… for which I was tagged by that evil creature Cavantucky. She actually tagged me in my Sharp Words guise, but I prefer to keep that blog unsullied by things that aren’t strictly related to reading and writing.

+ Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
+ Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
+ Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
+ Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
… Except I’m not tagging anyone because most people I’d feel confident about dumping this on have already been tagged. Unless I take it to LiveJournal, of course.

Most replies to this I’ve read have actually explained the facts. I’m not going to. You can comment and ask if you really want to know more.

1.  My first cat had a sex change.

2. I was once a hooker. It’s a horrible job.

3. It’s unlikely that I’d be where I am today if my eye hadn’t been caught by a library book with a red and yellow cover, when I was about 10.

4. When I was 17, my favourite trousers got ripped to pieces in the fountains on Trafalgar Square.

5. I know several programming languages but use none of them in my work for a software company.

6. I spent New Year’s Eve 1999 in the company of about 60,000 other people.

7. Using binoculars from my study window, I keep a lookout for great tits.

… despite it being St Patrick’s Day, because I don’t actually own any green clothing or even jewellery. Not even socks. So there you go. I’m not going out either this year; can’t really afford it and not really in the mood. 

It’s been an odd couple of weeks. Obviously, with my work deadline out of the way, I got to sit back and relax a bit in the first week of March. We had a Friday afternoon of post-release celebration, i.e. pizza and poker and beer and computer games and general dossing. Except that I had to forego the pizza because I’d given it up for Lent, and I ended up taking my chicken strips and potato wedges to my desk because I couldn’t bear to watch everyone else eating pizza. I’m also really crap at Guitar Hero and not too hot on using a Wii either (well, it was my first time for both). And then Wales beat Ireland in the Six Nations rugby, which meant that the Grand Slam was a possibility.

And then last Thursday, we had a shock at work with redundancies announced. And those who were made redundant were told that night by phone - including the other tech writer. I wasn’t in the office on Thursday and was glad of it, but I was there on Friday and it felt like a wake. Very unhappy indeed, particularly after the fun of the previous week. I was relieved to be staying, but felt guilty because of the relief… and depressed and shocked too. We all did.

On the plus side, Wales then beat France very convincingly on Saturday to clinch the tournament and their second Grand Slam in four years. Which put me in a better mood.  I’d met Lorraine and others out on Friday evening, too, since she finished her job that day (having snaffled the only tech writing job to be advertised in the North West in years). Good food at Café Calm (lovely tapas) and good company did help too.

Also today, I am mostly … making a list

… of everything I want to get done this week while I’m off work. I’d booked this holiday quite a while ago, and after last week, I’m damn glad I did. It’s time for a serious spring-clean, anyway.

.. for what to do - which is something I didn’t expect at all. After working flat-out for the past month, yesterday included (though with time off to see Colin’s mum and to have dinner and play Donkey Konga at Marion’s), I finally had an easy 8-4:30 day, working from home with a decent lunch break to run errands and eat pasta…

But now it’s nearly 6 and I’m still sat in front of the computer - partly out of habit, partly to get caught up on the news and some blogs I read - and I really don’t know what to do with myself for the rest of the evening. Apart from watch Life in Cold Blood, anyway. I don’t want/need a bath; I could do some housework but I’ve booked Wednesday and Thursday off work with every intention of spring cleaning then; I might just curl up in a chair and read.

This is pathetic.

Also today, I am mostly … being surprised by the snow

… because I had no idea any was forecast, and had decided to work from home based purely on my exhaustion levels (high). What we had in the morning melted by lunchtime, but it’s been snowing again this evening… Hrrrmmm.

… for St David’s Day. It’s only a little fabric one though. Ah, I remember wearing real ones, with the bottoms wrapped in silver foil, to school when I was a kid. At least I wasn’t one of those children whose mums sent them to school wearing a whole leek, at least!

Also today, I am mostly … working on a Saturday again

… although this will be my last one for a long long time, I hope, since the release goes out on Monday.  It’s 7:30pm and I’m still here (well, I didn’t get in till after 11), but this isn’t as bad a day as Thursday, when I got into the office at 7:30am and left at 11:30pm. Ugh. That was not a good day. 

I can’t wait till mid-March and the time off I have booked… I might actually book a day next week too, because I need to get my car to a mechanic.