|
TheTome /
LothedInSummerYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. 29 January 2004 - 6:21pm Tomorow is my housemate, Nats's last day working here so I'm keeping her company while she sorts her stuff out and catching up on some email...
To reply to Yancke: I didn't start it on the wiki - that was HardBoiled (sorry, HardBoiled). However after it had become an issue I felt the need to state my position for the benefit of some of the people who do read the wiki, are in the know, and who, for the reasons mentioned I feel little need to contact directly. That and I live in Jo'burg so it's not like I see them face to face anyway. This is my blog, and well, I can write what I like - call it catharsis. I needed to tell some people how I felt and this was the most 'economic' way to do so. Nuff said.
(OK respek. Now that I see your perspective(ie. adressing the baddies). -Yancke 28 January 2004 - 2:56pm Today is so not my day. Drank way to much while out avoiding playing pool last night. Woke up paying for it - although in a bizarre turn of fate I look really well rested. Didn't go to gym this morning. I reckon this whole gym/getting fit thing is damaging my alcohol tolerance. Will go tomorrow or friday though. Printer phoned my to tell me that I'd made a second skrew up in the nightmare job from hell - I hate it so much that I'm being sloppy, hence it keeps coming back to haunt me - and that I now need to send the thing to repro for a third time! That damn 'Midu' virus what is going round has our ISP skrewed, so we can only recieve email and not send. So I have to keep writing new CD's for stupid tiny little files that clients want. I think we should have 'crime-prevention' leave. You know, when you're so pissed off that you're ready to kill someone or break something. I think you should be allowed to go home to prevent you from comming murder or vandalism. Grrr...
Even the thought of role-playing tonight fails to cheer me up. Which is a pity, since my character's gone slightly crazy.
21 January 2004 - 1:16pm Gods, I am so bored. Yes, this is a bored Wiki post.
Apparently stress and large quantities of water are good for you. I'm all better now.
I watched Last Samurai last night. Really enjoyed it. Admittedly it had the odd bit of cheese - especially at the end. And lots of whooshy katana's and arrows for the action fans. I'll further admit that I don't know enough about Japan at the time to know how faithful the back story was. However, I found it a really nice protrayal of how western civilisation just climbs on in and squashes what ever 'minor' civilisations that stand in its way, in the name of 'progress'. Westernism as a disease. Kind of awoke my sense of nihilistic appreciation.
Speaking of nihilistic appreciation, I need to email Russel. My character, Inoko, has swallowed a not totally insignificant amount of the blood of Fu Leng while splashing around in it trying to alternately kill a person and save another. This, of course, means that she has inadvertently recieved, I assume, a large amount of taint (the assumptions it of the amount, not that she's getting taint). Now the thing is that I'm only going to have my character for about another 10 sessions - until I go - giving Russel a tainted NPC who is 'in' with the rest of the players. BTW to those not familiar with the L5R? system, taint slowly corrupts one - there is pretty much no cure, and the best you can do is slow it's progress and hope to die honourable before it eats your soul. Of, course, the less soul you have the less you mind this. My character's faith in the empire, duty and the honour system had been severly shaken of late, and she's coming to the realisation that life and survival is a bit more important to her than these 'abstracts'. But then what do you expect from a 12 year old who's just had to watch friends and companions slaughtered one by one in a place best described as "hell on earth" and believes her fiance, the Clan Daimyo, dead or worse, in the hands of the new lord of the shadowlands. It's going to be sooo much fun!
20 January 2004 - 12:45pm Well, I've watched the chaos that has become the wiki with some level of amusement. However, as I said before I just had a 'quick' statement to say - and then I had every intention of shutting up. I argree with completely with SynKronos, will everyone else - especially those not involved but getting worked up anyway - shut up! Especially since I have no intention of 'shouting louder' as Roo suggested.
(I have no clue what's going on and have no intention of sticking my nose in what seems to be a very private issue. *Sincerly with no malice, Yancke.
Some days I think I have the constitution of a wet paper bag. I'm coming down with a cold for the second time this month! I'm holding it in check so far with lots of water and some Vitamin C, but this never seems to be effective in the long term and merely prolongs the inevitable. I hate my colds. They're also so smugly predictable - I can write a bloody time-table for them. Surfice to say that if everything runs to standard (as it always does) - I'm going to be a misery tonight, worse tommorrow and by Friday morning I should be able to breath again. I'm praying, of course, that it doesn't run to standard and my symptoms just don't develop/get worse. My bother reckons that you just need to be positive and ignore the cold, and it will go away. However, this isn't really possible for me - I know how my cold run and thus they run that way, ala self-fulfilling prophecy.
