Can't think who this little one with the black pigtails reminds me of....

So, in the last post I was working at a local College as an IT Tutor, chugging along nicely like I had for the best part of a decade. Sometimes though, you start to get too settled and the Universe has to send you a wake up call.

Mine came in February when I was made redundant.

Yeah. After years of being told how valuable an asset to the College and how there would always be a place for me, suddenly it’s ‘BTW, your post is being made redundant in 6 weeks and there’s nothing else for you at the moment’. Hmmm. Fortunately, when you’ve been in a place for a long time with an impeccable service record and are well thought of by everyone you work with, you get treated rather well. I got some payout over and above what I was entitled to and since I got started straight away when I found out the situation, I walked out of one job into another. Plus, my payout cleared my debts and now I own stuff like my car and whatnot and I owe nobody anything.

However, what you find out when you re-enter the real world after almost a decade of stasis during which you’ve done nothing but train, is that you’re more valuable than the last place treated you. I got a job teaching basic skills and performing arts for a local charity, doing half the hours for the same money as before. Not bad at all. But what was I going to do with the rest of my week?

Well, if I was going to be teaching people how to take their creative skills and set themselves up in business, I figured I perhaps ought to do the same thing. I always dreamed of being either an art teacher or a children’s illustrator. Since I already had one in the bag, why not go freelance and work on some illustration?

I’ve been doing this now since the middle of March and while it’s been hard work, with very little time for recreational pursuits, it’s been worth it. I get to spend 4 days a week painting, drawing and selling my work, talking to people about possible illustration contracts and being my own boss. The other 3 I spend inspiring others to do the same. It’s amazing.

So following on from Uxian’s post last week of his desk at work, I was bored this morning (last day of term and no students in), so I took a pic of mine.

From the top, left to right:-

Kitty pictures including some more LoLCats off to the right that you can’t see

Jack Sparrow, Doctor Who and the beginning of a couple of quick reference lists

My ‘paperwork’. Yes, really. One Magazine rack full of paperwork and in fact not even that because there’s a box file in there that’s empty and two text books. The only actual paperwork in there are a couple of laminated cheat sheets and my holiday form. I do everything online these days including my registers and marking.

‘Wandering Jew’ plant, pens, monitor, diary-come-notebook, speakers & headphone/mic set, Jade (Money) plant. Off to the right a bit more os my actual computer which is sitting on top of the fridge.

Front row all fairly obvious. My phone is a Sony Ericsson W380i at the moment. Waiting for some more Android phones to come out in the UK.

On the bottom far left is my new baby… the Samsung NC 10 netbook. Currently getting a full day (9 hrs) of charge from it and it’s a dream to use.

So, that’s where a gnomish teacher of IT and English works. I was going to get a pic of my computer room which is really nice, but there’s been classes in there all week. We broke up for the Xmas holidays today so won’t be going back there til 5th January now. Whoohoo!

Bored at work? Got surplus stationery in the cupboard?

Here’s a few ideas…

The Great Post-IT Experiment

A Calvin & Hobbs mural from Post-Its

Save £££’s on Magnolia Office Paint

Enter the Post It notes video contest to come up with more silly things to do with Post Its here.

And when you run out of Post It notes?

You can always make your paperclips float.

I tried to upgrade my graphics card this week.

A couple of years ago, after the ex left, I replaced my case because the psu was screaming at me. When I opened it up I found out that sometime in the weeks between when I fitted a new soundcard and him leaving, he’d basically swapped the insides of my computer for his mate’s computer, leaving me with something that wasn’t bad, but wasn’t what I bought and paid for and was already out of date.

When I bought my new graphics card I forgot this. Turns out the one I want is PCI and the one I have is AGP, so I need to upgrade the whole insides really to get what I want. When I looked at the current price of RAM for my system (SDRAM is reeeeeeally expensive these days people) I decided I might as well do the lot when I can afford it. Which is a shame, because I was hoping I could do it in bits. Thanks to the help of The Great and All Powerfull Wizard of Oz Mista Uxian I have swapped the new graphics card for a 250gb HDD and sata/pci converter. Over the weekend I shall be backing up what little remains to be backed up onto my external storage drive and installing said new hard drive. Apparently this means I can get rid of the one that’s groaning at me but still use it when I upgrade the rest. Result.

I did manage to get my new tft though. A 19″ widescreen HD LCD with DVI-D for when I upgrade and it’s awesome. Of course, there is a certain irony in playing EQ2 in High Performance mode on it, but it’s not for long and tbh, it looks way better than it ever did on a CRT already. I just wish I could get the birhgtness/contrast right so that it doesn’t burn the back of my retinas but I can still see in game at ‘night’. I have it set to 20/30 which is OK for reading a white screen without eye strain, but I then can’t see in Norrath. Hoping messing around with the gamma will fix that.

What is it about tradesmen that they really believe giving you a ‘ball park figure’ of times they might deign to arrive to take a look at the problem is OK?
How is ’sometime after 5 this evening’ an acceptable time frame? I’m hungry dammit and I’ve been home over 2 hours and I haven’t been able to eat because I need to cook and I just know the minute I sit down there will be a knock at the door.
Harrumph.

Yes, it seems it’s not just in Norrath I have the decorating bug.

I’ve decided my bathroom needs an update and I’m oging ot do what I’ve wanted to do for a logn time.

It involves walls this colour

And this flooring, which is vinyl and looks like wood planks

It also involes this mirror

and this shower curtain & bathmat set. I also have plans for a white painted wicker basket I already own and a can of black spray paint.

Yes, I am finally going to have the purple pirate themed bathroom I’ve hankered over for years. I don’t care if it’s kitsch and not ‘grown up’. I want it.

BATMAN!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

I went to see Dark Knight… finally.

It was awesomely spectacularly really really cool. All darka nd creepy and sinister, just how Batman should be.

C’mon Kitty… there’s plenty o rooms!

Only putting the rubbish out, sorting the cats out and ‘the packing’ left to do.

Oh, and filling the MP3 player with music for the journey tomorrow. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fill up 4GB with music? I’m up nearly 500 songs so far and not even half filled it. :S