A bed of roses

So, three days off means a shed load of stuff to get on top of when I get back. Yay... I'm not quite on top of EVERYTHING but I'm not far off.

Husband had his appointment with the rheumatology nurse and now has yet another medication! He only needs to take it once a week, though, so that's something.

I managed 1k this morning and am going to try for some more words this evening. Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Really struggling to find something to write in here, though! Guess that's me done for tonight :D

Husband and I went into town and made a start on Christmas shopping. We got something for everyone, so that was good.

After dinner, I tried again with the bit in Stray Blade I was stuck on - still couldn't jump the gap. I began to wonder if I was doing the right thing, so I found a YT video that covered this part and then remembered that there's a sprint function... Sprint at the gap, jump across, easy as pie... Frustrated Rosa is frustrated.

Last night when I finished watching S3 of The Lincoln Lawyer, I realised that I hadn't watched S2. I didn't even remember that I'd watched all of S1 - the only reason I knew I did was an old DW entry saying I'd finished it! Which, when I realised there was a S3, I assumed included S2. Anyway... now I'm watching S2. Winston is the best doggy <3

I also managed to get another chapter done. It took a while - not because the words wouldn't come, but because I was trying to work out the logic and logistics while I was writing. But I got there, eventually.

And that was today.

Just watched a bit more of Rex playing FFVIII and he finally got round to reading Selphie's diary - but because he's at the point where Garden becomes mobile, there was quite a lot to read :D He described it as a boss fight, which I don't think is fair - but then I'd have read as I went along. Oh, and he got the bad date because he mismatched the music. Irvine tapdancing is still the funniest thing in a video game ever.

I managed another 2k today, so keeping at it. There are a lot of moving parts to this one and 'Chapter 1' (aka, the first 5k words) reflects that fact. Hopefully, readers will be intrigued by the switching between characters and won't feel like I've given them whiplash!

I made progress in Stray Blade and we are now in The Desert Section. We've done The Mines and The Icy Place already. There is some poisonous gas to navigate, which led to me dying. Oh, well, we'll have another go tomorrow.

I've found a new series to binge on - Anatomy of a Scandal. Very much 'she said, he said' at the moment. I am debating whether to watch the end of it... it is Saturday after all... Arguments against - it'll give me something to watch tomorrow, and just because I CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean I should. AND I still have my evening prayers to do, and I can read more of S&S. And there's just exercising a little discipline over myself. There - it can wait for tomorrow.

Liverpool are back at the top of the table after what sounds like a rather fortunate win for them, and losses for City and Arsenal. In fact, Arsenal are now fourth, with Forest(!) sneaking up into third. So, what was all that about a two-horse race between City and Arsenal?

And that was today. See you tomorrow, DW.

Finished off my character sheets - now it's on to the plot and scene list.

Did some work.

Came home and made curry for tea, and had a video call with younger grandson. He's saying lots of names, now - but still not mine. I do maintain that 'grrr' is a difficult sound, though. Older grandson has his driving test tomorrow - keeping my fingers crossed for him.

And I've just watched Game Dove's videos about FFVIII.

Some days are just not very exciting!

I've just watched a documentary on the case of Libby Squire. She was young and pretty... and white British. Would there have been the same level of attention if she'd been any other ethnicity? Obviously, it's impossible to say - but I know there are stats that suggest the answer is 'no'. I'm not even sure why I recorded it. It wasn't a case I followed at the time, and as someone with a daughter who doesn't live with me, it just triggers a sense of anxiety. The interview techniques the police used, and the way they built up evidence of other crimes so they could hold the perpetrator, will be useful for my Nano, so there's that.

I'm part way through Chapter 5 of 6 of Trek to Yomi. There's a definite Orpheus and Eurydice vibe emerging. I really wish I was better at blocking and parrying. I'm sorry Hiroki... The game remains absolutely gorgeous, even at its most gruesome. The black and white images dull the horror but give so much atmosphere. I've made one decision (it's an uber-linear game) that I'm not sure has had any impact on what I'm doing - but maybe will influence the ending...?

