The Thessaliad Redux

Somebody please just tell me who I have to throttle to make things work around here!

Okay, so I started trying to reupload the forum stuff for CoC. I decided to do this slowly and manually, given that the Java uploader that my host operates may well just be shit - I wanted to completely exclude that as the problem. So this is slow work, but should be fine, right? WRONG. Because now I'm trying to upload stuff and every time I click "Browse", fucking thing crashes Firefox on me. I mean, we're talking the whole thing collapses and falls down. It's like clicking that one little button just bombs the crap out of the browser.

I don't know what the fuck is going on, but how they expect anyone to operate under these conditions is beyond me. I'm going to give it a breather, feed the cat, have my other apple doughnut while trying to calm down (I skipped most of dinner but want to at least try to get some caloric intake down me, plus I could use the sugar) and then try it again. If all else fails, I'm going to have to type in the files I'm looking to upload manually and see where that gets me. This could get slow, dull and pointless, and I'll be pissed off beyond all reason if I go through all that trouble and find that it still doesn't work, but ... well, I'm going to try everything at this point. I refuse to let this stupid fucking bit of machinery and software do this to me.

Of course, I could be stressing because I have to go to the dentist in about 14.5 hours and just not be needing this shit on top of the whole "they're going to rip out one of my teeth" thing. YMMV.

The post office is evil this time of year. It's packed to the rafters with loud, annoying people who spend five-ten minutes at a time at the counter trying to work out fairly simple postage concepts, which makes the queue hellish. And that's just where you buy the stamps. The stationery section (really just 'stuff' scattered wherever there's room for it in the post office, with the service desk pretty much blocking the route to anywhere) was having some kind of one-day sale on what appeared to be electrical items - little boom boxes, paper shredders, all sorts of crap. And all I needed was one little box to put the presents to the Missourians in. Unfortunately, the stationery service desk only had one register, and that one was taken up for five minutes by some woman who didn't have enough money to buy both of the sale items she wanted and was apparently unable to understand the concept of 'one-day sale', because she wanted to come back for the second item tomorrow and get it at the sale price, despite repeated explanations that it wouldn't be on sale tomorrow. The second lady at the register, who was mainly dealing with lottery stuff, couldn't apologise enough that this slightly clueless woman was monopolising their one register and looked like she was afraid I was going to get rude. However, I read customers_suck; I know what's appropriate behaviour to staff in these places when shit's happening that's not their fault. So I put on my understanding face and used the time to find her exact change. Of course, I had my own attack of the stupid in that I forgot to include the card to the Missourians before I sealed the box. Thankfully, there was still a thin gap that would still let the card fit. Hope it doesn't get damaged.

Regardless ... everything's in the post, people! Rejoice!

Right. Now I suppose I ought to get back to the CoC settings page. After all, I'm getting people showing an interest now, so it'd be nice to have a fuller site for them to view. Just, what with the present wrapping (the stuff for the Missourians, dodgyhoodoo's presents, weaselbitch's present and Mum's stuff for Christmas and birthday) and running around at the post office, not to mention getting a nice little box thing to put homemade bath salts in for dodgyhoodoo's Nan, I needed unwindy time. And now I need painkillers. Stupid knees.

I still feel horrible. Couldn't sleep last night, napped this afternoon, did the washing up, ate lunch, wish I hadn't ... pretty much my life these days. At least the damn swelling in my jaw's gone down. I learn to count my blessings where I find them at the moment.

I've been dicking around with settings on the City of Complications forum and stuff, but Setup won't fucking run and I can't figure out why. I'm going to give it a little while and then try it again, because it's entirely possible that the stupid machine hasn't figured out where on the server to point things yet. Hopefully by tomorrow that'll be up and running. Gyeesh. But there's other stuff to do as well, and most of it will take awhile. I still aspire to have the fucking thing ready by the end of the week, though, sick or not.

I'm resisting the urge to go back to bed, though I'm not sure why I'm even bothering. I mean, yes, I'd like to try to keep on a normal "wake up in the morning, sleep at night" schedule, but on the whole, I'd just much rather be lying down right now, at least physically speaking. Mentally, I want to be doing something, but I just haven't got the energy. So fed up with this...

Started applying for jobs today. Yeah, I know I'm still ill, but I'm getting used to it now, and I need to start now unless I want to find myself paychequeless for the start of 2007. That wouldn't do at all, would it? So despite the continuing illness, I've updated my CV and started looking for work, start date pegged for December. This gives me a couple of weeks at least to build up my tolerance for doing things like, I dunno, going outside and carrying out a day full of activity. I just wish my knees didn't hurt so badly. I think I'm going to get a cane. Where can I find a nice cane; does anybody know?

