Tuesday Has No Phones

One of many reasons why my job is awesome? Three words: Work. From. Home.

I woke up today with my head hurting but not full-on migraine. If it was a normal work day I would've probably gone in. However damn near the entire office, my dept included, is away at a conference. I realized it was stupid to make myself worse by going out in sunlight and driving and spending the day under bad lighting and bleh. So I emailed the boss to ask if I could work from home so that I could close my eyes in cold darkness as needed and he said yes.

\o/ New job for the win! (Also remote log-in for the win!)

In other news, watching commercials in Spanish is a great way to go "Hey! I actually know what they're saying!" though Olive Garden commercials in Spanish are just disturbing. Mind you Olive Garden commercials in English aren't much better...

And I have no idea where the 3-way Petrellicest vaguely Apacolyptic crack bunny came from, but it scares me.

So today at work totally kicked my ass. We were booked to the gills as it was then we had emergency patients pretty much every half hour. Throw in a constantly ringing phone and I was about ready to shoot somebody. Possibly myself.

Fortunately there is chocolate in the world. Plus I now have a cat on my lap. (Mac, to be specific.)

Last night I did up a test run of the ribbon scarf on #10s. As I suspected it did knit up a bit softer. The only downside was that my hand started to cramp a little as I was working. I don't know if that's an offshoot of the yarn type or an offshoot of the way I was sitting while I was doing it (I was in bed, propped up on pillows, and normally I knit while sitting on the couch like a normal person.) Hopefully this is not indicative of a trend. I'd hate to have to start knitting while wearing a hand brace like I do when I crochet or cross-stitch (which is part of the reason why I'm not as into either of those as I am knitting. I like them but it's too much of a to do to start a project whereas with knitting I can just pick up the needles and go.)

I have no idea if I'll get the scarf anywhere near done in time for Sunday. I'll do what I can and if nothing else it'll be good to use to kill the time at Borders on Friday. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Grams tends to shun gifts anyway, which is why I haven't bought her one, but sometimes you can do a sneak-attack with a homemade item, so we'll see.

Okay, done with my wee break for the night. Now to go back to the To Do list. Though in my head I am writing Protocol. Or possibly a story about a near-feral Angel in a cage and the Wes who takes care of him. Or both.

My head's a busy place, apparently.

You know, it's almost worth becoming a disembodied evil sorceror just so you can use a line like "Hey, look, I just regenerated a finger. Guess which one." I mean come on, you know Voldemort's using that all the time.

On the other hand I'm sure it's hard to knit without fingers, and thus if I was a disembodied evil sorceror I couldn't have completed a few more inches on the baby sweater last night. So just as well that I am bodied, then.

The weather continues to get warmer, which is good for plants and, probably, even good for me, polar bear that I am. On the one hand this means I'll have to give up the outdoor exercise, but on the other that's actually good right now because apparently I am physically incapable of understanding how not to overstrain myself while my body is healing. Yup, I woke up today with a severe limp again, and that's with all the extra prepwork and stretching. I'll spare you the details about why I suspect last night's walk set me back when walking downtown or through the woods did not, but suffice it to stay I have told the plot bunnies that sent me out there well past the point I would have stopped that I am quite cross with them. So there.

1) Go to the movies. This I have already done. I went to see Bourne Supremacy, which was good. Though lately I find myself enjoying movies like this on aspects that they probably didn't intend. For example, during the car chase scene while I was aware that it was action-packed and wonderful, my biggest reaction was a desire to have sex with their continuity department. But still, worth the money!

2) BBQ hamburgers. The grill is currently warming up.

3) Write something completely and utterly indulgent, as I am taking the weekend off from writing things which are meant to be meaningful and somehow relate to canon. I did Protocol last night. I keep thinking I'd like to do Pet, but more Protocol beckons. I have no idea which, if any, of these impulses will win.

4) Take care of one of the fannish projects that I have jettisoned in the name of keeping my schedule clean. Possibly break ties with another. Still deciding this. But at least one will be done for me as of later tonight.

5) Watch stupid things on TV, because have I mentioned I'm turning my brain off this weekend?

5a) Glare at those of you who just muttered "And we can tell the difference between your working brain and your non-working brain how again?"

6) Later, for dinner, BBQ cabbage.

7) Occasionally wonder if, earlier today, I really did catch the tail end of an episode of Semi-Homeade Cooking wherein the host actually suggested giving alcohol to children. I don't actually plan to do this, but it's hours later and I still find myself going "Surely I heard that wrong."

