I find that I've been drifting away from my fannish interests lately.  To be honest, this has been going on for a long time and though I've tried to reengage with livejournal, I honestly use it mostly as a means of connecting with my fandoms and that is no longer of great interest to me.  I've let my paid account lapse and, for the first time in years, I'm down to 6 icons (this is rather shocking for my system, I must admit).

This isn't a good-bye note.  I'm leaving the account here and just don't expect too many new posts.  I'll still be checking my friends list every now and then- I've come to know some of you quite well over the last few years and can't quite bring myself to quit you. 

For now, I've off to focus on some of my other interests and maybe, just maybe, try and develop a social life (how many times have we heard this, eh?).  I've started a book blog too:  The Captive Reader.  Please feel free to stop by and check it out from time to time.  I've always been an avid reader and I think this might just be a better fit for me.

The Olympic torch is passing my apartment RIGHT NOW.

Kind of cool.

Second day home sick from work.  Hate having the flu, hate staying home from work when I know one colleague has the day off which leaves only one other colleague to cover our entire department (already understaffed) and, most of all, hate living alone when sick as there is no one to take car of me or to take care of normal household chores. 

Mostly, just want to curl up and sleep all day (and possibly all weekend), taking the occassionaly break for tea and orange juice.  Not that I have any orange juice, because it's something I only drink when sick and I have no one to go and buy some for me.  Yes, it's a regular pity party here. 

The good news is that, bad as I feel, this is nothing compared to how I felt in October when I had appendicitis.  After that, nothing seems so bad anymore.

Walking home today, by myself for the first time in a while (usually walk home with male coworker) and a guy leaned out of car window to shout "Hey pretty girl!  You look nice today!  I really like your scarf!  Give us a smile?"

Random, but lovely.

Also, Chuck is back!  The only thing that got me through the day on Monday was the knowledge that I would be rewarded with a new episode that evening.  It was a particularly excellent, Awesome-filled one, which made it all the more of a reward.

I'm flying home today!!!  Full day of work first but, by dinnertime, I will be back in Vancouver with my entire family!

Huzzah!  There will be much rejoicing (followed by a trip to the hospital to get my appendix checked out, but let's focus on the positives).

If I quit my job right now, do you think my parents will notice me extending my Christmas visit from two weeks to forever?

Bad day.

My great nemesis, winter, has returned for yet another battle in our neverending war. The entire province has been under a blizzard warning since yesterday morning. Wonderful. It's been so bad that they actually let us off work early yesterday - that NEVER happens. However, since I walk everywhere, I'm far better off that everyone else. It's easier to walk on uncleared sidewalks than it is to drive on uncleared roads. Only left the apartment once today, to go pick up Indian take-away, happily located only five blocks from my place. The roads are AWFUL. I only saw a handful of cars out there, and the restaurant is by one of the busiest intersections in the city. It's a strange, empty world out there and, if it weren't -20, I might actually enjoy wandering around. The only time I actually like this city is when it's like this, quiet and abandoned, feeling more like a small down than a big city. Or, as one friend put it, a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

The rest of the day was spent writing Christmas cards and letters and even writing a little bit of fan fic (the first time that's happened in a while). Also betaed gnimaerd 's latest fic - you all have a treat in store with that one. I'm finally starting to get into the Christmas spirit and right now, as I type this, White Christmas is playing in the background.

Since tomorrow promises more of the same weather-wise, and they can only air so many Christmas movies, any recommendations for what I should do? Any fic I should read, any TV shows I should discover?

Most-likely-future-sister-in-law posted this link on facebook and, after reading it, I think you will understand why I'm all for my brother marrying her. Anyone who enjoys good snark was clearly meant to be a member of our family. (also, am feeling particularly charitable this week towards mockers of Twilight, what with the insanity around the new movie reminding all of us just how terrifyingly awful the books really are)

A shorter, more honest Twilight

The last month or two of my life has focused almost exclusively on my health but, now that I am back to my regular, healthy self, my attention has been returned to that which consumes most of my thoughts and energy: work.

