Date: 2009-06-30 14:25 Subject: hmmm, I wrote something Security: Public

Not much, to be sure, and nothing of what I am supposed to be writing, but rather what would probably be the beginning of a new Guy-fic that's been kicking around in my head for a few months. It was only one scene, and not very good, but still, it was something, probably not drought-breaking, but something.

The internet is shitting me at present - not as a whole, but in that I'm averaging about nine minutes before something in the system between my computer and the wider-web is unplugging itself. So I'd better type this quick. We're thinking of going wireless, so I'll do most of my stuff at uni and the stuff I can't do because of the uni firewall and filter I'll do on wireless at home (read - 'naughty stuff, mostly concerned with the e-word or the p-word (i.e. 'erotica' and 'poser')) There it goes, flashing at me, I'd better hurry before it goes down.

It's TimeTeam Tuesday, so that's cool, but I have to vacume - not cool.

Last day of work, just submitted my last timesheet for the semester. Ah well, no "distractions", just have to slog into the Alexandrian Greeks looking for something that I know doesn't exist, trying to find if it might once have existed and where. Greek sucks, by the way, shit of a language. Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be to successfully argue a negative?

I'm not going to Perth. I have no desire AT ALL to go to Perth EVER. The thought of going to Perth in the middle of summer sickens me. Armidale is bad enough, Sydney is hell, but Perth, NO!! I'm not wasting my or anyone else's money to spend three days in a furnace being utterly miserable just to present one 25 minute paper that no one wants to hear. And that is final. Sound fair? Now I just have to make it clear to my supervisor.

Ah, the joys of academia in Australia.

Date: 2009-06-26 11:22 Subject: Books, glorious books Security: Public Location: work-type-place Music: none - see above :(

My books came from Amazon today, sitting there in the post-grad pigeonhole, all patienty waiting for me to set at their inglorious postage box with a penknife in a deliriously desperate struggle to free them into the flourecent light of my office (which is, unfortunately, necessary in winter, as there isn't enough natural light coming down between the buildings). Ah, books, glorious, wonderful books - Reading Medieval Latin, and, finally, The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard. I am a happy boy.

Well, in the deliriously joyful "I have books" kind of happy, 'cause other than that, life sucks - My sister finally caught the wrong end of her bosses paranoia and was fired, for no reason whatsoever (did I mention "paranoia")and Steph isn't the kind of person to contest that sort of thing, and I think in a way she's kind of relieved, as she was getting thoroughly sick of working there. But, it was the same week as her birthday - oh joy, the car insurance is cheaper - and now comes the task of finding another job in a downturned employment market. My contract is at an end next week, and I most likely won't be getting any teaching next semester, though there is likely to be some quiz work (boooooorrrrrrrrrrrrring), and hopefully some marking - I did my first marking job a few weekends back - it was exhausting. Getting up to 0 degrees Celsius in the mornings is not pleasant in anyone's book, certain colleagues are shitting me to tears, but I can't say anything because "junior" does not begin to describe my position on the academic hierarchy, and my MA topic is among the most boring things on this planet - ok, maybe not quite, but I would need a seriously powerful microscope to be able to see how much I care about the thing - It is at the point I am doing it simply because I do not want to leave yet another thing unfinished. That said, I still have terminal writers' block, whether it be thesis related or fiction related, I literally haven't written anything in months.

Still, I have books, and that makes everything OK ... ish.

Date: 2009-04-30 00:34 Subject: Lost Security: Public Location: Somewhere the other side of high Mood: melancholy

I'm writing this because I need to say something and I don't have anyone's email on this computer, they're all on my Outlook, which is on my laptop and won't connect to the internet from here.

I just submitted my first, ever, job application.

And I feel completely lost.

It's really weird, I want to cry, I can't quite breathe properly, it sort of hurts.

