[sticky entry] Sticky: About Me

Jan. 1st, 2022 03:09 pm
waterfall8484: An elouai doll maker approximation of what I look like. (Long, brown hair in pigtails, glasses, a slightly cheeky look.) (Me by waterfall8484)
In light of the new people I've found on DW lately I think it's more than time that I made an about me post!

The Basics
I'm Waterfall, I've answered to that for more than two thirds of my life now so no need for other names :D I'm closer to 40 than 30 and live somewhere in Norway with my partner Broccoli. I have a mum, a dad, a grandma and a found family sister, and that's pretty much it for close family. Broccoli has a whole bunch of siblings and I love him even more for it. I teach ESL and social science at a vocational school, and I love my job and most of my students even though the grading always stresses me out. This year I'm working part time because I'm also doing a part time uni course in special education, which is interesting and hopefully going to help me out with my teaching in the future.

My Journal
Is a mix of fandom and everyday life stuff, where I write about everything from what's been happening in the last week, my family, my teaching, news, stuff I read or watch, fandom and fanfiction (which mostly means Hermitcraft these days but I'll get back to that), challenges or writing memes, and whatever else happens to fall into my head. I haven't been very good at updating for a few years now but I seem to be on a roll lately so we'll see. If I go radio silent, expect me to randomly appear again in about 6 months to a year from now!

My Hobbies
I love fantasy, urban fantasy and sci-fi, and watch and read quite a lot of it. I play the French Horn in a concert band, and until recently I was also in a choir. I love reading and writing, although I don't have much time for it nowadays it seems. I also do some knitting and cross stitching, and I play a lot of computer games (mostly Minecraft and the Sims with some Guild Wars 2 and other things thrown in). I try to go for walks and swim regularly, something that's a bit more difficult than usual these days because of the pandemic.

My Fandoms
Like I mentioned, I'm mostly obsessed with Hermitcraft at the moment but there are many other fandoms that never leave me and that I dive back into from time to time, especially for reading fic. My never-leave fandoms are Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Star Trek, and probably also X-Men and the MCU in general. Somehow I never got into the Star Wars fandom (I've seen the films and some of the series though!) but I love reading fix-it fics of any variety and I've picked up a lot of knowledge that way :D.

I love writing and that extends mostly into fanfic, and you can find a masterlist of my fic here. These days I publish most of my stuff under Waterfall at AO3. That mostly means Hermitcraft fic right now, but I've also written for some other fandoms like Doctor Who, Anita Blake, Harry Potter, X-Men and Star Trek. Most of my Doctor Who fic are crossovers, since I've pretty much made it my life's goal to cross DW with as many of my favourite fandoms as possible.

Also, I love crossovers in general and I have a couple of lists with various rare or fun crossover recs that are in the process of being updated:
* The Big Damn List of Unusual Crossovers
* The Big Damn List of Unusual Doctor Who & Torchwood Crossovers

The End?
That's all I can think of at the moment, I'll probably go back and add things as I think of them.

waterfall8484: Picture of the Ninth Doctor with the text: "Still my Doctor". (Still my Doctor by lauralorien)
I decided that it would be a good idea to collect links to all my fics in one place, both for my own convenience and for others'. Also for history's sake, since it turns out that I've actually been in fandom for quite a few years now. There are fics by me dating all the way back to 2001! (You'd probably be better off not reading them, though...) I think I've more or less got them all here, but let me know if I've missed something!

The fics are arranged by year, so the newest ones are on top and the more horrible stuff is near the bottom and thereby hopefully easier to ignore. And as I look through some my old work... well, I can see that I've made progress, to put it that way. Just another reason for me to become more prolific!

