I've just had a session with the psychologist, so I'm processing.
I would go process in bed, but the cat decided to puke on my duvet. It's all been cleaned up, the duvet cover has been washed and is now drying on the airer, the quilt sponged clean - but the bed needs to be remade. (Lucifer is on his throne looking very pleased with himself - I think this was punishment for me going into work three days in a row.)
Anyway, I need some processing time. I also want to make my bed and avoid going to get some ice cream.
So that's it for the night.
Process. Make the bed. Do the dishes. Don't eat ice cream (even if you are allowed to eat ice cream after seeing the shrink).
I got my marching orders today. The last day at my current job will be 30 September.
It's okay. I was half-expecting this. Two weeks' notice - it's in the contract. And despite there being a good 3-6 months' work I could be doing on my job, but there isn't the funding.
It's the life of a contractor.
On the good side of things:
There is work out there.
I started looking a few weeks ago.
The mood around my current job isn't great (a long story involving a departmental restructure, which I won't bore you with the details.)
I'm used to moving around and a change is as good as a holiday.
I'm good at what I do.
And something will come up soon.
And maybe a few weeks off would do me good at the moment.
And I know what I have to do.
Sure, I'm eternally optimistic that things will turn out well. I had a reasonable interview with an energy company the other week - they're still going through the sorting process.
In the meantime, I will do what I do to go find another job. These things include:
Only searching the job boards once a day for no more than an hour a day (including putting in applications.)
Calling up contacts for coffee.
Burning green candles (brings in abundance)
Reciting my mantra ("I'm gonna get a job and its going to be great" sung to the tune off John Brown's Baby.)
Refining my wants list
Ensuring I do an hour of exercise a day...
... and generally remaining a happy chappy, because what you put out to the universe comes back, and an attitude of gratitude gets you further than pretty much anything.
And once my laptop and building pass have been returned, I'll turn myself back into a novel writer in the time I'm not doing my hour a day of job hunting because it's good to use the time off productively.
It's okay. I'm adjusting to the news. Everything will work out well. I'm gonna get a job and it's going to be great.
I love these little quizzes. This one struck a chord. It's looks at autism triggers. As somebody who's AuDHD (ADHD with some autism attached - what fun!) I was curious to see where I stacked up. The criteria come from Tony D, who's a neurodiversity coach that popped up on my feed on Facebook.
And this was better than doing a post about looking for work - too tired to do one of those.
Here we go. Put a finger down if:
1. You rehearse conversations in your head before you have them.
All the time. It's normally the more 'important' conversations, but it could be something as odd as taking the cat to the vet or voicing a complaint at the supermarket.
2. Small talk drains you faster than actual work does.
Hell yeah. I try and keep small talk to a minimum. I had work drinks tonight. Turned up, said hi to everybody, gave the antibiotics excuse and got the hell out of there. I'm better in small groups. But I did turn up!
3. You've masked so well, people done believe you when you tell them you're masking.
I'm a Generation-X, first daughter. Masking is what we do. Menopause comes along and the mask drops. I have different personae for different situations. So, yes, I do this. All the time.
4. Certain sounds, textures or lights can ruin your whole day.
Do not put me near any of the following:
Flannelette sheets
Bananas
Chickpeas (when I'm not expecting them)
Soggy green beans
Anything furry when it comes to clothing.
Necklaces, ties or scarfs that do up in front of my neck.
Skivvies (it's the neck thing again - I used to get told off for stretching the necklines on skivvies as a kid.)
And I carry prescription sunglasses with me at all times so the bright lights don't get me.
I think that's a yes. It's a yes. The list is a lot longer.
5. You need to know the plan before you actually relax.
Absolutely. And being spontaneous goes against the grain, but if plan change, I'm normally grateful for the night in.
6. You've been called 'Too much" and "Too sensitive" in the same week.
In my youth, definitely. I've been masking the crazy for most of my adult life. Besides, in the words of Jewel, I'm sensitive and I'd like to stay that way.
7. Infodumping about your specialist interest is your love language.
Go on, ask me about my cat, Shakespeare, Tudor history, English Cathedrals or the modern novel and see how much I love you.
8. You need recovery time after socialising, even if you enjoyed it.
Transition time - and recovery time - hell yeah. If I socialise with more than three people, I need at least an hour to find my equilibrium again. If I get home after midnight, I won't be ready for bed until around two. This one is real.
9. Sudden changes make your body go on high alert.
To a point, yes. I think I'm on high alert all the time. It's probably why I've got high blood pressure.
10. Your exhausted from spending your life translating yourself for everybody else.
Exhausted? I know that I do this. My shrink and I started talking about this last session. I was talking about it with another friend over the weekend. I am very selective about who sees what of me.
So, yeah. Mind you, as a late diagnosed AuDHD woman, you'd half expect me to relate to some of it.
And now off to bed, as I've had enough of today and want my bed.
Do not ask me about my 'TBR" (to be read) pile. It's vast. It's excessive. And I've no idea where to start.
Remember, when it comes to books, it's not hoarding.
Yet, after a what felt like a day spent in the car - which really was just dropping the car out to Mulgrave for its annual service, and picking it up some hours later, driving what felt like a couch of a loan car (Mazda CX-5s - seriously, it felt like I was driving the Titanic after my little CX-3) I got to finish my audiobook. The book, JoJo Moyes's The Peacock Emporium got off to a slow start, but I loved it in the end. It helped dim the anguish of the $700 bill for the service. (40K services are always a killer).
I also started our book group book, Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell, on Sunday morning. It's a wonderful, and quick read - I flew through this. That too has been finished.
So, now what?
