The Thessaliad Redux

I figured out the coffee maker! Woo-hoo! Hot, scrummy caffeine is a definite bonus. And there's at least another cup and a half keeping warm.

I've done the job application thing (again and again and again), and now looking for other ways to spend the day. I actually started the "stick to your guns and write something, you silly cow" regime yesterday, so I may go back to that. However, I don't think my Excel spreadsheet does exactly what I want it to do if I'm going to be working on lots of different projects in a single day (case in point: yesterday I did the typing up for those bits of "Deadheader" and made some edits and additions to "Wormwood and Chamomile"), so I may have to set up something new. Plus the actual writing bits. I'm trying to ensure that I get 50,000 words per month from now on -- hell, if I could do it in November, I can do it now.

Speaking of writing, there's some RPG-related stuff I want to get done. For one thing, I should do an infernalfencer update while last night's session is still fresh in my mind. Also, I need to do some serious reading on Camarilla vamps in preparation for Sunday's Mage session (it's either the Elephant Inn or carpet picnic again, isn't it? At some stage, I'm going to have to properly cook for a gaming lunch when there's only the four of us). And last but certainly not least, I need to do some characters for Forsaken, which I believe starts next week. I've got a few in mind, but it's getting a little complicated because a) I don't know if cholten99 wants to be involved and b) I have to make provision for corone, who can't make next week. I think I can swing it, but it does mean that I have to pre-gen something specific for him so that he's in place when the rest of the party gets to point A. It's doable, but it does mean I have to make sure I organise something he's going to like. But then, the same can be said for all of them. When I have the player list together, I'll be able to say for sure. But I can at least make a start, I guess, knowing I have at least six people.

Then, of course, there are the more mundane tasks. A couple of days' worth of washing up, for one. The upgrades on Lenore, for another. Plus the sentaku and trying to get at least some of the books out of the boxen and into the bookshelves. Must also remember to get 'round to cholten99's place in the not too distant and try to get at least some of my stuff out. I'm most feeling the lack of my Preacher, Strangers in Paradise and Sandman (plus assorted Gaiman bits). I thnk my non-fiction collection is also still in that box, but I'm not really sure -- two weeks and I haven't looked at the book boxen.

Right. I know what comes first, then.

Today seems to be involving many visitors to the new flat (it's only been a little over a week; it's still new). First, it was the landlord -- he was supposed to be coming in on Saturday to check the new three-piece suite but somehow neglected to get in touch about it until today. When he did, he gave about 20 minutes' warning. Hooray for landlords who live close to. Sheesh.

Then cholten99 is coming by to dump some of my leftover stuff from the big box nobody could lift. Not that I won't be happy to have the stuff, but sheesh, it's Sunday morning! Admittedly, I'm getting kind of used to waking up obscenely early on the weekends (okay, comparatively). After all, I now live with a morning person. Still, there's no way to relax with people pottering in and out of the place.

And then, of course, there's Mage. I spent a happy hour or two yesterday coming up with stats for the new NPCs, and badgering XP-garnering writing projects out of dodgyhoodoo, who's saving up to get Skank Arete 4. He's done a fantastic job, as you can see with some of them, so now he gets a Seeking. Hee! And he's remembering to charge Thig so all the bits he gave me in the last one (mental defrag -- the transition between Geoff Woad and Skank Fetish) can be used against him. I repeat -- Hee!

Oddly, this is not being written on Thig. I'm managing to pull this update from the Frankenbox, because someone in the area has a completely wide open wireless connection, which I have somehow managed to pirate. I won't be doing it for very long, because we're getting our own broadband on Tuesday, but it seems silly not to take even a teeny bit of advantage. This may make me a bad person but it beats hell out of 1p per minute and sitting on the floor in the entry hall.

Ah, Charing Cross EasyNothing. Welcome to Memory Lane, population: Me. Same crappy keyboards, same creepy patrons, same "let's screw the tourists" overcharging. Now I know why I did not miss this.

I'm only here to check my e-mail and friends list briefly before heading off to yet another interview-testing thing. Oh, and I might have a job by Friday -- the agency I signed up with last week found something that lasts just over a week, but at least it's a start and someone wants to find me a job. This is always a good thing.

Yeah, we're all pretty much moved in, by the way. Our bookshelf came with missing bits so that's something we can't unpack, but we've found homes for just about everything else. dodgyhoodoo is quite impressed by the 5.1 sound on my DVD player, which showed up yesterday, but we're kind of having to lay off the subwoofer in the house, particularly when watching action movies.

The only problem with this is that I managed to do my back in on Saturday and it's still not fully healed. It's not agony, but occasionally it feels like I'm being stabbed in the region of the kidneys. I think I tore something. Whoopee. Oh well, it's bound to heal up soon.

