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Thank You, Little Puppy
May. 17th, 2020 12:18 pmIt has been another pedestrian week, with guitar and German practice coming to th fore. I have done some job searching too, but nowhere near as much as I should have done, largely on account of there being a derth of positions to apply for. I also never heard back from the role in Copenhagen for which I have now interviewed three times, although I am not too concerned yet as they did tell me they wanted all of this sorting by the end of May and there is still two weeks to go.
Thursday was the usual Clap for Carers but on account of me attending a conference about the repeal of PASPA, I couldn't turn up in the suit again, much to the disappointment of some of my neighbours. I've promised to dress in suit next week but it was noticeable by how few people had turned out to clap, maybe people are getting bored of it. The conference itself went well, with me asking some questions to the panel, realising that getting my name more known in the industry is likely to facilitate me getting a job. I think any opportunity is most likely to come from someone I know, or to whom I have been recommended by a colleague. I am starting to feel a little pressure though, as I only have about four months to secure a position, as it's fast looking like the EU transition period won't be extended. I am hoping this stubborness from our Government will change, but they are so ideological that I doubt it, and I have to accept that any extension would be a bonus and away from the plan to which I am working. A number of people I have spoken to think I could fulfil a consultancy role in the industry though and this is something to consider should I need to walk away in September without any other option. I'm having a few discussions to this effect, although my manager, for another week, has failed to get in touch.
Wolfie is now furloughed, at least for the next three weeks, affording us the opportunity to spend a lot more time together. With the Bundesliga coming back yesterday, horse racing slated for a 1 June return and the Premier League on 12 June, there is a reasonable chance that I'll be back in work at some point next month. I have mixed feelings about this - I have enjoyed the freedom of furlough to some degree, away from the stresses of work - but at the same time I do miss having a daily purpose. Guitar and German have really filled the void though, as has significant amounts of exercise. This is the only real change I have implemented since the lockdown restrictions were eased, with the new rules being so convoluted that I've decided to just keep on going as I had done before.
We did go into Leeds for the first time since 8 March on Friday though, to collect some crowlers from Brewdog North Street. This was for an online tasting with the Burley Oak Brewing Company out of Berlin, MD, on Saturday and it was rather surreal to see the bar devoid of people and with boxes littering everywhere. You could only come to a small table right at the main entrance, but I did get to chat to the bar lady for a short while, who kept saying everything was 'banging' quite a lot. She had a good taste in beer though, and it was great to just talk to someone face-to-face, while it was good to be back somewhere familiar. The traffic was heavier than expected, with one charlie undertaking a bus before being rollicked by the bus driver at the next set of traffic lights, but it was good getting out into the city again even if it was just to pick up some beer.
Saturday was our usual Leeds Meet, our third on Discord, and reasonably well attended, with people dropping in every now and again. Wolfie, Tonks, Cosmo and Bolly had spent much of the evenings last week creating a LeedsFurs Cards Against Humanity pack, which went down very well, while I spent most of the day with Arakin, starting the day streaming the fantastic Flight of Dragons movie before segueing into the meet. We ended up playing old BBC Games on an emulator, including Blockbusters, The Magic Telephone and Pod, who sadly didn't know how to masturbate. Some of this was pure nostalgia, but it was very fun, with Panthras, Arakin and Enteirah highlighting to Adia the primitive nature of late Eighties games. We also had a look at the Supergran text game, which became tiring pretty quickly, and Pirate, which we completed part one but died in part two and we couldn't resurrect our saved progress. It was a fun way to spend a few hours and things ticked nicely into dinner. Indeed, it was only dinner at 7pm that pulled us away - mac and cheese and truffle oil fries from Feed again - which meant I only had time for a half hour walk before the Burley Oak Tasting session. Last night was also meant to be Eurovision, with the BBC having a night of programmes (including one broadcast throughout Europe), which we recorded to watch today.
The Burley Oak Tasting on Zoom was a fun event, with about thirty participants including the brewers. We got to taste four 'banging' beers includling a delicious peach sour from their JREAM series. We also got to talk one-on-one with the brewers themselves and it was fascinating hearing their story, not to mention their current lockdown situation. The event lasted nearly two hours and it was a really familial thing, one that was great fun to be a part of. Alas, the beers had started to affect Wolfie's stomach and he went upstairs for a lay down, from which he never really recovered. This meant that I was largely alone for Stray's gaming night, which started with us donating $92 to Electric Six's lead singer/guitarist Dick Valentine to get him to write a porongraphic story for us and ended with us playing Jackbox games as we usually do. The former was part of a live performance that Dick was giivng out of New York, for which the biggest donors got a story, which we thought would be fun. Afterwards, it was just the usual banter, with people dipping in and out, ending in me going to bed just before 4am. Fortunately, as I too had stomach issues with all the beer (we had drank a 3L bag of beer at the meet earlier in the day), I was on the water from about 11pm so don't feel too bad today, which is something.
