A2K's Wonderful World Of Reinvention

atia_julii @ 2009-09-10T11:45:00

2009-09-10T17:01:40Z

Nice quiet day at work. Nothing has made me cackle with derision yet, but enh, I've got four hours to go - the world is waiting for me to get cocky.

Company's offering free flu shots, so I'm going in for mine at the end of the day. I normally don't get them, but...Given that our boss looked like a train ran her over yesterday and she's out sick today, and that one of my coworkers is out for a WEEK due to some crud she picked up over the holiday weekend, better safe than sorry this time around.

Currently reading:

The Moss Roberts translation of the abridged Three Kingdoms - Isaac's current Gundam Warriors jag as well as the hotness that was Red Cliff (can I please get Takeshi Kaneshiro delivered to my tent please, preferably in the Kongming outfit?), the novel's dragged me back in. Just got past the battle of Chi Bi and Guan Yu letting Cao Cao go because of a past favor owed.

I forgot just how often the narrative veers off from the plot - very much a "Zhou Yu is angsting over the state of his army, gentle reader. Please hold and enjoy two pages of classic poetry chock full of allusions you're probably not going to get, while I send a subordinate to go get Kongming to whack some sense into him with his feather fan," type of thing. But it's still fun.

Also reading: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. I can't remember where I was told "You need to read her!" but I did, and I am, and I need more of her stuff like I need air. This is really brilliant, clever writing about the logistics of time travel and its consequences, with a 'comedy-of-errors' feel to it.

Also, guilty pleasure of the week: Warriors by the group psuedonym of Erin Hunter. What Watership Down was for bunnies, except with cats this time around, and DEAR GOD what a death toll and graphic to boot. No character (except the main one) is safe, and even he's scheduled for the chopping block soon according to the authors in their chat about the next upcoming series.
Okay, it's a little less realistic than Watership was (last I checked, cats were NOT monogamous, nor did they have Ayla-level command of herbalism) but it's a good turn-your-mind off read. Got the first book, and will be grabbing the rest as time goes by.

It's a juvenile series, but I would take my own sweet time determining if this was suitable for my kid.

You have apparently achieved Rank: Homewrecker!

2009-09-10T01:00:08Z

Crossposted from RPGnet, and I gotta post it here because...I mean, damn.

I have a friend. Male coworker. He's a neighbor, married with two kids. I met him during training at work, he introduced me to the family, invited me to his synagogue (we nearly joined it!) we were invited over for Hanukkah dinner last year.

All fine and dandy. Family's adorable and stable - his wife of ten years is nice if a little stressed out (can you blame her with two kids below the age of five?) It's nice hanging out with another married couple. Really cool.

Shoot to this year.

At one point in time this year I start taking the train to work. Male coworker takes the train as well, and during the month that I ride the rails, we hang out and chat. I start finding out that all is not well in the coworker's family life. His wife's uneasy in the relationship, and a few things have happened that cause her to doubt her husband's fidelity. For the sake of completeness, he didn't state any outright infidelity to me, but he did have some adventures online that had her steamed.

Me: oh boy. I do not want to hear about this....

Now, I am NOT taking sides at all. I know full well that there are two sides to the story and I don't know the half of either one - that plus years of family trying to get me to take sides in family drama had me going OH HELL NO.

So I am noncommittal. I let him use me as a sounding board, falling back into the 'uh-huh' and 'mmm' that I whip out when people calling the call center start sharing WAY TOO MUCH and I'm not allowed to say "DEAR GOD STOP," and just endure the storytelling.

(I really pushed for that MP3 player for this reason, honey, really. Maybe with headsets on my ears he would have stopped. Thank GOD I have it now.)

Nowhere during this time as the wife CLEARLY sees us getting off the train every day for a month does she ever say anything to me about 'you know, I'm kind of uncomfortable with you being near my husband'. You know, if she HAD I would have gone "I am so sorry" and STOPPED, for heaven's sake. I am cheerful and wavy to here as we head to our separate pickups, say hi to the kids in the back of the van and whatever and god knows the coworker would have told me if she had - he was already telling me everything else.

ANYWAY.

During one of those weeks he had commuted in by car instead of train and offered me a ride home. I'm like 'cool! thanks!'

That day traffic is hell, and we're a tad late. Isaac worries, calls his wife. She calls the car, coworker answers, says we're stuck, we're on our way in. About 20 minutes later, we're home, he drops me off, so on.

