Rain, rain go away.

I have a much higher rain tolerance than the average resident of Jo'burg, so when I say I'm sick of the rain, you've got to realise how badly it's upsetting everyone else. Yeah gods, am I sick of the rain!

It's been raining almost solidly for the entire month here - except for one week, which was the weird one with the vast swarms of butterflies.

Everything is waterlogged. The lawn at home is so bad that people visiting (and hence parking on it) have been gouging really really deep grooves in it since it's essentially a thin layer of grass over clay-mud. This gives very little traction and means that much extra wheel spinning is happening every time someone drives onto or off it. There's no way in hell it's going to recover before winter, and it may take a lot of digging to level it all again.

It has also not been helping my sinuses which have been feeling snuffly for weeks as a result of the damp. A cheerful reminder of one of the reasons I hate winters in Cape Town so passionately.

Traffic has also been suffering, and it's christmas for the panel beaters. I was very glad that the morning's rains had dried by the time we headed for Pretoria yesterday. I'm also very glad that none of the routes that I travel have much heavy traffic or high-accident zones, although I feel sorry for the road-works bunch since new pot-holes form on a daily basis. (Fortunately for us, with elections in the next few days these are being fixed almost as rapidly.)

I'm exceedingly glad to discover that my boss isn't back until Thursday! Yay! I thought he was back today, in fact. This is especially pleasant since I need to make a couple of print-outs of stuff for my portfolio and I was trying to figure out how to sneak them past Darnell this afternoon, and also leave in time to make it to my 17h30 interview in Bryanston in this weather! So all solved now. Double yay!

Of course my biggest joy is the fact that I go paid this weekend and so finally I've actually got the funds to do stuff again! And most importantly I can afford such luxuries as paying off my credit card, my rent and my vehicle-related debt to Grant.

Maybe not so much with the interesting...

Why can't I live in a perfect world where everything goes my way?

Ah, well 's not to be so no point ball-aching about it.

I spent around 3 hours in my car yesterday - although, technically much of it wasn't driving since the traffic was so backed up in Jo'burg due to rains at rush-hour that I was stationary for much of that time. Rivonia is also the absolute worst part of Jo'burg to have to try to get anywhere near to at that time of the day - or leave for that matter. But the traffic yesterday was so bad that even at 19h30 it was still as bad as it is most days two hours earlier.

I arrived for role-playing almost two hours late. Although when I got there Russell was also delayed by computer issues (lightening fried modem and his mum wanting an email sent urgently...) and then it was supper so in the end we only actually started role-playing at nine o'clock. That said it was fun, and I think I'm going to enjoy this campaign - if my character lasts the next 48 hours. She's a new vampire who knows nothing, is extra susceptible to sunlight and has infact decided that the whole last few hours was a really bad trip and she and another character are off to a police station to report their kidnapping having ditched the rest of the party. So much to go wrong, so much fun to have! (hopefully someone will stop us before we get to the hospital...)

I was very glad to discover today that Wednesday next week is a public holiday. I was trying to figure out how to get a full work day and still find time to vote, so no prob now... although there has been a vague threat that we may have to work that day anyway due to jobs coming in at the start of next week. Sigh.

Catch up time

I know I've been quiet, and it's not really from a lack of anything to say, rather than the lack of any time or inclination to say it.

The job is coming along alright, I've now been here for the better art of a month and I hasn't sent me running screaming yet. Although I have decided that it's not the permanent position for me and when my three month probation contract comes up, I'm not going to go permanent if I haven't found something else by that point. Instead I'm going to give Nikki's freelance agents a call since I reckon I can do well for a while as a freelance contractor - there's good money in it, and a variety of people to be met, since you'll often take fairly long contracts a big name agencies.

I've also got an interview this evening for a position at a company that I really like the sound of. They asked for a junior with 2 years of experience, but I applied anyway - on the grounds that they seem cool enough that I'm willing to take a bit of a title downgrade. I'm rather excited, but it does interfere with role-playing a bit this evening.

Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem, but it happens that tonight is the start of our new World of Darkness: Vampire campaign using the new setting. Beyond the Mountains of Madness as run by Russell has failed once again to have the party make it to the ice (although at least they left the docks this time). Alan's sociopathic character decided that the only way to prevent a mutiny was to murder Starkweather with a straight razor while his cabin mate slept in the bunk above. Lacking it's leader, and having yet another crew member murdered the expedition had to be turned round and brought back to NY. I was sooooo miff, since I loved my character! (Although there is a vague promise that in three years or so when Vampire ends we'll have another stab at BtMoM and I can play Prof. Edward again - seeing as Alan's sociopath was on his second run...)

I've had my usual busy social-life. The BF, Tony, and I went for sushi on Valentine's - the food was good at the restaurant he chose, but the service was terrible and the atmosphere a little unfriendly.

Regarding martial arts I've been considering my options. There's been a bunch of issues about Jitsu, and essentially I can't make Monday night sessions as I'd get back from Pretoria too later and also I'm just generally too tired on Mondays to do anything more than go home and relax after work. While Sunday sessions are supposed to be happening more often, and the club moving to Joburg sometime this year, I've decided I need to relax my attitudes and attendance for a while.

I considered starting something else for a while - but the aikido club I went to seemed too meditation focused (15 minutes of synchronized breathing at the start was more than I can take). I've yet to find a Kung-fu class or the like that trains on a Tuesday and Thursday, plus Lauren has taken a job in the UK so will only be here for another month anyway. At the moment I'm doing judo with her once a week, which I've decided to just keep up with for the next month and then I'll contemplate alternatives again.

Anway, now that the news is out of the way, maybe I'll post something a little more interesting next time...

Alright, I give up!

Well, the panic is over...mostly.

I've got myself a job. It's nothing to sing and dance about - not quite what I was aiming for, but things had come to the point that I couldn't hold out any longer. All in all it's not too bad a position - the perks being a fair salary, a relatively easy commute and being the sole dedicated designer in this little agency. This means that while I'm responsible to the Creative Director, Darnell, I'll get a hell of a lot more creative freedom here than I've received anywhere else - well, that's what I'm hoping...

The down side is that I'm the only real designer here, so all work is rapidly going to become my responsibility, and that I miss the comraderie that woking in a larger studio provides. It also means that when I'm having a bad day there's going to be nowhere to hide. Finally the major source of income here is annual reports, which is a fairly specialised field of design, which I have no experience in. Initially this isn't a bad thing, but I'm certain that in time the novelty will wear off and I don't want to be stuck as a 'corporate brochureware' designer for the rest of my life (which is where I'm on the fast track to at the moment).

Despite getting this week off to a slow start today hasn't been too bad since I'm indulging in the new experience of conceptualising and designing an annual report from scratch. I'm adopting a bit of a wait and see for the while about the job - I've got three months to make up my mind before I go permanent. Chances are I'll look and see if there is anthing definitely better that comes up - but making it to interview is going to be tricky what with the long hours I'm going to need to put it.

Otherwise jujitsu and judo are going well, and I'm having fun with both. Role-playing is role-playing, and we're getting bast the boring bit of Beyond the Mountains of Madness. We've already lost our first character before we even left the docks - so now I'm the only player playing a character of the opposite gender.

Most of all I'm looking forward to the point at the end of this month where I get to cease starting every sentence with "When I have money..." till then it's time to abuse the credit card.