State of the Sebastian
Jun. 11th, 2018 07:52 amAs ever, it's been much longer than I meant it to be since I posted one of these updates. Life continues to be pretty much unambiguously fantastic, although my tendency to take on slightly too much remains unabated, so I've been busy even by my own slightly ridiculous standards.
As many of you know, our vicar at St John's left about six months ago, and at around the same time I took on the role of churchwarden, adding to my existing hats as treasurer, head server, and cantor. That's been a lot of work - keeping the day-to-day parish life running, as well as taking on a significant share of the work involved in appointing a new vicar. We interviewed a few weeks ago and made an appointment that I'm really pleased about, Mother Alice Whalley, who will be being installed on the 4th September. I can't wait - not just because it will take some of the weight off my shoulders (although that is a significant factor), but also because I think she's going to be a really good fit for the parish, and I'm excited to see where she takes us.
I finished my job at Bedfordshire at the beginning of March, having been there for nearly a year. I'd enjoyed the role and learned an awful lot, but I was definitely starting to get itchy feet, so I was glad we managed to appoint a permanent replacement. I had a much needed break of a few weeks, during which I got almost on top of personal and church admin, as well as doing a lot of running and reading, and just taking some breathing space. I then got offered a few days of consultancy at the University of Huddersfield, and then very shortly afterwards a longer term role leading the Data Services team at Birmingham City University. This lead to a couple of months of slightly ridiculous travel - Mondays-Wednesdays in Birmingham, then Thurs/Fri staying with my parents, who live about 9 miles from Huddersfield, and then back to London at the weekends. It's been interesting work, and it's good to work in different places and build up connections, but it did take a lot out of me. I've now mostly finished the Huddersfield contract - just another couple of days to do at the end of June, and other than that I'm full time at BCU, which is a lot more manageable. It's an enjoyable job - quite similar to the one at Bedfordshire, but the team isn't nearly so resource constrained, so there's less firefighting and more opportunity to plan for and implement long term improvements, which is a refreshing change.
As I mentioned in passing, I've been doing quite a lot of running. In February I ran my first ever race, the Richmond Park Half Marathon, which went really well - I had a couple of goal times, one for "I'll be perfectly happy with this" and one for "this is a real stretch and I'll be really pleased if I manage it". I came in 7 1/2 minutes faster than the stretch goal. Turns out running under competitive conditions with lots of other people is actually magic. A couple of weeks ago I attempted to do the full marathon organised by the same people, which went less well. It turns out that taking two jobs in two different locations, neither of which is home, really messes with your training schedule, and although it had been going really well until then, I didn't manage to do nearly enough long runs to build up my stamina, and around the middle of the 18th mile I just hit a wall; had it been at say, mile 22 I would have gritted my teeth and carried on, but I just couldn't face another hour and a half of forcing myself to keep going. Still, I learned something about my capabilities, and there will be other marathons.
I've had a couple of enjoyable holidays so far this year. In March![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_alchemist and I organised the second installment of Thronescamp, a readthrough of seasons 3 & 4 of Games of Thrones, which was excellent. I spent a lot of time being tortured, maimed, and killed in spectacularly violent ways, but y'know, all in good fun. And the week before last we had Ardgour-en-France, organised by emperor, where just over a dozen of us head to a chateau in the south of France for a week of sightseeing, readthroughs, music-making, and other festivities. leonato and I took an extra day in Paris en route, and had dinner at Arpege, which was exquisite - definitely in the top five meals of my life, and may get a more detailed write up in an entry of its own later on. Other highlights of the trip included a singthrough of Avenue Q, with fantastic performances all round, but especially bella_luugosi's Kate Monster, a readthrough of Arsenic and Old Lace, where themidnightgirl and I made a delightful pair of sweet little murderous old ladies, an African Feast organised by strongtrousers and me, a boat trip through underground caves at Padirac, a castle at Bonaguil, and several charming and sleepy villages with beautiful views.
As many of you know, our vicar at St John's left about six months ago, and at around the same time I took on the role of churchwarden, adding to my existing hats as treasurer, head server, and cantor. That's been a lot of work - keeping the day-to-day parish life running, as well as taking on a significant share of the work involved in appointing a new vicar. We interviewed a few weeks ago and made an appointment that I'm really pleased about, Mother Alice Whalley, who will be being installed on the 4th September. I can't wait - not just because it will take some of the weight off my shoulders (although that is a significant factor), but also because I think she's going to be a really good fit for the parish, and I'm excited to see where she takes us.
I finished my job at Bedfordshire at the beginning of March, having been there for nearly a year. I'd enjoyed the role and learned an awful lot, but I was definitely starting to get itchy feet, so I was glad we managed to appoint a permanent replacement. I had a much needed break of a few weeks, during which I got almost on top of personal and church admin, as well as doing a lot of running and reading, and just taking some breathing space. I then got offered a few days of consultancy at the University of Huddersfield, and then very shortly afterwards a longer term role leading the Data Services team at Birmingham City University. This lead to a couple of months of slightly ridiculous travel - Mondays-Wednesdays in Birmingham, then Thurs/Fri staying with my parents, who live about 9 miles from Huddersfield, and then back to London at the weekends. It's been interesting work, and it's good to work in different places and build up connections, but it did take a lot out of me. I've now mostly finished the Huddersfield contract - just another couple of days to do at the end of June, and other than that I'm full time at BCU, which is a lot more manageable. It's an enjoyable job - quite similar to the one at Bedfordshire, but the team isn't nearly so resource constrained, so there's less firefighting and more opportunity to plan for and implement long term improvements, which is a refreshing change.
As I mentioned in passing, I've been doing quite a lot of running. In February I ran my first ever race, the Richmond Park Half Marathon, which went really well - I had a couple of goal times, one for "I'll be perfectly happy with this" and one for "this is a real stretch and I'll be really pleased if I manage it". I came in 7 1/2 minutes faster than the stretch goal. Turns out running under competitive conditions with lots of other people is actually magic. A couple of weeks ago I attempted to do the full marathon organised by the same people, which went less well. It turns out that taking two jobs in two different locations, neither of which is home, really messes with your training schedule, and although it had been going really well until then, I didn't manage to do nearly enough long runs to build up my stamina, and around the middle of the 18th mile I just hit a wall; had it been at say, mile 22 I would have gritted my teeth and carried on, but I just couldn't face another hour and a half of forcing myself to keep going. Still, I learned something about my capabilities, and there will be other marathons.
I've had a couple of enjoyable holidays so far this year. In March
the_alchemist and I organised the second installment of Thronescamp, a readthrough of seasons 3 & 4 of Games of Thrones, which was excellent. I spent a lot of time being tortured, maimed, and killed in spectacularly violent ways, but y'know, all in good fun. And the week before last we had Ardgour-en-France, organised by emperor, where just over a dozen of us head to a chateau in the south of France for a week of sightseeing, readthroughs, music-making, and other festivities. leonato and I took an extra day in Paris en route, and had dinner at Arpege, which was exquisite - definitely in the top five meals of my life, and may get a more detailed write up in an entry of its own later on. Other highlights of the trip included a singthrough of Avenue Q, with fantastic performances all round, but especially bella_luugosi's Kate Monster, a readthrough of Arsenic and Old Lace, where themidnightgirl and I made a delightful pair of sweet little murderous old ladies, an African Feast organised by strongtrousers and me, a boat trip through underground caves at Padirac, a castle at Bonaguil, and several charming and sleepy villages with beautiful views.
