(no subject)

[ewt]

It is London Chocolate Week. I declare that everyone should buy me chocolate. Good chocolate, mind, none of this nasty plasticky chocolate-flavoured confection bullshit.

Two lunchtime concerts this week with brass band, one at Blackheath tomorrow and one at Regent Hall on Friday. Please come. It's free. In my first two years of doing my degree I hardly ever mentioned concerts and stuff or asked people to come but I want to change that.

I'm pretty much fully booked from now until 16.00 on Friday; I have Things mornings, afternoons and evenings, sometimes more than one thing per morning afternoon or evening. It will be an interesting test of my new-ish organisation systems. It's going to be a real PITA too. For example, this afternoon after an appointment I go straight to wind quintet rehearsal, and from there straight to choir rehearsal at Blackheath, which won't be over until 21.30, then I go home, but then tomorrow morning I have to be at Blackheath again for 10.00am. I don't really want to lug my horn to Blackheath and back tonight and then there again tomorrow morning, but there isn't anywhere up there to put it, and if I leave it at Trinity I add 20 minutes to my journey tomorrow. I might do that anyway just because carrying the damn thing is not easy for me and if I'm not carrying it I could walk part of the way to Blackheath. Stupid bloody hill. Stupid horn being too big, stupid horn case not fitting in backpacks sensibly, stupid joints that don't work right and need to be treated gently.

I asked at Paxman about the Marcus Bonna MB5 cases, which are far more sensible, and they have ordered some and should have them in by the end of the month. One of these would be far superior to my current case in terms of load balancing and in terms of being able to fit inside other luggage (suitcases etc) on occasions when I have to carry a lot. I guess that's the sensible birthday gift taken care of.

My SpaceTribe bag has been pissing me off. The velcro on the phone pocket is not working any more and it is getting caught in all my sweaters, which is suboptimal. Velcro is evil. Also the fabric of the bag has ripped in one place and a seam is coming undone. I didn't get bad use out of it considering I paid £25 and bought it 6 months ago but I think it is time for something else. BUGGER. (Yes, I COULD mend it, but do you know how many projects are already in the 'to mend' pile? And how many more are sitting around and not even in the pile yet? and where my needle and thread have got to? and the bits of velcro I bought six months ago for the same problem on something else? No? Okay then.)

So, yes. Very busy this week. So what did I do with my free time this morning? Um. Pottered around on the interwebs, sent a few e-mails. Meh. But after yesterday (teaching all day, exhausting) I really needed to re-group.

I guess I need to find some faster regrouping strategies.

What do you do to recover after a busy day, and how does that help you feel more ready to deal with the next day?

Comments

[403.livejournal.com]

I recommend soaking in a hot bath with a good book. It lets me go to bed with less aching (if I happen to have any) and with the preceeding busy day removed from the forefront of my mind. (I do have to set a timer for an hour or two, though, or I may end up reading all night, which defeats the purpose.)

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

Would white chocolate be acceptable?

The best way to recover for me is by reducing brain activity to a minimum. Books aren't good for that, but I find that TV does a damn good job. Failing that downloaded anime helps. Bubblegum Crisis and Azumanga Daioh are favourites.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I don't have a TV, and I suspect if I did I'd do the same as I do online - stay up far, far too late messing about.

White chocolate is okay if it is high-quality. The Green and Black's white chocolate is surprisingly good; Bendick's White Chocolate Mints are also yum.

[sci.livejournal.com]

Green & Blacks is okay as a default Good Chocolate?

Otherwise, might be able to give you hawthorn jerky in a week or two?

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Hawthorn is quite bitter by itself, are you adding sugar in some form?

[sci.livejournal.com]

Well, acording to Ray Meirs, the sweetness comes out once it's been pulped, set, sliced and dried into the psuedo-jerky. But I've not tried it before, it's the only recipe I've been told so far.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Green and Black's is pretty much the lowest acceptable standard of Good Chocolate. I'm mostly joking about people buying me chocolate though, so don't worry about it :)

[sci.livejournal.com]

Well it's been ages since I last saw you, so I aught to get ya something. :3

unwinding

[(Anonymous)]

Well, in my single, don't own a TV, days way back in the early 70's, I used to listen to CBC FM radio and knit, sew, or just read and listen to pretty music. But if you've been playing music all day you might just prefer the sounds of blissful silence. A nice relaxing cup of tea usually went along with my quiet evening activities. Nowadays, after a hectic day at work, taking the dog for a nice walk in the woods or even around the neighbourhood really makes me slow down. Mumsy....going out now to check out the new Value Village in Pembroke

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Switching off my brane at the end of the day was, in years gone by, achieved by reading trashy paperbacks.

I still don't have a good kickstarting strategy for mornngs.

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

It's London what week? I've been looking for an excuse to visit $shop_on_Upper_Street_I_can't_remember_the_name_of. I can get you some whilst I'm at it :)

To decompress I sink into the interwebs for a while. This works provided I don't get stuck somewhere and don't come out for ages. The solution for a while has been only reading a subset of LJ and only responding to important emails when I have something to do, leaving the rest for later. This doesn't always work if I find myself writing something really long or get stuck after following a link which leads to another and a google search and...

I also go for a walk somewhere. Green places are good during the day, Urban places at night. This doens't work in the morning though, the morning has too many obsticles to leaving the house.

Regrouping strategies

[balarza.livejournal.com]

Tea is a given. Yoga (or stretching) is a great way of getting rid of tension and calming down. But doing it too close to bed time is not a good idea - too invigorating!