Thursday was the usual Clap for Carers but on account of me attending a conference about the repeal of PASPA, I couldn't turn up in the suit again, much to the disappointment of some of my neighbours. I've promised to dress in suit next week but it was noticeable by how few people had turned out to clap, maybe people are getting bored of it. The conference itself went well, with me asking some questions to the panel, realising that getting my name more known in the industry is likely to facilitate me getting a job. I think any opportunity is most likely to come from someone I know, or to whom I have been recommended by a colleague. I am starting to feel a little pressure though, as I only have about four months to secure a position, as it's fast looking like the EU transition period won't be extended. I am hoping this stubborness from our Government will change, but they are so ideological that I doubt it, and I have to accept that any extension would be a bonus and away from the plan to which I am working. A number of people I have spoken to think I could fulfil a consultancy role in the industry though and this is something to consider should I need to walk away in September without any other option. I'm having a few discussions to this effect, although my manager, for another week, has failed to get in touch.
Wolfie is now furloughed, at least for the next three weeks, affording us the opportunity to spend a lot more time together. With the Bundesliga coming back yesterday, horse racing slated for a 1 June return and the Premier League on 12 June, there is a reasonable chance that I'll be back in work at some point next month. I have mixed feelings about this - I have enjoyed the freedom of furlough to some degree, away from the stresses of work - but at the same time I do miss having a daily purpose. Guitar and German have really filled the void though, as has significant amounts of exercise. This is the only real change I have implemented since the lockdown restrictions were eased, with the new rules being so convoluted that I've decided to just keep on going as I had done before.
We did go into Leeds for the first time since 8 March on Friday though, to collect some crowlers from Brewdog North Street. This was for an online tasting with the Burley Oak Brewing Company out of Berlin, MD, on Saturday and it was rather surreal to see the bar devoid of people and with boxes littering everywhere. You could only come to a small table right at the main entrance, but I did get to chat to the bar lady for a short while, who kept saying everything was 'banging' quite a lot. She had a good taste in beer though, and it was great to just talk to someone face-to-face, while it was good to be back somewhere familiar. The traffic was heavier than expected, with one charlie undertaking a bus before being rollicked by the bus driver at the next set of traffic lights, but it was good getting out into the city again even if it was just to pick up some beer.
Saturday was our usual Leeds Meet, our third on Discord, and reasonably well attended, with people dropping in every now and again. Wolfie, Tonks, Cosmo and Bolly had spent much of the evenings last week creating a LeedsFurs Cards Against Humanity pack, which went down very well, while I spent most of the day with Arakin, starting the day streaming the fantastic Flight of Dragons movie before segueing into the meet. We ended up playing old BBC Games on an emulator, including Blockbusters, The Magic Telephone and Pod, who sadly didn't know how to masturbate. Some of this was pure nostalgia, but it was very fun, with Panthras, Arakin and Enteirah highlighting to Adia the primitive nature of late Eighties games. We also had a look at the Supergran text game, which became tiring pretty quickly, and Pirate, which we completed part one but died in part two and we couldn't resurrect our saved progress. It was a fun way to spend a few hours and things ticked nicely into dinner. Indeed, it was only dinner at 7pm that pulled us away - mac and cheese and truffle oil fries from Feed again - which meant I only had time for a half hour walk before the Burley Oak Tasting session. Last night was also meant to be Eurovision, with the BBC having a night of programmes (including one broadcast throughout Europe), which we recorded to watch today.
The Burley Oak Tasting on Zoom was a fun event, with about thirty participants including the brewers. We got to taste four 'banging' beers includling a delicious peach sour from their JREAM series. We also got to talk one-on-one with the brewers themselves and it was fascinating hearing their story, not to mention their current lockdown situation. The event lasted nearly two hours and it was a really familial thing, one that was great fun to be a part of. Alas, the beers had started to affect Wolfie's stomach and he went upstairs for a lay down, from which he never really recovered. This meant that I was largely alone for Stray's gaming night, which started with us donating $92 to Electric Six's lead singer/guitarist Dick Valentine to get him to write a porongraphic story for us and ended with us playing Jackbox games as we usually do. The former was part of a live performance that Dick was giivng out of New York, for which the biggest donors got a story, which we thought would be fun. Afterwards, it was just the usual banter, with people dipping in and out, ending in me going to bed just before 4am. Fortunately, as I too had stomach issues with all the beer (we had drank a 3L bag of beer at the meet earlier in the day), I was on the water from about 11pm so don't feel too bad today, which is something.
