what.

So apparently there was Yuletide and fic and stuff? I don't know. I failed at having time this year, which made me sad, but I wasn't wandering around in a flail, so it's probably for the best (and given the events of december, I would have ended up defaulting anyway).

Why does Steven Erikson not like happy things to happen to his characters? I was all happy that characters I liked were doing stuff, and then I remembered that if they're doing stuff, it will probably not work out in the way that they were intending, and then they'll be maimed or miserable or dead. Or possibly dead and miserable. Or something.
I really should read the next GRRMartin at some point. I just sort of lack for interest or caring about the characters anymore (I may have made that complaint before).

I really need to stop forgetting about my glasses. They kind of make the whole 'seeing things' thing a lot easier.

Nope, I still have no idea what I was going to post about.

Tomorrow we have a house inspection, dad and I have to return work surfaces to Ikea and I need to find some new shirts, because I'm going through a phase of wanting to wear rugby shirts, but the only one I have tends to result in taking flack (its a very old Saints shirt) so I want some plain ones. And some new t-shirts. And jeans. I really need a whole new wardrobe but I lack for money and space at the moment. Oh well.

I am bored. This is not unusual.
I am hungry. Also not unusual.
I would like someone to make me a cup of tea. Very common.
I need more space. A usual state of affairs.

I spent an excellent xmas weekend at Chez Dave & co, where there was carol singing (in Leighton Buzzard), a massive amount of food (cooked by me and Dave, including some excellent roast potatoes) and the usual amount of insanity that comes from that house.

I got some excellent presents, and everyone seemed pleased with what I got them, which is always a relief.

I'm trying to work out if my computer is making strange noises, or if I can hear the wooden wind chimes from down the garden. I'm not entirely sure which would be more disconcerting.

I have about a billion and one tabs open, I'm about a third of the way through the 7th Erikson book (nothing bad has happened yet, but the build up to bad things is certainly there) and today I got to meet my aunt's new puppy, who is adorable.

And I think on the grounds that my father is ignoring my psychic calls for tea (I tend to get ignored once I'm upstairs apart for when dinner is up or I need to be shouted at for some reason) I shall go and make myself some.

Still hates me. Today it's the upper part that is giving me issues. Which is probably to expected given how much I've been doing crouched over recently.

I'm currently bopping along to xmas tunes and wrapping presents. It's not really relaxing. I mean, I like wrapping presents, but half of them haven't turned up, and I'm slightly concerned about that.

I have a new phone, finally. And the screen works. The last phone I had, I've had for about 2 years, and the screen gave up the ghost, in that it would go all streaky and completely unreadable unless it was kept warm and had pressure applied to it. This sadly led to it usually being stored down my bra, or me sitting on it. Or occasionally at work standing with it under the hand driers in the toilets. But I have a shiny new Samsung Galaxy and it works and is pretty. yay!

We've had a bit of snow this morning, but it's pretty much melted now. Hey ho. I'm not a huge fan of snow, especially when I have places to be. I've never really driven in snow, and we live at the end of lots of windy roads that don't see gritters unless its by accident.
And I have to be a taxi service this afternoon so that dad can go to the rugby. I don't mind too much, but um, meh. It means that I'll be stuck in town for a couple of hours. Although maybe I'll be able to find some stuff for people who I haven't managed to buy for yet. (and nothing for me, I'm banned from buying books again)

The last week has been a bit traumatic, not for any real horrific reason, it just hasn't been great. But things are on the up again, so hopefully they will stay that way.

I'm fairly sure I had other things to say, but buggered if I can remember them. Possibly actually remembering to eat would be a good start.

I'm cold, and while I know I ought to go over to the house and strip wallpaper, the idea is not in the slightest appealing to me. It's sort of one of those days. Actually, I think it might be one of those weeks.

Sunday evening dad sliced his wrist open when a plate smashed in the sink while he was washing up. Cue mad dash of him and Kay to the A&E at 11pm. Apparently bleeding profusely gets you seen far faster than being in untold amounts of pain. I'll have to remember that next time.
Monday morning, dad couldn't ride his motorbike because of the stitches, and I needed the car for work, so I had to go with him to work (oh god oh god his driving makes me have panic attacks) and then take the car home (oh god Brackmills, why must you suck so much) and then go to work (oh god, student, why don't you tell me that you're not turning up).
Yesterday was student being pissy, student not showing up (the same one, who did then text to say she was sorry she hadn't told me that she wouldn't be in), and then student being pissy and rude to the lecturer by doing research for another essay while he was trying to lead a discussion on Ezra Pound's poems. I mean, I have no great love for Pound, but she knows about manners, we've had discussions about them, and she has plenty of time to get her essays done without being quite so rude.
Today is a suprise day off due to student not being in, which makes up for the fact that tomorrow I have to go in, no doubt be stood up by a student, then cover a midwifery lecture for which I have had the disturbing content warning and "we can provide counselling afterwards" talk when I went to the office the other day. And then 3 hours of sitting doing nothing. Woo.