Not sure what I want to do tonight, projects-wise. There's always the NaNo, obviously - I finally did something with that "Voudon Udon" idea that dodgyhoodoo planted in my brain during last year's NaNo launch party, so I could finish that off. On the other hand, there's lots of coding that needs to be done on the City of Complications site, and I still need to find chat software; I'm probably going to stick to Yet Another Bulletin Board for the forums but I need a place for people to chat ... unless I do this via IRC, which I suppose is a possibility. Man, I haven't been on IRC in years; I hope I remember how mIRC works. So I could do that. On the other hand again, I've been having some ideas on how to start the actual text content of Urban Chaote, so there's that to consider...

Argh. Why do I do this to myself every godsdamned time? It doesn't matter how free my days are; every time I turn around, projects pile on projects pile on projects and my inspiration winds up pinging in every damn direction, leaving me standing in the middle of a pile of half-finished projects going, "What's next? What's next? Agh!" It's not that I can't focus on one task and get it done; it's just that when a piece of inspiration hits me, I tend to grab hold of it and start it up so that I don't lose it, knowing that I can come back to it later. But suddenly it's 'later' already and I don't know where to start with concentrated focused effort now. Everything wants to get done NOWNOWNOW, you see. I'd damn my muse if she hadn't provided me with so much good shit over the years.

Okay; let's try the old-fashioned logic thing. Certain of these projects have actual deadlines, primarily the NaNo. That has to be done in the next 17 days. And just because I'm very far ahead doesn't mean I can slack. I'll get my 50k words done at least before I think too hard about any of the rest of it. In the meantime, I'll consider what kind of shots of London I want for City of Complications so that I can either find what I'm looking for online or ask dodgyhoodoo to be a sort of a bespoke photographer - well, he offered. At least the character sheet submission format is easy - darkdanc3r used the CbN format for her submission so it's probably easier to just stick with that; it's pretty standard over the WoD boards I've seen anyway. It's now just a matter of writing out the text for a general London overview, and establishing things like chantries in London as a whole. It hasn't been a problem in the one playtest I've done because that was just a random street meet between darkdanc3r's character and a not-so-random supernatural who is, I'll admit, one of my favourite creations. So it's not like no work's being done on CoC just because I'm busy with the NaNo.

After that, I'll shift my focus to CoC coding and chat room software searches, work out how to establish the YaBB board on the site and write the general overview of segments of London that will tend to be used in chats. I'm thinking for that one that I'm going to have to set up a number of rooms, seeing as how London's so interminably big. I might be able to get away with City / West End / Various Chantries / Other, but I doubt it. West End is too rife with subdivisions, for example Chinatown, Soho, 'Theatreland', Covent Garden and Oxford Street. Then there's Other, which covers just about any segment of Greater London you care to name. I really need to narrow that down a little bit, but most starting Mage characters are not going to be able to afford living in Zone 1. I'll consider Greater London divisions later, I think, but I think I'll probably just divide out a few useful places that I already know quite well - say Wimbledon, Tooting, Finchley, Golders Green, Colindale/Brent Cross, Wood Green, Clapham and such - and leave the rest to handle itself. And then Camden, of course. Can't have any kind of London campaign without Camden. It doesn't have to be going to the trendy in my universe! Though I suppose there'd be scope for plot there...

Anyway. Once that's done, I can focus more on the Urban Chaote stuff. With all the London-centric spooky stuff I'll have already written by that point, I'm sure to have a better handle on it by then. I'm having different thoughts on the magical aspects of it, too, as the intial idea I'd had was apparently an unintentional recreation of Ars Magica's system and it makes dodgyhoodoo uneasy. I'd like to do more on it sooner, but I've got other committments, plus there's the whole job search thing, which really takes precedence over all of it ... but not at eight in the evening. Besides, beyond applying for things, what more can I do?

So now I have a Plan. Plans are good. Must also remember to book Dragonmeet - dodgyhoodoo reminds me that you can get tickets on the door, but they are always more expensive and anyway, advance booking means you spend less time in the queue. I do not go to Dragonmeet to spend time in the queue. Of course, this year I don't go to sell anything either. I just want to go shopping and play games this year. There's enough time next year for ACG to make another appearance.

My life is just never particularly slow, is it?