it might actually be time for bed

[tielan]

Back is a little achey, but pretty much fixed. That said, I decided not to go to training tonight and went instead for a 30 minute jog around the neighbourhood for my 'couch to 5K' training.

--

Work is frustrating me. I'm stuck on a handful of issues and getting none of them done. ARGH.

--

I didn't manage the 7 Chapters In 7 Days. I managed 3 Chapters In 9 Days.

I wrote this section and it is very much a first draft - basically what happens in this chapter is being trashed and rewritten, although I will probably be keeping this exchange, or something like it.

"If you want to keep going, then we'll be doing some vetting on you and your background, both social and genetic - although IEDA is usually pretty thorough about that - and your work history. There'll be background checks on whether you've ever made a deal with a Fae or a Fae-blood, as well as all the standard concerns of Crossover - prices on your head, geasa on your family line, and so on."

"Geasa?"

"Bindings, promises, curses... Limitations to what you can and can't do without incurring magical wrath"

I laughed outright. "Some people walk around with curses on them? On their family line?"

Dion looked at me sombrely. "We have nearly fifty people who are vegetarian because one of their ancestors hunted the wrong deer. One of the spellweavers in R&D can't go out under the full moon because her great-grandmother flirted with a moonlight Fae then married her human lover. And thirty years ago, a man applied to join Crossover whose ancestor had scarred a...well, I guess he was a Prince of the Fae. The descendant figured it was long ago enough that it no longer mattered."

"I'm guessing it does matter?"

"Considering the Stallion Prince of the Dark River isn't dead yet? And any Fae who wished to curry favour with him would be considered justified in serving up this guy on a platter? Yeah, it matters." Dion sighed as we reached the car. "Fae society isn't nice and never has been. There are reasons for that when you look at their history and their physiology, but it can be pretty harsh where the human world intersects with Faery and one or the other comes off as worse. But I don't expect you'll have anything in your background like that."

We climbed into the car.

"And if I do? Have something in my background, I mean."

"Then we can direct you somewhere that your skills might be appreciated and useful." He shrugged. "IEDA makes like they're the only ones doing good in the world. There are other organisations that deal with the situations that IEDA don't, and they would be more than glad to take you. But it won't happen." 

"Okay. How long do I have to think this over?"

"I can get some contracts out to you by tomorrow morning," Dion said. "You can read them over, decide if you like the remuneration and the health package, and whether you want to deal with everything that comes along with it. But I'm happy to give you two weeks to think it over and work out if this is something you want to do."

Two weeks. Fourteen days.

I looked out the window at the houses of the rich and wealthy of Hong Kong, among which lived a couple of Fae-bloods, and behind which was an entirely hidden community of Low Fae.

"I'll take the two weeks," I told Dion. "But I won't need it. I'm in."

--

I'm catching up on the cookbook_challenge for March and April and May, except now I'm trying to find the recipes I used and I can't remember which book they were in! D'oh!

I picked a ripening tomato in my garden yesterday. For comparison, it would be like someone in the Northern Hemisphere picking a tomato in mid to late November. More California than Calgary, of course, but still. Microclimates are amazing.

Comments

[summerstorm]

You’re doing Couch to 5k? That’s awesome. I tried to do that from the very beginning and I just... hate running so much. The bursts of walking don’t help any. So I went back to sporadic bits of stretching and occasional yoga (it’s hard to have the motivation for yoga without a mat - I have one but it’s way too thin so I end up doing yoga in bed, which is the other extreme of Not Ideal but at least doesn’t hurt my back).

[tielan]

Oh, I feel you on hating running! I can do it, but I get bored. The treadmill at the gym is a nightmare, and I can't distract myself.

Frankly, I'm trying to do Couch to 5K for hockey fitness purposes, and...well, I'm not doing it very well! To start with I did one run, then waited 10 days, then did another two runs a month ago, then ended up putting off running and putting off running and did my back and then decided I really have to get back into the running thing...

My fitness is definitly improving. But I still hate running.

*sigh*

It doesn't help that my area is full of hills, either, some of them rolling, some of them...not.

[summerstorm]

My aversion is 60% actual health issues (tachycardia mostly), 10% boredom and 30% I don’t want people to see me jogging but I can’t somewhere people won’t see me. I’d definitely go for a treadmill over jogging but lol money. (I also can’t find a gym that has decent mats so I can try to learn how to do a handstand or a cartwheel at 31, so it seems pointless to join one, even if the pandemic wasn’t still a thing.)

I am even more impressed to hear you’re running on hills. It may be sporadic but the fact that you’ve done it more than once is amazing to me.

[tielan]

Because it's a couch-to-5K, you only have to run for as long as the timer requires. So right now 1min of hill running is doable before the 90s walk. It may be less so if it's like, 10 minutes of hill running...

Are there (this is going to sound weird) 'kid gymnasium' kind of programs in your area? eg. in Australia, there are spaces where they teach the kids things like handstands and cartwheels and long jump and high jump, and the kids run around and work off their energy and there are big, soft mats covering EVERYTHING. The idea is not to do SRS GYMNASTICA like these anklebiters are going to be Olympic champs (although there are avenues for that, too), but just to get them moving and running and active. But if there are, then they will have PADDING GALORE, and either you could see if they're getting rid of any of their paddings and try this at home, or else see if there's anyone willing to work with you there? (I know, that might cost money, but if you explain your situation, you might find someone willing to help you in the basics for very little? IDK, it's just an idea.)

[summerstorm]

Only weird in that I would never have thought of that. I feel the only places likely to be getting rid of paddings are schools, I don’t think I’ve ever seen kid programs. I assume they exist, though, so I will keep an eye out. It’s a good idea. Thank you!