uglification, derision, fainting in coils
Friday, 21 January 2022 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
freckles_and_doubtOrientation/registration hellseason seems to have leaped out of the gate with considerable verve and velocity this year, I have been working 11-hour days since the start of last week. I am thus currently submerged in the usual sticky and insistent morass of remote registration admin, orientation site design, continuous student queries, advisor solecisms, tech support and fervent wishes for gin. A more than usually infuriating two-punch of student unpleasantnesses yesterday caused me to have to mute my computer, step away from the keyboard and go and play Stardew Valley for an hour to simmer down. (Spend three days patiently explaining the rule behind the "no" I have to give, to increasing petulance and anger, only to have the student go over my head and negate the umpteen emails and hours of typing when the higher-ups promptly fold and grant the concession in the way I've been specifically instructed isn't possible. Twice. Honestly.)
However, there are consolations! today has been materially improved by the following.
1. An advisor sending me an Instagram capture from one of the university's general student hangouts, which cheerfully states "The devil works overtime. Jessica (plus my surname initial) works harder." Which made me go awwwwwwww. Sometimes they do notice.
2. Getting today's Wordle in three goes, possibly as a result of undue fanfic exposure. (You do all know Wordle? Simple, brilliant, addictive. It starts my morning remarkably pleasantly on a daily basis for minimal time input.
3. Cooler weather for the last few days. Thank heavens. Although tomorrow also projected to be a stinker. I do not enjoy temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.
4. The discovery, in the course of digging through the cupboards for more sugar for my tea, of the stash of Terry's chocolate oranges I bought in the post-Christmas price drop zone, and promptly forgot about.
5. The further discovery, over the last week, that feeding her Animalax on a daily basis and catnip on a twice-weekly one reduces the level of continuous whinging from Pandora to something a lot more bearable. She seems to be missing Jyn. Or complaining about the heat. Or suffering existential angst. Or resenting the quality or the food service. Or her arthritis is flaring up again. Honestly, who knows, but the above seems to help.
I am very tired and very stressed (in retrospect, working straight through the Christmas break to update the orientation site was predicably detrimental to my ability to handle all this), but life is not actually all bad.
However, there are consolations! today has been materially improved by the following.
1. An advisor sending me an Instagram capture from one of the university's general student hangouts, which cheerfully states "The devil works overtime. Jessica (plus my surname initial) works harder." Which made me go awwwwwwww. Sometimes they do notice.
2. Getting today's Wordle in three goes, possibly as a result of undue fanfic exposure. (You do all know Wordle? Simple, brilliant, addictive. It starts my morning remarkably pleasantly on a daily basis for minimal time input.
3. Cooler weather for the last few days. Thank heavens. Although tomorrow also projected to be a stinker. I do not enjoy temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.
4. The discovery, in the course of digging through the cupboards for more sugar for my tea, of the stash of Terry's chocolate oranges I bought in the post-Christmas price drop zone, and promptly forgot about.
5. The further discovery, over the last week, that feeding her Animalax on a daily basis and catnip on a twice-weekly one reduces the level of continuous whinging from Pandora to something a lot more bearable. She seems to be missing Jyn. Or complaining about the heat. Or suffering existential angst. Or resenting the quality or the food service. Or her arthritis is flaring up again. Honestly, who knows, but the above seems to help.
I am very tired and very stressed (in retrospect, working straight through the Christmas break to update the orientation site was predicably detrimental to my ability to handle all this), but life is not actually all bad.