This, I think, was the tipping point, though I never got a word of complaint about this from her OR from him.

Cut to today.

Isaac's sick so I take the train in. See my coworker, mention "Hey, didn't see you on the train this morning" - and he goes "Nah, I drove in. Want a ride home?"

Me: Cool!

Now, Isaac should not have called his wife to ask her to thank him for the ride home, but he did. Cue the match on the dripping can of gasoline.

We're not EVEN late this time. He drops me off, I go in, and am chilling on City of Heroes when the phone rings.

It's my coworker.

"I am so sorry, this is nothing you've done or said..."
Me: WTF?
"But I am not allowed to give you a ride ever again. EVER."

Me: oooookay. *get off phone*

He calls again later and tries to explain, but it's clear - his wife's accusing him of infidelity AGAIN and assuming the worst of a ride home in which we got home on time. WTH.

Me: "Honey, I've never incurred the wrath of a married woman before. This is really damn weird."

And it pisses me off, because

1. I am fucking married, and HAPPILY to boot, for six years, and we want to start spawning geeks next year thank you so much.

2. NEVER in any of our talks or hangouts or ANYTHING has my coworker made any type of pass at me. Our conversations: his kids, work, and theological debate. That's pretty much IT. Completely platonic. Believe me, if the convos HAD turned into something like that, I would have bailed out of the car and walked home or something.

3. He's not my type anyway. I know you were all wondering it. :)

Now I am faced with having to dump a friend in order to let him shore up his marriage, because knowing the spouse in question, there's probably NO way I could have a convo with this guy anywhere and his wife not assume the worst.

It's probably for the best, but Isaac and I were really good friends with him.

THIS REALLY BITES!

At least the married couple downtairs is awesome, and we're all good friends.

SIGH.

Wow. I feel like Scott Pilgrim.

2009-04-23T21:04:09Z

Following Work review:

CONGRATULATIONS! You have reached Level 4!

+1 to job responsibilities
+2 to Manager Rapport (she likes me! She really really likes me!)
+1 to Senior Coworker Rapport
+3 to Junior Coworker Rapport (manager had a lot to say about how I've been working to help them out)

YOU HAVE EARNED RAISE!

(way more than I thought, too!)

*dancity*

BEST PRE-BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVAR.

I gotta move? But I just got here!

2009-02-13T18:02:35Z

Well, the boss warned us that there were moves coming up.

They just posted the new locations.

Hrm. I liked where they moved me this last time - and now I gotta move way across the room again, practically back where I started. So not looking forward to packing up again. Well, at least I'm less acquisitive than most of my coworkers - I don't have to pack up a *house* to move. In fact I'll probably be throwing stuff out in the process.

And the ninjaposter posts again

2009-02-13T17:23:53Z

Been a LONG time since my last entry. I'm sorry about that, folks. It's just that I normally don't have all that much to say - and when I do, I normally say it straight *to* people rather than write it down. :/

*pause, takes call*

That also cuts into any 'oooh, I should blog about X' I would want to do, too. By the time I finish the call, I've forgotten what I wanted to say anyway.

Work? Well, I work in a call center that manages 401(k)s. If you're watching the economic news, that should give you some idea about how 'fun' my job is right now. It's only 11 AM, and I'm already going 'can't wait to get home, god shoot me now.' Started with a deaf relay call that went on for an hour, and went downhill from there.

Of course, Isaac promising sushi after work, and a trip to the Art Institute tomorrow (and possibly kungfu movies Saturday evening) is doing wonders for my overall temper.

Mood: stabbity, in spite of the aforementioned prompts for good behavior.

I'm not the only one feeling it - my coworker is currently stressing out next to me as he tries to finish his Val's Day present for his sweetie. He's been cutting out little snowflakes and stuff and is mounting them on a photograph frame. Two of my coworkers are engaged, and one's having issues finding a place that'll hold her reception. The other one's behind me freaking on the phone to her mortgage company as she tries to close today (she couldn't get off for it, poor dear.)

Theme song: Incidental fight music from Pokemon Emerald. I've picked up my DS and started playing the thing again from the beginning on Monday. I have now walked through so much tall grass that that music is imbedded in my skull.

Atia's very Jewish Shabbat.

2008-08-03T11:17:28Z

I had been told by my rabbi that an important part of working towards conversion was living as a Jew. So, Isaac and I had a properly Jewish Shabbat.

All we lacked was the Shabbat candle lighting the evening before, ya know? SO.

