I had a mixed Advent. It started reasonably well - work was very full on, but I managed to keep all the plates spinning and met the last few deadlines of the busy period that usually spans from mid-September to mid-December in the HE Data world. I then had a week off work that was really good, and I felt as though I got the balance of getting personal stuff done and actually resting pretty much right. Then I had a week back at work and hit a brick wall. I was most just tidying up loose ends and getting a little bit ahead of the game for the new year, but despite having had a week off (or perhaps because of having gotten out of the groove), I struggled to keep up with what was actually a relatively light workload for the week before Christmas.
Christmas itself was pretty great. I met up with my sister for a socially distant walk and exchange of gifts on Christmas Eve. When I got home we put up the tree and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
robert_jones and I had our traditional disagreement about what order the decorations go on the tree, and I foolishly got distracted after the lights went on, so this year he won and the tinsel went on before the baubles.
On Christmas day we made far too much food for the three of us, but it was all delicious. Breakfast was croissants and scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, then we opened presents, which featured several recipe books for me, and a small mountain of boardgames between the three of us. The afternoon included various family Zoom calls and our main meal - pheasant forrobert_jones and caramelized garlic and goat's cheese tart for me and obandsoller, along with potatoes dauphinoise, tamarind red cabbage, maple roast sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli with sesame. Pudding was salted miso chocolate brownies and banana tarte tatin.
We had planned on playing board games in the evening, but I'd decided it would be a good idea to take a few days off my ADHD meds whilst I'm not working, and withdrawal started to kick in in the early evening, so I ended up heading to bed at around half eight and sleeping for about fourteen hours. The last couple of times I took a meds break I remember the withdrawal lasting a day or two, but this time it seems to have been kicking my arse for rather longer. Today was day four, and whilst it seems to have finally worn off this evening, I'll want to wait until tomorrow morning to be entirely confident about that. I shall be glad to start them again, but whether it's physical or entirely psychological, being on them for several months without a break does seem to lead to tolerance, and getting a reset is helpful.
I'm not sure whether the withdrawal just seems worse than previous times because my memory is faulty, or if the accumulated emotional fatigue of 2020 has made it actually worse, but I have been spectacularly useless since Christmas. We did manage to play three games of Pandemic, which we'd been meaning to get round to since I got it forrobert_jones for his birthday in October, but haven't actually played any of the new games. Other than that I have binge-watched several seasons of Lucifer, and am now impatient for the second half of season 5 to come out. I'm hopeful that the rest of the week will be a bit more productive.
Christmas itself was pretty great. I met up with my sister for a socially distant walk and exchange of gifts on Christmas Eve. When I got home we put up the tree and
robert_jones and I had our traditional disagreement about what order the decorations go on the tree, and I foolishly got distracted after the lights went on, so this year he won and the tinsel went on before the baubles. On Christmas day we made far too much food for the three of us, but it was all delicious. Breakfast was croissants and scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, then we opened presents, which featured several recipe books for me, and a small mountain of boardgames between the three of us. The afternoon included various family Zoom calls and our main meal - pheasant for
robert_jones and caramelized garlic and goat's cheese tart for me and obandsoller, along with potatoes dauphinoise, tamarind red cabbage, maple roast sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli with sesame. Pudding was salted miso chocolate brownies and banana tarte tatin.We had planned on playing board games in the evening, but I'd decided it would be a good idea to take a few days off my ADHD meds whilst I'm not working, and withdrawal started to kick in in the early evening, so I ended up heading to bed at around half eight and sleeping for about fourteen hours. The last couple of times I took a meds break I remember the withdrawal lasting a day or two, but this time it seems to have been kicking my arse for rather longer. Today was day four, and whilst it seems to have finally worn off this evening, I'll want to wait until tomorrow morning to be entirely confident about that. I shall be glad to start them again, but whether it's physical or entirely psychological, being on them for several months without a break does seem to lead to tolerance, and getting a reset is helpful.
I'm not sure whether the withdrawal just seems worse than previous times because my memory is faulty, or if the accumulated emotional fatigue of 2020 has made it actually worse, but I have been spectacularly useless since Christmas. We did manage to play three games of Pandemic, which we'd been meaning to get round to since I got it for
robert_jones for his birthday in October, but haven't actually played any of the new games. Other than that I have binge-watched several seasons of Lucifer, and am now impatient for the second half of season 5 to come out. I'm hopeful that the rest of the week will be a bit more productive.
