A general life update
Sep. 20th, 2005 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynI've been meaning to write one of these for some time.
Basically, a brief summary on Sally, what she's doing, and how life is going. For anyone who is interested. As per usual I am dividing my life into four pillars, based on the theory (that I read in a magazine years ago) that there are four pillars to one's life - family, friends, work, and love life, and that if one of those collapses a person can normally keep going as long as the others are intact. The theory is that if two or more start looking wobbly, someone is more likely to have breakdowns etc because there is nothing to shore one up elsewhere.
Anyway. My life.
Job/career stuff/money
I start here, probably because this is actually the most interesting part of my life, and is the part likely to have some rambling involved. The short summary of my career/job/money life is that it's currently going well.
It's also the most complicated part of my life, I think, with various subtle subshadings that may need to be explained, and can be further divided into:
My archaeology masters - which is currently nearly done. I've got my marks from last year, and I passed. I now need to do well in my thesis, which I'm meant to be writing at the moment and will hopefully have done by Christmas. The only down side to this part of my life is the mild sense of frustration I've got at the moment waiting for term to start. Right now I want to have a meeting with my supervisor, go over my thesis title, look at the essays I wrote last term and what was right and what was wrong with them. I want to push on and be working, and I can't because my supervisor is away until freshers week, which isn't until October. I'm also having problems getting hold of my college, who I need to get a new student card from, as my current card expires at the end of September, which I think is also linked to this technically still being the summer holidays.
Damn Oxford and its inordinately long holidays and inordinately short terms!
My actual money making job life - which is sort of progressing. I've had work this month and have therefore successfully paid my rent, although I could do with another week or so work to be comfortable. Basically, I've worked out that I need to work at least two weeks in the month in order to be able to live properly without touching my actual inheritance fund, and right now I've had one week.
I think I shall sign on with some more temp agencies. Does anyone have any suggestions other than Angela Mortimer?
My next stage of education - I've now checked with the colleges and I am eligible and apparently well qualified for the conservation courses I want to do. Therefore, fingers crossed, I should hopefully be starting an MA in paper and photographic conservation and preservation in September, and I am definitely starting my foundation course in chemistry for conservators in January. This is still in the planning stages, but it is progressing and I feel like I'm actually moving towards being a grown up - I've chosen a direction for my life to go, a proper career path, something that I can invest in and that makes me feel very positive.
I also got to have a long chat over the weekend with Sarah Maisey, who is a very lovely girl who is in the second year of her MA in the same subject at the University of Northumbria already, and that helped a lot, even if it did scare me slightly. I think, having spoken to Sarah, that I'm not going to be able to work my way through this MA. She described it as horrifically heavy work - 9-5 ion the studio, and then the academic workload on top of that. Having said that, she was still enthused, which is probably a good thing.
Family
I sometimes wonder if I should just describe my family life in this section, or if I should meander into Bridget Jones stylee urban family of friends as well?
*ponders*
Do our friends fulfil a family like role in today's society? Or is that just Guardian style sociological ramblings?
Either way, my family are fine, as far as I can tell. My blood family are all very stable, although Li'l Sis #1 is moving to Italy fairly soon, and there is remarkably little drama.
My Bridget Jones Style Urban Family all also seem mostly well (by this I mostly meanpierot, ksirafai, rweishaar, castorlion and wildrogue. I feel slightly as if I'd like to get out and do more stuff at times, and then I remember that jez has problems walking and perhaps it would be a little futile to plan that walking holiday in the peak district.
I go through phases of being people'd out and needing space, but I think that's always been a 'me' thing and I think possibly a control thing as well. I quite like feeling like I have the capacity to retreat into my own space and shut the door, and as long as I have that I can be a lot more sociable. At times in the past I've felt fairly trapped in a social lifestyle, and that has been something I've not enjoyed, but I think I'm getting past that. If nothing else, I'm learning to say 'no. No people tonight' without feeling guilty, and I'm learning to not feel guilty or obliged to entertain people if they appear at my house and I haven't invited them.
To be honest, that's a fairly big thing in my head. If I know that I can pick up a book, or potter around on the computer, or get some tidying done, even if people have appeared, then I get a lot more relaxed about socialising and people being around. I'm slowly working through a lot of social conditioning from my mother which says 'one must look after one's guests', and that helps a lot.
