Long-awaited status update
Dec. 30th, 2012 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reymonkeyHolee monkies, it's been too long since I posted here. I guess if I have anything to say I tend to say it on Tumblr or FB (Although what I say on FB my parents and coworkers can see, so...).
My cat is... a work in progress. She's not Squeaks, and I've just gotten through Christmas without Squeaks, and that was hard. Jan 4th will be the anniversary of her death. Maxie is all my cat and I love her, but I've come to think she went through some seriously rough times before she came to the shelter. When I reach moments like picking her up and holding her without her straining to be put down, stuff like that feels like a breakthrough. She's getting more comfortable with us all the time, but there's still some kind of wariness that's slow to overcome. Maybe if they'd found her younger...
On the other hand, she rolls around on her back around us, which is a sign of trust. A couple of weeks back, when we'd just finished putting up the tree, I picked up the tiny knitted Squeaks that our friend Janewt made for me, back when we were looking to the last Christmas with my cat. I held it, and started to get teary-eyed thinking about her, and out of nowhere Maxie started chirping and leaped off the bookshelf, running over to rub against my legs. I hadn't made a sound, nothing external to give a sign what I was thinking, and she had been engrossed in looking out the window, but she knew, and she came to break me out of it. I can't dismiss a thing like that.
In other news, My RP time dropped down the drain last spring when I got a job, which was technically a good thing, but it was retail with erratic hours. I liked it okay, it was a small four-employee department selling sewing machines inside of a craft store, and the boss was awesome, very flaming gay man who made me feel at home to be open about being a lesbian, and the other woman who started the same time as I did was very sweet and friendly, but I did end up working alone the majority of the time. The responsibility was nice, but when it was slow the hours dragged. Then things got weird when the manager was abruptly let go, and suddenly we were operating without a store manager. Corporate was not only not in any hurry to get us a new one, but also remarkably unhelpful in the meantime. We had to harass them about things that needed to be done to keep us functioning, but nobody working there had the authority to do. When we did finally get a new store manager, it was a geeky young woman who was absolutely amazing to work with and I'd be thrilled to just hang out with as a friend, but corporate was very unhelpful training her. She was smart and experienced enough to handle it anyway, but all of this gave me some pretty nasty feelings about the company I was working for.
Then one day out of the blue a lady we've done a lot of dogsitting for and know pretty well called to tell me the Veterinarian up the street was looking for a receptionist, and she'd put in a good word for me. It was sheer luck I had the following day off, so I dressed nice and took my resume up there. I'm still not sure what made her immediately take me on, but for two weeks I worked both jobs. I felt bad leaving the cool new manager at the sewing machine place, when she'd only been there a few weeks, but working at the vet felt like a dream.
Months later, it still does. It's a tiny, single Vet-owned practice, the boss included, we only have five employees. My boss is a brusque but awesome lady from the Philippines, the Vet tech is from Columbia, where he is licensed to be a full veterinarian (he's still working to get licensed here), so we sort of have two vets for the price of one. The part time receptionist is his sister-in-law, also from Columbia, and the Saturday-receptionist/Monday vet-tech is a tall black guy, so it sometimes feels like the multiculture pals. I want to work on relearning Spanish, because it would be useful with so many of our clients, and the tech helps while he also asks my help with English. Not only are the people I work with all cool, but I'm surrounded by animals. The place is so small that even though I'm the office person, I get to be hands-on helping with the animals a lot. There are aspects, like euthanasia and having to occasionally help in the O.R. that are sometimes hard, but even then it feels hard but important. I've had clients tell me I should counsel people who have lost pets because I'm so good at it. A lot of times after a euthanasia we'll get a puppy or a kitten in for first shots, which just helps to see the full spectrum of things. I feel like I'm living in a modernized James Herriott novel. I have never been so in love with a job before. More so, I've never been proud of what I'm doing for a living before, and at 30+ that's something I've craved for so long I can't even describe it.
The only downside to being so in love with my job is that it's devoured my brain alive, distracting me from RP. I think I'm finally adjusting, now, and the Farmer's Market where we're vendors most of the year is quiet so we're taking a break Jan-March (we did the same last year). This means I have actual two-day weekends back, so between that and finally adjusting to my job, I think I'm dipping my toes back in at last.
