What I did on my Weekend

[jadesfire]

Good Monday all. How's everyone doing? Good weekend? Not a lot to report from mine, unless last minute Christmas shopping counts. Oxford was surprisingly pleasant late Saturday afternoon - not too busy, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood, which is always nice. Full reports under the cuts ;)

~ I've just emailed the Mods to drop out of Yuletide. My urge to write is more or less nil at the moment, and it's no good trying to force it. I'm going to have to think carefully about signing up for winter challenges next year. It wasn't so bad when I had a boring job, or when I was so down that I didn't care about my job, but nowadays, it's hard to find the time/energy/creativity and once you get out of the habit of writing, you have to build it up again from scratch. Ah well.

~ Not to be smug or anything, but I called the winners last Tuesday at work. Watching the clips back, it's so impressive to see how far Chris had come in 4 months. No, he wasn't as technically proficient as Ricky, but the performances were all so good! And the show dance blew me away, mostly because I don't think anyone expected him to pull off lifts like that. I thought Ricky and Natalie's was more difficult, but didn't have the energy or entertainment value of Chris and Ola's. Ditto the Cha Cha Cha against the Charleston. So, right result as far as I was concerned, and I'm looking forward to seeing who's back in the Christmas special.

~ All the presents are wrapped, I've got a few parcels to post at lunchtime and we've got the cards strung up across the living room, but I don't suppose the Christmas spirit will really hit until I finish work on Wednesday. Three days to go...

~ We sold the ebook Reader! By offering to post it in time for Christmas (it went off on Saturday Special Delivery, so should arrive today), we sold it in record time and I've got a substantial contribution towards a Touch. Now all I need is for Apple to be selling refurbished ones, and I'm there! They sell out quickly, so I'm going to be more or less glued to the site for the next few weeks. Woot!

~ My netbook is dead. I...don't want to talk about it *sniff*

And since my desk looks like an explosion in a filing cabinet, I should probably go and do some work now. Or get coffee. One of those is more important than the other. Hope everyone's doing okay out there. All set for the holidays?

ETA: I just managed to cut myself on a biscuit box. I'm telling you, that takes skill *facepalm*

ETA2: Dear workman setting off the fire alarm, if you're going to keep doing that, the least you could do is *actually* set fire to something. It's certainly cold enough today to warrant it, and I have a pile of papers that I've just *ahem* filed in the bin that you could use...

Comments

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it awesome? I loved Strictly sooooo much this year, Bruce notwithstanding. And much as they all kept going on about 'the dancer versus the entertainer', I thought Chris more than stood up to Ricky, especially in the Lindy hop. And those lifts in the show dance were fab! His show dance felt more like a dance to me, and I was so chuffed he won ♥

I can't believe it's Christmas on Friday. What happened to December? Actually, what happened to 2009?

*hugs you and passes plaster*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*ICON LOVE*

His show dance felt more like a dance to me
THIS. I re-watched the professional show dance from the semi-final week and screw-ups notwithstanding, it didn't feeling like *dancing*. More like the kind of thing I'd expect to see at the Cirque du Soleil. Very pretty and extremely impressive, but not truly dancing. Espcially in the Lindy Hop, Chris did brilliantly, and he pretty much walked away with it after that, for me.

I think someone nicked 2009 when we weren't looking. That's the only possible explanation. But I have Starlight Express on Spotify, and have cleared my desk by dumping everything in the bin (hey, it works!), so am feeling a little more hopeful about the week ;D

Thank you. Sadly I left my funky plasters at home, but I will swap the boring one for a fun one once I get home. It takes skill to cut yourself on cardboard.

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Hee. Nobody can be uncheered with a Micheal Weatherly icon :D

And yes, I felt the same way about the pro-show dance. Undeniably impressive, but kind of not what I expect to see in a dance competition. I'm just so pleased that Chris actually got to dance; he can totally do it, and was completely undeserving of all the mockery and vitriol he was getting on the BBC's message boards.

