Weekly Update: Friday Oct. 14/11
Okay, gang, here's my weekly update! A bit later than usual, since my computer was being slow before I left for work today. Put it behind an LJ cut because of the length.
Got some more writing done on my entry for the Canada Writes contest done Friday night - managed to get to over 500 words. Yay me!
So, Saturday. Woke up reasonably early (Mom was surprised at the time that I woke up at), relaxed for a bit and chatted about politics (specifically the Ontario election) with Mom, then went out to the library (which is actually the Marjorie Mews Library, not the Margaret Mews). It's a very small library - one large room only - with not much there, but I did find some treasures. Including a DVD of the movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which I've wanted to see, and a field guide to edible plants of Newfoundland and Labrador. I also picked up a fuzzy (blue) bone dog toy for Imber, to replace the Fuzzy Bunny she had in Toronto. She really needs something to take her aggressiveness out on.
After that, I got home and had lunch, and went out to coffee (tea) with my friend from the Asperger's Group. Told him about the Canada Writes contest, and we had a nice, long (4-1/4 hours) chat, both at Tim Horton's and then at his place. He also showed me the basics of the game "Dark Souls" for the PS3, and while I'd never play a game that horror-oriented, the graphics and details were amazing.
When I got home, I finished off the short story (called, as of Saturday, "The Foggy Shores of Newfoundland", though I'm probably going to change the title). Had a nice dinner, finished my laundry, and sat back to chat with Vathara for a while. Then later that night I sent out the first draft of "The Foggy Shores of Newfoundland" to my first level beta-readers.
Got a few comments back and tightened things up in the story on Sunday, then sent it out to the whole group of second-tier beta readers (TorFen, if you're interested in doing some beta-ing, let me know!).
Sunday night we had Thanksgiving dinner with Tony, Anna and Julia, and Julia stayed overnight Sunday night, because Tony and Anna went down to Mistaken Point to do a tour Monday.
Monday was relatively good; quiet, and I got a couple of comments back on TFSoN, along with a few title suggestions. Still waiting on more.... Went in to work from about 1:20 or so until 5pm, then went home. Went to bed early Monday night because I was exhausted.
Tuesday morning was quiet; I got up but stayed downstairs in my room with Imber for the vast majority of the morning. It was nice and relaxing, which was a good thing, because I was slightly nervous about going into work Tuesday night (and it turns out my hours are from 5pm to 1:30am, rather than 3:30pm to midnight - they originally had our schedules set to Eastern Time rather than Newfoundland Time). After all, if everything went well, I would be getting certified.
(Note: It didn't help that Dad discovered a leak somewhere just outside below the kitchen, and the water was leaking into the overhang that was there, so the kitchen was a mess where he'd been checking for it.)
And indeed, everything did go well. Our IDs had been set up by the time we got in on Tuesday, I shadowed for about 3/4 of an hour then got certified - my supervisor complimented me on my empathy skills - and then I had about an hour or so of reverse shadowing, where an agent sat next to me on the line to help out. After that I had my first break, and then I was on my own taking the calls (though I could always put my hand up for help if I needed it, and I did for a number of the calls). I had a few difficult calls, but no actual difficult callers, which was nice.
So, got home about 1:50 or so, then stayed up until 3 just "cooling down" before going to sleep.
Unfortunately, I then woke up at 6am to the sound of what Mom informed me later was guys working on the street. *sigh* Couldn't get back to sleep after that (I'd been having a bit of trouble anyway) so I sat up and read fanfic for the next couple of hours.
The furnace guy came in to check and clean the furnace at about 8/8:15, which was when everyone else got up. I'd asked Mom if I could go to Scrabble with her Wednesday morning, so that's where we headed after breakfast: Mom, Daphne and I.
We met up with three other members of WAMUN (the Women's Association of Memorial University of Newfoundland, which runs the Scrabble interest group) and had a grand time - I played with two of them, and Mom and Daphne played with the other woman. We each got two games in, and while I didn't win either, I certainly did a respectable showing in the second. Then the two women I'd been playing with, Mom, and I went to lunch, and the four of us played another game of Scrabble there, which was nicely close. I had a hell of a lot of fun!
