News From The Frontline

[laliandra]

You guys, Christmas is INSANE when you work in retail. And when you are working twelve hours days. And when you are trying to write a Yuletide fic that doesn't suck. And also have a life. So far, so good, but I'll let you know how long that lasts!

So, my job is going well! My days mostly go something like this

6.30ish - Get Up. Stagger around.

7.00 Bus No.1 Listen to mp3 player (I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue! Radio 4 comedy FTW)

7.31 Bus No.2 They not to fall asleep and have schoolchildren draw on me or some such.

8.30ish Lift from Coworker J. Discussion of how BLOODY COLD it is.

Working Day - Answer emails. French people tend to come in two modes, either Terrifyingly Polite or DRAMA CAPS THIS IS THE MOST TERRIBLE/WONDERFUL THING THAT THERE HAS EVER BEEN. It's kind of amusing, but a bit of a mood whiplash! Sneak read flist. Write about perfume. Go on Wordreference. Utterly fail to have a lunch hour. Promise people that their order will definitely be there by Christmas. Repeat.

5.30 Bus No. 1

6.30 Bus No.2

7.00 Get home. Collapse in heap...


I mean, I like my job, which is more than I could ever have hoped for, and I like having money (OMG MONEY!) but yes, that is a twelve hour day.

And so, I have three DARLING ladies who all have birthdays in December and who, by all rights should have something written for them from me... But... BUT, I will have a good surprise for you at the end of the month, I promise!

Yuletide fic carries on apace. I have the required amount of words, and remain hopelessly in love with my source. Sigh. If I can be a millionth as good as it, I will be happy! I spend a lot of time on the bus creating my own little world, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. Yuletide is so exciting! I had no idea! I feel so FESTIVE!

In terms of actually having a life, I went to London to visit Belle, Sal and Wren. It was delightful, and we got to see the canal boat which Wren lives on with her boyfriend and hear about Sal's crazy country adventures and Belle's internship with UNICEF. I love my friends, they are the very best kind of special snowflakes.

OH! Thank you for my snowflake gifts, lovely people! I was so touched. And I love that ontd_ai broke LJ with them. This makes me happy.

AND FINALLY I got everyone's cards and etcs send out on Thursday, so you should start getting them any day now :D

I had to go to the Post Office in my lunch hour, which was interesting...

Lal: *enters with large bag of presents, feeling Santa-like*
PO Lady: Last international posting date stuff?
Lal: :)? *produces many letters*
POL: Is that everything?
Lal: Um... No? :)? :D?
POL: *sighs*
Lal: *sits on floor to stick stamps and labels and customs stickers*
Random Middle Aged Lady; It's good to see people make eccentric use of the floorspace.
Lal: Lady, you have NO IDEA. If you could see what was inside some of these envelopes...

So yes, I'm not dead, and I will see some of you soon (MARMFISH I AM EXCITED FOR OUR COOKIES ) and will be updating more in the future and generally being a better LJ friend and I hope that you are all well!

Comments

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

Oh love, I am so so glad you enjoy your job but they are some crazy-long days! I am not surprised you are so tired you poor thing!

LOVE your Post Office trip of madness - that is the best way to deal with post.

And YAY for seeing you oh-so soon! :D I am so very ridiculously excited about our trip of glee and madness and marmfish! Yay London!

Now go to bed and sleep!

xxxx

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

EEE LOOK AT YOUR ICON! Why isn't it Mae yet, Han?

It was kind of hilarious, I was sending stuff all over the world, I felt very cool and international!

Yay! I am looking forward to it so much! I think I am getting the train in with Play and Cat and Faerlan, and we get into Marylebone, so maybe we could meet you there? That is where your train gets in, right?

:D

[(Anonymous)]

EEE ISN'T IT EXCITING AND ALSO BEAUTIFUL?! :D Play in her infinite awesome made it and I total stole it. With permission of course! :P

Yay yay yay! Ooh that's awesome because yes, I do get in at Marylebone! So if you let me know at the time when your train gets in I will totally co-ordinate myself to find you all! :D I'm so excited!

xx

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

And one day I will remember that LJ likes to log me out at random times and I do actually need to sign in again...

[playwithfyr.livejournal.com]

Yes! Trains! Post!

I feel sorry for your post office (: also for my post office (I foolishly agreed to work a full day on the 18th (last day for 2nd class post = crazyhectic)) and all post offices who are wondering why christmas can't happen constantly so they get parcels every once in a while during the years insetad of just thousands in december (:

Train! Again! (do we have a definate on PR's house yet?)

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

You are an ICON QUEEN!

I was as quick as I could be! I just had a lot of things going to paranoid countries like America. And clearly that is madness on your part...

Nothing as yet, no :(.

Okay, so, since the last time I looked into trains everything seems to have gone to crap.

I will make Further Inquiries. Grr, public transport!

[mcollinknight.livejournal.com]

Haha, love the adventures in the post office. You are very brave to go in there this time of year (BUT LADY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING STILL AWAKE WITH YOUR CRAZY WORK SCHEDULE, FOR SRS).

