Floating Leaf

Okay, this is just plain WEIRD. I've been complaining about my annoyingly regular periods of late - but I certainly didn't wish for them to start happening MORE often than they already did, thank you very much. ( menstrual grumbling under the cut )

In other news, work is crazy, and will probably remain so for the forseeable future. As I just found out, starting next week I am going to be involved in some brand new 'exciting' project that will take up most of my time, while the regular work piling up on my desk will still somehow mysteriously have to get done. Joy joy joy. *scratches head in consternation* Plus, next week is going to suck anyway, because they are taking down the system again on Friday afternoon, and therefore everyone has to complete their 40 hours by 3 p.m. Which means, for me, having to start earlier than usual at least once, as well as stay till 6 p.m. each day of the week. And before you say, 'oh, but you're getting out early on Friday, to enjoy a slightly longer weekend', just keep in mind that on Saturday the system is supposed to be back on, and we'll all be there doing overtime (except for those who somehow manage to do it during the week, by virtue of getting up at the crack of dawn AND staying late - NOT a viable option for me, thank you very much). So yeah... fun times ahead.:/

I will stop now, before I find something else to complain about.;)

I don't really have any news. At least, not any RL news worth sharing. BUT... I feel compelled to make another shameful confession. I have been living under a rock. Maybe even under a deep layer of mud. It just totally mystifies me how on earth I could have lived the past 15 years or so without ever hearing about the band CRUXSHADOWS. I mean, they seem to be the hot stuff on the goth scene both in Europe and here in the States. They are actually American (which sort of amazes me, because I hardly know of any Americans even remotely interested in THAT kind of music, LOL), but they have performed with The Cure and the Sisters of Mercy, for God's sake (among other well-known, but less worshipped-by-me European bands). They have toured the freaking world, released, from what I can see, about 20 albums, made scores of videos etc.etc.etc. And yet, somehow, they have managed to completely slip past my attention. Until today. Where was I??? What else am I missing???... How fast can I download their entire mp3 collection?... *LOL*

I guess that's what happens if you don't watch TV or listen to the radio. And I don't, because I am clinically, paranoidally allergic to commercials. That is why I don't even own a TV, and as for the radio, on the rare occasions when I do try to find a station I might like, hearing the first few words of a commercial immediately makes me turn it off. I just don't have the patience - on the list of things I find annoying, commercials rank extremely high, right next to obnoxious salespeople (they are one and the same thing, really) and fanfic authors who write about 'taught skin' or 'throws of passion'.;P Anyway... it would seem that I am completely out of the loop when it comes to the current music scene - even the kind of music I sometimes go to great lengths to search for, not realizing it is rather more mainstream than I thought. Is this a sign of approaching middle age, perhaps?...:P

But I digress. Without further ado, and instead of trying to lamely describe what I'm raving about, I link you to the official website:

http://www.cruxshadows.com/frame.html

As you will surely notice if you follow, the music is a rather catchy blend of goth rock and electronica. And the frontman Rogue (what a perfect name, btw) is also quite tasty.;) Not to mention the fact that the band seems to also include several attractive female backing vocalists/dancers/violinists etc. Strong, hypnotic beat + violins = serious aural bliss for me. I think I'm on overload right now. *feels dizzy*

Oh, how sweet to feel like a teenage fangirl again...;)

I thought I had things to say, but my brain refuses to formulate a coherent post. Or even to make a decision what it should be about. Mental impotence, as it were. Happens way too often.:/

Anyway, under the circumstances I'm just going to share a link to an interesting article on gay marriage (which I accidentally found while looking for something else). I like this guy's perspective - even though, personally, I'm sort of alienated from the concept of marriage as such, regardless of sexual orientation of people involved. I just, in a way, don't get why it's so important to anyone at all to be 'married', as opposed to just being together (apart from certain social privileges, which are taken care of by the concept of civil unions, without the need of dragging any religious institutions into it whatsoever). But that's the antisocial in me talking. The humanist in me believes that anyone who feels the need to validate their relationship through a public - be it secular or religious - ceremony should be allowed to do so.:)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-thomas/the-big-gay-chip-on-my-sh_b_208183.html

So... the trailer for The Road is out. I am excited, scared, anxious, impatient and basically in a state of emotional upheaval. This movie is going to wreck me - I just know it. *bites nails*

Also, work has been crazy this week. I've been swamped with piles upon piles of stuff to do, and on top of it all we had a massive system meltdown yesterday - as in everybody log off, they're rebooting all servers, and now nothing works the way it's supposed to; for example, we're unable to copy/paste HTML text from our online database into emails, it all comes out wonky - so if we need to send a copy of something to a client, we have to convert it to PDF first, and then send it as an attachment. Which takes twice as much time and frustrates the hell out of everyone.:D Needless to say, there is overtime available - but I've just been hit by the good old monthly inconvenience, so bummer. Luckily I didn't have to take a sick day this time - but I'm pretty sure I'll be staying horizontal for most of tomorrow, so no extra bucks for me.:/

On a funny note, the head of our department ran into me in the ladies' room the other day and started gushing about my 'interesting' friend whom she had interviewed for the part-time job (akashaelfwitch) and what a lovely woman she was. How unusual with the anime background, romance writing and all (and all I could think was: OMG I hope she hasn't told them about the SLASH!!!...:O). And, ummm, was I into all this as well?... Because she tried to picture me dressing up as my favorite anime character, and just couldn't do it.:D LOLOLOL So I gladly reassured her I wouldn't go that far.:P I basically said I was still trying to resist Akasha's bad influence.;] (After all, I only write gay incest between Tolkien's Elves, while she actually makes them get PREGNANT - now isn't THAT so much worse???... *evil smirk*)

That's pretty much it in the current edition of my Weekly Newsflash (TM). I think I'm going to crash now and try to sleep through the worst of Monthly Misery.:|

We had our annual reviews at work yesterday. The boss said she was pleased with me and wished she could give me a raise. I know wishing is all she can do for the time being - but it was nice to hear anyway.

