Selenay's Ramblings

Clock changes are so confusing. My house is now on DST. My car isn't, I need to get the manual out to figure out the clock again.

My office is entirely random. Some clocks are on DST. Some aren't. There are a few where someone set the clock back instead of forward. One clock has given up completely and appears to think we're in Belgium.

Add to that, I've now got three weeks before the UK does its change so my timings for Sunday Skype chats are off. Why can't we all just do it on the same weekend? *whines*

This weekend I did the terrifying job of updating my iPad to iOS6. (Shut up, I know, it should have been done months ago) Thankfully it went OK, my iPad did not brick, and I like some of the new features. I also loaded up a couple of new films and worked out how to use the avi player my dad recced to me, so I now have episodes of Holby and Call the Midwife to watch over supper this week.

Seriously, don't ask why I didn't do this months ago. IT'S A REVELATION. Being able to play .avi files is going to be awesome.

We're all settled in at home, the cats have recovered from their vacation, and this week I'm determined to Get Things Done. Specifically, I've got a fic to finish editing so it can be posted later this week and I need to start restocking the freezer with meals.

Also, I need to hit the exercise because my back is aching badly and I've lost ground on the getting fit thing over the last few weeks.

I need some kind of reward system for exercising, I think. A reward system that does not involve food or buying myself things.

( Cut for discussion of back pain and medication )

In fannish news...

Three days with AO3 and the "The Avengers (2012)" tag have shown me that:

1) Coulson/Hawkeye may be my OTP. Just shoot me now.
2) I'm not completely averse to Tony/Steve, even though I adore the Tony/Pepper relationship in the films.
3) Thor/anyone at all does not work for me.
4) However, Thor as comic relief does work for me. I don't even...
5) I'm still at the fluff and silly stage of discovering a new fandom
6) There needs to be more fic (of all types) about Natasha and/or Maria Hill
7) I love my 3G enabled iPad because I can browse fic during my lunch break
8) I may need to load some fic up on my Kindle for the trip

Speaking of the trip, I'm starting to plan my reading and watching stuff. There is going to be a long of plain, train and automobile time. The Hugo voting packet should be out sometime within the next week, so I plan to take all of that with me (yay Kindle PDF conversion!) plus the pre-reading that I've planned. If Chicks Dig Comics ever arrives, that will be with me for reading when I have to have electronics off during the flights. I would argue about whether a Kindle could possibly take down a Boeing 747, but as I want to stay on the flight, I'll just have a dead tree book to dip into instead.

Now I'm planning out my other entertainment. I need some non-Hugo reading with me so that I can take breaks if I need it. That means I need to go through my Amazon wishlist and select a few things that I've bookmarked. Note to self: pick a mix of fun and serious. You know what happens when you pick all silly or all serious.

I have taken advantage of the Avengers sale on Comixology and grabbed a couple of things. There are also new issues of Batgirl, Nightwing, Stormwatch and Demon Knights waiting for me. I've also got the first couple of issues of a newish Wolverine book. I may conduct another Comixology raid when new stuff goes up tomorrow and get the last volume of Joss Whedon's run on Astomishing X-Men at the same time.

I'm planning to download some videos from the BBC iPlayer app because I know that won't work overseas. I'm also half-thinking about Game of Thrones.

You see, on the one hand I'm still attached to having physical DVDs of my videos just in case. On the other hand, the only DVD player in the house is attached to the only TV in my house and my mother is unlikely to want to watch GoT. As she's staying with me for six months after I get back, this could put a serious crimp in my attemps to watch GoT in a timely manner.

So I'm seriously considering purchasing from iTunes and popping some of the episodes onto my iPad. Am I talking the crazy talk?

My iPad: bought to be productive, primarily used for fic, comics and videos. Heh.

So, my day has been reorganised, I'm missing some of the rugby and my tummy has shrunk enough to barely manage half the pasta lunch I just treated myself to...

But the car is fixed and didn't cost me anything thanks to the amazing warranty I got when I bought it. That warranty is paying for itself nicely.

Now I'm sitting outside the hairdresser (having turned up half an hour early, just in case I was late again) trying to pretend that the stomach cramps are from over-eating and not from the stupid UC flare.

That's probably why I fell apart a bit this morning. My brain turns to mush from being tired.

Still, at least I have Nightwing to keep me occupied (oh, and Fantastic Four, mustn't forget that), some Doctor Who if I don't want to read and various people on Twitter keeping me insane through the worst of the day.

The large capacity (for videos) and 3G (for reassurance via Twitter and LJ) on the iPad are paying off.

The appointment with the rheumatologist could definitely have gone better. On the one hand he examined me for hours with great thoroughness and admitted that the symptoms, history and reaction to steroids implied inflammatory joint disease.

