Some things I cannot change

Is it just me, or has Livejournal fallen over and died?

ETA: Omg, this is almost exactly the same as my last Dreamwidth post. Same icon and everything. I guess that answers the question on when and why I use my Dreamwidth account ;)

EATA: And it's back again, already. Momentary blip.

Hullo Dreamwidth. I'm not going to start crossposting (yet), because a). I don't really see any need, and b). I'm not clever enough to set that sort of thing set up, but .. hello :)

Hello, yes it IS a spoiler. Some of us aren't watching the NTAs, and while it'll probably be all over the news tomorrow it's already being reported on the national news and is therefore unavoidable, could we at least respect the old "spoiler cut" netiquette for a few hours, please?

Oh never mind.

What an awesome meme. I can't guarantee I'll be able to do it, because my writing fu deserted me about four years ago, but I'd like to give it a try. Assuming you can even remember any of my fics ... Choose any of my stories and give me a timestamp for it (e.g. 2 years later, one week beforehand etc.) and I'll [try to] write a drabble for you.

ETA: Haha! Brad/Caleb Kane mood icon! Haven't seen that one in a while! :)

When in doubt, post a meme *g* Last seen on epeeblade's LJ, this looks rather fun. Although sadly these days I don't write in any fandoms. But maybe this will inspire me. Don't feel obliged to stick to "pirates with fairy wings set in the 14th century but with space technology" type AUs. You know me, my favourite AUs are the "what if X happened/never happened?" type

The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write in, and give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU,superhero AU, Ancient Rome, etc). I will then explain what story from your chosen fandom I would write for your chosen type of AU.

I went to look at more houses on Saturday. I saw about 7, but I didn't like any of them. I've decided that, given that I'm starting my new job in 4 weeks, my priority has to be finding somewhere to live in the short-term, rather than worrying about the long-term plan to buy somewhere. So I'm going to find somewhere to rent for six months, and I'll start looking to buy again once I'm settled and not homeless. Having been (technically) homeless for a few weeks last year, it's a situation I'm very keen never to be in again. I was lucky last time, and could stay with a friend from work during the week, returning to my mother's at weekend. I won't be able to do that with the new job, as I don't know anyone, so I have to have somewhere to live.

It's an expensive business, renting a flat, especially on your own. But I've got no choice. Well, no, I could go into a shared house, but I hate sharing with strangers, especially when you're a lodger, in an essentially weak position, living in a house which isn't yours. I hate that, and I won't do it again.

So for the next few weeks, my focus will all be on the move. I'm going to have to clean this flat too, and get rid of anything I'm not taking, sort out and pack what I am taking, take the bed and wardrobe apart etc. It's all very tiresome.

I haven't driven my car again since I brought it back from the showroom. I was going to go out today, but then it snowed (!!), and I don't think I'm quite up to driving in snow and ice. It's all pretty much melted now, but our car park is filling up already. It doesn't have enough spaces for the cars that live here, and so is always packed with cars parked in random, inconvenient places and therefore really difficult to navigate. I don't think I'm quite up to adventurous parking yet either, so it's probably best to just stay in today and go for a drive tomorrow while everyone's at work and the car park's empty!

I sorted out my car insurance today - that was a new experience. They were very nice though. I also went to Tesco and bought a squeegee to wipe the snow off the car! Apart from that, though, it's been a slow, boring day. I feel like I've got a hundred things to do, but I can't remember what any of them are. Well, except one - I'm meant to be writing a fic for a challenge, but I seem to have forgotten, when I signed up, that I haven't actually written anything for over three years, and the reason for that is I just don't feel like writing any more. Why I thought this particular challenge would change anything is anyone's guess, but it hasn't changed anything. I don't want to drop out, but .. I just don't feel like writing at the moment.

