Different Perspectives

So, I've now had two official shifts at my new employment (I don't really count the two-hour stint I did on the interview day), and I've come to the following conclusion - I'm not used to working! It's hard to believe that I used to work eight hours (sometimes 10-12 depending on the need of the depot and how generous I was feeling) on my feet (or the 6pm-4am shifts at Mcdonalds before that)! All I've been doing so far is pretty much the same generic work that I did at the Cooperative Depot - moving boxes around.

Reorganising the stock room sounds alot easier than it actually is - as I soon found out. Not only is there backlog stock left over from 2010 and 2011 christmas', there is also a load of last years Fathers, Mothers and Valentines Days stock in boxes, often-times mixed, not to mention other generic gifts like Graduations, Communions and Engagements/Marriages. My feet aren't happy with me to say the least, especially after taking an hour to walk around town shopping for christmas presents (yes I have begun already and made some good progress) on Friday and walking the two miles home following that. I'm sure, however, that I'll get back into the swing of things.

Speaking of different perspectives, I've just this past day finished Fear To Tread; the novel-before-latest in the Horus Heresy series by James Swallow. I've heard a wide range of reports on this book, and personally, I loved it. It may not rank up there with, say, Flight of the Eisenstein (my all-time favourite HH book), but I found it enlightening, interesting and, as with all the series so far, full of things that posed more questions than it answered. I'm looking forward to seeing what reprecussions the closing scenes of the book will have, and quite enjoyed the storyline as a whole.

I've moved onto the Games Day Anthology right now, and have finished the first two stories contained therein. The second one that I have just finished today, Extinction by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, is a short precurser to his Rise of the Warmaster series, which details the ascent of Ezekyle Abaddon in the wake of Horus' failure. As with all his books, this promises to be an awesome series, which will have us cheering for the baddies as normal. Extinction is a short and sweet piece, serving extremely well to peak your interest and set you on the path to buying the firs book when it comes out!

Distant Echoes of Old Night, the first piece in the Anthology by Rob Sanders, is Horus Heresy-based, featuring the notorious Death Guard. As I said to Mr. Sanders via Twitter; I was happy to see the revisiting of such an early-delivered legion, and in such a fluid and engrossing prose such as his. I fully anticipate his first full HH novel with relish! Continuing the Games Workshop-flow at the moment, I'm impatient to start my Space Wolf army, and am awaiting the arrival of my first two box sets, which will form part of the core of my force - two troops choices (for those of you who know what I'm on about).

Writing is going so-so at the moment, as I've been more intent on other things the past few days, though I have begun a new side-project that I can chop and change to/from to keep the writing fresh for myself. This comes under the heading of the different perspectives, as I've created a group of six characters without an actual plot/story idea in mind. This is new to me, but I'm enjoying developing their inter-actions and deciding how they fit together as a group. As part of this new look way, I've taken a tip I read online somewhere and am browsing many thousands of pictures for the couple that strike me as being MY characters. Then when it comes to writing I can consistantly check the pictures, maybe even be inspired into new ideas about them! When I come up with an idea that could work, I'm going to try and just write it without actually planning it out, and see where it leads to. I shall keep you posted!

On a sub-writing note, I did have a competition ready to enter, with a piece already finished (ok I finished it a few years ago now), but can't find the particular competition any longer (I can't actually remember the name of said competition, nor who hosted it. Sigh). It was a song-writing competition, and I already have one put together (lyric-wise, at least), that didn't require an audio track accompanying the entry (only the lyrics). Ah well, I shall continue the fruitless search in vain.

University is going well, my tutors have commented on my new-found dedication this year (not that I wasn't dedicated last year, just this year everything so far has been done at least a week before it was/is due, as planned).Tomorrow is my class' first practical module with our newest lecturer, whose first two forays into a relationship with us haven't fared very well. Let's hope she's more organised on the laboratory front!

I may grace (ha!) you all with my written lyrics from yonder yesteryear...some of you may have read it before, and others may not. Make of it what you will (or won't!).