I watched Rex Sterling's reaction to the ending of FFX - he actually cried. I remember feeling rather irritated by it, but knew it was the right ending. I also watched him start FFXVI. He has this amazing talent for giving his thoughts on stuff that I know are the complete opposite of what's going to happen - or saying he hopes something doesn't happen that I know is going to. It's equal parts hilarious and endearing.

And I had a play with my new steam-mop-with-attachments. The mop is great on hard floors, and I think the carpet attachment will be good for freshening clean carpets, but we need to tackle cleaning the carpets with a proper cleaner. The hand-held thing is a bit awkward to use but is great at lifting dirt - but doesn't really get rid of it, so everything needs a good wipe down afterwards. I'm pretty pleased with it over all - I didn't spend a huge amount on it and I think I'll get good use out of it.

Such an exciting life I lead...

Had a church meeting tonight that's thrown my whole evening routine out of the window. Still, it was an important meeting about a quite serious event. We have learnings (mostly positive) to apply to the future.

Work-wise, I was expecting a day of head-switching but it was even worse than I anticipated! But I came through the other end. Listening to Green Day helped. The latest album is really reminiscent of their earlier work - but there's honestly nothing of theirs I won't listen to.

Tomorrow, I finish the 'proof of concept' bit of my Nano planning. After that it's all detail - full character sheets and plot outline and scene lists. I'm thinking of sending what I have to my Beta readers and seeing if a) I have an interesting enough idea, and b) what I have so far hangs together logically. It's so easy to get lost in minutiae because you're just too close, and ignore some gaping plot hole. I'm thinking of Yossarian in Catch 22 doing a beautiful job of patching up the wrong wound.

OK, it's very late - time to sleep!

We completed the latest staff survey a few months ago and the results are in! We've been split into groups to go through the lowest scoring questions for our team - which still aren't really that low and are higher than some other areas. I guess we're basically a happy bunch. Anyway, one was around training and development, and one was about on-the-job learning, which we basically treated as the same question. We do have a department budget for training that's split between the group leaders and we're supposed to ask for funding out of it. But we have no visibility of how much is left in the pot, so one thing we suggested was having a sort of running total.

I also mentioned that I'd like to be able to attend conferences - and I'm sure other colleagues would, too - not only to learn more about our particular areas of expertise, but to meet with our peers and just 'hang out'. These days, I wouldn't want to be away overnight, but I would like to attend one day at a conference. But this week, I get to 'attend' a free conference! Most of the sessions are pre-recorded and you watch the ones you're interested in. And this year I actually have some free space in my calendar, so I'm able to watch them! Of course, it's difficult to mix with my peers - but it's better than nothing.

I've finished Step 5 of the snowflake for Harding's Choice. I have realised that I'm going to need sooo many witnesses - neighbours, job centre employees, local shop keepers... but they don't need all the detail I've given the others. The woman from the taxi firm has more to her - she goes to the police at least twice and has some real evidence. Next is the 4-page summary - we start that tomorrow. Then I have about 30 full character charts to do - not all the characters are as important as the others, but I feel I want to get under the skins of all of them. But I need to leave time for the plot outline and scene list - although that's the part that I'm least likely to actually follow in November! It's going to be tight but I've got 7 full weeks.

And I've just watched the next episode of Umbrella Academy. Klaus sort of threw himself off the wagon. And who IS Mrs Reggie?!

A female colleague complimented my dress today - full length navy jersey (ebay) with white vest top underneath to hide my blushes and white cropped cardi (both charity shop). Even with the postage for the dress, the whole outfit must have cost under £20 - AND I'm doing my bit for the planet. It also goes perfectly with a pair of white and navy earrings I got from Tradecraft many years ago.

She also said I have a lot of nice dresses, which I do - and the best are my second-hand bargains.