I'm glad your new job sounds like it's good though (and ahaaaa, retail @ Christmas is always funtimes).

Oho, ontd_ai snowflakertrolling or whatever we called it at the time. I'm just sad the vgift's gone now.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Well, you pesky foreign people, it means I can't just buy stamps from a machine or anything like that! It really wasn't so bad. I felt more sorry for the people behind me. I am sure they thought I was some sort of jetsetter type, with all my international mail...

People send me emails saying things like "mon colis a un destin plus grand, comme cadeau!"

It appears that LJ is like England. A few snowflaes and the whole place comes to a standstill! I hear that there is snow your way...

<3

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

Hooray for having a job! Although, yes, the twelve hour day sounds a bit on the painful side. Still, hopefully once December is over things will become a bit more normal. (Though I must say, the way you describe it sounds like you spend your entire half hour from 6.30 to 7.00 merely... well, staggering around. Like that is your only goal in life at that hour. I find this image highly amusing.)

And I'm sorry to inform you that, while you have been having Epic Post Office Adventures, I have been a college-grade slacker of the first order, and so... you probably won't be getting your holiday package (which is compact and lightweight... because I'm sorry but I'm never spending that much on postage ever again, not for you and not for anyone) until long after Christmas has come and gone. Hopefully its contents will make up for this, however. (Seriously, I REALLY HOPE THEY DO, because I had a James Potter "IDEA!" moment for this whole thing and I think you could very well say that I have now invested a good portion of my soul in it's result.) (Yes, Lal - YOU ARE RECEIVING A PORTION OF MY SOUL. You should feel very flattered.)

...why do I always rave like a mad person in your journal. I honestly have no idea what you can think of me as a human being, but it definitely can't be anything normal.

ANYWAY. Hooray holidays! And now I go back to alternating between writing final papers and writing what feels like a million xmas cards (when reality it is, like, 23). I know this is my favorite time of year... but sometimes I am completely at a loss as to why.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

It's a loooong day, but yes, things should get better. I would say that is a pretty accurate mental picture... I get everything ready the night before and then mostly wander around like a caffeine seeking zombie and try not to poke my own eye out my my mascara wand.

Don't worry! I am even worse, I haven't even wished you Happy Birthday yet! So, Happy Birthday! Your parcel should be with you soon, I hope, it is a combined Birthday/Christmas/You are Awesome bonanza. In a squishy envelope. And like I said, at the end of the month (actually in about a week?) you will get a sort of story present from me and then IOU something written.

OMG that all sounds very exciting! I shall look forwards to that, then. I can wait, it's all good. I shall treasure your soul portion.

Darrrling, I hope that you don't think I want normal friends... I love your rambling :D

I too love Christmas, but yes, sometimes, I wonder why. Then I get to sing carols, and I remember.

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

Thanks! My birthday really wasn't very noticeable this year - had it not been for the New Moon extravaganza with my friends, I probably wouldn't have realized it was happening at all - so don't worry - my own family has yet to really do anything about my birthday and I'm not holding it against them. (Come Sunday I have been promised creme brulee and late presents, though, so it's all good.) I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE SQUISHY ENVELOPE. And possibly even more excited for the story present, just so you know.

Okay, good to know my rambling is appreciated somewhere. (Although currently most of my jumbled trains of thought somehow end up at either Bradley James or Colin Morgan... which is kind of a problem, really, because I still have one huge paper to write and I'm pretty sure, "The Odyssey, the Aeneid and Ulysses are all super epic and kind of lolarious at times... MUCH LIKE BBC'S MERLIN," is not an appropriate thesis. I mean, it doesn't even make an argument for starters. I can't do a thing with it.)

CAROLS, YES. Except I actually haven't listened to hardly any carols this season, because I've been too busy trying to make mix cds for people and listening to classical music for music theory. I swear, this is the least Christmas-y Christmas ever.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

The squishy envelope should be with you soon! It was posted Thursday so fingers crossed. And creme brulee is totally worth waiting for.

*makes shifty eyes* I cannot speak more of your sort of story present but I hope that you will like what I have done :D

I am so charmed by your huge Merlin love. oh SHOW. And aha, you, being ever so slightly late to the party. But anyway. Have you read any fic? There is some INSANELY good stuff out there.

I really don't see why that would not be a good thesis.

<3

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

IT IS NOT MY FAULT THAT I AM LATE TO THE PARTY. We (unfortunately) do not have BBC, which makes it a little difficult to hear about these things, and then even harder to find them. (All the Merlin I watch is via really crap quality bootleg videos that take ages to load. This show demands a lot of patience from me, actually, which should say something about much I totally adore it if I am willing to spend three hours trying to watch a 40 minute episode.) Of course, while being on the opposite side of the planet is my convenient excuse in this case, I must admit that I have been late to the party in regards to, well, every single tv show that I watch. In fact, it's pretty stunning that I managed to catch Merlin when it was only in its 2nd season, since all the rest (aside from Glee, which I refuse to truly count as one of my shows, because it is RIDICULOUS and not in a good way) were caught in the 3rd or even 4th seasons. Yeah... I'm good at this whole pop culture thing.

