Good grief...

...I really need to get a bit more active with this blog. I barely even think about it lately... Understandable, considering my employers are intending to make me and my entire department redundant by the end of the year. Understandable, considering I need to look for another job (and really haven't done much so far). Understandable, considering I have to safeguard my income, even now my mortgage repayments are going to be significantly lower, thanks a welcome donation from my parents.

Except that's kinda all just excuses.

There have been plenty of times when I could be writing something or other, and I choose not to.

I watch TV, I watch "Let's Play" videos on YouTube, I play videogames.

Hell, it's not even as if I'm doing the dishes or the laundry... I am well and truly skiving.

I would imagine that this can be put down to my work ethic, my need to leave the office behind when I clock off for the day, and be Real Me rather than Work Me: When I'm in the office, I am 100% focused (some would say more so) on the task at hand, to the point where other things are deliberately, actively and occasionally rudely ignored. While that may be necessary to get the job done, it has been observed that a little more attention to social graces wouldn't go amiss.

The biggest problem is those who do not (and some who cannot) identify when I am busy, and when their 'important information' is not remotely important to me. For example, a couple of advertisers in my next magazine ask for new templates to be set up while I'm still working on my current magazine. Say "hello" to the bottom of my priority list.

But, note, still on my priority list.

And the worst way to present this is to sit on my shoulder, waiting for me to 'notice', so the client's life story (slight exaggeration) can be told in unnecessary detail.

I have colleagues who do that.

All the time.

And have done for far too long, despite very obvious feedback to the effect that "I am not interested in that at this present time. Either leave it here, or bring it to me when I'm done with my current magazine".

That kind of stupidity, I will not miss.

Other things I will not miss include my MD... who's being canned tomorrow.

Hoo-fucking-ray.

Certainly not before time, and the stupidest thing is the company are paying him off to get rid of him. More money that could have been used to safeguard the Production departments is being handed to an underachieving, downright troublemaking Manager.

It'll be interesting to see who they appoint to replace him. There are two obvious contenders. One would probably be an improvement, the other would be... Amusing, to say the very least. I would love to see how our Salespeople take to being micromanaged, timetabled, and generally scrutinised in a way they haven't been for more than the last five years.

In other news... Doctor Who has a nightmare where old people are hosts to alien parasites, his current companion is pregnant, her boyfriend has a ponytail, and this is one of the creepiest, most disturbing episodes I've seen in recent years? And it wasn't even written by Moffatt?

I'm not sure quite what it was about last weekend's episode (maybe just the dream angle, and the constant switching between 'realities' which - spoiler warning - were not real) that struck such a chord, but I really enjoyed it. In common with all the good stories in this series, it could have done with being run over two episodes... but, in some ways, that might have just left this one bloated and slow. Hmmm.

Anyway... that will have to be all for tonight. Press Day tomorrow, and it's not looking particularly good...

But I've made my sandwiches... and I've got other stuff to take in, as long as I remember.