Keep on keeping on

[kaiserkuchen]

My first week of being back on the job since the 9th of December last year is behind me now and I have got to say that barring getting to see my ladies (and dude, can't forget M, our lone XY chromosome-holder in the group) again, IT WAS A LOAD OF STEAMING SHIT. I thought it was all in my head at first, that I wasn't used to the workload any more, the way the calls seemed to pile up but I counted along and we are back to the level of having a call come in every minute for about 95% of the work day. I am still lucky that most of these aren't the negative yelling-and-insulting-your-intelligence ones, but it is only a matter of time. In the interest of keeping my sanity up, I have implemented the usual coping-strategies without shame again, fuck my statistics: delaying the moment of picking up the phone, spending a bit of the post-call processing time eating snacks and uh, sometimes just hanging up on the callers for accounts that piss me off. These little rebellions are still a drop in the ocean though, since deep in my heart I normally like to follow rules and normally feel very guilty about these things.

We also have a new girl R, who I am still formulating my opinion about, but the current forecast seems to be rough since she pings all my dirty-hippy-backpacker prejudices and that just makes me automatically affect a more disdainful and stuck-up version of who I normally am. I KNOW BACKPACKERS ARE MOSTLY VERY NICE PEOPLE but man the ones that I have talked to that keep yammering about how their way is the only ~true way to experience the REAL Asia just keep getting my hackles up. Also perhaps we are too jaded but I. told me that R also has some pretty naive expectations about her working life here and ahahahaha we'll see. We kind of have an unofficial bet going for how long she's gonna last.

BUT NOW FOR MORE ~*FANDOM-Y NEWS*~:

yuletart reveals went up a few days ago and I can now say that I was behind the following The Hunger Games paper dolls! I remain pretty pleased with how it turned out, and again, many thanks to laliandra and laulan for being my usual art betas! Am not at my own computer at the moment, but I'll put up an actual post soon with the HQ versions as I did make them to actually be playable (well somewhat. At the very least, they're supposed to be nearly A4-sized!). My gift art this year was the following SMOKING HOT CAROLINE from The Vampire Diaries (season 2 spoilers!) by the lovely dualbunny, who was also my own recipient lol. BASICALLY I WAS VERY PLEASED BY THIS YEAR'S YULETART and it remains one of my favorite yearly art fests ♥

Here are also some awesome vids that I have been linked to and have been obsessively rewatching:

Cupid's Chokehold by nel_ani. Hawaii Five-0 Steve/Danny goodness, AHHHH ♥. I need to download this onto my laptop so I can watch it every day for that shot of pure happiness, ahh. Such clever use of the clips to the lyrics, too-- I just keep alternating between cracking up and sighing contently.
Runs in the Family by kaiyote. Supernatural and a total MOOD SHIFT from the previous vid. Fantastic song choice and look at the fucked-up angels and again, excellent use of clips and sharp, rapid cutting. I particularly adore the editing of the "fill me up" (all the sex and in between it all, Cas gorging himself on food) and "knock me up" (ANGELS WILL MESS YOU UP) parts. Also, it reminds me that Misha Collins is fantastic at all those different weary/hopeless/dead tired Castiel!faces.
Sex and Reruns by greensilver. Community and mucho thanks for Lalface for reccing this to me. I cannot say enough that Community is one of the best shows ever and every one should watch it. How can it be so consistently hilarious and touching, creative and zany and still above all retain such a lovely heart? I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT and this vid just reinforces my convictions ♥ ♥.
Folding Chair by sisabet. Another Community vid, this time focusing on Annie. Lovely song and OH ANNIE, YOU ARE SO AMAZING AND HILARIOUS AND ADORABLE <33. I had the biggest smile after I finished watching this. And Allison Brie is hot, it has to be said.

Comments

[radiophile.livejournal.com]

Ackkk work sounds so crazy stressful x__x Hang in there, bb! *hugs* Glad you at least have some friends among your co-workers; that always helps.

Lol R sounds like the kind of person I'd immediately be wary/disdainful of, too. *SIDEYE* >_>

Oh god were you the one who posted that Steve/Danny vid on Twitter? I watched it like five times then and I just watched it again now. HEARTS FOR EYESSSS ♥_______♥ I love them sfm :')

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

Seriously, if I didn't have my coworker's I'd have gone round the bend ages ago. I would probably still have kept on, just for the money alone, but with a seriously more depressed world-view ughhh XD

She's probably coming into our team as we are now uh, down to five people compared to the minimum of 12 on the other teams lolol, so I will be observing her closely the next few days *squints at, distrustfully*

PROBS NOT, as I mostly tweet from my BB and thus fail at looking at vids through Thailand's crappy mobile network speed but ISN'T IT JUST THE BEST?? Alex OLough makes such lovely SMITTEN!FACE expressions, I coo every time I see it. STEVE AND DANNO ARE JUST SO MARRIED. FACTTTT. And I remain thrilled every time I get a call and sometimes pick up a bit slower, as I am always bopping along to my Five-0 theme ringtone :DDD

[qian.livejournal.com]

The paper doll is really cool! I like the fire dress in the middle best -- would totally wear!

