An hour to go...

Man, tonight has dragged. It's probably been the quietest night shift I've ever had, coinciding with most of the usual people who keep me awake/entertained being away at Dexcon or other venues. Thank goodness for [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], or I'd have gone crazy long before now.

One hour before I can ride the bike home - carefully! - and sleep. So looking forward to that.

And out the other side.

I did pretty well today - woke up at 2pm instead of the usual 3.30 after the second night shift. The ride home was freezing cold, but actualy sort of pleasant - everything was very quiet, I had excellent traffic light karma on the bits I had to use the road (I went by the seafront bike path), and the activity was good for the switching off of the brain once I did get home. Since yeah, going straight to bed after work tends to involve a bit of lying there trying to get things to shut up long enough for me to sleep.

Gorgeous day out there today, so I went down to the Banff for breakfast. Yes, at 2 in the afternoon, but there you go with the shift work. No actual brekkie on, but they did do a egg and mushroom and tomato pizza for me (there's an egg and bacon pizza, but since I'm vegetarian, not so much with the pig meat). So there was sitting outside, eating, and then having a coffee and reading the latest Sean McMullen book Glass Dragons, which I'm really enjoying - Sean's letting his sense of humour come into play, and there's all sorts of sly little jokes. And because of the karate and fencing experience, you get action scenes that actually work - there's a dedication in the front to some of the Melbourne Uni karate and fencing guys for the help choregraphing. *snickers* I'm trying not to buy any new books or cds between now and Canada, but I had to make an exception for this one - I went into the shop looking for the second in the George R. R. Martin A Song of Fire and Ice series, but couldn't find it and found this instead. I'm rationalising that it's probably not in Canada yet and I'm supporting local authors. *g*

Now for more in the line of organising stuff. Stuff that can be done in the lounge room, since it's gotten on the chilly side since the sun went down and the heater's in here.

Neatness as a state of mind.

It's weird how much tidying things up, throwing out crap, putting the stuff I want to keep in particular boxes... all the stuff that goes towards packing up your life and moving it, it's funny how I actually find it soothing, but I do. Of course, it doesn't take a genius psychoanalyst and a comfy-yet-expensive couch to tell you that I'm projecting - by tidying up my life physically, I'm doing the same mentally, or some other psuedo-intellectual gumf. *grins*

But yeah, made huge progress on probably the most problematic area - my desk. It's where I dump all the stuff I can't be bothered finding another place for: paperwork, cards, notebooks with bits of fic in them, address books (yes, plural - I've found three so far, all outdated), photos, stress toys, stationery, computer disks... I've been pretty ruthless and tossed out a heap of stuff, found my work references and a printed version of the CV (must remember to send the most recent version I have at work to this computer...), did the scary diary readback ( and oh my god where the last entries bad - I haven't written in it since 2003, which was not a good year), and discovered I can play a bunch of VCDs [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] did for me ages ago, which means all sorts of goodies. And oodles of new music, too - I turned off the TV so I could play that instead.

So, yeah, feeling all achieve-y and progressive and the rest. :) There's still some more to do along the lines of finding specific papers and putting away others in the Important Documents Box (it's even labelled that way. Yes, I label boxes - makes it easier to find stuff later), but I got distracted by the music and remembering I need to burn copies of the Lamb CD I bought in Sydney for Phil and possibly Bounce. I wasn't going to get back online, only there was a thank you email to write.

Also, it's a good idea to break up the purging, otherwise I get into this whole "away with everything!" vibe and end up throwing out stuff I really shouldn't. Again with the getting psychologically involved in the packing process. *wry* As it is I won't empty the recycling box for a couple of days, and make sure I haven't been silly with the paperwork disposal. There's some work stuff I can get rid of, but not yet - it'll have to wait until I actually leave work.

Speaking of work, looks like I'll be starting the six weeks 'leave' from the back office on August 29. It's not actual leave, unless I want to take it and I have the time accrued (which I do, but that's for Canada), but basically in order to ensure our sanity and reset out sleeping patterns, we get six weeks back on regular nine-to-five, five days a week. Which will be odd, I can tell you. So I'd better make the most of the four days off while I still have them. And since it's six weeks, if I've calculated correctly there's only a week between that ending and my leaving, which doesn't make a lot of sense work-wise - better to have my replacement start then. So, looks like only a few more weeks of those lovely penalty rates, and one more batch of nights, if I've worked it out properly.

It also means GASP *the Great Australian Slumber Party) can happen on a normal weekend, although I might have to call in sick on the Monday since I don't have any rec leave left. Basically, a shout out to any of the Aussie ficcers who read this. If you can be in Melbourne the weekend of September 9-12 (that's including the Friday and Monday), there's going to be the Last GASP at my humble abode in St Kilda. Let me know if you're coming, since I think there will have to be arranging for someone to bring mattresses ([Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], can you bring your inflatable one?) etc. Overflow can always doss at [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]'s place, since it's only ten minutes' normal person's walking speed away. Five if you're Phil or me fast. ;)

This will be my last hurrah (barring a party at Chez Howard in Wodonga in October), so I'd like to see as many people as possible. Drop a comment to let me know if you're interested.

There will also be a box of books and CDs and stuff, available for plundering. You don't have to take everything, since I'll sell what's left on eBay, but leave some space in your bags. Certain people have already be assigned specific things. ;)