changeyourstars8: (Dark Tower)
Hours and whatnot aren't set in stone yet, but a used bookstore just opened up downtown. Chris and I went in this morning and brought Kath's and my three novels to see if she'd be interested in a local authors display (she was!) and we got to talking and she asked me if I'd like a job. :-)

It'd be in the daytime, so I'd still have time to write of an evening (wheeee) and she has no problem with me bringing Kaylee in with me while I work.

So we're carrying on family tradition-- mom worked at a bookstore in Chicago when I was a baby. lol

She also said that she's going to get a computer in there and set it up so that there are display copies of the books and people can just order them online through my webpage, which means I really need to renovate it sometime very soon. I have most of it planned out, now it's just figuring up the html.

Last day

Nov. 9th, 2007 11:37 am
changeyourstars8: (Crysta)
Just got back from my last day at work-- still not quite sure how I feel about that. Probably because it isn't actually real yet. I just know I'm going to wake up on Monday all, "Oh no I'm late!"

My boss said, "I'll have you know that you're the only employee who's ever gone to such extreme measures to get out of working here." ;-)

I probably wouldn't have quit-- at least not permanently-- if the job offered insurance or more hours, but considering that if I kept working my entire paycheck would basically go toward a babysitter anyway . . . yeah, no point.

Besides, I plan on kicking some writing ass before the baby's born. Hopefully after, too, but from what I've heard I shouldn't underestimate the amount of sleep I'm going to be missing.
changeyourstars8: (Bellatrix)
Figured it was going to happen sooner or later. Had a customer comment on the baby-- just the usual stuff at first, asking when I'm due, if it's my first one, etc. Used to that now that I'm showing. Then she makes a sharp turn off the highway of normalcy onto the narrow dirt road of TMI and asks if I'm planning to breastfeed or bottlefeed.

Me-- o_0

I stared at her for a few seconds and then I said that I didn't know yet, which was a lie, but I can count the number of people I'm willing to discuss issues like that with on one hand, and given that I didn't even know this woman's first name . . . yeah.

And then yesterday I'm driving home from work and I see a car that was in our neighbor's driveway pull into ours. I pull in beside, thinking that someone's lost/looking for an address. Then two women in their fifties get out of the car, and they're both holding Bibles.

Oops.

Though actually, it turned out okay. They were Jehovah's Witnesses, and perfectly polite, and the pamphlets they handed me didn't have anything incredibly offensive in them. It was actually cute, because one lady asked me if I went to a specific church around here, and I told her that I didn't because I'm agnostic. And she just tilts her head at me and blinks and then says, "I'm . . . I'm sorry dear, but I have no idea what that is."

So I explained, and we chatted for a few minutes before I excused myself to get Harley some food, since he was staring up at me with that unmistakable "You have one minute to fill the bowl, human, and then it's time to attack your ankles" look.
changeyourstars8: (Far Away)
I am staying inside where the world can't get me.

This morning I got up and got ready for work, feeling kinda blah. Took some ginger to help with that, and went outside. That's where I found your friend and mine, the really big spider that's taken up residence on our porch. For the past three mornings, he's built a web across the supports, right about at head level. No big deal, I just go down the side steps and drive to the donut shop.

Start feeling a lot more than just 'blah' as I drive in, and before I can even go start my shift I have to get to the bathroom. Over the next half hour, I had to go back to the bathroom two more times, and I finally decided heck with it and asked if I could go home early. Fortunately it's a Monday, so it wasn't a problem.

I get home, head for the door, and guess what. If you guessed "walked right into the spiderweb" congratulations, have an e-cookie.

Too bad the neighbors weren't outside, they probably would've gotten a kick out of my 'oh my god oh my god is there a spider in my hair' dance. (No, fortunately. After I got done frantically swiping at my hair I looked back to see the spider scrambling up to the porch roof on what scraggly threads remained of his web.)

Definitely staying inside.
changeyourstars8: (Skippy)
Got two rooms left to work on in the former rental house-- some roller work, mostly trim. I got the back bedroom done today, which involved a lot of kneeling and muttered cursing and generally failing a sobriety test in terms of painting straight lines.

The good news is, while Chris was outside cleaning some of the paintbrushes, a guy stopped and asked how much we wanted for the house. Chris told him and said it'd be on the market within the week, so fingers crossed there.