My last ponder on my Bridget Jones Style Urban Family is that I do think I would like to do more Stuff. Having said that, we have My Mother Said happening at some point and I hear rumours of more D&D. I'm not sure that latter counts as Stuff and more as Hideous And Impending Doom, but either way, it's a change from the telly. *grins*
Love life
My love life...well...it's stillpierot. I'm not sure it's very interesting to anyone who isn't us. We've been together for over a year now, and it feels quite comfortable. I'm very fond of the boy and we're getting kittens.
Erm. Is it slightly wrong if a section which is entitled 'love life' turns into a long essay on cats, why they are cool, and the fact that I get to have some soon? Because I'm getting worried at the way this section is going in my head, and I'm the one writing it.
I tend to get a bit cautious about writing about my love life, I've found. A part of that is simple superstition. Of late, every hiccup, argument, row or disagreement that jez and I have had has been straight after me cooing to a third party, and by that I include saying anything nice about jez. As such, I am increasingly finding it dangerous to be nice. A part of that is also an awareness of the fact that there are readers of my journal who may find such meanderings uncomfortable, and I'd rather not do that to them. Maybe it is safer to go back to kittens?
Friends
Erm. I just wrote about a bunch of them earlier. OK. They don't get written about here. They can all go and read the section where I say I wish they'd stop harassing me and get the hell out of my house five paragraphs back. *grins*
Friends. Hrm. I think this is actually a pretty damn positive area of growth as well at the moment. Last June I had a fairly bad falling out with a friend which did some fairly icky things to several bits of my head and took a long long time to heal. I'm not sure why the damage was so deep, but it was.
And I think I'm getting better.
I've gone back up to Edinburgh now, and laid a lot of ghosts to rest and I think I've kinda opened myself up to letting those friends be a proper part of my life again. I think I will try and go back there with jez.
I've been seeing my old school friends again, which is great, and I've been getting to know some new people as well lately, and I think it's going fairly well. I'm remembering that there are rather a lot of people I like, even if I have also discovered thatsilver_blue appears to be a rather skilled Sally-manipulator which is perhaps worrying. I really didn't quite intend to re-join the Cam, and wasn't sure at all about games in general, but Robin (with help from MattMatt) now appear to be pulling me back in.
I feel like Michael Corleone.
And that's me.
Basically, a brief summary on Sally, what she's doing, and how life is going. For anyone who is interested. As per usual I am dividing my life into four pillars, based on the theory (that I read in a magazine years ago) that there are four pillars to one's life - family, friends, work, and love life, and that if one of those collapses a person can normally keep going as long as the others are intact. The theory is that if two or more start looking wobbly, someone is more likely to have breakdowns etc because there is nothing to shore one up elsewhere.
Anyway. My life.
Job/career stuff/money
I start here, probably because this is actually the most interesting part of my life, and is the part likely to have some rambling involved. The short summary of my career/job/money life is that it's currently going well.
It's also the most complicated part of my life, I think, with various subtle subshadings that may need to be explained, and can be further divided into:
Damn Oxford and its inordinately long holidays and inordinately short terms!
I think I shall sign on with some more temp agencies. Does anyone have any suggestions other than Angela Mortimer?
I also got to have a long chat over the weekend with Sarah Maisey, who is a very lovely girl who is in the second year of her MA in the same subject at the University of Northumbria already, and that helped a lot, even if it did scare me slightly. I think, having spoken to Sarah, that I'm not going to be able to work my way through this MA. She described it as horrifically heavy work - 9-5 ion the studio, and then the academic workload on top of that. Having said that, she was still enthused, which is probably a good thing.
Family
I sometimes wonder if I should just describe my family life in this section, or if I should meander into Bridget Jones stylee urban family of friends as well?
*ponders*
Do our friends fulfil a family like role in today's society? Or is that just Guardian style sociological ramblings?
Either way, my family are fine, as far as I can tell. My blood family are all very stable, although Li'l Sis #1 is moving to Italy fairly soon, and there is remarkably little drama.
My Bridget Jones Style Urban Family all also seem mostly well (by this I mostly mean
pierot, ksirafai, rweishaar, castorlion and wildrogue. I feel slightly as if I'd like to get out and do more stuff at times, and then I remember that jez has problems walking and perhaps it would be a little futile to plan that walking holiday in the peak district. I go through phases of being people'd out and needing space, but I think that's always been a 'me' thing and I think possibly a control thing as well. I quite like feeling like I have the capacity to retreat into my own space and shut the door, and as long as I have that I can be a lot more sociable. At times in the past I've felt fairly trapped in a social lifestyle, and that has been something I've not enjoyed, but I think I'm getting past that. If nothing else, I'm learning to say 'no. No people tonight' without feeling guilty, and I'm learning to not feel guilty or obliged to entertain people if they appear at my house and I haven't invited them.