It's my ideal job in pretty much my ideal place. I wasn't going to apply for it. I'm not going to get it bar some miracle, and I don't believe in miracles - strange, unexplainable happenings, yes - but not miracles. And I thought that, if by some miracle, which I don't believe in, I did get it, it would be selfish of me to take it, leave my sister and I didn't think I could handle turning it down. But I was convinced this morning to apply for it, basically 16 hours before the dead-line, so went into a spin of worry, panic, self-recrimination, frantic typing of letter I have no idea how to write, more panic, venting via email, running to emergency councellor appointment, talking it all out for 50 minutes, calming down, sitting down to actually get letter written, not monkey-typed, get home, beg sister for help, cook dinner, type some more, beg for help, watch telly while sister makes letter make sense and makes list of things still needed, they go bizarko and panic again because my brain is fried from thinking about this too much and calling mother, finally getting the rest written, taking the laptop into my sister in bed for final check, then onto the other computer to complete the application form, and submit the whole chaotic mess.

Now I just feel lost.

I'm not going to get the job, I'm under no illusions about that at all, especially not with the UK, understandably, if frustratingly over-protecting local employment, and my non-existent work experience - it is irritatingly true that if you haven't had work it is extremely difficult to get work. Yes, I will probably feel terribly disappointed when they reply that my application is unsuccessful. I will not, now, regret not having applied for the one position I've seen advertised in the last nine months which I could not only fill, but very likely enjoy and would give me six-months of real-life experience working in the UK, which is my nut-case dream for that non-sensical, unexplainable reason that involves place and connection and deep, real history all around me, not just in my head, and is probably just a fantasy, but I won't ever know until I get there.

I feel very alone and very lost, and I should go to bed, but I'm afraid I'll just lie there and feel lost until I cry.

I wish I could write, but nothing comes lately, and lately seems a long time now, six months or so. I seem to have lost the touch, and haven't found the discipline to push through that. So there are two stories sitting half-finished on my computers, and I look at them once a week or so, maybe re-arrange a line, start a sentence, save them three times, then close. My concentration is shot to pieces, I really need to get off these anti-depressants, but I'm scared of where I go without them, they've been a crutch for so many years now. Maybe it's not the anti-depressants, maybe it's just being incurably lazy and being good at plenty, but talented at nothing, and having no toleration for boredom.

I'm tired of being dissatisfied with everything, especially myself. Maybe I'm just tired.

Date: 2009-03-29 19:20 Subject: Solution to Cylon-subjection Security: Public Mood: crazy

It's called Spooks

Specifically, series seven still on my 'puter, thankfully I haven't deleted them yet, which I should after watching them. It might have something to do with Richard Armitage. I'd better check when the DVDs are expected out.

Two hours of Spooks, I still can't think anything much, but at least I am not just about ready to stamp on Stephanie's Galactica DVDs.

There's a new Michael Wood series on in ten minutes, after that I might watch some series five.

Spooks, like porn, makes everything OK.

Actually, Spooks is much better than porn.

And it has Harry, Harry is made of Awesome, His Awesomeness eclipses even that of Teal'c, no one can match the Awesomeness of Sir Harry Pierce.

And Bring Back Ruth.


...I'm bonkers...<:S

Date: 2009-03-29 16:29 Subject: Sick of Cylons Security: Public Mood: what!?no shitty?!!?

My Sister marathon-watches tv. She will regularly start at the beginning of a series and watch right through to the end, watching four or five episodes a night, sometimes eight or so on the weekends. Most I can handle, sure, I got over Stargate, Buffy and Red Dwarf a while ago, but I'll watch the odd episode with her and I don't mind it being on in the other room. M.A.S.H and Dad's Army can get irritaing, but they are vaguely amusing. And Firefly's just brilliant and only thirteen episodes, so that's ok. But at the moment it's Battlestar Galactica.
I didn't mind Galactica when it first came out, I like Mary McDonnell (my first ever actress-crush, I was about twelve at the time, so I have a certain residual fondness for her), and I like the concept of a refugee society that exists solely on ships, space- or otherwise, the music is pretty good and a few of the early episodes were actually quite good. That lasted through to about the middle of the second season, then it just got boring and increasingly irritating.
When you've had it for over a week straight, it begins to grate on the nerves in a way akin to scraping fingernails down the blackboard. I have been blocking it out somewhat with computer games, but I'm fed up with them too at present, what I really want is some quiet with no stuffing television constantly in the background. Stephanie has fairly severe tinitus, she tends to have everything up loud so she can hear it over the buzzing in her ears; for me, who doesn't like loud things, and prefers to have the television on fairly low, it is a constant source of irritation.