So we're now pretty much Sourcebook Central, anyway. I think the only rooms in the house that don't contain sourcebooks are the kitchen and bathroom. dodgyhoodoo has been reading through Hunter, and I've been contemplating a Saturday evening run of Forsaken. But it hasn't all been planning new games -- I've been looking through the old Changing Breeds books (Ananasi ... hee! And you can blame him for that, but I suppose indirectly me because I did ask him to write some pre-Restart Skankness and that's what he came up with) and a couple of the Mage and old WoD stuff (Demon Hunter X! Hee!). It's a creative, gaming, character-torturing house.
Right. Must head off and be a professional person. Yick.

Well, dodgyhoodoo is running around like a headless chicken as regards the whole packing thing. I, on the other hand, am being more zen about it. Then again, I can afford to be, given that at least 2/3 of my stuff is already in the boxen.

I'd have had a lie-in but the delivery cholten99 warned me about last night turned up about half nine. So got up, signed for that ... then went back to sleep. So I guess I had my lie-in after all.

Currently thinking how best to tackle the small amount of stuff I have left to pack, not to mention the huge amount of stuff I have to throw away. I figure loads of bin bags and no mercy for that latter. Then I'm pretty much ready to go, with the exception of disconnecting the Frankenbox, which will be done as late as possible on Saturday, thanks. Need to make sure I have that proof of address letter that the letting agency wants, though -- I'm fairly sure it's in Mrs Robinson's Bag, but I won't be completely sanguine about it until I have it where I can see it.

Anyway, I've at least had a think about game plan, so I should probably go start carrying it out. But first, corone-quizzage strikes again:

You scored as The Master of NOM. You are a villain so secretive your name doesn't even appear on this quiz. Other villains are your minions and don't even realise it. </td> The Master of NOM 70% Giovanni Villanova 70% Captain Reis 65% l'Empereur Léon du Montaigne 50% Cardinal Estaban Verdugo 25% Which 7th Sea Villain are you? created with QuizFarm.com

And another must-read metaquotes moment for dodgyhoodoo and any of my other friends who sensibly avoid communities because of the sheer weight they add to friends lists.

I am home with boxen. I have decided to do nothing with the boxen tonight. This is at least partly to do with the fact that cholten99 is in and I don't really want to do the packing thing when he's in and trying to sleep, since I kept him up on Sunday with Buffy S7, apparently. I would require entertainment of a more noisy nature to keep me interested in shoving my personal possessions in various-sized boxes, and I want to be nice to him anyway because he's going to be helping both dodgyhoodoo and I move in a few days.

Speaking of people being nice and hauling my shit to Finchley, communication has begun anew with my mother. Partly this was her informing me that she and her SO are finally getting married in July. In New York. No, I'm still not going. At that point, though, I figured it'd be best to let her know what-all's going on with where I'm going to be living at the very least -- in case of emergency, you understand. From there, she told me that she'd send my soon-to-be-stepfather over to the flat with the stuff I left in Tooting lo these many moons ago, which is nice. She's also telling me she's fine with communication going at my own pace, including e-mail for the duration. The reasonable nature of her last mail makes me want to mount a scouting expedition to her end of London to hunt for the pod, but never mind.

Right. I probably should go to bed either now or soon, but I'm not really sleepy so I will turn off the sound on my computer and play Sims 2 or something.

There is one -- count them, one -- packed box. Unfortunately, I may have to repack it because I can barely lift it, much less get it down a flight of stairs. Then again, it does contain all my sourcebooks, DVDs and manga. There's just too much heavy lumpy stuff, but at least it packs down well. There's still the other books, the oils, toiletries, clothes and so forth ... there isn't enough box. I just hope there's enough car. Given the computer and the little TV/DVD thing, there's a need for space. Glad cholten99 has a larger car than Dorabelle, seeing as he's been gracious enough to help me move.

I'm not used to this. Most of my moves to date have involved having a nervous breakdown and ditching all my stuff first. Now I have all this stuff that dodgyhoodoo calls "kipple", or existential lint. Too much stuff to drag around. Sometimes I miss being able to live out of a rucksack.

So Annie's friend doesn't want to take Yuki. And dodgyhoodoo's colleague can't take Yuki. Irritating and worrisome, since cholten99 feels like he can't take care of her properly or devote enough time to her or something. This just gets more and more complicated.

All the same, I am looking forward to the move. I look at it this way -- if dodgyhoodoo and I can manage the relationship thing with all this stress going on, it bodes well for the future.

Must go. I might be late for gaming, but I'm not sure.