Woke up Saturday morning, and kvetch that I didn't sleep all that well.

Headed to Torah Study at Beth Israel, and participated in a very polite debate with the rabbi and other shul members. Left with throat slightly parched and ears ringing, because we rarely let the rabbi get a word in edgewise. "Actually, rabbi, I think the use of this word *gods* in this verse of Jeremiah implies..." Only got two verses into the parsha for this week because we got stuck on the concept of ethics in ancient times, maybe we'll actually get through an entire one someday - oh, who am I kidding! This will never happen.

Stayed through Shabbat services. Got lost in Gates of Prayer handbook dozens of times because I forget text in places goes from right to left, and I limp through transliterations. Listen to temple cantor fill in when tiny minyan gets lost in the chanting and singing. Isaac and I get the honor of opening the ark for the rabbi to retrieve the Torah, even though we're not officially congregants (yet) and I'm not Jewish. :)

Following service, husband and I grab a quick nosh at the nearby Greek place. Get stares as we're apparently the only interracial couple some of these people have seen in ages. Bleah.

Visited Isaac's sweet bubbe. Took her out for a proper lunch. While Isaac is at the salad bar, she asks me when she's gonna see great-grandchildren. Uhm, she's already got TWO. Soon, bubbe, soon. Am also informed I don't eat enough and am thin as a rail.
Kvetch about heat and really bad service at Ruby Tuesday.

Upon taking our leave of Bubbe, we're given a large sponge cake. So yeah. Leftovers from visiting bubbe, who thinks I need to eat more.

It has been ages since I posted in this....

2008-07-29T11:58:04Z

Mainly because I have no idea what to *say* in this thing.

Needless to say, I'm still alive and kicking. We'll be moving soon (probably more information in the husband's LJ than mine) and I recently hit my first year at the job.

And...yeah. Still here. :)

More to come as I think of it.

Why is this day so different from other days...?

2008-04-12T16:29:48Z

For on this day, five years ago, Isaac and I were married.

Happy anniversary, honey. :)

And I am over the flu!

2008-03-06T21:21:17Z

....less a nagging hack-up-a-lung-o-rama! After checking in with the doc today, I'll be going back to work tomorrow.

On the sad end, Curt's now got it. Send him good vibes, y'all, that he's down with it for less time than I was!

In which A2K has the flu - day 2

2008-03-04T20:22:10Z

And here I thought it was just sinus on Saturday.

Now, I'm this hacking, 102-feverish with occasional chills, nauseated, exhausted MESS of a woman. I have not had the flu in over a decade, so I really had no memory of what it was like, other than 'unpleasant'.

How amusing this morning that WTMX's Eric and Kathy were talking about this latest flu strain going around as I turned on the radio this morn. At least I know I'm not alone in this, although I'd love to know who I caught it from.

I'd....like to go back to forgetting, now. At least my boss is being merciful and allowing me the time off to get better.This is a good thing - I wouldn't want ANYONE at my job to catch this, particularly my cubicle buddy who's pregnant.

But god...shoot me now. It'd be merciful.

At least Link in SoulCalibur made some sort of sense....

2008-02-09T16:21:34Z

Yeah. I...got nothin'. It's apparently been confirmed, however, that Darth and Yoda will be vying for the SoulCalibur this iteration of the game (I'm gonna have to play the hell out of this game if this actually goes live.)

WOOO ADULT SNOW DAY

2008-02-06T17:43:19Z

We just got it from on high - our bosses are no fools, and they're sending us home EARLY.

...given the weather out there, we very well might get home by the usual time we get OFF. :)

Everyone stay safe in the Snow Belt today!

Random mutterings.

2008-02-05T16:43:14Z

Yesterday, while out at lunch, Isaac and I realized we were coming up on our fifth wedding anniversary in April, and we went shopping for anniversary bands. My, how time flies. It's been five years? Really? My mother didn't think we'd make it through the first year - and she tried her best to make sure we didn't!

You know, there's a very special Johnny Cash icon for my response to that. :)

Gotta hand it to my grumpybear for remembering the date; I *still* can't, much to my dismay (I get the month right; for the life of me I can't remember the day for some reason or other). In that case, having this would be cool as hell: http://www.alaskajewelry.com/remember-rings-never-forget-anniversary-p-2040.html

Presently I'm sitting at work, somewhat bored as hell, but triumphant. Cause, by god, I made it in last Friday through the snow and got paid 2 free hours of PTO for making it. Got an email today that said we took over 1000 calls on my team that day when half the team didn't make it. Dear god - I was so hyped up on adrenalin after that day I chattered like a magpie all evening and went to sleep late.