Cut for length )

Week 26

Jul. 2nd, 2024 01:57 pm
waterfall8484: The quote "Suddenly, NINJAS ATTACK (thank god!)". (Ninjas attack by deepfishy)
Wednesday 26/6
Lots of busy days this week! Not surprising, really, since we're leaving for a 2-week vacation in Kragerø (yes!!) on Friday, and when we come back we only just have time to re-pack and enjoy one night in our own beds before driving up north to Broccoli's family vacation place. I've never been there before and he's wanted me to see it for literal years, so I'm very glad we finally get the chance to go. However, (and one of the reasons we haven't gone before), the easiest way to get there is by car, and we have an electric. I'm also the only driver, and I've been very reluctant to do a long drive under those circumstances. But this time we've decided to do it in two parts with an overnight stop in the middle, which means a) that we have a lot of extra time if charging gets tricky along the way, and b) I don't have to drive for more than about 3 hours each day - not including ferry stops, rest & charging breaks and all that. It probably sounds like nothing to the USAians reading, but I guess it all depends on what you're used to...

In any case, there's been lots of last-minute things that we need to get, like a life vest and shoes for Cascade. (Her first shoes! Just a little over 1 year old and she's trundling around all over like a pro already <3) The car's also been in and out of the garage a few times because of some warning lights, but that's hopefully fixed now.

Friday 28/6
And we're off! It took about half an hour longer than planned to get out the door, but that's pretty much normal. It'll be a stretch if we get there before Cascade's bedtime though, so we'll see how that goes. She's sleeping right now and will probably sleep through the ferry trip, but that's fine - never mind, she just woke up :D

Sunday 30/6
I didn't really have a chance to pick up the writing again, since we didn't stop a lot and I get carsick at the drop of a hat so writing on the move was not an option. Thought we could relax a bit in the evening once we got to Kragerø, but the place was not baby-proofed at all (although full of lovely knickknacks that we had to move out of reach from grabby little hands!) And Cascade slept a lot during the drive, so she was impossible to put to bed - and we probably tried for way too long! She's also had a massive cold for about a week, so she's coughing a lot and especially when she's falling asleep poor thing.

We did get things sorted during yesterday, but it took a while and I got surprisingly stressed even though I was the one who got to sleep in. When we finally put her to bed she woke up several times from coughing and related tummy aches, and it took a few hours of tag-team soothing before she fell asleep again and we decided we might as well go to bed too. We've seized the opportunity to sleep in the actual bed until mum and her boyfriend arrive, at which point we're delegated to the giant air matress - which honestly isn't bad! It's got a motor to blow itself up and doesn't seem to be losing much air, and the squeaking isn't very noticeable.

As for the rest of the day there's too much happening at once; both MCC Twitch Rivals Europe (go False & Fruit!) and the F1 Austria race start at the same time, and not long after that is when mum and the bf arrive. I would very much like to watch False live, but we'll see what I can squeeze in between enjoying my holiday. After all, real life has no VODs!

Wall art from the bedroom in our rental, I might adopt the sentiment! )

Week 25

Jun. 24th, 2024 12:41 pm
waterfall8484: Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down talking to Twilight Sparkle. (Bounce by by tmg_icons)
Saturday 22/6
First test to see if I can use the tablet as a sort of digital bujo, or at least as a journal! If I can find out how to convert this handwriting into type I'll be golden, but even without that feature I think this can work out quite well! There's no washi tape setting, although I might be able to find something online, but I very much appreciate the ability to undo my mistakes without resorting to whiteout, as well as all the options I get from only one pen. I can at least figure out some nice pen-only layouts, and I can also add pictures, photos and even sound, but no video it looks like. But this is definitely going to be a journal and not a whole bujo, at least not for a while.

Just figured out that there is a text to type converter, so I'm all set! This is so cool...

Sunday 23/6
Somehow it's easier to grab my tablet than a physical journal, probably partly because I don't have to do all the fiddly stuff with pens, tape, and so on. Plus I've got so many other things on the tablet as well, so it's likely already nearby - and in addition it's maybe not lighter but definitely slimmer. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to writing fanfic on here too - I just need to think of something to write! That being said, if I work on anything it should be SItV, or any of the other fics I've started in earlier journals. I wonder if I can photo them in here and then do text to type..? Definitely worth a try.

waterfall8484: Twilight Sparkle looking confused. (Huh by tmg_icons)
Sunday 14/4
I'm backdating my small notes when I think it fits, I don't care if they get lost in the ether. I had a nice post ready to go on Friday, I just never got around to actually posting it. I can't quite remember why, but it was a combination of finishing the washing and Cascade waking up, I think. Factoring her evening wake-ups into my plans/time estimates for the evening is something I'm still not used to, so I'm always a bit surprised as to how fast the time flies when I should, in theory, have enough time for everything.