Wednesday evening I went to the Asperger's Group meeting. That was neat, although most of us there got an idea of what it's like for neurotypicals when we start on one of our rants about our interests. The discussion we had was centred around friendship, making and keeping friends, and I was able to provide some input. I even mentioned these Friday updates.
Thursday... *sighs* I didn't go to sleep until about 4am Thursday morning, because I was thinking about readjusting my schedule. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that I had an appointment at 9:30 am Thursday morning, until my phone alarm woke me up at 8:30 with the reminder of it. So I spent most of Thursday tired out.
The appointment went well, and I took a nap when I came home. Then I had another appointment at 1:30, so went to that while Daphne took Sancho to the dog park (which she's been doing almost every day for the last week or so, to the point that Sancho now expects it if she puts her jacket on). It also went well, so was happy with that.
Then work. The good news is I had a fairly good time, and work managed to keep me awake all shift. Didn't end up leaving there until 2am, because I got a call just before the end of shift that lasted for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to solve the issue today at work. And I got in the edits Shane and Gran had suggested for the Canada Writes story (well, onto the hardcopy at least) during "lunch" and my second break.
Got home, stayed up long enough to get a drink and then crashed, hard.
Woke up today at 10:45, went up to have breakfast, and then typed the Canada Writes story edits in. Sent it off to a few people (including Shane and Gran) for their opinions on the editing. Then went and had a long nap, partly I think because of yesterday's exhaustion.
Meant to get this out before I went to work, but my computer was being slow, so didn't get a chance to do it. So, you get an update on today's work as well!
Things were kind of crazy because of the release of the iPhone 4S, and the queue ended up going over 10 minutes at one point. I received a lot of calls, got a renewal (yay! points for me!) and did a lot of transferring. Also solved some issues, made some people happy by helping them out, and had a pleasant last call, so ended my shift on a happy note!
Came home, updated this note, and sent it off to everyone. Going to bed soon!
Have a good weekend, everyone, and let me know how things are going for you!
'Later, all!
;) tag0
Got some more writing done on my entry for the Canada Writes contest done Friday night - managed to get to over 500 words. Yay me!
So, Saturday. Woke up reasonably early (Mom was surprised at the time that I woke up at), relaxed for a bit and chatted about politics (specifically the Ontario election) with Mom, then went out to the library (which is actually the Marjorie Mews Library, not the Margaret Mews). It's a very small library - one large room only - with not much there, but I did find some treasures. Including a DVD of the movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which I've wanted to see, and a field guide to edible plants of Newfoundland and Labrador. I also picked up a fuzzy (blue) bone dog toy for Imber, to replace the Fuzzy Bunny she had in Toronto. She really needs something to take her aggressiveness out on.
After that, I got home and had lunch, and went out to coffee (tea) with my friend from the Asperger's Group. Told him about the Canada Writes contest, and we had a nice, long (4-1/4 hours) chat, both at Tim Horton's and then at his place. He also showed me the basics of the game "Dark Souls" for the PS3, and while I'd never play a game that horror-oriented, the graphics and details were amazing.
When I got home, I finished off the short story (called, as of Saturday, "The Foggy Shores of Newfoundland", though I'm probably going to change the title). Had a nice dinner, finished my laundry, and sat back to chat with Vathara for a while. Then later that night I sent out the first draft of "The Foggy Shores of Newfoundland" to my first level beta-readers.
Got a few comments back and tightened things up in the story on Sunday, then sent it out to the whole group of second-tier beta readers (TorFen, if you're interested in doing some beta-ing, let me know!).
Sunday night we had Thanksgiving dinner with Tony, Anna and Julia, and Julia stayed overnight Sunday night, because Tony and Anna went down to Mistaken Point to do a tour Monday.
Monday was relatively good; quiet, and I got a couple of comments back on TFSoN, along with a few title suggestions. Still waiting on more.... Went in to work from about 1:20 or so until 5pm, then went home. Went to bed early Monday night because I was exhausted.
