personal

April fooling

March was kind of a weird month for me.

http://www.unreality.net/weblog/?p=8390″>got sick pretty early on, actually still nursing what I thought was a cold from February, and I spent the whole first full week of the month at home with pneumonia. While I was out, two of my co-workers were let go (“made redundant” in our UK office’s phrasing), and it was more than a little bit of a shock.

Shortly after I got back to work — the very day, in fact — eager to shake off the cabin fever that a week stuck at home will cause, I learned that I, too, would be leaving the group. I’m still working for the company, and in the same role, but as a part of our larger development group. In the short term, it’s meant a lot of changes and learning of new procedures, figuring out what I will (and will no longer) be responsible for, and that’s a process that’s still going on. I have a new boss, new colleagues, and while for the rest of the year at least I’ll continue to work on psychology and mental health titles, I’ll no longer even be sitting on the same side of the office as them.

On Friday, I moved most of my things to my new cubicle. My new computer — the one I got last Monday, when some malware basically destroyed the old one — will hopefully follow if it didn’t over the weekend. My work phone number is supposed to be staying the same — meaning, I guess, that my business cards aren’t completely out of date — but I’m sure I’ll have a couple of questions for IT before the week is out.

The good news, I guess, is I can see them now from where I sit.

I spent exactly one month in that first cubicle — from April 4, 2011, actually — and a lot longer working for the same team. I think this change will ultimately be good, though both for my own career and for the team. It’s been just one of many changes to have happened since the start of the new year, and the changes came especially fast and furious throughout March. (I didn’t even mention the fact that I turned thirty-five.) In some ways, quite honestly, I’m glad the month is over. I’m nervous about that’s to come, and what’s expected of me, but I’m also eager to start really working on developing books.

Speaking of books, that whole week at home really played havoc with the rhythm I had going up til then, reading about one book a day. A lot of them were (and continue to be) comics and graphic novels, but even those wound up going unread the week I was out. I seem to have spent most of my time doing little more than watching several seasons of 30 Rock. I’m trying to get caught back up, but my secret, in-my-sick-head-only goal of getting the total up to 366 titles may not be doable at this point.

I did listen to some music this month, though, and here’s my mix for March for whatever that’s worth:

  1. “Rivers and Roads” by the Head and the Heart
  2. “Les plus beaux” by Fránçois & the Atlas Mountains
  3. “History Book” by Dry the River
  4. “Lego” by Lady Leshurr
  5. “House of Circles” by Mr. Gnome
  6. “Landfill” by Daughter
  7. “Manchester” by Kishi Bashi
  8. “The Concept” by Teenage Fanclub
  9. “Tea for the Tillerman” by Cat Stevens
  10. “Houdini” by Foster the People
  11. “Helicopter” by Bloc Party
  12. “The Dreaming Moon” by the Magnetic Fields
  13. “Turn into Earth” by the Yardbirds
  14. “Skyscrapers” by OK Go

Beyond all that, there’s not a whole lot to report. I spent the rainy day cleaning and watching some TV (Fringe, Supernatural, Community) and doing the Sunday crossword. Regular stuff.

Time now, I think, for bed. I want to be at work early tomorrow.

“Let us be crooked, but never common.”

Isn’t March supposed to be “in like a lion, out like a lamb”? It was nasty and cold today, colder than I think it was a month ago, and definitely not very lamb-like.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon attending an Eagle Scout court of honor with my father. These are always a little awkward for me, since I don’t really know anybody there — my father’s been involved in the troop and local district considerably longer than I ever was — but I go to show support and because I think my father appreciates it. And this one was actually pretty nice, and nowhere near as awkward as the first one I went to, when I wound up feeling like an interloper up on stage. And they had a really nice spread of food afterward, so it really wasn’t so bad.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the Spring 2012 issue of Kaleidotrope, which is now live. It’s another interesting mix, and I hope some of you will take the time to read some of the stories and maybe even comment with your thoughts.

And then I rounded out the evening by watching The Lady Eve, a screwball comedy from Preston Sturges starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. It was a little silly and convoluted even by those standards, but good fun nevertheless.

And that was my cold and nasty, but not too shabby, Saturday.

Friday

Today was a pretty typical Friday, if you discount the part where I moved everything but my computer from one cubicle to another on the other side of the office. I officially start in the new work space on Monday, with lots to keep me occupied.

On the train home, I finished reading Georges Simenon’s The President, which I really liked quite a lot. It’s the third of the books in the Neversink Library (a gift from Heather) that I’ve read, and the second by Simenon. When I was done, I thought: well, I may just have to read more by him. Turns out, he’s one of the twentieth century’s most prolific writers, having written some 200 novels.

So, you know, there should be plenty more to choose from. Maybe one of the Maigret mysteries.

But first, I think, I’m going to re-read Watership Down, as part of my “re-read some books this year” project.

That was Friday.

Thursday

If you thought Tuesday’s story about not attending a meeting was exciting, hold on to your hat! Because today, I was scheduled to have a doctor’s appointment…and then I didn’t!

They called me on my way into my office, for what I thought was going to be a half day at work, to tell me that they had to reschedule. Apparently my doctor was sick.

So I went into work and did the full day, and I’ll try this all again in a couple of weeks. (When hopefully I won’t have anything more interesting to report than “I had my doctor’s appointment today. Um, no terrible diseases.”)

Beyond that, it was a pretty average Thursday.

Wednesday

Sometimes a Wednesday is just a Wednesday.

Although this evening, I heard what I think was the first ice cream truck of the season. So, presumably, we’re moving right into summer soon. (We didn’t have much of a winter, so why should we have much of a spring.)