Dear friendslist

[wiseheart]

Where are you all gone, fellas? Have you died, fallen ill, got eaten by Real Life or migrated from LJ elsewhere? I still remember the time when one had to check LJ almost on the daily basis to keep up with the lives of one's friends. Now it seems that most of you got eaten by a big, blue space yellyfish, and nobody thought to send me the death certificates.

Come on, folks, spring starts tomorrow, rise from your tombs! The people in Romania will pin the mârtisors on their jackets (small, flower-shaped broches with colourful ribbons) to remember everyone that spring has come again. So finish the hibernation act and drop in for our very own little spring festival! I can't offer much more than a warm welcome because I am being eaten by Real Life right now, but you will be most warmly welcome, for sure!

Comments

[bk_forever]

There is a vague possibility that I might come back to life when spring gets here, however spring is apparently on strike at the moment and refuses to put in an appearance, my brain still believes it's winter and I spend most of my time in a lethargic, barely awake state. I hate Seasonal whatever-it-is Disorder, I'm usually coming out of it by the end of February but the bad weather is making it drag on.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

We're luckier over here then. Had nice weather and sunshine this week.

[bk_forever]

We had two days with sunshine, but it's gone grey and dull again, which just makes me sleepy. I come back to life a bit when the sun shines, but as soon as it gets cloudy I'm right back where I was.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, our nice weather went down the toilet today, too, but I was too busy nannying a foreign colleague, visiting the grandparents in the cemetery, taking Mum to the chiropodist and doing the grocery shopping to care.

[bk_forever]

Wow, busy! I barely managed to crawl out of bed.... Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I haven't actually got anything done today, except for writing two drabbles and my daily chores to keep the fire going so that we have heat. That took all my energy. Thank goodness it's nearly bedtime. *yawns*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Most of my days are similarly busy. As I spend three days of the week almost inclusively at school, chores need to be done when I've got shorter working hours, which usually means Tuesdays or Fridays.

Sometimes I wonder how do I manage to do some writing, reading and TV-watching. Sleeping unhealthily little, except on weekends, helps, of course.

[bk_forever]

I never get enough sleep anyway.

Today is sunny and warm! I spent some time outside pruning a bit of the undergrowth in our very overgrown garden, which was enjoyable. Not much progress made, but every little bit helps. Then I tried to turn round to start clearing my tools awat, lost my balance somehow and gracefully toppled backwards into the undergrowth. Very entertaining, and thankfully I didn't land on any brambles, lol!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

You lead a dangerous life, my friend! *g*

[bk_forever]

Lol!

As I said to mum after she helped me get out of the bushes, "Well, that was interesting!" The area I'm working on is a tangle of brambles, ivy and overgrown honeysuckle that's creeping along the ground for want of anything to climb up, so it was quite springy to land on but made getting up without help impossible as I couldn't get any leverage. Mum's not exactly strong, but a helping hand proved to be enough to get my feet back on the ground instead of waving about in the air!

[saki101.livejournal.com]

I thought it was just me! Maybe everyone's been sick with some particularly tenacious virus. I know most of the folks where I work have been ill, 'course we all come to work anyway. Your cold took an age to go away. That's my hypothesis anyway, vicious winter virus which thrives in the chilly and grey.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'll have you to know that my cold didn't actually go away. I just opted to go back to work because, well, coughing all day doesn't pay the bills. *g*
But I really miss the interaction there used to be with a lot of people, and I hate not knowing how they're doing.

[jsks.livejournal.com]

Dear Wiseheart, please forgive the lack of reviews because of the insane of amount of ot at work but I have promised myself(my first day off next Tuesday) that I am having a ficathon of my favorite authors and will be sending happy reviews.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Hey, no need to apologize! I'm just missing the chance to know how my friends are doing. Earlier on, everyone used to post about their lives, small things and sometimes bigger ones, and you knew what they were up. Nowadays, I most of the time I don't even know where everyone had dropped off the face of the Earth, and that's sad.

[sammydragoncat]

Real Life can just sneak up on you, and hold you hostage (which is what happened to me last week, and is continuing to do so).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor you! I know the feeling. There's a reason why my entire social life takes place on the internet. I could never synchronize schedules with other people, cosidering the eclectic hours I work.

[skyfiery.livejournal.com]

Adjusting to a new job. Sighs. :S

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, look at the bright side. At least you have a job to adjust to. We still have no idea how many of us will end up losing our jobs as a result of our idiotic government's harebrained school reform next term. And I have the uncomfortable feeling that people of my age, closing up to 60, won't be particularly wanted anywhere else, either.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Sort of around - very buried under rl stress, ao3 work/stress, and trying to write (and maybe making some progress there, but I'm not really sure yet)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Where is picowrimo when you need it?

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Indeed :)

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting for spring!Still very cold here.Hope you are better now.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Marginally. I cough less, but my leg hurts more, so it's a 50/50. But I'm determined not to let it beat me.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm with badly_knitted. I'm in my February funk - I'm not as depressed as I usually am at this time of year, but I'm feeling very low energy and having difficulty concentrating on much of anything (work, reading, writing). Plus my BFF has a very sick kitty and I spend much of my free time talking her off the ledge. Then I can't sleep - so I'm tired and unfocused the next day and so it goes.

