9 september 2025
Decided to crank open the terminal before getting tucked into the day. Kind of really devastatingly annoyed that I lost out on a two whole hours of sleep because of someone else's banging about, but on the bright side, I did manage to go to sleep a fraction of a bit earlier, so I have had enough hours to not be totally useless for the day. Grimaced at the sun on my commute on in. Someone was blaring music on the bus, and frankly, 9AM is entirely too early for those kind of shenanigans. Just a dour grimace and a held breath as I scuttled into the building.
At least there's sunlight. I have a feeling that things will be quite a lot more gloomy come winter, but in the meantime, the wrap around windows are quite nice, and there are pillars here and there that make it a little more bearable while being put on full display in the panopticon. My hair kind of dried weird and crunchy, which is annoying, but I'm having a Zoom meeting later today, so it really is what it is. At least I wore one of my favourite pink t-shirts, and it's nice, being able to better see my necklace, as compared to when it's buried and lost against the black of my usual tops. And wearing my most comfortable pair of joggers has to count for something, they're practically pyjama pants.
Later tonight I was thinking of making a pitstop to pick up a binder, and maybe a new notebook- I was surprised by how many reading notes I wound up taking, and I wanted to keep at least one journal for my notes with my supervisor, when I see him next week. Not sure if I'll really wind up feeling up to going to the zine jam on campus, but it would be nice to at least try to enjoy my time and make the most of the experience. A few more people in the office space today, though it's still thankfully, very quiet. It was a good call not to take my mechanical keyboard in, I'm already quite a loud typer as is... And I chipped a nail in the bathroom the other day, while hanging up my backpack, which was super annoying, but thankfully it broke at such a point that it's not really a big deal, since I can just round it off and not have to worry about the painful quick of the nail being exposed. I've always had some luck in that regard, since my nail tends to break horizontally, rather than vertically.
I'm really tired. I packed along some tea and matcha to perk myself up through the middle of the day, but the wake up slump is pretty brutal. Got some work done at home too last night, which I didn't anticipate having to do, but it was alright- I kind of enjoy the process of notetaking by hand, anyway, and it helps that it's really only relevant for one class, at the moment.
I think it was a good move to open up the terminal and yap before settling in. Sometimes I just need a bit of a transition point before I can really dig into something, and while I did promise P those replies when I got to campus- I don't want it to become something that I dread doing, so putting myself into a better mindset to tackle them is for the best. And the timezone difference really helps- I'm always early and ahead of schedule anyway, which is something that I find works out a lot better between me and people on the West coast, as compared to writing partners who share the same timezone, even if the conversion math for live events almost makes them not worth doing at all. For play by post though, where extended delays are fine, and expected even in the medium, it really works out nicely. Pixeldust wears down nicely on the nails.
I'm starting to see the benefit in playing lofi hiphop beats to study to. It's a nice measure of time. Mellow. Though I do still prefer actually drafting creative prose to good tunes, sorry not sorry. :-)
And it's nice to be able to play Starbrew Cafe as a little treat in between long sessions. Sometimes you just need to turn your damn brain off, to give it a chance to reboot. Might as well pop in my earrings, smear on a little perfume- I find that both of those things really helps to boost my mood. Sensory delights. Well, that- and brushing my teeth again after a morning coffee. No one likes coffee breath.
My longtime pigeon pal, Chocolate Milk, recognized me after a year apart, and ran right up to me to say hello. Had a wonderful time greeting such a good buddy of the last five years. I love the little guy dearly.
Going to make an effort to attend the whole, or most of, the zine night tomorrow.