Corner of Bourbon & Division

Just over seven hours left before I'll be on vacation. I haven't looked forward to time off this much in years.

*bounce*

I'm still in disconnect mode. It's weird. After a summer of back-and-forth, in and out of work, WorldCon followed closely by a week in Ottawa away from things that are familiar, I can't seem to get into the proper "autumn" mindspace.

I feel as though I should be spending every waking minute doing something productive, but I'm actually still really tired and unrecovered from all the stuff I did in the last month. Bizarrely, August was really busy and exhausting, even though it was fun.

I'm going to Vermont this weekend, and while I'm excited I also felt that I should bring a whole lot of cooked things with me: I hate arriving places empty-handed, but due to my stupid work schedule this happens a lot more than I'd like. So I thought, hey, I can pick up supplies on Monday, and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I can do a bunch of canning and baking, and that'll work. Except that I forgot three important things: 1) yesterday was Labour Day, so nothing was open. 2) Thursday I'm working overtime, so I won't have time to do anything except a basic prep for guests. 3) Tomorrow the cleaning lady comes, which is great because it means the house will be clean, but also not great because she comes from nine to noon, which means I won't have access to my kitchen during the only hours in which I'm free.

*insert expletives here*

So even if I'd gone out today to buy supplies, I'd have to forgo sleep entirely on Wednesday night to get anything done, and since I've never made preserves before (that was my original plan), it doesn't seem like a good idea. I have no way of knowing how long it would take me to figure it all out, and that just doesn't bode well.

So instead I'll bake banana bread on Thursday morning, since I know exactly how that works and how long it takes, and try not to feel too badly about not contributing more this weekend.

And now I have to go to work. Needless to say, I'm not feeling particularly motivated. I really like my job, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel as though I've gotten a proper, restful break in a while. Mind you, I shouldn't whine: I've had plenty of time off this summer, it's just that I didn't actually get to use the time off to rest much. I know, I know, there are plenty of people who would kill to have my problems.

Ten more hours before my shift is over. Then I'm off for a whole week! Stratford Festival, here I come!

Weirdly, I'm not even off yet and my week has already filled up. Monday is Parental Unit time, Tuesday I'm going fishing, Wednesday is a barbecue, and Thursday through Saturday is the Stratford Festival. Sunday the Capricornucopia Boys (wouldn't that be a great name for a band?) are coming for a barbecue and plotting, and Monday I go back to work for a double shift.

Somewhere in there I have to go to IKEA, get a new microwave, and maybe get the cats to the vet. Oh, and buy paint. Eesh.

Okay, it's not like I got up at the crack of dawn, but I could have used a bit more sleep. Instead, I am going to the gym. Tomorrow my lovely cleaning lady is coming, which is fantastic but also means no sleeping in. Thursday I'm going to the gym. Which leaves Friday for sleep, because Saturday I go back to work at stupid o'clock.

I have yet to bring my bicycle to the shop. I really need to make time for that...


My vacation is barely half done and I cannot believe how rushed I'm feeling. This is not good. :P

My vacation time for World Con has officially been approved!

WOOOOHOOOOO!

I thought I would be clever and check out my LJ flist from the airport. I can haz wireless, after all.

Sadly, the airport appears to have the same dim view of my LJ flist as my work does, and keeps re-directing me back to their homepage. Hosers.

Anyway, My flight is not canceled or delayed, which is good news. I was forced this morning to walk further than I would have wanted to catch the shuttle to the airport, as it was not stopping at the hotel nearest me, the way it usually does. Wacky schedule. Anyway, Halifax is awash in slush this morning, which I found out in my 20-minute walk to the Lord Nelson hotel. At least it was a 20-minute walk, which was nice, and I was not assailed by the howling winds that I experienced last year.

All in all, this has been a really good visit, and I am sad to be leaving. It's always hard leaving joane and shenlo behind. We spent all of yesterday together with rowen26, too, which was a lt of fun. I'm sorry it's all over, but life must go on.

Tonight I have to go back to my ASL class. I'm tired and don't feel like it, and I shudder to think of how confused I'll be after missing last week, but there are only three classes left, and so I don't want to miss it again. I may re-take the introductory level course in the fall: I really don't feel as though I've mastered this at all, and I don't want to compound the problem by advancing to the next level. I'll discuss it with my teacher if I get the chance.

I also really, really don't feel like going back to work. I still have four days off, then I start with a full seven-day shift on Saturday morning. Bleargh. What I would much rather have is about a month's worth of vacation time. I think that would be ample time to recover from the beating I've taken in overtime over the last year. Sadly, I only get nine days, so I guess it'll have to do.

Ah well. I have a cup of Tim Horton's coffee, a muffin, and a good book, as well as my knitting. Things could be a whole lot worse, really. :)

So after working a night shift from Sunday to Monday, and only getting four and a half hours' sleep from Monday to Tuesday, I was a whole lot tired when I got in (late) yesterday.

