Vella Squares Up to Green Life Goblin

[Vella]

...so that's probably, like, the least good way I could have expressed that title.  OH WELL.

 

So, I'm a week late, but things are getting heated in Vella-land.  They're still employed through October because people like them, but at the business end of a thesis, this means things could get a mite hairy.  So, three goals, no particular order.

 

Graduate.

 

Spidey's a bit of a nerd.  And Vella is, too.  So, Vella's going to follow Spidey's example and smack their grades out of the ballpark.  Only one chapter of thesis left, two essays, and one presentation.  

 

BTW, this challenge finishes the day after my thesis is due.  So that's kind of perfect timing.

 

Updates at least twice a week about thesis and university, to keep me honest.

 

 

Eat Food.

 

Vella has discovered that eating and working is hard, and only going to get harder as crunch time gets closer.  So they're going to make it easy on themselves.  This challenge, they're allowed to break Paleo as and when they like, if it means they're getting enough to eat.  Basically, if ducking down to the coffee shop and purchasing a sandwich or wrap with their coffee means they eat lunch that day, that's fine.  If ordering Thai or Chinese or even pizza means that they're eating dinner, it's also totally fine.  They will, of course, try to make the healthier choice, but this challenge is not a challenge for stressing about perfect quality.

 

However, Vella will still make an effort to pre-cook and eat good, healthy food insofar as that is possible - they're still working towards encouraging those shy abs, after all.

 

 

Get Paid.

 

Vella likes their job because they like them and they give them money to spend on anime (cough cough all of Brotherhood in one go cough).  So they will try to keep their employers happy for as long as possible.  They will turn up to work on time, and not put off difficult phone calls.  Their minion is no longer available, so they will do all the filing as well as all their pre-calling and all their preparations and tax lodging.  They will make at least 100 phone calls a day pre-calling, every day.

 

However, should a day off be required for reasons of thesis or assessment, Vella will take the day off.  Vella likes money, but they like the idea of Dr Vella more.

 

 

 

Bonus Round!

 

Vella will post Spider-Stories whenever they are able.

Vella is also in the middle of corrupting the innocent introducing their housemates to Fullmetal Alchemist (and it's a glorious sight to behold).  Since Vella has cancelled their gaming evenings, anime evenings, and parkour until thesis is complete, they will make an effort to watch anime with their housemates whenever possible, to keep them sane and stable.

 

 

Well, little late, but Challenge Is Go!

[JessFit]

Vella! Yay!

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[JenniferStark]

Good simple goals. I like that you are not being too strict with your food choices.  I have done the 'work like a crazy person while doing loads of school' thing and it can be super challenging. (granted I was not doing phd work)  The awesome part is once you get through it nothing will ever seem as difficult.  "What, you want me to climb Everest?  Well it will at least be easier that the time I was finishing my Phd and working a zillion hours a week." 

 

Best of luck! We are all cheering for you!

[Vella]

Today's story is brought you you by coffee.

 

I have had many adventures with coffee over the past few days.

 

See, this week, I decided to introduce my friend to the glory that is Fullmetal Alchemist, as mentioned above.  However, this may not have been the best idea just at the end of a long day.

My brain on Fullmetal Alchemist is basically the equivalent of letting a three-year-old loose on the confectionary aisle with a fifty-dollar note.

I could swear parts of my brain were vibrating with pure happy.  However, this culminated in a grand total of four hours; sleep.

 

The next night, I stayed up a bit too long to work on my thesis.

Five hours' sleep.

 

Understandably, Thursday and Friday didn't go so well for me; I run on a couple-hour sleep deficit already.

On Wednesday, the office ran out of coffee.

 

On Thursday, I needed to nip out and do some banking and run some errands (grabbing a DVD cleaner for the purpose of the Fullmetal Alchemist introduction, first and foremost).

I decided to get a cup of coffee, and did so at a relatively fancy place with place names on their coffee selection and everything.  I approve mightily of this coffee place.  They may well have saved my bacon that day.
I figured if I drank the coffee before I got back to the office, I could say there was a line at the bank, instead of telling them I'd goofed off to get coffee.  Not that they would have minded.

 

Well, as it turns out, it would have saved my bacon, if my aunt hadn't then sent me out on a coffee run for the office, because everybody was feeling the coffee deficit.

