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Tue, May. 1st, 2018 09:00 pmMy annual leave week is over, and I feel sooooo good for having taken it. I've never before taken a week of leave just for the same of having a week off--it's always been to go somewhere, or because an event was happening, or it was Christmas/New Year. So much happens that by the end of it, you feel like you need a holiday from your holiday.
This week, though, was just glorious. There were a few things in particular that made me bite the bullet and just book leave, and really it was all of them coming together in one that did it: Anzac Day public holiday was on Wednesday, and there's no more useless public holiday than one on a frigging Wednesday. So I asked to have at least the first two days off and possibly the last two, knowing that enough of a chunk of our clients would be doing the same thing so my absence wouldn't be too heavily felt at work. Boss was going to text on Tuesday if I was needed Thursday, but, as predicted, that didn't happen. Also, the weather was glorious? Monday was 29 and I was wearing floaty summer dresses for the first half of the week. It's April. I am not spending that sort of weather in an office if I can help it. Finally, writing. I just suddenly switched on around the end of March, as I've mentioned, and once again I didn't want to waste any of that.
So I cruised coffee shops and cafés, down to Brighton and Glenelg beaches, Willunga and McLaren Vale, up to Fred's at Aldgate and Red Cacao in Stirling. I took n00b* with me, had poached eggs and avocado and coffee and all the little brownies and slices of cheesecake, and I wrote four chapters in a week. I've also discovered a bit of a method, which I hope is what's making this all work and isn't just something that's coming from the motivation, but I've been writing in the spoiler book about the chapter before I write it. It forces me to nut out the problems before I get to that point in the writing, so when I take n00b to the café the next day I won't need to spend the first hour wondering what the hell's going on.
Sunday last week, as I mentioned, I went to the Colours of Impressionism exhibition at the art gallery with Mum, Dad, Colin and Laura, and it was truly magnificent. If I ever find myself in Paris again I'm so very going to Musée D'Orsay. Impressionism is probably my favourite movement, and to see so many of these hella famous artists and pieces all in one place was amazing. They're all so soothing and colourful (once colour came up, anyway--that was the point of the exhibition, to show how colour evolved) and vibrant. Seeing the brush strokes right up close, where you really could see all the tiny strips of colour in every stroke because they mixed the paint on the canvas rather than on the pallet, was fabulous. When I got to Monet's Bridge over Pond (is that even what it's called? He did like a dozen from that spot) I was the only one there at that moment, so I just plonked myself right in front of it and just stared at it. Here are some Instas of various paintings. Some of them were so bright and vibrant it was practically neon. UGH. ART. I LOVE IT.
Wednesday, Anzac Day, my aunt and uncle invited us all down to their beach house at Middleton. They've recently sold it, so this was a last goodbye to the place before it officially changes hands in a few weeks. Just sausages on the barbie, just a nice chill day =3 We didn't go down to the actual beach, tho, just watched the waves crashing from the balcony.
Thursday~ I went to see Avengers: Infinity War, which sure was the first half of a two-parter, and then had a massage 8D Went back to Iron Man that night just to see how far everything had come and... yeah. WOW that movie feels small now. The grand finale was really just two guys in robot suits? Really? Oh and I marathoned the latest season of Game of Thrones because it's only seven episodes and doesn't take long. Also I'm going to be making a GoT-inspired feast this Sunday, so that'll be fun X9
Saturday night was another footy, easily won but jesum CHRISTMAS, boys, stop injuring yourselves! Sunday, finished that last chapter, and now here we are.
It honestly feels like I took two weeks off. I slept in, I chilled at coffee shops, I wrote a shitload. I got a massage, went to see a movie, wrote a shitload more. PERFECT WEEK. I'm going to have to do this more often.
* My new laptop, named so on the network because it needed something and I couldn't be bothered being creative. It's likely to stick because it's a Lenovo. Le novo. The new. You see where I'm going here.
This week, though, was just glorious. There were a few things in particular that made me bite the bullet and just book leave, and really it was all of them coming together in one that did it: Anzac Day public holiday was on Wednesday, and there's no more useless public holiday than one on a frigging Wednesday. So I asked to have at least the first two days off and possibly the last two, knowing that enough of a chunk of our clients would be doing the same thing so my absence wouldn't be too heavily felt at work. Boss was going to text on Tuesday if I was needed Thursday, but, as predicted, that didn't happen. Also, the weather was glorious? Monday was 29 and I was wearing floaty summer dresses for the first half of the week. It's April. I am not spending that sort of weather in an office if I can help it. Finally, writing. I just suddenly switched on around the end of March, as I've mentioned, and once again I didn't want to waste any of that.
So I cruised coffee shops and cafés, down to Brighton and Glenelg beaches, Willunga and McLaren Vale, up to Fred's at Aldgate and Red Cacao in Stirling. I took n00b* with me, had poached eggs and avocado and coffee and all the little brownies and slices of cheesecake, and I wrote four chapters in a week. I've also discovered a bit of a method, which I hope is what's making this all work and isn't just something that's coming from the motivation, but I've been writing in the spoiler book about the chapter before I write it. It forces me to nut out the problems before I get to that point in the writing, so when I take n00b to the café the next day I won't need to spend the first hour wondering what the hell's going on.
Sunday last week, as I mentioned, I went to the Colours of Impressionism exhibition at the art gallery with Mum, Dad, Colin and Laura, and it was truly magnificent. If I ever find myself in Paris again I'm so very going to Musée D'Orsay. Impressionism is probably my favourite movement, and to see so many of these hella famous artists and pieces all in one place was amazing. They're all so soothing and colourful (once colour came up, anyway--that was the point of the exhibition, to show how colour evolved) and vibrant. Seeing the brush strokes right up close, where you really could see all the tiny strips of colour in every stroke because they mixed the paint on the canvas rather than on the pallet, was fabulous. When I got to Monet's Bridge over Pond (is that even what it's called? He did like a dozen from that spot) I was the only one there at that moment, so I just plonked myself right in front of it and just stared at it. Here are some Instas of various paintings. Some of them were so bright and vibrant it was practically neon. UGH. ART. I LOVE IT.
Wednesday, Anzac Day, my aunt and uncle invited us all down to their beach house at Middleton. They've recently sold it, so this was a last goodbye to the place before it officially changes hands in a few weeks. Just sausages on the barbie, just a nice chill day =3 We didn't go down to the actual beach, tho, just watched the waves crashing from the balcony.
Thursday~ I went to see Avengers: Infinity War, which sure was the first half of a two-parter, and then had a massage 8D Went back to Iron Man that night just to see how far everything had come and... yeah. WOW that movie feels small now. The grand finale was really just two guys in robot suits? Really? Oh and I marathoned the latest season of Game of Thrones because it's only seven episodes and doesn't take long. Also I'm going to be making a GoT-inspired feast this Sunday, so that'll be fun X9
Saturday night was another footy, easily won but jesum CHRISTMAS, boys, stop injuring yourselves! Sunday, finished that last chapter, and now here we are.
It honestly feels like I took two weeks off. I slept in, I chilled at coffee shops, I wrote a shitload. I got a massage, went to see a movie, wrote a shitload more. PERFECT WEEK. I'm going to have to do this more often.
* My new laptop, named so on the network because it needed something and I couldn't be bothered being creative. It's likely to stick because it's a Lenovo. Le novo. The new. You see where I'm going here.