Conversations between LM and another PM revealed some discrepancies between our lists of project deliverables. This list exists in three forms - my Visio process/overview and the P4W check lists I understand, but there's also a spreadsheet listing just the BA and SA deliverables that I don't. Anyway, all three were created without proper reference to the others because of course they weren't. It's not like we're project professionals who pay great attention to detail as part of our jobs or anything... So, I spent some time this afternoon reconciling the three lists and updating my Visio doc - once we agree that's the definitive list, the P4W can also be updated. Not sure if I can do that. It would make a lot more sense for one person to do all of them *sigh*

I spent some time on my Nano prep during my dinner break but I'm not sure what people would have thought if they'd glanced at my screen :D I'm not plotting anything, honestly!

When I got to work, the desk I normally sit at was occupied and it took a few minutes to find an empty desk. The one I finally settled on had three monitors, one of which wasn't plugged in at all and another of which refused to play with my laptop, so I was stuck with one monitor and my laptop screen. I have zero objection to hot desking, but I do want all the tech to behave in the same way at every desk. Is it too much to ask that the IT works in IT?! Anyway, after a couple of hours a colleague informed me that 'my' desk was now free for the rest of the day and I jumped back right away!

I'm just over half way on the LP for DUTM. The player is just breezing through on their first playthrough, which is a tad annoying. However, they are playing it on PC and I think this might be a game that just works better with mouse and keyboard than with a controller...? That's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking to it!

And that about wraps up today.

Having been distracted yesterday - blame rionaleonhart ! - I have two days to sum up :D

I did do some Nano prep yesterday, working out the 'ritual' for the Smilers, and how the Big Bad funds it all. In a world where 'identity' matters sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, and a person's ethnicity, sexuality, gender, physical ability, and/or neurodiversity are the elements that make it up, being a white-straight-cis-ablebodied-neuronormative-man must feel like a non-identity. Add in a lack of paid employment, the one thing that might give you a sense of self, and you're really at rock bottom. At least, that's how the Smilers feel. Ironically, Patel is almost the polar opposite but all the elements of her 'identity', not to mention their intersectioning, represent barriers she's had to overcome. I don't want this to be a preachy novel - and I may be seriously mis-representing the Smilers and Patel - but at the very least I think I'll have fun trying to find out what I think their realities are.

Tomorrow, I get going with the Smilers themselves.

I finished Sky: CotL. There's actually a lot packed into a pretty short game. They have different events - at the moment there's a concert thing that involves playing music using the controller, which (of course) I'm terrible at. You can friend other players - and offer and request healing with other players. There's your own little room you can decorate, and clothing items to collect (and buy with RL cash). When I finished, the game put me back at the start and said I was about to begin the 'real' journey. There are certainly lots of things I didn't do and things I want to find out. I'll leave it on my screen for the time being and play it now and then when I want a change of pace. Maybe.

Next up is Ender Lilies, I think. Or dig into Skyrim a bit more.

Lots of new faces at church this morning. Always nice to welcome newbies - and to hope we'll see them again. We aim to be welcoming without jumping on people right away, but we want to provide people with space to use their gifts. It's a VERY delicate path to tread!

And Liverpool beat Man U 3-0 at Old Trafford. Arne Slot's reign is off to a flying start!

Now I really want to get to bed at a decent time, given that I'm back at work tomorrow :(

One more day of my hols *sigh*

I've ditched DUM because pickaxes. And lack of anything approaching Help. And OMG how do you actually control ANYTHING?!?! The externals of Mars were pretty, though.

Instead I'm playing Sky: The Children Of Light which, so far, is much more my kind of puzzle game. And is super cute.

Got my hair cut - front a touch shorter than I really wanted but not too bad. Still don't think it matches my request of 'long at the front', though.

Did a bit of shopping in town afterwards but nothing terribly exciting.

And finished Series 2 of Umbrella Academy. Lila is making a lot more sense to me, now! And where the Sparrow Academy comes from. The actor playing Young Klaus does an excellent job of playing a younger version of the same person. Not sure the one playing Old Five is as good - he just doesn't feel like an older version of Gallagher.

I'm really glad I decided to watch The Rookie on a fortnightly basis, so I have two episodes to watch back-to-back. One episode is never enough! I might have to wait two weeks in between but at least I know I'm getting a double dose. Celina's desire to have a séance is adorable.

I also made progress with my Nano-planning and my tea shop. Go me!