Meh.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Meh indeed. Not being able to sleep is a horrible thing. *hugs*

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Still in existence, but swamped in work (and shopping with my 87-year old mother, who can't do it alone anymore).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I've had a Mum day myself. And even though mine is a saint, she's also turned 81... and it shows. In small things only, but even those can be trying when you're low on energy already.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I was never any good at posting to my livejournal in the first place and these last few months I have been wrapped up in getting a new job and finding a new place to live. Did I mention I am moving to Belfast?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No. Which is exactly my point. :)
Last thing I heard was that you applied for a new job, and then - nothing. So, I assume you did get it? Are you happy with it? Did you find a place to live?

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I did indeed get the job -- lecturer in the Physics department at Queen's University Belfast -- and am very, very pleased about it! The people in my new group are simply lovely: they have been enormously helpful with areas of Belfast I would and (more to the point!) wouldn't want to live in. They are a friendly, cheerful bunch and I am looking forward to working with them very much.

I made a post, prompted by yours, so you should be able to read a little bit about it: I bought a house! Up until now I have always rented, and I was getting seriously fed up with it. It wasn't so bad when I lived in Sweden, where renting your home is a fairly normal thing to do, but here in Britain rented accommodation is seen as a temporary or less desirable form of living. There are quite severe limitations to what you are allowed to do with 'your' flat: for example my contract says I am not allowed to hang things on the walls! After speaking to my landlord, I got permission to do so, but that is sort of my point. It was something he granted as a favour, not something that was mine by right which it would have been in Sweden!

The house I have bought -- as of yesterday -- is lovely, with a little bit of garden for me to play with as well. I am really looking forward to moving in, which will happen next Wednesday. Of course before then there is the moving out to be done, but hopefully this won't be too painful. My new employer has a generous relocation package which explicitly states that they will reimburse me for not just the cost of moving my belongings, but having them packed as well. Hence I am getting the removal firm to do the packing -- they are coming in to start on Sunday morning, and will have everything out of the flat by 2pm on Monday when the cleaners are coming to clean the flat.

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! May you have many years of joy under your very own roof!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am really looking forward to having my own place. And the extra space that it will give me to fill with bookcases... :-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Those are fantastic news indeed! Congratulations on all aspects! It's sooo important that one have a good working atmosphere and a good place to live.

Now I should probably start looking for organized package holidays that include a visit in Belfast.... *g*

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I totally agree: having good people to work with in a friendly atmosphere is extremely important. And I have always been quite picky about where I want to live, though people kept being shocked about how quickly I had found and bought a house in Belfast. To be honest I liked it pretty much as soon as I walked in the door, and looking around just confirmed my opinion. I did get a survey done -- it was one of the conditions of getting a mortgage, but I would have anyway -- and was rather worried they would find something that meant it wasn't a good place to buy. The one thing it lacks to be my dream house is a suitable space for a library, but then my living room usually looks quite a lot like a library with bookcases covering most of the walls...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

P.S. and yes, do come to Belfast! It is really quite pretty, and as pretty much everybody I have talked to about moving to Northern Ireland remarks, "I want to see the Giant's Causeway". I have wanted to see that since before I moved to the UK, so it really is high time for me...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'd love to! Unfortunately, it also depends on how much Mum is willing to take upon herself, as I won't go without her. And package holidays are rather exhausting as a rule. We wee both fairly dead from the England-Wales one two years ago. But they're still the financially most doable way to travel, so I'll start looking.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I keep being eaten by Real Life, alas, but I do plan to make a new post later today. Alas, it won't be a very interesting one.

I too miss the days when LJ moved so quickly you had to check it at least once a day or be overwhelmed.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what I miss most is to have knowledge about the lives of the people I consider my friends. It's such a useful tool, you don't have to send out dozens of e-mails with the same generalities, and yet people who care can follow your life... or at least the part of it you're willing to share.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I value about LJ, too. Alas, I think a lot of people have migrated over to the evil Facebook for that sort of thing.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

What has BookFace that LJ doesn't? Other than the fact that stupid schoolkids tell everything over there that happens at school and that's how our boss learns about our shenangians....

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Well, it is newer than LJ. Newer is always better, right? ;-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Not in my book, it isn't. But again, I'm a conservative soul. I've always been for not repairing that which ain't broken.

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Oh, bother! I just posted to an earlier note of yours! I always try to go as far back as LJ will allow me with my free account, so I can read from past to present. So, I'll leave a short note here. Hang in there, and perhaps when we both get out from under our respective RL demands, we'll have a proper email exchange again! Köszönöm, Tanárno!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Got your message. Will be answering it via Webmail, as Microsoft Outlook doesn't like to actually deliver my e-mails nowadays. *sighs*

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

I've been battling health problems all winter as well as dealing with health problems with family members. I'm annoyed with myself for not updating both of my ongoing stories on a more timely manner but I'm close to finishing the next chapter of "Knowledge Burns." So now that I'm feeling better, I hope to get that accomplished by Easter.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry to hear that you've been ill for so long. But I'm very much looking forward to more "Knowledge Burns". Yay, Singe!

[cirdan-havens.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know where I am. -_- don't even get online some nights.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, your eyes will probably thank you for *that*...