So I’m in a hotel in Winchester on a course for work. The hotel caters to businesses so they provide broadband in the rooms. You just have to pay 30pence per minute! There’s a cap on the total cost which I guess they hope business users will just accept and claim back, but in the current climate I wonder how many do.

Luckily the iPhone gives me more ways than ever of being in touch without needing a real net connection. The battery life is still the main issue though.

Why do hotel TVs always have the colour settings so high everyone looks orange, I can actually hear anyone dressed in red it’s that bright.

I’m missing the first few days of the new Lord of the Rings Online expansion while I’m down here which is making me feel like a member of Felicia Day’s The Guild web series.

So, I’m off work for two weeks!  Other than being prodded by the NHS, no real plans.  It’s been a rough three weeks at work, covering a lot of call out, being the person in the office who gets asked all the questions you don’t want to get asked, but I survived, just.  It seems to be a common issue in March with lots of people taking holiday.  Last year was similar I remember.

It’ll take me a few days to get over it all and really relax.  The oddest thing happens first though – I get really down and pretty angry with the whole world, which is where I am today.  I’m lucky that Grete understands and doesn’t get too pissed off at me.

So a few days of this feeling and then I’ll be able to enjoy not being at work.

Got my letter this morning saying the blood test results are in, but doesn’t list what they are.  I may find out at the nurse appointment or I may need to ring the doctor.  I’m sort of hoping the bit where it said ‘this appointment is non-urgent’ means they don’t think my medication needs reviewing and hence the results are okay, but that may just be wishful thinking.

I really am not a nice person to be around when I’m in this kind of mood, I think Tracey may regret her choice of weekend for visiting.  Ah well.

Not a new set of figures, but in fact, how my head feels.  Back at work after a period of holiday always means my energy levels take a beating initially, add on to that the problems I’ve had with Gradwell hosting since Friday last week (fix going in tonight in theory) and I’ve not really written that much other than painting updates for a little while.

I’m behind on the movie memories posts too, I had four lined up straight off the bat to post once a week, but they’ve all posted now and there’s nothing ready to go out this week, so I need to get a few of those written up again ahead of time.  The last (or possibly penultimate depending on whether I decide to base her or not) Sasha diary post is ready to go out after some spelling changes.

Grete has a bunch of Pocket Dragon figures which have been exposed to the world (or rather, this room) for a long time now, and we were thinking of maybe getting a glass cabinet for them and any miniatures I paint that I feel proud of enough to display.  Anyone got any advice on cleaing Pocket Dragons?  I was thinking maybe just q-tips and soapy water, but wondered if there was anything better.  Don’t want to ruin the surface of them.

It’s odd, we watched Indy IV on DVD yesterday and … it wasn’t as annoying as I remember it, and was actually more like Indy than I recall.  I was pretty generous in my review originally, and I had some real doubts about the whole alien plot but actually watching it again, it bears up very well in a second viewing and it’s not as totally dumb in places as I remember.

There are some truly pointless moments (why do the monkies follow Mud and attack the Russian woman, I assume because of the skull in some way but it’s not really clear, why do interdimensional beings need a spaceship, etc.) but really it’s a pretty solid Indy movie.  I wonder what it is about second viewings that make movies seem better?  Maybe like music they have to grow on you?  Maybe because you know what’s coming you get a chance to actually watch more of the supporting action?  Who knows, this is almost a duplicate of my Hell Boy II post a few days ago, because it’s exactly the same feeling.

Anyway.  Back at work this week, on call as well (including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day) but it’s pretty quiet in the office so plenty of chance to get all the admin type stuff out of the way and catch up with various bits that didn’t get done before Christmas.

Eight days until pay day, and we can see how much money we have to pay off the Visa bill that built up in November and December (dentist, christmas, etc.)  Things are pretty tight until we see where we are early in January.  I’m looking forward more than usual to not paying Council Tax in February and March, that extra £109 is always useful but this year it could be critical.

So fingers crossed.

No Internet connectivity from work today due to a mess-up with a user ID expiring.  I managed to survive though.

In the car on the way in this morning I thought up a couple of story directions for the NaNoWriMo story, which is hopeful.

Grete’s absolutely terrible today, both a cold and some kind of sickness bug it would seem.  I’ll be working from home as much as possible this week.

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

Ellen Goodman
American journalist (1941 – )

moptimism (noun):

1. the tendency to take the most hopeful view in all matters first thing on Monday morning, for around 2 hours before the reality of working for a living kicks in.

noun: moptimist
adjective: moptimistic
advern: moptimistically

Because I know you’re all desperate to know how the fruit was: It was excellent. Still pretty crisp, except for the kiwi fruit which is actually much nicer when it’s soft anyway. None of it was mushy, and none of it had ‘turned’, so that’s pretty good news I guess if I ever feel like putting in the effort to make my own again. Should last three or four days in the fridge.

I’ll see if I manage to keep making it (my expectations are pretty low, so if I was you, I would assume not).

So, Grete remembered to get the last pot of fruit out of the fridge this morning as I dragged my half-asleep ass out of the house, good job ‘cos I’d completely forgotten again! It’s lasted quite well, still looks pretty fresh. Popped it into a fridge at work, and I’m sure you’re all dying to know how it turns out, so I’ll be sure to let you know later …

So I purchased a pineapple, two mangos, a tub of kiwi fruit and two melons last night, with the intent of making some little fruit bowls to bring to work, since I can’t get the ones I want here any more.

Spent 30-50 minutes last night chopping it all up, putting it into air-tight containers (6) and whacking them in the fridge.

And then left home this morning without picking one up. I’m working from home tomorrow so wouldn’t normally be after any fruit anyway, and by Thursday I’m sure they’ll be turning and going off.