The Thessaliad Redux

It's sunny and warm. I'm pretty sure everyone else is thrilled to bits by this development in this stereotypically grey-wet-and-cold country, but me? I'm just glad I have prescription sunglasses. For me, sun = migraines. I'm not a summer person.

Currently experiencing that "breaking in new shoes" feeling. My new clogs are wearing gouges in various spots on my feet. Not quite as bad as the mess Docs traditionally make of my heels (I still have the scars from breaking in the pair of shoes I recently had to bin because of the massive holes in the soles), but still kind of with the ow. But it's the price I pay to actually break in the shoes, and they'll be comfy once that whole process is done. This is how I get through the breaking-in process; that and a healthy dose of "It doesn't hurt that badly" denial.

On the subject of the writing... Long story short: if I hate it and can't imagine that I will ever not hate it, that means there's nothing I need to rewrite and I'm just being my usual self-deprecating self. If, however, I look at it and think that it needs work but probably isn't that bad ... then, ironically, it means it does actually suck and requires a rewrite. How can I hate something more the better it is?

*shrug* I choose not to question. I merely note that Ch22 has been mostly rewritten and now just needs an ending. And from there it's only a chapter, two at most, until Birth Rites is finished. Then I have to figure out which of the ideas kicking around the HIPPIEverse comes next, but that can wait until I'm done with the current book. You never know; something I throw into Ch23 might lead to a definitive answer to the question of "What next?", so I'd hate to limit myself. Heh.

Okay, with just over an hour to go until quitting time (or thereabouts), I can say with all confidence that I'm not going to pass out. Probably. Provided I stay off my feet. Which hasn't exactly been easy today, but never mind. I've been keeping hydrated, I've been having Lucozade, and we even have the air conditioning running (so why, someone please tell me, didn't someone who knew it worked think about turning it on, I don't know, three days earlier?), so I should feel a whole hell of a lot better than I do. I'll just keep telling myself that until it's time to go home.

My bosses are insane. I mean it. Absolutely bugfuck. I came back to work on Monday, right? Ham-Fisted Editor turned up on Tuesday, which I mainly spent typing up minutes to that board meeting they had the other week. Wednesday I spent mainly trying not to throw up and getting the work on my desk organised into identifiable piles so I could deal with it easier. So today was the day I meant to tackle the bulk of the work that HFE left me on Tuesday night. And then, just as I'm getting started, Michael comes up to me and says, "Oh, by the way, there's this big stack of stuff that I didn't know how to deal with that I've been hiding from you. Here; sort this while you're at it". (I paraphrase, a little.)

Let me get this straight. You go through my desk while I'm out, pick up my piles, skew them all out of order so I have to rearrange them all over again, and then drop them back on my desk with accusatory little notes on them, so that I have to rearrange them in their correct order and basically write all over them that they are pending and that I've done what I cold with them? Do the words 'fuck you' mean anything?

And then there's the HFE himself. When I was sorting through his task list, I noticed that some of the cards and the files were missing. Turns out that, when he said, "I'll just leave these out, then, shall I?", what he meant was, "I'll just leave cards out but file these ones in a seemingly random fashion, stick some of the folders back in the filing cabinet and others in random spots in your Out basket and yet others I'll leave strewn around the office, just to confuse you, shall I?" Hence my having been out of my chair more than I'd have liked today. And yet I'm the one worried about losing my job. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

I was supposed to have been going out for pub food tonight (for once), and had actually been kind of looking forward to it, until the fuzzy head and dizziness and complete inability to control my body temperature set in. Now I just want to go home and collapse. Even the new toy holds little appeal - sure, in theory it might be therapeutic to go cast funky spells on unsuspecting yet vicious mutant rabbits, but in practice such activities involve sitting in a chair and mild thinking, both of which are not particularly fun just now. And no, I can't ring in sick because a) there's that whole 'potential accusation of malingering' thing hanging over my head and b) would it really be any better for me in the stifling hot house? One more day. I just keep reminding myself that I only have to get through another hour or so of work and then Friday, and then I can have a weekend. Still, it's three more trips on public transport. I think that's what's doing it, y'know. Anyway, I can hold up one more day. I'm tough. I may whinge, but I'm tough.

Thank you to the anonymous person who mentioned heat exhaustion. I will attempt to keep even more hydrated than I have been. I don't seem to be holding on to much for long, though, so... *sigh* I suppose it's wrong of me to wish I would just pass out from heat stroke on the way in to work so I didn't have to go. But I suppose at least they have fans there...

As far as the Deathgnome thing goes, I had some minor difficulties figuring out why I couldn't equip anything (like a fishing rod or ... I dunno, a weapon). Turns out that it's because I'm not of high enough level yet and/or not a member of the appropriate guild or something stupid. Still, that doesn't stop me from stocking up on low-level spells. So now, as well as dropping rocks on creatures, I can trap them in a brief typhoon, blind them and poison them. Heeheehee - DEATHGNOME! Needless to say, I am now beating the living shit out of rarabs. Carrion crows ... not so much, and I'm not touching those crawler things for another couple of levels or so. The main problem I'm having now is that if I venture out too far, these horrible goblin things start randomly attacking me from behind. One time I managed to evade one until about two steps from the line into safe havens before it ranged-attacked me to death. That was a pisser. Anyway, so that's going fairly well and I'm looking forward to levelling up to level 10 so I can actually do shit. And it's interesting to see that as many people will randomly cast heal/protect on me as they will bogart my kill. *shrug* Humans are funny things. I might actually have to try partying at some point.

Anyway, I should go to bed. I remind myself that the bedroom is cooler and I might remember that I'm tired then. Gods, I feel awful.

OMFG kill me now.

So weekend chat with the CbN brigade led us to discussion of different foodstuffs that we miss from our respective former homes and general foody sorts of topics. In two separate discussions, I mentioned Jolly Ranchers, Pixy Stix (aka Muse-Crack) and maple sugar candy. Two different people offered to send me these various delicacies, and after various bits of meep and glibber, I decided that I would return the favour. So both parties get Japanese gummy sweets, and she who is sending me Muse-Crack and Jolly Ranchers gets organic dark chocolate (the dark equivalent of the white stuff I brought hentaijess when we met at JTAF two years back) while she who is sending me maple sugar candy gets Pocky.

All of this meant a trip to Chinatown. Which means the West End. Over lunch break. In the sweltering heat. When it's full of fucking tourists. Needless to say, I'm not in a great state -- hot, flustered, late in from lunch and generally pissed off at public transport in particular and anything public in general. Also entirely pissed off at the fact that Comics Showcase is now properly closed. It's all empty and grotty and drab. So depressing. I loved that place.

Still, the trip had its advantages. I found a new Asian snack shop that sells the brand of osuimono I like. They had a new flavour of those Japanese gummies - MANGO! (heeheehee). And, of course, I got all the bits I need to send to people. Now all I need to do is package 'em up and post 'em. That shouldn't be hard; both parcels will be relatively small, mostly due to time constraints. Unless I wait until tomorrow to send 'em and pick up more bits tonight... Ugh, no, fuck that. Sorry, you both, but I just want to go home. There'll be another time, when I plan things better.

I hope this heat breaks soon. This country surely wasn't meant to get this hot. And spare me what dodgyhoodoo says about temperate climates...