Right now, I just wish gloom-and-doom-space-operas would frak off and give me some peace.

Date: 2009-03-24 15:31 Subject: Work, work and more work Security: Public Location: the afternoon sun Mood: daunted Music: kate rusby - broken-hearted I will wander

A classic case of 'be careful what you wish for'?

Did someone say they needed work?

Um, yeah, that was me, I think.

So, I get back to uni after a reasonably successful paper at this years ASCS conference, my first ever out-of-school paper, in the middle of a bloody heat-wave in stinking Sydney, anyway, got shifted into the next office, which is ok, 'cause I'm in with Paul, whose just had his thesis accepted, he's a medieval historian focus on 11th-12th century Sicily and Southern Italy, we start talking and there goes any hope of getting any work done for the next three hours or so, anyway, back to the WORK. Maxx, across the hall, I went through Latin with him, he's got the first-year Latin, even though he's not a Latinist, rather a Roman and Military Historian, there was simply no one else to take it on. He's got money from the school to set up online quizzes for Latin 101, and if it works out, and it looks like it is, for 102 second semester, as well as for Greek 101&102 for next year. So he hires me for thirty hours to do all the data-entry. Cool. Boring as heck, but money, so who cares, goes on the resume and all that.
Now Maxx is seriously over-worked this semester, and I don't mean that sarcastically. He's got e-marking-system work and marketing as well as his teaching, basically doing the work of two people. So head-of-school manages to get him thirty hours for a teaching assistant for Latin. That's three hours a week for the rest of the semester and I'm officially a Teaching Assistant. It also looks like I'll have marking.

OK, that's roughly 5 hours a week at present. Doesn't sound much to people that have full-time jobs, but I have never had a job before, not a real one with a contract, a staff-number, timesheets and a pay-check (albeit a direct-deposit one). I've never filed a tax-return, that'll be a first.

It feels like a lot of work.

Not helped by my laptop stuffing up yesterday, so I spent most of yesterday afternoon getting everything set up so I could do the stuffing job, and about an hour today of my own time catching up on the unit forums so I knew what was going on, and having to fork out nearly $200 for the textbook and some software (not directly job-related, but to clean out laptop so it is reliable enough to do the job, I don't want it crashing while I'm emailing or posting replies on the forum, which it has been, continuously, it does, thankfully, look like it worked, I've been online most of today and it hasn't crashed once). It still bothers me a bit that a job should actually cost money. Admittedly, once pay comes this week it will have paid for that, but until thursday I'm skint.

5 hours

Doesn't seem like much, does it.

So why is it so bloody daunting?

Date: 2008-12-05 10:27 Subject: Mounting an Expedition in search of ... Diet Coke Security: Public Location: a pokey little hole that passes for an office Mood: hot

The vending machine in the Arts Building has no Diet Coke, and I NEED Coke, and no, I'm not drinking that sickly sweet crap that passes for regular Coke. So I tramp up to the cafeteria - NO COKE!!! Needless to say, I throw my hands up in disgust and swear (sotto voce). OK,now I slog all the way up to the uni shop - finally, a fridge full of chilled 600ml bottles of Diet Coke, I'm saved. Just have to tramp all the way back down to my room in the Arts Faculty Building to sit and enjoy it with two slices of Lamington Roll I brought for morning tea.

Bit extreme really, just for Coke, but I just spent and hour and a half in a tiny, airless, stinking hot cupboard-masquerading-as-a-mail-room wrestling with the photocopier getting the text for one of my supervisor's classes next semester ready, 'cause there isn't one in print. Photocopying is my least favourite job. but - exciting news (or was, now it's getting iritating) - Mam has a new job and is moving to - wait for it - Canberra, so I'm staying here with the Brat and the Cat and finishing my ruddy MA, but we did the budget at the weekend and it looks like I'll be left with a grand total of $58 a week, so, any work a boy can get a boy is going to take.

