TV ate my life

 I feel like I haven't been on here for ages.  Probably because I haven't.  I haven't had the time.  My sister and her two kids were here all last week, dog-sitting while my parents were away and I was at work.  When I was home, I was either entertaining the kids, or watching movies with Jennie.  We got though four Star Trek movies, the Man From UNCLE (Which is much better on the second viewing, once the shock as worn off!) Deadpan, Death Becomes her, which is an old silly favorite from when we were kids, and Demolition Man, which is as well.  We also managed to go pottery painting, have a trip to the Humber Bridge park (Pokemon hunting!) and eat lots of take out.  It was a fun week.

Next week, we're all heading to Center Parcs, Mum, Dad, me, Jen, her husband and kids and the dog.  I'm looking forward to it, even though sharing a room with Poppy means I will never get enough sleep!  

Work is going well, though I;m glad to be getting a week off.  It's a bit scary though, like one of the managers told me how impressed her manager had been with me, and then She was telling another manager how well I was doing, and I was a little baffled because I honestly don't feel like I;m going that well.  I feel like I'm constantly asking for help, and struggling to put out one fire after another.  But I guess nothing has actually burned down yet, so maybe It's going better than I think.

I'm up late drinking beer tonight because Poppy I don't have to get up to take Poppy to karate tomorrow, she went today instead.  This will be my last lie-in for a week, so I'm going to take advantage by staying up late for no reason.

In other news, I finally got my hair cut today.  It's been about seven months, and I decided it was time to get the back trimmed so it was more even with the front.  It looks and feels so much better.  I should have done it months ago.  All I have to do now is decide what ind of a style I;m actually going to go for.  I'm thinking inverted bob, but I will need more length in the front.

 Last week was busy.  It always is they few days after a bank holiday, but this seems to have gone on all week.  That coupled with the fact that we were running the branch on two for two days, once with me in charge, made for stress.  On the plus side, I had my half yearly appraisal and I appear to be doing better than I thought.  On the negative side, I'm running the branch for three days next week, and one of those days I;ll only have one other member of staff again.  But then I have a day off, before being moved to the far quieter branch of Whitefriargate from Friday.  That is a bit of a mixed blessing really.  On the one hand, there will be far less stress, but on the other it is incredibly quiet there, quiet enough that I could probably sit and read a book and nobody would notice.  It's also in town, which is good for travel when the weather is okay, but if it is raining parking is super expensive and the bus station is miles away.  Never mind though, I'm sure I'll work something out.

I've been thinking about my hair recently.  A few months ago, I stopped having it cut.  I were it really short normally, a little longer at the front with bangs that sweep in from one side, but really short at the back, and shaved at the neckline.  But I had an appointment for a cut back in January, and I had to cancel it because I had been asked to work.  Then I just never bothered making it again.  Four months later, I just have this mess, still way too short to tie back, but too long to look neat.  It doesn't help that it's curly, which you don;t even notice when it's short but now it has a bit of length, I pump of mouse and drying it with a diffuser result in something that looks like a 1980s perm.  I know this because I tried it for a laugh yesterday.  So my dilemma is this: do I make an appointment and have it cut again, or do I continue to grow it and see what happens?  I would like to try something new, but I'm getting a little sick of looking like a mess all this time.  I've been thinking for a month or so that any day now it'll reach a length that is more manageable, but it keeps not doing.  What normally happens is you make an appointment to get it cut then the next day you realize it looks not too bad now.  Maybe I should book in so that that happens!

I got my Esther the Wonder Pig book on Friday (along with my helmet cam, but I don't have a memory card for that yet) so I've been reading that over the weekend.  I love Esther.  She's a pig that was adopted by a couple in Canada a few years ago, they thought she was a mini pig, but she turned out to be a full sized commercial pig, who just kept growing to around 650lbs.  She is enormous, but she lives in the house with them and plays with the dogs and is just one of the family.  It's amazing.  They changed their whole lives because of there, moved out of the city to the countryside, went vegan, opened an animal sanctuary, all because they had this pig and the couldn't bear to give her up.  The book is about their whole journey, and although I know it because I've followed Esther on Facebook for a year or so, I'm really enjoying it.

