What I'm At

Livejournal is back on the default tabs in my browser. I've been checking in from time to time, but there's something about the content here which is distinctly different to most other social networks, and it's also old and comfortable.

So here's what I'm doing these days, as a sort of general update.

I'm still working in Elucidate, where I'm the Online Marketing Manager. It's a small consultancy company, so I don't get to do much with our own marketing; most of my time goes on clients. Clients vary from very tiny companies who have our services via prize funds up to the national Post Office, An Post. The work suits me very well indeed, I'm largely self-directed within the parameters of the projects I work on, and very often I get to try very cool and interesting new stuff in Adwords, social media, or other bits of onlineness.

We've returned to the SCA. I had a bit of time that wasn't accounted for, and I knew a number of people who were interested in the hobby, but weren't about to investigate without knowing someone involved. So I went to an event, and went to a shire meeting, and lo! I am now Chatelaine for Dun in Mara, and dragging the shire firmly into the 21st century, social media, regular updates, and actually doing stuff. I'm ably abetted in this by sabayone and the rest of my newly formed SCAdian household. Aside from the Chatelaine-ing, I'm doing heavy combat (re-assembling armour bit by bit at the moment) and some A&S stuff, including calligraphy, horticulture, and the making of my own garb, which, let me tell you, is pretty terrifying and also very pleasing.

I'm doing a BA in Humanities in DCU's Oscail Programme. The setup is that you can do between 1 and 4 modules a year, in six subjects, with a few other restrictions on which modules you can take at the same time. When you've done twelve modules, it turns into a degree. 4 modules per year would be a full undergrad course-load; I'm doing 3. I did foundation level courses in Sociology, History, and Literature last year, and I'm doing a more advanced module in History and two in Literature this year.

Studying is difficult when you've done none for three months and it's not an easy introductory course, but I'm getting the hang of it again. I sit down at the kitchen table three evenings a week, and one weekend day, and hammer through the reading and comprehension necessary, and I'll soon be starting the first set of assignments. I really like studying, even when it's tough going.

I'm also running a couple of tabletop RPG campaigns, one weekly, the others less regularly as time allows.

We got a dog, too. Isambard Kingdom Spaniel is a black cocker spaniel. He's mostly past the chewing people phase, and will probably finish the chewing things phase soon. He tries very hard to be a Good Dog, but the details are still a bit fuzzy. He caused some serious stress by breaking out of the back yard on a regular basis, but we've now turned the place into something only marginally less secure than Fort Knox, unless you happen to have opposable thumbs. He gets walks twice daily, and I think he may be coming into his power as a rain god.

And I'm learning to drive, gardening, doing some necessary bits of DIY, playing Skyrim on the XBox and Wurm Online on the PC, my usual amateur meteorology, blogging in various places, and watching some odd bits of TV (Wartime Farm, Parade's End, Arrow, and until the end of the half-series there, Doctor Who) here and there as time allows.

So. What're you at?