Holiday Shopping: Pt. 1

Well, I’ve just got back from work and holiday shopping…

Managed to get about half my list taken care of today, astonishingly enough, and I know most of the rest of what I’m going to be getting. This is… astonishing, frankly. I tend to be very much a last-minute shopper – if not a late shopper. And I’m even going to manage to – *gasp* – send out Christmas cards!

And now, well… I’m exhausted, and my feet hurt, but I feel quite pleased with myself.

One more regular shift tonight, then tomorrow evening dinner with my cousin and more shopping, then my 12-hr. shift on Saturday (which will include a department get-together/Kris Kringle – I’m looking forward to that), then brunch Sunday morning, getting together with friends Sunday afternoon, and then my next week starts Sunday night… but altogether, I’m feeling good.

Later, all!

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Cats, Weather, & Walking

Well, I ended up in a much better mood about an hour after my last entry, thanks to some fic. Good fic is a cure for a lot of things.

This is just basically a ramble… I just got home and am in a bit of weird mood.

Aspen-Cuddles are officially a success! She’s looking for them every day or two, and when I picked her up a few minutes ago to give her one of said cuddles, she started purring before I had her against my chest! In other words, she was still in the air! So pleased about that…

Weather… well, what can I say about the weather, other than the fact that it sucks? Although at least it’s actually being consistent: It snowed yesterday, and was originally supposed to be going up to 7 degrees Celsius today. (Okay, just heard that it’s supposed to now eventually go up to 8, not 7…) This morning it was snowing. *shakes head*

And I wonder why I always tend to like to walk in the winter, considering that I hate the cold as much as I hate Toronto’s summer heat? I walked the 25-minute walk to the subway station both yesterday and today, rather than taking the bus (which comes every 5-9 minutes between 7 and 8 am), which is about a 6-minute ride. (See note above concerning weather.) *shakes head again* There are times when I really don’t understand myself…

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Rant Of Frustration…

Okay, usually I enjoy my job. Working security on the overnight shift is generally fairly quiet (except for the occasional false fire alarm or water leak), and I can get my patrols done, and still have a bit of time to relax. The only thing is that (for various reasons I won’t go into) I can’t really start my patrols until all the cleaners leave.

This is all very well and good, though it tends to have me starting patrols a bit later than I prefer… until one of the cleaners stays till almost halfway through my shift!

Working an 8-hr. shift and being tied to the desk for the last 1/4 or so of it means that I only have 6 hours in which to do 3 patrols. Not a problem, you say, especially since the patrols don’t take more than an hour (unless things are really insecure)? Well, ordinarily I’d agree completely.

The frustration comes when A) as mentioned above, the cleaner(s) stay until almost halfway through my shift, leaving me with 2 to 2-1/2 hours in which to do patrols if I follow the bit about ‘don’t do patrols until the cleaners are finished’; and B) the second patrol involves securing doors – most of which the third patrol involves unsecuring.

As you can probably tell, this was the case tonight. As a result, I ended up saying screw not doing them until the cleaners are finished (I would have never got them done properly in that case), and went ahead and did them. Late. Much later than I prefer. But then, I had to wait to start the second patrol to let the remaining cleaner back into the main building (he’d been working in another one).

So I’m ticked off. Really ticked off.

Here’s hoping having written this will help my mood – I’d definitely prefer to not be still so pissed off when my supervisor comes in. (Not that I don’t like her – I find her nice to work for/with – but it would hardly be fair to her to have my mood drag her down. Especially not at the beginning of her day.)

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Busy Week

Well, looks like I’m due to have a very busy week.

There’s work, of course: My usual overnight shifts going from Sunday night to Friday morning, plus the 12-hr Saturday shifts I’m doing this month until the beginning of January (i.e. working 6 days a week).

Then there’s friends (which is a good thing, considering I haven’t been seeing most of them for a while): Just had dinner with the TorFen (Toronto Fen) group, which includes my fellow members of Blackfly Presses (Canadian fanfic zine publishing! *G*). Then on Sunday afternoon, I’m getting together with my monthly get-together group of SF fans (none of whom I’ve seen since Toronto Trek last July). So that’ll be busy.

