(no subject)

[myz_lilith]

Busy busy busy beyond belief... but this evening I have a brief moment to rest and reflect, so it's quick LJ catch-up time. In the past few weeks, I have:

• Found a nice flat in Hackney (Hackney feels very ~me~) with decent sized bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom... and, as an added bonus, a 'cupboard' that pretty much qualifies as a boxroom, and a private parking space. Opposite a pub. All (somewhat ironically, for various reasons) a few streets away from the Olympic Park. Should hopefully get keys this Friday/Saturday.



• Left my old job (and burst into tears after I read the leaving card even though I swore I wouldn't, and ended up working all weekend ~after~ I'd officially left, because why break the habit of a lifetime?)



• Survived a leaving do that brought all my work friends and non-work friends all together in the same place without any fire or bloodshed or fire.



• Been signed off UV treatment - didn't quite get to the end of it this time round, and still have a couple of patches of eczema left on my wrists, but considering the stresses of the past month that's almost miraculous, so hopefully it's bought me a few more years of controlled skin.



• Been signed off by my therapist - am officially not crazy :-) (Admittedly, she was happy to declare me officially sane and depression-free some time back, but I was still keeping up the occasional session to make sure I stayed on an even keel through the jobhunting circus.)



• Started new job (a day later than expected, as nobody was in the office on my intended first day, but will get paid for that anyway - always good!) and so far so good. It's slightly weird going from being the one who knows everything that's going on in the studio and can solve any problem to being the new girl who doesn't know where anything is, but I feel quite at home apart from that, and I've already been able to make a few useful and warmly-welcomed suggestions, so a positive start.



• Also discovered that some of my graphics had been seen - and praised - by audiences at a big international conference, which was a lovely boost.



• Started to get used to earlier starts than I needed in Leeds (although not quite as early as I'll need once I've moved properly... that will definitely hurt for a while.)
  
  
• Enjoyed the delightful hospitality of my dear wife Ellie and her wonderful housemates. (Partly because I've spent so much time recently sleeping in endlessly-patient Patrick's lounge that I think he's getting worried I may claim squatter's rights... although he is putting me up for my final stint of sofa surfing later this week - staying with relatives tonight and tomorrow.)



• Spent quality time with Monkey Boy, provided timely much-needed hugs, and hopefully convinced him I'm not going to abandon him completely when I move.



• Totally failed to do any more packing, or throwing stuff out, before leaving Leeds in spite of the best efforts of my parents to help me... got stuck in an aaaargh-panic loop at the thought of how much I still had to do so ended up doing nothing.



• Done Whitby, which was good fun but not a classic - don't know if that's a one off, and down to the divided weekend syndrome, or just that Things There Have Changed And Shall Never Be The Same (aka we're not 21 anymore.) But zero ankle trauma, and I did finally get to be Little Red Riding Hood With a Vengeance :-)



• Saw Tori Amos at the Royal Albert Hall (first time I've ever been there) which was utterly breathtaking. The new stuff was amazing live, and she played almost all my favourite older songs (including a lot from Little Earthquakes) and was delightfully barmy in person. Winter made me cry.



• Failed to see Carter USM last night due to East Coast conspiring with TfL and allegedly 'planned' engineering works that were apparently on a top secret need-to-know basis, meaning I spent half of yesterday evening sitting in a train in a field somewhere near Newark, being entertained by a random ukulele player. (Been doing so much criss-crossing the country recently that something like that was bound to happen sooner or later, and at least I'd already got to see Carter at Beautiful Days earlier in the year, where they were outstanding.)



• Failed to visit the Erotica exhibition in Kensington after discovering it would cost £25 to get in. (Seriously??? Whatever happened to free pron? Or at least free shopping? I might well have been quite happy to buy all sorts of pretty things in there, but wasn't about to pay ridiculous sums to find out...)



• Met up with some of the people I should have seen at Carter for mulled wine and euphemisms (apparently Waiting For Anna have released another album and formed a few spin-off acts.)



• Ate a duck egg for the first time ever (I'm not sure why this is significant, but feel compelled to include it.) Eggs are neither meat nor non-meat, so must be boats.

And am now looking forward to things to come in the next few weeks, including finally getting the keys to new flat, the big move (hopefully in several smaller chunks), welcoming my first batch of visitors, Labyrinth Masquerades and Secret Cinemas, Christmas and Birthday parties, Steak and Stars, and finally shaking off the living-in-limbo feeling of the past year and being able to say I Live Here Now...