Tuesday 16/4
I came to work all chipper and prepared for five periods in a row (including lunch, thankfully), and was promptly hit by a wall of perfume as I poked my head into the first classroom of the day to bring my pupils out with me. I reversed out of there so fast that I barely had time to tell my colleague who teaches the whole class what was wrong, and only caught a few breaths of the stuff. Unfortunately, since I had forgotten my inhaler (I know exactly where it is!), it knocked me out just as badly as if I'd breathed in a big dose. I wasn't even coughing, and it still took half an hour for my heart to stop racing and the dizzyness to go away! And then I still had to spend a couple of hours laying down before I got some of my energy back, as I was just as tired and downright sleepy as I always get. Thankfully, the school now has a 'quiet' room with a bed, so I spent my time there and even got to sleep a little bit.

Thursday 18/4
I want to level my characters and get legendaries in GW2 just so that I can make them look pretty.

Friday 19/4
Just found out that my term paper is not going to fall apart because I didn't come back to work until April and would have no chance in heck of actually going though with the change work I've been planning. I'll be able to get my colleagues together so we can come up with concrete steps for change next school year, and that's thankfully all I need to do. Phew! *wipes forehead, flops dramatically back in my chair*

waterfall8484: Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down talking to Twilight Sparkle. (Bounce by by tmg_icons)
I did that ADHD thing again where I showed sympathy and understanding by relating a similar example from my own experience, but where the person I was talking to most likely a) didn't understand what I wanted to convey, and in fact b) probably thought I was complaining rather than sympathising, while also c) probably ended up thinking I'm a bit self-centered? It was really just a minor thing, but it somehow frustrates me more now that I realise what I'm doing (and why!) and also understand how commonly my natural way of communicating comes across all wrong to a lot of (mostly neurotypical, I guess?) people.

I can't exactly go around with a sign saying I have ADHD, it wouldn't really explain the situation anyway, and trying to explain in person after it's happened is bound to just make everything into a muddle and waste everyone's time, at least at work. Of course, if it ever happens and causes a real problem I'll explain, but it mostly makes me come across as a bit self-centered and air-headed, which I can live with because a) relating the experiences of others to myself as a way of understanding is a self-centered way of doing it (which doesn't mean it's bad) and b) I am, in fact, a bit air-headed (which may also relate to my ADHD now that I think about it, but it's not something I care about).

Speaking of, I have a colleague with ADHD and we just had a 10-minute talk were we interrupted each other enthusicatically several times, kept trying to leave to do stuff, but had to just say one more thing first. We both agreed that it's nice to be able to communicate naturally with someone who understands, haha. I keep thinking of that "clown to clown communication" meme...
waterfall8484: Twilight Sparkle looking confused. (Huh by tmg_icons)
These small notes were initially very small, so I ended up writing more on them later. Does that still make them small notes according to my completely made-up, non-binding rules? Not really, but I don't care XD

Monday
I really need to get better at leaving for work in the morning, especially when I don't have to teach first period... there's just so much incentive to dawdle at home, especially with Cascade there.

Providing food for Cascade is such a hassle at work as well. First I have to find an available room, which thankfully isn't difficult, and a colleague suggested that if there's none available I can kick my boss out of his office, which I will totally do if I need to - he's a great guy so it'll be fine haha. Then there's setup, which is a bit fiddly; the actual process, which is sometimes a bit uncomfortable but mostly fine; and then tidying up afterwards. All in all it takes me about 35 to 45 minutes, and I am entitled to an hour each day so we're good there. Watching a video on my phone makes it less boring and easier to relax, and as a bonus I can keep up with Hermitcraft a little better. It's still a hassle though!

Tuesday
It's a mystery to me how I can go from having plenty of time to get ready to leave to suddenly being late - how does that keep happening? I think it's partly because when I feel like I have lots of time I start doing extra stuff or taking my time, which is an annoying paradox because that 'lots of time' is only in relation to my normal routine.

