80s FicPic-alooza

( The Rules )

1. For my dad's broken bone to heal cleanly and without complications.
2. Anything on my Amazon wish-list
3. A holiday somewhere outside Edinburgh.
4. A big glass goblet candle-holder, the sort that can hold a 30-hour candle
5. For my parents to see that the only workable solution to their current situation is for both of them to take a short let on a nice furnished ground-floor flat with a walk-in shower and let other people clear the guddle out of their duplex four-flights-up flat so that it can be sold and they can move properly.
6. 30-hour scented candles in cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, coffee, and cardamom. (I have never seen a cardamom-scented candle.)
7. For my parents to admit that they see (5) and actually follow through.
8. Starbucks Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers
9. Time to write.
10. A Swiss Army knife

I met my mum for lunch, we had delicious vegan soup and talked in a fraught way about their home and then she went off to the hospital to see my dad while I went shopping. Afterwards I went to see my dad and he was very tired and I got the 8 back to have mulled fruit wine and other interesting fruit wines in good company. I got home late, tired, drunk, and slept irregularly till noon. It's sunny. I suppose going out would be a good idea, now I've had breakfast. And coffee.

(Cross-posted to dingsis_notebook)

Snippet taken from an IJ entry written in November 2008, but never posted.

---

I have the tendency to pile up HUGE stashes of various documents and papers (and photographs and magazines and bills and the stray book and and and). I used to try and sort them all at once during a day reserved for this activity, but only ended up with three smaller piles and the feeling that the task was too daunting. And it was. I made it so.

A few weeks ago, I did a complete relabeling of my binders, structuring them by subject (e.g. work, healthcare) and chronologically. Not using all of them right away, but moving some of the already filed papers if necessary, and creating a system for further use. And I put them in a place where I could easily see and grab them in a moment's notice. Same for the hole puncher, which I placed visibly on the table. And instead of sitting in front of huge piles of documents and feeling intimidated, I started filing them away little by little. One or three or ten a day, or ten a week. Instead of "take a whole day and sort this shit even if it kills you", I now think "if you see a piece of paper lying around, and can assess in which binder it belongs, take a few seconds to file it away".

And it helps. It helps because it's just a few seconds and the task itself isn't daunting anymore. Of course there's still this massive backlog I have to work on, but I know I will have it sorted out in the long run. Which makes me feel better. I also noticed that now I am far more likely to put away new papers immediately.

A few of you might wonder what the big deal is. Understandably so, because I think strategies like these are simply common sense for most people. But not for me. I've always been a very chaotic person, I'm still terrible at household chores, cleaning, dusting off, stuff like that. My room generally looks like a mess most of the time and I get easily distracted (while feeling guilty about not being able to do things better). So, for me, changing my tactics and trying to get things done in a way that relieved my stress, and allowing myself to think that this was okay, is a big step.

(Besides, even though I have no doubt that countless individuals have blogged about this, I had the idea all on my own and without someone from outside telling me to do something about the effing stacks of paper. So I'm a little proud of myself.)

---

Update:

I still use the technique described above, and there are noticeable results: several bags of waste paper thrown away, finding documents I thought to have been lost, and displacing things less often in general. Over the recent months, I started applying it to the kitchen as well, cleaning and re-organizing it little by little. It's starting to show - cooking is more fun now, and even my Mom made a remark today how much better everything looked.

I still struggle with guilt sometimes that things are taking me so long, or that I needed years to acquire basic housekeeping skills that others pick up early or with ease. It makes me feel small, lazy, stupid. I feel like I shouldn't even mention it, as if it was the equivalent of boasting that you can use the potty.

I consciously remind myself:

1. People have different levels of tolerance; some are very orderly and clean their house weekly to feel comfortable while others when faced with the same amount of dirt or clutter wouldn't mind.
2. My depression and anxiety have caused problems before when it comes to my energy level in general, and I had to re-learn caring for myself at all. I'm reluctant to even mention it because so often it's being dismissed as a lazy excuse, but I want to keep in mind that it IS a factor in my life that makes some things harder than they ought to be.
3. For fuck's sake, self: I'M MAKING PROGRESS. Yes, it's a slow process, but it beats doing nothing. Obviously.