We may be needing a lot of Diet Coke.

Date: 2008-11-22 01:40 Subject: Fuck my life Security: Public Mood: and swearing a lot too Music: Regina Spektor - Samson Tags: life is fucked up

Aching bad inside tonight - this morning actually, it's quater past 12.
It is all so hopeless. I'm so bloody hopeless.

1.33, listening to Samson then going to bed - I seriously doubt there is going to be any sleep in that proposal. Need a drink first.

Why are there never any research assistant jobs in History/Classics? Thousands in Molecular Biology and Physics and the Sciences in general. Well, I gather that's where the money is to pay for them.

I need to start the Registerd Charity of Derek Needs a Fucking Job.

Date: 2008-11-12 22:51 Subject: Totally random Spooks Squee Security: Public Tags: spooks makes me hot

Spooks Series 7 (and no, I'm not telling you how I'm getting my grubby little antipodean hands on it) is aural HEAVEN. I mean the eye-candy is extraordinary, but I could just sit and listen to it, wouldn't even have to know what they were talking about, just the sumptuous voices of Peter Firth, Richard Armitage and Hermione Norris washing over me.

nuff to get a boy all ... well ... let's just say I respond well to aural stimuli and leave it at that.

Date: 2008-10-31 11:49 Subject: Done and Dusted Security: Public Mood: hot and tired

That's that.

One seminar given.

One Vako determined not to think about Virgil, Tibullus, Propertius or Ovid or any mythological figures suffering punishments in the Underworld for a whole week at the very least.

oh yeah, veg-out time is here!

I have a whole pile of books in no way related to classical studies or Latin that are just screaming at me to be read, not to mention stories that want some finishing. Over all, I should have a month until I have to really get back into serious work, and I should be able to get through December without putting in too much effort. Then, January, back to the grindstone to turn out another bloody seminar.

I'm trying not to think about that and just swim in the joy of having no bloody seminar taking up my whole life.

Shoes - off

Date: 2008-10-30 09:21 Subject: ohhhh.....BUGGER!!!!! Security: Public

This is it.

This time tomorrow I will be standing in front of anywhere between four and forty-odd people about to give the first real academic seminar of my career.

Am I terrified?

YES!

Yet to do:

1) finish the seminar

This involves rewriting the conclusion, which needs to have its order reversed and made to make something that vaguely resembles sense which I doubt very much i do at this moment. It also involves finishing one particular point that is still up in the air and amking sure I've got all the example references in, not just brackets with "eg?" written in them.

2) put together handout

This involves TRANSLATING. Or, to be more precise in this instance, adapting someone elses translation so it actually reflects the Latin somewhat and maybe even the elegaics, because I have to have the thing run off this afternoon and I'm not going to get five passages translated adequately between now and five pm. Also, working out how to format the little bugger so it's presentable.

3) have a shower, get dressed, don't give in to the urge to watch the second episode of Spooks (SPOOKS YAY!!!!) then run off to the AA to spend the morning squeeing with other RA fans, but walk down the street and get milk, milo and breakfast cereal before mother comes home for lunch wanting coffee.

4) don't fall asleep because I got all of about three hours last night and if I sleep during the day today I'm never going to get any tonight, and I need to sleep tonight.

5) DON'T PANIC!!! DON'T PANIC!!! DON'T PANIC!!!

Date: 2008-09-27 10:51 Subject: And one to start the morning Security: Public

Peeve, to annoy

What peeves me today?

People who use 'drug' as the past tense of 'drag'. Surely this can't be a vocal thing, you don't say 'drug' - "he drug the body to his car", "I drug you out of the swimming pool before you drowned" - I think it must be purely a written travesty, some type of hypercorrection becomming just wrong.
The past tense of 'drag' is 'dragged'! It's not that hard, infact it's easier than 'drug' and can be typed with one hand, even by me.

