hopkinssj2000's Journal

Update
Had a fairly awesome January in most ways, and shaping up to be a pretty amazing February. Carls wedding went swimmingly with relatively no hitches (other than the obvious). Best mans speech was not as good as I hoped, but was still ok I think. Only disappointment really is that we totally failed to sort out a Stag do for Carl - when we finally organised a date and people who he wanted there, all of the guests said they couldn't make that date. Hoping to organise one later in the year after I have a weekend off!

Gwyns stag do was very cool, a nice set of activities and then casino and drinks in the evening. Everyone was fairly mature about it as well, so the evening was nice and relaxed rather than everyon feeling pressured to get absolutely blitzed.

Last weekend was the first weekend of the pantomime which probably was our best one to date - certainly the standard in terms of lack of mistakes, everyone learning their lines, and running well technically was superb. Also printed Helen and James wedding invites which turned out really well and gave them a bit of a bargain which was rewarding.

Still have my birthday, Kerrys birthday, grandsons birthday and Gwyns wedding to go this month. Bank balance is suffering a little, especially as we have just booked a holiday to teh Dominican Republic, but really enjoying it so not too bothered.

Hmm was just about to do my annual board game order, when suddenly realised that 3 stag do's and 5 weddings this year may make things a little tight. Will have to wait a bit longer I think to see what other expenses I have this year first. Looks like we have to buy a new washing machine first and as its an inbuilt one is going to work out expensive... sigh

Snow
Only just got car all the way home today, a bit touch and go on the hill up to my house. But on the plus side, even though it took about an hour to get home, we were let out early so got home about an hour earlier than expected. Made a pretty scrummy shepherds pie and have a relaxed evening with a couple of glasses of wine and some company for wife and Cat for a while. Looking forward to Christmas now, just hope my presents go down well!!

Have now done most of Christmas shopping for family and Julie after spending about 4 hours in town. Yay..

Aarrgh
Too much stuff to do and now have suddenly developed some lurgy type thing. Worringly I think I have caught it from being covered in horrible spores from the air conditioning when it fell down by my desk at work. I am sure this is the type of post people find when investigating in some sort of horror film where they are trying to find the first person who developed the contagion/mutation/superpower, so thought I had better post this just in case.

weekend
Fairly boring weekend. Went shopping Sat morning and got back for 12 as expecting Brendan, a mate from work, to come up and do some filling/sanding/painting for me. Watched scorpion king 2 while waiting, Brendan was later than expected due to a mishap on previous job, but got there and finished Saturdays tasks by 6pm. Was just about to phone up to see if people in Cardiff were up for games when I remembered Gwyn was coming over to sort out stag stuff so stayed in and watched the Big Bang theory until he turned up. Except he didn't turn up which was odd, so hoping nothing bad has happened and it was just me getting confused.

Today Brendan is carrying on sorting out decorating so I will be in bathing the dogs and sorting out Christmas presents until its time for me to go to panto rehearsals. Then its off to Caerphilly to sort out Carls stag do!

Just looked at weekends and confirmed I have no free weekends now until 27th February!

Mammoth task list
Another weeks starts and with it more things to do it seems. Have finally managed to get the wallpaper off the living room which is good - one wall was incredibly awkward. The whole thing took about 6 hours, but I just seemed doomed to be distubed everytime I tried to start it. I have mostly been able to complete my other tasks too, including sorting out annual gas safety certificate, boiler check etc on house in Trevethin which British gas made incredibly awkward.

Tuesday brings the start of advent which is both exciting and scary as I have not done anywhere near enough to get ready for Christmas.

Taking a break
Phew taking a break from taking off wallpaper from walls. Its a lot easier with a steamer, but still not easy enough damnit! Stupid busy life is getting in way of movie watching as well - I now have 3 films gathering dust that I would like to watch so I can send them back off and get another 3. Meh, its not really that much of an issue to be honest.

So close to Christmas now, trying to work out when I will be able to do some Christmas shopping???? I had done it all but cos of so many birthdays since first bout of shopping I am nearly back to where I started!

Weekend
Pretty cool weekend - went to Cheltenham for board games and fun with Dave and Liz who had also invited Alex, Abby, Nigel and Mark. It was awesome to see them all again as I haven't seen them for a while, so hoping to see them for board games soon after Christmas again. Went out at the Pigs on Friday night which wasn't my first choice of things to do, but it was fun and a nice change to go out. Liz cooked fajitas Sat evening which were really good, although I suspect a lot of the rice got thrown out. I was pretty gutted as I quite liked the rice and was looking forward to some more for supper, but I think Liz was a bit embarrassed about it and wanted to get rid of it asap as it didn't turn out as she wanted.

Looks like a busy time until Christmas now though - need to do more Christmas shopping, as well as making sure I leave time for work parties, choir rehearsals, panto rehearsals, Cthulhu, etc etc. Still, I love having lots of things to do so thats all fine. I am also thinking of buying myself some more board games - I have a few in mind but would love suggestions if anyone has any ideas?