Man, I was never so glad that my Monday off was approved. I needed it after that day. And compared to Friday, today's sooooooo quiet. I get calls occasionally, but with everyone back, the load's really spread out. I've only got one call to make today that's going to be somewhat aggravating, and if that job didn't go through I have no idea what I'm going to do. Scream, cry, hurt my client manager.... :)

Anyway, this gives me time to hunt down the imperative form of 'to break' in Japanese. OH GOD I HATE JAPANESE VERBS. I think it's 'orere' but I can't be sure....

Speaking of Japanese....Fetishes for Everyone, better known as Cutey Honey The LIVE, continues to be the most awesome show in history.
I will say that , yeah, it's most definitely not for everyone. There isn't an ep that goes by that I don't find myself going "Oh, *Japan*."

There's this teacher with this thing for teenage female violinists on pedestals...she covers them with cheesecloth and spits up raw eggs on them, and...No, I'm not kidding. And I just saw the entry of the fourth Panther Claw Big Bad. She fights with frozen fish. And heatseeking missiles. Compared to these two, the first two bosses are freaking TAME. I mean, come on, Duke Watari (happy sigh the man is hot - shave Mark Musashi and bring him to my tent, yo!) just fights with footblades and the other kid's got razor feathers.

The introduction of the girl who would be Sister Yuki during the Kidnapping and Triple Date From HELL episodes made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. And now that Sister Miki knows about the two of them, and Cutey remains as clueless as ever, it's about to get *really* interesting. Probably not kinky, but interesting nonetheless.

Okay, Toku fans - I just saw the first ep of Kamen Rider Kiva over the weekend as well, and it looks very very promising. The pace was a tad confusing for the first ep - they're following plotlines that started in 1986, and then they flip to the ramifications of those plots with the new generation of fighters in 2008. And we've got a space vampire thing going. Which, I suppose, makes Kiva some sort of high powered dhampir or something.

I like this show for several reasons:
1. ROCKING opening song. And very stylish opening credits. Hot young men covered in rosepetals - it's like the show was made just for me.
2. We're dropped in medias res with a Kamen Rider WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON. Can you tell I really am tired of protagonists slowly discovering their power over the course of the show? Oh, and the opening scene with him apologizing to the cat for trying to steal its dinner was among the cutest scenes I have ever witnessed in a KR show.
3. The girl who played Sailor Luna in PGSM is playing his sidekick. I literally went "Wait, she looks familiar..." *wiki check* OMG SAILOR LUNA? Boy, she's grown.
4. Jumpkicking female martial artist that's doing it for herself. And she has the most useful gun evar.
5. Awesome monster design theme this time around. Stained glass animals. Niiiiiice.

I dislike this show for a few reasons:
1. The accursed robotic bat sidekick that triggers the change - okay, maybe it's just the use of him in the utterly cool opening credits that I hate. Okay, I'm not fond of him having to bite Kiva to trigger the henshin, though it's in theme....
2. The dragon building. You will be as much 'whaaa?' over that dragon building as I. I really hope they don't use that footage all that much....
3. Timeflipping. I may get used to that eventually, but still...

Can't wait to see more of it and see if it lives up to my expectations.

Slow day at work...

2008-01-24T15:32:23Z

I'm sitting here burning through my latest starbucks concoction - Venti white choco mocha with caramel, whipped cream, and two shots of raspberry flavoring. Yummy. And had blackberries for breakfast - blackberries the size of my thumb. Sometimes, I love the breakfast bar at my job. Whee!

At times like this, my thoughts turn to possibly finding a dojo out here and starting martial arts classes of some sort. Not sure what kind, although I'd love to take either Aikido or taichi. Something to help me ratchet down my anxiety and stress, which is a constant companion nowadays.

Or maybe I should just do yoga.
Any ideas?

Oh, Cutey Honey. You so crazy. I'm sorry, this is the most crackalicious show ever. I didnt' think I'd ever be much for a show specializing in pantyflashes and cleavageshots. I mean, that's what Cutey is *about*, we all know this going in, but!

You have this scene in ep 1:

Action shot of prison escapee making break for freedom, cradling very unusual gun. We have plot, ladies and gentlemen! Cops in pursuit.