My clothes are covered in paint, my face and arms are multicolored, and I smell like paint thinner. Time for a shower.
changeyourstars8: (Eternal)
Me: "Okay, that'll be $2.10."
Lady: *gives me three dollars* "You still writing?"
Me: "Yep!" *hands back change*
Lady: "That's great." *takes out a ten-dollar bill* "Here-- keep five for yourself and use the rest to buy for whoever's behind me."
Me: ". . . will do. Thanks!"

And since orders there tend to be pretty small, her five dollars fully paid for three other very happy customers.

Faith in humanity = restored.
changeyourstars8: (My fandom)
We got Ashley hooked on Firefly last night. Hee. The first episode finished and she turned to us and said, "You guys are evil. Now I have to buy another series!" ;-) She says her favorite character is Zoe.

I stayed up until midnight watching the pilot, which was really smart seeing as I had to be in at work at 6:00, but hey.

It's been a good morning-- working on a really fun story; saw a little picture/episode description snippet in the paper for Christian Slater's guest spot on My Name is Earl (I meant to start watching that show because I liked Jason Lee in Dogma and Big Trouble, but my memory is crap. Will watch tonight, though); going through Firefly again . . . I say all this so my little note for proper behavior at work will make sense:

1) No matter how good of a mood I'm in, I should not sashay when I walk.
2) Especially not when I'm humming.
2a) Yes, even if it's "Dancing Through Life".
3) I should not switch from humming to quietly singing without realizing it, either.

Because you know what kind of look you get then?

You get this look. )

Yeah.

Misc.

Oct. 30th, 2006 01:38 pm
changeyourstars8: (Elphaba)
I'd already taken tomorrow off work, in honor of Halloween, but after I sprained my toe I took today off, too-- and a good thing, since I'm limping like crazy. Chris and I did head to the grocery store, though, because I want to walk around enough to gradually prepare myself for Wednesday.

I like having days off, but it always throws my mental schedule out of whack. Wasn't until Chris left for work that I really remembered-- "Oh yeah, it is Monday, genius. Update Karavan's Mirror."

So that's done, and now I'm going to do some more NaNoWriMo plotting/panicking.

***

My dad was walking home from work the other day, and he heard a woman shriek, "Leave me alone!" Her voice was coming from a house about half a block away, and as he walked closer she yelled it again. So he took out his cell phone and called 911.

A moment later, a guy comes out of the house, looking none too happy.

Idiot: "What're you doing?"
Dad: "I just called the police."
Idiot: "What the . . . you just called the cops on me?"
Dad: "Yes I did."
Idiot: "And now you're just gonna stand there and wait for them?"
Dad: "Yes I am."

So the guy proceeds to yell at my dad, threatening him and saying a bunch of 'if I ever see you around here again' stuff. Meanwhile, the woman who was in the house heads out a side door, gets into her car, and drives off, circling the block. The guy sees this, gets into a different car, and leaves. When the cops get there, the woman comes back and she and dad explain what was going on.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why my father is awesome. :-)

***

Speaking of awesome, if you haven't done so already, go rent Slither. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Nathan Fillion! Sarcastic characters! Alien slugs bent on world domination! It's great.
changeyourstars8: (Don't mind her. . .)
Yesterday, going to work was fun for once. I was almost late because of wildlife.

I saw a couple of blurs race across the road, and drove forward a bit further and paused. A few seconds later, the blurs are back-- two raccoons, bounding across the street, chasing each other. They tussle in the ditch for a minute, and then back across they go. At this point I put on the brakes and just sit there watching as the one chasing leaps from the street all, "Death from above!" into the ditch and lands on the other one. Then they both seem to realize, "Oh crud. Headlights." and dart off into the trees.

:-)

Speaking of crazed animals, our Halloween party is tonight. Expect pictures, once I recover from the anticipated hangover (Chris's cousin is bringing Jello shots, and I have a bottle of amaretto).
changeyourstars8: (Elphaba)
There are days when I love my job. And for once, I'm not being sarcastic. ;-)

When I came in, my coworker was rightfully irritated with one of the regulars. Said regular is either 1) a complete misogynist, or 2) pretending to be a misogynist in order to bug the counter staff. Either way, he's an idiot.

Today he came up to us and slammed his hands down on the counter and started going into his usual spiel (about how women shouldn't vote, own property, be 'allowed to have' education or birth control, etc.). But this time, I interrupted him.

