Halfway peoples

Ok, I’ve been slack. Not just a little slack, but on an epic scale. Since semester finished I’ve been spending more and more time away from my laptop. Time that has been channelled into far more pleasurable activities, like seeing my friends and reading. Always reading. This slackness has meant that I didn’t print my reading list for May or June, something that I have now rectified.

With the countdown to my final semester I have started getting things into order. I’m in front for my reading, which is a good thing. Today being the 1^st of July, and day 183, I am quite pleased that I am currently reading book 187. It’s all downhill from here. I realise that in lots of way this challenge has taken over this blog. The last few posts have been little but my reading lists. It would be easy to think that it has taken over the rest of my life too. But it hasn’t really. 

I don’t go out any more or less than I would if I wasn’t reading. I can honestly say that I haven’t missed out on doing anything with friends, or going places with Miss R. I don’t entertain any less, or see fewer movies (though there hasn’t exactly been a wealth of stuff worth seeing). In fact the only thing I do less of is watch tv. Which, in the grand scheme of things, I can’t take that as a bad thing.

On the baking front I finally sourced chestnut flour for my wheat/gluten free baking. It’s first outing as part of a vegan chocolate pumpkin cake was a success. I plan on consuming the last of it with a bowl of warm custard after dinner.

I’m running a second photobooks class on Tuesday morning, and have managed to pick up a few extra shifts, so the bank a/c is slowly recovering from the chunk my rego took out of it. Work also paid for my first aid course. I expect my certificate in the mail any day now. 

The quest for full time work continues. There are possibilities with the opening of the new library in September, but council is still looking over the positions. In the end what they decide will come down to money. I don’t want to leave my library, but it’s hard to live on only 17.5 hrs a week.

Maybe Miss R and I should open that dessert home delivery business …

March recap

 

Well, so far I’m still on track. In fact I am already ¼ of the way there. I have to admit, I am still enjoying the reading. Actually, I think I am in probably more in danger of becoming resentful of anything that interrupts my reading than of the reading itself. With that in mind I have tried to be careful about some of my reading choices. I got completely sucked into the Dresden chronicles, and I devoured the Hunger Games trilogy, but other than that I’ve been fairly good.

I did manage to see around 15 films @ MQFF. I would have liked to see more but it was never going to happen. Miss R & I both picked some interesting one, but we went to a few separately. Hopefully next year we'll have time to see more.

Uni is keeping things interesting. Major academic projects are not my idea of a good time, but unfortunately I'm doing ‘Electronic Publishing’ so there’s no avoiding it this semester. My initial proposal fell through, so now I’m scrambling to find something else so I can get my plan in on time. It does not look good.

The photobooks class went really well, and head of the training team was very happy with it. She is still talking about having me join the team, but needs to convince her managers to find the funding in the budgets. It’s nice to feel wanted, but I’m not holding my breath.

I am looking forward to catching up with the girls in a few weeks. Between work, uni, and the reading, I haven’t been very social. I’ll have to work on that … in my copious free time.

Books read in March:

64: Sybil Exposed, the extraordinary story behind the famous multiple-personality case by Debbie Nathan

65: Claymore vol 7 by Norihiro Yagi

66: Claymore vol 8 by Norihiro Yagi

67: Claymore vol 9 by Norihiro Yagi

68: Claymore vol 10 by Norihiro Yagi

69: iD_entity vol 5 by Son Hee-joon

70: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

71: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

72: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

73: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

74: Death Masks by Jim Butcher

75: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

76: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

77: Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

78: White Night by Jim Butcher

79: Small Favor by Jim Butcher

80: Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

81: Changes by Jim Butcher

82: Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

83: The other Tudors; Henry VIII's mistresses and bastards by Philippa Jones

84: Kurogane vol 1 by Kei Toume

85: Kurogane vol 2 by Kei Toume

86: The kingdoms of dust by Amanda Downum

87: Kurogane vol 3 by Kei Toume

88: Kurogane vol 4 by Kei Toume

89: Kurogane vol 5 by Kei Toume

90: Terminate with extreme prejudice: an expose of the assassination game, its killers and their paymasters by Richard Belfield

91: Hunger games by Suzanne Collins

92: Catching fire by Suzanne Collins

February recap

Well, I survived. It was one hell of a month but I think by and large it was a good effort. My month long secondment to the training team certainly kept me busy. I can however now say with complete confidence that when I run the photo-books class this month I will not need to refer to my notes at any point. Which, when you think about it, is a shame because I’ve worked bloody hard on them. But, such is life.

The ongoing drama with the training computers not letting me save any of the work has meant that every time I use the photo-books software I’ve had to start from scratch. Mostly because the way council has set up the training and public PCs, there are so many restrictions that you can’t get into even the most basic program files, and anything that might have been saved by a user is wiped every time the machine is turned off. I understand the reasoning behind it, but still it made my job harder.

Other than that, my month at the higher banding wasn’t all that different from what I was doing before. I was just “officially” supposed to do it, as opposed to just doing it because it needed doing. There has been some talk from the head of the training team about keeping me permanently, but no details on what that would actually mean. More hours? Permanent higher banding? Who knows? Miss R thinks I should be more excited about the idea. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be thrilled if it became permanent. I’m also aware that no matter how much someone wants me, if there’s no money in the budget it’s not going to happen. Still it was fun, and it’s something else to put on the resume.

Now that the month is over I’m back to my regular hours, and of course uni has started. I’ve put all the important dates in my calendar and asked for two weeks off before each major assessment is due. I was too late for the assessments due this month, but not the others. The first lot of leave has been approved, but no word on the second lot yet. 

MQFF starts this week, and I’ve got tickets for about 10 movies. With that, uni assessments, and work, I’m not likely to get much reading done this month. Unless of course I’m procrastinating. 

Maybe just one game of bubbles before I start ...

Books read in February:

41        50 people who buggered up Britain by Quentin Letts

42        Storm from the shadows by David Weber

43        Torch of freedom by David Weber & Eric Flint

44        Mission of Honor by David Weber

45        Hellsing vol 8 by Kouta Hirano

46        Hellsing vol 9 by Kouta Hirano

47        Hellsing vol 10 by Kouta Hirano

48       A crown imperilled by Raymond E Feist

49        After school charisma Vol 2 by Kumiko Suekane

50       After school charisma Vol 3 by Kumiko Suekane

51        Rapture for the geeks by Richard Dooling

52        Shadow prowler by Alexey Pehov

53        Shadow chaser by Alexey Pehov

54        iD_entity vol 1 by Son Hee-joon

55        iD_entity vol 2 by Son Hee-joon

56        iD_entity vol 3 by Son Hee-joon

57        iD_entity vol 4 by Son Hee-joon

58       Claymore vol 1 by Norihiro Yagi

59        Claymore vol 2 by Norihiro Yagi

60       Claymore vol 3 by Norihiro Yagi

61        Claymore vol 4 by Norihiro Yagi

62        Claymore vol 5 by Norihiro Yagi

63        Claymore vol 6 by Norihiro Yagi