Stuff
Feeling really good about things at the moment. Work is hard and stressful but I enjoy being good at it and feel like I have accomplished something most days. Life outside work is a bit strange but fairly upbeat in most areas. Grandson is awesome, Julie seems happy more often, both of my brothers are happy and appear to be in healthy relationships. Everbody in my family appears to be in good health. Things are comfortable enough money wise that I am able to enjoy treating people to stuff fairly regularly. Also loads of friends seem at a very happy point of their lives, several of them getting married, so I am looking forward to approx 4 weddings next year so far, with the possibility of more.

My thoughts are with the few people I know who are not so happy at the moment - I hope that Christmas and New year will bring good news and better times for them. At the very least if they can't celebrate the current year, my best Christmas present and New Years wish is that the following year gives them the fortune they deserve.

Trying to get hold of...
Hi if anyone happens to communicate with Stu Heading and Dave Jones (in Australia) could you mention I am trying to get in contact (not very successfully). I have just messaged Stu over facebook which I guess is the easiest way, although I don't appear to have Dave on my friends list - is he on facebook?

It seems like I should have a fairly fun packed time on the run up to Christmas - I don't think I have many free weekends which is cool. However at the moment I am in Pembroke Dock a little bored to be honest - brought 7 movies with me and have watched them all! Nice to have some relaxation forced on me though I guess. And going to Dragon alley today so should see some interesting stuff.

Phew, pretty long week for me. No huge problems, just constant effort required! Lot of work on again at the moment as the guy we had just trained up has left for the RAF. We took someone else on as a temp on Tuesday and then I had to fire him Wednesday as he was struggling too much and was going to have real problems with the job as it got harder. That was pretty harsh and was an experience I hope I don't have to repeat too often! I am only taking 2 days holiday next week instead of the whole week due to the situation we are in - work can get along without me but unfortunately there are quite a few people away at the moment so it would be tough going for them, so decided to take the hols at a better time for the company.

On the plus side we took on a guy today who seems to be really good and is likely to stay from the sound of things. Going this evening to Pembroke Dock with the wife and dogs for a few days and maybe some Christmas shopping. Cthulhu was also pretty cool despite having to create my 5th character for the campaign! I think its a good thing my characters die though - it shows I am getting involved and getting the most out of my roleplay time. Or that I am an idiot.....

Anyway, see yas all soon!

Is it really only Tuesday?

Job
*furiously backpedals*

Ok after handing in my notice Monday, ended up in a meeting with each director and left work with an envelope of new salary and job prospect. After discussing it with Julie I decided to stay where I am - wasn't the outcome I was planning but actually fairly pleased about how it turned out. Definitely enjoy working where I am and no longer have the danger of somewhere new.

Hope this doesn't all go horribly wrong!!

So I have taken a career plunge. I have accepted a contract for a new job, higher pay, better hours, slightly worse holidays, and sort of less responsibility. It should only be good for my career with experience of a different company, plus its felt like I am unlikely to get a decent salary rise at any point soon with my current one to reflect the extra work / responsibility I have had recently. All the same, I am not looking forward to handing in my notice tomorrow, I think there is a fair chance of some biting remarks from directors and colleagues for 'jumping ship'. Also I feel bad because they have been very supportive every way except financially over the last couple of years. Hopefully though, because of the way the print industry works, there is a good chance they will pay me my notice period but not make me work it, so it should be a fast sharp shock and over pretty quickly.

Today..
So plan today is babysitting Thomas this morning, then panto rehearsals this afternoon. After rehearsals we are cooking a meal for Carl and Denise. This means no games for me (boo, sorry guys), but it does mean I get to spend a bit of time with Carl and Denise whom I haven't seen much of lately so that will be good.

Bored
Pretty fed up right now. Foolishly decided to not go to Cardiff and play games, instead thinking I would be spending some time with Julie. Have spent most of the day so far just staring at the computer screen. Have to look after the Grandson later which will be cool, so couldn't come down for the whole day anyway, but probably could have got in a good few hours

Grrrr

11 to 12 hour working days are hard work. I am feeling very sorry for my poor doggies being left on their own and not getting walkies - I feel like a very bad pet owner at the moment. But too tired to do anything about it. Frankly its just as well there was no Cthulhu tonight - got home just before 8pm, and have pretty much just rushed around getting myself some food, putting bins out, and generally cleaning so the house isn't too bad for Julie coming back tomorrow.

On the plus side I am hoping things may start getting a little better - we may be taking on an extra person for internal sales at work, who should make my work load a little lighter once they are trained. It does mean however that I for the moment have more work to do organising getting CV's from applicants and organising interviews. Then I will have more work to do for a while as they will require time training. But eventually it will work out for the best!!

Pretty cool game of shadowrun yesterday - who would have thought grenades are both big and clever. Running drones appears to be a bit broken - I am assuming they are really good because of the cost outlay. Enjoying the juxtapose of a ghoul runner as well, it cost me character points and has really only given me downsides, but its pretty cool.

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