Idiot: "No vote for women!"
Me: "No sex for men!"
Idiot: *gapes for a moment, then smirks* "Well, now the women's lib is coming out."
Me: "It never leaves. You, however, are welcome to."
Idiot: *mutters something, and while he does not leave, he is blessedly quiet the rest of the morning*
changeyourstars8: (Crysta)
Woke up this morning to hear the cats tearing around the room, but did not wake up fast enough to prevent one of them from racing across the couch-- and across my head in the process. Yay for a scratched face. Note to self: do not sleep on couch.

Got to work, wasn't feeling great, and my coworker was feeling even worse. This, of course, meant that it was time for a huge rush. Full of mostly good customers, thank heavens. But there were some notable exceptions:

Customer: *stares at her bag, then rolls her eyes* "You didn't put these in a box?"
Me: "Actually, I used my incredible psychic powers to realize you wanted three donuts in a box, but chose to ignore that."

Customer: "Blah blah . . . damned liberals . . . hate our country . . . no respect for good hard-working folk . . ."
Me: *throws coffeepot at customer's head, but it bounces off because his skull is just that thick*

Okay, so in reality I waited until the lines were gone and then picked up the paper to distract myself from their existence.

Which worked, because the FYI section had a little article about a new movie coming out, "Bobby", about the Robert Kennedy assassination. I'd vaguely heard about that one and already wanted to see it anyway, but they had a picture of some of the cast and there was Christian Slater. Immediate big happy grin from me.

Coworker: "Umm . . . Stephanie?"
Me: "Yeah?"
Coworker: "What's up? You're smiling."
Me: "I work customer service. I'm supposed to smile."
Coworker: "That is not a customer-smile. You're thinking about something evil, aren't you?"

Ohhh, was I ever, but not in the way she meant. ;-)

I was happy the rest of the day at work, though, seeing as I was thinking back on assorted good fandom memories.

Read more... )

To sum up, I am now in complete Fluffy Nostalgia Zoning mode and I want to hear your fandom stories. Actor/actress, movie, play-- whatever, talk to me.
changeyourstars8: (Stace by Warsheep Productions)
I asked for a change of schedule at work-- I'm going in from 6 a.m. until 11 now, instead of going in at 4:30. It's a bit of a pay cut, but I've been putting it off for a while and it's become necessary. I've been exhausted a lot; haven't worked on any solo writing projects in over a week; getting snarly with people I shouldn't be getting snarly with; and recently my hair has started coming out in little clumps and I don't want to pull a Locke, thankyou.
changeyourstars8: (Elphaba)
I don't know how far news of this has traveled, but a group of high school students in a town about twenty minutes away from mine went on a Spanish class end-of-the-year trip to Costa Rica. They'd been saving for it all year. They were swimming in the ocean, and some of them got pulled out too far when the weather changed for the worse. Their teacher went in to help them, and did manage to get at least one out before he disappeared, too. Three kids are confirmed dead; the teacher's body hasn't been found yet.

So then this shining example of humanity comes into the donut shop today:

Man: "You hear about those kids who drowned?"
Me: "Yeah, just read an interview with one of the survivors."
Man: "You'd think they would've gotten out of the ocean when they saw a storm coming in."
Me: *realizing that I am quite possibly in the presence of a jackass* "The girl the reporter talked to said the weather changed in five minutes. They'd been swimming out there for hours, no problem."
Man: "Well, there still had to've been some sign. Clouds coming in. Waves changing. They should've known."
Me: *yep, jackass* "Not what she said."
Man: "Hmph. Don't know what swimming has to do with learning Spanish anyway."

Fortunately, he walked out then, before I could go with the impulse to beat him to death with a bear claw, or say what I was thinking, namely-- "So does it make you feel good to lay blame on teenagers who drowned, and the teacher who died trying to save them?"

If it's one thing that'll take my mood from cheerful to snarly in a heartbeat, it's victim blaming. I heard a lot of it when the Natalee Holloway case was still in the news all the time, people muttering about how she shouldn't have left with three guys (never mind that they'd never automatically say that about a guy leaving with three women, so I won't even get into the 'all men are potential rapists and killers' mindset that attitude gives away); saying awful things about her because she trusted the wrong person (gee, what a crime); or she shouldn't have been drinking; basically a huge list of shoulda-woulda-coulda.