Also, teaching five periods straight starting first period is exhausting, even if I only have one or two pupils in each group. Especially when they don't really want the extra help it's meant to give them, although to be fair I could have been clearer in establishing a) to which degree they had input in ending up with this help and b) what they themselves think they need from me (although my suspicion based on my experience so far is that the answer will be *shrug* "don't know" - but I should at least ask). I'm definitely a little rusty after more than a year and a half away, although to be fair I might not have been very aware that I should even ask those things before we studied pupil-teacher communication and relations in the special ed course I'm taking.

As an extra annoyance (although the pupils are probably more than fine with it lol) it means I have to do Cascade food prep during the 30 minute lunch, which makes me about 15 minutes late for the next period. I also have to eat at the same time, which took a bit of extra juggling but worked out fairly okay. The alternative is that I can't have that period at all though, and most likely none of the periods with those pupils that day, so them losing 15 minutes each week is definitely preferable. And if it becomes unsustainable for me we can look for other solutions - did I mention my boss is great?

waterfall8484: My character from the game Glitch - steampunk style! (Steampunk Glitch by waterfall8484)
Doing small notes has kind of worked, as in that I've been doing them on OneNote but not posting them here. Since posting was arguably part of the reason for doing them in the first place I suddenly realised that it will take about the same amount of effort to write them straight in the DW "Post an Entry" box (why the big E?), and just hit the post button at the end of the day if I've written something. And it'll be easier to copy my notes from DW to OneNote than the other way around, which I'll try to do because I still want to have a dedicated copy of my journal. And once I get a bit more settled at work I may find a few minutes here and there to do the writing, so I don't have to write on my mobile all the time which I still really dislike. Now all I need to do is to add "Did you post?" to my "Did you remember the washing?" evening alarm and I'm all set XD

waterfall8484: The ConCorp logo from Hermitcraft on a blue background (Default)
Yeah, I'm trying this again, let's see if it lasts longer than a few days this time! My last small note was way back in 2012, so I'm not very optimistic. Also, these notes are not exactly small!

Wednesday 6/3
Listening to Yakety Sax and once again desperately wanting an edit of the wither/warden debacle in Secret Life with this music, especially Scar's POV. Or a montage of Life Series situations in general, for that matter! Even if I had the skills myself though, I'd never have the time.

I've realised that the likely reason I become so much of a chatterbox during the physical checkups at the local mental health centre is because I've subconsciously decided that they see all manner of neurodivergence all the time and so there's no need for me to mask... something I didn't even realise I was doing until recently. So I go all friendly "babble about my current life, diagnosis, and immediate thoughts" mode, and so far I've ended up having a few nice chats. I commented on it today, and was told that people either talk a lot or not at all, which makes sense in this kind of situation I suppose. Then again, I tend to get friendly-chatty during most medical or official-feeling appointments in general, so it might just be my way of dealing with awkward nervousness. I distinctively do more of it here, though, so I guess it's a combination of the two..?

Thursday 7/3
Writing this with my arms full of sleeping baby... Cascade woke up after her nap a bit unhappy and when I gave her a cuddle she went right back to sleep on me. I'm half-sitting at the footend of the bed, half-lying back on the duvet, hoping she sleeps for a long time still... she's so warm and soft and has the cutest little sleeping pout. Reminds me of when she was newborn and would fall asleep on top of me or Broccoli at the drop of a hat. These are the kinds of memories I want to keep forever.

I wasn't sure using my phone to do small notes would work, but so far it's worked really well! I can't see myself writing a normal post this way, but sudden thoughts or situational notes are somehow different. Less demand for coherency and framework, I suppose?

waterfall8484: The quote "Suddenly, NINJAS ATTACK (thank god!)". (Ninjas attack by deepfishy)
...and figured I'm way overdue for a post.

In fact, I've wanted to post several things for ages, but I don't really have time during the day and when evening comes all I want to do is relax and turn my brain off with games and Hermitcraft.