I'd only had a medium coffee.  I figured it would be OK.

 

Here's where I need to make something clear.  At work, we have Aldi pod coffee. Not the best stuff, but it does the job.

Also, this week, I've been low on food, so I've not been taking any to work.

So, I thought a second coffee would do me good - the milk has protein and stuff, and the caffeine will give me energy to keep working, or at least improve my personality enough to get through all the phone calls I have to make.

 

This was a terrible, terrible mistake.  See, Aldi pod coffee is many things, but strong is not one of them.  I can easily drink several of those fairly quickly and have no trouble.

Café coffee, on the other hand, not so much.

Two medium coffees later, my head started pounding.

Repeat after me, Vella: Coffee is not a meal replacement.

Coffee. Is not.  A meal.  Replacement.

 

The day is now Friday, and I valiantly and bravely dragged myself out of bed to get to work roughly on time.

Or, just did what thousands of other people do on a daily basis.  That, too.

I still have no food.

 

Repeat after me, Vella.

Coffee.  Is not.  A meal replacement.

 

Our office received a visit from "the coffee fairy" in the morning, so we had coffee.

 

Unfortunately, we had no milk.

 

So back to the drawing board on that one.  But I swear to you, come Monday... dammit, there had better be coffee *and* milk.

 

I had intended to just work through the day, but then I realised that I was really freaking hungry.  Something something one meal a day for the past week something.

So, around 3pm, I excused myself to do some banking, and grabbed a salad.

And a coffee.

Because coffee.

Oh god what is happening to my life.

 

 

 

Also, super excited about going shopping this morning.  I bought a new Hawaiian shirt and some bathers ^.^

[Vella]

Vella! Yay!

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Yay!  Looking forward to this challenge!

 

Good simple goals. I like that you are not being too strict with your food choices.  I have done the 'work like a crazy person while doing loads of school' thing and it can be super challenging. (granted I was not doing phd work)  The awesome part is once you get through it nothing will ever seem as difficult.  "What, you want me to climb Everest?  Well it will at least be easier that the time I was finishing my Phd and working a zillion hours a week." 

 

Best of luck! We are all cheering for you!

 

Heheh - it's not quite PhD.  It's still technically undergrad, just an undergrad year with a thesis.  I do need to get pretty top marks to get into PhD, though...

 

I'm hoping the rest of my life goes exactly that.

Also that my supervisor puts "was working full time and also got these super-top marks" on my PhD letter of recommendation.

[Batwoman]

Hope you got your coffee today.

 

I think what you are experiencing is your emergence into adulthood.

 

 

 

.... my condolences.

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Placeholder until I can correctly covey my thoughts.  For now: Kick some ass, Vella!

[AlexCold]

So you don't have a car yet, I presume due to lack of food?

Also, good luck coffee is awesome but not food.

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[Vella]

Hope you got your coffee today.

 

I think what you are experiencing is your emergence into adulthood.

 

 

 

.... my condolences.

 

Hehehe - or perhaps that's what happens when I cough and choke my way to the other side of October.  I think this feels more akin to the caterpillar having its flesh liquidised and mutilated than spreading glorious wings.

 

And we were still out of milk this morning ... thank goodness my boss brought milk around 10:30 am because I was out of tea as well and there would have been horrible, horrible tragedy.

 

Placeholder until I can correctly covey my thoughts.  For now: Kick some ass, Vella!

 

*salutes*  Will do, good sir!

 

So you don't have a car yet, I presume due to lack of food?

Also, good luck coffee is awesome but not food.

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I have actually had the car for about a week now ... I just also haven't had much of what one might call money, mostly due to the purchase of said car.

 

However, my next paycheck went through and I spent $60 just on vegetables and it was glorious.  I get Wednesdays off work till the end of term, so they'll be days for ALL the batch cooking!

[Harika]

Batch cooking!

 

Careful with the coffee or you may need to plan a week to go through caffeine withdrawal. 

[TourdeForce]

ooh found you...hello!

Good luck with all the studying and working at the same time, that's a lot to deal with so glad you giving yourself room to manoeuvre (side-bar: seriously tho what a weird word - hmmmm) anyhoo, hope you have a rocking weekend with some thesis but also anime and fun stuff!

[Vella]

 

Batch cooking!