OK

The terrors are on their way home right now, and bringing the grand-terror with them, expect them in about three this afternoon (it's just gone eleven). Somehow we got through two and a half weeks on our own with one house, one stuffed-toy monkey, all the animals and most of the plants intact and/or alive - odd that, I have lived by myself before, for the better part of six years, I think I can cope with a few weeks (even if I get paranoid and have nightmares about the several hundred dollar fish in my sister's tropical salt-water aquarium which if you think I'm cleaning out you have another think coming real quick). Admittedly, I'll be quite happy to not have to cook every night (had MacDonald's last night, large fries, MacChicken, diet coke, super chocolate sunday and three apple pies - I was FAT), and I do need to go to the uni library, which requires a lift, in a car, so I don't have to drag all the books to and from the bus stop. Have to vacume the lounge-room though, not that I don't do that several times a week anyway, but it's always one of those things I put off until the last possible moment.

To give you an insight into the extremely haphazard way in which I write - last night I wrote the beginning and the end of the final scene of Dawn on the Road, have yet to do the dialoguy bits in the middle. Don't think I'm finished when I do, there are two other scenes that need completing, and one that needs finding and typing up, and probably finishing as well.

Progress on seminar = zilch, zipo, none, nadda, nothing

I'm doomed.

Date: 2008-09-27 02:34 Subject: Two words and I'm calling it a night Security: Public

Stir – from OE styrian
To mix up; to agitate; to excite to the expression of an emotion; to emotionally aroused.

Nostalgia – from Grk. nostos ‘return home’ + Lat. –algia ‘pain’
Literally, the longing for the return home.

Good night.

Date: 2008-09-27 01:14 Subject: Another Khimari's Lyrics Meme! Security: Public Mood: sleepy Music: Summer Rain - Belinda Carlise Tags: excellent taste in music, memes, songs

Copied direct from ficmuse (where the only ones I knew had already been guessed):

Lyrics Meme!

This is a fun one, folks.

Step 1: Put your iPod, MP3 player or whatever on random. WMP in my case.

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.

Step 3: Bold out the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.

Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

Step 5: If you like the game, post your own!

Well, I will

( I flatter myself that I have excellent taste in music )

Date: 2008-09-23 00:15 Subject: i have the dumb, apparently Security: Public Music: Jon Khan, Three Minutes

It wasn't the last epi of series IV, DrWho, that is. It seems there was a combination of a) me miscounting and b) mother calling me just as it was finishing, so I didn't hear a 'returns next week' or ABC didn't give one, as they sometimes don't on a cliff-hanger. I did tape it, in case mother rang while it was on, she tends to do that, it's an inherited trait, telephoning while I'm trying to watch telly, the two or three hours a week I actually watch live television, not like they're hard to miss, anyway, she gets it from her mother; Steph would probaly have it too, if she actually ever used a telephone. Anyhoo, I might go back and watch it, to see if they did put a 'returns next week' and watch the behind-the-scenes bite, which I missed due to above reported inconvenient phonecall; apparently Tony Head narrates them, but I can't actually recall any narration. Wonder if the tape will work on the other player, it's getting cold in here, might need to get a jumper. Actually, I might need to go to bed, have to get up in the morning to go get my bloody injection. Anyway, it seems DT isn't leaving just yet, I recall there was some talk of the bbc postponing the next series as he had some kind of theatre committment or something, I don't remember, I wan't paying a huge amount of attention at the time. I didn't think he was going just yet. Which is good, 'cause I get to find out if do actually like him, I sought of got over my bemusement with him when the abc started playing these behind-the-scene bites and htere were interviews with him and, of course, he speaks in his natural accent, which fits better than how I had heard him in DrWho and Casonova, that and just a matter of time and maybe comming back to DrWho after most of a series, I think the only episode of Series III I watched was the one with Derek Jacobi (I'd watch Home and Away if it had Derek Jacobi in it - complete total and utter LEGEND).