It's been a crazy year. I'm sorry to everybody in RP land. I hope you guys are all still around and I can find my way back in, because I miss all of you.
Also, I have a new coffee maker I got for Christmas. Caffeine always helps RP.
My cat is... a work in progress. She's not Squeaks, and I've just gotten through Christmas without Squeaks, and that was hard. Jan 4th will be the anniversary of her death. Maxie is all my cat and I love her, but I've come to think she went through some seriously rough times before she came to the shelter. When I reach moments like picking her up and holding her without her straining to be put down, stuff like that feels like a breakthrough. She's getting more comfortable with us all the time, but there's still some kind of wariness that's slow to overcome. Maybe if they'd found her younger...
On the other hand, she rolls around on her back around us, which is a sign of trust. A couple of weeks back, when we'd just finished putting up the tree, I picked up the tiny knitted Squeaks that our friend Janewt made for me, back when we were looking to the last Christmas with my cat. I held it, and started to get teary-eyed thinking about her, and out of nowhere Maxie started chirping and leaped off the bookshelf, running over to rub against my legs. I hadn't made a sound, nothing external to give a sign what I was thinking, and she had been engrossed in looking out the window, but she knew, and she came to break me out of it. I can't dismiss a thing like that.
In other news, My RP time dropped down the drain last spring when I got a job, which was technically a good thing, but it was retail with erratic hours. I liked it okay, it was a small four-employee department selling sewing machines inside of a craft store, and the boss was awesome, very flaming gay man who made me feel at home to be open about being a lesbian, and the other woman who started the same time as I did was very sweet and friendly, but I did end up working alone the majority of the time. The responsibility was nice, but when it was slow the hours dragged. Then things got weird when the manager was abruptly let go, and suddenly we were operating without a store manager. Corporate was not only not in any hurry to get us a new one, but also remarkably unhelpful in the meantime. We had to harass them about things that needed to be done to keep us functioning, but nobody working there had the authority to do. When we did finally get a new store manager, it was a geeky young woman who was absolutely amazing to work with and I'd be thrilled to just hang out with as a friend, but corporate was very unhelpful training her. She was smart and experienced enough to handle it anyway, but all of this gave me some pretty nasty feelings about the company I was working for.
Then one day out of the blue a lady we've done a lot of dogsitting for and know pretty well called to tell me the Veterinarian up the street was looking for a receptionist, and she'd put in a good word for me. It was sheer luck I had the following day off, so I dressed nice and took my resume up there. I'm still not sure what made her immediately take me on, but for two weeks I worked both jobs. I felt bad leaving the cool new manager at the sewing machine place, when she'd only been there a few weeks, but working at the vet felt like a dream.
Months later, it still does. It's a tiny, single Vet-owned practice, the boss included, we only have five employees. My boss is a brusque but awesome lady from the Philippines, the Vet tech is from Columbia, where he is licensed to be a full veterinarian (he's still working to get licensed here), so we sort of have two vets for the price of one. The part time receptionist is his sister-in-law, also from Columbia, and the Saturday-receptionist/Monday vet-tech is a tall black guy, so it sometimes feels like the multiculture pals. I want to work on relearning Spanish, because it would be useful with so many of our clients, and the tech helps while he also asks my help with English. Not only are the people I work with all cool, but I'm surrounded by animals. The place is so small that even though I'm the office person, I get to be hands-on helping with the animals a lot. There are aspects, like euthanasia and having to occasionally help in the O.R. that are sometimes hard, but even then it feels hard but important. I've had clients tell me I should counsel people who have lost pets because I'm so good at it. A lot of times after a euthanasia we'll get a puppy or a kitten in for first shots, which just helps to see the full spectrum of things. I feel like I'm living in a modernized James Herriott novel. I have never been so in love with a job before. More so, I've never been proud of what I'm doing for a living before, and at 30+ that's something I've craved for so long I can't even describe it.
