I can't hear this song without thinking of Colbert any more, but I guess that's not a bad thing.

Today was actually good, but my mood was very poor for most of it. Staved it off for the most part by being mechanically productive, and am staving it off now by reorganising my hard drive and copying all the stuff I'd burned to CDs onto the shiny new hard drive so I can use this box for something else.

I have so much Bleach. SO MUCH.

Because these are the lengths I go to in order to procrastinate on NaNo. Yes.

Also, it is wrong to expect things of other people when I do not want them to expect things of me. It is wrong, and I should stop doing it. Now.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/446103.html || comments

Apparently when I am not at five thousand watts of sparkle, everyone notices. I'm sure that means something good, but at the moment that seems to be translating into the need to be at ten thousand watts tomorrow so I don't worry people, which, uh. No.

Christmas party on Friday is looking more and more like something I would rather hide under the table than attend, but try explaining 'I will have trouble breathing' to the enthusiastically social without anyone taking it personally or trying to convince you that It Will Be Fun You Will Have a Great Time. Darling, I love you dearly, but that time is not great for me.

Additionally, iTunes, I don't need you to Genius it up for me every time I fucking open you. I need to you to play the playlist that I click on. That's why I make playlists.

*huff*

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/445653.html || comments

committing:
Ffffffffuuuuuuucjfksdjfsadkl I need a subject divider for my mind. Either that or to spend a week in seclusion, planning things to my satisfaction. I finished the task that I knew I had to finish this morning and spent the afternoon in what, for me, amounts to a whirlwind of confusion.
Also Gary broke something and I still don't know what, and the fucking, fucking Cache FAQ is broken again. Ausdfjkasdhfhsdfsdfl.

committed:
Tickets for New Moon have been purchased. :| Neek, this is a measure of my love for you. I am still going to buy an ...and then Buffy staked Edward t-shirt.
Also, seeing 2012 tomorrow night. I think I should make a habit of booking myself up after work so that I go the fuck home.

committee:
Chatty meeting tomorrow to hopefully dispel some of the aaarhgjfsahgjsdfsadfauisdfkvss. Why do I let myself get into situations where I am anything resembling in charge? I hate it. jfdksflksaklfd.
It's not even that I'm stressed right now, it's just that the move and the week off combined to make my head a floaty place of negative concentration. Also, I require better playlists.

also:
Fuck off, summer, we do not serve your kind around here.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/444941.html || comments

Best Linux Prank Ever: EXECUTED.

Tom did the actual executing because he has no self control - I was perfectly happy to save it for a rainy day. But no. We all had the same password, so he ssh'd into Gary's machine and changed his command prompt to

[user@host ~] sudo rm -r /


Complete with new line so that it looked like it was executing. This command? Deletes everything on your computer. (EVERYTHING. DON'T DO IT.) This one wouldn't execute - it would just LOOK that way. It was going to be epic, although possibly distressing for Gary.

And then the trainer chose that moment to demonstrate remote access... into Gary's machine.

So that the 'delete everything' command was up on the projector, and the trainer was going :|, as was the rest of the class. Even the trainer thought we had actually made it execute. Talk about the best stage for a practical joke ever, omg.

Anyway, it served as a nice practical lesson as to why you should never let anyone know your password or your root password. Ever.

Also? IT WAS AMAZING.




Seriously, I generally abhor practical jokes, but this one was too perfect.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/443707.html || comments

So today I devised, with prompting from Tom, the best Linux prank ever.

The only problem is that I'm probably never going to be able to execute it.

It's totally the best hypothetical Linux prank ever, though.



I slept really, really terribly last night. To the point where I'm surprised at how well I stayed awake today. ...but then again, I also hardly paused to listen to Aurelien instead of working through the material on my own, so it's not so surprising. More mental effort = less desire to nap in class.

Anyway. I have to write tonight, or I will probably want to slap myself. I think I want to be at 35k by the end of this weekend, which shouldn't be too big an ask (and let's face it, if it is, I'll just insert random non-canonical porn).

