gwendolyngrace: (Mr President)
It should have been one more day, but Human Resources offered to extend me one more week (to shift things like COBRA into next year), and because he's determined to suck every ounce out of me, Boss D expects me to be in the office during that time. Although, to be fair, I clarified with him later and he backed off on that - "Oh, no. I fully expect you to do what you need to do for you, but if there are things that you can continue to push forward, that would be really helpful. And I don't want anyone getting the idea that you should be burning vacation for that week." Which, the last part? Is BS - because no one would blink.

But whatever. Basically I have to pop in and out for the week - I figure no more than 3 hours or so a day, unless there's something specific I need to be around for. But Friday will definitely only be a couple hours, and then immediately off to Rochester before Masked Ball.

Meanwhile, here it is Thanksgiving. My holiday )

Anyway - everyone else is listing their thanks and so, lemming-like:

I'm thankful for my friends, the family I have chosen for myself.

I'm thankful for the online communities, fandoms and friends, who are there for each other even when we're hundreds of miles apart.

I'm thankful for the opportunities I've had over the last ten years, to travel (not as extensively as I'd like, but y'know - California, Texas, and New Mexico were all new within the last two years), to get to go to VIP nights and special events in the HP world, and occasionally get treated like a sort of important person too.

I'm thankful that HPEF has done so well (comparatively) in its 7 years so far and I'm thankful that there are folks running Infinitus so I don't have to.

I'm thankful that I can actually call myself a professional writer, something my teachers alway said I'd be. Published author and professional actor have always been two of my goals - although again, not necessarily "grand scale" but nonetheless, something.

I'm thankful that I have learned to live within my means. I don't deny myself little luxuries from time to time, but I try not to over-extend myself. That means that with this layoff looming, I've got some savings laid by. Not a lot, but enough to make it to the next step.

I'm thankful for the things I've learned in all my jobs - both the good and the bad. I've had great examples of management and motivation and I've seen where leaders go astray. I'm thankful for recognizing the things that push my buttons and knowing when it's time to detox from a poisonous situation.

I'm thankful for Alternity. It sounds silly, but I was really worried at first that getting into the game would take over my life. And it sorta has, but not to the exclusion of all else (I hope), and in the meantime it's given me some creative outlet when not much else in my life was feeling creative. Plus it's hella fun.

I'm thankful for cozy socks and fuzzy blankets and movies and pyjamas and hot tea.
gwendolyngrace: (Huh)
My house is a friggin' oven.


Despite this, I managed to pick up the massive amount of papers that have been littering my living room for the past month or two. And I did all the Azkatraz and Pennsic laundry.

But not without some difficulty.

My laundromat closed! Sometime since the last time I was there (which I think was after War Practice?) the place completely went away.

So I took a brief-ish drive (um, I missed a turn and wound up exploring bits of Belmont rather than turning back), came back home, and hopped on the net to find another one.

I did find one - closer to home, in fact, than my old one - but I don't like it as much. It's smaller, the machines are not interfaced as well, and there aren't as many other services in the plaza it's in. It's also a little more expensive than the old place. But, there is a Dunkin' and there's not a *whole* lot of options for this kind of thing. Well, there are a couple places well within town and there's a place in Watertown not too far away. But given how seldom I really *need* to do laundry in a laundromat, I don't know if I'll shop around.


Anyway. It's damn hot. Despite two rainshowers coming through, I can't seem to get the cool *into* the house. I've had two fans, one up on a table in front of an open window, going. I think I'm going to leave at least one running this evening to see if it'll bring the cooler air in overnight, and maybe shut up the windows in the morning to keep the heat *out*. But jeepers. It just kills my productivity. Not that my productivity is high in the first place.

Bleah.


Bedtime.
gwendolyngrace: (AntiMorning)
My mother sent me a check for what she considers her "half" of the cell phones (which is a joke, because really she uses her phone for less than a minute per month and I have never expected her to pay for it, but she insists), and also another amount to represent a Christmas present. It was too much, but moms. What can you do? And I also had another check to deposit. I have a credit card that earns points which can be turned into a rebate when you buy a new car. Only it's a bit of a scam: first off it's about one point per 2-3 dollars, and second you can only accrue a maximum of 500 points per year, and third they expire after 3 years. So since it'll probably be another 6 years before I an in a position to redeem them again, I really should switch everything on that card to something a little more useful. I've got an Amazon-earning card, and a general "points for gift cards"-earning card, and even a Target-points card.

I did some shopping yesterday. I figure I'm doing my part for Global Warming: By buying more long underwear and wool socks, I'll assure that the temperatures will rise, right?

Well, I did a little checking and all the places I wanted to go were more conveniently close together in Framingham/Natick. So I went out there.

Filene's Basement is closing! So in addition to the two pairs of long underwear I wanted (which I got for 20% off) I found a navy turtleneck and a really lovely rust sweater - plain, but 100% wool and under $20. Then at Target I found the layering pieces I was looking for - only in Men's (and for less than women's, hah), plus a couple pairs of earrings to replace all the ones I've been losing lately (Yes, Amy, they have the little stoppers on them). And at REI I got warm socks - two pair of the three for less than $5 each (and gave them Dad's phone number to apply the points to his REI membership). What I couldn't find was a fuse to test the theory that the radar detector fuse is dead (the radar detector stopped working about 3/4 of the way to Pittsburgh last weekend.

