Journal (2009.03.03-2009.03.05)
I'm unsurprisingly having trouble with keeping up on these journals. I have so many things to do each time I get on the computer that if I get sidetracked by even one thing, I often don't get around to putting these posts together until I've run out of time. (Sitting in front of a computer for three hours straight most every day is a pain.) This makes it more difficult to remember many things. Anyway, highlights this time include:
*There weren't any serious problems in the game on Tuesday.
*On Wednesday, we had another of those fights where I agreed to go with the GM's ruling, yet he continued to pursue it for a number of minutes afterward. I feel that all the sidetracks are disruptive to the game, but I believe this is the only campaign in which I've been a player where the GM is the biggest problem in that area. This, as well as the fact that the point was he was trying to dispute my knowledge of the galaxy far, far away based on explicit statements in two official sources just because he hadn't read them, made it a bit annoying. This also exemplifies the fact that he is one of the people who often seems unable to comprehend what I'm saying, even when I state it as clearly as possible. As with the job, the fact that he's unwilling to communicate on these things through email makes it difficult.
*I also find it somewhat annoying that, since I always have to leave for work before they finish the session, they decide on scheduling without me. It would be nice if they would at least email me what they decided. (Instead, I just assume that it will be the same each week, which works reasonably well in practice, but I don't like the uncertainty of not finding out whether I need to be there until I get there. It's a good thing it's an online game.) This time, I have another appointment that will conflict with the usual time; it's a matter of speculation whether I would have thought to tell them that if I had been in on the discussion. (I sent them an email instead. More than 24 hours later, there has been no response whatsoever.)
*When I got to work, only two of my three worst enemies were there, but they were standing right where our start-of-shift meetings take place, so I decided to play it safe by standing on the other side of the machinery about three paces away. I tried to watch to see when the operator arrived to give us our assignments, but I must have missed her. Exacerbating the problem, the part-timers in the meeting were talking so loudly that I was unable to hear that the meeting was taking place, so I didn't realize until afterward.
*Both nights, I was set to do the mail. I'll try to explain things enough that you can get the gist of this. In many cases, I'm not allocated as many papers as I'm supposed to use for that. I was never told where I am supposed to get the copies to make up the difference, which means that no matter what I do, I risk it being wrong and thus getting in trouble when caught. (In the less than a year I've been doing this task, I haven't thought it important enough to risk asking what I'm supposed to do.) I have resorted to stealing from the reject pile when others aren't looking. The problem with this is that I don't necessarily get all the contents that they should have, as I have to be pretty quick about it. On Thursday night, I was actually given permission to take copies from another station. I imagine that that would probably be all right any night, even if someone else is at that station, but I haven't decided which way would be the least dangerous.
*Also, once the operator asked me if I needed a piece of equipment. Technically, I'm supposed to use one, but I was too scared to think of that quickly enough to answer before I told her no to avoid risking a fight. This tool has been designated to be only available with specific permission due to other people not returning it (and also one of the points where she has exact knowledge of who is doing this, and it's almost always people who aren't helped any by having it, but still says she can't do anything about it), and I prefer not to go into the lion's mouth by asking for it. Fortunately, I only need the item for less than a minute, so I have often just borrowed from others. However, when I was in a particularly bad emotional state, I tried bringing my own. There have been mentions of this not being acceptable, so I've been doing this relatively covertly as well; I should probably switch back.
*I think there was something else, but I don't recall what it was at the moment, and I'm already beyond my safe stopping point. I should figure out some system for adding other things even after I've finished the entries for the days in question.