...but I'm watching the second episode of V first. ( Because Morena Baccarin should be lure enough for anyone. )

...and after the writing, I'm playing Castlevania. I know exactly what I need to do, I'm just having handfail doing it.

[EDIT] It should never take three days' play to finish the Forest of Silence. This is something I know, deep in my soul. And yet, look at this. I only just hit the Castle Wall. */wrists* I should hand in my gaming license. ;A;

On the bright side, yay jumping all the time in random directions while holding down the 'charge magic' button strategy.

I know the Villa is probably a fortnight away at this rate, but still. I AM EXCITED FOR THE VILLA. Although I think I was Reinhardt last time I made it that far so I'll probably get there and be horribly confused. :\

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/443458.html || comments

How 'bout that? Go, Dreamwidth. :)

Today:
- Finished all the work I want to finish for the QE doc bundle due tomorrow. :D Will move on to my (suspiciously MIA) minion's assorted duties tomorrow.
- Bewildered and alarmed Dazzled and amazed with my eloquent hand-gesture dance.
- Fixed the rest of my F-11 installation, which broke my inbox in the night.
- Made it out of dependency hell with the assistance of Rudi and Jeff. \o/ I really, really need that Linux Essentials course next week. >>
- Made an epic tactical error by telling Susan to keep up with my NaNo count. Watch as she proceeds to wipe the floor with me. XD No, seriously, I'm dead. Only my insomnia will save me.



I am pretty sure I will never know everything I want or need to know, and this makes me sad.

I was considering the abilities of Holmes as listed by Watson earlier and thinking, well, at least he'd worked out what he needed to know to do what he wanted to do, and set about achieving that knowledge. By the time he's, say, twenty-five, he's already refining that knowledge further and taking it in new and interesting directions.

Not that I'm expecting to be like Holmes, but I am finding that being genuinely interested in pretty much everything makes it incredibly difficult to pick a direction and be satisfied with it. And it's not that I do not love, love, love writing down to my bones, because I do. Giving myself permission to write and to concentrate on writing for the duration of November is more of a relief than removing your ridiculous but awesome high heels. (I mean that. My big toe is still raw from these fuckers, but they are awesome. I do not usually feel this way about shoes, let alone shoes that hurt me.) It's rewarding in and of itself - fiction and nonfiction.

But being in this job has really recalled that, actually, I really enjoyed programming. I'd barely touched a toe to the tip of the iceberg, mind you, but I am genuinely interested and I just do not have the time to act upon that interest.

I really love drawing and painting, too. And the violin, and the keyboard, and maths, and physics, and biology, and singing, and videogames, and sleeping, and cooking, and... do you see what I'm getting at, here? The need to get better at these things that I regularly enjoy is incredibly frustrating because I just do not have the time to give all of these things the attention that I want to give them. I just really love things. Lots of things. All the time. And it's annoying as fuck that there is really only time to give maybe two of them adequate attention.



This post brought to you by random musings on satisfaction and a conversation about generalists vs. specialists a few days ago.

And now I am going to make tea and write NaNo and certainly not watch Zombieland because that would let Susan get even further ahead of me and we cannot have that.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/441468.html || comments

So I just found my resolutions for this year. LOL.

1) I will exercise.
2) I will finish F&F.
3) I will teach myself CSS.
4) I will make myself an online folio.
5) I will write, and publish my writing.
6) I will learn to say 'no'.
7) I will put away at least one third of my pay each week and not touch it.
8) If I am not writing, I will read.
9) ...or play video games.
10) I will be punctual.
11) I will participate in NaNoMango with kuchibue and reward her for her participation with this year's NaNovel.

I think we call this year a write-off. XD I did attain some awesome things I did not write down, though, so it's not as bad as all that. STILL. LOL, #1-6. ...although technically I guess #5 I did, since, y'know, doc writer. >_> I published my writing today, after all.

Anyway, today was not awful - things are still going alarmingly well as far as the project goes, and everything should be available tomorrow morning. I will be unutterably relieved to get rid of this thing, though the next is really no better.