Suddenly, there's an Interrupting shot of...Japanese schoolgirls lining up for yearly school exams in their gym outfit. Shot taken from about waist level so you have clear views of schoolgirl rear, but nothing above the shoulder. WTH.

Suddenly - cut back to the prison escapee, fighting for his life. Along come new chasers - guys in business suits carrying...hand scythes? Er? Escapee freaks, opening fire.

Interrupting, and very close, shot of schoolgirl breasts being measured with the nurse's tape, with rampant giggling in the background. I swear YOU ARE THERE. A pan or two goes below the waist to pert schoolgirl rears. Still, no faces.

And we're back at the escapee, who's been completely pwned, butchered, and carried off in boxes. A mysterious truck rolls up, and his remains are carted away.

And then, back to the girls again!

This seriously left Isaac and me going "Okay, wait, what? Were they trying to rest our eyes from the violence or something? "

The connection doesn't actually show up until later, when the big bad starts coming after the hapless private investigator - who just happens to have a connection to Cutey Honey, whose alter ego is in the schoolgirl class that's getting their checkup. Oh, oooooooookay.

I love this show, but it's utterly ridiculous. After catching 2 this morning, which featured Cutey giving a spank job to a guy that won her after a game of dice, and then battling the Corporate Ninjas With Scythes! I can't wait to watch 3 just so I can find out what the FRACK is going on.

The State of A2K's Game.

2008-01-23T21:46:11Z

This has been a week of sheer hell. DAMN YOU stock market! Every call I've gotten this week has been from people who apparently did not pay attention at all to the world of money until now - and now it's OMG MY 401K/403b/402g! Come on, people, if you have money that's being invested, please for the love of good KEEP TRACK OF IT. If I had a dollar for all the people I've dealt with with nearly a million dollars that are acting *surprised* about what's going on.

"Sir/ma'am, I am NOT a licensed financial advisor" was the most often uttered phrase this week, along with "GTFO my phone and take a Valium." when they finally hung up. I totally understand their anxiety, but screaming at ME about it isn't going to make either of us feel better, or get anything constructive done.

I don't *even* want to talk about yesterday, with the Nestea plunge the market did following that interest rate snip. I am resisting - RESISTING, I tell you! looking at my own 401(k). I know there is more red ink on that thing right now....le sigh.

***

Also, I just got done with my monthly meeting with my boss. Where I work, that's a standard - everyone gets a half-hour with the boss each month to review their performance.

I am overjoyed to know I'm doing very darn well, and the boss is positive I'm going to pass my midyear evaluation - so much so that she's moving it UP to the beginning of the month rather than schedule it at the end, same time as all my other meetings. Rock. (Okay, she's also going to Mexico mid-month, but that wouldn't interfere with my assessment. Really).

I was just in a quick PM convo with my training lead. Her opinion has not changed since I walked into the training room five months ago - to quote, "You expect too much of yourself, and stress yourself out unneccessarily." Well, DUH. I reserve the right to stress out when I'm faced with moving millions of dollars through someone's account, thank you so much.

I like my boss. Really. She's a very stressed individual, and I think that sometimes I don't really *appreciate* how much she does. She always seems to be chained to her desk - but she ALWAYS seems to know everything that's going on on the team. And she's genuinely interested in how we're doing, and gives very fair feedback on how she thinks we're doing.

Sometimes I want to throw my whole team upside down in an umbrella stand, but I've learned to like them. :)

For all the librarians on my flist...

2008-01-18T14:59:41Z

or anyone willing to play a very librarianish game. Hope the link works.

Damn you, Carnegie-Mellon. Damn youuuuuuu!

http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc/game1/game1.swf

atia_julii @ 2008-01-17T08:39:00

2008-01-17T14:53:56Z

Taking a new client today, after four hours of training in their 401k plan yesterday.

Right now, I'm staring at the phone like it was a live snake. I was so nervous last night that I went to bed sickeningly early last night, and barely touched the dinner Curt made. (I did pack it up this morning so I could have it for lunch today, and it does keep well!)

...Okay, I've already had two calls, and they don't seem THAT bad. But we'll see.

(I'm focusing on my reward for getting through to the evening - P&W in Gnomeregan!)

Boy, I haven't written in this for a while, have I?

2008-01-15T21:02:23Z

The A2K is not dead, sorry to say...

Again, I got slapped down by the general fact that my life is just NOT that interesting, thus I never really have anything to say. Sorry, folks! How's by all you?