I'm getting a bit fed up of the way that lecturers are now basically telling students everything that needs to go into an essay, almost to the point of a paragraph by paragraph breakdown. In the first year, for the first couple of essays, maybe, to get them into the swing of things, but these are second years now, and if they don't know how to construct an essay and how to analyse a piece of text, then I think all hope might be lost. And it's not like the grading is really harsh, most always seemed to come out with at least a C- last year. It seems to be more the English department that does it, and that makes me feel even worse, as we never got that sort of help when I was at uni, and it feels like these people are going to come out with higher degrees, having done less work than me, which sucks.

The up side of today is that I have Panga the panda back. She is all shiny and without dents or a buckled wheel rim. And I now owe dad £250 and we have to have a 'talk' about money. I may be hiding upstairs later. I suspect a steep rise in rent is coming my way, or the announcement that I will be getting a housemate when I move back. Joy.

There are goldfinches on the feeder again, and I'm thinking I should go and get garlic bread for dinner and maybe forage for some lunch. And then there is to be an Iron Man watching session.
And maybe I will remember to do the tiny bit of work typing that has been sitting on the table all morning looking sad and pitiful.

And I should probably crack on with NaNo, as I've not written anything since saturday. oops.

Life is crazy cakes right now. Not entirely bad crazy cakes, but still. Work is full of stupid people, I mean really, I wonder how some of these students actually managed to get onto the degree courses that they're on.
There's weird office politics going on, and the university continues to face cuts left right and centre.

I had a minor car accident the other day, which as led to a dent in my bump Ier and an awful lot of running around trying to get hold of insurance companies. I've finally got through to them after a botched call on monday, which they have no record of.

I spent this afternoon painting the bathroom. The house is slowly starting to look like it will be habitable soon. The bathroom floor goes in on saturday, the bathroom and oven go in next week some point, and then it's a case of starting to move stuff back in.

So I do have intelligent things that I want to say, but I've just realised that my ladiesbigbang project is due in about a week and a half and I've barely touched it in ages, and my theme fell apart a while ago.

So if no one minds, I'm going to go and sit in a field and think about music that fits the theme of "awesome female characters who I want to be when I grow up (maybe)".

I'm having a brain day I guess. Or possibly a month. Not sure really. Spent most of the day hiding in my room away from the internet, phone turned off.
The house stuff is making me miserable, other people's attitudes to the house stuff are making me miserable, what with them telling me how I should be dealing with it and dad about it. Other people's attitudes full stop are making me miserable.
I don't want hugs, I don't want sympathy, I don't want people trying to understand me. Mostly I really just want to be left alone at the moment.

I'm currently trying to work out how the fuck some soldiers being sent fishing is more worthy of full on interviews on the news that protests over massive job cuts at a university. It's nice they're getting a break from shooting the shit out of people that they have no business being at war with, but I'm fairly sure that 80 people losing their jobs because the university has decided to outsource a fuckload of stuff is a bit more pressing and relevant to people watching that news show.

I mostly just want to be back at work. I'm bored, I'm broke, and I really need an excuse to not be social.

I'm in that irritating phase of listening to a mix over and over again to make sure that it all hangs together right before I post it. It's annoying. And lets not mention the fact that I've still got to cobble some kind of cover together on a laptop that doesn't like photoshop one bit.

Still going crazy living out in the sticks, and going through a serious case of the blah in relation to pretty much everything. I'm avoiding people, not doing much and generally wallowing in my own fucking misery. Which I hate, but I don't want anyone to try and pull me out of it because that gets me pissy like nobodys business.

And random people who I've never met adding me on facebook. No thanks mate, you look like a right chav and can't spell. Bad enough the people I do know who seem to be completely incapable of using non text speak on there.

I'm fairly busy at the moment. Lots of LARP, lots of books, so I've not been online much. Quite a bit of sleeping going on as well.

Dave has returned from Germany, which is pretty awesome.

Faded Glory was fun, apparently this weekend is Odyssey, although I'm still umming and wibbling (it's a fair bit of money, and I don't really have any kit, and I don't know anyone, and there's lots of people) so, yeah.

Umm, I have a tumblr which is so far a picture of the sky. I've had it for ages, but I've only really used it to follow random picture blogs and stuff.

Still living with dad, looks like I'm here until October at least, which sucks. I want my space again, and getting to work from here is going to be an arse.