Category: Ramble Page 42 of 57

It’s parent-teacher interview day, where we get to find out all the stuff we mostly already know about how the kinderbesten are getting on at school. Rach leaves work at 11:30, because they have to get the kids out of the school so they can then come back again, this time with their parents, and get told about how they’re getting on at school. I then leave work early so I get home in time for our first interview.

We’ve wisely staggered our interviews, but not so far apart that we’ll have to loiter awkwardly on the school grounds. The Elderbeast is at 3:10, then the Kinderbeast at 3:30. Naturally I get home and the Elderbeast is nowhere to be seen: he’s at his friend’s house. We head to the school anyway in the potentially vain hope that the Elderbeast will meet us there.

We’re outside the classroom by 3:10, but there’s little sign that the previous interview is wrapping up anytime soon. Then we hear the Elderbeast running over. In a touch of sheer brilliance he’s not only managed to leave his bike, but also his shoes at his friend’s house. Spectacular.

It’s 3:25 before we’re called in for the Elderbeast’s interview. We elect to split up, so I head off for the Kinderbeast’s interview. It goes much as expected, and afterwards I find that the Elderbeast’s interview is still continuing (it was meant to be 3:10-3:20 … it’s now 3:45). It’s another ten minutes, with at least two other sets of parents waiting at the door, before we’re done. I still need to take the Elderbeast to his ice-skating lesson (starting at 4:30) so he’s instructed to retrieve his bike and shoes and come straight home.

Many, many, many minutes later he finally returns and we just about make it for the start of his lesson. I go and sit in the cafe and have to endure the spectacle of my phone running down from 8 percent battery, to 4 percent for a while, and then no percent.

When I finally get home and have the chance to sit down (after dinner and putting the kids to bed) I end up spending two obsessive hours putting together yet another epic list of favourite films: this time running in reverse from the year before my birth. It’s fun but I’m stupidly exhausted by the end of it all.

Should you care to spend rather less than two hours reading it, here’s the list.

I get up to write and press on with the carousel story. After three mornings (and a bit of sneaky editing last night) it really feels like this opening scene is coming together properly. And I’ve even managed to shave a few hundred words off.

Rach is taking a day off to study today, so offers to drop the kids at school. However the morning routine (get Elderbeast out of bed, make breakfasts, get clothes ready, finished packing lunches, get myself dressed, etc) takes so long that I only get to work about 15 minutes earlier than usual.

After a long day at work trying to diagnose particularly enigmatic problems I come home and find the Elderbeast has his friend over. On his own, the Elderbeast can be loud, but when paired with his friend it’s like having a chorus of hammer drills assaulting your ears. It doesn’t take long before the stress makes me cranky.

After that it’s just a matter of making the dinner, emptying the dishwasher, filling the dishwasher, making the lunches, then realising the kids don’t need lunch tomorrow, then getting the kids to bed, then cleaning the cat trays, then showering, and then quietly dying in the corner …

It’s Fucken Monday, but as far as Fucken Monday goes it was a pretty good one.

I managed to get up for the second morning in a row for my morning shift. Still working on the exact same scene I was working on yesterday, but it’s getting there. The kinderbesten managed to not make me regret the day of my own birth during the preparations for leaving the house. The Elderbeast even joined us to help out with the Kinderbeast’s pre-class name-writing practice. And the debacle of the bottle shop being closed at 7pm last night was more or less atoned for by presenting me with a decent deal on the sought-after champagne (one bottle for $12; two bottles for $14: no brainer!)

The morning tea proved worth the preparation time, even though two of the team were off sick and will deservedly regret their absence for many, many days, if not years, to come. We did at least save them some cakes, because we’re not complete savages. Also there were way too many cakes for us to eat anyway.

There may even be too many cakes, full stop. But I’m sure that’s not a thing …

I finally get back on the morning shift today, after about two weeks’ of cabbage brain. I’ve got abut three stories on the go, but I return to the the spooky carousel one. The break from writing has given me a chance to figure out how to correct some of the structural issues with the last draft. It feels good to get back to writing, and it feels good to be working on this story again – which I take as a sign that I’m doing something right with it.

As my reward for wrangling the Kinderbesten solo yesterday, Rach takes them out for a few hours to give me some peace and solitude. I end up using the time mostly for housework and cooking, with a bit of reading in the middle. It’s blissful and all that, but I’m still glad when they come back. The house never feels right without everyone one in it.

As planned, I start Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Even after just one instalment I can tell that it’s a very different tale than the many film adaptations have suggested.

I am predictably tired for the Day After. Rach heads off to a pre-arranged games day, so it’s just me and the kids. Luckily they’re on pretty good form, and even if they weren’t I’d probably be too tired to notice anyway.

It’s Saturday Morning Film Club and I have the urge to watch Little Shop Of Horrors, which is a film the Elderbeast loves and I reckon the Kinderbeast will also enjoy. We have some lengthy discussion about whether to watch the director’s cut (in which pretty much everyone dies and the plants take over the world). the Elderbeast, bless his dark little rock of a heart, is partial to the director’s cut. However, only the theatrical cut has Mean Green Mother From Outer Space which is one of the musical highlights of the film (and, I recently learned, only added when the original ending testing badly and they needed a new song for the climax).