I took a bath here, where the whirlpool tub tried to kill me. I swear, the thing is alive! I didn't even switch it on: it switched on by itself, and then wouldn't switch off! Then I managed to switch it off for a while, and then it switched on automatically again. Then when the bath drained it switched on again! While the bath was empty! Thank goodness there were no other guests here last night: they would have murdered me.

Anyway, I got up at 08:00 for breakfast (actually, I woke up at 08:03 and scrambled madly to get downstairs in time), left a message for Nana* so that we can get together for tea sometime this week, and then decided that I was still tired, so I went back to bed for a nap... and promptly slept for another five hours. I had a stabby-behind-the-eye headache when I first awoke, and since it's still there I just took a bunch of headache candy, which should take care of the problem.

I am diagnosing massive lack of sleep. I honestly look as though someone has punched me hard in both eyes. Depending on when Nana is available, I am likely going to sleep in soundly tomorrow as well. This is a vacation, after all, and what are vacations for, if not resting? My B&B is delightful: the bed is comfortable, and it is dead quiet here. Plus, wireless internet, FTW! The only thing that doesn't appear to work is outgoing email from my Sympatico account, and so I'll just switch to my web-based email accounts for the duration.

*Nana is not, in fact, my grandmother. She is the closest person that I have to a grandparent, however, and has been more of a grandmother to me than anyone else.

Apart from my paternal grandfather, I never had much contact with any of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother died just after I turned a year old, and my maternal grandfather followed just after I turned five, but he was ill for many years before that and so I rarely saw him. My maternal grandmother was a very troubled woman (I'm being polite, here), and really didn't want much to do with me. I saw my paternal grandfather more than any of the others, but he too was a troubled man (in a different way), and was aloof and awkward around children, although I think he loved me in his own way.

Nana was my friends' nanny. Everyone calls her Nana. She was their mother's nanny, too. I didn't even know her real name until last year: she was always just Nana. I spent a lot of my childhood in her company, and consider her my real grandmother in most ways. So every time I get a chance to spend some time with her, I do.

I had a dream that all my hair had grown back. It was shoulder-length again, and looking better than it ever has in real life, and I was wondering if the fact that it had grown back so quickly meant that I should try shaving it again. Luckily for me, it was not in fact real, and my hair is still short. I'm going to get it trimmed and organized tomorrow, and that will be that.

I have rented Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I have yet to see. I gave it a miss in theaters, having been a little disappointed by the movies in general. Still, I figure it's something I ought to see, and if I enjoy it enough I may go back to watch #6 when it comes on the big screen.

I have been fantasizing about the lobster I plan to eat in Halifax. I haven't had lobster in a little under a year, since the last time I went, and it's calling to me with siren song. ;)

In other random news, one of my snap peas has already started to germinate. Umm, oops? I figure if worse comes to worst I'll buy the large pots ASAP and just grow the poor beans and peas indoors until I can put them outside. If they don't make it because they don't like being inside, well, then I'll know that I really can't start them this early. Heh. In my wildest, most optimistic dreams I didn't think a four-day germination period was going to happen.

On a final note, I still don't feel like going to work. Shocking, I know. Time to hop into a shower and get going.

This whole working all the time thing is seriously getting old. Getting out of bed this morning was a heck of a struggle. I have a party to go to tonight, and I want to go, but I also don't feel like it. I know I'll have fun when I get there and that I'll regret not going, but I would very much like to go directly to bed.

Meh.

I'm going to ask for some time off in February. No idea if I'll get it, but it's worth a shot.

As of 06:30 this morning, I have officially been on vacation!

What did I do with my first hour and a half of freedom? I took the metro home, and then spent 45 minutes cleaning up cat puke (thank you, George), and giving the cat pans a thorough cleaning and taking out the garbage for pick-up.

Are you not envious of the incredible thrill ride that is my life? ;)

Nonetheless, I am very very happy to be off work for the next seven days. I have lots of people with whom I want to catch up, both online and IRL. I am going to go back into nesting mode as well (not that I ever really left) and continue doing some cooking and cleaning and general putting-together of stuff.

I also have to put my paperwork in order. That's the plan for this afternoon. The paperwork kind of all got shoved into a couple of large untidy piles before I moved and I never really got around to organizing it all. I also have a bunch of small things that I need to get for this place: amazing all the things that go into maintaining a first-floor dwelling that one doesn't ever think of (like a proper shovel), and other small things that would make my life easier which I've been putting off getting forever and a day.

First, though, I am going to take a nap. I'm only going to sleep for a few hours, though, because I'd like to flip my sleep schedule around properly. I do need to have the nap, though, because I've been up since 15:00 yesterday, and spending 24 hours or more awake is Not Good For Me.

I am feeling really good about the coming week. Last week was a pretty mixed bag, filled as it was with bad news and conflict, but it wasn't all bad either. I just hope this week gives me a chance to recover a bit, even though I think we're all expecting bad news any day now...

Okay. I'm off to bed now.