I swear, I've made a dozen calls today about dog training. Getting histories of potential dogs, getting the address of a new case, making, canceling and remaking another appointment because there was someone else booked at the same time...which is somewhat stressful for me. My previous phone jobs have been INcoming, NOT outbound---the last outbound job I tried, I had a full-on meltdown on day three and washed out. This is NOT my forte---however, helping dogs is a higher priority for me than selling crap, so I've carried on.

In the middle of it all, I rang up Kat, who's home from the hospital and comfortably medicated. I made arrangements to go over tomorrow afternoon for a visit.

Then, of course, J rang back at 9PM to say that her other assistant had weaseled on her and she needed me to go down to Palm Bay with her...tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn't be too bad; I can call Kat in the morning and push the time back from 2-3 to closer to 4. If she'd scheduled me for the job to begin with, it wouldn't be an issue, period. *deep breath* But hey, it's another hour or so. Plus a session Thursday and two on Saturday...this keeps me busy and out of trouble...and it's mostly fun.

In happier news, I've been getting good feedback on yesterday's posts. The McCaffrey fans seem to like "Dragonchance"---which is very gratifying, since Anne is probably one of the all-time biggest influences on my writing. "Juan Valdez, the Radical Priest and Me" has also had kudos---that's the story behind Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". I even got a review on ff.net for "Christmas Comes Early in the South Pacific" (posted here on January 1st) by a delightful young lady from Alabama. "Scratching the Itch"...well, you can't win 'em all.

Supposedly, starting tomorrow, we're going to have warmer weather, and theoretically, it'll be up in the 70s by the weekend. I'll believe it when I see it, but I sure hope so!

.

I was raised to understand that the "correct" response to being given a gift is "Thank you" and a smile. It doesn't matter if the gift is godawful, it doesn't matter if you're going to privately roll your eyes, regift it or throw it in a drawer. You smile and say "Thanks!" to the person who gave it to you. Period.

Saying, "I appreciate the thought, but that pretty much sucks."?! NO. You can think it for all you're worth, but you don't freaking SAY it. Especially not when you know the person who gave it doesn't have the resources for whoop-dee-fucking-doo gifts this year.

Next year, the fucker gets a book on ettiquette and some preprinted "Thank You" cards.

Does anybody have an AO3 invite?!

I'm trying to upload my labors, but because of this new archive BS, I'm tearing my hair out. Please, please, please---if you have a spare invite you can zip this way, you will save my sanity. Help!!!

Thanks to a friend of a friend, I'm hooked up and working my way through the intricasies of AO3. Have made it through the ToS; geeky of me, but worth it---otherwise, I would never have stumbled across the following delightful statements: "You understand that using the Archive may expose you to material that is offensive, erroneous, sexually explicit, indecent, blasphemous, objectionable, or badly spelled. ... Unless it violates some other policy, we will not remove Content for offensiveness, no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we may personally find that content to be." Somebody over there has a sense of humor!

Onward!

Well, THAT made me smile...and after this evening, when emergency hinge-repair on a door massively pissed me off and probably sent my blood pressure skyrocketing, I glanced at a folder on my desktop: New Briefcase. Except, I read it as New Bitchface.

Which perfectly matched my mood. I'm still not happy, but at least I'm moderately amused.

Kat let me drive her "new" car. She got it last week---it's a Kia Spectra, somewhat used. She isn't happy with it and is making noises about taking it back to the dealership if she can, but compared to my POS, it's not bad. Automatic, power steering, a/c---what more do ya need?

Did the regular weekly office visit for bloodwork---second visit scheduled for Friday because something is out-of-whack. Next week, we see the actual oncologist on Monday and follow up with the neurologist on Wednesday.

Next week's going to be a woolly booger---in addition to the above, I've been ordered to appear at Job Services for some kind of work-search training class on Tuesday. It's supposed to give me the tools, blahblahblah...so I go in nicely dressed, with a copy of my resume, an extra pen and paper and look attentive. Since my continued benefits hinge on it, yeah...it'll also give me a chance to make my mandatory weekly contacts---a Good Thing, since the rest of my week is DAMN BUSY.

In addition to Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday being full, Thursday GK comes in for the wedding---we drive to Tampa directly from the airport, decorate the venue and have the rehersal on Friday, the wedding is on Saturday and we return on Sunday. I'll miss church, but I should be back in time for SUPPER club.