Turned out nadriel got out of his tournament early and was able to turn up for Mage after all, just a little late. That worked out perfectly for what I had in mind, though I wish I'd known before I left the house, so I could bring more books and stats. Oh well, never mind. ( Cry havoc! )

Tired, but not sleepy really. Going to dick around with the Sims some before bed, I think. Then tomorrow, packing. Less than a week before I move. Agh!

Argh. Fuck EA Games up the arse with a cactus. Sideways.

You have no idea how many reinstalls I had to do to figure out that a lot of my downloads just. Don't. Work with Sims 2 Uni!

It's frustrating as all hell because now not only do I have to salvage the ones that are EP compatible, but I've had to ditch every single custom neighbourhood I created. I liked my Llandeilo, but now it has to be ditched until such time as I can get the downloads I need to make it properly. I've finally at least been able to play, but it's not as much fun without all the funky stuff I downloaded the last time. Plus I haven't even been able to make a start on rebuilding my Downloads folder until now because the router was having a hissy fit.

Watch the same thing happen when Sims 2 Nightlife comes out in the autumn. Bollocks.

If only my current woes were all just computer-related. I mean, shit, I can handle the newly rebuilt and finally functional Frankenbox being a bit of a pain in the arse. But there's the other stuff. Having to give Yuki up when I move. The prospect of cleaning up this shithole I call my room and moving the contents to Finchley. The knowledge that it's still ten days before I can actually move in and those ten days aren't going to be easy on anyone concerned. The fact that none of this seems to be getting easier from an external point of view. All told, it's stress on wheels and I just want to hide under the duvet and hold a "DO NOT FEED THE HEDGEHOG" sign up to anyone who dares try to pull me out of my newfound cave.

And then there's jobs or lack thereof. I really should have just sucked it up and taken the stupid NHS job. It was only three months, after all. Now I have to sit around and wait for them to get their thumbs out of their arses and find me something that please God isn't NHS medical. It's absolutely insane -- I suppose this isn't quite the time of year where tempwork is much necessary, and it does tend to take some time to get started in this kind of thing, but a month?!? Jeez. Well, one bunch calls me tomorrow and I ring the other bunch tomorrow and tell them that I would really like a job now, please. Hell, they should really want to find me something, given my experience. Eesh.

I suppose the saving grace is that the migraine is better and the router's stopped being an almighty pain in the arse. Cold comfort, really. Or maybe the cold is the fact that I've left the window open and it's come over all blustery.

And so, to put the finishing touch on this particular weekend, there is more e-mail from my mother. I can't even bring myself to read it; I've just marked-as-read and stuck it in the folder I reserve for parental e-mail that I don't feel equipped to deal with. And yet it sits there, and I know it sits there, and thinking what it might say is likely worse than what reading what it does say. Still, can't cope with that right now. Head hurts too damn much to be having with that.

Instead I'm going to do the should-do stuff -- tidy my room a bit, go grocery shopping, lie down and try to relax so the headache doesn't eat me alive, that sort of thing. The room thing will be good because I really shouldn't have this much of my wardrobe lying on the floor. Besides, I have the "keep-it-toss-it" thing to do. You know, sort out what I own that I actually want to keep, what goes to the local charity shop and what is really only fit for the bin. No sense in moving things I don't actually want.

So ... yeah. Apparently people shooting me doesn't work because there is the "buzzing dodgyhoodoo resurrecty zap thing" after the shooting. Therefore I must apologise for virtual bullet waste. Which I suppose is somewhat less surreal than the conversation we had recently about being able to do touching Rememberance Day pastorals of Flanders Field on one's hamburger with the otherwise pointless-seeming green ketchup, the more standard red ketchup and mayonnaise (for the crosses, o'course).

So I finally sat down and watched Resident Evil, a fact which I know 50ftqueenie will be glad of. I guess I have whole new motivation to watch zombie movies now. And I think the first thing I'll say is "Want the soundtrack now, please".

( Just in case you might be spoiled... )

All told, I enjoyed it in a mindless sort of way. So thank you for the recommendation, 50ftqueenie, and again to dodgyhoodoo for lending me the DVD in the first place. Next up is going to be The Grudge -- original Japanese version rather than Sarah Michelle Gellar version. I would have watched that first except I couldn't face subtitles. I'm tired.

Not to mention a little bit nervous. We have to have a meeting with the landlord tomorrow to discuss some things. It's a good thing I'm not in a job yet, I suppose, since it means I can attend without temp-related faff. In any case, we will get it sorted. We both know what we want, we're both reasonably good with people and I at least have a fair bit of relatively recent experience at talking to letting agents and landlords. So all told, yay; there should soon be guaranteed flat. Fingers crossed.