Positive trends
Aug. 5th, 2011 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgA bit of general updatery is in order.
I've had a good week and managed a whopping 7 hours chargeable work from home. I've now set up a few systems so I can do more things remotely, and have managed to do some work planning as well as make progress on the training program for my apprentice who starts on the 22nd. I got to use some brains! Mine even! Woo!
Hey apprentice I'm still not sure if you want to be identified as such on this blog. Drop me a line to clarify your policy?
Today I decided to treat myself to an outing and some rock shopping. At 2pm it's possible to find a parking spot at Warwick train station so I took the train in to town. After who knows how many months of disruption while they reconfigured the carpark it's nice to have parking again. I saw snapshots of the development on dark wet nights when I went to pick up Husband. No two visits involved the same path through the rubble. Unfortunately it's not possible to find a space between 8am and 2pm, and the bus stop is a spoon-absorbant hike from my place.
I haven't been into town for a while, and the last few visits have been at significant intervals, so the skyline changes noticeably every time I go. I get to gape like arube tourist. I haven't given the old entertainment centre a thought for ages, so it was a bit of a shock to see the old hamburger partly demolished. The new arena looks just stupid, but hopefully it will settle in to place once it's complete.
The rock shop I visited hasn't been in town very long - maybe since last December or so. It's on Murray Street where there used to be an art glass gallery/shop, i.e. on a point between the train station and Fantastic Planet. It was a bit expensive, but since it lacks competition for specimen pieces it got away with it today. I, uh, bought a few rocks which will no doubt make an appearance here eventually. The star of the bunch is a cluster of blue/green fluorite crystals which has been on the shopping list for some time. And a diamond! A very small, very rough diamond indeed :-)
I only discovered later in the evening that I'd chosen the day of the second financial collapse to spend a couple of hundred dollars on rocks, but I was celebrating finally earning some cash and contemplating rejoining the human race. I am quite confident that they'll give me value for money for many years to come. However, given the non-trivial expenditure on rocks and spoons I thought it the better part of valour to retreat, skip a visit to FP, and miss peak hour.
Reached another important milestone today: called my first tradesman in ages to come and quote for a skylight and better ventilation for the stuffy brown brick box that is Sector 7.
Had an unsatisfying exchange with ACS member services recently regarding the potential loss of my professional accreditation at the end of the year due to inability to study. They responded unhelpfully with "it's easy". Thanks a bunch. But now it no longer seems quite so impossible to do the number of hours I need before the end of the year. Little and often is the key, and it needs to be self-driven: I need A Plan.
So life is looking decidedly sunnier for me. Physically I'm still quite restricted, and I'm not about to start driving in to the office and sitting on the same bit of furniture for hours at an end, suffering through whatever temperature the office aircon decides to throw at me. I'm still not visiting people, or going to the gym, but I can shower more easily, and laundry is doable most of the time. I'm not driven to distraction by pain all the time, but I have gained quite a bit of weight due to increased appetite.
I'm not getting my old life back, but I quite like the look of this new one I'm building.
ED: Also there's been some comfort reading with spaceships, and some catching up of Harry Potter films. Fininshed Half Blood Prince today and looking forward to the home stretch. Rock photography continues, light and shade permitting, as do plans to convert the results into Art.
I've had a good week and managed a whopping 7 hours chargeable work from home. I've now set up a few systems so I can do more things remotely, and have managed to do some work planning as well as make progress on the training program for my apprentice who starts on the 22nd. I got to use some brains! Mine even! Woo!
Hey apprentice I'm still not sure if you want to be identified as such on this blog. Drop me a line to clarify your policy?
Today I decided to treat myself to an outing and some rock shopping. At 2pm it's possible to find a parking spot at Warwick train station so I took the train in to town. After who knows how many months of disruption while they reconfigured the carpark it's nice to have parking again. I saw snapshots of the development on dark wet nights when I went to pick up Husband. No two visits involved the same path through the rubble. Unfortunately it's not possible to find a space between 8am and 2pm, and the bus stop is a spoon-absorbant hike from my place.
I haven't been into town for a while, and the last few visits have been at significant intervals, so the skyline changes noticeably every time I go. I get to gape like a
The rock shop I visited hasn't been in town very long - maybe since last December or so. It's on Murray Street where there used to be an art glass gallery/shop, i.e. on a point between the train station and Fantastic Planet. It was a bit expensive, but since it lacks competition for specimen pieces it got away with it today. I, uh, bought a few rocks which will no doubt make an appearance here eventually. The star of the bunch is a cluster of blue/green fluorite crystals which has been on the shopping list for some time. And a diamond! A very small, very rough diamond indeed :-)
I only discovered later in the evening that I'd chosen the day of the second financial collapse to spend a couple of hundred dollars on rocks, but I was celebrating finally earning some cash and contemplating rejoining the human race. I am quite confident that they'll give me value for money for many years to come. However, given the non-trivial expenditure on rocks and spoons I thought it the better part of valour to retreat, skip a visit to FP, and miss peak hour.
Reached another important milestone today: called my first tradesman in ages to come and quote for a skylight and better ventilation for the stuffy brown brick box that is Sector 7.
Had an unsatisfying exchange with ACS member services recently regarding the potential loss of my professional accreditation at the end of the year due to inability to study. They responded unhelpfully with "it's easy". Thanks a bunch. But now it no longer seems quite so impossible to do the number of hours I need before the end of the year. Little and often is the key, and it needs to be self-driven: I need A Plan.
So life is looking decidedly sunnier for me. Physically I'm still quite restricted, and I'm not about to start driving in to the office and sitting on the same bit of furniture for hours at an end, suffering through whatever temperature the office aircon decides to throw at me. I'm still not visiting people, or going to the gym, but I can shower more easily, and laundry is doable most of the time. I'm not driven to distraction by pain all the time, but I have gained quite a bit of weight due to increased appetite.
I'm not getting my old life back, but I quite like the look of this new one I'm building.
ED: Also there's been some comfort reading with spaceships, and some catching up of Harry Potter films. Fininshed Half Blood Prince today and looking forward to the home stretch. Rock photography continues, light and shade permitting, as do plans to convert the results into Art.