I hate clients. Back to work.
15 January 2004 - 1:41pm I just have a quick statement to make: For those of you who know what's got HardBoiled so riled up, well, you know whether you're guilty of his accusations or not. For those who are, think you need to do some soul searching and decide what sort of person you really want for a friend. For those who don't know what's up, well, good. I'd hate to have to be angry with more people than I already am. If, at some point you do, unfortunately, receive the relevant information - knowing fucking CLAWs gossip that point shouldn't be too far away - depending on which way you 'jump' you'll know whether I ever want to associate with you again. The line has been drawn. I know where I stand.
13 January 2004 - 4:36pm I thought it about time that I quit neglecting the wiki. I'm in a little of a crazy mood today. I've donated blood for the eight time, and feeling really good for it. I also went to gym today for the first time. I later discovered that you're not supposed to exercise on the day you donate blood since it flattens your veins making them difficult to get (as Natalie discovered to her detriment). Fortunately, my veins still co-operated. I would have been decidedly miff if they hadn't - they would have got a good talking to!
Natalie, gym lets her give me a free month 'trail' voucher. Which is cool. We've decided to go swimming in the gym pool three times a week in the morning. Both of us could really use the exercise. Gods, am I unfit. Although, I've actually changed my diet quite a bit too. For the first time in my life I'm living with a female close to my own age, and I'm really enjoying it. The joy of not cooking for boys is that we can actually just have a nice salad for supper. It's also my favourite time of the year for fruit - peaches, grapes, litchi's, watermelons! I've been buying vast quantities of fruit from Fruit & Veg city and making big fruit salads for Nats and I to eat for lunch - I usually make them big enough that each batch lasts both of us for two days. The result of this is that I'm actually feeling a lot more energetic and in general a lot more 'well'. I need to reclaim my figure from the gradual slump that has been moving out of home and getting a car.
Anyway, compliments of the season. Hope you all had a great New Years. Mine was arb but pleasent. My holday was arb, but pleasent. My Temple of Elemental Evil party is 9th level. The game caps you at 10th. Now you know why you didn't see me. Yes, I'm sad. Come visit me here. I'm a lot better. I don't have a computer. Any donations of computers greatfully accepted. <pyscho grin>
11 December 2003 - 2:39pm quack - sorry, I had to... GreatGnarlyburrHerder Only one more day to go! Yay! Then work is over for the year and I can go home and veg. Catch up on the hundreds of movies that I haven't got round to watching yet - hired from the video store over the bridge where DVD's rent for R10 - sit in the comfort of my dad's armchair with the big screen TV and dolby surround sound. It's gonna be bliss. Well, except for the fact that I need to do christmas shopping, am kinda hoping to go to Bain's Kloof for a couple of days, have the usual non-stop three days of christmas, far too many people to see, a (usually large) christmas tree to decorate and need to spend every ounce of spare time I've got making my costume for Russel's LARP. I'm broke again - as usual - don't know how I do it, I'm earning more than twice what I was in Cape Town and I still can only just afford to live - actually I blame it on my car and plane tickets... Admittely, I live realtively well... But yeah, I've foolishly decided to try and make things for people for their chistmas presents, a nice idea but I'm sure it'll be short lived once I face the reality of how much work this costume of mine requires...
Anyway, tonight's the last session of our L5R? campaign I'm going to be at this year. Seeing as our characters (the useless bunch of children that we are) have been hauled off to the Shadowlands (for reason's I am not going to go into in this short post) - and into almost certain death - Russel needs to use tonight to kill off some of my personal 'near and dear' - probably my brother, Yakamo - before he loses the player on whom the emotional impact will be the greatest...
9 December 2003 - 4:50pm My joy at finding the Wiki up once more is only slightly dulled by the sudden need to archive (it wouldn't let me write more than 20 letters before beeping at me) sigh And the fact that I have flu.