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

I confess that a large part of my mental design process was also "HMM WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO WEAR :DD".

<33!

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

THAT SPN VIDEO WAS AWESOME. And considering my entire life is currently being consumed by writing Cas!fic, also surprisingly apropos.

I'm sorry your work is utterly dreadful. Whenever I get frustrated at my phone-based job, I will just think of yours, and all my problems are sure to seem marvelously insignificant in comparison. Do you have any thoughts of trying to find a new job somewhere else? I only ask because this job sounds very damaging to your general mental well-being.

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

WASN'T IT JUST? It makes for some seriously hypnotic viewing and also is tinged with a bit of sadness as basically all of them except for Cas are either killed off or MIA. ARGHHHH. AND OOOH what kind of Cas!fic are you writing *chinhands*?

Honestly, the money and the fact that my planned time at this job has always been finite (JUNE!) is what has always made me able to just keep on with it. My first priority is to get my driver's license and skillz with actually navigating streets with other cars and motorcyclists (THOSE CRAZY ASSHOLES) on it down... and then, bring on the job applications to Bangkok! It was always part of the plan, heading down to BKK after a year and now that Ma is well, not here anymore, and my stepdad is at heart a person who likes his own space-- there is nothing really holding me back. Most of my work-friends here will also be leaving soon, only the few that have boyfriends here will stay and it's not like I wouldn't be flying back and forth from either city anyways mmmmh thank you for budget airlines, at least!

But yes, complaining on the internet about callers always helps me feel better :D. I mean, the job HAS helped me learn a lot inbetween all the headdesk-y moments, and it really hammers home how important simple telephone etiquette is. AND HOW MANY PEOPLE MUMBLE AND CAN'T SPELL THEIR OWN NAME lololol.

<333333333

PS THAT ICON AHHH LOVE IT

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

What you say is true, although the only angel that I really miss with all my heart and soul is Gabriel. The rest of them were kind of major dicks, as Dean would attest, of which I have been constantly been reminded as I watch and rewatch every single Cas moment ever from s.5. (Also, last night I was watching the end of The Song Remains the Same (so that I could see the Team Free Will scene). However, I had forgotten that Team Free Will is in fact followed by a flashback to a very pregnant Mary, telling her unborn son (aka Dean) that angels are watching over him. ONLY ON SUPERNATURAL WOULD THIS BE THE MOST TERRIFYING THING YOU COULD EVER SAY.)

As for what Cas!fic I am writing, it is a Cas!fic that has been planned out for about eight months now and which I am finally forcing myself to get down on paper. (Well, more like pixels, but whatever.) A major hobby of mine that's developed as of late is making mix cds. It's kind of pathetic, but I actually spent hours and hours of my life on these things. I also make album art, and the intended recipient (because everything I make is always a present, probably because that gives me incentive) gets a hard copy of that after many hours of frustration on my part with Kinko's and papercutters and tape. ANYWAY, so this is a mix focusing on Castiel's loss (and then renewal) of faith over the course of s.5. The mix itself has been done since last spring (and was made at pretty much the same time as my other SPN mix, which is focused on Sam n' Dean during Seasons 1-3), but sadly I am only just getting around to typing this thing out. The process, unfortunately, is kind of agonizing--largely in part, I feel, because it's hard to write about places you've never been, and so about 60% of my time "writing" is in fact spent looking things up on Google. (Last night I spent an hour figuring out how to write one short phrase in Hindi. NEVER AGAIN.) My goal is to have it finished by Sunday night, though (and by finished I mean ready for serious editing), and I'm very nearly halfway, so hopefully I'll make it.

OMG I JUST REMEMBERED YOU SPEAK GERMAN PLEASE HELP ME. How do you say "It's warmer inside"? Right now I have, "Wärmer drinnen sich," but I have a feeling that's incredibly incorrect and my German-speaking sister is currently off in Bangladesh, so I am awash in a sea of unreliable translation programs and incredibly unhelpful online dictionaries. Also-- "Thank for your help" (with a formal "you") would be, "Danke für Ihre Hilfe," right?

Well, I'm glad to hear you have plans to leave soon enough, then! What sort of jobs will you be looking for in Bangkok?

