Le Jour d'Enfer

You wouldn't believe how fcuked I am tonight...

And yet... here I am typing this at 23:56 on a Friday night.

Today was the RAS specialist discussion meeting that Lyndsay, Rekha and I organised. I say "organised" with some breadth of meaning on my part, as they did most of the work. I just pitched in with comment when solicited, and did the webshite for abstract submissions (which mostly worked, as long as the SAN wasn't down in the nextdoor orifice).

Anyway, the point of me doing this right now is "manifold" (I don't get to use that word often, much less so in a non-engineering context.

The first one is to apologise to the world for disappearing from it. I'm reaping the rewards of overspending even on the meagre fun allowance I had in January, and had been feeling shite for most of this month til a few days ago. Now, I feel like I've accomplished some stuff, but just feel absolutely fecked.

The second is to note that Neilo had his interview (for the now-legendary application for demotion, due to the unique way the BBC is funded, etc.) and I haven't even had time to make contact since. Apart from tonight, when all my speaking was taken up by an impromptu with the Aussie's mum, who blatantly wants him to come home right now. And explaining to Eenglish's mum that I won't be going to his brother's engagement party. Anyway, I feel shit about it, and need to not lose contact with Himself.

Another, Hot Toddy got back to me again, so it's my turn to e-mail in this bizarre but lovely sequence of trans-atlantic "Hi, you don��t know me" e-mithers. Funny, though. But need to take tomorrow out from life and get back in contact with everyone, including him.

The Aussie sounds in a happier place about his work at the end of this week, partly inspired by a work-sponsored seshun in the Big Smoke on Wed night, post-meeting.

But the main thing I wanted to get down in type, and off my chest was yesterday.

As a précis, yesterday was just insane. No other way of putting it.

It even comes with a prologue. (And I realise that this is of no interest to anyone but myself, but why stop now, eh?) After winding meself up all week about getting the study submission template ready, and booking the PI and PS of the instrument for the day, and the PI having approved the work, the PS takes a look at it and decides to scrap it. Although the reaching of that decision was a drawn-out process that saw us moving the meeting location twice -- as we were having it, like!

So, I'm now a bit miffed, as this throws the whole point of the day into a limbo -- do we proceed with the planned attempt to standardise the submissions from the community, without the means of standardising it, and thereby pay lip service to the point of the day, or do we throw it out and go to the online tool which isn't yet ready. Which was the whole reason why I had to do what I did.

Eh?

Well, in the end, we used the online tool. Which is a great thing, don't get me wrong. I'm actually a big fan of it, and keep having to defend it to our sometimes binary-mooded PS. But then, cue Thursday.

(I'm actually listening to the Pest's Christmas present CD at the moment to help me unwind, as four hours of TV don't seem to have entirely done the trick.)

If you've ever seen one of those movies where someone absolutely has to get across town but everything and everyone gets in his way. Like relatives suddenly turning up and needing a kidney transplant, or he gets shot in the right foot and needs to drive. Think Die Hard 3, perhaps. Well, yesterday felt like that.

I probably didn't help things by not getting out of bed at the planned 7:00, but rather at 8:17. Not that there was a specific time to meet up, but I knew the day might be busy anyway.

Once in, via a 5 petrol top-up, I had time to say hello before I went to find Len, and bumped into Fluff and JR (the man who'd come down to help us execute the work we'd done on Wed). So, we went up to the forbidden office and fired up the software. While I explained the "change of plan". It turned out there'd been another change, so we'd have to re-enter the small amount of stuff we'd put into the system the day before anyway. And we could no longer run them through the spacecraft simulator, which knocked out most of the reason for Thursday.

So, this also left me feeling a bit fecked off at people shifting the goal-posts. But I'm not perfect either (honestly), so I couldn't whinge. Plus, JR's done such a cracking job on everything so far.

Right, so after not getting a great night's sleep the night before, and not having had my first cuppa of the day within 1 hour of arriving, I needed caffeine input. But, en route, I bump into one of the Warwick crew, who's down seeing his other half. So I end up spending my 15 minute coffee break talking with him. Which is pleasant, but not nearly so pleasant to a tea-addict as a cup of FUCKING TEA.