I get to pick my new desk on Friday. Have no idea where I would like to be. Probably facing a window so that I don't get glare on my monitors, because that drives me bugfuck, but aside from that I really do not know. We're all on a training course next week, and after an early meeting tomorrow I'm starting work on a new project. We need to have stuff bundled off to QE by Friday, though. At least this means they can QE stuff pretty thoroughly over the week my team is being taught how to not use our Linux boxes as toasters.

Anyway, must go. Word war begins very shortly. :)

[EDIT] And I am all out of Holmes to watch. ;_; My heart. It is breaking.

Original || Comment ||

Final commit finished five minutes before I wanted to leave, which means all I have to do tomorrow is write a new index page, commit, and hope. :D! Life is awesome.

Merlin is also awesome. :D

So are timezones that mean my 6am meetings are now at 7am. :D

Everything's coming up Raven!





...tomorrow is going to suck.

Original || Comment ||

Currently:
- cooking dinner
- babysitting dragonforce #1
- babysitting minor!dragonforce #2 (2-5, really, but I don't want to push my luck with CVS)
- writing NaNo
- folding washing
- formulating tomorrow's todo list

Try fitting all that in your Facebook status coherently, though.

Everything is going pretty well as far as the work stuff goes... the second third is being jammed up CVS's proverbial, courtesy of the fabulous dragonforce script, and I think the whole process should be done by the time I usually leave for work in the morning. (Though with the password thing, I may need to stay up and make sure that the permissions will last that long.) I'd stay home tomorrow to make up for the whole weekend thing and get some decent sleep, but unfortunately I still have to do the final third and confirm that the first third actually made it up before I go prodding helpdesk with pointy objects.

Mum is back from the coast, which is pretty much why I bothered to cook. She's exhausted. Oopee's bleeding internally from the medication, so he's not coming out of hospital yet, and her sister's not coming home because - wait for it - she wouldn't have a car. (Her daughter is currently using her car to travel about fifteen minutes across town to get to her workplace, which would take about forty minutes on two buses. Somehow this would be too much hardship to assist a dying grandparent? As if Shelly wouldn't do that and give up the car to her mother again.) Yeah, no, Diane. Pull the other one; it's got bells on.

Dinner has been retrieved from the oven and I should probably make sure my mother actually eats instead of lying prone on the couch before she crawls to bed, so that's that for the time being.

[EDIT] Oh, and Wyrren came past for an hour or so this afternoon! ^^ It was really good to see her again, even though I spent half of our conversation rattling away at release notes. I'd missed her.

Original || Comment ||

Yyyyyeah, going to have to talk to alt about this whole 'tuesday release with saturday qe finish' thing because hint IT ISN'T WORKING OUT TOO WELL FOR ME.

I mean, everything is going fine, but I would also like to not have to babysit Havelock through the entire process. And the VPN is slow as shit, so everything is taking about five times as long. I should really just go into work, but then I could not do the washing while I wait.

Wyrren is going to drop past on her way back from town, though. :D I should maybe have brushed my hair by then.

Original || Comment ||

I am expecting an epic technology fail at any moment now, but so far - SO FAR - things are going pretty okay. And I can now keep half an eye on my builds without causing too much panic.

(jsdfhasd the SECOND I typed that there was a minor error. XD TYPICAL. So, yes, half an eye. BUT ONLY HALF.)

TO DO:
- take rubbish down
- dry sheets
- vacuum house
- dust bookshelves and gaming devices
- try to scribble some basic plotting for Rocfall
- ELEVEN HOURS SEVEN MINUTES TIL NANO GUYS OMG

Original || Comment ||

Last night was good. Not as many people as I expected, which was a good thing given the vast horde that replied with I'LL BE THERE :D. ._. I'd have had a job and a half keeping up with them. Ended up with the better part of a dozen people, including Erin, whom it was very good to see again, and I think everyone now understands that my workmates are awesome based on only two examples. XD Let's not pretend I didn't tell you so.

