Weather Report: Light dusting of snow, frozen into icy death-rink slipperiness

[jadesfire]

1. I'm remarkably proud of myself for not dying at Pilates last night. It turns out, I have no strength in most of my muscles - arms, core, legs. Nope, nothing nowhere. I think the first class was mostly for the instructor, to see what kind of a group we are and what our level is. He's clearly either decided that we have a high tolerance for pain, or that we're really dim and will just do whatever he tells us.

In all seriousness, it was a great class. The group is very serious and attentive, which means it's easy to just get on with doing things at your own pace. There's no pressure to 'keep up', which is good, because I can't, and a huge emphasis on doing things right rather than more. On the downside, I've realised that there's no way I'm going to be able to keep up with the much fitter folk around me unless I do some catching up out of class.

About 2 years ago, I was offered the chance to go up and see Big Ben, which involved climbing A LOT of steps. When I accepted, I knew I wasn't nearly fit enough, and so for the next 3 months, I powered up every flight of stairs in college, trying to do them faster each time. I was sort of stunned at how quickly I improved, and I made it to the top without difficulties (worth it!). Based on that, I'm going with the 'little and often' method of improvement, with the aim to do about 10 minutes of the exercises each day, concentrating on the muscles that gave me the most trouble. And even if I enjoy it, I'm not doing more than 20 minutes, or I'll wear myself out.

2. *waves to new friends* I've dusted off my intro post at the top of my journal especially for you.

3. It's nice to know everyone else is as enthusiastic about new notebooks as I am! My layouts strictly start on Mondays, so I'll get everything set up and post some pictures then. I even found a new pen loop for it, so I feel very organised.

4. Why is dress sizing so erratic? I ordered a HUGE boxful of stuff from Esprit, knowing that a lot of it wouldn't fit, but I'm still kind of baffled at how it worked. Everything (pretty much) was XL, and pretty much everything went on and did up. But some of the skirts made me look like an overstuffed sausage, while others are cute and flirty. It's not even a fabric thing, as they're pretty much all stretch jersey. And all from the same shop. It's very strange, and most of the reason why I dislike shopping so much.

5. I have an unexpectedly free day at work, thanks to misreading an email, and I'm feeling oddly adrift. To quote Yes, Prime Minister:

"There's lots of things people want you to do, and lots of things you should do, any number of things you CAN do, but very few things you HAVE to do."

I mean, that's not quite true - there's quite a few things I HAVE to do, it's just that not many of them HAVE to be done today. Time for a cup of tea, a pootle around the office, and a general sort out, I think. I'm sure there's something urgent lurking under a pile of books somewhere...

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

1. Little and often is usually sensible with these things, I think! Good luck with it.

2. *waves back* (And, ha, you're a librarian! I am/was a librarian, although now I am chronically ill with ME, so not so much. Also before that, not entirely unrelatedly, the Council made me go photograph dog poo and do other things I had no clue about instead. So now I'm sort of a repressed librarian who will make a rec list at the drop of a hat.)

[jadesfire]

...okay, so the Pilates is part of my recovery plan, as my ME has gone into almost remission lately, and I'm trying to get myself back on my feet. Spooky (pun intended ;D)

Once a librarian, always a librarian :) It's a calling, not just a profession. Although I am intrigued about the dog poo...

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, indeed! And, yes, then - little and often is the only way! I wish you much good luck with it. (And forgive some tiny sliver of jealousy just for being ahead of me. I went to my parents in Gloucester for Christmas and nearly fell apart with the inability to cope with it all regardless of how much I love seeing them & the rest of the family. But I think I'm starting to head back to what passes for normal these days.)

You go with that, yes. <3 <3 <3

Once a librarian, always a librarian :) It's a calling, not just a profession. Although I am intrigued about the dog poo...

Absolutely. When I first lost my job, one of other librarians at a regional meeting said almost exactly the same thing to me: you don't stop being a librarian.

And, ha, well, obviously you will be v familiar with all the cuts of the past 10 years. Our authority saved money by doing away with all the junior/mid man't teams of various specialised parts of one council department and - for reasons unknown - libraries was in that bit along with recycling, countryside, road safety, refuse and street repairs. So we all became Neighbourhood Officers and Neighbourhood Managers, and I went from co-ordinating the children's services for a small authority to being responsible for two villages and you'd have to go out and photograph dog poo in alleyways and try and get stuff done about it among other things. I was also having ME relapse trouble that I was in deep denial about, and combined the two to make a mess of my life. But, yeah: first day on the job and I'm taking pictures of dog poo, no lie. It did not really get any better!