Anyway, I'm glad I did my running yesterday because today it's SNOWING like a mofo. It was not snowing at 2:00 when I went to bed, but there's already about 3 inches out there.

I spent an hour or so going through the accumulated papers on the butler's table and the other horizontal surfaces last night and have more to do today. I found huge amounts of change - maybe I'll count it up, but I need coin wrappers or something. I also really need to sit down with my checking statements as it's been about 8 months since I really balanced it.

I'm doing laundry, though, and strangely when I went downstairs to put in the first load, that my box of dryer fabric softener sheets is gone. It was not empty the last time I did laundry, and I don't know of any reason I'd have moved it. I did look up here in case, but it's weird. It's been there for over a year. Why now?

Whatever.

I've also really, really got to go through my closets and drawers and do some major weeding. Maybe later or another week.

Alternity's gone a little quiet - suspect that everyone's getting back into full swing at work and school after the holidays.
gwendolyngrace: (Made of Awesome)
Okay. I know, it's been a while.

And I know, I'm a bad friend: I haven't been reading journals nearly as much as I should. No Time! Life is made of teh crazy.

Not that there aren't some good things happening, but really? This week has been twice as long and stressful as it should be.

There's some work-related crap, which is probably not of much interest to most of you and I may put in a flocked (for my protection) post later.

There was the site visit for AZKATRAZ, which was utterly fabulous and wonderful and I got to hang out with some amazing HP fans and also got to spend not one, but TWO evenings with the incredible and awesome [livejournal.com profile] rani23 whom I miss like whoa and love more than my luggage.

There was the RECOVERING from my first trip to California. I know, right? But the only time I had been planning to go before, there was a hurricane moving up the east coast that grounded my plane, so I had to cancel the trip. So YAY for my first time in CA and OMG, San Francisco is BEAUTIFUL. Except for the panhandlers. They're not so gorgeous.

There's [livejournal.com profile] hpalternity, too, which is EATING MY BRAIN because really I don't want to do much other than play, because it's so fun.

Then there's Tribute, which is the show I am stage managing. Now, ordinarily, y'all know, I don't like to stage manage. I really hate the responsibility and the pressure and yeah, I'm good at it, but I'd much RATHER be on stage, doing what I frankly do the bestest in the whole world.

But I agreed because I knew the players were in a tight spot and there really weren't any roles in the show for me, nor really any other shows I wanted to do this fall, plus of course, with all the travel, I knew my chances of getting cast in anything were slim to none.

I mention the travel. I've just completed Five (count'em 5) Weekends In A Row of travel, including TWO road trips to Western New York, a plane to Pittsburgh followed by a road trip down to WV, and two other airline trips: Orlando and SF. And yes, my arms *are* tired.

This means not only that I have a pile of laundry about as big as my bed, but that I had to miss a lot of rehearsals. Well. A handful of rehearsals. With a director who was not really invested in blocking, but more letting the actors mill around on the stage to "find what works" (gods, I HATE that kind of director). And I was *totally* up front about the travel beforehand. We tried to get an assistant stage manager, but she couldn't make all the rehearsals either and pulled out early. The producer was filling in for me on the nights when I couldn't be there.

And then. The director up and quit. This Tuesday morning. Three and a half weeks before opening. And his stated reason for quitting? "The Players do not share my belief in the importance of a stage manager." What. The. Frak? There's been never a word to me about any sort of difficulty. He's completely non-communicative, and IMO wasn't doing a great job, but that's hardly my fault, yo. The moment I read the email I thought, "You a-hole. It's not me. You want to quit for some other reason and you're just using my (hello: PLANNED) absences as an excuse." (Sure enough, I talked with the producer and the president of the group last night and there was, in fact, some other kind of reason.)

Anyway, so yeah - I don't take it personally and I'm not at all hurt or upset by his accusation that I wasn't being a real stage manager. There wasn't anything to manage yet, and besides, he knew I was going to be away and said in production meetings that he was okay with it. I can't help that the production meetings were held on days when I was out of town, either - my conflicts were known *before* the meetings were scheduled. So, yeah - not my fault, dude, and not like I'm sorry to see the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

We now have an amazing director, one of the best directors in this region, which brings me to a whole other level of angst, but that's okay. And in the three days since this director has been gone? Uh, yeah. Already a better show.

But. Something I didn't need among all the other stress.

Oh - And I've recorded two fics for SpellCast Readings this week. One is edited and off to the producer; the other needs to be edited (tonight or tomorrow morning).

Now if I could just find my bills to pay them....


In totally other news: I'm sure you've already seen this, but The NYT Editorial Board Endorsed Obama for President.

(And Yay, Connecticut. But that's old news.)

Hm. I also have to figure out how to get to the polls that Tuesday, between work and rehearsal.

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