Always nice to see the workplace in the news - oh, hang on...

We've got a house viewing tonight - first people in about a month now, since we turned down the stupidly low offer we got in May (and spent the next four weeks wondering if that was going to be our *only* offer - erk).

Fingers crossed these people come back with something that means we're (a) selling and (b) ideally not making a loss or (c) not selling at too much of a loss....

Really can't wait to get out of Doune, although I hope the cats cope better with the move this time, poor Ed was a nervous wreck for weeks last time :(

Okay, I've been tagged by the mighty cryptogryphon, so how can I possibly refuse such a charming man? ;)

To participate, you grab any book, go to page 123, find the fifth sentence, and blog it. Then tag five people.

"Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us"
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss.

(which incidentally, I highly recommend. My brother-in-law bought it for me for Xmyth last year, and this is me just getting around to reading it - oops. Very much a classic swords&sorcery epic that reminds me of Gemmell... Although in a fight between Kvothe and Druss, my money'd still be on Druss - I'm not completely faithless) ;)

I tag: stuartlangridge, kryten666, actionreplay, ashfae and asphodeline!

Date:	2008-06-11 16:14
Subject:	Today's feminist outburst
Security:	Public
Mood:	angry

Best case of denial I've seen for a while - father busy blaming others for his daughter's overdose and mental health problems "did not think she had been adversely affected by witnessing his violence towards her mother".

Oh well, if he thinks she was fine about it, then that's alright then, eh? Wonder what the mother has to say about it.

Grrr :(

Stolen from elsewhere:

"Hamilton drives like his dad"

Stolen from actionreplay and asphodeline

-35 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Well, no matter how bad my workplace might be, at least I've never seen someone lose it as spectacularly as this guy.

Someone really needs to lay off the caffeine....

Things I want, in no particular order!

I was having another one of those days: dizzy, ill, grumpy, struggling to breath normally & not lapse back into full-on hyperventilating panic attack (closest I've been to that particular game since April - the exams are definately taking their toll on my health again), generally feeling sorry for myself, and like a complete *idiot* for coming back to work when the GPs would happily have signed me off for another month, with no questions asked.

(the only eyebrows raised were at the fact I *wanted* to go back - even given everything that's happened this year!)

So yeah, I was stomping about like the proverbial little thunder cloud - and then stopped dead when I saw one of my friends sitting trying not to cry outside her exam room.

It's funny how quickly you forget your own problems when you see someone you just want to hug, and tell them it'll all be fine. :)

I hope she's doing better now, well, as well as you can do mid-exam, and I'm still tempted to take her out for that pint afterwards. Yes, actually I was being the bad influence and trying to persuade a student to get drunk before going into her exams, quelle surprise :P

And me? I'm fine really. Tired, hot, nauseous and grumpy, but this too shall pass.

Life is good :)

Okay, it's definately starting to get to me now, today has been a weird mix of melancholia and rage. Or both at the same time when an academic had me so angry I had to leave the office, then nearly burst into tears.
(it's a pent-up aggression thing - the emotion *will* come out somehow, via swearing, tears, or just to really confuse people - both at the same time) :)

I blame Radio 2 - myself and my two closest colleagues all drive in between 7:55 and 8:15ish, and whatever songs they play set our mood - today we got Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits (all I do is miss you/and the way we used to be) then Warwick Avenue by Duffy (you say you're loving but you don't love me/I want to be free/baby, you hurt me). Cue listless moping and whining about the lack of social lives we have during the exams.

Whereas Wednesday? We all drove in to "You can call me Al!" and bopped about full of the joys of spring all day :)

Oh, and it really doesn't help when Radio 2 go on and on about their plans for the Bank Holiday weekend - (a) I don't get Bank Holidays, so I'm working Monday, (b) Monday is an exam day, so I'll be in at 8am, (c) *tomorrow* is an exam day, so I am working Saturday too, and only have Sunday to rest and (d) thanks to my current health issues, I can't even get pissed on Saturday night, and Rob's organising a barbecue, aargh!

Still. Got to laugh, eh? :)

Today has been eventful. Which is good, it makes time go faster. But it's bad when yet another member of staff goes off, so we're expected to pick up their work on top of our own. Uh-uh. I made that mistake last year, and I ain't having another summer like 2007, thank you very much.

So, I'm feeling a little angry, and tempted to take it out on my nearest and dearest, but can't quite think of the best way to phrase it.

