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Puppy Crash
Apr. 26th, 2020 12:56 pmThe week has gotten easier as it progressed, although the opening half was incredibly tough. Being in lockdown for the fifth straight week is starting to get to me, as well as not being able to see friends and colleagues, and confirmation that this would continue indefinitely from my place of employment didn't help. It was good to speak to my boss again and he did confirm to me what I already knew - that until sport comes back, I'll be furloughed, although it is looking like we will be amongst the last to return. Added to this was the confirmation on Thursday that the former director of our small little company before we were taken over is going to step down in early June, switching to a one day a week consultancy role, meant that things will be a lot different. He is my primary ally at work, and also a genuine friend, but at least this decision makes me more comfortable about leaving at the end of the year, which is what I am still aiming to do. To that end, the job searching has become more difficult only for the lack of opportunities now out there, but I had a promising interview in Copenhagen on Thursday morning so I've got to be positive.
My mood improved once the weather did, with Thursday through Saturday inclusive affording great opportunities to sit outside and read my book. I have realised that I am trying to do too much with my days - aiming to achieve a litany of things including an hour of guitar practice (Monday's mass deletion of my Rocksmith profile did not help my mood either), a half hour of German practice, my daily alloted exercise and Animal Crossing as well as the job searching - meaning my days are starting to resemble a checklist that needs ticking off. This is putting undue pressure on me and I do feel guilty of not using this unexpected downtime to actually have some downtime, but with the weather being sunny and me knowing how much of a rarity that is in this country, my brain does seem to accept that sitting outside in the sun with a beer and a book as a perfectly valid way of spending time. Another thing that aided my mood was being told on Friday that Henry, my mother's dog, may not have liver disease after all but his problems could stem from a bacteria living in his gut. He has been prescribed a four-week dose of antibiotics to see if that alleviates his discomfort.
Yesterday was the Brewdog AGM, having moved online after the usual Aberdeen shindig scheduled for earlier this month had been cancelled. It started at 5pm and I was expecting a whole evening affair, so I was surprised when it ended a mere two hours later. Still, we got to try six exceptional beers from their specially created AGM Box in an online tasting session with James and Martin while there was some good live music as well, particularly from Brighton-based band Yonaka, who I'll have to check out. The whole event was presented by the jokers from the Red Bull Soapbox races while it was also good to get some company background and future planning from the directors too. We didn't even do too badly at the Brewdog quiz, with our 20/30 beating James and Martin by one point. It was all on YouTube with comments too, so there was a real sense of community while it finishing at 7pm meant we could jump on our regular online Jackbox gaming group later in the evening.
There has been a lot of Discord action over the last week, and it has been good that I've gotten to speak to so many people I wouldn't normally do. Some of these, such as Televassi and Arakin, are friends in far places while some are new people I hadn't known before. I spoke to Televassi on Thursday after I had arrived late for Arakin's Jackbox session while Pony chat last Sunday saw me meet Shadow in New York and Choco in France, before Greypony and I had a mammoth three hour chat (some of it with Leo) on Tuesday evening. I had to create a Zoom account for that and they gave me unlimited minutes as it was my first time hosting, which meant an 11pm engagement went on to 2am. It was great getting to know more about Greypony though and a good friendship is developing there. The other online social event was Saturday morning when Arakin got me up early to watch the 1980s versions of My Little Pony, live streamed across Discord. I had never seen these, so it was great to watch them, although they were clearly of a time and had dated pretty badly. Still, the stories were cute, although the early 1990s casual sexism in the latter series was grating with a modern audience, but it was cute pony stuff so I approve.
On Thursday I did the Clap for Carers event in fursuit again, which went down as well as it had done the previous week. I am fearful it will become a little passe though, so I may not to it next week. Aside from that, it's been very much a typical week, although I am hoping that the lockdown restrictions will be eased somewhat in a fortnight's time. I guess all will depend on the Government and how badly they keep messing everything up, but my confidence is certainly not high. In the meantime, it's a case of just plodding on I suppose and seeing what next week brings.
My mood improved once the weather did, with Thursday through Saturday inclusive affording great opportunities to sit outside and read my book. I have realised that I am trying to do too much with my days - aiming to achieve a litany of things including an hour of guitar practice (Monday's mass deletion of my Rocksmith profile did not help my mood either), a half hour of German practice, my daily alloted exercise and Animal Crossing as well as the job searching - meaning my days are starting to resemble a checklist that needs ticking off. This is putting undue pressure on me and I do feel guilty of not using this unexpected downtime to actually have some downtime, but with the weather being sunny and me knowing how much of a rarity that is in this country, my brain does seem to accept that sitting outside in the sun with a beer and a book as a perfectly valid way of spending time. Another thing that aided my mood was being told on Friday that Henry, my mother's dog, may not have liver disease after all but his problems could stem from a bacteria living in his gut. He has been prescribed a four-week dose of antibiotics to see if that alleviates his discomfort.
Yesterday was the Brewdog AGM, having moved online after the usual Aberdeen shindig scheduled for earlier this month had been cancelled. It started at 5pm and I was expecting a whole evening affair, so I was surprised when it ended a mere two hours later. Still, we got to try six exceptional beers from their specially created AGM Box in an online tasting session with James and Martin while there was some good live music as well, particularly from Brighton-based band Yonaka, who I'll have to check out. The whole event was presented by the jokers from the Red Bull Soapbox races while it was also good to get some company background and future planning from the directors too. We didn't even do too badly at the Brewdog quiz, with our 20/30 beating James and Martin by one point. It was all on YouTube with comments too, so there was a real sense of community while it finishing at 7pm meant we could jump on our regular online Jackbox gaming group later in the evening.
There has been a lot of Discord action over the last week, and it has been good that I've gotten to speak to so many people I wouldn't normally do. Some of these, such as Televassi and Arakin, are friends in far places while some are new people I hadn't known before. I spoke to Televassi on Thursday after I had arrived late for Arakin's Jackbox session while Pony chat last Sunday saw me meet Shadow in New York and Choco in France, before Greypony and I had a mammoth three hour chat (some of it with Leo) on Tuesday evening. I had to create a Zoom account for that and they gave me unlimited minutes as it was my first time hosting, which meant an 11pm engagement went on to 2am. It was great getting to know more about Greypony though and a good friendship is developing there. The other online social event was Saturday morning when Arakin got me up early to watch the 1980s versions of My Little Pony, live streamed across Discord. I had never seen these, so it was great to watch them, although they were clearly of a time and had dated pretty badly. Still, the stories were cute, although the early 1990s casual sexism in the latter series was grating with a modern audience, but it was cute pony stuff so I approve.
On Thursday I did the Clap for Carers event in fursuit again, which went down as well as it had done the previous week. I am fearful it will become a little passe though, so I may not to it next week. Aside from that, it's been very much a typical week, although I am hoping that the lockdown restrictions will be eased somewhat in a fortnight's time. I guess all will depend on the Government and how badly they keep messing everything up, but my confidence is certainly not high. In the meantime, it's a case of just plodding on I suppose and seeing what next week brings.