Then again, the return of the creepy ex-coworker. :| Why do I attract these men? Is it my hobo-radar working overtime, or what? Can I turn it off now? Well, yes, by being less polite, but we all know I have difficulty with that.

Spending the vast majority of this weekend shepherding documentation through the final hurdles and getting it up online. A lot of the docs are still hideous, but the OCD cares as much about timing as quality, thank all gods, so is not twitching too much when we're so behind. Just don't expect to see a lot of me on the interwebs, unless it's for a repeat of Build, you fucker, build.

Incidentally, I have six days to work on the next project before the docfreeze date. :) Why would you ever do this. :) Halp.

Original || Comment ||

Started feeling quite nauseous about half past seven; I thought food would help but it really has not. I think sleep will solve the problem, but I'm afraid I need to ctrl-alt-del my mind before that can happen and, well, Holmes is helping with that.

Got a fair bit done today, although once again not as much as I'd hoped. As much as could be expected, I suppose. Wish I'd organised more thorough technical reviews earlier, but that's what I get for assuming a basic sweep had been done before I started work. Certainly shan't make that mistake again.

Want to get some writing done for gifts and NaNo preparation, but to be honest? Way too tired. I'm not going to be very exciting on Friday night, that's for sure.

Original || Comment ||

Today was actually pretty good for a substitute Monday. Aside from the continuing drama of the moneylending, anyway, which I think is over. Dad only SMS'd, thankfully, but seemed genuinely shocked that I'd be so upset about not being able/willing to lend him money. -_- Clearly he does not understand how well the Catholic Guilt has worked upon my mother and I.

Sorted everything that needed sorting today, but actually really need to do the JBoss Messaging version release notes tomorrow. *vows* Kind of important to get this stuff done before all the tech reviews come flooding back in... and man, Thursday through Tuesday is not going to be a fun fun happy-go-lucky time.

Should possibly have scheduled birthday drinks for another time.

Should possibly have scheduled the change in internet for a different time, too, because I'm sure that'll involve a service hiccup or four, but hey, it's going to be ADSL2+ and I can always go in to work on the weekend if I absolutely need to.

Oopee had his stent put in today, and he's still feeling pretty rotten, which is to be expected. I hope he perks up all the perking he can do pretty soon, but he's not exactly optimistic about the situation, and neither is anyone else. I maintain he cannot die of anything until he has a) taught me to speak Dutch fluently and b) told me his life story in detail so that I can pass it on. That is my story and I am sticking with it.

Original || Comment ||

CONS:
- Broke my Java again, and the fix is probably to rip out FOP and start again. Sigh.
- Dad is trying to borrow money from me to finish his house. Any money I lend to my father, I would not expect see again, ever, from past experience on the matter. But the guilt, kids. The guilt will try to get me every time. Despite one notable PRO, I am far from debt-free, so this is never ever going to happen. But the fact that I am not helping when I have been asked for help kind of goes stabbystabbystabstab.
- Was just made violently angry by people being, well, people.

PROS:
- There is currently one task awaiting my attention for this project. ONE. Everything else is someone else's problem for the week. My happiness and relief know no bounds.
- Half my bonus payment for getting Tom hired came in tonight. Because of this, my savings have just passed the ten grand mark. All of this is going to my HECS debt, mind. But this means I am well on track to affording other, more important things. Like houses, and cats to put in them. As I planned. My lack of social life is paying off! :D
- I am still really happy with the last thing I wrote. It was fic, and it was het, and I am happy with it, for all that I never write het any more. This is a minor miracle.
- I had a really awesome lunch with Neek and Luke today, which I was expecting to be a little awful, actually. I'd clearly forgotten how much I love talking to them both.
- I have a long weekend ahead of me, on which I need do nothing more complex than:
       a) figure out how to get to Josh's kirtan concert thing tomorrow afternoon
       b) have dinner with my immediate family on Sunday night
       c) spend Monday lazing and drawing and writing on the internets with ignite and presumably kuchibue
       d) play Pokémon Snap, which I totally downloaded from the Wii Store last night DON'T JUDGE

So all in all, a really good day today. A good end to the week. But a few of the cons are sitting heavily in my head at the moment, so I feel pretty even.

