It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Chez Gique.

We’re having a cozy night “in” with the fire going, as it’s a cold, blustraceous, snowy day. And later when the fire’s out, we now have a cover for the opening to keep the draft out and the heat in that David made. Eventually, we’ll make it look like more than a sheet of plywood with a handle on it, but it’ll do.

Last night we went to the holiday party for David’s company – a really nice time. It was held at Cantigny Golf and Tennis Club, with no creepy DJ as in former years. Just nice holiday music and good food and conversation. I wore my fringed shawl thing that I got in Maui for my 50th birthday, with dark pants and a dark green cashmere sweater. It made for a pretty festive outfit without being too formal or dressy (or uncomfortable).  Got my hair trimmed a while back, so I presented a fairly tidy appearance.

With the cold weather, Rileycat has become very cuddly and lovey-dovey, especially in the mornings. He’s so funny with his little ways. We toss his little mouse toys up and down the stairs, and he sleeps in his little basket, and he watches out the window at his sworn enemies, dry leaves. And always, he curls up at my side when I sit on the couch or lie awake in bed. He curls up with David, too. He’s our cuddly cat.

Work has been and will be horribly busy. I’m covering for someone else who’s out for the month and it’s been a bit of a learning curve. I think I’ve got things organized now so that I can cope with the extra tasks. It’s hard to do all the new stuff and keep up with my normal stuff, though. It’s a battle to carve out the time to do everything and not be at work after hours. Gradually, I’ve gotten on top of it, and developed ways to cope with the volume, and the different sets of tasks. They’re kind of like strands that have to be kept sorted out and untangled, as they come in by email or phone all at once.

In the evenings, I’ve been relaxing by running around on Second Life, chatting with people, rather than passively watching TV, for the most part. I haven’t even been watching Amazing Race… although I do watch things like Torchwood and NCIS, because they were in progress before I started my SL career.

Speaking of SL, which we weren’t, but we are now, I have two jobs, one of which just started tonight. I’ve had some fun experiences this week – attended a couple of virtual concerts, went to some “dance” events, went shopping for a sword with my pirate girrrrl buddies. And tonight I became a sort of welcome hostess at Lauk’s Nest.  I like it because it’s non-commercial, and non-smarmy.

I had been hanging out, briefly, in a commercial and smarmy place, the sort of place where you can “camp” for  virtual dollars, or dance in a disco waiting for a chance for a money pot to “blow.” The owner of the place seemed to spend all his time in this place, building new things to look at and attract people. I decided to leave the group when it became clear that most of the “residents” of the condos the owner had built were there to hook up with each other, and the owner guy was overseeing it all a little too gleefully. Eccch.

I’m renting a room in a little Irish pub for now – still not 100% certain of THAT sim owner’s set up, he seems a little too taken with all my pirate girrrl buddies when they came over for a visit, but it’s a cheap place to “live” and change clothes.

I like exploring, listening to whatever music people happen to be playing, and talking to newer people and helping them out.

Also, the outfits and hairstyles are fabbleous. 😉

I’ve been keeping an eye on the news, and also keeping busy with choir stuff for Holy Moly. It’s Advent I tomorrow, so big music happening. Christmas Eve service will be at 9pm for me, which is nice as that means I can go to something else earlier in the evening and not have to cut out so early. We’re planning on some fairly ambitious stuff this year, but have some fallback in case any of us get sick (as happened to me at Easter, that was the horrible cough season).

Moar laterz. Sleep naow.