All the RomCom of Qi Xi

Yanno, I did this entry of what makes me hit the backbutton really, really fast when it comes to fanfic. I feel like I should do one on professionally published works, as well. For example, referring to one of your main protagonists as "a slice of chocolate cake" because he's a black man. Really? Was that necessary and/or appropriate? The book sounded awful anyway (plus, no excerpt) but that "slice of chocolate cake" was just the icing on the fail cake (yes, bad pun, sorry :().

Interviewing continues for the open position. Recent applicants/interviewees included:

a.) the man telling me that he doesn't waste his time on "that Star Wars crap" (um, dude? You're staring at a picture of Wedge Antilles and you're sitting in an office currently filled with "that Star Wars crap"). He's much smarter than that because he likes chess but only plays against people that have a lower skill level than he does because he hates to lose. He also told us his previous boss was out to get him and constantly setting him up for failure and that he likes to snoop through other people's desks so that he can see what they are and aren't doing.

b.) the lady with the see-through shirt where I could see her bra. No thanks, I really do not need to see that. Plus, she then admitted that her animals are not fixed, that they run around the neighborhood adding to a pet overpopulation problem and then giggling about it. You do know what we do here, right?

c.) The lady who called me up and demanded an interview and then cried on the phone when I told her that she wasn't qualified. Please don't cry. That really makes me uncomfortable. I'm sorry that your years of working on building calculators doesn't qualify you for an accounting position but building them and using them are not the same thing.

d.) The guy who wants to be a wilderness guide, knows how to ride horses in two different styles and just got certified for remote wilderness survival. None of that relates to accounting. Just because you know which bugs to eat (yes, that was on his resume) doesn't mean that you'll be able to accurately determine which accounts to charge expenses to.

Ugh. Hiring. I keep hearing that there are tons of people looking for jobs. Why can't I get qualified AND non-crazy ones. They're either not-crazy and not-qualified or qualified and crazy.

So, interviewing continues, obviously.

Anyone going to Star Trek Las Vegas? elanorofcastile and I are going and I think it'd be fun to meet up with a bunch of slashers. Anyone?

The teaser trailer for Assassin's Creed: Embers is up. here. Oh my heart. Seriously, just gah. This game series just about breaks my heart. I love Altair, don't get me wrong, but Ezio has a special place in my heart. I think it has a lot to do with how much we've seen of his life versus how little we saw of Altair. We've seen Ezio since he was a baby and now we get to see him as an old(er) man.

I think Imma sign up for the Assassin's Creed Big Bang, especially as the word count is a minimum of 4k. Next challenge is all about cliches and I can think of about a billion cliches I'd love to write.

My biowarebang fic will be posted shortly. We've an extension from the mod and hopefully everything comes together in the next day or so. You should see what kath_ballantyne came up with, folks. Seriously, her drawings are amazing. AMAZING. I have no words for it. Plus, the fic mixer has some great ideas (and she loved my fic so there's that, too).

I have a huge, ginormous amount of shit to take to the post office now that the post office has found my lost packages. So if I owe you mail, you will be getting it soon.

Work has been ridiculous lately but it's eased up. We've finally closed our fiscal year and can work on July and move on with our lives.

One of the people I loathe at work just turned in her two weeks. I'm sort of ecstatic over it. She's a royal pain in the ass with a giant martyr complex while she also thinks that she is the most amazing person in the entire world. I hate listening to her fucking lectures on how awesome she is and how she knows more than everyone else. Self-absorbed asshole is finally going away. Thank the maker.

I haven't posted lately because honestly? The only thing going on in my life is work (and not very exciting work at that).

I had my first paid speaking gig on "Employee Engagement: Inspiring Employees to be Well". It's just mindboggling that I get paid to tell people that if they talk to their employees, their employees will talk back.

I've finally finished my help_haiti fic. It's going to require copious amounts of beta'ing but it's finished. Deamus with a side of Neville/Susan, Dennis/Parvati, Harry/Ginny and misc other characters.

I've also finished both of my help_nz fics. Woohoo!

I've a prompt for help_japan which I'm looking forward to writing! I'm claiming my trekreversebang prompt tomorrow and I have one that I really really want as I've sort of already started writing it :/ Way to put the cart before the horse, wook, you idiot.

Tomorrow shall be spent stitching Star Trek characters.

I think I might have a house lined up for next year. It'll be a rental but, still, I'm finally getting my own place and moving out of my mother and sister's house. I'm stuck until next year as my sister is in school and has no income so they need me to help pay the mortgage. The house is fairly tiny (about 800 sq feet) but it has a nice sized back yard. I worked out the budget for the house and it looks like I can afford it with a little left over, even with quitting Fry's.