No more of Dawn on the Road (Eclipse of the Moon II) yester-today, but I started scribbling some of the supernatural-modern RH thingy that's been going on in my head - with everyone writing demon-guy or vampire-guy (ok, not everyone), I really want to chuck my two-cents worth in and have were-wolf-guy, and I've been playing with several alternatives. I was tempted to put up a few lines, but I'm not sure I like any of it enough. I'm not going to post even a prologue until I have several chapters done and the whole thing satisfactually plotted out, which might, of course, be never, but I've had so much trouble with Eclipse of the Moon when it changed course on me it's been so much longer writing the next bit than I wanted, I'm not posting half-cocked again. I'm sick to fricking death of not finishing things.
My attention span sucks.

I'm not sure that any of that made sense, but I'm pressing post now ...

Date: 2008-09-21 20:53 Subject: bored, Bored, BORED, BOR-RED Security: Public Mood: bored

I need something to watch. Stat.
As in NOW, PEOPLE!
I'm reduced to watching CSI-Miami, less than ten minutes in and I know who did it, it has a rather overweight Dean Cain in it, although admittedly it had possibly the best line I've ever heard on any CSI - from Dr Alexx Woods, who probably has the best line in any of the series, largely because of the way Khandi Alexander delivers them - "oh look, I'm on You-tube", which was much better when she said it in context, but it doesn't quite make up for David Caruso's crap delivery - did that guy stutter when he was a kid? He has the worst vocal punctuation. Still, it's better than Midsommer Murders, which just SUCKS.

Did you know you have recepter-beasts in your brain? I hate commercial telly.

This mood of utter boredom comes, mostly, from just having watched the series IV DrWho finale. Good TV sudden drop to either No TV or Crap TV, plus being slightly peeved that we may be loosing David Tennant just when I was starting to like the little bloke (though that's not neccesarily a given judging from the News on bbc-DoctorWho - they really want to keep this one under wraps).

Arg, I've got 20 minutes to find something. I've been putting off my rewatch of North and South until the end of the week to fortify me for the return of the horrors. I've watched just about everything else - Underworld Evolution, Serenity, Boondock Saints, Mr&MrsSmith, All THREE POTC as well as most of the special features, Master and Commander, the whole series of The State Within, about a dozen TimeTeams.

10 minutes.

I could, I guess, watch some more Spooks. I'm still dying for series 6, but can't really justify it at present, maybe for Christmas.

Oh, and for anyone who happens to run into this looking for the next bit of Eclipse of the Moon, I wrote the bit where Guy and Marian see each other last night/this morning, so, getting close, if only Marian would behave herself and not be so ruddy difficult to write.

So there you go.

And it wasn't who I thought it was, looks like Bruckie's writers are getting slack, just some dumb-arse gang, boooorrrriiiinnnngggggg.

Date: 2008-06-28 10:51 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public Mood: shitty and COLD! Tags: half-a-rant, pissed off, robin hood

I have come to the conclusion that the BBC's Robin Hood is the most historically, mythologically, socially, legally, economically and ethically INACCURATE or just plain wrong show ever made for television, or very close to it.

I might, at some point in the future, near or distant, expand on that. For now it's to cold to type, so I'm just pointing it out.

That, and it was created simply to make my life miserable.

I'm seriously not happy with Guy at the moment for suckering me in. Marian is equally in the doggy-do, as I probably wouldn't have gone back to the bloody thing if I hadn't been desperate for something to read a year ago and though "oh, they had a nice dynamic, I wonder if anyone's written any fic?" Hence they, and their actors are in my bad-books this morning for being so bloody brilliant.

Certain other people involved with the program are permanently on my hypothetical fantasy to-kill list.

Have a nice weekend :P

Date: 2008-06-26 15:00 Subject: Guy-Fic - Self-defining Security: Public Tags: fanfiction, guy, guy of gisborne, guyfic, robin hood

Still haven't typed up the bits of Eclipse of the Moon, 'cause I'm lazy, too busy pretending to be reading German commentaries on Ovid's Met., and snitching Russian art of the net, but here's something that justifies my LJ title, as, like so many of the crap I come up with, it found fruition in the middle of the night. It's really just me being morose. I'm trying to come up with a fic for the guyxmarian challenge, but, despite several scenarios coming up, I don't seem to be able to write more than half a story before it goes dead.

