Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

Ta hell with it, I’m taking a taxi to work

I am having a very slow start to the day, and I actually felt like blogging instead of lying in bed surveying the ant trap that is my to do list.  My thoughts go in… and they do not come out.

Jeff says I’m crabbier than normal since I started back to work.  It’s the commute. Once I figure out how to make my commute useful, I will probably be less crabby.  I have figured out some of the details on the transfer points (I transfer in different places depending on whether I’m going to work or going home) and I am able to sit all the way to work on the bus, which I was unable to do when I was taking the 145 up the hill.  Also, because it’s not an articulated bus, I have better odds of not being exposed to shippiles of cologne.  And, only one transfer instead of two; and, all in Burnaby so little effect by the Olympics except of course that SFU is a transit hub for Olympic events, but even so I should be as unaffected as is possible in the lower Mainland during the blowout.

Youtube has a video entitled Why I can’t celebrate the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  It’s six minutes long, heartfelt, intelligent, and very closely matches my feelings.  Except that I’m not paying a nickel, not one red fucking cent, for anything Olympic oriented. When I see the TONS of ads on the bus, I think to myself, in six months the Value Village will be inundated with this hoody and that hat and this shirt and that scarf.  Even then I won’t get it second hand. I did see a cloisonné pin in the Waves coffee house the other night that I actually liked, but once again, I am not spending money on it.

I may end up in a band.  When she told me what the band name was, I burst out laughing and gave a big thumbs up.  More later if possible.  Jeff warned me not to get too invested and it’s good advice (he normally gives good advice…).

I have not written Granny’s eulogy yet.  That plus the Valentine cards should keep this weekend a very busy one… and Jeff is away for part of this weekend so no shopping unless I’m doing the carrying myself.

Work is very funny. I am going flat out and every night there are the same number of cases in the queue as when I left the night before.  And that doesn’t cover the other stuff I have to do.  I have a whole set of tasks beyond that.  And I am fine with it.  I can’t do everything, but I can do something, and that’s what I’m doing.  I am going to reward myself for my entire lack of initiative (actually, it’s an entire lack of worrying) by getting myself some Haagen Dazs on the way home from work today… there’s a Nester’s Market right next to the Cornerstone building now and it’s huge and gorgeous, at least from my bus window, and I am looking forward to spending some money there.

It seems ludicrous to say it, but I’m content right now.  And now, it’s time for a shower and then a quick call to Bonny’s Taxi.

I think I am going to have to invent a new category of wrong

This gentleman is trying to make his “Take a wild guess, do you think I’m white?” observations into news.  The part that got me was the notion that Jews are not sex offenders…. Anyway, leave off attempting to read this until you are feeling strong.  I want to see the data to support some of this crap, by gosh.

I’m going to have a Tshirt made up:

EVERYONE HAS COGNITIVE BIASES

Mine are cuter, smaller and rarer than yours.

Busy again

I have a very long to do list and very little energy.

On the good side:

Back MUCH better with lots of walking now that I’m back at work, plus I doubled up on the glucosamine and chondroitin.  The effect is so fast… less than two days and the amount of joint pain I’m experiencing dropped.  Also doubled up on acidophilus, and that has been great too.

People are still noticing that I’m back at work and being very happy to see me.  Like, Genuinely Happy to see me.

All the appropriate software for work is now up and running (ie I have no excuse not to really buckle down).

I was supposed to go swimming last night.  I went soaking instead, and it felt really good.

Also watched the Simpsons parody of 24, which was incredibly good… sometimes you forget it’s a cartoon.  Wherever they were, the writers for that show are back.

Margot jumped up on the bed demanding to be petted.  I love it when she does that and she doesn’t do it very often.

Gizmo is putting on weight, super feisty about being kept out of people food, and he LOVES the cat sized armchair I bought him.  (I should say I bought it for any cat who would sit in it, but am particularly pleased that the Gizzer went for it.)

Things proceed apace for the memorial service for Granny, which is now next week.

Minus side:

Very much work and no compere until the middle of March at the earliest.  It’s not like I’m by myself, but there is a very large eightball, and I am behind it.  Although everybody said I’d hate Lotus Notes 8 I’m not really having problems with it except that it’s a trifle slow.

My folks are very slammed on both sides by the emotional air pockets of grief and the witlessness of bankers, lawyers, etc.  Fortunately everybody in the family is being loving and supportive and there is ABSOLUTELY no nonsense about who gets what.  It’s all very steady and rational and that’s some comfort.

Jeff’s inheritance and mine is 21 banker boxes in size plus any furniture we can haul away plus any of her crafts.  Rejigging of vehicles for memorial service may happen; it all has to be out in two weeks.  I’m feeling a trifle squoze.

I forgot to take a library book back.

Off to breakfast

I bagged out at midnight, which is scandalously early for filk; but I have Tapioca with ass on my H2, which means I recorded it.  I have been too scared to listen to it.

It is a charming convention, full of twists, turns, and sequin covered capes.

I think I want to do the next Conflikt entirely in steampunk costume.  Gives me a whole year to prepare, don’t you know.

It should come as no surprise that Tom Smith is awesome.  I got to hear him play Sheep Marketing Ploy and many other grand pieces of flurrious words and fantastical songs.

That is BASS not ASS.  But I leave it anyway…

Slow and fast, warm and cold

Right now life is a slurry of goodbyes and re-introductions; changes in temperature, ambiance, the furnace breaks, the filk convention looms, the tooth is snaggled, Granny’s dead, I’m finally back on the ERP at work, I am up again and spinning at a great rate of knots.  The distance between life and the blog is bigger than normal, and I have few venues (not none, fortunately) for venting about it.  Some things are burning brightly, some are swallowed by silence and distrust of the future.  The major thing is allowing myself to be happy by how genuinely pleased people are to see me.  I feel like I’m home, and I’m happy.

My back hurts.  Commuting subjects me to lots of interesting loading on my lower back. This is making me crabbier than normal.

One of my coworkers dreamed I was coming back to work.  I don’t know whether to believe it and I’m not really worried about it either way.  I’ve had one precognitive dream that I remembered, so although my sample size is small my willingness to believe is large.

Pocky.  It’s what’s for dinner. I bought Robbie B lunch.

Long hours of sleep, punchuated in the morning with traffic noise. Lest my mother be upset, that typo was deliberate….. now let me wander off my rails again and think about how we can set up an Aspie friendly place for the boys to do their mourning.  Because as sure as Darwin’s winnowing fan claims us all, I can think of four of my blood kin who need to go off and have their own corner to grieve in.  Of such are the ways of the accommodationist, the ever blooming woman of the boundary layer, who would be, of course, me.

Memorial service will be later

Probably during the week – the staff at the Cedars want to go.

Work is awesome, and will be even more awesome when I have email, ERP and a proper phone for the call center work.

I am thinking of my dad and it’s hard not to cry.  It doesn’t matter how much you expect it, it is still shattering.  And while shattered, you must get up, and eat, and deal with lawyers and doctors and arrange things and make lists.