OK world, how much shit can you drop on me?
Well, the number of crappy things happening at the moment is reaching a crescendo. Its got to peak soon.
Let's see...
Finally got to see the dental specialist about my root canal. He says its definitely buggered, the infection has gotten into the bone, and he's going to have to do a tricky operation to sort it (I apparently have an s-curve in the root that's a bugger to get a drill around). Its going to cost me £800. On top of all my other dental costs.
My damn mobile fell out of the side pocket of my combats on the train home last wednesday, and the lost property people seem to have lost it, despite it definitely being handed in. I had been hoping to use it on the ski slopes to keep in touch if people get separated, so that was great timing (actually turns out to only be dual band, but I only just found that out, and have been particularly stressing over it till now). I've realised that I have absolutely no one's phone numbers outside of it - I thought I had loads of people's in my pda, but turns out that's mainly email. I urgently needed to get hold of people on Tuesday and Wednesday, and couldn't: loads more stress.
Work has been really crappy of late, I've been late getting in repeatedly, both because of multiple dental and doctors appointments, the trains on Silverlink and the Northern Line being repeatedly delayed and cancelled, plus oversleeping a couple of times; the work in general has been shitty - impossible to repeat bug hunting, no interesting stuff, rushing things out without testing and then getting blamed when it doesn't work, getting my attempts to fix things ignored and changed behind my back, culminating on Tuesday with getting an informal talking to from by boss which basically talked around to how I needed to get motivated and get in on time and not spend so much time on the internet, and made the point that this needed sorting or I'd lose my job. Turns out as team leader, even of a team of 2, I'm expected to work stupid hours to make things work, and we'd had a release to get ready just as I'd made commitments for all 5 evenings a week. Between my general stress, the informality of the job, and frankly my general apathy about the whole thing, this whole aspect had passed me by (I'm expected to care about this heap of shit? Who knew?).
So, I come out of this "informal chat" at 5:15pm on Tuesday, bricking myself, and I'd been intending to leave at 5:30 for Helen's game, so that I could get home, make the car work, and then drive me and Dan B to Helen's. Clearly that's not on. So I try to phone people, and realise that with my phone gone, I have no one's number at all. By this time its 5:30, so email's probably no good. LJ probably isn't either, and anyway I can hardly use it immediately after being shouted at about internet use. Stress, stress, going to let people down...Hang on until 6:20, sprint out of the office, get halfway home and realise I've forgotten my dinner, left it in the office, too late now, I'll buy pizza when I get there, damn no money, I can borrow money from Dan, more stress. Taxi home from the station to save time, using last of my cash - to find that the game is off. Nothing on LJ or email, I may have been texted, but of course I've lost my mobile...AAAARRGHH!
So its Wednesday, and I oversleep a bit, but its still OK, I can still make it on time if the trains are OK...Trains are fucked. The one I needed was cancelled, the next one delayed 25 minutes. Then the Northern line was screwed, I had to switch to picadilly then central to reach Bank. So I'm late. The day after being told that my job was in danger if my timekeeping didn't improve. Stress. So I plod on a bit, and then there's a crisis. We've been playing chinese whispers through about 6 different and parallel sets of comunication about how we deal with the patent problem, and its all being kept verbal in case of lawsuits, and it suddenly turns out that how we were going to deal it was entirely different to what the lawyers needed and this new and complex piece of functionality had to be written for the release. The one on the 1st of January (yes, really). I've got 2 hours to do it if I want to make my last gym session before the skiing, since I'm on holiday thursday. So that's out of the window. So I code like mad, finally leave the office at 11pm, having done maybe half of it. (During this I find out that the fucking tube workers are striking after all on 24th, when they said they wouldn't. We were depending on the tube to get to Heathrow that morning. Frantically try to get hold of parents to make sure they know, but have no up to date mobile numbers, they're not at their desks so desk phones useless, email useless, more stress, aarrgh). Get home after midnight, discover that Neverwinter nights has FINALLY arrived (fecking Amazon). But I can't play it tonight, because after installing SoU expansion pack, it needs an internet update to get at my save games, and the internet is broken. And I can't fix it and play it tomorrow, because I have to work. Damn you fates, how you tease me! So sleep. Get up, pack for the holiday, run around shops getting things for the holiday, fail to wrap presents, discover letter from police saying they'd caught me speeding weekend before last, 39mph in a frigging 30 zone, I didn't even notice a flash, stress, no time to deal with it, dash into office with all my skiing kit. Get there 2:30pm. Code like mad for 6 hours, finally finishing things off just in time. Try and download more eBooks for holiday. Its really slow, I have to leave halfway through to have family christmas meal. Eat, drink, go back to work to finish download, and pick up things I've forgotten, back to parents, realise I've left my Dad's christmas present at home, too late now, more packing, present wrapping, trying on ski boots, finally finished. Now its 3:30am. I have to get up to go to Heathrow in 2 hours. And I can't possibly sleep because I am one big ball of stress right now.
Focus. Calm. Big holiday. Skiing in Colorado (can afford it because staying with family cuts costs in half). 12 days of no work, no stress (apart from getting though United Police States of America customs, but that's a rant for another time), just the holiday I've been looking forward to for years. I will come out of the other end destressed and totally relaxed. Yes.
On which subject, I will be largely out of contact for the next 12 days (even more so that I have been since I lost my mobile). Anyone who urgently needs to contact me can try davidjameslucke at hotmail.com, but don't expect a quick reply. I don't know whether I'll have internet access in America. I hope so, since I'll be wanting to at least try and sort out some Override stuff, but I dunno. Anyway, this'll probably be my last contact with most people before the new year, so everyone: Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I know those NYE parties aren't going to be the same without me, but try to have a great time anyway.