Back to the forbidden office I go, to meet the two smokers. (Not smoking, I should add -- not sure which anti-static rule that'd contravene, but I'm sure it wouldn't be encouraged.) We sit and run through some glitches that me and PS/PI combo discovered the previous day, and discuss ways around it. Me in my capacity as Ideas Man, naturally.

At this point, I need to be checking my e-mithers to see if people have e-mailed me talks for today's RAS meeting. But get no chance to do this. Only just get time to eat, then check mails without being able to stick anything on this laptop.

So to the F.Off. again. Where More Important People? are using MY* machine (*not really my machine at all)!! How rude. So we hang around until they're done looking at various flashing indicators on the screen that say what various bits of the electronics are doing. Then JR and I get bored and go down to my office while I nip to the car to get my USB stick. Which, of course, being my MP3 player'n'all, is right at the bottom of my kit bag. Even underneath the hair goo (he says, pretending not to be so gay that he knows it's really called Fructis Manga Head, and thinks it's the best hair stuff ever).

I transfer the files that speakers have sent us in the remaining sliver of away time we negotiated. Then the PI comes in and asks me for input on another mission meeting he's about to fly off to California for. I try to do my best Rabbit Caught In The Headlights? look, and I think I succeeded, thereby buying myself until 3:00 which is when JR was planning to leave. Plus or minus 30 minutes (but basically "plus"). So, said cheerio to him, and went downstairs to get a cuppa and see Hilary. She was just outside the door of our office, and surrounded by my officemates, all staring down at Joshua in his carrycot. She was getting ready to get ready to leave, if you get me, so I didn't get speaking to her much. Plus I was waiting for Len to call in and ask for a consultation, so I was a bit on edge.

At 3:30+, still no cuppa.

This is now MORE THAN 6 HOURS WITHOUT A SHOT OF CAFFEINE. But that paled temporarily into the background as I saw Hilary, one of my oldest friends in the job, and one of the people who talked me into doing a PhD, in her new role as Mum and primary carer (effectively) to this nearly 4-month old baby boy. She hasn't changed a bit, she's just got a new side to her that I guess motherhood inevitably brings. And the baby's in very, very good hands.

After Hilary left, I busied myself bringing up various files and e-mails to get ready to talk to Len. Which is when the phone rang, with Lyndsay on the other end of it. She just wanted to discuss a few things, but as she and I were talking Eenglish rang on the mobile.

So, to recap: I'm now tired, stressed, worried that I'm not going to get everything done today and NOW having to think about tomorrow. And I��m on one phone while the other's going. My head is close to detonation, and I'VE STILL HAD NO FUCKING CAFFEINE ALL DAY FUCKING LONG, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

I also still haven't had a chance to e-mail people back, about pretty much anything, but crucially about the Friday meeting. So I'm just doing that when Len pops in. I suggest we go up to his office as I'm less likely to be disturbed up there. Turns out I'm right -- turns out Derek is looking for me as well. To annoy me about handing over the key to the AX again. He's doing it out of good intentions, but he's dramatising the whole thing, as only he can.

I brainstorm with Len for at least an hour, with my thinking power close to zero. Although I do remember and realise a few key things in the process, so I'm actually
quite impressed with myself. And then, at about 5:45, I get back to my desk. MY DESK. Which I've craved all day long...!

And then I check e-mails, realise I can't play a student's simulation movies, and then spend the next hour with Jian trying to download an all-singing, all-dancing, (i.e. all-codec) movie player. Which I now have. Hoorah!

But I don't mind by this stage. Want to know why? Because I've made myself a MOTHERFUCKING CUP OF TEA, MOTHERFUCKER. YES!!!

Which one of you motherfucking motherfuckers said "addict"?!

This isn't the end of the story, by the way, as I didn't leave the office til about 8:15 pm. But, the hard stuff was done by 7:00. The rest was just multiple backups, in case this laptop didn't behave itself with the projector on the day.

Which it didn't, but today was so much easier than yesterday, I just didn't care.

Plus, I started it off with a cup of tea.