Life update in Rambling sane thoughts of the terminally me

Well, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update as to the status of my life so I thought I’d take the opportunity whilst I have a two minute “Breather”. How’re things going, you ask?

Firstly, I’m exhausted. Physically exhausted. We’re coming to the close of the year and of my 35 days annual holiday I have 17 left to take. Think about that. I have only take half of my allotted holiday time for the year. We’ve just been so busy this year, I really haven’t stopped. There hasn’t been a week where important stuff didn’t need doing and one of the few downsides of making yourself indispensable is that you find yourself indispensable. I was hoping to take the rest in one large lump at the end of the year and have close to a month of time off to really relax and get myself together. Good plan, right? Guess what, new training group. Work are carrying my holidays over but it has reduced my Christmas holiday to Christmas Day and Boxing day. I’m training apart from that.

Now, I love my job. I love training, I love meeting people, I love talking and I love the sense of satisfaction I get from getting people ready to start a new job. No matter how much you love what you do, though, you can’t do it all the time. You burn out. That’s how I feel about work at the moment. I’m burnt out.

Fortunately, I have managed to snag a week between this group finishing and the next one starting so at least I’ll have a little down time to get myself in the right place. Although, this being the Christmas season, it’ll probably be spent sorting that out.

So much for work then.

Personal life. LARPing. I’ve officially resigned as a referee from “Fools and Heroes” which is my staple LARP system. Once again, burn out is the major cause. I used to love that game but it has felt more and more like a chore for several months now and it reached the critical point that I actively was avoiding doing it. That’s not right for a hobby. So I’ve got two adventures left to close off my current plot and then I’m done. Going to take a break from the system entirely and trying and get inspired. Also going to use the time to do other stuff. I keep saying I’ll get back into acting and I think this’d be an ideal time. Get my creative on again because it’s been something that has been slowly atrophying for too long now.

Weirdly my keen for 5Krem (my other staple LARP) has not diminished at all. It’s actually increasing. I suspect this is because it runs more sporadically throughout the year so the burn out doesn’t happen. We just had our first weekend event at Barrowburn farm, just shy of the Scottish border. It was fantastic, especially because it’s run by one person and he only had one crew member with him. The amount of effort Andy puts into his system is incredible and quite inspiring.

Now, the important one. What’s happening with this lass you’re seeing, I hear you cry in anticipation.

It’s going amazingly, impossibly well. I have no idea what karmic store I have built up that is allowing it to go so well since I don’t remember saving an orphanage recently. I have met someone funny; interesting; mad; gorgeous; caring; silly and despite all these things she is actively interested in spending time with me. We go on dates. We spend time together. We talk most every day and I feel comfortable doing so. I was concerned at first that my inane thoughts would start to wear on her but so far that doesn’t seem to have happened. We agree about important things so we don’t argue and we disagree about unimportant things so there’s always something to discuss. Kathleen is amazing with arts and crafts and terrible with technology so I have much to admire in her and something I get to feel superior about.

We went out to the Saltwell Park Enchanted Lights event last night and we held hands. This probably does not seem like a big thing to most people but I kind of rate holding hands as more intimate than kissing. Kissing is an act of passion but you only hold hands with people you want to keep close. That’s not to say the kissing didn’t happen to but I was worried I’d feel uncomfortable holding her hand. I didn’t. It felt like something I haven’t felt for too long. It felt natural and real.

Now, I’m not jumping the gun here. It’s still very early days yet but to go into a relationship (if that’s what I can call it at this stage, I’m still unsure as to where the cross over between dating and relationship occurs. I suppose when both people say it does) and feel completely satisfied with not only the other person but with the person you are around them is a fairly alien experience for me. I have to say I’m very much liking it.

We’re off to the Alnwick Christmas Market on Sunday. Oh, yes, just to ice the proverbial cake, Kathleen is as addicted to Christmas as I am. Frankly, though, we could just go for a walk somewhere and I’d be completely happy with just talking to her.

Ramblerambleramble.