 

Careful with the coffee or you may need to plan a week to go through caffeine withdrawal. 

 

Yay, Food!

 

And yeah, I'm replenishing my tea supplies next week and seeing if I can't replace most of my coffees with tea.

 

ooh found you...hello!

Good luck with all the studying and working at the same time, that's a lot to deal with so glad you giving yourself room to manoeuvre (side-bar: seriously tho what a weird word - hmmmm) anyhoo, hope you have a rocking weekend with some thesis but also anime and fun stuff!

 

Yay, great to have you!

 

Thanks  And now a segue into a story about how my weekend was more fun than I ever want to have again.

 

So, in order to get to the house on the coast where we were spending the weekend, we had to drive the Clyde.

I love the Clyde.  My dad taught me the Great Ocean Road and the Snowy Mountain Highway when I was learning how to drive, and they’re the most fun I ever have in a car.  Corners are great, and I am so glad I was taught how to properly control a car around corners so I can have that fun.

 

I was so happy to be driving the Clyde.  I was so excited.

 

But there are a few things it’s necessary to mention about this particular trip.

 

First, a reminder about my eating and sleeping habits recently.  I made sure I ate good meals that day and got a full night’s sleep the night before, but nevertheless.

Second, Dieter, though he’s not a big car, had plenty of boot space – way more than my friend’s car.  So I ended up with most of the gear in the back of my car, including eight crock pots – most of them fairly small, but still, a total of eleven solid ceramic pots and eight heating-boxes to put them on is a fair amount of weight, plus the three of us and our gear.

Third, I got away from work late, and so did one of the others going with us, so when we left, it was getting dark.

And fourth, despite the beautiful sun during the day, halfway to the Clyde it started raining.

 

So, first, we got lost in Braidwood – the town just before the Clyde.  See, I was following the car in front of me, but because I had so much weight in the back of the car, I couldn’t make it up hills as fast, and I also slow down for roadworks speed limits, even when there’s nobody around working and  the actual road is, in fact, finished – a very un-Canberran thing to do.

We lost sight of them long before Braidwood.  But I didn’t know there was a turn-off we needed to take in Braidwood, and it took us a little driving around the residential streets to get back on the right track.

 

We contacted the other car, and agreed to meet up in Bateman’s bay, once we were all back on the right track.  No biggie, should have been fine.

 

Being lost, though, meant that when we were back on the road, the rain had gotten a little heavier, and Dieter’s windscreen wipers were leaving little streaks on the windscreen.  I was starting to get nervous about driving the Clyde.  I vowed to take the road slowly.

 

But like I said, the car was heavy, and I knew if I wasn’t careful, the brake fluid would boil before I got to the bottom of the Clyde and I’d be in even more trouble.  So I tried to strike the balance, taking the corners at a safe speed without braking too much beforehand.

 

It was about the second corner of the real Clyde, where things started to get windy and twisty.  I would guess it was about a 35k corner.  I could only just see the lights on the road, so I started braking probably a little late.  There was a cliff on my right, obscuring the rest of the road, so I tried to brake a little harder, to make sure I could get around the corner even if it got sharper.

And then someone came round the corner at me.  To tell the truth, I couldn’t for the life of me tell you if they had high beams on or just their normal lights, shining directly at my eyes because of the angle of the hill.  All I can tell you is, all of a sudden, my vision went completely white, and the car started to slide.

 

I don’t remember how I did it, I just remember that my first reaction was to straighten the car.  I think I remember thinking “I can’t start to spinâ€, but that may well have been after.  Then, I remember thinking that I can’t turn at this speed, with the car this heavy, with the road this slick, without spinning us out again.  I don’t know whether that was true or not, but that’s what I remember thinking.

Then I saw that we were aimed at the guard rail, so I braked as hard as I dared, trying not to lock up the wheels, and aimed the crumple zone of the car at the guard rail.  That was all I could think to do – if I tried to turn, we might end up hitting the rail with the side of the car, and I’d kill one of us for sure.

 

It’s funny how most of the things people said afterwards might have happened didn’t occur to me – If I’d hit it side or back on, we might have bounced off onto the road, my Dad said.  But all I thought was that if I hit the car side or back on, I’d kill everyone inside it.