ETA: My own most recent intro post, from the Yuletide friending meme the other week. :-)

[jadesfire]

Thank you. And yes, I'm very grateful - after 16 years of illness (I'm so lucky, mine is mostly low-level), I got a diagnosis in 2016 years ago. Then I had a horrendous session with the doctor who diagnosed me and I pretty much fell apart again. But I felt armed enough to make changes based on fact not guesswork, and while I have good weeks and bad, I'm tremendously grateful that I can at least get to work, even if I pay for it later. Luckily, I'm in charge of the library, so get to work at my own pace, and can shut my office door when I can't deal with people. Which will probably be this afternoon!

Glad you're getting back on an even keel, whatever that looks like <3

And oh good heavens, that's...Yeah. My MIL just left her job as an educational support worker with a council, for similar reasons. I honestly wonder how people can sit in an office, have a meeting where they decide things like that, and think it is a good idea. Like, how does that conversation even go? "Oh yes, we have trained and skilled people, let's make them wander around taking pictures of dog poo." I just... *throws hands in air*

Ooh, thanks for the link! I'm a returner to Doctor Who, as I found Twelve a bit too much of a shake-up. But I'm working my way back through them, as I want to watch Thirteen having caught up!

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Pretty sure that's an aggressive passive way of applying thumb to nose "We let you be married, maybe you'll get the hint and quit." Then they'd only have to pay whatever people didn't have other prospects and they could kept piling on the indignities until they started selling buckets of pure instead.

Marines, librarians, they don't retire they're corps for life and probably beyond.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

(I got distracted.)

#4. WWII. Namely, men's sizing would be as screwed up but you can't run a military without clothes staying on. And, psychological aggression against women is an economic strategy. The anthropology of clothing technology is fascinating (it's history of science, though home economics usually isn't considered there despite the credentials of the professors/instructors before the departments were liquidated)

[jadesfire]

It's also sometimes a rather desperate "we had our budget cut again, how the hell do we afford to do these things." Sometimes, it feels like they panic and jump in the wrong direction.

Being a librarian is definitely a way of life :D

[jadesfire]

(easily done :))

I was working in admin at M&S when they did their big sizing shift, with adverts to support it, but I remember even at the time, I was wondering what difference it would make. Every woman knows that they're not really very helpful as a guide.

Did you hear the 99% Invisible episode "On Average"? It covers a lot of this ground - really fascinating!

I still get ticked off about ordering the same size from the same shop and getting differently sized clothes though, even allowing for fabric/cut differences. I mean, they even put the measurements on the website, but when they got here, I could hold similarly cut skirts against each other and see a real measurement difference. So infuriating! I really need to get back into altering my own clothes *eyes mending basket guiltily*

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

It doesn't have to be the ones jumping so nostril-oposable applying; in the end someone is expecting to get labor at a price labor cannot afford and they the purchaser 'can'.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

My one grandmother always sewed her clothes and those of the kids until my uncle was old enough for bought trousers and shirts-the girls kept getting home-sewing. By the time I was finishing high school, the big three pattern makers (the ones carried in the fabric stores) were switching to a more strictly 'leisure activity' form of sewing, of suits requiring sergers, expensive notions and linings which would lead to dry-cleaning. In this they dropped the half-sizes (that's what they called the short-torso line) and continued to lean in to all women have long legs.

I don't have the skills to cut men's shirts into better blouses, which is the only affordable fabric generous enough to possibly be worth the effort.

[thisbluespirit]

Sixteen years waiting for a diagnosis isn't v lucky, so I shall stifle my very tiny sliver of jealousy entirely. Besides, it is my fault it's so bad this time - I knew what it was from at least May 2010, if not earlier and I worked on until I collapsed in Jan 2011, because it just seemed like the only thing to do. But when I was first diagnosed as 12, I was extremely lucky - my family doctor recognised it for what it was fairly quickly, twenty years before it was an official illness. (I only realised how lucky I was when he left and my next doctor who was v new and young told 15 yr old me I should pull up my socks and stop imagining my headaches... or I might end up working in a library. 0_o I'd already decided I hoped to be a librarian, too.) <3

Luckily, I'm in charge of the library, so get to work at my own pace, and can shut my office door when I can't deal with people.

Office doors! I also kept having to work in open plan offices because God forbid anyone should work in a shut office where they might, I don't know, work quietly or skive off because you couldn't see them, I suppose. (My Council is v tiny but quite a good one in some ways, but... yeah.)