Well, the snow's finally stopped. *peers out of window* After listening to the weather people, I was expecting a few flakes mixed in with all the rain - certainly nothing that would stick. Final verdict? Six inches of fluffy white stuff, easy. (That despairing cry you hear is the county's public school students going 'It couldn't have held off until tomorrow?'.)

It was really nice watching it come down this morning, not that I had a lot of time to watch with work and all. Big fat fluffy snowflakes, perfect for playing in. It's basically what you think of when you imagine a white Christmas. *slightly less Grinchy*

So! In that spirit, have one of those all-I-want-for-Xmas meme things that have been making the rounds. A bit late, but as you will see, it doesn't matter all that much.

( The Rules, for those who have been living under a rock the past couple of weeks. )

My list:
1. A low-stress, preferably not-People-heavy (but I repeat myself) job that will pay me enough to live on. If it's a second job that I can fit in around my current gig, that's cool, but for preference I'd like to have a few afternoons/evenings free to write and chat.
2. A little apartment of my own. If it's warm, clean and all the appliances work, I'll be happy, even if it's only one room in a basement somewhere. (Actually, a basement would be perfect, 'cause that way I could stomp around doing DDR without bothering anyone below me.)
3. A gold chocobo. Less maintenance required than an airship, and I could ride him all around the world visiting everybody! ...Plus, y'know, choco. ^____^
4. A Keyblade. I got some darkness to fight off, yo.
5. A modern Transformers movie with a decent story. I hate to admit it, but yeah, Bay can't do a decent narrative to save his soul. And his portrayal of women makes Frank Miller look progressive.
6. Some brain rewiring, so I can a) get shed of this freaking depression, and b) quit procrastinating so damn much.
7. A little sense of self-worth, pursuant to the above.
8. A stronger heart, likewise.
9. Magic powers and/or Materia. I'm not picky what, although a Haste/Stop/Slow would be useful.
10. Some muscle, which is about as likely as the above.

...Why yes, that was a little passive-aggressive of me. x_x

I found this information thanks to zarhooie (source), and thought I'd pass it on / write it down so I won't forget.

You need to go to the admin console - usually located at the URL of the journal main site with /admin/console/ added at the end, e.g. http://www.insanejournal.com/admin/console/ or http://www.dreamwidth.org/admin/console/ .

Then type the following:

community name-of-community remove your-username

Example: community i_wanna_leave remove das_dingsi

Hit "execute", and you're done!

Off to the NaNo "Thank God It's Over" party. Taking foccacia bread.

The temperature's not too bad: -9 C, with a windchill of -15. I should be home before it starts to get really dire.

So, yesterday's picture

minus
( Locks of Love )

equals
( Oh wow, that's... um... )

ZACK IS IN THE NEW KINGDOM HEARTS GAME OMG OMG OMG

This is the one for PSP, right? Or am I going to have to shell out for a DS?

Do you think people in Africa say 'when you hear hoofbeats, think zebras, not horses'?

I have two more weeks of school before I am free for 3 weeks. So, now that it is between semesters - and I have some spare time - I want you to rec to me!

1. Let me have 5 books you think that I should read (any genre except western or romance) and why.
2. Rec to me 5 movies you think I should see (anything by slash and gorefest) and why.
3. Give me your top five musical artist and why I should give them a listen.

Whaddya say...rec to me?

The short version of the past 24 hours: I finally finished a task at work that got unconscionably delayed because I had a fit of the what'sthepoints, and a few hours later (not that I knew: this was up over at my parents flat) my dad fell over and broke his hip. My mum rang to tell me about it lunchtime. He is in the hospital. Hopefully, he will be operated on tomorrow. I saw him this evening, and he seemed fine. Aside from the broken leg.

The weather continues miserable.

Skepchick has a fantastic article that pretty much sums up my distaste for Twilight.

If you don't have the time to read the whole article, here is the short run down:

"The messages behind Twilight? Be weak, let your man protect you. Be careful, don’t get him angry. If he hurts you, it’s your fault. Abuse is part of life. Accept it. If he really loves you, he’ll try not to hurt you but don’t be surprised if he does. You probably deserve it. You are nobody without your man, so don’t bother trying."

Ew Moon: Why Twilight continues to hurt America…

Twilight fans beware...there are spoilers for New Moon. But I am sure that everyone has probably already seen it, right?

Not at all.

