weewarrior

It's October at last! Sadly my calendar is not actually much better, although I am at least only having to go into the office a normal amount at the moment. We also held the annual new altar server training at church and I have either done or fobbed off onto an appropriate person all the follow-up tasks, except for a one-off training for someone who couldn't make the session and getting my DBS paperwork filled out again. Apparently they expire every three years but no one actually tells you when it happens so it's just, like, up to you to know this and remember to do something about it?? But now I know, and have forms to collect at the weekend.

Apparently I also have to provide three forms of ID, which sounds pretty intense, especially since a) I've been DBSed before (admittedly in 2018) and b) I've been serving here for over thirty years, but hopefully I do actually have enough documents for the purpose. It's easier now that I'm the one paying the bills and council tax on my residence (living with my parents, I really didn't have much!), but most of that's email these days, not paper, so it starts getting complicated again.

Yesterday was a dead loss, and today wasn't much better, but I did eventually get the initial monthly reports out to all the teams, which is something even if a good day would normally see them sent out before noon rather than after my official finishing time for the day. And yesterday I went out after work for my eye screening, except the bus didn't show up (or was at least 4 minutes early) and the next one was twenty minutes later and meant I'd be at least fifteen minutes late, so I had to cancel the appointment and rebook for later in the month (in a week when I was already out four week-nights, to make a full set of five!!). Tonight is choir, which I'm hoping will be less of a wash out; my lift made it back home in time to collect me, after saying this morning that I'd have to take the train, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I'm feeling very burned out at the moment, but also I can't take any annual leave this month because there's urgent testing for the next three weeks, so I'm back to turning down everything I can and trying to go to bed on time instead of revenge procrastinating to make myself feel like I'm in control of something...

Interminable September progresses slowly towards its end! The concert went OK - I pre-emptively sat for the bit I went faint in last time, and was fine. I have eaten fourteen portions of the pasta I made. I have also done 13.5 hours of visa checking so far; the queues have been enormous. On the other hand, the days do go by very fast - either I'm in a tent checking visas or I'm in the office trying to deal with all the small fires that have erupted while I was in the tent.

I've been less bothered this year by the fact that all the students were born in years I remember clearly from adulthood, but I have found myself repeatedly discombobulated by checking passports that expire in 2034, like what sort of ridiculous future space-year is that.

In the middle of all this, we've just been informed that we are no longer allowed to use the form-making software we use for various things. "Switch to Approved Alternative; it's really very easy to use!" they tell us, as though there hasn't been considerable pressure over the last year or two to move everything to Approved Alternative already, so that the only things left on there are things that can't be moved for reason of various technical limitations with Approved Alternative. That's great that it's allegedly easy to use, colleague! But will it allow people who are not already students to upload documentation for their assorted applications, because so far no one has been able to make it do that!!

I bought a travel pass for the week, since I'm travelling enough days that it pays for itself, and so far the best bit is that you don't have to wait for paper to download before you go to the ticket barrier. Particularly because the reception in the station building is terrible.

( 72. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson ) A great gimmick, but I didn't like the protagonist enough to stay with it.

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( 73. Gathering Moss - Robin Wall Kimmerer ) I do have some arguments with this book, but it's honestly fascinating.

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( 74. Buried Deep and Other Stories - Naomi Novik ) A delightful set of stories - including one in her new world, which I'm looking forward to seeing once it's out!

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( 75. The Private Lives of the Saints - Janina Ramirez ) Power, politics, and prayer; early mediaeval saints were very powerful people, and could be used in many ways in life and death, and Ramirez did an interesting job of looking at some examples of that.

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( 76. Life on Earth - David Attenborough ) There's a reason these series (books) are such classics.

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( 77. Lake of Souls - Ann Leckie ) Leckie does so many different things, and I like almost all of them.

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( 78. Saturnalia - Lindsey Davis ) I think it's probably me, but I just did not enjoy this.

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( 79. The Cricket Term - Antonia Forest ) I have a complicated relationship with these books, but I do enjoy them.

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( 80. A City on Mars - Kelly and Zach Weinersmith ) I knew that Elon Musk's alleged Mars colony was in no way a viable prospect in this decade, but I hadn't understood quite how much work is absolutely still needed. A must-read for anyone who thinks living in space would be cool.

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( 81. The Moonlight Market - Joanne Harris ) Sort of... disappointing? Harris is a pretty big name, but I've not been terribly impressed thus far.

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( 82. The Far Pavilions - MM Kaye ) This was lush and beautiful and astonishingly compelling for something this long.

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( 83. All Systems Red - Martha Wells ) A good start to one of my favourite series.

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( 84. Evelina - Fanny Burney ) Politeness should not require people to put up with violent assaults! It's OK to say "no" and stick to it!!

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( 85. Batman: Wayne Family Adventures vol 1 - CRC Payne and Starbite ) An absolute delight; looking forward to reading more of this!