Even scarier, I never even thought we could punch through the guard rail and start falling down the slope – 45 degrees with trees all the way down.  My brain was fixed on the idea that if I hit the guard rail too fast, something would get shoved through the dashboard, or into the cab of the car, and kill either me or my front passenger.

 

At the time, though, I had time to think three distinct thoughts before we hit the guard rail.

1)     We’re still going too fast.

2)     What if I’m about to die?

3)     I wonder if it’ll be like that scene from Fight Club.

Nerd to the end, I expect.

 

Something I did must have been the right thing, because the car was totalled, but nobody in it was hurt.  Some bruises from the seatbelts, some very mild whiplash (I was worst off, and all the doctors said was to take some painkillers if it hurt too much).  I had the mother of all freakouts as soon as I realised everyone was alright, though.

The damage to the items inside the car were one dented, but still operational slow cooker, and one slow cooker that might work if they can get the bottom back on and replace the knob on the front.

 

So now I’m most likely getting a fine from the police, and I need to go buy a new car, again.  Looking back, I can see that it was a stupid idea to drive the Clyde, and my friends and I have made a pact that next time, if it’s wet and dark, we’re calling it off until the next morning.  The frustrating part is, if we’d removed any one of those elements – if I hadn’t had such a heavy car, if it had been daytime, if it hadn’t been raining – there wouldn’t have been an accident.  I just kind of feel really stupid.

 

But upshot is, I’m now in Melbourne, staying at my parents’ house for a week.  I’m taking the week off work so I don’t have to take two buses across the city an hour each way, lose even more sleep and thesis working time, and where I don’t have to motivate my housemates to make the kitchen not a biohazard.  I’m hoping for some quiet days to study, and to catch up with some friends.

 

And hey, I got a good story out of it.

[Harika]

Omg

Scary

Try to not be surprised if every automobile to touch stops working, as if they are all on strike around you. A quiet week is probably good.

The roads here are not great either but not that bad; less than two lanes wide for two way traffic and no shoulder. The lack of lines lends to most people just driving in the middle, which has the bonus of allowing one to avoid plants and where chunks of the side of the road are missing. Oh, and hills, blind turns, turna on hills with no warning, and often a wall or drop-off on either side of the road that is too small. The trees are there to catch you though. Guardrails are good, metal or living wood. People need to stop making roads that even a horse and wagon could not maneuver.

[TourdeForce]

that is a terrifying story!! I'm so glad everyone is alright, and that you're taking a week off to recover. I'm sorry about the car though, that is really really crappy. 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Glad to hear you're alright, Vella.  

[JessFit]

Oh Vella, your stories always add so much to any day. Glad the job and car and veggies and Vella are all well!

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[AlexCold]

So, I'm glad you're ok, but if I ever get in a car with you I'm driving.

[Vella]

Omg

Scary

Try to not be surprised if every automobile to touch stops working, as if they are all on strike around you. A quiet week is probably good.

The roads here are not great either but not that bad; less than two lanes wide for two way traffic and no shoulder. The lack of lines lends to most people just driving in the middle, which has the bonus of allowing one to avoid plants and where chunks of the side of the road are missing. Oh, and hills, blind turns, turna on hills with no warning, and often a wall or drop-off on either side of the road that is too small. The trees are there to catch you though. Guardrails are good, metal or living wood. People need to stop making roads that even a horse and wagon could not maneuver.

 

I'm starting to think they will!  I'm actually super scared about getting another car, just in case stuff goes horrifically wrong with it, too!

 

that is a terrifying story!! I'm so glad everyone is alright, and that you're taking a week off to recover. I'm sorry about the car though, that is really really crappy. 

 

It was a fairly intense experience, not going to lie.  I feel like my week off was an excellent idea.

 

Glad to hear you're alright, Vella.  

 

Thank you!  I'm rather glad I'm alright also.

 

Oh Vella, your stories always add so much to any day. Glad the job and car and veggies and Vella are all well!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

*bows*  Humour helps every situation.

 

So, I'm glad you're ok, but if I ever get in a car with you I'm driving.

 

At first I wanted to be like "No, I'm actually usually a really good driver, I'm just a victim of circumstance!"

And then I was like "You know what, I actually have no issues with this, and it's probably for the best."

[Vella]

Hello.  Just checking back in with you fine folks with what's been happening these couple of weeks.

