girlofprey

I'm going to Nottingham tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. But at the moment I have to plan and pack and keep an eye on my finances in case the hotel bill wipes me out. Also my mum is coming, which is lovely. She just randomly, after I booked it, suggested that she could come up on the Saturday with my ON, and stay for the one night in the same hotel. But she then immediately tried to get me to talk to her about tickets and what the cheapest possible tickets could be, and maybe what time we were planning to come back on Sunday, and planning exactly when we were coming back is not what this weekend was ever supposed to be about. Also it's supposed to be going to heat up again, and I'm questioning the sanity of going to an open-air festival for multiple hours of the day. But I'm looking forward to it. I love the festival and I love the bands and I love Nottingham. I'm excited to go back. I've been looking at google maps all weekend, remembering where everything is and looking at what's still there and what isn't. There are more escape rooms in Nottingham than there used to be, is mostly what I've noticed. But I think there are more escape rooms everywhere than there used to be.

Next Friday, my parents are going away to Benidorm with my three nephews, and despite the fact that I thought I made it clear I can't really look after the house and the dog when they go away, while I'm working, they are planning to leave the dog with me. The last time they went away, we had the dog go stay with my sister, again. Since he is her dog. This time my MN has apparently said my sister is planning to go to a caravan with her new boyfriend while her kids are on holiday - ????!!!?? - and my mum hasn't even asked her if that's true, or if she can have the dog. She just keeps talking about how the neighbour has said the dog can stay in her back garden all day, till I get home from work, and that she's trying to get him on trays of food instead of the big cans. My dad doesn't say anything, just sort of curls his lip. He obviously just thinks I should do it, because he's not that bothered about how hard I find it. I will not be able to sleep if I'm worrying about whether or not the dog is going to wee or poo in the kitchen overnight, which he sometimes does for no apparent reason. If I can't sleep work and living is going to be hell. I already have to clean out the cat's bowl more often than usual because it's constantly full of fly eggs, because my dad won't close the garage door, because he wants it to be cool in there when he goes in there to vape, I guess. Give me a break.

After the conversation I had with my boss last week about the dude saying one of our female bosses was getting 'brave', I was then sat in the office when the post room guy no-one likes started talking about how he'd won a couple of free drinks and was going to have them at Leeds Pride. He's not gay, he talks about women and his girlfriends all the time, and my boss has described him as 'an abuser and predator of women'. Which is nice. Anyway, the others in the office started teasing him about which he was out of LGBT, and he said he 'wasn't gay, he was normal'. He was going with his girlfriend, who also wasn't gay, but normal. And 'the last thing he'd ever want to be is gay'. So I went to talk to my boss again, because there have been complaints - from our CEO - about how much this guy talks, basically just to tell my boss what had happened, and ask if there was any chance this man might be encouraged to stop talking soon. Also I told him I was bisexual, just to get my situation across, and because literally why wouldn't I tell him if it came up. And he started talking about how he was fine with gay people, but he didn't like people who pushed their sexuality in your face, and how he was accosted once in a gay bar when he was younger, and probably this guy (who everyone hates) was just naive and chose his words wrongly, I wouldn't understand because I have an English degree, he probably only meant that he wouldn't want to be anything other than straight, the same way I wouldn't want to be anything other than bisexual. He is generally a nice person, and sometimes he was nice in this conversation, and I think I caught him off-guard a bit, but oh my god. And he told me he wasn't planning to treat me any differently now he knew I was bisexual, I shouldn't worry about that, and he told me that a few times, and I said "you shouldn't", and I meant that he morally shouldn't, but also that obviously I could take him to a tribunal if he did. Also he told me a story about how he'd once worked with a lad who was a genius, but nobody knew because he was working on a building site just to make some money until he got made partner at a law firm, and that he'd learned because of that not to judge anybody when you don't know them, and then gave me significant looks.