Those who know me will be shocked by the following: I have cut my Diet Coke intake down from about two 2-liters a day to 3 cans a day. This is huge. I haven't been getting caffeine headaches with that cutback but I'm going to go for another week before I cut it down to one can a day.

My manager at Fry's was finally able to cut my schedule down to 3 shifts a week. In a few weeks, I'll be back to two shifts a week. That's still more than enough money to afford trips and pay off medical bills so I'm good to go with that sort of schedule.

On Thursday and Friday nights this past week, I volunteered at an emergency shelter. Tucson declared a state of emergency due to the cold and the fact that 14k people were without heat. Unfortunately, the shelter didn't get a lot of usage but, still, awesome idea.

During my time volunteering, I met some amazing people. There was the guy that gave up his condo in NYC to drive around in a beat-up Jeep and camp out in various places around the US. He was appalled that, whenever he asked anyone where the library was, they had no idea. It wasn't just Tucson, it was Seattle and Des Moines and Chicago and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. We talked about books and writing for hours.

There was the guy that came in that had a bit of gas going into his house but he simply couldn't afford to heat his house. He chatted with me as he walked his cat around on a leash. We had brilliant conversations about his time in the military and how he felt a bit loss because he'd never found a job that fit quite like the military. He had problems relating to people and never once made eye contact with me. He told me that I was the first person he'd talked to for more than a few minutes, at least in three years. Three years of not having anything more than a cursory conversation with someone.

There was the homeless man who had a service chihuahua. The dog was there for seizures and for mental health issues. It was freezing so the man came in from the cold only for his dog. If it hadn't been for the dog, he would've stayed right outside, he proudly told me. He was very withdrawn and only responded when asked about his dog.

But the one set of people I met that has me wrenched up in a navel-gazing sort of way was the 13 year old girl I met. (I'll call her "A") She came in with her father and they had two cats that walked on a leash. One was fixed and the other wasn't. It wasn't until they'd been at the shelter for three hours that she gave an interview to one of the reporters that showed up. When the reporter asked her how long they'd been without gas, she looked at him, blinked and said that there was plenty of gas in their car. It's just it was nice to sleep in a real bed.

A and her father (always father, never dad or daddy. always father) had been living in their car for two months. This time. They'd had a place for a few months before that but before that, they'd been living in the car. In the past year, she'd been living in the car over 6 months. A car.

Both her and her father had very limited social skills. The first night, they barely talked to anyone. They were polite but withdrawn. A was proud to admit that she'd started her first college class (13 and going to college and homeless). Other than that, they didn't speak. The second night, I greeted them by name, ushered them into the shelter with a smile and found myself talking to both her and her dad. It was hard to navigate the conversation, to keep it away from things they found intrusive (questions like, "are you warm enough here" and asked because the first night, the boiler malfunctioned and the place's temperature sank to 55, was far too personal). I talked to them about their animals and the importance of spaying and neutering. The father mentioned that one of my co-workers had mentioned a free neuter but he wasn't interested. We talked about health risks and ensuring that the animals kept all their shots up to date.

I took a moment to introduce everyone to my replacement, ensuring that my replacement volunteer knew the minefield and could make better decisions than I had the night before, and went on my way.

This morning, I got a call from the co-worker (who is a high mucketymuck at work and not just a grunt like me) that the father had agreed to neuter his cat and that it was all "your fault". I've never been so grateful to hear the words "your fault".

But, really, I wonder about the impact I had. Anyone who has been on my flist for awhile can tell you that, every year, for my birthday and for Christmas, I ask people to give to the needy, to look through their closets and downsize their stuff. I ask people to donate to local charities and take the time to volunteer if they can. I'm really good at the lip service to these causes.

However, I've learned that I still suffer from the "not in my backyard" syndrome. Sure, there's a problem with homeless families but, really, not in Tucson. We're a very generous small city. And, really, if it's a homeless family, it's female-led. That's why it's important to have safe places for families to go. Except that most homeless shelters don't really plan for male-led homeless families so where did this father/daughter combo have to go that wouldn't separate them?

The other part that really got me was that each person that I spoke to told me about how awesome the libraries are, how important they are for a safe haven and the opportunities they presented. To A, they meant a place where she could work on her college and high school classes. To the traveler, they meant a place where he can get a book, brush up on his skills and take a moment to rest somewhere warm/cool. To another gentleman, they meant a place where he could just be. It was rare that I heard about the importance of the books but, instead, they talked about the librarians that helped them without judgment and the rare one that did judge. They talked about how it was a shame that libraries weren't treated with respect anymore. They talked about how people abuse the library, stealing books that others want to enjoy.

And I sat there, knowing full well that I owe twenty-five dollars in fines to the library that I can easily repay but I've been too fucking lazy to do and I was so ashamed at that moment (and now). So, Monday, I'll be calling the main branch and having my credit card charged for my fines. I'll be making a donation, too. I'm going to work harder at my classes.