To be honest, that's a fairly big thing in my head. If I know that I can pick up a book, or potter around on the computer, or get some tidying done, even if people have appeared, then I get a lot more relaxed about socialising and people being around. I'm slowly working through a lot of social conditioning from my mother which says 'one must look after one's guests', and that helps a lot.
My last ponder on my Bridget Jones Style Urban Family is that I do think I would like to do more Stuff. Having said that, we have My Mother Said happening at some point and I hear rumours of more D&D. I'm not sure that latter counts as Stuff and more as Hideous And Impending Doom, but either way, it's a change from the telly. *grins*
Love life
My love life...well...it's still
pierot. I'm not sure it's very interesting to anyone who isn't us. We've been together for over a year now, and it feels quite comfortable. I'm very fond of the boy and we're getting kittens.Erm. Is it slightly wrong if a section which is entitled 'love life' turns into a long essay on cats, why they are cool, and the fact that I get to have some soon? Because I'm getting worried at the way this section is going in my head, and I'm the one writing it.
I tend to get a bit cautious about writing about my love life, I've found. A part of that is simple superstition. Of late, every hiccup, argument, row or disagreement that jez and I have had has been straight after me cooing to a third party, and by that I include saying anything nice about jez. As such, I am increasingly finding it dangerous to be nice. A part of that is also an awareness of the fact that there are readers of my journal who may find such meanderings uncomfortable, and I'd rather not do that to them. Maybe it is safer to go back to kittens?
Friends
Erm. I just wrote about a bunch of them earlier. OK. They don't get written about here. They can all go and read the section where I say I wish they'd stop harassing me and get the hell out of my house five paragraphs back. *grins*
Friends. Hrm. I think this is actually a pretty damn positive area of growth as well at the moment. Last June I had a fairly bad falling out with a friend which did some fairly icky things to several bits of my head and took a long long time to heal. I'm not sure why the damage was so deep, but it was.
And I think I'm getting better.
I've gone back up to Edinburgh now, and laid a lot of ghosts to rest and I think I've kinda opened myself up to letting those friends be a proper part of my life again. I think I will try and go back there with jez.
I've been seeing my old school friends again, which is great, and I've been getting to know some new people as well lately, and I think it's going fairly well. I'm remembering that there are rather a lot of people I like, even if I have also discovered that
silver_blue appears to be a rather skilled Sally-manipulator which is perhaps worrying. I really didn't quite intend to re-join the Cam, and wasn't sure at all about games in general, but Robin (with help from MattMatt) now appear to be pulling me back in. I feel like Michael Corleone.
And that's me.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:22 am (UTC)Incidentally, we do still need to have that drink on a "not get bombed" day.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:46 am (UTC)I think I'm booked up this week, but am free next week and would like to meet up.
I do fear slightly that we may be unleashing a new reign of terror in London, however.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 04:01 pm (UTC)And as long as it's our reign of terror...
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:24 am (UTC)Well, bits of it are beguiling.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:24 am (UTC)They do here (I'm a tripod by this theory), but then I often read the Guardian.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:31 am (UTC)I am now worried that opera music will start playing. That will mean that all of your enemies and a few of your friends are being wiped out in a series of skilled and bloody assassinations.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:44 am (UTC)Mmmmm...erm...I mean...no! That would be terrible. Terrible I tell you.
What kind of operatic music? And are the deaths painful?
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 06:34 pm (UTC)But yes, the deaths would not only be painful, but overly elaborate, theatrical and ironically appropriate. Like their favorite candy exploding in their mouth.
I'm sure your aghast at the thought of everyone who's ticked you off dying horribly within ten minutes, across the country.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 06:38 pm (UTC)**Worried Look**
Date: 2005-09-20 06:43 pm (UTC)Re: **Worried Look**
Date: 2005-09-20 06:48 pm (UTC)Re: **Worried Look**
Date: 2005-09-20 07:06 pm (UTC)Or we could be the real assassins in the above situation
Damn my paranoia
Re: **Worried Look**
Date: 2005-09-20 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 10:22 am (UTC)This is true. The more you crow about your love life, the more likely it is to explode. This can be more clearly seen with the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston celevbrity split up, where I once saw a poster for a magzine advertsiing "we are so happy together" right next to the newspaper with the headline "Brad 'n' Jen split - Angelina wrecking ball" or something to that effect. Never, ever tell a celebrity magazine how happy you are or your relationship is doomed.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-21 07:00 am (UTC)I've been through that recently....