I need an audiobook to listen to while on public transport and while I'm in the car.
And as the book group book is read for next week's meeting - what now?
I've been going through a stage with audiobooks where I do a classic, then something lighter. Do I go something lighter again (as JoJo Moyes tells a great story, but she's not literature), or line up another classic? Do I finally dib into Middlemarch, some 40 years after I was supposed to read it at uni? Or get around to a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which I've somehow not gotten around to reading? Or get onto the last Austen, Northanger Abbey? Do I listen to the audio version of Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things. Most of these books I've picked up on sale or free from Audible.
As for the paper book, there is too much choice? Again, do I go contemporary, or find something older? Do I dib into my shelves and read something that's been sitting there unread for years? Murakami anybody? Franzen? Louis de Bernieres' first trilogy set in South America where he attempts to emulate Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Something impenetrable like Ducks, Newburyport or Ulysses? (Mind you, Ulysses is meant to be dipped into - it's not something you read in one sitting.....yes....yes, YES!
Do I find something Australian, or something shortlisted, or something obscure. It's all there in the TBR pile.
The choice is exhausting.
(After a night of deliberating, I've decided on listening to Russell Tovey read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray for the audiobook, and I've picked up a copy of Gabbie Stroud's The Things That Matter Most - mainly because I know nothing about it. If I don't like them, I can find something else.)
I'm sitting in on a Zoom call. It started at 7 pm.
7 pm on a Sunday night.
I'm wanting to write a poem to the rhythm of Green Eggs and Ham.
I'd rather be watching The Block. It is on in the background, but it's not being watched as the meeting requires some attention. It's not a long meeting. But it is 7 p.m. on a Sunday night.
I do not like these Sunday zooms
I do not like they make me snooze
I do not like the way they drone
I do not like how people moan.
I do not like this committee
I do not like the jobs I'll see
I wish I could be somewhere other
But then I'd be in lots of bother.
I do not like these Sunday zooms
I feel I'm trapped in some dark tomb.
It's amazing what you can do with the camera off the mute button pressed. Then again, I knitted a blanket during defect triage at another job. Boring meeting, camera and microphone off.... time to be productive.
The song of the day comes from the ADHD brain searching for lyrics, because I want to be anywhere but here....
Welcome to my unmedicated brain. This is what happens when I skip my afternoon dose of Ritalin.
I'm trying to get myself back to Melbourne after a relaxing overnight stay in Sydney. I'm getting myself packed up and ready to go to the airport. What fun!
So, let's get the questions out of the way. As always, the questions have come from Sunday Stealing.
TRUE OR FALSE
1. I'm married.
What would I want to do that for? False.
2. I'm raising a teenager.
Wouldn't like to do that either. False.
3. I recently vacationed in California.
A year ago, almost to the day, I was in Los Angeles for seven hours as I changed planes on the way to London. Sorry, not a fan. It was no holiday for that seven hours. Not a fan. Not a vacation either, just a transfer. The rest of the holiday was great. False.
4. I have traveled to Asia.
Many times. True.
5. I have a dog.
I have a cat. Would love a dog, but not in my current living situation. False.
6. I received money from a class action settlement.
We're not as litigious here in Australia, though I have my name on a class action over some of an airline's actions. So, for the moment, false.
7. I've been in the waiting room when a family member had surgery.
False. I have been sitting with family waiting for the outcome of a surgery, but that was at my grandmother's place while my uncle had open heart surgery. Same same but different.
8. I have attended a convention.
True. For technical writers and freemasons. Not at the same time, however.
9. I subscribe to my local newspaper (either print or online).
True. I have a digital subscription to The Age - although I sometimes wonder why - the standards have gone down. At least it isn't Murdoch slop.
10. I recently had work done to the exterior of my home.
False. I rent my flat - that's the body corporate's concern.
I've always loved the film Practical Magic (1998). I mean, what's not to love? Witches and love and curses and Margaritas. I'm in. Regardless, I went into the sequel with some trepidation. After seeing the truly dire The Devil Wears Prada 2, I was wondering how they could bollocks this up.
Thankfully, they didn't.
This has a couple of things going for it. Firstly, this is based on a book - The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman. Secondly, she had something to do with the writing of the script was written by women (Akiva Goldsman had a hand in writing the first film). So, we're off to a good start. It's also not a carbon copy of the original film. Thank goodness.
The movie starts two decades after the last film finished. Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) has not let her children, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams) that they are witches. The Owens course, where none of the family are lucky in love, or if they do partner, the partner dies a premature death.
Sally's sister, Gillian (Nicole Kidman) is her happy-go-lucky self, but Sally has shut herself away from love, and to a point, life.
Their aunts, Jet (Dianne Weist) and Franny (Stockard Channing) are still kicking around. It's sighting of a death watch beetle that urges one of them to find a book that can help to reverse the family curse, especially after young Kylie falls in love and her love is put in peril.
I don't need to say more about the plot, other than the sisters end up in England and meet up with Ian Wright (Lee Pace) - an academic who has the knowledge to help them out.
As I said earlier, as sequels go, this is not bad. The script is good, the acting good, sure there are a few hiccups, but nothing that is too jarring. To be honest, I just sat back and enjoyed this perfect Friday night film fodder.
One other thing, the director of this film, Susanne Bier, has directed some fantastic films - including one of my favourites, After the Wedding (2006). It's the Danish film that introduced me to Mads Mikkelsen - it's also a fabulous film if you want something really different. Bier knows what she's doing.
I was pleasantly surprised with this sequel. It's go enough heart, wit, fun and drama to keep me occupied and engaged. I cried at the end too.
And yeah, it's about witches. I'm just supporting my tribe.
