Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
Now that's odd
How exactly did my sunglasses find their way into the washing-up rack? I'm starting to think I'm being followed by some Possession Repositioning Pixies™
Incentives
Idiot here forgot it was Graduation tomorrow.
Because I left it so late to respond to the invite, I've not been able to get myself in the procession — so no big flouncy hoods and drapes for me this year.
The thing is though, I'd meant to go home tonight. I haven't got a suit with me, and the kittens need feeding, but it would really help me out a bit (ie. 'financially') if I didn't have to put petrol for a run-home-and-back in the car this evening.
I was thinking about this on the way in today, and how I'm seriously in danger of letting the "moving to Leeds" thing turn into one of those things that I think is a good idea, but never avtually get around to doing. The biggest stumbling block in my head right now is that the space in which I do the most effective work is in my studio at home — sure, I've got a nice little set-up here in the office, but it just isn't quite the same as being at home.
I have no real idea exactly why that is — perhaps it's to do with not being able to smoke at my desk. Perhaps it's the constant innin-and-outing of other people, and the lack of privacy to faff around like I do at home (an important, yet neglected, part of working life I feel). Perhaps (although I'm not being too serious about this) it's not being able to sit here in a frock 
I think then, next week I'm going to cart some of my equipment from home over here, and try and carve-out a little 'niche' for myself in the corner. Try and create an environment that I feel comfortable and productive in.
I mean, thinking about it, having an office not at home where you don't just sit puffing away on fags and occasionally dragging up is probably what most other people do 9 to 5 huh? 
Entourage Background Oddness
I just changed my desktop picture for the first time in about a year, and only now noticed that Entourage's icon in my Dock has a different background than everything else
Years ago, I worked for an advanced technologies IT group in a major bank. They allowed flex time, work at home and so on. (Heck, one group even got to work in Dublin!)
In that group I'd rarely do any work in the office: I did most of it at home. I could set my own hours, and I did: frequently working from Noon to 3AM on one major project. I could wear whatever I wanted, play with the cats, greet the Mrs, sit out on the porch for a break and so on. It's just more "relaxing" to work at home, when you don't have constant interruptions, distractions, and meetings. You can get into that "zone" and stay there!
When we moved, one of the requirements (that we didn't forget, like we forgot central air! Oy vay, it's horrible in here!) was for separate office space for each of us. We both had our own offices in Brooklyn, and we've got them here. In fact, one of the very first rooms to be setup was the wife's office. (Mine became the "temporary" storage room...)
It's invaluable to have a space where you can be yourself, and is defined as a "work area". So, yes: you can do better work when not subject to the office environment: the lighting, the air quality, the phones ringing, the ... you get the picture (so to speak). I just wish we'd remembered about the central air...
Carolyn Ann
Currantly
Oh shit
Ill be honest, my recent Second Life post has got way more attention than i imagined!
It's because you keep mentioning it on other people's blogs and Twitter
A Conversation About Dreams Involving Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
Not Me: "I dreamt about Tom Cruise last night"
Me: "Really? I dreamt about Nicole Kidman"
NM: "Weird. Tom was being very affectionate"
Me: "So was Nicole"
NM: "He kept touching me, not sexually, just intesively affectionately"
Me: "No shit? So did she"
I woke up this morning at 5am laughing. I wish I could remember what the joke was, because if it's good enough to wake me up laughing, then it's something that should be shared.
Then I fell back asleep and had a really weird dream about someone I know in SL, but with World of Warcraft-styled 'naming' text above her head, looking like Nicole Kidman with prim hair, within a vague approximation of Sheffield (which is odd, seeing as I've only been there once, yet I keep dreaming about it), in which I actually found deep and complete fulfillment in my life.
You can imagine how gutted I was when I woke up.
I hate it when I get dreams like that — everything sorted, life is good, happy with the world — those are the days I just don't want to wake up. You have my sympathy.
I get a lot of them too. One I had as a little kid involved the most amazing little electric car that I parked by my bed and went to bed (dreams you go to sleep in are a major headfuck btw!) and of course the car was not there when I woke up. Cried my eyes out.
Also as a terminally shy teen I had the most amazing dream about a girl in yellow that I fell in love with, married, had kids with — a whole lifetime in a dream. Woke up, broke my heart to know it was a dream, realised it was about a girl I fancied in college who always wore yellow and summoned the guts to ask her out that day. Turns out the reason she had not been there for a couple of days was that she had moved away. Heart rebroken.
Reality sucks, though it does feature slightly less demons than my dreams do lately. Practice conscious dreaming and you'll get to dream about whatever you want ... mostly ;o)
RE:Incentives
I think your experiment will prove what you already seem to know. I've worked from my own home studio for 80% of my working life. The times I haven't have been frought with innumerable small annoyances. SOMETHING is always back at home that I think is absolutely essential for the task at hand. People borrow things in shared spaces (many of which then mysteriously disappear forever). And all the socializing frequently puts a significant dent in productivity.
The one plus I can remember of those experiences outside my own studio is that occcasionally a group envronment can stimulate approaches you might not consider through feedback.
I never found that trade off worth the price.
Move to Horsforth.
Well, it is Microsoft. And they're special