I don't think anyone has a good work story from the last year.  The recession has been difficult for everyone and I know, I know I should be very happy that I have a job, that I got a raise, and that my performance reviews are merely opportunities for my manager to heap praise and thanks on me.  But, that said, things at my company do not seem to be improving.  Last winter, as the shock of the recession was hitting, the company made siginifcant cut backs and did so in an unprofessional and poorly communicated manner.  We weren't even that upset about the changes themselves - we were upset at how the company was treating us and how disrespected we felt.

The economy may be improving, but my company's attitude is not.  My department has been under-staffed since the spring.  Throughout the summer, when we asked management when we would be getting some relief, we were told to wait until the restructuring was complete in August...which then became September, then October, then November.  My work group is the most poorly staffed within the entire department - several days this month (and we're only 10 days in!) I have been the only person working.  A year ago, there were 5 people, down from the ideal number of 6.  With the new reorganization, we are supposed to have 3 people only.  Even my manager thinks this is a joke and has been petitioning the higher ups for the reasoning behind this decision, trying to determine how we can get extra staff allocated.

I suppose I'm just really frustrated by the lack of communication and the lack of reasoning behind decision making.  Everyone in my department is frustrated and increasingly bitter.  I know a large number of them are sending out resumes already, which, if they leave, will create an even more difficult situation for those of us who remain.  We're the lowest down on the totem pole in the company and are treated as such but we are also one of the only departments classified as essential services within the company.  You don't need four years of HR training (training which has been going sadly to waste) to know that the longer an unhappy worker remains, and is in daily contact with customers, the more potential there is for damage to the company. 

I would not be surprised to see 10+ people quit in the next two months.  We are, for the most part, young and have no mortgages or families to tie us to a salary at a job we dislike and at company where we have limited prospects.  That's the real issue for me: in March, my commitment to my current position will be up and I will be able to apply to other jobs within the company.  However, new jobs aren't opening up.  And with nothing to move on to, you stay where you are.  I find that idea terrifying.

The current game plan is this: come March, I start applying for jobs.  If there are good opportunities within my company, excellent.  That would surely be the most convenient option and I think my resume would benefit from showing that I could progress within a company.  If nothing is available internally though, I'm applying for jobs in Vancouver, speeding up my "Go Home" timeline by a year, but always, always making sure I have something lined up before I quit.

A new idea (or, rather, a very old one) has surfaced recently, complicating these plans further - I see that there is something called the Youth Mobility Scheme (replacing the holiday maker visa) that would allow me to live and work in the UK for a full two years (being, thereby, infinitely superior to the holiday maker visa).  At University, I had a burning desire to run away to Edinburgh after graduation but my practical side said no, since, at that time, the only visa I could get only entitled me to work for up to a year.  But with this new scheme, with a two-year permit, I could actually be hired into a real job, something relevant to my career.  The mind boggles, though the scariest part of this option is that I'd have to move without a job lined up - can't really justify a $1300 return trip flight for interviews.

And then my father reminds me of how many are still unemployed, how tenuous the job market still is.  It was so easy for me to find a job two years ago and it has been easy for my classmates over the last year, even those who were laid off, to find jobs as well, that I forget the realities of the world at large.  He has always been so sympathetic about all the awful things at work so to hear him tell me today that we should all stop complaining and be happy we have jobs when so many do not, was rather upsetting.  That said, I do think his comments were influenced by the fact that he's been in California for the last three weeks, in a state, in a country, that has suffered far more than anywhere in Canada.  But I still can't discount his comments completely.

Hit by a car while walking home from work.  Realised a few seconds before hand that, although the driver had seen me, he fully hadn't registered that I was in his way, so was able to minimize damage.  May have a little bruise on my thigh tomorrow, but I bruise easily.  Think the onlookers were far more upset about this than I was.

No harm done, but still, it has not been a promising start to November, between this and the insanity at work.

Blatantly ripped off from artic_fox and her lovely Celebrity Crush Corner, I bring you my Kingdom of Lovelies, citizenship to be awarded to those, both male and female, deemed lovely enough to dwell there.

The second episode of Glee aired this week and, joy, it was just as good as the first.  Now the word must be spread (preferably via song) and fans converted!

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