I decided overnight that it wasn't fair of me to bring the subject up, because it's really not his responsibility what people - who technically don't even work in the same company as us - say in the office, and he has been busy lately, and his mum's recently died. I was going to tell him the next day, but before I got a chance he said he wanted to speak to me. We went back into a private meeting room, and he said I'd caught him on the back foot the day before, obviously what the guy said was wrong, and no-one liked him. It was just because Pride was coming up, and people were going to talk about it, and then started talking about whether we needed Pride anymore, as a society. He obviously thought we didn't. And once again, told me he didn't view me any differently because I was bisexual, he wasn't going to treat me any differently. As far as he was concerned, I was a normal person, he was a normal person, the man in the postroom was not a normal person because he was kind of stupid and a twat. Also I learned that when he'd said the man was a 'predator and abuser of women', he just meant he stalked people/women on Facebook, and would probably stalk me if he got the chance. Mmhm. I said I didn't want to discuss gay rights with him, but it was fine, and if things got any worse I'd decide if I wanted him to have a word with the guy's manager or anything.

Yesterday, my boss asked to have a word with me again as soon as I got in. Apparently this guy had been saying something similar again about Pride, about how he went but he wasn't gay - he 'wasn't like them' - and my boss could tell that it was just naivety and stupidity, but it was something that would have pissed me off. So he took this guy aside and said that someone - and it could have been literally anyone, just someone who walked in from upstairs - had said something about how this guy was talking about gay people, and his 'vile manner'. My boss said he massively exagerrated what I'd said so this guy wouldn't be able to guess it had come from me. So yes. And he said the guy might do some digging - he probably would do some digging - trying to find out who'd made this comment, but nothing that had been said should trace it back to me. My boss just wanted me to know that it had happened and what he'd said. He also reiterated that he didn't see me any differently now he knew I was bisexual, and didn't think he'd been treating me any differently. And I said 'tribunal tribunal tribunal' in my head and said it was fine, he'd been fine. Which he had been, when we weren't in that meeting room having conversations.

So that happened at work. Pride is this weekend.

I had my hair cut on Monday, on the day off I finally managed to have, and now my hair is short and things are wonderful.

Hello. I went to the Riverside Festival. It was wicked, as it is most years. I spent too much, but I did buy CDs for the first time ever, and I saw katemonkey in the crowd, which was lovely.

BUT. Mostly what happened was that the soaps were mostly amazing on Friday, and I was nowhere near a computer. However, I did take helpful notes. Here they are, lovingly recreated for you:

( Spoilers for Friday's Emmerdale and Coronation Street episodes )

In other news, that's pretty much it. The Riverside Festival was lovely and sunny and rainy, but hardly ever rainy for very long. For some reason this year they didn't put descriptions of each band in the programme, so it was hard to tell what you were going to see, but I did manage to find quite a lot of really good bands anyway. At one point I was at a gig, and it started raining a bit, but a lot of us stuck it out, and eventually we ended up dancing in front of a massive, really vibrant double rainbow. Which looked to me to be turning into a triple rainbow slightly at some points. But anyway. It was really good. Also I found a stall selling really nice necklaces and I spent too much on jewellery in a new and unexpected way. But I don't regret it, and it was really really nice. Also, I didn't stay for the fireworks on Saturday night, because I didn't want to get back too late, given that I was in town on my own. But I got the bus back, got back to my hotel, settled down in my room, and then started hearing some bangs. I looked behind the curtains, and I could see some of the fireworks from my hotel room. Irritatingly, the Hotel Britannia was directly between me and them, but the Travellodge (I think) was across the road from it, and I could see the reflections from a lot of them in its windows. And some of them came over the top of the Hotel Britannia anyway. Which was quite lovely :)

Soaps are amazing. And so are festivals.

So. I've had a busy week. Sort of. ( On Tuesday I went to Nottingham )

( And on Thursday I went to Wakefield and Leeds )

Anyway. Then today my mum came back from her holiday with my sister and my two nephews. I was invited on this holiday, but I said no in the end, because I remembered what happened last time we went on holiday to Filey with my sister and my two nephews in April, and I didn't feel like I'd be up to doing it at the moment. She got back tonight at about half past seven, and she looked shell-shocked, and I asked her how it had been, and she said "Put it this way, this morning I bit a hole in a football." Which I think says it all. She's glad to be home, I think.