I have read some fic, though - actually, it took me forever to find any good fic authors... and now I'm suddenly swimming in them, to the point where there is TOO MUCH and my brain just kind of collapses. I do have the small complaint that about 95% of it seems to be R-rated... which honestly isn't really my style (I much prefer fluff and hilarity, or possibly angst accompanied by intense makeouts), so I've been spending a lot of time making alarmed faces at my computer screen while I skim as fast as possible until the talking and everyday human interaction comes back. And I guess another problem is that what I love so much about Merlin and Arthur is all their hilarious and effortless banter, and, as you might expect, that's the hardest thing to find done well.

Of course, as I type this, I realize that I currently have the links to about fifty-some fanfics that I deemed worth favoriting saved in my browser, so... you might not want to be taking me too seriously on this one.

Actually, more than anything I've been enjoying the work of a few recappers I've managed to find - THEY ARE HILARIOUS and crack me up, and yet all of them seem to have stopped doing them partway through this season. This was kind of depressing to discover, though admittedly I was somewhat cheered up when I found THE BEST MERLIN/ARTHUR VIDEO EVER: http://franticsga.livejournal.com/71661.html . (I particularly appreciate the implication that Arthur is Jay-Z.)

I think something about this show just hits... well, basically everything I find enjoyable (BOYS) or hilarious (banter and bad cgi) or interesting (England, even allowing for the blatant anachronisms). Or at least, that's the only explanation I can think of for the fact that it seems to have CONSUMED MY LIFE ENTIRELY, and I'm going with it until someone comes up with a better one.

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

I do the exact same thing in the post office all the time! And we're living in this small town where people probably never send anything abroad, and I keep going there with all my packages to France and the Netherlands and letters to people all over the world, which is all very confusing and I do confuse the Post Office Women a lot. They are brave women.

I also got your Christmas card some days ago! Thank you so much, it must be the cutest Christmas card I ever got. I hugged it to my bosom and told my family, "this is from lal!" They just nodded knowingly. Because most of them know who you are. Because you are being blamed all the time.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Clearly we are ladies of great post, and the ladies of the post office have great patience with us! I love posting stuff.

And YAAAAY! I am so glad it made it there safely and you liked it. Happy Hogswatch! I love the image of you snuggling it, and also the idea that you even blame me to your family...

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

When do you get off? Are you working right up until Christmas?

Sounds to me like you need some sort of spa break/long bath with smelly things.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

I finish on the 23rd and then I am going to stay with my boyfriend's mum who has plans for feeding me non stop, so it seems, so I will get totally spoilt by her! And I basically get a month off work, so I am looking forard to that :D

Not that I would say no to a spa break!

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

I HOPE TODAY WAS ANOTHER DAY FULL OF AWESOME FRENCH-TINGUED PRODUCTIVITY! And seriously, just to say it again, I am totes okay with helping out wrt to the German trans of stuff, so just email me when you know moaaar or something :Db

I HAVE STILL NOT DONE MUCH WITH POST YET, cept move it from the floor to my bed to the floor again. But I did take a picture of the spread and when I showed it to Carmen's sister she was all :O and Carmen was all "I told you she is a crazy mail-sending beast" lolol I HOPE I WILL FIGHT THIS ENCROACHING COUGH/HEAD COLD and then I will be better but man, right now? For commenting on about half of my flist's entries? ?style=mine is my BFF at the moment. ALL THE PEOPLE WITH GREY ON LIGHT GRAY LAYOUTS OR LOTS OF STRIPES IN THE BGROUND, MY EYES HATE YOU RIGHT NOW lol

[cellophane_ria.livejournal.com]

Hi Lal. I've been angsting about this comment for some days already. Clearly, we need to talk more.

That said, I still don't know what to say. Except that I am ashamed now at my whining about commute. Yours is so much more hellish.

And that I am vicariously living through you and waiting for your Secret Santa to write Secret Garden!

And that I hope your card will reach you in time (I sent it at Thursday), but the post office lady laughed at me for being that optimistic. Maybe that's because I was posting a parcel to Helsinki, and she looked at it fleetingly and thought "Honduras! That will take a while!" or something like that. Yes. I stay optimistic.

Treat yourself for something really nice and holiday-ish when you finally have a break from work... You so deserve it. *hugs*

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Hey!

Please don't angst :D. I like my job. I clearly need to learn to drive, though. It would take about 4 minutes if I drove it! But don't worry, really.

You know, with all the angsting I am doing about writing my fic, I keep forgetting that someone, somewhere is writing me something! Heh. Nice to remember.

Well, I will not mind if it is late. I am late for everything, mostly. I am excited about post! *is optimistic with you*

I am going to stay with my boyfriend's mum, who always spoils me rotten, for Christmas, and then I am in South Africa for two weeks, so I get nearly a month off work *glees*

*HUGS*