Starlight Express is a good thing! As is dumping stuff in the bin :D

It really does, although since I never met an object I couldn't fall over/walk into/cut myself on/otherwise cause injury to myself with, I feel unqualified to comment ;)

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I croaked for hlh_shortcuts, which was a pity. The most annoying thing about it though is that I *have* been writing - for consci_fan_mo - but I could not get a non-crossover Highlander muse to show itself in time to inspire a fic for someone else. Lesson learned there, I think - I can only write to deadlines if it's for myself (which I found out with Torchwood Big Bang)!

I'm not feeling Christmassy either - I haven't had *time* to feel like that, and work doesn't help. In its wisdom our hospital has decided that Christmas Decorations are an infection risk and aren't allowed in ward areas, so we don't have anything on the ward bar a very sad fibre-optic tree in our waiting room. Also, because the lovely PTB didn't remember that going digital means you can't get telly from an aerial without a digibox we don't have a single functioning TV on the ward and haven't since November so no Christmas telly for staff or patients. Thank you Mr Chief Exec for being so thoughtful. We also don't have radio or cds as our player broke and there is no money to spend on the staff to get another. So no Christmas music either - though I have threatened them with carols in Latin...

As I'm working 24th-27th I'm not feeling very enthusiastic about doing stuff outside of work either. My days off on 22nd and 23rd are going to be a blur of last minute shopping, cleaning, making candles, wrapping presents and a trip up to Cumbria to see my parents (and drop off the presents for the rest of the family).

Still, I'm looking forward to going to Preston on the 28th to see Blue Gillespie, even if I am in work the next day!

As for cutting yourself on a biscuit box, at least it wasn't a biscuit!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ouch, I can see how working through Christmas like that would take the edge off the festivities. Hope all the last-minute stuff goes well!

Blue Gillespie should be awesome! Have fun :D

*grin* there is that. Although I'm sure I could find away to hurt myself with snacks...

[in-the-bottle.livejournal.com]

Nothing to do with your post, which I only skimmed cos my brain isn't working and it's not comprehending and it got distracted by your icon: sheeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*giggle* It's awsome, isn't it? I have this theory that sheep are inherently funny :D

[in-the-bottle.livejournal.com]

It is!! Llamas are funny too, but you can't do llamaaaaaaaas too well, but sheeeeeeep!!! you can do that.

Great, I've stopped making sense...

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

My step-son's nativity had 'the sheep song' in it, in which all except three of the class were dressed up as sheep (the other three were shepherds) and it was hilariously funny just for the sheer fact that they were sheep lol.

Nate

[roga.livejournal.com]

In case you're feeling bad about dropping out, just wanna let you know I've been there and it happens :-) Yuletide is a big enough challenge with enough enthusiasm surrounding it and people just looking for excuses to write more stories, so I'm sure your recipient will get a cool fic instead with no real extra hassle on part of the mods. In fact, last year my author defualted and I got five gifts instead.

But really by the tone of this post you sound like you're okay with it, which is good :-) Just wanted to make sure <3

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I think resigned to it would be a better way of putting it. Having failed at all the things I've entered this Christmas, I'm thinking I probably won't sign up next year! But most of the other things seem to have worked out okay, and people are, in general, awesome, so I'm not fretting, just disappointed with myself.

Thanks, though :) I appreciate it.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

*hugs very gently* Now, now, fire is bad, remember? Especially near books. (poking the workman setting off the fire alarm is completely acceptable, however).

Sorry the writing thing isn't working out, but YAY on selling the ereader! I hope the apple store gets in refurbished ipod touches soon!

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

"Fire pretty"

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad Chris and Ola won Strictly. Ricky may have been better technically, but I couldn't help grinning whenever Chris came on. I'll go for the entertainer over the dancer any day.

I'm so sorry you had to drop out of Yuletide. Maybe you need a new fandom to write for?