But right now, I'm sitting at work, and mildly bored as hell. So, I'll update this thing. And I swear I'll try and keep it more current from now on.

The state of A2K's life.

Presently, I am earning minor ducats at my thankless job, shepherding people through their 401K plans. Some days (like now!) I'm screaming for activity, other days I feel like the British Army at Rorke's Drift with the 'my god, they just keep coming! Get me more ammo - I ran out!" But it's a job I like well enough, and the pay's good. The bonus (sort of) is that the dear husband is two floors away and we're always in contact, which means that we can share war stories in the car on the way home each eve.

I'm handling three fairly distinct 401Ks right now, and I just got assigned to another team last week. I have five hours of training scheduled on the new client tomorrow. Uhm, yay, and go me - they haven't decided to fire me yet; instead they're giving me MORE work.

I began this job back in 4 weeks of training with about 24 people. We were split up among the company benefits teams, but now, coming up on the 6th month of work (man, has it actually been that long? Dear gods!) there's only 5 of us left. Attrition was fairly awful within the first few months; heck, the girl that was assigned along with me to this team didn't even make it through the first hour of our first day on the actual team before she quit.

People tell me that's normal, though, but I'm boggling.

My team is a fairly laidback one; really, that's all I can say when I can look up and see one of our specialists has grabbed our manager's throwaway plastic bags, stuffed his shirt with them, and is doing OMG WTF Betty Boop poses behind her back. it's our clients that are freaked out and uptight.

Rule one of my job - your retirement plan is NOT a savings account that you can dip into any time you want. Thus when we tell you something's been denied because of X, Y, and Z, that's not us being asses - that's us following the rules (corporate AND federal) of the plan to the letter. So you got dinged on your request for cash to pay your credit card bill? So bad, so sad, see you next week.

Rule two of my job - dear god, sir, if you've got over a million dollars in your 401K and you don't know how to manage it, that's your problem, not mine. We're not financial advisors! Go hire one!

WouldI ever go back to being a librarian? OMG yes, if someone ever hired me. That's what I went to school for. But I'm just glad to be working somewhere after all this time. And my training has some use on the lines when it comes to actually looking up and answering questions.

People on CoH and CoV may have noted I'm not there; I'm taking a break from it after playing on the dang thing for nearly three years. Yes, I know. I was about 4-5 months away from the Lollipop of DOOM vet reward, but my interest in the game has seriously lost its steam.
Where am I now? WoW. Yes, THAT game. Gave it a try, like it a lot, and am currently leveling hunters. My love for controllers pretty much triggered me choosing one of the two classes with a pet. So if you're ever on Kirin Tor and see Solveig (that's my main) say hi!

..mmm. If I think of anything else, I'll drop another line or so later.

But yes, life is finally getting good, and I'm gradually getting where I want to be!

World of employment, ho!

2007-09-10T11:39:15Z

And today begins my first day at my new job. Two weeks of training, then the lion's den.

Any luck y'all would like to toss at me would be greatly appreciated. Particularly in the area of scheduling - they changed my shift hours on me AGAIN.

Godspeed to one of my favorite authors

2007-09-07T19:09:26Z

Madeline L'Engle died yesterday at the age of 88.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_re_us/obit_l_engle

A2K's day and other light classics.

2007-08-30T00:27:23Z

Today has been a day for much screaming - I and my loan consolidation officer called hither and yon all day trying to find out where one of my grad student loans went off to. No one knew where the fuck it was. We're not just talking the school - we're talking the US govt had no idea where it'd gone.

As I said to Crystal halfway through this, "You'd think the US would want their money back."

But we found it after four hours of calls, she emailed me the electronic copy of the consol papers for me to sign - only to discover that she'd written my birthdate incorrectly. So she'll have to call the people actually putting together the consol to fix her error. ARGH.

After all that, I went off to the workout room right around the corner from our apartment to get in some stationary cycling. Went the Cardio route on it, set for an hour. Holy god, big mistake that, plus doing cycling while watching the World Track and Field competition on the big screen in the workout room. Though my legs were not screaming for mercy when it was done, my heartrate was soaring and made me a tad lightheaded.

I got off the bike, staggered out the door, went down the hall...and slammed SMACK DAB into the window right next to the door out of the building. Loud enough that the landlord up at the other end of the hall came running to see what the heck that was.