Flatmate!N is working her way through Buffy at the moment - she's just into season 5. She's trying to power through to the end before I leave, as they're my DVDs. I've thought about watching s6 again - skipping past the dull bits with Spike and Buffy, obviously - to see if I can remember the old Trio love, but then I just remember how terrible it all was and how much better our stuff was than the canon stuff, and it puts me right off.

Ah well. For now I'm just going to watch the Women's European Gymnastics Championships.

I also caught up on some TV this morning. I watched the new: CSI, BSG, and Doctor Who.

( CSI s8 ep12: Grissom's Divine Comedy )

( BSG s4 ep1: something long and religious, I forget )

( Doctor Who s4 ep1: Partners in Crime )

So that's what I've been up to today.

There's some more work stuff that's been going on, which culminates in me getting "talked to" on Tuesday when I go back in about my subversive efforts to turn the staff against the management and convince them all to quit (*rolls eyes*), but it's all quite dull so I won't go in to it. Suffice to say I'm quite glad I'm off on Monday. Once of my replacements (there are now three, I think) has been appointed and is starting on Monday - it'll be interesting to hear how that goes, since I won't be there.

Oh work.

Being a grown up is really hard :( I want to go back to Uni for a few years. Only being paid my current salary. Could that be arranged?

Just in case anyone didn't know, Barrowman's on Paul O'Grady on C4 today at 5pm.

In unrelated news, I just got a text message from my boss to tell me that they've appointed one of my two replacements. She's called Pauline, and she's starting on Monday! Not hanging around, it seems.

From a quick (and possibly inaccurate) bit of Googling, it seems she's an older lady who's worked mostly as a TV producer. We've had one of those in before - two in fact. They both quit within weeks.

I think I will reserve judgement until I've met the poor, unfortunate woman.

Work is totally yawnsome today. I'm just sitting here daydreaming about my new car. I'm going to go and pick it up on Friday morning. It's at the garage now, having whatever it is they do to new cars done to it. I could've gone to pick it up earlier, I think, but I'm off work on Friday so that seemed sensible. Eee car!! :)

It was my birthday yesterday. My work colleagues forgot, although they deny it, but they bought me a little map, a car cleaning kit and a bucket, and some furry dice. Hehe :) Most amusing. My mother was horrified at the thought of the furry dice. She's so middle class.

I need to sort out some insurance now. I have 7 days free from Ford when I pick up the car. Fortunately my ever generous (har har har) father has offered to pay for my insurance, it's a new car so it comes with AA cover for a year, and .. well, my mother paid for it. I've got to sort out a few other things, and actually getting the insurance money from my dad will be like getting blood from a stone, but it's hopefully all going to work out.

So now I just need to sort out somewhere to live from May, and everything will be done! :)

My ticket number for The Rift arrived last night. I'm up in the 190s. No idea what that means, except that I won't have to sit too near the front (thank god). I'm sort of planning to skip out on the "James Marsters sings his greatest hits!" concert at the end and just come home. What does everyone else have planned?

Apart from the bucket, my birthday was fairly dull. I got a couple of cheques from family members, and my aunt and cousin have paid for my ticket to go and see Matthew Bourne's production of The Nutcracker, which we're seeing this Saturday evening. My mother, of course, bought me my car (<3), and - in a stunning repeat of last year - my father has so far sent a card and nothing more. Flatmate!N is making me something in her jewellery class, which is very sweet of her. I'll get that on Thursday, apparently.

We gave our notice to quit to the landlord a week or two ago, so now the agents are showing people around our flat. We haven't actually had any (that we know of) since Friday, though, so perhaps it's been rented now. Fingers crossed! The fewer viewings we have to deal with, the better. The agents are totally useless.

Right. Back to work. It's nearly lunchtime, after all.

JUST PASSED MY DRIVING TEST

OH BABY!!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Oh my god, it's raining and incredibly windy out there - someone's car alarm just got set off - and I have to go out for a driving lesson in an hour! Madness!!

After that, I'm immediately heading off to London for my cousin's 21st birthday dinner, and then back home to my mother's for the Easter weekend. Busy busy!