It's one of those wonderful things as you clear up after of a day or two of fever, that you have to now spend some time sorting reality out from your fever dreams. Like I dreamed that since Nikki had turned down Nathan Reddy's offer of a job at TBWA Hunt Lascaris (reality - stupid stupid stupid girl!), she decided to refer Nathan to me - so I was going to an interview with him (dream) - except that I have had an interview with him - a year ago (reality). I also dreamed that my car tired were pap (reality), no, really really pap (dream), so pap that I had to drive really slowly to the nearest garage to get them pumped-up again. Fortunately, I've forgotten most of the imaginings I had - however over the space of today - and I'm sure the next few to come - more will surface.
I'm feeling okay though, having a bit of trouble breathing. Not taking any meds since they just make me want to sleep and I've actually had to able to do work today. Glad I've got sick now though, rather than next week. Nothing worse than being sick on holiday. BTW I will be back in CT - flying in on Saturday evening. I've got to spend most of my time at home creating my next costume for Russel's new LARP. It never ends with me... but then I can't afford the R1 700 to get someone to make the corset for me.
25 November 2003 - 3:30pm Some days I really hate my job. Fortunately, this isn't too common, I normally just 'casually bear' my job. Some days I really like my job. However, over the last few month the days I really hate my job have become more and more frequent, and the days I actually like it have become fewer and fewer. Especially since my return from Cape Town... This is due to the fact that I've been doing DTP (for those of you not clued into design lingo this means 'Desk Top Publishing' and is nothing like it sounds, but is none-the-less the most awful and boring thing a designer can get stuck doing) almost solidly for the last three months. Today is especially bad since our MD, my boss, is a MCP (for those of you not clued into feminist lingo this means 'Male Chauvenist Pig'), and has - without notifying me, but I'm not stupid so know I what's up around here - pulled me off the singular and only half-decent job that has come my way for ages. This has happened only because the companies "blue-eyed-boy" was on leave yesterday and the MD was too busy to go visit the new client and so I got taken along as a 'fill-in'. I then asked the AE (account executive) if I could take on the job, please, only to have the MD return today from where ever the hell he's been and 'skop' me off the project, since I'm clearly insufficiently skilled or talented to cope with a single DL brochure and a poster. F*ck. I wish I could tell him where to shove this job and to find someone else to replace me, but really I can't go looking for a new job at this time of year, especially when I'm heading for the UK early next year.
Anyway, I needed to vent. I'm going to casually saunter down to the AE's office in half-an-hour so that I can ask about the project (which needs to be signed off by the client before the end of the week, easier said than done) so that he can tell me to "um, not worry about it anymore". Grrr...
5 November 2003 - 10:42am Yeah, the life of a designer sucks. (Although not as much as the lives of most people in IT...)
Some of the great comments from clients I've had to encounter lately include:
"The xxxx presents and strong graphics about traveling, aeroplanes and lifestyle images should come strongly. It must entice members to go through the document due to the attractive pictures. The 2004 look and feel should also come out in these pdf's"
It is expressedly stated in the 2004 look and feel that we will use no pictures. (Oh, and I re-type this directly from the client brief).
Client: "I don't like green, can we use dark blue?"
Me: "Well, I used green because you're a cricket school, what does dark blue have to do with cricket?" Client: "Well, can I just see it in blue?" Five minutes later... Client: "Oh, okay, green's good." (this went on for two hours of the client sitting next to me making changes, only to be shown he was wrong...) /* i had a similar experience some years back with the director of mumble who, after numerous variations along the lines of "use this bright purple with that yellow, not blue.", turned out to be colourblind. interestingly enough, memepool posted this that same day. bless them. wither */ Oh, and another choice uttering of his was - after watching me work for half an hour "Gosh, this is a lot more complex than I realized, I thought I could do it myself, at home."
Yeah, there's a reason I studied for three years and you pay the rates for design that you do... Anyway, enough 'design humor' - or pain, depending on your perspective. It's the kind of thing that only people with something that passes for the dribblings of 'artistic vision' who have to deal with morons on a daily basis will understand. Not just designers, anything outside the scope of the daily life of a norm, like technical stuff as well. My ex (thank god) boss was exactly the same - can't we do it this way? No, we can't. Hey John, can we do it this way? No, Richard, we can't. That's what I fucking said, bitch. Well, his loss :) -- SynKronos MTV is the root of all evil. Maria Carey is the devil.
Ah - I read this and immediately thought of my boo and the struggle she fights every day in the trenches of the corporate world. Understand. Head back to LothedInJoburg |