Last night, I watched ( Casualty, spoilers for this and future episodes )

And I booked for Connotations this year. Woo hoo!

And tonight I watched ( BBC Sherlock, episode 2 (spoilers for this and last week's episode )

Also, it's the Nottingham Riverside festival this weekend, and I was half-thinking about going down, staying overnight in a Bed and Breakfast or cheap hotel or something. It only yesterday occured to me that I should probably decide now if I actually want to do that. And indeed, book now, if I do. Hmm.

It's been snowing on me today. I like the snow. Sometimes I thinking about making a post about, or talking about, which is my favourite season, but then I realise that I like winter, summer and spring. And the leaves turn all beautiful in autumn. So, so much for that.

I had a Jobseeker's Appointment today, and it's basically the last thing I needed to do before the weekend. Except call a medical clinic to book a time for my interview next week. I have another interview, now. I can't believe they've started offering me interviews just as I decided that I was probably going to have to move back to my parents'. I'm going to go to it, and hopefully I will hear back about it before the end of January, when I have to give notice to my estate agents' about giving up the flat. But if I don't I'll probably give notice anyway, given that I didn't have much luck with the other two interviews I've just had. And hope that if they do offer me a job that I can cancel things with the estate agents. I don't know, my mum seems to think you can.

( Moving house stuff )

I have, however, since last week or since I got back received a letter from the Jobcentre saying they couldn't send me a transcript of my original call asking for Jobseeker's Allowance and (I'm pretty sure) housing benefit in September, but that they could confirm that information was sent to the Housing Benefit office from the Jobcentre about me on the day that I called. Which I think is proof. I've taken it down and handed it in today, and it is past the deadline I was given to appeal the decision about when my Housing Benefit was being paid from so I'm not really sure it'll make any difference, but hopefully it might change their minds. And I also got a letter from the council saying that I was owed a refund on my Council Tax of £271. Which was nice. I have to fill in a form and send it back if I want that refund, and I'm not actually sure where it is at the moment, but I'm really intending to do that. Because I WOULD like the refund.

It's a bit weird going around Nottingham knowing that I'm going to be leaving it shortly though. One of the main shops I'm going to miss is Evolution, which is a shop that sells rather lovely sort of ornamental things and scarves and stuff, but which is apparently all fair trade and essentially a charity. They're having a sale at the moment, and I've been buying a few things I've had my eye on, like a mosaic-style mirror and a paperweight with a fairy on it, but it does seem a bit odd to be buying decorative things when I'm going to be moving out soon. Then again, the nearest Evolution shop to me when I move back to Yorkshire will be in Sheffield. So hmph. Annoyingly, there was a guitar-shaped mirror I wanted, and really saved some of my Christmas money to buy it with when I came back to Nottingham, but when I went in it wasn't there, and the man at the till said "Oh yes, there's no stock here, and none at the main warehouse. We're expecting new stock in at the end of March." The end of March is not really good for me. But oh well.

Anyway. I'm still mainly done with useful things for the week. And I'm going to London to see The Snow Queen and hang out with cakesy, which is nice. And I watched a video on the Emmerdale website that claimed to be a 'teaser' about who kills Mark Wylde tomorrow, but showed exactly who does it and how it is done. So I don't have to wonder about that anymore. So mostly things are quite pleasing at the moment. Hurrah.

Note to self: be less rubbish.

Which I'm working on, honest. Lots of things happened this week. I came back from a con. My debit card did need things doing with it so I could use it, it turned out. I went to see a dance thing on Thursday, which was great. I had to do food shopping on Thursday as well, which was less great. I found out I'd been paid by cheque two weeks in a row, and I can only assume I got something from Jobseeker's Allowance this time, because otherwise I don't know why I'd have had money in my account. Things went off all at once, sort of.