However, earlier today I started thinking about time passing and how I can't really trust my brain to remember the good parts I want to keep forever, and since I finally have some peace and quiet I'm taking a little time off from studying to write about what I want to write about :D

First is of course Cascade, who is almost 9 months old! There have been so many ups and downs (mostly ups) already, and this is of course what I first and foremost want to remember for later. I have less than a month left of my parenting leave left now, and although I'm partly looking forward to getting out of the house and back to work, I'm also almost painfully aware that I'll never have this time again and I want to enjoy the rest of it as much as possible. I'm hoping I can do at least monthly posts about her, mostly just to have a place to keep the memories. Giving me a semi-public place to keep a diary is the main point of this journal after all, besides squeeing about fannish stuff of course.

Second is my ADHD, which is now official! It's such a relief, mostly for my own sake (turns out I'm not the problem!), and because I can now talk tools and accommodation with my boss - not to mention knowing where and what to look for to help me manage other parts of my life, as well as getting actual help for that part. I'm trying out Ritalin, and I definitely want to post about that - suffice to say that the inside of my head is a much calmer place right now and even if that's all I get it's kind of amazing.

Third is the other stuff in my life; studies and eventually work, mostly. I had to postpone my last exam essay by a year, and now I'm actually having to do it. It's a lot with a baby at home, but thankfully work is giving me study time this year as well so hopefully I'll have one day a week that I can dedicate to getting it done.

Fourth is the fannish stuff. I'm still consistently about a week behind on Hermitcraft, but I'm managing to watch a lot more Hermits than I probably should - it's kind of the only thing I have time to watch these days, but I can stop whenever I want to, honestly! I've abandoned my poor [community profile] hermitcraft community for the time being, but thankfully there are a few others who use it and that makes me very happy every time I see it.

I'm also playing a lot of Guild Wars 2, as it's one of the things Broccoli and I can easily do together when Cascade's gone to sleep. We played Vault Hunters for a bit too, and might get back to that later. I also play Honkai Star Rail, The Sims, and Minecraft here and there, and I'm eagerly awaiting any scrap of news regarding the ElfQuest animated series!!!11! I'm sure I can think of a lot more in this category if I ever get posting regularly again, but those are the main ones right now.

I should get back to studying though, I spent a bit too long writing this but I feel so much better now that I have! I need to keep that feeling in mind when I'm sitting down for the evening and feel too tired to do anything - posting when I actually want to is a lot easier than I think. Maybe if I tell myself I only have to write a few sentences it will trick my brain into letting me start? It worked for this post after all :P

waterfall8484: Fluttershy hugging a bunny. (Hug by tmg_icons)
...so far, at least. Last year I may have been too exhausted, but this year I'm going back to my good old New Year's Meme! As usual, snag if you want to.

Three things you liked about last year:
1) I gave birth to my beautiful baby Cascade <3
2) I started on the path to getting an official ADHD diagnosis
3) Broccoli and I have been playing a lot of GW2 together

Three things you didn't like about last year:
1) Well, actually giving birth wasn't very fun
2) The stress of getting our flat ready in time
3) War, and then even more war :(

Three New Year's resolutions:
1) To not put more pressure on myself that I absolutely have to - including not making any resolutions lol
2) That being said, I do want to keep posting in [community profile] hermitcraft, because it's been awesome to see the activity in there!
3) Ask for help when I need it (and before things get too much)

Three things you hope/think will happen this year:
1) I manage to write my final exam essay without too much stress
2) Getting that ADHD diagnosis (and some accommodations at work)
3) Cascade keeps thriving and being wonderful

Three things you hope won't/don't think will happen this year:
1) Failing my exam
2) Getting overwhelmed (again)
3) Uh, is this year the presidential election in the US? Because there's so much that could go wrong with that

My mind is mostly staying close to home this year apparently, which makes sense. Having a child is a really big change, and I don't know what impact it will have until I'm back to work/we're both back to work after summer. And with my tendency to hate not being prepared for the future, well... that's what's mostly on my mind these days. When I'm not firmly situated in the wonderful now of baby, that is. I'll try to add some updates once in a while, but as usual I'm not making any promises! :D

waterfall8484: My character from the game Glitch - steampunk style! (Steampunk Glitch by waterfall8484)
I am bound and determined to interact with [community profile] hermitcraft now that several people are using the comm, and the Community Thursday challenge was the perfect excuse to go comment on some posts. (Snagged via [personal profile] vriddy - "every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc. ")

I also ended up going through some of my earliest posts (from 2003! originally on Xanga!) to f-lock them and give them some tags at the same time. I read a comment in passing from someone who locks their posts after a certain time has passed, and I kind of liked that idea. I'll do some of the backlog at least, no random stranger needs to see my angsty poetry and ramblings from my first years of uni.

