Here. Have One Of These Again.

Current clothes: A white terrycloth bathrobe. I just got out of the shower and am having trouble working up the ambition to even get dressed, let alone to do any of the other stuff I probably ought to be doing today.

Current mood: Inert.

Current music: Most recently, Jonathan Coulton's Thing a Week One.

Current annoyance: Being back at work. I want more vacation! I want Ed McMahon to come and give me a giant check so I can retire at 37! Is that too much to ask? And my work schedule is annoying me greatly. I worked two twelve-hour night shifts over the weekend, which isn't exactly fun, but which I can handle well enough. The thing is, though, it used to be that when you worked all damn weekend like that, you were then done with your scheduled work for the week and you could just come in and put in those remaining 16 hours whenever you liked, working on whatever you wanted. I'd usually take a day off, then put in 3 or 4 short days, working after hours when things were nice and quiet. But now when you work 12-hour day shifts over the weekend, you just keep right on working, with two more 8-hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday. And when you work those weekend nights, you've then got three days to completely shift your sleep schedule around so you can be in for a day shift on Thursday and Friday. That's what I'm trying to do right now. It's not going well. Aargh. I've worked worse rotations than this, it must be said, but this one is definitely up there on the annoyance scale.

Current thing: Suddenly, it's The Sims 2, which I made the mistake of buying when I got my new computer. I had this great plan yesterday, which was that I'd get lots of productive stuff done during the evening/night while I was naturally awake, and then crank up The Sims to keep me awake during the day so I could get myself switched over for those day shifts. I then made the mistake of booting up the game sometime around, I don't know, 1 AM, just to remind myself where I'd left off last time I played. Next thing I know, it's 7 o'clock in the morning, my wrists and neck are aching, my eyes are glazing over, and I'm physically incapable of playing any longer. I fell asleep at 10:30, and woke up today at 4:30 with something in the back of my brain telling me that it desperately want to get back to the game. So far, I have succeeded in not giving in to it, but it's not easy.

Current desktop picture: Still M78 and reflecting dust clouds in Orion.

Current book: The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder, a non-fiction book from the early 80s about a group of computer engineers working on designing a new minicomputer system in the late 70s. It's kind of interesting to read, because Kidder's trying to give us the sense of how new and exciting this technology is and what a special new breed these computer people are, and so on, but of course it all feels rather quaint from my vantage point here in 2008. What I find really interesting, though, is noticing what kinds of things Kidder believes he has to explain to his audience. Like, the concept of cubicles. Wow, things have really changed in the world over the last three decades, haven't they?

Current song in head: It's pretty much been Cavalcade of Rush in here since the concert. Right now, it appears to be "Face Up" from Roll the Bones.

Current DVD in player: Nothing at the moment. Most recently, the last episode of Doctor Who, which I got from the UK. So far, I'm really enjoying this season, regardless of whether the individual plots actually make any sense or not. I'm not so sure about next week's episode, but we can discuss that when it airs in the US.

Current refreshment: Nothing. But I'm thirsty. *goes off to get some water*

Current worry: That I'm not going to be able to stay awake at work on Thursday, but will instead end up slumped face-down on my keyboard, snoring gently.

Current thought: Sigh. I have to get up and start doing useful things. There's just no putting them off any more. I mean, I can smell the catbox from here, and it's not like anybody else is going clean it.