Title: Self-defining
Author: Vako
Characters: Guy
Rating: totally harmless = G
Spoilers: none
Summary: a drabble and a half on some feelings that define us

( Here, beneath the cut )

Date: 2008-06-18 18:06 Subject: Fanfiction - Silent Witness - The Women in his Life Security: Public Tags: fanfiction, silent witness

I have no idea where this came from, I just scribbled it out this afternoon, then typed it up, and now I'm posting it.

Title: The Women in his Life
Fandom: Silent Witness
Genre: it's 557 words, so I guess it's a quin-drabble
Characters&Pairings: Leo-POV, Leo/Therese, Leo/Sam-unrequited, Harry/Nikki-friendship-but-should-be-more.
Disclaimer: No, Silent Witness does not belong to me, yes, it belongs to the BBC, no, I'm not making any money from my crazy little ramblings.

So it's ( here ), if anyone cares to read it.

Date: 2008-06-18 10:40 Subject: It Seems That I Will Do Just About Anything To Avoid Doing What I Should Be Doing, i.e. Schoolwork. Security: Public Mood: busy Tags: doing a nan

In a fit on insanity yesterday I decided that I would put all the images on my main, internet-connected PC (this one I'm writing to you from now) tagged "Medieval" into one folder and go through as sort them into some kind of consistant categorisation, removing duplicates and moving any that should be in "Art" to "Art", in "books", "fantasy", etc to their relative categories, and so forth.
There has to be over 10,000 images; it took me nearly an hour to get them from their old ad hoc folders into one big folder, the poor computer is not happy with me, I've already got about forty separate sub-categories and I've just reached the Bs, and some are just shoved in folders by place of origin to be categorised more thoroughly later.
This is going to take me weeks.

My study is a disaster area, as about two weekends ago I took to going through my boxes with old schoolwork and random junk in them. I've thrown out probably about a third of it, maybe edging up on a half. I'm not good at throwing out stuff. Actually, a heap if it is still in a box in the middle of the floor, because Mother got to the paper-recycling before me and there wasn't enough room in the poor little box, so it'll have to wait till next week for its trip to the tip. I threw out some stuff I've been avoiding throwing out, particularly old assignments and the like I got back from Charles. Charles was my Latin teacher and mentor through my undergraduate studies, he supervised my first year of honours and I considered him a good friend. Half-way through my second year, the year of UNE's largest intake of honours students in Classical Studies, Latin or Greek in decades, almost entirely due to his wonderful teaching, he committed suicide. That was August 2005. I hate August.
Anyways, there were things there I was avoiding throwing out just because they had his writing on them. When you collect as much random paper as I do, that's going to become a storage problem.
So, finally, some of it has to go.
The filing cabinet is filled to bursting, Mother still hasn't bought home the big hole-punch so I can put the old unit-notes I've decided are worth keeping into binders so they're all over the lounge, and I need a big box for my "Names" as they have now, offically outgrown the small one, and there is no way I'm going to have time to write very much up anywhere in the near future.

Add to that, I forgot to take my tablets yesterday, so, just as Big Cat Diary was finishing last night I got the dizzy-dizzy-shakes, it was about three in the morning before they wore off. That's about ten hours from the time I should have taken them to the first withdrawal symptoms, not long ago it was over two days, something is not right here. Which reminds me, I need to call the doctors' to make a time to get my injection.

Not being able to get to sleep for the jitters and feeling too sick to read did mean I got a whole chunk of the next part of Eclipse of the Moon scribbled out, which is two bits I've got to type up. I changed direction drastically a few weeks past after a sudden revelation while I was replying to my beta/guineapig. Guy changed direction too, literally, he's on his way north when he was meant to be going south-west.
I also wrote out the starting point of a new story that's been churning around that I think might actually be worth committing to paper/digital-space. It probably won't be the actually beginning of the story, but rather where the story moves from. It's a Guy story, naturalich (does LJ support umlauts? I'll have to go check). And I've run across an old original-fic, or the sketches thereof, and it's got my brain buzzing and as a result, I've been spending time nose-deep in Jesse Byock's Viking Age Iceland.

Somewhere in all this, I'm supposed to be doing my masters.

Yeah, Sure.