Confessions of a One-Track Mind

When I got over to J's yesterday, a friend of hers had dropped by (complete with whiny offspring), so I got to sit around for a while trying to keep a cheerful smile stapled to my cheeks while they talked about paperwork and someone who's a thief and some DVD J is borrowing and on and on.

Then the interlopers departed, and J wantedv to talk about tomorrow's event---except by then, I was in the grip of the notorious 4PM fade and my brain was temporarily offline. Basically, what to wear, when to be there, pack a lunch, yawn....

After an hour of that, we finally got on to the subject of my finances...which is not a happy subject. However, she *did* perpetrate a couple of techno miracles. First and foremost was setting things up so that I can access my FPL (electric) bill online. FPL has been a nightmare; because the account is still in my late father's name (dead since 1985, btw), the phone reps won't talk to me and I can't change it into my name, because they want a deposit that would choke a horse.

To add to the epic WTFness of the situation, when she got into it, we found out that an online account had already been set up. I was astonished when I saw the info: the email address belonged to HWSNBN. Considering how long ago that must have happened---he moved out in 2003---I'm still gaping like a codfish. Looking at the history of late payments, I wonder if he's been getting notices every time. And if he has, why the hell he never mentioned it back when he kept coming back here every weekend? IDEK.

So that's done, and then we did the same with BrightHouse (cable/net/phone). That was none too satisfactory. Their CSRs keep contradicting each other, and the one I got yesterday claims that I cannot possibly reduce my bill. That with the promo I have, if I turn in my DVR and converter and reduce the number of channels, I'll wind up paying $40 MORE a month.

I have a past-due balance, for which I got an extension til the 30th of this month. After that, it looks like I'm going to be relying on my PAYGo cell phone, digital converter box and other people's wireless. Which is going to be hideous, but my benefits are fixing to run out, and it's all I can do to keep my insurance paid and the utilities on for the next little while.

By the time we got through with all that, I was wrung out. J popped for pizza, and we watched some more Trauma. We've been working our way through that series, which I seriously miss---at this point, we're 7/23rds into it.

This morning, I had a workshop sponsored by AARP, which gives you tests of things like basic math skills, general computer knowledge and interpersonal teamwork skills. (I got 100% on the math portion, which floored me.) There's a pantheon of tests one can take, and I figure the more I can accumulate, the more secure I'll feel claiming the skills on resumes and in interviews.

The gal who ran it was cool. At one point, she did a demo on how to create an account for the system, and used the pseudonym "Nora Charles", which made me smirk---and I don't usually smirk at 9AM. She said she wondered if anyone would get the "Thin Man" reference. Told her I'm a huge Myrna Loy fan, and she mentioned that she's reading the books and picturing Myrna and William Powell. (Although in the books, Asta was a schnauzer. Just a little canine trivia....) She also admired my little blue shoes, worn with the blue and brown print skirt and cream colored top, and my glasses frames. She had on some lovely peridot earrings and a darling crochetted shrug. It's always an extra boost to get a compliment from someone who is herself well-dressed. It carries more weight, somehow.

Nearly 9---I'm gonna go enjoy my cable while I've got it.
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My Trauma DVDs arrived today, and I am enjoying it very much lots. While I was checking something on IMDb, I had to laugh---Kevin Rankin, who was the sweet gay paramedic on Trauma was also Boyd Crowder's sidekick Devil in the Justified pilot. It's a small world!

Okay, I have posted my backlog of fic: one for Hitman (because there is something about Timothy Olyphant with a bar code that is just to die for, no pun intended), and two from SPN_Summergen: my WWI-era adventure (that you don't really need to know SPN the series to get), and my pinch-hit crossover with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere---which explains it enough that I hope you'll want to try the book if you haven't already. That's what I've been up to for the last couple months, and I'd really like some love for them.

I would also like to know WTF this "pingback_bot" thing is that pops up every time I crosspost to a community. What the fuck, people?! It's isn't a comment, it doesn't seem to DO anything---I have no clue whether I should screen it, unscreen it, feed it magical mushrooms, what?

I know I should also crosspost to AO3, but the damn thing doesn't like me. It gets snarky if I even try to respond of comments: The comments and the tabs don't line up, it's a real pain in the ass. And importing? Ugh. That's *why* I've got 153 fics posted at the Pit of Voles and only 4 on AO3.

My DVDs (coming from Amazon) are in Orlando as of 5:02 PM Tuesday. With that proximity, they SHOULD be here tomorrow, oh happy day! I can see it now, me spending my week at Schnauzerland watching Trauma on the gonzo flat-screen TV in the blessed air-conditioning. There WILL be fic!

I'm really hoping that Igor will leech away some of our humidity. This summer needs to be OVER.


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Monday was not the most productive day in recent memory, but I did accomplish a few things, namely, got several bags of trash down to the curb, made sure the hydrangeas were watered and weeded (they seem to be thriving), am mostly through with the book that's "due" for book club/writing group tomorrow night, oh, and wrote 1500 words for the "Ficathon Walks Into a Bar" challenge that's due on the 28th. (I hadn't even *started* the ficathon story til today, and I freely admit, I'm recycling an idea I *wanted* to write for the Crossover_Xchange. The PoV character is different, basically.)

( Trauma makes me happy! )

( CSI: Miami---What fuckery is this?! )

Next stop: Tuesday....
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Last night I was in very bad headspace. Took a muscle relaxer and two ibuprofen before I turned out the light and slept for six solid hours. Got up to answer a demand from my kidneys ("Make room! Make room!"), then went back to bed and zonked for another two and a half hours. Must be the time change catching up to me....

Just before I woke, I had a series of dreams...driving in moderately heavy traffic with a woman who was a very aggressive driver and scared the snot out of me...then having dinner around a big table with a bunch of people, including Doc, and someone handed me a catalogue of made-up joke products...after the dinner party, I was at Kat's. This wasn't her trailer, or any of the houses where she lived, but it was her place. She came in and said good morning, and I asked if all her relatives had gone back to Texas or wherever. She said they'd left early that morning, thank goodness, because she was tired of tripping over a houseful of people. I said I'd leave if she wanted to have the place to herself, but she said no, she was glad to see me. She wasn't sick, she was alert and energetic.

Either my subconscious is trying to console me, or I'm channeling ala Crossing Over...either way, it was reassuring. I miss her constantly.

I'm also cheered to hear that Trauma (NBC, 9 PM Mondays) is going to be around for another ten episodes. ( What's really cool is---cut for casting spoiler ) Ten more weeks of Cliff Curtis makes me happy! Who knows, if enough of you lovely folks tune in, we might even get a second season!

Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day---I must remember to include green in tomorrow's ensemble.
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