h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm tired now. A few too many nights of soul-searching conversations late night are good in terms of bonding, but bad in terms of both quality and volume of sleep.

I'm worried about Mr Vip; he works incredibly hard, always has, but these days he has very few good days and far too many bad ones. His job within his department has changed which isn't bad in itself, but it now means he works permanently with people who are never satisfied. To begin with you can kind of shrug it off, but as time goes by it seems to be sapping his strength.

What do you do? He's lucky to have a job in this climate, he's kind of trapped in this company because he's only part qualified (we'd have to pay back thousands of pounds worth of course fees if he quit), and even if he were to change job role in the company that's essentially like saying we have to re-locate across the country because of the way it would have to happen. While if that's what it takes we'll do it - we'll cope, that's what we do - all this is weighing down on him, especially with the baby on the way.

In honesty I'm also worried about myself; I'm less able to choose what I can be concerned about. Mr Vip, the baby, h2g2 - these things I feel are legitimate to worry about. But the way the prison system works - what?? Why do I seem to dedicate so much time to getting het up about it? Yes, it's poorly organised. Yes, it causes too much stress among good people. But there's is absolutely zero I can do about it, and I'm not even employed by HMPS. I just work here.

Thankfully, Mr Vip and I can rely on each other a lot. It would just be nice if we didn't have to.

Sweetheart, take a step back for a while. Getting stressed isn't going to help you or the baby

Mr Vip has reached a 'challenging' episode in his career, and this doesn't need to be detrimental. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

As for h2g2.... Delegate! It's a wonderful word - and it works. BTW, I've left you a PM in Noesis, which could reduce some of your stress

Now sod w*rk and put your feet up with a cuppa


lil xx

Good luck with finding a way to alleviate all these worries Shame on the never-satisfied people, too

"A few too many nights of soul-searching conversations late night are good in terms of bonding, but bad in terms of both quality and volume of sleep."

This is so true and is something I'm well familiar with.

Mr Vip and the baby are more important than h2g2.

Thanks, guys.

Times aren't too bad. Especially when I've just got off the phone to my mum (on work's phone, shh! ). It's just a crunch point at the moment, me with h2g2, Mr Vip with a particular project at work.

It will get better (either because it does or because we'll do something about it) but last night and this morning it all felt a little bit overwhelming. Talking about it does help though.

Mr Vip and the baby will always be my priorities, but at least with h2g2 I can actually *do* something and help and make things better. I pushed myself a little bit last night because I was determined not to cancel a social appointment but really wanted to get a mini-project completed.

The googlegroup was a little bit fraught but at the same time I could ignore that totally and instead created something of elegance and beauty, which will hopefully never be used (it's a back-up thing in case something else doesn't work). So that's a sense of achievement and pride which helps counter the stress!

I will be OK. I bounce back. But every now and then I need to let it all out. Thanks for listening, y'all.

Oh, and thanks for reminding me about the message lil. I had seen it and replied, but I've just realised I replied to the notification from noesis, not actually to you at all. No wonder you hadn't replied to me!

My fault, at least it's sorted now. I'll re-send the email when I get back from work.

Oh Dear Vip! I'm certainly not spending enough time going through the important threads on here - I didn't know about the baby.

*keeps repeating to self - must pay more attention, must pay more attention, must pay more attention,*

I'll watch out for you email tonight, love. Hopefully I can get some of the things sorted for you over the weekend

lil x

Oh scorp, no problem. I'm sure you won't be able to escape the baby journals once it's born. Note to all of you by the way, I will take no offence if you ignore them, by the way. I totally understand that this new wriggly thing that is probably going to take up all my attention is only of vague interest to the rest of you.

lil, I'm suffering a little from "Uh, what was it I was supposed to be doing again??" syndrome at the moment but we certainly all need to have a catch up so we can all be a part of this, not just me doing stuff and failing to keep you all in the loop.

My to-do list this afternoon includes calling my grandmother, and emailing the Community Eds.

I was having a similarly challenging time with my colleagues on a project. And then I came across this quote:

"I don't know what the key to succes is. But the key to failure is trying to please everyone".

You're such a conscientious person Vip, all round. Wait until you get old and cynical like me then you'd happily not bat an eyelid at things at work over which you have no control. They are someone else's problem. It doesn't help though to have this in the background and such an important phase in your life, of welcoming a new person into your family.

Poor Mr Vip - that sounds miserable for him, so I hope it all starts to improve very soon.


ps I am hopeless at knitting, so you'll be fortunate to be spared any teeny matinee jackets coming from me! I did used to knit a lot, but discovered the babies were growing out of them before I ever finished things

It can't be as bad as my knitting - I still can't cast off!

Beatrice - that's a good quote. If only he could please himself though; sometimes that man has such high standards that I worry he'll stress himself out trying to meet them.