Funnily enough, I never heard one person say something about how whoever killed her shouldn't have done that.

I know, goes without saying, right? But how long does it take before something left unsaid just kindof disappears, and leaves in its place a huge mess of "Why was she wearing that?" "Didn't they know better than to go there?" "Why doesn't she leave him?" "Well, there still had to've been some sign."

If it is one thing we all have in common, it is mistakes. That should join the 'death and taxes' list of guarantees. But is it ever a popular pasttime to sneer at those who make them at exactly the wrong moment or around exactly the wrong person. I'm not leaving myself out here; I used to read stories of another battered wife dying and ask why she didn't just go to a shelter or something. Then I finally took a deeper look at those stories, and got into a few potentially bad situations myself, and realized how useless and heartless griping at the victim is.

I still sometimes beat myself up over bad decisions I've made, and those didn't even result in the worst-case scenario. So imagine how someone who did go through the worst feels? They'll already be second-guessing themselves for a long time, going through the what-ifs over and over; there is absolutely no need for anyone else to look down their noses at them and make comments about how they'd never be that stupid. The only one truly at fault is the criminal, not the one they hurt.

It's easier to find some fault with the victim. Feels better to think, "Well, she did this and since I'd never do that I'll be safe." But that mindset comes with a very nasty price tag.
changeyourstars8: (Ariel-- song)
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, dealing an embarrassing defeat to President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters on Election Day.

*dances*

At work, the guy who'd been bothering me apologized. If he sticks with that attitude, I might let him live. ;-)

I also heard some new country song called "That Girl is a Cowboy". Not too awful, especially compared to some of the other stuff I hear on that station (just don't get me started on "Have You Forgotten". *whimper*). Has a male singer praising the stereotypically-male attributes of his best friend, singing 'when I need a friend, she's the guy I call'. Listening to it, I decided that I'll now eagerly await the companion piece, called "That Man is a Girlfriend", with a female singer praising the stereotypically-female attributes of her best friend. I will not, however, hold my breath.

Might get some publishing-type stuff worked on today. Kath, if I gather up a list of literary agents and send them to you along with the material they want, are you okay with printing the stuff off and mailing it, or should I just bite the bullet and try to find a good printer? :-)

Misc.

Jun. 6th, 2006 03:07 pm
changeyourstars8: (No Day But Today)
Feeling much better today, thankfully. Maybe I'll even be able to get some writing done. *gives don't-even-start look to the rainclouds*

Since I couldn't get online last night, Chris and I decided to reconnect with our childhoods (like we ever left. . .) and rent some animated movies. Got Hunchback of Notre Dame-- which I hadn't seen since it was in the theatre-- the sequel, and The Swan Princess, which I've heard good things about but never watched.

Had time to watch Hunchback before it was time for bed. Neat little movie, and at the end of it they played the original version of "Someday". I knew it sounded familiar when I heard it on my Celtic Woman CD, but I had no idea where I might've heard it before. Now I know. :-)

Saw a woman in the donut shop today who I absolutely have to base a character's appearance off of. Dark skin, blue and green mottled shirt, shorts, long black hair, and bright blue eyes. I'm talking neon blue here. I know they had to've been contacts, but it was still cool. :-)

And in the last topic jump of the post, you have to go read this right now. *S*

"I appreciate that you want gay people to have full equal rights, but surely you must agree that the will of the majority should win out and a judge should not be able to overturn it."

What I always ask is, do you think Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka (which made racial discrimination in schools illegal nationwide) and Loving vs. Virginia (which made interracial marriage legal nationwide) were wrongly decided? No one ever says yes. But if they did say yes, they'd at least be logically consistent, and we could have an honest debate. As it stands, I don't think anyone who's actually thought the issue through could be in favor of always letting the majority win--except in those two cases when the courts were right to step in which are somehow magically different.

Basically, I don't happen to think my civil rights, or anybody's civil rights, should be subject to a veto if 50-percent-plus-one of the public wakes up one day and decides I shouldn't have them.
changeyourstars8: (Sawyer vs. the tarp)
We got swamped in the last hour and a half of work today. At least one carful of customers provided some amusement: two guys and a girl (the driver).