7a) Think a rant about Semi-Homeade Cooking as a concept, but not write it out because I feel lazy.

8) Pet and play with cats.

It's a good plan. I feel strong about it. Now, to put meat on the grill.

Feel free to make that statement as dirty as you like.

Had the oddest dream last night that somebody posted a link to Protocol on one of those badfic LJ communities. Which didn't really bother me in the slightest, but made me scratch my head as the community in question was dedicated to Alias fanfic. So I found my dream-self sitting there and wanting to comment that while I wouldn't dispute that Protocol might fail on several general goodfic standards, was this a badfic standard that it should have been judged by? But then again I couldn't really fault them on the flawless accuracy in pointing out that as Alias-fics go, Protocol is undoubtedly right up there with being one of the worst.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll dream of Pet being nominated for this year's worst Star Wars fic. You know, just to round it out. 8)

Tonight is holy day of obligation, and I remain in staunch denial about there being only 3 episodes left. Just shut up. SHUT UP I tell you! I deal with the pain through the healthy methods of eating chocolate and pizza while I watch. It's self-medicating, true, but with only 3 eps to go (SHUT UP!) I figure my body can handle it.

And now I cry like Butters.

It'll be interesting to see how the end of the show (SHUT UP) will affect various fics in progress. Not that I'll stop writing, 'cause I don't see why the boys have to stop having all the gay sex they weren't having onscreen anyway, but just in terms of how the lack of new canon might affect decisions I make about various plotlines.

Like I had vaguely been thinking of wrapping Epiphany up with Arc Five (which is partially why it's been on hold for so long) due to the fact that the show's progressed so much from the canon I started with, but now that new canon will effectively be dead I wonder if I won't mind keeping that concept open for any new potential stories that might apply to it. And will Pet still be the same for me and others as we see the ultimate twists and turns of the boys working for Wolfram & Hart? Just have to wait and see, I suppose. I feel confident that Protocol won't get Jossed though. Call it a hunch ;)

And now to pretend to work.

In today's installment of the Amazing Adventures of Bitterwoman, we find that absolutely nobody has called in all the time I've been sitting here at work. For those of you who missed yesterday's installment, I'm here at work instead of having all of today off so I could be at home, in my bed, and ideally sleeping off my Oxford cold because the blackout that hit last week screwed up our answering machine at the office so apparently at least half a week went by with people calling and not knowing that we were out on vacation. Understandably annoying, but I'm not really sure what putting me here today was going to do about it. I'm ironically less happy now that fate has chosen to prove me right about how useless this action was.

I would've argued the point more yesterday when the boss suggested it (Or at least tried a few rounds of "Let's understand how it affects my morale to A) lose a day off I was promised weeks ago and B) do it when I'm not jetting off to England again but sick and therefore very much needing the ability to sleep in and recover.") but I was so exhausted from coughing the night before I didn't have the brain power to do it. Sigh. Grr. Grumble. Growl. And all that sort of stuff.

But at least I'm out of here in five minutes.

In other news I tried to use this very important work time to catch up on LiveJournal. I made it to skip 9hundredsomething (skimming, I assure you) and realized that I hadn't even gotten back more than 3 days. So... I give up. If there's anything going on that you need me to know about I humbly ask that you give me a heads-up here in the comments. Thank you kindly in advance.

In still other news I'm dying to write about a billion things and have the brainpower for possibly only one of them. I suspect that trying to do the recap of the London trip is going to win out, since I want to get that done while I can still remember most of the details.

Other things that are on the waiting list include commentary on Shells, more commentary about A Hole in the World (which may get folded into Shells), my continuing adventures as Bitterwoman with regards to what those two eps do to Fred and Wes (which may also get folded into Shells), the Fred/Wes essay that I've been sitting on for a while and may not make it to the end of the series (ie, I was originally thinking I'd let this season play out and write about the story as a whole, but now I don't know if I can be that patient), random insane fic snippets that I either need to keep locked up until they die or write them just to scratch the itch, and more Pet.

Pet, btw, is also driving me insane b/c I had an epiphany (heh) about a plot point for that (yes, sometimes it has plot) and I really want to write it now now NOW but even for my admittedly low standards for what makes plausible narrative structure for that fic I couldn't possibly do that plot point without first laying some groundwork. So I sit here twitching in my seat and wondering when I'll get the brainpower back to put the groundwork in, or if I should give up hope and write the plot point now anyway, possibly by cheating and going "So then some exposition happened". Though I don't think I will because there were a few minor things that I actually did want to write out.

