aka SQUEE!
To jump ahead to today yesterday, Jade spotted a VIC-20 that had just posted to Craigslist for $30. So… I now am the proud owner of a original boxed Commadore VIC-20. I haven’t plugged it in yet because I am afraid that I’ll blow it up if I do so. So I lovingly hugged it, showed it to Lord Wardinous, and put it away in my closet.
I need to get a big clear glass display cabinet so I can show off this type of treasure.
I haven’t managed to get ANY writing done since December began. All of the tasks that I set aside for writing time in November are still creaming my ass now. We moved all of the computers out of the living room and into the library. The Christmas tree is finally erected and halfway lit.
I think I’ve worn off my enthusiasm for putting the tree up. I was really excited for it for a few years, but now… meh. I love the way the lights look once the bits are all put together, blinking and twinkling, reflecting off of the sparkling balls and icicles. I don’t love the crawling around on the floor, spreading fake tree branches, twirling around in circles trying to get the lights just so, and then running around in circles again to hang all the do-dads. At least this year I have a kitten trying to topple the tree, so I might be lucky enough to have to do this all over again. If I ever finish. Right now the wrong boughs are spread and the blue lights are up. And I can’t seem to dredge up the enthusiasm to finish up.
Rom’s future computer is in a big pile. Well, two piles really. I have two older systems that I’ve checked out and set aside. Those are in my bedroom. Then I have three other systems (maybe partial systems) on my temporary work desk in the middle of the library. Right now, they are just sitting there in judgement against me ever time I walk through the room. And since that is the central room to the whole apartment, I walk through it a lot. I’m getting immune to the stares…
Jade’s Wii has drive failure and I’ve promised to box it up. That’s waiting on me. Thankfully, this is one task that I’ve only been putting off for a few days, so it isn’t quite as aggravating (yet.) I’m going to send it back under the Smash Brother’s peace treaty, even though Nintendo and I both know that the real reason for the exchange program is that the first batch of Wii’s had defective drives and this was an extremely conveniant way to smooth things out. And I’m okay with that. Really. As long as they smooth things out.
She was working for the Post Office. Just some seasonal work, tossing the packages about, but that is over now for this year. She doesn’t think that she’ll be able to handle the physical side of this again. Which is a shame, if only because the extra cash helps make it so that we can actually have a present-exchange-day. While she was working second shift, I had to move my sleep schedule forward. Basically, I’ve been sleeping in the mornings for the past month, instead of in the afternoons. But since she’s back home, and done with this semester of school, she assumed I would naturally swing back to sleeping in the afternoon.
Except I didn’t. So, things have been a little tense, what with the miscommunication and all that. Heh.
And then there is work. Blah. First off, they are cutting us down from three shifts to two shifts. So all over us graveyarders are being forced to move from third to either first or second. Of course, there have had to be some cuts too, since there are simply too many bodies to fit into just two shifts. Actually, going back further, all overtime was cut off. So that meant there was no inter-shift communication possible. Well, the clever solution to that was to have me going on a early shift. I started two hours early so that I would overlap with the second shift technician. That worked out pretty well while I was able to do it, but that had to stop so that I could watch after Rom while Jade went to work for the Post Office. So I’ve been screwing around with my sleep schedule while dealing with watching my predictions for how my job was going to fail out were coming true.
Thankfully, I am getting to stay on third shift. Just me and two mechanics. We get to keep the whole building in a perpetual state of “turnkey”. I hate that term. It’ll be nice for me to not have to actually talk to anyone. On the other hand, it means that I have to bust my butt and actually work. Well, physically work. I typically have about 6 hours of mental work and 2 hours of physical work, but it looks like next year is going to be more like 7 hours of physical work. So no more time to play around with the blog…. no more time to hang out at the DeadPan. It’ll suck, but it’ll be good.
Until I get laid off. I’m still expecting that shoe to drop.
I don’t think this is old news yet, though I cannot seem to find anything in print that confirms what I heard in the latest D&D Podcast. The closest I can find is a press release from Wizards that says