The only downside to being so in love with my job is that it's devoured my brain alive, distracting me from RP. I think I'm finally adjusting, now, and the Farmer's Market where we're vendors most of the year is quiet so we're taking a break Jan-March (we did the same last year). This means I have actual two-day weekends back, so between that and finally adjusting to my job, I think I'm dipping my toes back in at last.
It's been a crazy year. I'm sorry to everybody in RP land. I hope you guys are all still around and I can find my way back in, because I miss all of you.
Also, I have a new coffee maker I got for Christmas. Caffeine always helps RP.
no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2012 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 31st, 2012 12:38 am (UTC)You guys always seem to have major plotty stuff going on and I'm always thinking I should get Connor in on that...
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Date: Dec. 31st, 2012 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 03:54 pm (UTC)On my side of things, I've been looking at the broader canon of the DC universe and looking for things that might fit in the Smallville setting (I've been alluding to Batman for a while now but haven't introduced him yet, for example. And I want to bring in the Green Lantern Corps pretty soon). On April-mun's side, we're doing some Buffyverse plots that were inspired by the post-series comics. And of course now that they have a kid, there's always slice of life stuff that can be done.
I will also admit to occasionally flipping through movies that are on and seeing if anything inspires a plotty thread or two. ;)
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Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 04:43 pm (UTC)I started up Connor past canon because it's all too bewildering otherwise, but I keep thinking I need to bring stuff from his universe into his life. My gf agreed to play his bff Duncan, but hasn't yet...
Bakerstreet is sometimes inspiring, although I usually want to take the memes there and go more specific. Also with Connor there's a chance for historical play. If you ever want Clark and April to time travel or something...
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Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 04:50 pm (UTC)Time travel could be possible, certainly. We've done several time travel plots (one of which I had to wait two IRL years for the payoff since we were playing it from both sides, that was fun), though only within their own lifetimes, so going outside of that would be new and interesting.
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Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 05:02 pm (UTC)Anyways! The Game goes on, in my Connor's world, so there's still plenty of immortals who could cause him trouble. He's not living in his own world, he's living in Kai's, but he still goes to visit a lot and Duncan is there. He can always get caught up in trouble on a visit. Also there's the Watchers, and he's not fond of them at all.
Clark, April, and Kai or any combination of them seeing Connor in his younger days could always be entertaining. Throw in the fact they'd be out of place in the time period, and wacky hijinks ensue.
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Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 05:13 pm (UTC)We could definitely try for the time travel thing one of these days. I'd be up for it. Any time periods on the top of your list of favorites?
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Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 05:22 pm (UTC)As a plot or just as a goofy side thing, I'm up for it either way. Connor in his youth, just before or just after his first death is always interesting, if angsty. Him with Heather would be okay, that's still early in his life. I like the idea of him as a sea captain, which he has been multiple times, or him just before the first movie, in the early 80s works. I'm capable of playing him in pretty much any era. I've done a lot of offline RP with him.
no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2012 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 31st, 2012 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 1st, 2013 09:45 pm (UTC)Kai has been doing some alt-Kai stuff.
And listening to Taylor Swift's new CD. o.o
no subject
Date: Jan. 6th, 2013 03:37 pm (UTC)alt-Kai stuff?
Connor has probably been training his dog and playing with the forge.
In entertaining, ooc news, the blacksmith guy at the local Farmer's Market I know has just recently made his first sword. I suspect how much he and I have talked about them may have given him a little push. The video I have of a blacksmith making a heart is one I took of his work.
no subject
Date: Jan. 12th, 2013 05:06 pm (UTC)You can knock on my door, too, hehe. Maybe we could figure out something with Kai and Connor together? :)
Yeah. An alternate version of Kai has been floating around - no where on a journal, though. Kai is seeing one of the sons (and his husband) of Alt-Emmy. It started out very friendly, but they're all very sweet and empathic and ~feelings~ started getting involved.
For that matter I've got alt-Em floating around some too, hah. She's currently in Renaissance Italy becoming very familiar with a sort-of vampire that happens to look like Michael Fassbender. :)
no subject
Date: Jan. 2nd, 2021 02:41 am (UTC)Was just reading an old thread we played together years ago, and I wanted to see if I could see how you were doing. Are you still at the vet job?