Past me was definitely less verbose though, and I might pick up again some of the things she did like featured links, quotes and a "Currently reading" update at the end.

...yeah, let's try that.

Currently Reading
Kitty Rocks the House
by Carry Vaughn
waterfall8484: Fluttershy hugging a bunny. (Hug by tmg_icons)
It's been pretty much exactly a month since I had a beautiful baby girl, who of course is the prettiest and sweetest baby in the whole wide world ♥♥♥ As I'm writing this she's in her crib making burbling noises, and it's amazing how fast the time has gone since we came home from the hospital - while at the same time it seems as if she's always been here. We've been very lucky with her due date, since it means that Broccoli could take his holiday right after the two-week new non-birth-parent leave, making everything a bit easier for us.

I'm not sure if this means that I'll be returning to DW with any regularity any time soon, but now that I can sit again for periods of time I at least have an easier time getting to my computer! I recently realised that reading posts on mobile isn't so bad, so I'll try to keep up with that a bit at least. And people seem to be using the [community profile] hermitcraft comm a little right now, so I really want to get that going again (although with minimal effort on my part).

Since I'm not keen on giving away personal details on here, not being f-locked and all, baby girl will of course get an online name that I'll be using. And since Broccoli had no vegetable suggestions for me, she'll be called Cascade - which is basically a small waterfall. I'd feel clever about that one, but I did get some help with suggestions so I really can't :D

Anyway, that's it for now, and only the High Ones know when I'll be back next. I'd better get some posts in while she's still small enough to sleep most of the time, I think...

waterfall8484: Twilight Sparkle looking confused. (Huh by tmg_icons)
Renovations are going well, tomorrow people are coming to put up our new kitchen - or at least the tricky parts like the stove and oven, the actual cupboards and the counters. We can manage the doors and drawers and such on our own, and it's a good bit cheaper that way. :D

Of course on Friday we suddenly realised that the existing water heater is from 1996, and those things apparently have a warranty of 20 years, more like 10 if it's in use. So we had to get a new one, and are crossing our fingers that it won't be a problem for the electrical system that it uses a normal wall socket and not a three-phase one like the old one did. In any case, if it works we'll still be down an outlet, which is a bit annoying.

There's been a lot of little stuff like that, which I guess is not unexpected since it's our first time being houseowners and having to deal with planning and organising renovations. It's still frustrating and stressful, though. Thank the High Ones for our parents! They've all done these kinds of things several times before, in some cases pretty recently.

While Broccoli, his parents, and my dad are working on the physical stuff I've been trying to figure out what we need to get for the nursery, and like always I have a bit of indecision paralysis. Normally that's mostly focused on cost because at least I know which functions I need from furniture, but baby equipment is a whole new kettle of fish. Like, I need to get a small bathtub since we only have a shower, but should I get a changing table with an integrated/detatchable one or is that unneccessary? And there's apparently like a newborn inset too? Do we need that or is it optional? I know I don't want to get a used car seat, but can I take the chance on a used bedside crib? And there seems to be so many options for strollers, I feel lost before I've even started looking. Argh!

The shelves for the living room should be a lot easier to figure out (lots of them, all the way to the ceiling so that we don't have to dust so much), we just need to find time to sit down and look at the IKEA website together. I'm really looking forward to that, because my love of books naturally extends to book shelving.

waterfall8484: An elouai doll maker approximation of what I look like. (Long, brown hair in pigtails, glasses, a slightly cheeky look.) (Me by waterfall8484)
I'm listening to Sámi Grand Prix (pretty much Sámi Eurovision), and I don't understand any of the language but the songs are fun! The pop part was all kinds generic music you might hear on the radio only in Sámi, and the joik part is full of different kinds of joik that I'm not familiar with at all and that's a really fun listen! And of course that's all acapella as well, which I always find so impressive.

