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corpsebrigadierIt's been a reasonably pleasant year, all things considered. After the complete overwhelm of 2023 (Get a doctorate! Get a job!), it's been nice to coast for a bit. While I've had a reasonably busy time of things in 2024, there's not been the same sense of everything being suddenly and dramatically changing, which has been nice.
That being said, my workplace has pivoted over the past month to becoming increasingly micromanagey, unpredictable, and toxic, which is something--after a decade in academia--that I'm not entirely unused to. Either due to the gross mismanagement above me finally yielding layoffs or my latest round of job hunting finally yielding fruit, I'm expecting that I will be moving on shortly. However, having had a long year to build up savings more extensive than what any grad student stipend would allow for, I'm not terribly concerned. The big issue is that I have surgery that needs to be scheduled in November (not a cause for concern! may post privately about it later), and I would really like not to have to recover and immediately job hunt. It's a stressor, but one that's not really as overwhelming as it might be. Honestly... the luxuries of having a simple 9 to 5 that I can walk away from instead of enduring the 24/7 pressure of tHe LiFe Of ThE mInD has probably numbed me up a fair bit.
I've been passing my days studying very leisurely for an amateur radio operator's license, reading books once again now that I finally feel more at liberty to engage with things that are not nineteenth-century fiction, stumbling through Anki decks to try to improve my toddler level Japanese, jogging, writing fic drafts that never seem to reach completion, and--as always--baking. My most recent foray has been trying to master shokupan. This most recently development has gone swimmingly and enabled me to have phenomenally aesthetic breakfasts this autumn.
Fandomwise, my engagement has slackened--in part owing to the realities of my aforementioned toxic 9 to 5, in part owing to a natural wane in interest. I'm going to see if I can rekindle some of the spark with a combination of Whumptobering and a playthrough of the Japanese WotL port if I can though. We'll see how it goes.
That being said, my workplace has pivoted over the past month to becoming increasingly micromanagey, unpredictable, and toxic, which is something--after a decade in academia--that I'm not entirely unused to. Either due to the gross mismanagement above me finally yielding layoffs or my latest round of job hunting finally yielding fruit, I'm expecting that I will be moving on shortly. However, having had a long year to build up savings more extensive than what any grad student stipend would allow for, I'm not terribly concerned. The big issue is that I have surgery that needs to be scheduled in November (not a cause for concern! may post privately about it later), and I would really like not to have to recover and immediately job hunt. It's a stressor, but one that's not really as overwhelming as it might be. Honestly... the luxuries of having a simple 9 to 5 that I can walk away from instead of enduring the 24/7 pressure of tHe LiFe Of ThE mInD has probably numbed me up a fair bit.
I've been passing my days studying very leisurely for an amateur radio operator's license, reading books once again now that I finally feel more at liberty to engage with things that are not nineteenth-century fiction, stumbling through Anki decks to try to improve my toddler level Japanese, jogging, writing fic drafts that never seem to reach completion, and--as always--baking. My most recent foray has been trying to master shokupan. This most recently development has gone swimmingly and enabled me to have phenomenally aesthetic breakfasts this autumn.
Fandomwise, my engagement has slackened--in part owing to the realities of my aforementioned toxic 9 to 5, in part owing to a natural wane in interest. I'm going to see if I can rekindle some of the spark with a combination of Whumptobering and a playthrough of the Japanese WotL port if I can though. We'll see how it goes.