Meanwhile, this week is a little less fraught. Nothing is carved in stone until Thursday-Friday. Mb has a conference she has to go to for work---it's in Tampa, and she wants company, so she's invited me. The plan is that we go over early Thursday and I'll lounge poolside while she's off conferring, then we'll do a spot of shopping sight-seeing, have pizzas back at the hotel, and some must-see TV. (Perhaps I can convert her?) Friday morning, we'll head back, and I should be home in time to make it to movie night at church.

Saturday is currently free, which means laundry, housework, et al. Next Sunday...my lawn gets mowed, but NOT by me. (I set that up when I got back from lunching with Kat.) And sometime this week or early next, I have to finish my dress. GK and I did the pinning when she was here last---I still have to cut it, turn the raw edge over and hem it down and THEN attach the trim. Theoretically, the first part shouldn't take more than an hour. The trim, since it's sequinned, is going to mean hand-stitching for best effect---that's a classic sit-in-front-of-the-TV-and-do-it project. And yes, I will contrive to get pictures of my splendor. Somehow.*

Granted, buying us both lunch may have been less than frugal, but damn it, I *miss* our former standing lunch date. It was like, all of a sudden, bang! I lost my job, got assigned to doctor duty, ran out of money and became the nanny/matron/enemy all at once. And I do not like transitions at the best of times---which this is definitely NOT.
_____________________

* Why is it that everyone else in the civilized world seems to have NO PROBLEM procuring contemporary technology---cell phones, digital cameras (sometimes cell phones WITH digital cameras!), iPods, laptops, Blackberries, Blueteeth---and I'm stuck back in the late 20th century with a tied-down landline, a disposable camera and a computer so old the chip in it is a Dorito---and no printer?! /whine

The first hour or so that I'm up are the worst. Although I've developed the habit of setting out my morning "cocktail" of Excedrin and ibuprofen before I go to bed and gulping that down first thing, the wait for it to kick in is interminable. I feel fragile ("Fra-gee-lay---it's Italian!"). My neck, from the base of my skull to about my shoulder blades, has too many nerve endings. It's not pain as such, it's just sensitive to things like...air pressure. My shoulders aren't too happy, either. Sometimes a warm shower helps.

It's true: Youth is wasted on the young.

( An article from Slate magazine about the decline and fall of penmanship. )

***

Back in the day, we learned to write cursive beginning in 4th grade. It didn't help that our 4th grade teacher was a sadistic cow who seized any infraction as an excuse to drag us out of the classroom and into the hallway to paddle our behinds. Caught chewing gum or passing a note? Paddle time! Didn't finish your multiplication drills? Paddle time! She also deducted points from an otherwise perfect spelling paper if your handwriting didn't measure up to her standards. To make sure we had plenty of practice, she would also assign us sentences to write, ala Bart Simpson.

I hated her then and I hate her now, even though she died when I was in 6th grade. I hope she's roasting in her own toasty little Lutheran Hell. Bitch.

Ahh, that was cathartic!

I was threatened by a Pelts Leathermore customer. Yes, me, the paragon of customer service! You see, because of the ongoing problems we've had with the credit card verification software, a bunch of orders got cancelled. To make up for that, we created a code for those customers which would match the discount on the promo we had last weekend, plus free shipping. It was supposed to be good through the 14th---except somebody leaked it to third-party websites, and things got messy. So we killed the code, and Ms. Thing got VERY belligerent with me. Told her there was nothing we could do unless she had had an order cancelled. (Greedy, opportunistic, money-grubbing cow.) She demanded my name---which I gave her; I'm in the right AND I had Help Desk tell me so---and she swore she was going to call back and talk to *gasp!* A Manager. Whatever, bitch. You're still not getting the discount!

I will be really glad when the construction project down the block is DONE. They're using some kind of VERY heavy machinery to compact the ground for paving, and my whole house is vibrating---and not in a good way. I can hear plates rattling in the cabinets. This must be what it's like to live in an earthquake zone. I feel fresh sympathy for Californians!

I was going to order in pizza tonight, but the website of the conglomerate whose products I usually consume was FUBAR, so it was cream cheese and rye bread for dinner, ho-hum.

Didn't get around to touching up my roots, and now it's awfully late.

I liked House MD tonight...it had some weird and wonderful moments. The scene with Cam rehearsing her rebuttal in the locker room with Chase commenting struck me as odd, but that may be because of what was going on IRL and the RPF I devoted to it. The bit with Wilson and witchhunts made me bray with laughter. If I had any energy to devote to it, I'd contemplate a fic where a wanna-be patient approaches House (thinking he's warm and cuddly) on the basis of that documentary.

I hope this week is nice and mellow; it's been a while since I had anything like this schedule....