 

So, I took my week off in Melbourne, in which time, I caught up with some friends, discovered the joys of my parents' apartment (seriously, it's pretty glorious), and got some coursework done.

 

No, seriously, guys, my parents recently sold their house, and until Mum finishes her contract early next year, they're renting an apartment in the city, on the 36th floor, overlooking the entire city towards Docklands.  My Dad can play traffic helicopter for his friends trying to get out of the city during rush hour.  They watch the sun set behind the Western suburbs of Melbourne.

Also they live quite literally across the road from the Victoria Markets, which sell some of the most amazing food.  I ate breakfast with a friend at a Spanish cafe selling claypot eggs in a tomato-based sauce full of herbs.  I purchased true Melbourne coffee from the cafe next door.  I came home with 250g of handmade grass-fed butter and a bag of organic groceries.

 

I think I want that apartment.  Just sayin'.

 

And then this week I had to go back to work and mumble mumble grumble something something hard done by but paid well.

Well, when the public holiday on pay-day stops throwing off the systems and they get around to actually paying me.

Grumble.

 

And then I made the mistake of thinking about how many days I have left to hand my thesis in.

16.  That number is 16.

15 in 53 minutes.

 

 

 

 

So ... I guess this is it.  Point of no return.  I have a full first draft, and all my revision notes.  I have enough food to last the week and enough money to buy takeaway for basically the entire last week if I have to.  I have supplies of tea and coffee, and can obtain supplies of chocolate also, and healthy can be a thing again after 15 days.  I have no coursework left to do (I hand in one essay three days after my thesis due date, but I already wrote it because essay after thesis?  NOPE.).  Work is winding down and my hours are reducing.

I have 15 days to make this the best damn thesis it can be.

 

I ...

Well.

I can write stuff good.

I can words at things.

I think I have a good idea.

 

Actually, it was really encouraging - I presented my thesis to the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (my writer's group), and they all got really excited about it, even the genre theory parts. So I guess that's a win for this little black duck.  Also helped me to straighten out some of my own ideas and get me thinking about how I could change my argument to get my point across better.

 

I'm just gonna sit in a corner and rock back and forth for a while.

[Harika]

It is scary, but you have quite possibly spent more time researching the topic than the people going to judge it. You are quite possibly more knowledgeable about them on this one, narrow, idea. That is cool. That should be intimidating for them. 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

The point isn't to make you feel like you're not good enough, the point is to see what you learned and when you defend it, they want to make sure you don't cave in on what you know.  You got this, Vella.  

[Vella]

Aww, thank you folks!

 

I'm pretty lucky - I'm only doing Honours, so they don't make me defend (thank goodness!).  I'm just supposed to express myself well on paper and engage with the current literature in my subject.  Which I got, provided I can polish up my thesis enough in two weeks.

 

I think I'm making a daily countdown.  Day number and one-liner.

T-plus 14 days, folks.

Today, I lost the ability to construct an argument out of anything other than pure sass.

[Harika]

Today, I lost the ability to construct an argument out of anything other than pure sass.

I fail to see how that is a bad thing. "Gained" the ability. +1 

[JessFit]

This is so exciting even if it is scary!

[Vella]

I fail to see how that is a bad thing. "Gained" the ability. +1 

 

I can't deny this at all, really.

 

This is so exciting even if it is scary!

 

Yes.  Yes, exciting.  I'm sure exciting would be a thing if I could feel it through all the scary.

 

Having roast veggies and tin tuna for dinner tonight, because that's how I roll.  I'm holding off on just ordering in food until this weekend.

I need to have my revisions done by Friday, so I can send them off to my lovely beta readers by Friday evening, so I can get suggestions back by Monday, so I can get revisions round 2 done by Wednesday so I can get my thesis bound by Monday so I can submit it.

Halp.

 

Also, in my spare time (har har), I applied for a job at the uni, which carries a salary I formerly associated with drug dealers and leprechauns, and that I totally have the experience for.

And my current job offered me some casual proofreading work for early next year which will also double as a tax consultant qualification, so I can pick up some extra work with them next tax season.

I may not get either of these things, but damned if I'm not gunning for both of them.

 

T-plus 13 days.

Today, I did not burst out laughing maniacally and/or crying hysterically at any one of the clients and consultants who walked into the office today and casually stated that the year had gone by so quickly.