REALLY? WOW. I have yet to get someone who can't spell their own name, although I've had plenty who can't spell their own name so that others can actually understand them. (My favorite part is when they get really impatient with me for asking them to repeat it for the third time. IT IS NOT MY FAULT B'S SOUND JUST LIKE D'S. AND T'S. SOMETIMES G'S.)

(I KNOW, RIGHT? DOSE COLORS. DOSE SHADOWS. DAT HIGHLY SUGGESTIVE PROXIMITY I MEAN SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL.)

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

YOUR COMMENT IS MAKING ME WANT TO SPRING THE CASH FOR THE SEASON 5 DVDs that I longingly stare at every time I walk past the DVD store at the shopping center, ahhh. But I keep telling myself that I have no time, though of course my brain sees nothing wrong with the mental arithmetic of spending ~oh so valuable hours obsessively reading fic instead. SEE ALSO: TONIGHT and how I need to be up soon and have a long day in front of me and will hate life. Bad choices, hello again!

I REMEMBER MY REACTION TO THAT "angels watching over you" scene, too! Oh man, one of the things Show did that I well and truly didn't expect (I read the fic, sure!) was Mary's hunter background and oh how brilliant that was. Makes just how grizzled!John came to be even more sad, given how doki-doki innocent/idealistic he was at first. (Sidenote: the way young!John's actor played being possessed by Michael also remains one of the crazy hottest things ever, nggg). AND OF COURSE, THE FACT THAT THE WINCHESTERIAN CYCLE OF SACRIFICE AND SOUL-SELLING STARTED BEFORE SAM AND DEAN EVEN THOUGHT OF IT. AHHHH.

Damn dude, that sounds like quite the epic project! I doubt that I would have the patience that you obviously have shown these past few months, and I bet the end product is going to be amazing. I like how the "I can only work on something if it's for someone else" is a valid strategy that you use, too. That is basically the main reason I try to sign up for fan-art challenges and the like every now and then XDD.

NOW FOR TRANSLATION TIME: Your instincts were right wrt to that first phrase (but you were close!)-- if you want normal/casual speech I would use "Drinnen ist es wärmer," instead. "Danke für Ihre Hilfe," is indeed correct!

I'll be trying for Advertising and PR jobs, though I am still idealistic enough to hope that I might get in to one of the fancier agencies... I will be having no shame in using each and every connection I can somehow scrounge up to somehow get my foot in, though.

YESSSSSSSSSS dude ughhhh how hard can it be for some people to just use the phonetic alphabet? WHISKY HOTEL WHATEVERTHEWORDFOR-Y-IS! Everyone should get compulsory classes in these little phone conversation facts when they're at school or at least in some kind of job-training, it'd streamline everything so much more nicely.

EDITED FOR COHERENCY awwwww fuck it's 4AM *headdesks*

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

OR YOU COULD JUST GO HERE AND SAVE YOURSELF A LOT OF CASH, though, no, not any time at all. That was my strategy up until this Christmas, at least. (And do you have any SPN fic recs you might send my way? I have very few, mostly because I am so in love with candle_beck's and the rest generally seem to pale in comparison (one reason why writing SPN!fic is mildly terrifying for me) and after a while I just kind of gave up. That, and I never seemed to find any consistently good rec lists.) Rewatching snippets from most of s.5 has been pretty fun, but kind of increasingly depressing the closer I got to the end of the season... like when everyone was saying their last goodbyes to Sam. How I'd forgotten the heartbreaking sadness of that scene, I've no idea, though probably my brain just blocked it out for my own self-defense. (Which I wish it had done for The Dark Side of the Moon, as I remember watching that episode and being utterly destroyed, spending the entire next week in a haze of SPN-induced depression. The worst part is that it's such a beautifully written and executed episode. IT'S ALSO JUST REALLY REALLY SAD.)

Well, I don't know about how amazing it'll be, but mostly I'll just be relieved to finally have it done and no longer lingering over me. (My goal for the spring semester is to finish every single WIP I have. I doubt I'll make it, but it's something to shoot for, at least.) I finally finished the first draft this morning, so now it's time to whip out my blue pen and really get to work. I am very much a believer in the do-it-for-other-people method of getting stuff done. While I don't get too fussed over letting myself down, I will feel incredibly guilty over not getting someone their promised fic, so results tend to actually happen in that case.

Thank you so much for the translation help! That's one language I don't have to worry about re: accuracy, at least.

Well, the best of luck to you, then! You sound pretty determined, so my sister (self-appointed adviser of every aspect of my life that requires an application) would say you're on the right track.

I found it plenty coherent, no worries! NOW PLEASE GET SOME SLEEP.