We opt for the director’s cut, but it all goes horribly wrong when the Kinderbeast realises that one of the leads is about to die. He hide his face in a pillow, distraught (the pillow may not have been very happy about it either), and I have no choice but to stop the film and switch to the much cuddlier theatrical version. Upon which the Elderbeast ups and storms out of the room.

This is fine.

Peace is eventually restored, but the Little shop Of Horrors remains closed for the rest of the day. After Rach returns home we settle down and check out The Nice Guys, which I’ve seen a bit of buzz about over on twitter. It’s awesome. We instantly both love it. It’s Tarantino meets the Coens. Except it’s not: it’s just Shane Black doing his excellent thing.

Afterwards I finish off Second Variety, the Philip K Dick novella I’ve been reading on Serial Reader. I really enjoyed it, and really enjoyed the experience of reading it in instalments. I immediately looking for my next reading adventure and choose Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (there is no ‘The’ in the title, strangely …

It’s the day of the big launch. Luckily I’m not involved with the launch arrangements themselves, but I do have one pretty big responsibility: making sure that the frikkin’ website we’re launching actually works. For many, many weeks now this is the one day I’ve been looking forward to seeing the back of.

The team is understandably nervous when I get to work, and all looking rather awesome in their smart clothes. I do my best to present a picture of calm–at this point things are either going to work or they won’t, and being nervous about it won’t change that, so it’s not too hard. We have a few technical gibbons to set up, then it’s time to head off for the launch event.

Yes – the launch event. The powers that be want to make a big splash about the new website, which is thrilling and flattering, but also means that all eyes will be on us if anything snafus. The proceedings begin with the launch itself; a 30 minute presentation heralding the new website and explaining (very helpfully) that we still have a long way to go. It’s perfect. There’s some amusing miscommunication at the end which leaves all attendees thinking they’ve been invited to the morning tea, which is meant to be for the project team and executive only. It doesn’t matter–there’s enough food to feed a pack of students, let alone some errant staff.

After morning tea we head back to the office for some further champagne-based celebration. then it’s finally time to sit back and work out how to manage this beast that we’ve brought into being.

It’s been a good day, and I don’t begrudge a minute of it. It’s rare enough that we get credit for what we do, or that people truly get excited when you give them something new. It’s good to feel that all the hard work has been appreciated.

Oh, and for the evening we all went out for food and drinks, but I was pretty much dead by then.

It’s the day before the big launch. As you might expect my mind is basically cabbage. I can’t even think about dinner, so we get pizza. That’s all you get for this one.

Today I have to run a workshop. I say ‘have to’ but I totally volunteered for it. It’s all about using apps to help manage your workload, but there’s a fair few productivity techniques snuck in there too. I’ve run this about three times now: the first time I had about half a dozen attendees, the next about 16, most recently I had three.

Today I have 25 attendees.

I had carefully scheduled this to happened after the major release for the project I’m working on. This was set for Feb 28 originally, but has since move to March 17. Yes, the timing is appalling, but I have 25 people who are expecting to learn something today so cancelling was never an option. To makes things even easier, I’ve also completely restructured the workshop, following feedback from the last couple of sessions. One blessing is that I’m so preoccupied with the looming project release that I don’t even have time to be nervous about the workshop.

In the end it goes really well. I definitely wing it at various points, but there’s a buzz in the air that tells me people are switched on and engaging with the discussion. I even get a few nice comments afterwards. I haven’t even walked out of the door before the organisers are talking about the next session, and maybe a couple of additional workshops I could run.

It’s a good feeling. I’ve often thought that if I neeed to move into another line of work, I’d like it to be something in the area of training/coaching/teaching. Handy to know I don’t completely suck at it 😉

After a weekend of celebrating, today is officially Rach’s birthday. We enjoy cakes at work, and then I head off to collect the Elderbeast from his PEAC class. The day quickly descends into chaos when it takes me over 40 minutes to find a parking space on my return. I. Do. Not. Like. Parking. This. Proves. Very. Stressful. The rest of the day is swamped with meeting after meeting after meeting, but finally I’m able to head home.

We open presents (well, Rach opens presents and the rest of us watch). Highlight for me is the Barb (Stranger Things) Pop Vinyl. One day it shall be mine!!!

Much debate ensues as to what we have for birthday dinner. Macca’s is out as they no longer do any vegetarian burgers. Eventually we get Macca’s for half the family, and the rest of us order takeout from Grill’d. This teaches me that, following my passive dabbling in vegetarianism, I am no longer capable of managing a full burger for dinner. Life goes on.

It’s Fucken Monday and it goes in a blur. I skip my morning shift again. After a week of illness, Rach is able to return to work. We discuss the idea of building an enclosure in the garden for the cats, which sounds like a top idea to both of us. I hope we get around to doing it one day.