Let's see...
Finally got to see the dental specialist about my root canal. He says its definitely buggered, the infection has gotten into the bone, and he's going to have to do a tricky operation to sort it (I apparently have an s-curve in the root that's a bugger to get a drill around). Its going to cost me £800. On top of all my other dental costs.
My damn mobile fell out of the side pocket of my combats on the train home last wednesday, and the lost property people seem to have lost it, despite it definitely being handed in. I had been hoping to use it on the ski slopes to keep in touch if people get separated, so that was great timing (actually turns out to only be dual band, but I only just found that out, and have been particularly stressing over it till now). I've realised that I have absolutely no one's phone numbers outside of it - I thought I had loads of people's in my pda, but turns out that's mainly email. I urgently needed to get hold of people on Tuesday and Wednesday, and couldn't: loads more stress.
Work has been really crappy of late, I've been late getting in repeatedly, both because of multiple dental and doctors appointments, the trains on Silverlink and the Northern Line being repeatedly delayed and cancelled, plus oversleeping a couple of times; the work in general has been shitty - impossible to repeat bug hunting, no interesting stuff, rushing things out without testing and then getting blamed when it doesn't work, getting my attempts to fix things ignored and changed behind my back, culminating on Tuesday with getting an informal talking to from by boss which basically talked around to how I needed to get motivated and get in on time and not spend so much time on the internet, and made the point that this needed sorting or I'd lose my job. Turns out as team leader, even of a team of 2, I'm expected to work stupid hours to make things work, and we'd had a release to get ready just as I'd made commitments for all 5 evenings a week. Between my general stress, the informality of the job, and frankly my general apathy about the whole thing, this whole aspect had passed me by (I'm expected to care about this heap of shit? Who knew?).
So, I come out of this "informal chat" at 5:15pm on Tuesday, bricking myself, and I'd been intending to leave at 5:30 for Helen's game, so that I could get home, make the car work, and then drive me and Dan B to Helen's. Clearly that's not on. So I try to phone people, and realise that with my phone gone, I have no one's number at all. By this time its 5:30, so email's probably no good. LJ probably isn't either, and anyway I can hardly use it immediately after being shouted at about internet use. Stress, stress, going to let people down...Hang on until 6:20, sprint out of the office, get halfway home and realise I've forgotten my dinner, left it in the office, too late now, I'll buy pizza when I get there, damn no money, I can borrow money from Dan, more stress. Taxi home from the station to save time, using last of my cash - to find that the game is off. Nothing on LJ or email, I may have been texted, but of course I've lost my mobile...AAAARRGHH!
So its Wednesday, and I oversleep a bit, but its still OK, I can still make it on time if the trains are OK...Trains are fucked. The one I needed was cancelled, the next one delayed 25 minutes. Then the Northern line was screwed, I had to switch to picadilly then central to reach Bank. So I'm late. The day after being told that my job was in danger if my timekeeping didn't improve. Stress. So I plod on a bit, and then there's a crisis. We've been playing chinese whispers through about 6 different and parallel sets of comunication about how we deal with the patent problem, and its all being kept verbal in case of lawsuits, and it suddenly turns out that how we were going to deal it was entirely different to what the lawyers needed and this new and complex piece of functionality had to be written for the release. The one on the 1st of January (yes, really). I've got 2 hours to do it if I want to make my last gym session before the skiing, since I'm on holiday thursday. So that's out of the window. So I code like mad, finally leave the office at 11pm, having done maybe half of it. (During this I find out that the fucking tube workers are striking after all on 24th, when they said they wouldn't. We were depending on the tube to get to Heathrow that morning. Frantically try to get hold of parents to make sure they know, but have no up to date mobile numbers, they're not at their desks so desk phones useless, email useless, more stress, aarrgh). Get home after midnight, discover that Neverwinter nights has FINALLY arrived (fecking Amazon). But I can't play it tonight, because after installing SoU expansion pack, it needs an internet update to get at my save games, and the internet is broken. And I can't fix it and play it tomorrow, because I have to work. Damn you fates, how you tease me! So sleep. Get up, pack for the holiday, run around shops getting things for the holiday, fail to wrap presents, discover letter from police saying they'd caught me speeding weekend before last, 39mph in a frigging 30 zone, I didn't even notice a flash, stress, no time to deal with it, dash into office with all my skiing kit. Get there 2:30pm. Code like mad for 6 hours, finally finishing things off just in time. Try and download more eBooks for holiday. Its really slow, I have to leave halfway through to have family christmas meal. Eat, drink, go back to work to finish download, and pick up things I've forgotten, back to parents, realise I've left my Dad's christmas present at home, too late now, more packing, present wrapping, trying on ski boots, finally finished. Now its 3:30am. I have to get up to go to Heathrow in 2 hours. And I can't possibly sleep because I am one big ball of stress right now.
Focus. Calm. Big holiday. Skiing in Colorado (can afford it because staying with family cuts costs in half). 12 days of no work, no stress (apart from getting though United Police States of America customs, but that's a rant for another time), just the holiday I've been looking forward to for years. I will come out of the other end destressed and totally relaxed. Yes.
On which subject, I will be largely out of contact for the next 12 days (even more so that I have been since I lost my mobile). Anyone who urgently needs to contact me can try davidjameslucke at hotmail.com, but don't expect a quick reply. I don't know whether I'll have internet access in America. I hope so, since I'll be wanting to at least try and sort out some Override stuff, but I dunno. Anyway, this'll probably be my last contact with most people before the new year, so everyone: Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I know those NYE parties aren't going to be the same without me, but try to have a great time anyway.