Btw, my workplace is hiring for part-time work-at-home positions, and our HR manager was asking for employee recommendations. Which immediately made me think of akashaelfwitch. She already had a successful phone interview and is supposed to come in for another one on-site next week. I am almost certain she will get hired at this point, but keeping your fingers crossed can't hurt, of course.:)

In other news, I seem to be gaining weight again. ( Read more... )

This week's newsflash:

1) dissonant_dream, your second postcard has arrived.:) Stratford upon Avon is indeed a beautiful place, and I'd love to go there some day. Preferably with you. *massive squishhh*

2) I have finally purchased the Appaloosa DVD. A pre-viewed copy for $14.99. Had lots of fun watching the extras. The deleted scenes are all good and add more to the story, and I wish they hadn't been deleted. ( minor spoiler under the cut )

3) According to my http://www.mint.com account, for the past three months I managed to actually spend less money than I earned. It was a challenge, let me tell you, but apparently it can be done. ( At least while the stimulus plan is still at work, lol. )

Long weekends rock. Why can't every weekend last four days?... It totally should. Maybe I would finally start feeling like I have some sort of a life outside of work. Would there be something terribly wrong with that?...

Seriously. Two days are barely enough to catch a breath. I often feel mildly irritated when people ask me about my plans for the weekend. I mean, what plans can I possibly have?... Between the grocery shopping, the cooking, the catching-up on my sleep, an occasional Netflix movie and a long, relaxing bath, the weekend is pretty much over before I know it has started, lol. When there are errands to be run, or the apartment needs cleaning badly enough I can't take it any more, or I have to go to my parents' house to do my laundry, I usually have to skip the movie too (because I refuse to skip the eight-hour sleep or the bath, LOL). Let alone catching up on emails that have accumulated during the week (I just cannot write quick, short emails - ask anyone I've ever corresponded with, and they will tell you :P). Oh, and I try to also find some time to exercise (or take a walk if the weather's nice enough). During the week, I hardly manage to do more than my neck/shoulder stretches, and I do want to avoid muscle atrophy if at all possible, you know?... So yeah, I don't make any extra 'plans' unless I have an extra day to squeeze them into. Which doesn't happen very often. *sigh*

I am perfectly aware some people have much more on their plates and somehow manage to do other stuff as well. ( But I am not some people. )

So, last night they started revamping our entire computer system at work - you know, getting us off The Nielsen Company's servers and hooking us up to the Kantar Media Group, who is our new owner (and has been since January - it just took that long for our IT department to get ready for this massive project to be accomplished). It's supposed to be finished by Monday morning, but we were told that today there would be no access to the network. So we were sort of encouraged to take a vacation day - unless someone wanted to come into the office and do some spring cleaning around their desk or something (which a lot of people chose to do, actually - especially those who have been with the company for many years and accumulated plenty of stuff around their workstations). So I decided I'd rather stay home and have myself a long weekend.:) ( Read more... )

Snagged from gairid and willys_digs:

You Are a Snow Leopard

You have learned that you must rely on yourself, and yourself alone, to live a happy life. You are understand the world better than most people you know. You are very perceptive and intuitive. You need lots of space to think. If you don't get the space you need, you're likely to bite someone's head off. Because you are so thoughtful and solitary, people find you to be intense and mysterious. You're even seen as intimidating.

Well, I don't suppose I ever come close to 'intimidating' - but I certainly do get snappy if someone uninvited steps into my personal space.:P My parents know all about this - especially my mother, who doesn't seem to grasp the concept of privacy or personal space between closest relatives. Which is why living with her always felt like a daily struggle to preserve my sanity. And that is the main reason I don't want to move back in with my parents - even though it would save me oodles of money and solve pretty much all my financial problems right now. *sigh*

So... good things today, because you just have to focus on the good things sometimes. *nods*

1) Viggo at the Empire Awards 2009 and his very clearly Jameson's-inspired acceptance speech.;D With an equally plastered Bean grinning wolfishly at him, patting him on the back and passing him the bottle for good measure.:] I may not be a VigBean girl, but those guys are just begging to be slashed. Especially Viggo. He could just as well be carrying around a huge rainbow flag, instead of his San Lorenzo one.:P I mean, who else would come up with the idea of Aragorn changing Boromir's diapers???... *chortle*

Btw, that seems to be a recurring theme, since in that Australian interview a few days ago he had talked about throwing diapers at Al Pacino in Carlito's Way.:D Would that perhaps indicate a propensity for unusual kinks or something?.....;P (sorry, Viggo - I just couldn't resist; such twisted sense of humor is contagious)

Anyway... here's visual evidence of our men of Gondor's obvious intoxication. I love that boyish smirk.;]




2) stormatdusk made me more icons! *points* That woman just KNOWS what I like.:P *feels special*

3) Acupuncture. As it turns out, my chiropractor is also an acupuncturist, and last Saturday she stuck a bunch of needles into the tight muscle knots at the base of my neck. It didn't hurt one bit - I barely felt them at all - and the relief was clearly noticeable. Both knots loosened up considerably, and since then I feel just a little soreness, as opposed to acute discomfort. So yay! for Eastern medicine, and I'm totally looking forward to being punctured again.;P