So, I've had Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days in my possession for a little over twenty-four hours now, and my left thumb is already threatening to shrivel up and drop off. Which probably means I'm Doing It Wrong, but eh, what else is new. ...I think I like this game. ^_^ (Xion is a badass.)

Also: I got these 5Q's from jlsigman a long time ago and am only now getting around to answering them. One step at a time. XD

( You know the drill. ) Question me or my headcast, at your pleasure.

From wannasmile.org, I bring you Kitteh News Anchors!

Dear Semester,

You have dragged me through hell and back with all the reading, the papers, the sheer madness of what the instructors think that students should handle for one class...

So, listen up! I have a 9 abstracts, two book critiques, one term paper, a discussion, four tests and some key terms to finish in the next 14 days. Don't you dare throw any more crap at me until next semester or you will get no love.

Hell it is a miracle if I get out of this semester with my sanity in tact and grade that are at least passing.

I would like to be having a life back.

Sincerely over-worked,
Me.

So, my mom has pneumonia (I convinced her to go to the doctor because that's what I thought she had).

The cold that we've shared has escalated in her and I'm trying to avoid her fate. My cold is gone, it's my sinuses that are proving to be difficult in light of the recent snowfall.

I've gotten little sleep because of her snoring because the poor thing can't breathe at night. I've also been having f*cked up dreams because of it.

I've been dreaming in novels.

As in I'm READING entire novels that I've never read before in my sleep. After reading the passages in the book, the scene in my head turns into a movie that I watch. The one last night involved a male Cop who was chasing after a female killer and when she lured him to her home, she kept trying to seduce him, then sets him up to kill someone, causing him to shoot out of cold instinct. It's in that moment that DUN DUN DUN he realizes that the case he was following was of another serial killer that the female was a copycat and that killer was....him. He had lost his memories and in that cold blooded moment, he realized just who he was...then he shot himself. 0_____0!

Suspense-filled, but f*cked up.

There was another one that involved the Demon Librarian of Hell's Library at a conference talking about difficult patrons with the Angel Librarian of Heaven's Library. They proceeded to then discuss an interlibrary loan service with the Limbo Librarian by conference "phone" (it was a conch shell). 0_o;

Speaking of the library not in my dreams, things are going well in Library Land. I'll be taking charge of the Civil Service Test books in January at the downtown library. ^__^ I've also successfully ordered some books for my subject class and wrote my first monthly report.

I also got my first "nut". If someone asks you to look up the word 'commandment' in the dictionary, then proceeds to disagree with you about the dictionary meaning, then goes into a suitcase to pull out their bible, then have you find a passage, then proceed to read you that passage, then proceed to give you their interpretation....back away very slowly when another librarian rescues you, then run away while the patron's back is turned. (If you get me in person, ask me to tell the story. It's much better in person. Those who have heard some of my 'library stories' can attest to that, LOL)

For WSE, it seems that I may be teaching some beginner computer classes. I have to draft a class plan and figure out days to do such. Now that WSE has a projector and laptops, we can host some computer classes. I just want to test drive hooking up a laptop to the projector.

I've also been preparing holiday cards & gifts to mail out. My goal is to have most packages in the mail by the end of the week for international folks, with a few domestics as well. I just need time to personalize items. I've got everything is labeled. ^___^

An art book of Chris Baker's work on "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence".

... well, what I really want for Christmas is my very own Gigolo Joe... but since we're not quite there in terms of tech, I'll take the book. Squeeeeeeee! *goes off to write it down on my Christmas wish list for George to go shopping with*

Just got back from first day at work, which consisted of mostly boring theoretical training.

Awesomepoints: only the porter misgendered me, everybody else who adressed me in a gendered fashion today already knew me from last year. My temp ID card was correct, too. These little things mean the world.

I met ex-colleagues in the cafeteria and did social things, like talking to people. Really looking forward to proper work tomorrow (and meeting my two favourite superiors again).

Not-so-awesomepoints: I'm dead tired. Seriously. I'm gonna check my feeds and email, and then I'm off to bed.

PSA: I have the late shift for at least two weeks from now, which suits me just fine. (I liked working nightshifts a lot, as evidenced in this IJ entry from 2008. Also, getting up early would kill me.) However, it has the disadvantage of being online less often, and thus chatting/commenting not as much as I used to. If you don't hear a peep from me for the next days or weeks, it's because of work effing up my sleep schedule / leisure time / energy levels. (Sadface.)