I've also started rewatching Lillyhammer on Netflix, it's been a while since I've seen it, it;s just as good as I remember,

Today was one of those stupid days where nothing goes right.

You know the movie Clerks? "I'm not even supposed to be here today." Someone convinced me to swap shifts with him. I'm sure he was lying about why, he claimed the road had been messed up and they had given him an extra day, but I know he's a Hull City fan, and it turns out they were playing at home today. I bet he spent an nice sunny afternoon at KC Stadium. Never mind, I suppose on the upside I wasn't stuck watching football all afternoon! :)

I only get one day off this weekend now, and my mum and sister (and nieces) are heading to Cleethorpes for a day on the beach, so that's not something I can ever turn down. It may be a stereotypical English seaside town, but I spent most of my childhood summers there, so I will always love it Plus, penny falls that still take 2p coins...

Monday I have to go to Sheffield for the course that I missed out on in March when I was with the stupid bronchitis/laryngitis combo. I'm convinced I still have the same bug now, but it's mostly on the way out, despite the ears thing that's till happening.

It's annoying really. I've driven to Sheffield once or twice before, it's not that far away, and it's where my mum is from, but I'm not confident at all driving in the city, and I have to get to Sheffield United grounds by 9am. Any other day, my mum would be able to take me and then spend the day with her cousin, but because it's that particular day, her cousin is out of town and I have to be a grown-up and drive myself.

The football grounds is about a five minute drive from where my nana and granddad used to live though, so I was thinking that before I head home, I might go there and have a look around, see if it still looks the same. I've not been there in about 25 years, but on Google maps it still looks the same. I'd be interested to see it in person.

On Saturday next week, I'm back in Sheffield again to see Bryan Adams. Funny how things happen all at once.

FanFiction.net appears to be malfunctioning. Again. it won;t let me upload anything. Why I keep using that site, I'm not entirely sure. Misguided loyalty due to how long I;ve been there, I suppose. This latest fic is not going to be going up there tonight though. I should have been asleep hours ago.

I got roped into working an extra Saturday last week. There's a girl at work who had been rota;d on for this coming Saturday and had someone visiting for just that day. She asked if I;d do it for her, and because I honestly lack the capacity to say no if someone asks me something outright, I agreed, as long as I could still get a lieu day during the week. But now she's decided to call in sick today, and so I have no idea whether I;m working on Saturday or not, because she is prone to taking weeks off at the moment due to some pregnancy issues she's having. But Saturday is Hull Pride, and I would love to go if I;m not working. I hope I;ll find out tomorrow. But then, even if she is off for the week, there;s still a good chance they'll ask me to cover her shift on Saturday, since they already now know I;m free(ish). I hate uncertainty.

In random other news, my niece is a Hulk fan. I have no idea where that came from, but now whenever she sees me with my iPad, she demands that I read her the Hulk on Marvel Unlimited. Which would be fine, but I don't know the Hulk that well, so I don"t know if there's going to be something inappropriate on the next page. Also, she's four. And more than a little interested in death to the point that whenever someone gets punched, she asks if they're dead and then starts talking about her guinea pig that died. It's kind of sad, and I literally never know what to say. I think she's been traumatized by the whole thing. She also thinks Captain America is cool, and she sees this cushion I have with a star on it as a Captain America shield, and I have to be the bad guy and try to beat her up while she blocks me with it. It's pretty hilarious actually. She is also having me read her my collection of Thundercats comics from the 80s. She's probably going to end up a total geek. This is good...

But the thing about death has to stop. I'm worried about it. Should I speak to my sister again? She does't seem particularly bothered, but then she had never read the Hulk with the kid.

