A Longer Break Than Expected...

...plus, well, it's Christmas, so I'm going to be AFK for another couple of days.

But, hey, Christmas, right? That surely means offline blogging about the perils of venturing home to stay with my folks, experiencing once again the interminable silence that generally settles once all the news has been passed on, and until the niece arrives.

My sister, brother-in-law and niece will be arriving sometime on Boxing Day, having spent Christmas with brother-in-law's family. I gather it's not going to be a fun experience. Just as they frequently outstay their welcome when visiting their son and daughter-in-law, they will be hoping 'the kids' will stay as long as possible. It's not that they're not welcoming (in their own way) or that they just don't try... But my brother-in-law's family just aren't set up for exuberant three-year-olds generally, and it's a widely-held belief that his mother just doesn't know what to do with little girls, having only had sons herself.

I gather than the niece is to have two Christmas costumes (a small fraction of, say, Beyoncé's Christmas wardrobe, but I can see which way the wind blows :P). One I can understand... the other... I'm just gonna hafta see to believe. The word on the grapevine is that she wanted to be able to dress as (Disney's) Rapunzel... and Spider-Man.

Yes, my niece, who not so long ago wanted to be my hat, now wants to be Spider-Man.

And I'm pretty sure she hasn't seen any of the recent movies...

There's so much I should have been blogging about since the last posting... Loads of awesome personal stuff which, upon reflection, will probably not be explained in detail here (this being a personal blog, not a Personal Blog), not to mention taking my folks to see Skyfall and, more recently (like, 2 days ago) going to see the first part of Peter Jackson's improbably triptychal adaptation of The Hobbit, subtitled 'An Unexpected Journey'... though, honestly, it probably should have been 'Half an Unexpected Journey' considering where it finishes.

Work continues apace... As I left one job last week, virtually everything is done on the big project I've been focussed on, so my last three days in the New Year should be a good time to reinforce the minimal training I have given their newbie full-timer (she took excellent notes, and had no problems asking questions on the rare occasion she hit a problem), and go over a few tips and tricks that might prove useful in future. Then, after a short break, I shall be starting full-time, for three months (or more, fingers crossed) with one of my other regular employers.

There's all kinds of other stuff I should be doing - loads of writing and arty things - but I really haven't been in the mood lately. Maybe I'll get some stuff done while I'm back with my folks... maybe things will get back on track once I'm back home after Christmas... but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be breaking my record for posts-per-annum (128, back in 2007) this year...