Original || Comment ||

I am so tired today. just. so tired. And Mike left before he could add things to brew for me, so I still couldn't push my docs. :( Worked steadily all day, though, so I guess I must have done something worthwhile.

Just. Yeah. Wow. Exhausted.

I might go to bed now.

Original || Comment ||

In this case, my first impression of today was, fuck. No. And, really, it would have been sensible to stick with that and stay in bed.

I am probably going to regret my passive-aggression toward the dev team, for one thing.

On the bright side, everything that went horribly wrong today was righted by the time I left. Which, uh, was two hours late when I'd already started forty minutes early, but this is not the point at all. *cough* The point is that, pending fixes to ridiculous tables that should never have been brought into existence, everything I need uploaded can be uploaded tomorrow. All hail the power of educated guessing making shit up.

Also, I don't have to be up at half five tomorrow. And I have noodles. Mmm, noodles.

Lenghty conversation about gaming before I made my way to the bus stop means that I'm now considering pulling out either VS or FFXII again... but I really shouldn't fuck up my hands just before NaNo.

Speaking of which - games, not NaNo - I jumped in Mario Kart today and landed perfectly on the corner of the next part of the track... and stayed there, hovering over the lava, until I purposefully reversed into the lava, because otherwise I'd have been stuck there all race.

There have been quite a few bugs in that game, actually, which I've only been subjected to at work. Clearly it is the environment getting to it.

Original || Comment ||

PRO:
Finished all tasks for today, plus others, except those that are NEEDINFO.

CON:
Just nearly broke my right pinky on the kitchen counter trying to catch my weight on it when I took a crazy impossible step trying to avoid the carving knife I dropped directly over my feet.

Things even out.

Although not really, because most of work was pretty asdfasdfsdf, too. Although slightly less immediately painful. Hope my finger feels better tomorrow, or using a tablet/mouse/keyboard is going to be problematic.

Original || Comment ||

Ladies, think of the top ten things you don't want to happen at work. Cross off the first one, because it wasn't quite that bad, but focus, ladies, on the second. I spent a few hours this afternoon living and breathing the motto of cosplayers everywhere: safety pins, sticky tape, and hope. Suffice to say I am glad to be home and need to go shopping again. Sigh.

Worked solidly all day and churned through all the little bits I knew about this morning. Unfortunately more stuff filtered in this afternoon. But hey, Isaac is back. :D I thought he got back tomorrow. Nice surprise to walk in and see the top of his head over his monitor wall.

Not feeling much need to plot tonight, but might refine some of the points I made last night, since I'll probably forget what I mean by half of my scrawlings if I leave them another week.

Should probably write myself a report to give at the meeting tomorrow morning, though, since I keep walking out of a Monday without writing anything down. Sigh.

Original || Comment ||

No, wait, it is Thursday. How does this keep happening? :| Amazingly fast weeks are amazing. Today was all about release notes. Tomorrow will be all about release notes, and swearing while I chip more of my nail polish, assuming I can be arsed to paint them toda-- yeah, no, just release notes, and Mario Kart. Staying late so dad can pick me up straight from work, so I can afford to spend time in the Wii room. XD Despite release note flurry.

Of course, this means that at some point this evening I'm going to have to cram all the clothing I require for the wedding into a +20 Bag of Uncrushed Clothing which I... do not possess. Sigh.

For now, though, off to take care of Still More Website Problems Why Do I Do This To Myself.

[EDIT] Er, just went on a bit of a linking spree at Twitter and, um... now I really want to reread BTWIAC. But crying myself to sleep the night before the night before a wedding is probably not the best idea I ever had.

...

I told you both. I told you all the time. *ANGUISHED SOB*

Original || Comment ||