Plus there was Coronation Street. And I was thinking, there should be cons in lighthouses. And cons on canalboats. The only thing that stops me thinking that's a grand idea is the fact that you can only fit about six people in a lighthouse or on a canalboat. Unless you had a small fleet of canalboats. You could hold panels in the pubs the con passed on their way. The lighthouse you can't really get round. Unless people were willing to sleep on the beach.

My current favourite idea about Coronation Street is the one where Tony Gordon notices David Platt hanging around being evil and unemployed, and decides he needs a new underhanded PA. David would have to do filing and wear a suit all over the place, and he could silently lord it over Gary that he had a job. Then at some point Tony would find out that David used to be a hairdresser, and would need him on hand AT ALL TIMES, just in case he has an emergency meeting or someone he needs to impress, and has to look his best. Hairdressing is one of my favourite things that David does, and I didn't really actually watch it back then when he was working in a salon, maybe he has no skills but was just very good at sweeping up hair. In my mind he can at least do a trim pretty well. Eventually Tony would probably take Gary on as a new bullyboy/"assistant", but would still want him to look his best, and David would have to cut Gary's hair as well. While fuming. It is an idea I quite love. A lot.

Select-A-Disc is closing down in Nottingham. That's really quite sad, but it does mean they're having a closing down sale. I made a couple of discounted music purchases. It's a shame though. When it closes, Fopp will be the only music/dvd alternative in town to HMV or WH Smith or somewhere. And I do quite like Select-A-Disc. Oh well.

The TV Choice has a little headline on the cover for Casualty this week saying "Jordan's BIG mistake". LETTING GO OF TOBY, is clearly the answer to that one. Maybe this is the week he realises.

( Tonight's It Takes Two )

I would tell you how my job-hunting/acquiring today went, but to be honest it doesn't have a happy ending. So never mind.

I would like to talk about how much I love Nottingham, briefly, though. This is a post I often think about making. Dude. I will happily admit that our castle is a little bit boxy, but when you see it from the bridge over the canal on the way back from Sainsbury's, on the first night of the winter you've been caught out coming home in the dark, it's quite a sight. Also the view of the stars from my courtyard on a cold, clear night. It is a really beautiful city, Nottingham, and I do love living here. Everything's all connected, as well. That Stravinsky concert I may have briefly mentioned the other night? The tickets were meant to be £25-£30, but because I'm now a member of the Broadway cinema, I got a special offer which meant I got a ticket for the same price as a cinema ticket. It's coming up on Fairy Lights Outside season, which is a season I very much love, and it makes the expanding hours of darkness sort of brilliant. And I just love it, and the area I live in, and the town, and pretty much everything. There's a bar in town that's serves a teapot of shots, or used to. I love that as well. And I just think it's a really great city. Rah.

Another thing that pleases me: The House Bunny, which I saw recently and liked - the main character is Anna Faris, who I was sure was famous for something. She was Charlie in Heroes! Possibly she was slightly more well-known for being in the Scary Movie films. But dude!

So, I got sent back from that job. Which I've been meaning to post about all day, but never got around to it. Apparently they told the agency I "wasn't as enthusiastic as they were hoping for/thought I could have been". Which is probably true, but I don't know how enthusiastic they expect me to be in a job that is essentially typing out letters then going to get another tape and typing out more letters, in a job where the people I was actually working under only spoke to me or were in the same room as me once or twice the whole time I was there. ( Some ranting )

Anyway. The agency asked me some questions about whether I was okay to work and was fit to work, and I said yes, and they have something else for me on Thursday. And I was thinking, actually, that I wasn't going to get a chance to go into town to look at/get some fairly one-off seeming things until next Saturday, since I'm going back to my parents' this weekend for Father's Day, so it's actually worked out sort of well. I shouldn't really be paying out for stuff so much, but if they'd sent me back next week I'd have just bought a new £60 bus pass, so that has probably made up for something.

I also managed to get out into the courtyard and tidy up a bit. It turns out the random Yellow Pages nobody had picked up were where some wasps had gone to die, and that we had some very stubborn moss growing on the ground outside, but it generally looks a bit cleaner I think. I'd like to finally try and get the plants outside tomorrow. And get some new ones at some point. The Bougainvillea I was looking at in Wilkinsons isn't there at the moment. Woe.