Like, how does that conversation even go? "Oh yes, we have trained and skilled people, let's make them wander around taking pictures of dog poo." I just... *throws hands in air*

The combination of the budget cuts and the person who was in charge at the time make it only too easy to imagine unfortunately. It was all thoroughly unpleasant and at least, being physical, ground level libraries and staff went on, whereas small specialist teams like Countryside just went, and it was all kind of heart-breaking and demoralising. But, yeah, at this point, ten years on, I can't even imagine how most Councils are still functioning, because I was at enough meetings where people were literally in tears in 2009-2010 let alone since. :-/

I'm a returner to Doctor Who, as I found Twelve a bit too much of a shake-up. But I'm working my way back through them, as I want to watch Thirteen having caught up!

Aw, cool! I liked Twelve right off the bat, but I know some people did find him abrasive - he has an arc, though - he mellows! I hope you enjoy catching up - and Thirteen when she arrives. (I saw the latest DWM in Tesco yesterday, with Jodie on the cover! We live in exciting times. I'm less keen on Chirs Chibnall sadly, as I seem to have a weird allergy to his writing, but hopefully I'll like the eps by other writers and he's okay when he's being cheerful. Hopefully he'll be 100% cheerful! Heh.)

[jadesfire]

I was exceedingly lucky that my mum *always* supported me - the diagnosis was her suggestion, and she never pushed me past what I could manage. J is the same, so while it's sucked a lot, I've had a lot more than a lot of people.

*gasps* A LIBRARIAN??? What fate could be worse?!?!?!?

On the Doctor Who front, I think I fell out love with the stories rather than the Doctor. Twelve grated on me a little, and somehow, the stories in his first season didn't hit me right, and I just sort of drifted away. As someone who was always a bit cross at Chris Chibnall for not getting Torchwood to its proper potential (Jack Harkness was always my character, so Torchwood was...let's go with 'a ride'), I'm slightly nervous about what's to come. Still, I felt that way about Missy, and came to really like her, so there's hope yet!

[pwcorgigirl]

Ages ago, when I was in very good shape, I took high-intensity gym class 5 days a week and walked at least three miles 6 days a week. Then I took a Pilates class as a lark.

I could barely sit up the next day. It finds muscles you don't use on a regular basis, for sure! I wish I'd stuck with it, but a week of yelping every time I got into and out of the car warned me off it. :-D

I have no idea why women's clothes sizing is so weird. Don't even get me started on jeans, as the same style by the same company can be just different enough to not fit right from one pair to the other.

[thisbluespirit]

*gasps* A LIBRARIAN??? What fate could be worse?!?!?!?

It did take some of the sting out of it that he plumped for that as the worst thing he could think of. /o\ (We never went to him again!)

I think CC's moved on a lot since Torchwood. I just find that I seem to have a weird allergy to his writing in general. It's going to get inconvenient, I can see - I shall perhaps feel more in sympathy with all the people who can't stand Steven Moffat. Or maybe not. I do like the look of Jodie, though.

Michelle Gomez/Missy is amazing!

[naye]

Yay for pilates!

I had a webinar with Taylor & Francis today, and they mentioned the weather was cold and frosty in Oxford, so I thought of you. :D

[jadesfire]

Heh, this is very much a beginners' class, so while I'm sore, it's manageable. I'm also going to try and do a little bit every day, just to keep things moving. Sneezing yesterday was...inadvisable.

I know that dye makes a difference to cloth, but honestly, the sizing thing is just silly now. I have everything in my wardrobe from a size 20 (US16) to a size 10 (US6). I've given in on the numbers, and try to concentrate on "does it go on" and "does it look good" because what else can you do?

[jadesfire]

It was very frosty! But sunny and clear too, which is my favourite winter weather, so it's not all bad.

I will join you in the yay once I stop yelping every time I sneeze...

[alithea]

Argh, sizing! It's just crazy, isn't it? I had to send 2 swimming costumes back on Monday because they were ridiculously short in the body and the cups were sitting a good 2-3 inches below my bust (and I just couldn't get the one with non-adjustable straps on at all) - I'm only 5'5'' and have relatively long legs for my height, no wonder mine was the only size that hadn't sold out!

[jadesfire]

It's so ridiculous. I don't mind differences between shops. That's just one of those things. But when multiple things in similar fabrics from the same shop fit differently? So. Annoying!

[alithea]

Yeah, that moves on from 'sizing is crazy' to shoddy quality control :(