Good and Bad

I am in a really pissy mood tonight. Have you ever had one of those times when it seems like everything in your life is conspiring to drive you crazy, or at least make you depressed? Well, I am definitely in the midst of one of those times right now. It's not like I have any huge personal tragedies going on or anything, or even that any of my problems is all that terrible by itself, but the combination of negative stuff is just really, really bringing me down.

So I present here, a listing of the major bad and good things in my life at the moment (in that order, because hopefully that'll let me get the bad out of my system and leave me on a positive note).

The Bad:

1. We had another big rainstorm last week, and my yard flooded again. Badly. It was finally starting to dry out (as in, the water was no longer over the tops of my shoes in most spots), but it rained again today. In fact, it's still raining. It's been raining now for about eight hours, which is practically unheard of here. Frankly, I'm afraid of when I'm going to find when I get home.

2. On a related note, my roof is still leaking. I found out where the leak was -- it's due to several very small holes -- and I got some waterproof metal-repair gunk that should hopefully fix it, along with some waterproof coating to paint the entire roof with. Problem is, you have to apply this stuff when the weather is going to be dry long enough for it to set. Other problem is, the (borrowed) ladder I have for getting up onto the roof with is shaky enough when planted on dry ground. Right now, my entire yard consists of water and mud, and I'm simply afraid to try planting a ladder in it now even if it would do any good.

3. When I was messing around with this big, metal, top-heavy ladder the last time, I managed to knock the thing over and send it crashing right into my car. Which now has a very nasty scrape on it. Which is probably right now busy rusting in the rain. And I have no idea when I'm going to find the time to take it into the shop.

4. My allergies are starting to come back. I think there's something growing in my pond of a front yard that's making me sneeze.

5. I haven't been sleeping well for weeks. I just haven't been able to adjust my body from night shift onto day shift. I've been tossing and turning and finally falling asleep around dawn, on days when I have to be in to work at noon. This hasn't helped me deal well with all the other stress in my life, I can tell you.

6. Farscape is still cancelled. It definitely looks like the negotiations didn't go through. There was supposed to be a chat tonight with people from the show, but 700 people showed up and the chat server crashed, so they rescheduled it for tomorrow. Meaning we still don't even have any solid news/info on exactly what's going on and where we should be concentrating our efforts.

7. I forgot to set up my VCR to tape the season premiere of Enterprise tonight. Which is a pretty minor thing, as they'll be re-running it on Saturday, after all, but it still annoys me.

8. I feel like there are so many things I really want to do, but when I have the time, I don't have the energy, and when I have the energy, I don't have the time.

The Good

1. It looks very, very likely that we will finally be moving onto a different work schedule. Which should seriously help alleviate Bad Thing #5. The new schedule isn't quite what we were hoping for, though. It was looking for a while like we might actually be able to have weekends off on a regular basis, but the higher-ups decided that, no, we really do need to cover at least some time on the weekends. When I heard that, I immediately sat down and drafted up an altered version of the proposed schedule which included some weekend shifts. The boss seemed really happy with it, and he seems confident that his boss will be really happy with it, and he wants to switch onto it immediately (starting this weekend). I only hope the other two operators are OK with it, too, because I would really have liked more of a chance to talk it over with everybody. On the other hand, anything that gets me off this damned rotation ASAP is most decidedly a Good Thing. Weekends or no weekends, the proposed new rotation is something that's actually liveable.

2. The message about the Farscape chat postponement hinted that it was going to be something of an optimistic pep talk thing, which at least goes some way towards reassuring me that the production crew still does have hope.

3. I now have plane tickets to go out to New Jersey in November (I'm going to a science fiction convention in Newark and then visiting relatives in South Jersey for a week), and to visit my sister in Oregon over Christmas. I've also gotten a confirmation from my boss that I will be getting all the vacation time I signed up for, even though we're short-handed. I'm really looking forward to both of those trips, and especially to getting to see my nephew again!

4. I just bought a new computer. It should be arriving soon (assuming the UPS guy can get through the swamp to my front door), and I'm really looking forward to playing with it. My old one has served me loyally, but it's slow, and it's got a small monitor, insufficient memory, and not nearly enough hard drive space. This one will be superior in every respect. I also splurged an extra $80 and got a DVD-ROM drive with it. Whoo-hoo! I'll be able to do screen captures!

5. I'm alive, allergies aside I'm well, I have enough money that I can afford to buy plane tickets and a new computer (well, OK, I finanaced the computer and my mom paid for one set of plane tickets, but still), I have a pretty cushy job, I have lots of books and tapes and DVDs and CDs to keep me entertained, I have friends to hang out with, I've got internet access, and at least the roof only leaks over the kitchen where it's a lot easier to clean up.

Hmm. You know, that did make me feel better. Thanks.