I'm reassessing what I've been doing and how I look at the world. It's all navel gazing but, really, sometimes you need something to rock you out of complacency and I have to thank A for that.

Sorry this is so long and not under a cut but it feels wrong to hide their stories under a cut. These people are hidden away so much by society already that I feel ashamed for trying to hide them again. So, no cut and you can flay me for it, if you'd like.

My racism/minority groups class is depressing me and not due to subject matter, either. I really thought that in a class that has an entire segment of the textbook that addresses the fallacy of "some of my best friends are..." that I wouldn't receive a comment that stated that "over-the-top portrayals of gays is all right because one of my best friends is gay and he laughs at himself all the time". Um, dude, just cause you find campy stereotypes of gay people to be lolarious doesn't mean that everyone does. I shouldn't have to explain the segment of the motherfucking textbook to you. I also shouldn't have to explain that his vote doesn't cancel out my vote and that makes it all right that the only portrayals of gays on mainstream television are the campy ones that never have a relationship.

Ugh, I did it anyway but, still. So much depressing bits because I shouldn't have to do it in a class based on racism and minority groups.

Then again, this entire weekend has been filled with this. I had to defriend someone yesterday (and block them from my LJ) when they decided to post a vitriolic, Islamaphobic diatribe as an "honor to 9/11". It is not honoring the people that died on 9/11 to post nasty, hate-filled, accusatory and negative stereotypes in an attack on Muslims. Cause, guess what? There were some *gasp* Muslims that died on 9/11 that weren't the hijackers, so STFU, bigoted doucherocket. Stop using a tragedy to justify your hatred. Otherwise, don't be surprised when someone whips out the Oklahoma City Bombing as a reason to hate all Christians. Face it, there are extremists of every religion out there. I shouldn't have to explain this but, dude, guess I do.

I also spent the weekend working and shopping for books. I got a bunch of awesome old skool romance novels to laugh at read and enjoy in addition to some awesome cookbooks, fantastic movies and Wiilliam Shatner's Star Trek Memories. OMG DID I SCORE OR WHAT!? The Shatman's memories of being on the Star Trek set! EEEEEEE PLUS OMG! I got a cd of his music and three books that he authored! It was Shatmanapalooza!

How was your weekend?

I post, I disappear for two weeks. I post, I disappear for two weeks. I'm starting to detect a pattern.

Work is currently nomming on my brain. Unfortunately, that isn't likely to end as I'm currently working on some major projects that could have a very good payoff for me.

In addition, there's school and the idiots in my class. IE: We were asked about a solution to poverty and one of my classmates responded with "give people more money. People with money aren't poor." Cause, yeah that'll work. UGH. And all the responses were similar.

Anyway, I have fic. I have LOTS of fic. I have fic that I got back from beta a week ago and I have fic that needs to head to beta. I have fic in journals and on receipts and in books. I have fic everywhere but just no time to transcribe and tweak. Tonight is a rare night off and I'm totally transcribing it.

Did I mention that the keyboard on my computer died on Sunday? Only like 12 keys work on it. I've tried everything and nothing worked except plugging in a USB keyboard. I just hope that the Ebon Hawk holds together until I can afford a new computer. I figure if its namesake could have rocks crush it on Malachor V and fly off into the sunset, then so can my computer, dammit.

I also stitched up two of my four cross-stitched Star Trek character pieces for help_haiti. The first is a Kirk/Mirror!Spock and the second is Picard/Riker. I just have to find my freaking frames and mail them out and then I shall post photos. They're seriously adorable, just ask elanorofcastile.

I have missed bunches and bunches of your lives and I apologize profusely. I do not blame you for thinking I'm a douche.

I had one crazykakes old man come in tonight to Fry's. And I lost my temper at him. And he complained to management about me.

See, the conversation started out normal. As with most of the older folks in my area, they always ask what a nice, college educated young woman like me is doing working at a grocery store. So I told this guy the same as I always tell people, I'm working to pay off a mortgage and bills but I'm starting back to school to be a lawyer. Well, oops on that part because he launches into a diatribe about how I shouldn't go into criminal law because it's all "browns and blacks" down here but do you know who makes the best lawyers? The Jews cause they're all liars and you have to be a good liar to be a good lawyer. ( moar racism and bigotry and my shitty response. Under a cut to spare you if you'd rather not be exposed to anything further. )

Day has been spent working and in tears. I worked what is, probably, my last shift at Fry's last night. I thought I was all right but it's so weird to think about being forced off my job tomorrow.

I've never been fired. It's sort of a weird position right now because it feels an awful lot like I'm being fired because Fry's is the one calling for the lockout of all union AND non-union employees.

IDK. I'm in a weird spot emotionally.