He conceded that could be sacroilitis, which is the early stages of ankylosing spondylitis. I'd actually be happy with that because there are treatment options and doctors would be willing to help with the pain relief.

On the other hand, it should have responded to the Humira which is a big minus in the "Sel has proper back problems, not in her head" column.

I had run out of energy by then and didn't feel like explaining that the Humira only partially controls the colitis and needs other meds as well to keep me in remission. If I'd been thinking more clearly...

Anyway, he's ordered x-rays because if it's anything inflammatory, the damage of over six years of it should be visible now. If anything shows up, he'll contact me to come back in. Otherwise it's back to my GP for help, but as he doesn't like to prescribe analgesia, I'm on my own.

I was pretty depressed and hopeless last night when I finally got home. It's looking like yet again my back pain has no origin, no soloution and no help available. The only good thing is that it has been behaving slightly better over the last five days. While it did not help with the rheumatologist visit, at least I can start to hope that just maybe this flare is coming to an end.

Mum is not going home tonight due to the border agency strikes tomorrow. Sis has to because she has work on Thursday. We're leaving for the airport in an hour or so and we'll know then whether her flight is going or not. Hope she doesn't sit on the Tarmac for too long tomorrow!

In other news, I think that I want the new Zelda game for my Wii. It sounds awesome.

Also, Infinity Blade for the iPad rocks :-)

I should probably get on with useful things like composing my Yuletide fic, right?

Can I has iPad?

Yes I can!

Yup, today is the day and guess where I'm writing from? I love this thing so much already? I'm getting it all kitted out with lovely apps, like Quickoffice and a calculator Accuweather and...

OK, yeah, there are a few fun ones. Obviously there's the essential things like Netflix and the various reading apps. And I'm digging around for the players for my TV stations. I may also have invested in Infinity Blade :-) And I'm eyeing up some other games as well :-)

My sister arrived yesterday and she's installed on the sofa doing some work, the poor thing. I understand that there's a fair bit off filing emails using Outlook web access and it's driving her insane.

The promised snow storm has arrived early and with way more snow than predicted. Yay? My sushi plans have been put on hold until Friday. Ah, well, we have pizzas in the freezer and mum has made me a lovely cake. It's still a great day :-)

As soon as Sis finishes her filing, I'm going to see if she wants to watch some movies. And I just happen to have a couple that arrived this morning...

I have my Yuletide sign-up all worked out. I'll be entering it tomorrow. It's taken all week to put together 3 prompts.

It took me thirty minutes with the nominations results to find 15 fandoms that I felt confident about writing in. For the first time ever, I'll be putting in a bucket sign-up. I am undecided about whether this is progress or madness.

In other news, I have a ton of credit on my iTunes account and a big list of apps that I want to put on my iPad on Wednesday. I'm all about list making this week, it seems.

We should probably not discuss how many pretty games I appear to have listed. Let's instead focus on the fact that I've picked out a word processing app that apparently synchs well with Google Docs (QuickOffice Pro HD, for the interested) so I'll be able to write my Yuletide assignment(s)* wherever I may be.

* I may be seriously considering signing up as a pinch hitter. I know, I'm insane this year.

So, yesterday I had a really bad day because I had very little sleep the night before thanks to my stupid back. I was mostly competent at work but rather fell to pieces when I got home and went straight for a nice lie down with a book that turned into a nice nap.

Then Mum had to wake me up from that nap. Remember the episodes of West Wing where someone has to wake the President and they don't want to because he'll be very grumpy?

That's me when woken from naps. Grumpy. Uncooperative. Horrible. Poor Mum.

Today I'm feeling better thanks to the application of drugs last night. I've moved the bottle of co-codamol to beside my bed rather than in the kitchen to make it easier to dose myself the moment I get woken by my back rather than trying to keep sleeping and then waking up every few minutes the way I did the other night. Argh.

In less grumpy news...

I bought a new coat. I've got a lovely warm coat that goes down to my knees and is terrific when I'm out in the freezing weather or shovelling or trying to walk in a snow storm. It's got a big hood, deep pockets and it's big enough to fit a thick sweater under.

It's also deeply ugly and makes me look scruffier than a very scruffy thing.

New coat is not quite so warm, so won't be suitable for storms or shovelling, but it's got a furry collar and it looks very nice so I won't be embarrassed to turn up at work functions, dinners out or off-site meetings in it. Yay! It's long, beige and sort of trench-coat like with a belt. But stylish. I'm very pleased. There's enough room to layer up under it (damn, I'm getting thin - the medium had tons of room!) so I shouldn't be frozen and I feel much more confident in it :-)

Also, my iPad was despatched yesterday. Wooooo!

Finally, yuletide nominations open this week. Keep an eye out! Nominate! Join in! Get a lovely ficcy Christmas present! It may be my favourite ficathon of the year and I'm impatient to get started :-D