Ow. I literally could not see for a while there, it hurt so bad. Upon getting back to the apartment, i found I had a small cut on the bridge of my nose that was weeping blood, and now the bridge has swollen, giving me a properly roman nose. Happily, it doesn't seem to be broken.

But yeah. My day, let me share it. :/

This makes the librarian in me laugh too hard.

2007-08-29T11:51:54Z

atia_julii @ 2007-08-25T19:47:00

2007-08-26T00:57:54Z

Not much going on recently - just been chilling and enjoying my vacation before the job begins.

voiceofisaac and gammahamster are presently off at a D&D game, so I've got the house to myself, and am enjoying the quiet. Well, the quiet between the SHRIEK of an explosion of cicadas we've had over the past week.

Tonight, I decided to break out the five Doctor Who VHS tapes that were given to me after someone donated them at the library and the library didn't want 'em. Flipped through 'em, decided on The Five Doctors. Now mind you, the majority of what I know about Doctor Who begins and ends with Tom Baker, the only series that aired in Arkansas when I was a girl. Okay, I've watched a lot of the most recent ones, but they're not the issue here. Am NOT familiar at all with the first few doctors.

Anyway. Dear *god* this thing is crack. I don't think I've laughed so hard in ages. It's like one endless Bob Hope road movie with the Docs and their Companions. The First is just all awesome cranky "I was the original, so go get in the kitchen, Tegan" and ignoring Tegan's look of death(I need to find vids of the 1st if he's this awesome here). The 2nd is so eccentric and has the most horrific coat, the 3rd and his awesome hoopty (did he call that thing Bessie?) and his reunion with Sarah Jane - and then of course there's Tom, and then the Fifth...and what is with that big stalk of celery in his lapel???

And of course, the Master is awesome. <i>You want me to go into the Death Zone? Why? Oh, right, I'm expendable, you Gallifreyan bast - oh, wait, I get to go save the Doctor? And you're gonna offer me what to do this? This is utterly delicious.</i>

Thank you, Five Doctors, for making me a rabid fan that wants to see the old seasons now, even though I have very little idea of who ANY of these people are.

Now to go back to watch the rest of this awesome little show.

Ah, I love both my jobs. really. REALLY.

2007-08-10T19:16:14Z

Just got news from my job-to-be.

Right now, they've got me scheduled for the 10:30 AM - 7 PM shift, though that could be subject to change (I'm assuming if I beg hard enough after training's done.)

Joy and elation. This hoses any sane attempt at carpooling, since Isaac and I were hoping for my shift time to be similar to his (8:00-4:30) and we only have the one car. Oh, well. I'll just go in two hours early, have breakfast on campus, and chill until I'm on shift. (Another reason for the DS and a pile of games.)

I'll be spending the first month training anyway, so I can take advantage of that to study before class begins too.

Huh. She promised to email me the details as soon as she got off the phone...but nothing yet, and my employment packet's apparently going in the mail today.

I will not stalk my email box. I will not stalk my email box.

The library's cool with me leaving, although I think there will be some problems as I'm apparently not the only one resigning in the department this month.

Lessee. One coworker applied to move laterally to another position within the department, and had her interview the very same Thursday I went in for my unexpected one at Hewitt. She didn't get it, and I think it's because she's one of the few veterans that will be left on AV staff, so they didn't want to let her shift out. However, she wants to take *my* hours after I leave, which she needs to work with her class schedule this upcoming year. So, it all turns out okay. I must make a point of letting our department head KNOW that my coworker gets first dibs on my shift. Totally forgot yesterday. :/

School starts up around here in two weeks, but since I'm leaving, I get to dodge that library suck, thank god. Not because of a sudden upswing in patrons, no. It's the upswing in:

"I'm sorry, I don't have my library card. "
"Well, we can use a photo id, like a driver's license, or something..."
"Uhm...well, I don't have that, either..."

Nothing like having to deal with patron after patron that don't have their driver's licenses due to the endless number of speedtraps that go up around these parts when school starts up. Never have I seen anything like it, probably because large parts of P-town seem to be made of nothing but state highways and freeways. This is why I'm glad I have both a driver's license AND a state ID, to avoid this problem.

And in the world of the political STUPID today....

2007-08-03T19:34:27Z

I...have no words. NONE.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/03/tancredo-bomb-muslim-holy-sites-first/

I mean...what...what the fuck? Bomb MECCA? Is this man totally fucking insane? Oh, wait, I answered that.