September: outlook optimistic

So today felt really great. Nothing amazing happened, and it was hard to get my bum out of bed - but it was a good day. I think it's because as a kid I was used to September being the 'start of the year' because of school. And perhaps because I still work in academia I feel like it's the start of the year (although our students don't come back for a few more weeks). The start of the year is always good - I always feel like anything (good) can happen.

Today I was also sort of surprised (I knew it was coming, I just hadn't remembered it could be today) by starting my training for a new part of my job. It's a little surreal to be in the same job for 6.5 years but beginning training for something totally new. I joined the ILL (Inter-library loans) team today and spent two hours learning the basics and sending new loan requests to the British Library. I had a bad caffeine withdrawal headache and a case of persistent yawning... but I still totally enjoyed it. I've known that this was coming since June, but I didn't think it would be so organized as to begin precisely on the first day of September.

I also came home to discover that my research problems were fixed and I could get on with an assignment I'm determined to finish by the 20th of September. Determined!

My camera came with me to work today so that I could finally take part in the photo blog that I read regularly. The word prompt was gate though, and caused two problems: 1. I wasn't inspired by any of the many gates I pass on my way home (it's about 37 minutes / 2 miles from work to home). And 2. I was struck by a fear of looking silly if the owner of the gate noticed me or by the traffic. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get over that and be able to take part. I did take a picture of my 'decorative corn' plants... for some reason I'm quite happy with them.