New office - new cycle

Today I got the key to my new office - at last! hurrah!

Then I spent the next four hours cleaning it - not such fun :(

But it is fine now, the carpet is torn, the bulletin board a bit worn, and there's a large black ink stain on the desk that I can't seem to shift, but I have cleaned up, moved things around, and got myself comfy for the next 12 months. Hopefully.

Before this new job in criminology I worked for three years at another university, most of the time sharing a desk with a colleague. I managed to keep myself tidy and lived out of one drawer. When I unpacked today, I didn't know where to put things! "oooh! A drawer just for bluetac, another just for lunchtime cutlery, another for my stapler".. lucky ole me. Ah well, I am sure that in time I will have filled things out and when the time comes to move on again I will have managed to collect all number of (mostly unnecessary) things.

The person vacating my room also managed to leave a TON of cr*p. I have filled three black sacks with stuff and there is still an entire bookshelf full of junk that needs sorting and bagging. This is AFTER he came in and cleared his stuff, and AFTER maintenance came in and cleared out most of what he left. So, I get to clear more of his junk too. He must've been here a lifetime. I can't imagine him living out of a single drawer (one drawer alone was full of bits of staples and paperclips).

Is that how I will remember my predecessor? "The dirty man with a drawer full of staples and a solid ink stain on his desk?"

But the 12 month cycle begins in earnest and I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to collecting and collating data and producing something real and tangible in 12 months time.

And my other cycle starts again today too. Another month, another period. While my academic career is in it's infancy, my child producing years are nearing their end and we are no closer to achieving our aim: Something else real and tangible; someone to hold and cuddle and love and adore.

I don't know how much longer I will have to face these cycles but I see no end to them right now. Period arrives, GG cries, period leaves just as swiftly, GG gets filled with hope that THIS will be the month that we do it, but four weeks later it happens all over again. There is nothing new we can do that we haven't already done and the gynie refuses us any further treatment until we hit that magic number 24 - when we've 'officially' tried and failed to get pregnant for 2 years then we will be offered a waiting list for a lap and possibly some clomid. Whoopee. Roll on December so I can get some drugs... I think I will need something stronger by then.

And so the cycles continue, 12 months til my research is published .... 28 days til yet another period... round and round I go