And one can’t forget family, especially considering the season: I’m taking my cousin out for a belated birthday dinner on Friday night, and then I have the regular brunch with my aunts, sister, and cousin Sunday morning…

And that doesn’t even mention the writing I’m trying to get done.

Yes, it’s going to be a busy, busy week. But I’m rather looking forward to it…

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Aspen & Mitzy…

Well, we’ve had some surprising progress (by accident) between Aspen and Mitzy…

Aspen (although not a lap cat) likes to curl up on the back of my chair, while Mitzy generally curls up either in my lap, or – if I’m on the computer – right next to me, between my hip and the arm of my chair.

However, this evening, Mitzy had claimed the back of the chair before I even sat down in it. So when Aspen came up, wanting to settle up there with me, she found Mitzy already there, and ready to snap at her.

Finally, Mitzy, turned around to face the other side of the room, and ended up leaving just enough space for Aspen to jump up. It took a few minutes of disagreement and snapping at each other, but they’re currently both curled up there. Not really curled up together, just right next to each other, but it’s definitely progress in their relationship.

Edit at 11:55pm: Wow! Mitzy just turned around and laid her head against Aspen’s side! So I change my above statement – now they are curled up together!

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Scrappy- & Aspen-Cuddles

Don’t know whether my family remembers how I got Scrapper – our large male cat who (at the time) disdained both laps and being lifted, and who now lives with my parents in Costa Rica and fights with Mouse and the new kittens over possession of their laps – to enjoy being picked up and hugged, but I seem to have worked my magic on Aspen as well.

Aspen, who will not settle on a lap (though she doesn’t mind walking on one to get attention – she just walks across and doesn’t lie down) and who has objected fairly strenuously to being lifted since I got her, was sitting in the kitchen today, near her food bowls, but not paying any attention to them. She was just staring up at me. (Mom, Dad, kids, sound familiar? Like Scrapper looking for the aforementioned Scrappy-Cuddles.) I finally picked her up and cuddled her, and she stayed in my arms being petted and cuddled for a good minute or so, purring, before she decided that enough was enough, and it was time to think about getting down.

Success is mine! *G*

Pick them up, give them a cuddle and a scritch just where they like it, and let them down as soon as they start to try jumping – works every time! (I just thought it was going to take a little while longer with Aspen.) So now I’ve got another cat looking to me for the occasional cuddling – feels pretty good. I miss my Scrappy-Cuddles dreadfully sometimes.

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Die Parents & Katzen

Well, the parents have visited, seen Mitzy, and met Aspen…

Seems I have no need to worry about Aspen’s reaction to guests – she was approaching Mom to greet her the minute she walked in the door, and wandering around them getting attention for their entire visit…

Well, heading off to bed now – going to dinner with the parents tonight, so I’ve got to sleep beforehand. Then it’ll be the remainder of Plan: Finish That Blasted Story Before the Deadline at work tonight…

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GW: Canon & Fanon

Came up with this idea on the way home from work – and me being me (i.e. occasionally somewhat obsessive/compulsive), I had to get started on it immediately.

It was prompted by a story I started reading on FFNet (not mentioning which one – but not belonging to anyone listed as ‘Friends’), which had the usual fanon element of all five pilots being together in a safehouse during the first Eve War. I’ve seen a lot of these, and I’ve generally managed to ignore the fact that having that happen is completely incompatible with canon (assuming it’s either a very good story, or described as being definitely AU). This time, however – perhaps because I was so tired – I couldn’t seem to ignore it, and it bugged me all the way home. Then the idea hit, and voilà!

Got a fairly good start on it, I think, with the three major timeline/war elements fanon vs. canon stuff almost completed, and a few things about the characters… I’m even adding a section on differences between the series anime and the series manga! (See first paragraph for my nature when I get my teeth into something like this.)

However, I am now really, really tired, and as I still have the plans mentioned in the previous post to worry about, I’m going to bed.

I’ll post the URL of the GW: Fanon vs. Canon page as soon as I get it completed.

Later, all!

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