I think what we're finding here is that a week and a half of me being away from a keyboard slowly drives me out of my mind. I offer this tidbit of trivia to those of you wondering how to torture me without making it obvious.

Okay, time's up. I'm out of here. More later, possibly with London recap if I can get enough brainpower going to do it. Stupid work. Stupid cold. Stupid need to breathe.

Apparently we're getting Siberian chills here in the land of TBQ. Since clearly Canada's weather didn't hate us enough.

3 degrees, not including wind chill, at the moment and beyond that the weatherfolk are basically taking all the guys aside, patting them on the back in a comforting manner, and saying "Well you might see them again next week. We'll let you know."

Supposedly we'll be getting snow with all this too but who knows if we believe that? They swear 3-6 inches by tomorrow morning but I'll believe it when I see it.

Of course the ironic flip side is that I really could use more milk. Think the folks at the grocery store would mind if I added to the chaos if I included a picture of my fridge to show that no, really, I'm out?

In other news there's a new Angel tonight and ain't nothing wrong with that. I hope to have the influx of new Wolfram & Harty goodness will help me with my goal to do at least a part or two of Pet before I fall prey to the brainstorming of other bunnies again.

Speaking of which, if you want to see my brain strip its gears you can watch it as I flip back and forth between Pet thoughts and Trust Me ones. Smoke actually comes out of my nose. It's funny.

And so my weekend draws to a close. It was most pleasant. Random highlights include, in no particular order:

BBQing on Sparky
Learning how to knit, thanks to lucifrix
lucifrix not stabbing me repeatedly with a knitting needle after the five thousanth time we had to go over "So do you knit the knits and purl the purls or purl the knits and knit the purls?"
Rewatching the prom episode of QAF
Chocolate in various forms
And, of course, Rowsdower!

In other news my tomato plant has actually spawned a wee little tomato! It's all small and green and stuff! I'm so proud! (*cough* - um, gairid? how big do they get anyway?)

Tonight I had a drive-by urge to write. With all my fic-a-thon assignments, and the RPGs, and the stuff I promised to help people with, and the stories I'm working on with buffybot and wolfling, and my hope/urge/deepest wish to get Cat & Mouse done before the end of summer I am, naturally, seized by the urge to do the next Epiphany story.

So I pulled up Word, started to type, and 3 lines in lost the wah of it all. V. frustrating, but probably just as well since I'd be writing it out of order if I did this scene before the one I'm brainstorming with buffybot but even still, I hate having that "car up on blocks with the engine running" feeling as far as fic writing goes.

Clearly what I need to do is load my Palm up with stories and read them in bed tonight for inspiration.

2 more eps of Buffy were watched tonight with the folks. We did Never Kill a Boy... and The Pack. Much to my relief I did not have to listen to either of my parents lust after Hyena!Xander because, well, ew. They were sad about the loss of Flutie though. My dad also whimpered once he found out how much they had to catch up on. But that was in a good way. We also all agreed that Snarky!Giles is a most wonderful thing.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Frustrations of the early week gone, I find myself once again in a chipper mood. I'm all bouncy and looking forward to Easter. Gotta say I've a special soft spot for the holidays that require cooking. They just feel right somehow.

I'm also looking to my back not-really-a-porch-so-much-as-a-slab-of-concrete and trying to figure out what I want to do with it. Growing herbs for cooking is a big goal of mine but I'll need to find out what can survive with the kind of sunlight I get there. Flowers might be nice too. I had some last year but I suspect they died in the heat. I've got my fingers crossed that one single plant survived b/c it was a really cool one, but I suppose if it didn't I can always buy another one for next year.

My folks may be giving their old BBQ to me. In which case I am envisioning a couple of chairs, a plant stand (with less planters than I have right now), the BBQ and good times. I've never really done much BBQing before, but I'm eager to learn new things. I've got recipes all ready to go, just need something to work with (and yes, I know the broiler is just an upside down barbeque. Shhhh)

In other news, I've got a plot bunny from last night's Angel. Will try to scribble that down tonight if I can.

I want to write. I mostly know what I'm going to write. I have the time to write. But I lack that final click of everything falling into place and telling me where it's going to go. Therefore I'm left with a collection of images and plot points and no single thread to connect them. Grr. Just have to keep poking it I guess.

In other, more cheerful news, last night Mac held Luna down and gave her a bath. It was agressively adorable.