Nottingham seemed, while I was out, to have been hit with massive power outages today. I was in Fopp and suddenly all the lights and music went down, and I assume the security alarms and tills. Then when I called the Citycard phoneline, they'd had a big power outage as well, and couldn't do anything I was asking for on the computers, till tomorrow. Electricity company must be having problems. Also, normally I hate the charity/petition people who hang around in Nottingham town centre while people are shopping. One once followed me down the street as I was on my way to a film to get me to sign my name on his and give my address. However, the Phoenix Children Foundation outdid themselves today by having a real live pony in the streets with them. A tiny pony, wandering around with a charity jacket on. Which was nice for a bit of a change.

Town takes longer than it really feels like it should.

I've been quite busy this week. Mostly I think I just shouldn't get involved in fandoms that have fic written for them. That way only leads to madness, and no sleep. Though it turns out coffee helps with that.

The job is going pretty well. I'm working for an NHS Mental Health clinic, and it literally is just answering phones and transferring people, and typing up letters. And dealing with people in reception. Sometimes it gets a bit hectic when all those things happen at once - and they keep trusting me to come in a bit early and unlock all the gates and fire exits (fools). And sometimes people call up and are crying, but mostly it's all easy enough to cope with, if you know what to do. We only get a half an hour for lunch, which is annoying, but the area's quite nice and my work when I'm in there is mostly to be near the phone. And the people there are really nice, and friendly. Apparently the temp who was there before me, on Monday, came in the morning and then walked out at lunchtime, so mostly they think I'm great for still being there. There is a fire exit right next to the toilet though, so frankly I think they're asking for it. But I have no intention of escaping. I've only got the job for another three weeks though, which sucks a bit.

Otherwise I have mostly been learning that my "independent" life doesn't involve a) cleaning, b) posting on LJ, or c) sleeping. The bathroom quite powerfully needs a clean at this point. That might be this evening's job. And there was an issue on Thursday when K texted me to ask a 'big favour' - could I put her up for a month in November. Now, most of you haven't seen my flat because I can't work a digital camera (or at least keep it supplied with batteries), but it is essentially a room. It's a fairly big room, but a room nonetheless. And I don't have guest bed, she would be on the sofa, which is uncomfortable for me, and she's taller. For four weeks. While she was assumedly working on a project she's trying to set up here, and I was probably trying to keep out of her way. Mostly I flailed a bit, asked for more time. Then on Friday we talked about it, I explained that I thought it would be a bad idea for 4 weeks, though 1 or 2 would be fine, but that she could stay for 4 if she really wanted to and needed to. Because it is going to be important to her project, and she and J did it for me. Which she seemed happy with. Nothing's really set in stone at this point though, so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

This Wednesday I have to pay my rent, and it'll be the last month I have to pay rent for this flat. It's sort of freeing and nerve-wracking at the same time. I don't think I'll leave the flat any time soon, if I don't have to. I quite love it, even if the heat is a bit variable. And I love Nottingham. Yesterday I discovered the joy of Pumpernickels, which is a sandwich bar with armchairs and tudor benches in the back. There's a bar in town that does a teapot of shots, and the Ted Baker has a spiral staircase. Probably lots of cities have things like that. I quite like this one.

Other things:

• I'm a bit in love with the the_sc_files. OH GOD, GABRIEL. OH GOD.



• I'm watching myself for Heroes spoilers, because people have started to watch it. But I'm planning to watch it myself on BBC2, as a kind of catch-up. But BBC2, WHAT IS THE POINT OF REPEATING IT REALLY LATE AT NIGHT ON WORKNIGHTS?



• I'm thinking of swapping out a bunch of my icons, but also thinking about not renewing my paid account when the time comes.



• The Simpsons Movie, which I saw on Friday with K and J, is very very good. I laughed quite embarassingly loudly. And we had doughnuts. That was win.



• I'm still mostly in love with Draco Malfoy.



• Some other things, probably.