We're also having taco for dinner, so I'm feeling very stereotypically Norwegian right now lol.

waterfall8484: The ConCorp logo from Hermitcraft on a blue background (Default)
...at least over on [personal profile] jjhunter's journal!

Today's post is How Are You? (in Haiku), which was a fun little challenge. Go join in if you feel like it!

My answer was obviously somewhat baby focused, as we're in the process of renovating the flat and just finished painting the nursery yesterday:

Our flat is renewed
by loving family hands
waiting for baby


(And yes, I'm attempting a comeback on DW - nobody get their hopes up :P)

waterfall8484: The quote "Suddenly, NINJAS ATTACK (thank god!)". (Ninjas attack by deepfishy)
Well, to be fair, it's not the longest break I've ever had on here - I think that one lasted about two years or so. Also, I have an exellent reason, though to be fair I didn't think that incubating a baby was going to make me this tired for this long!

Yup, the baby quest is well over a third on the way to completion at this point, and without any outside help at that! I think it was back at the end of August that I mentioned we literally had a potential baby on ice, and the plan was to have it put in after my next period... but that never happened XD Apparently this is common, I guess it's because the body unconsciously stops trying so hard?

Anyway, so if anyone saw me complaining about being tired back in October I knew very well what the reason was, but neither Broccoli nor I wanted to jinx anything at the time so we stayed well quiet. Perhaps a bit silly, but this is kind of a miracle baby in its own way so we weren't taking any chances!

In the meantime I have...

  • Been on sick leave since late mid-October because I was (am) just. that. tired.
  • Been dizzy and nauseous (but I'm better now)
  • Bought the apartment we were renting from my mum together with Broccoli(such a stressful process!)
  • Celebrated my dad's birthday and shown off my belly in a nice dress
  • Spent most of the Yule holiday at my mum's being just us two for maybe the last time in a looong while (Broccoli was with his family)
  • Regained a bit of my energy, thankfully - I'm not stuck lying on the sofa all the time anymore!
  • Reduced my sick leave a little so that I can keep going with my remote studies even though I still can't get to work
  • Had a 6-hour home exam (and then I did nothing at all for two whole days afterwards lol - it was tough!)
  • Watched a lot of winter sports, especially biathlon
  • Stressed out about work in general

That last point is the reason that I'll be talking to my doctor and seeing about getting a longer sick leave period instead of just a week or two at the time in the hopes of my getting better, which is probably not happening any time soon as I'm already well into the second trimester which is where one is supposed to get some energy back. It will also allow my boss and the colleagues who are substituting for me the chance to do more long-term planning, and let me stop having to make lesson plans for a while. And I really need to stop having to worry about work-related tasks all the time, because at the moment it feels like taking care of my health as well as studying is more than enough at the moment.

Anyway, despite feeling like I'm failing my students and missing out on a lot of stuff it's all worth it, and it will always be worth it. I'm honestly not looking forward to all the life changes we'll have when the baby comes in June, not to mention having to do the apartment renovations before then, but it'll still be worth it. If I didn't feel that way, I surely wouldn't have gone through all this trouble!

Sighhh

Oct. 2nd, 2022 07:57 pm
waterfall8484: The Chibi Tenth Doctor falling over with a "Meep!". (Tipsy chibi by jesidres and ivydoor)
I'm still writing in my journal but I haven't had the energy lately to write it up or post anything else either - although I am managing to keep the weekly posts on [community profile] hermitcraft going, which I count as a success! I may be able to catch up on stuff in a weeks' time, because for once I don't have a lot of grading to do for autumn holiday week! I do have to study though...

I was reminded that it's Hermittober over on tumblr, so I want to get some drabbles in to maybe get my mojo back a bit - I have so much I want to write but I just don't have the energy! So expect some drabbles to pop up during the next few days, probably not here but on the Hermitcraft comm because why not? Eventually something over there might catch someone else's interest XD

Week 37

Sep. 18th, 2022 07:01 pm
waterfall8484: The ConCorp logo from Hermitcraft on a blue background (Default)
I'm not a fan of unexpected changes (understatement), but sometimes they can be fun!