I think the series of fic writing/reading related late nights finally caught up with me last night, because there I was watching Daredevil with my mum (we do that on a Thursday now, it;s become a thing. We watch an episode. My dad watches the episode round at my sister while babysitting and I;m still pretending I haven't seen them yet) and I fell asleep. Full on fell asleep, for about half an hour, right in the middle of ep 6. Haha oops. Luckily I didn't snore or anything! So I got myself an early night last night (sort of, it was like 11), and I feel about ten times better. I must have been sleep deprived and not realized.

I'm working tomorrow, which is annoying because of the whole working an a Saturday means standing up for 8 hours and straining my back thing, but on the plus side, once I've got through that I'm off for two weeks. I'm going down to Norfolk with most of the family for a week - in a caravan. Five adults, one four year old and a dog. We'll see how that goes... - and then spending the following week basking in the fact that I don't have to do anything. Hopefully I'll get some more stuff written. I have to pack on Sunday because I;m super disorganized for some reason and I haven;t even thought about what to take. I really want to get another chapter of Fine but not Fine posted before I go, but it;s not quite there yet and I don't know if it will be. I;m taking my laptop with me anyway though, and hopefully there'll be wifi. If not, I can tether my macbook to my iPhone so I won;t be without internet. I'll get it posted somehow.

I should probably try to get another early night.
Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaaaa Yeah, right.

I must have still been half asleep when I got dressed this morning, becuase just before I walked out the door to go to work, I noticed that I was wearing my work shirt and name badge all correctly, but I had on a pair of jeans and my Marvel Comics belt. Oops. Cue running upstairs to get changed quickly.

On my lunch time, (becuase yes, I am the nerd who brings her laptop to work to write fic on breaks) I found an old fanfic I was working on about two years ago that I had forgotten about. It's a crossover between the Lost Boys and Big Wolf on Campus. It's very short and nowhere near complete, and I feel the urge to work on it.

Ryan Robbins is a member of his own fangroup on facebook. That is seriously funny. And also very cool. He's made a post asking if it's weird that he's his own fan.

I'm standing outside work at the mo, it's snowing and very cold. I'm starting to lose the feeling in my fingers.

Well, I'm still ill. I went to work yesterday, but I could barely talk (not good when you're working on the counter!) And when I turned up today, the manager practically told me to go home. Apparently she'd rather have me recoup today and be well for the end of the week when other people have holidays and it'll probably be busy than have me make myself more ill and not be in later. I'd rather that too, since it's my birthday on Friday and I'd rather not be ill for it.

So, I've got a cold, a really unpleasant sounding cough, and I've still lost my voice, plus I'm completely exhausted and can barely keep awake. Sigh. I'm meant to ring work later and let them know if I think I'll be in tomorrow, I hope I will be, but I'm not sure. I should be using the spare time to write, but I seem to lack the energy required to be creative. This sucks, I'm never ill, not with colds and stuff. I've not had one like this for years, I really don't need this a few months into a new job.

The unexpected holiday is over, I'm at work 9.30 tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed it will be fine. My mum's giving me a lift in, but no idea how I'm getting home, I really don't want to have to pay a fiver for a taxi, that's nearly an hour's wages. I guess I'll walk it. Once I've checked out the place and found somewhere for my bike, I guess I'll cycle most days. I'm only there 3 days now before I go on holiday, which is weird. I just hope they don't decide to sack me in my absence or anything, because that would seriously suck. Anyway, best get day 1 over with before I start worrying about that.

Well, I've been productive today.

I have called the hairdressers and rescheduled my appointment, since I'll now be at work when it was supposed to be. Which means I'll look less of a wreck on my first day at my new job, which is good. I had been planning on leaving my hair until just before I go on holiday, but it's got pretty awful looking over the past few weeks.

I have also written my resignation letter, which I'll hand in when I get to work. I didn't know who to address it to. The manager is on holiday at the moment, but I did it to him anyway. I hope that's okay.

I'm really nervous, but I think I'm doing the right thing by leaving. Otherwise I'll just end up staying there forever, which would be easier in some ways, but I think it might cause me to go completely insane.