I called my student loan company to ask for a deferment as I'm losing my job and they won't give me one even though I'm going to be locked out and am not choosing to lose my job. Instead, I got lectures on how lazy I was to go on strike and how they can't be losing money just because I choose to walk away from my job and blahblahblah*insert judgmental cunty commentary* blahblahblah. So, I finally snapped at the woman that I'm going back to school and I'll be getting a student deferment instead and so they couldn't collect interest on my loans anymore and to "stick that in [her] judgmental crackpipe and smoke it" which, probably, was not the most reasonable/mature thing to say. But it did inspire to go to the local community college's website and register for two classes to maintain the 6 credit hours needed to put my student loans in deferment. Thus, I'm taking "The Holocaust" and "Gender Identities, Interactions and Relations". The second one sounds really cool:

Examination of the social structures and processes related to gender in society. Includes sex versus gender, theoretical perspectives, politics past and present, gender and the family, love and marriage, and masculinity. Also includes gender in the workplace, in the media, religion, and medicine, and global perspectives.

Both are either online or self-paced classes.

So fuck you, judgmental bitchy cuntragdoucheball at the student loans that I have overpaid 6 times in the past 9 months. FUCK YOU! I'm going back to school and there isn't a fucking thing you can do about it.

Thus, I should be able to almost pay my bills starting in April when I pay off my car loan to Bank of Dad. So now, my only concern is health insurance so I can get a couple of necessary surgeries done.

So it looks like that, effective 6pm Friday, November 13th, I will be losing my second job. The local union has decided to call for a strike. It looks like a "lockout" strike rather than a traditional strike where any employee can cross the picket line.

A "lockout" means that every hourly employee, regardless of union affiliation, loses their jobs. That means that I cannot reapply for my job as a temporary worker. It means that I lose my insurance in December. It means that I'm stuck without that income. It means, for all intents and purposes, I'm fucked.

I'm trying not to cry about it because that isn't going to solve anything. I'm more just pissed right the fuck off. The entire sticking point between the union and Fry's boils down to: new hire employees will be asked to pay $5/$10/$15 (depending on level of coverage: employee/spouse/family) weekly. I'm losing my job over someone having to put in 20 bucks a month for health insurance that happens to be one of the best plans if not the best plan in the market.

Srsly? I'm losing hundreds of dollars a week, I'm losing health insurance, I'm losing out on all sorts of shit because someone's going to have to put in 20 bucks a month? Really? Way to fuck over the employees, UFCW 99. That totes makes me want to say "go union".

The people supporting the strike are also the very same people that think that the Public Option plan has death camps and will ration care (like you cutting off my insurance doesn't ration my care, you fucks). These same people want to take away part of John Flora's (the president of Fry's) salary and redistribute it to the front line staff but also think that communism is bad and ebil and Obama is an ebil Commie Pinko Bastard. What do they really think that redistribution of wealth is? Fuckers. Ignorant motherfuckers.

I have no idea how I'm going to make my bills or what I'm going to do about the surgery I have scheduled in January. I have to have this fucking surgery and I've already lost out of having it once because Fry's cancelled my insurance and didn't re-enroll me at the correct time. I just don't know what I'm going to do if I lose this job.

Interviewing process: Still interviewing people. Have three more interviews tomorrow. Out of 8 people, I sort of liked 2 of them. They didn't wow me but they didn't horrify me, either. One woman reminded my favorite coworker and myself of Marisa Tomei's character in My Cousin Vinny - big hair, ridiculous shoes, way too much perfume, awful sweater dress. She even had a bit of an accent. And she was pushy as all fuck, making salary demands and adjustments to our benefits package and shit. One guy, he was so nice but I'd eat him alive in about 5 minutes. He was very meek and skittish.

Work: closed the month in a shorter period than my boss has ever done it with 4 people. And I only had 2 of us. Take that. Also processed payroll, did interviews, did payables and a shitload of other special projects in there, as well. Who needs my boss anyway?

Life: I keep having the strangest dreams. Last night, I had the same dream 4 times. I was 2.5 months pregnant and I knew it was a girl. I decided I was going to name it "Mardigan Elizabeth". When my mother asked me why, I replied "because everyone should have a child named after a Val Kilmer character". WTF?! Cause, yanno, if you're going to name a baby girl anything, you should name her after Mad Mardigan from Willow. Oh dream logic, you so crazy.

Tonight was my only night off all this week. So rather than write or watch a movie, I've done 6 loads of laundry, stripped my bed, rotated my mattress, made my bed, cleaned the bathrooms (all 3 full baths), cleaned my room, alphabetized my books, and baked. Well, at least my productivity level has yet to flag. I plan on sleeping on Sunday. I can wait that long, right?

ETA: Awesome! I'm now caught up on commenting on all my tabs that I've had open for over a week. *happy dance at fandom productivity*