Me: *finishing taking the order* "Would you like anything else?"
Guy #1: "Yeah, I'll take a blond in blue shorts. You have one of those in there?"
Me: "Not at the moment, no."
Guy #2: "Well, a redhead'd be fine, too. A tall one." He grins. "Hey, how tall are you?"
Me: "Eheh." *ducks back inside to get the food*
((I do not flirt well. If I'm not talking to someone I know, when a guy starts flirting I'll look around to see who else he might possibly be talking to, and then I'll stammer.))
Me: *coming back to the window* "The total is ****."
Guy #1: *looking at my left hand* "Yep, a ring."
Guy #2: "Hey, just because she's married doesn't mean she can't flirt."
Girl: "I am never taking you guys anywhere again."

So that was a bit of a change in routine.

And I got a new portrait from Warsheep Productions today! I'll be putting it and its accompanying story up on my webpage soon, so I'll make another post linking to it when I'm done. Now I have to figure out who to request next. :-)

In other news . . . LOST finale tonight!!
changeyourstars8: (Elphaba)
Oy. Attention news media-- a woman is accusing some Duke lacrosse players of rape. Therefore, the entire thing should not be referred to as a sex scandal. "Sex" and "rape" are not interchangeable. I can't believe I even had to type that out. Sheesh.

While I'm on the topic . . . I don't know absolutely everything about the case, but I do know that right now, I believe the woman. Innocent until proven guilty means, in these circumstances, misidentification instead of 'omg she's just lying to get money'. If she wanted to get something out of them, she could've just claimed that a robbery happened and everything probably would've been settled quickly and quietly. But I can see why women would file false rape charges all over the place-- they're treated so wonderfully by the press and the general public; it's not like their characters are dragged through the mud or their every action is second-guessed or they ever receive death threats when their names are revealed. It's just so much fun!

Seeing that in the paper probably wouldn't have ticked me off so much if I hadn't also had to endure a customer earlier who was babbling on about how, "I'm telling you, in any society, the minute you give women any rights that's it. It's over, and there's no going back to how things should be." This was, unsurprisingly, one of the guys who chuckled at the 'what do you tell a woman with two black eyes' joke of several weeks before.

General disclaimer: Sorry, but rape is not a topic where I debate or toss around different points of view. Any comments from anyone bringing up her clothes, her profession, criticizing her, etc. will be deleted without reply. If you'd like to understand more about where I'm coming from with all this, go read this essay. Thanks.

Now, off to go write or watch something cheerful.
changeyourstars8: (Irony and sarcasm)
I'm not a huge fan of country music. There are some artists I listen to, and Kath sent me a tape of country/bluegrass once that I liked, but for the most part . . . no. The fact that the radio playing in the back at work is always tuned to a country station does not help matters. The same nine or ten songs, over and over for hours, when I only liked maybe one of them to begin with anyway. . .

I have been subjected to Lonestar, people. And I haven't dunked the radio in the sink. I feel this should qualify me for sainthood.

Today I heard some song where this lady was twanging on about how she was on the side of soldiers and the Bible and loved the flag and so she didn't get any respect. Which got three reactions out of me (well, four, if you count the eye twitch):

1) Yeah, your point of view isn't respected at all-- that's why the churches have been shut down, the Pledge is illegal, people won't vote for a President who's not an atheist, and soldiers' funerals are being protested by sane people instead of a nutjob and his equally nutjobbish relatives.

2) We PC people, by and large, also respect our soldiers. Many of us are even Christian (judging from polls saying that's the religion of the overwhelming majority in the USA), and like what the flag stands for. Don't tell anybody, though; it tends to ruin our evil image. ;-)

3) If she "can't get no respect", I'd hope it's because of her grammar. It's "incorrect", not "uncorrect". Eeesh. (okay, this one I would've let slide if not for the previous two, and the twanging. Ow. But this is what comes from having English majors for parents-- I have seen mom raise her eyebrow at the radio when "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" comes on. Hee)

This has been your Daily Snark. Tune in tomorrow, for . . . well, actually, I don't think I'm going to be snarky tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. :-)
changeyourstars8: (Default)
Part of this entry under the cut due to questionable language. :-)

Read more... )

Snarking aside, I did have a nice thing happen today-- a guy I know came up and asked how the book signing went, and said that he really enjoyed We Were Strangers: "No, seriously-- I don't normally sit down and read, especially fantasy, but that one was good." Cue huge dorky grin on my part. :-)

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