Read more... )

Week 36

Sep. 11th, 2022 08:18 pm
waterfall8484: The ConCorp logo from Hermitcraft on a blue background (Default)
Shorter notes this week, thankfully, it's a bit tiresome to write everything down - although my Norwegian to English translating-on-the-fly skills are probably improving.

Read more... )

waterfall8484: A baby zombie with a crown riding a chicken over the word "MCC" (MCC by waterfall8484)
The comments in my inbox are multiplying... but sometimes you just have to make a new post instead of replying, am I right? :D

Especially since my head has been filled with fannish nonsense the last few days, and by that I specifically mean Hermitcraft and MCC. Case in point, I was gonna post this hours ago but ended up watching MCC replays very much related to my ramblings below.

On the Hermitcraft front it looks like we're finally getting that rebellion - from Impulse, of all people! I should seriously not be this surprised, this is the man who was a part of both the Hippies and the Mycelium resistance after all, he's never been hard to convince. The fact that Grian apparently just wanted him to remove the king's claim to the shops while Impulse jumped right to the conclusion that he should remove the king just makes it funnier, especially since the king is Ren, who was one third of the hippies with Impulse and Grian! You could make angst out of this...

Metanarratively Ren's obviously spoiling for a fight with the way he's laid claims to all the builds in the shopping district and beyond, I guess he's been just as surprised as the rest of us that nobody's rebelled yet and he wanted to help things along? XD Sorry Ren, your quests are just too entertaining I guess!

On the MCC side of things the teams were just announced and False is on a team with a Hermit who hasn't won yet, in September - winner's POV for sure! I honestly doubt Falsetember is going to carry into another year, but this woman has yet to lose an MCC set in this month. September 2020 saw her win twice, first with Rendog, HBomb, and Fruitberries on the MCC9 Blue Bats team - her first win and the first Hermit win ever! Then again with Cubfan, PeteZahHutt, and Joel Smallishbeans on the MCC10 Orange Ocelots - acing the last round of Dodgebolt, making her the first back-to-back winner and HBomb into a prophet! September 2021 gave False her third win with Grian, Pete again, and SB737 on the MCC17 Orange Ocelots - making her the only female three-time winner!

This September she's on the Blue Bats again, with Pearlescentmoon, ElainaExe, and Illumina. Pearl is now a Hermit who hasn't won yet, and I think with the Captain's and InTheLittlewood's recent wins she might now be the contestant who's gone the longest without winning? Illumina was part of False's team when they won the live TwitchRivals at Twitchcon this summer, and I've never seen Elaina before so that should be fun! Welcome to the Hermit-adjacent crowd Elaina, watch out so you don't get adopted :D

So obviously I'll be watching False's team on the big TV in the living room, but I'll also be screencapturing another team on my computer, because of course this is the event when Scott Smajor not only finally puts Grian and Wilbur together again, but also includes Ph1lza the OG bird boy on the same team! And it's the Pink Parrots no less - Scott 100% did that on purpose. This team is gonna be a lovable mess with great vibes, and they'll either do really well or be bottom half for sure. (Scott put himself as the fourth member, and I honestly can't blame him for wanting to be there haha)

And I have to wait two whole weeks for this, I don't know how I'll survive! I don't know how False will manage at all to be honest, she's gotta be feeling the pressure. Hopefully she knows that most of us don't care how she does as long as they have fun, and I've yet to see an MCC where my Hermits weren't having a great time with great people. Come back Ren, I need my FalseRen team back! It's not the same without you two together! *cry*

waterfall8484: Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down talking to Twilight Sparkle. (Bounce by by tmg_icons)
Reading my Dracula Daily email and then going into the tumblr tag is one of my favourite things each day right now. The combination of memes, literary critique, squeeing/weeping over the current blorbo (right now it's Lucy), history lessons, shitposts, and fanworks are a sight to behold. Some people know what coming while others don't, which lends a vibe of "sweet summer child" to the whole procedure at times. It's great!

Also, this may be my first ever mobile phone post, huh

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waterfall8484: The ConCorp logo from Hermitcraft on a blue background (Default)
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