Tuesday morning was quiet; I got up but stayed downstairs in my room with Imber for the vast majority of the morning. It was nice and relaxing, which was a good thing, because I was slightly nervous about going into work Tuesday night (and it turns out my hours are from 5pm to 1:30am, rather than 3:30pm to midnight - they originally had our schedules set to Eastern Time rather than Newfoundland Time). After all, if everything went well, I would be getting certified.
(Note: It didn't help that Dad discovered a leak somewhere just outside below the kitchen, and the water was leaking into the overhang that was there, so the kitchen was a mess where he'd been checking for it.)
And indeed, everything did go well. Our IDs had been set up by the time we got in on Tuesday, I shadowed for about 3/4 of an hour then got certified - my supervisor complimented me on my empathy skills - and then I had about an hour or so of reverse shadowing, where an agent sat next to me on the line to help out. After that I had my first break, and then I was on my own taking the calls (though I could always put my hand up for help if I needed it, and I did for a number of the calls). I had a few difficult calls, but no actual difficult callers, which was nice.
So, got home about 1:50 or so, then stayed up until 3 just "cooling down" before going to sleep.
Unfortunately, I then woke up at 6am to the sound of what Mom informed me later was guys working on the street. *sigh* Couldn't get back to sleep after that (I'd been having a bit of trouble anyway) so I sat up and read fanfic for the next couple of hours.
The furnace guy came in to check and clean the furnace at about 8/8:15, which was when everyone else got up. I'd asked Mom if I could go to Scrabble with her Wednesday morning, so that's where we headed after breakfast: Mom, Daphne and I.
We met up with three other members of WAMUN (the Women's Association of Memorial University of Newfoundland, which runs the Scrabble interest group) and had a grand time - I played with two of them, and Mom and Daphne played with the other woman. We each got two games in, and while I didn't win either, I certainly did a respectable showing in the second. Then the two women I'd been playing with, Mom, and I went to lunch, and the four of us played another game of Scrabble there, which was nicely close. I had a hell of a lot of fun!
Wednesday evening I went to the Asperger's Group meeting. That was neat, although most of us there got an idea of what it's like for neurotypicals when we start on one of our rants about our interests. The discussion we had was centred around friendship, making and keeping friends, and I was able to provide some input. I even mentioned these Friday updates.
Thursday... *sighs* I didn't go to sleep until about 4am Thursday morning, because I was thinking about readjusting my schedule. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that I had an appointment at 9:30 am Thursday morning, until my phone alarm woke me up at 8:30 with the reminder of it. So I spent most of Thursday tired out.
The appointment went well, and I took a nap when I came home. Then I had another appointment at 1:30, so went to that while Daphne took Sancho to the dog park (which she's been doing almost every day for the last week or so, to the point that Sancho now expects it if she puts her jacket on). It also went well, so was happy with that.
Then work. The good news is I had a fairly good time, and work managed to keep me awake all shift. Didn't end up leaving there until 2am, because I got a call just before the end of shift that lasted for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to solve the issue today at work. And I got in the edits Shane and Gran had suggested for the Canada Writes story (well, onto the hardcopy at least) during "lunch" and my second break.
Got home, stayed up long enough to get a drink and then crashed, hard.
Woke up today at 10:45, went up to have breakfast, and then typed the Canada Writes story edits in. Sent it off to a few people (including Shane and Gran) for their opinions on the editing. Then went and had a long nap, partly I think because of yesterday's exhaustion.
Meant to get this out before I went to work, but my computer was being slow, so didn't get a chance to do it. So, you get an update on today's work as well!
Things were kind of crazy because of the release of the iPhone 4S, and the queue ended up going over 10 minutes at one point. I received a lot of calls, got a renewal (yay! points for me!) and did a lot of transferring. Also solved some issues, made some people happy by helping them out, and had a pleasant last call, so ended my shift on a happy note!
Came home, updated this note, and sent it off to everyone. Going to bed soon!
Have a good weekend, everyone, and let me know how things are going for you!
'Later, all!
;) tag0