Tell me, what's your favourite *angry* song to quote? I'm not quite at the stage of shouting "four cucumbers"[1] at people yet, but it's just a matter of time ;)

[1] I'll buy a pint for anyone who gets this without the use of google :P

Not much to report on the exams front, Monday passed in a haze of post-weekend exhaustion, yesterday must have happened, but I don't really remember it, and today's going well - touch wood!

Rob and I chatted to the estate agents over the weekend, and agreed to go back to "offers over" to try and coax the online viewers through the door - seems it's already working, we've got a viewing tomorrow lunchtime. :)

I've managed to keep to my plan of leaving here at 5pm every night - I'm still in for 8am, and have a reduced lunch break, but I'm not working myself into the ground any more, like I've done in previous exam diets. (if I keep saying it, I might remember not to do it!)

Of course, when I do get home, I've got the invalid to look after - Chloe's beat up Jake and scratched his eye quite badly, so we have to do a joint effort of pinning him down and shoving gel in it twice a day. He's suspicious of us now, but still adores the furry little psychopath who hurt him in the first place - typical. Ed just ignores everyone and brings us rabbits regularly, and expects worship in return.

I really should film them for youtube someday ;)

Date:	2008-05-17 10:09
Subject:	AWOL
Security:	Public
Mood:	grateful

Day five of the exams and... I'm at home, drinking coffee!

This is so weird, I've never missed a Saturday, or *any* exam day since I started in 2003.

Still, Doctor's orders were to take it easy and not overdo it, and I don't get overtime pay, so....  boss agreed I could have a lie in. I might wander in for lunch to make sure they've not broken the rules *too* much in my absence ;)

Date:	2008-05-16 11:08
Subject:	Report from the front lines.
Security:	Public
Mood:	hot

Day Four of the exams. Tired. Ratty. Didn't wake up in time for a shower, so feel (and probably smell) like hell.

Do. Not. Mess. With. Me.

(I've been told twice in the past half an hour that no, I'm not actually allowed to kill people. No, not even the stupid ones) :(

So, 2008. Weird or what? Discuss :P

( Before )
( During )
( After )

After some of my experiences that pissed me off at LUGRadio Live USA (yes, you've probably noticed how quiet I've been about that right? Too soon. Too raw. Still haven't paid the invoice raised by the pharmacy at Hillingden A&E after my 5 hour stay there on the way home), I followed the controversy over the Open Source Boob Project with interest.

Oh yes, I had my experience of some people putting their own needs so far ahead of mine, that I ended up too stressed to cope & I was having full-blown anxiety attacks *again* after having just recovered from them in Switzerland. Too soon, too raw, still too angry to talk about it calmly.

So I didn't say anything to the guy who started the controversy. Becauase I do believe it started innocently, as a genuine respect between a man for a woman, and the woman's desire for the man to not be uncomfortable that they had different anatomy. It's a shame that the assumptions & presumptions leading from there ended up offending a lot of people, because yes, we all have different views on whether you may look at or touch one's body, and no, it's not right to presume you have the right to even *ask* me without causing offense.

I added him to my friends list as an interesting person though. He started a valuable debate, and it's good to talk.   :)

This post proves me right. I'll spread my wings and fly away, from anyone who tries to tie me down, right now.

(Just don't close the door behind me too quickly,  please, I might want to come home some day)

And just in case you're wondering? Not a single anxiety episode since I walked away from the LUGRadio presenters at Heathrow. I hold no grudges against the team though, and have volunteered to work the door again if they need me. That's what friends are for, right?

( And I would run five hundred... ;)  )

Date:	2008-05-07 16:19
Subject:	If you don't know me by now....
Security:	Public
Mood:	excited
Music:	Kate Bush, Running Up That Hill!

.. then shame on you.  ;) Did any of you fall for this post?

Yeah, roll on 2009. But this year's 2008. And tonight is the Dumyat Hill race.

My "training run" on Saturday? Yeah. Did it up and down in under two hours, and that was taking it easy.

Tonight I'm doing it for real. Ladies and Gentleman, in less than three hours the whistle will go, and I'll be running up that hill. With no problems :P

(I don't care what time I do it in. I don't care if I'm last. I don't even care if I injure myself and have to bow out. All I care is that I'm going to do my best. Turn up & take part, that was my running club's motto...!)

The horrible truth is in. I always knew Bradshaw (my maiden name) was a suburb of Manchester, and I'd just about come to terms with having Anglo-Saxons in the family tree, but, nope.

It's worse than that.

I'm descended from the Broadshaws/Braidshaws of Paisley.

Can you ever forgive me? ;)