Day in the Life of an Idiot

...so that means I'll probably get nothing else done today.

Though to be more accurate, I started the day out feeling extremely stymied.

We seem to have developed a slow leak in one of the rear tires of our car. Mason, who would like to practice driving, had been bugging me to take care of it for days. Today, I finally decided that I would drive to my mechanic and see if they could just do that quick thing where they check for leaks, slap on a patch, and you drive away. ALAS. Tor told me that they can't get me in, even for something simple, until Monday. Poo. So, I drove home and made myself coffee.

Determined to get something done today, I decided to try to log-in to my work e-mail account. Ramsey County was hacked some time in September and so they briefly locked out all of us who were remote accessing. I thought that I had been keeping up on all the memos as to when/how it would be fixed, but apparently I missed a critical one that told me some instructions to get reconnected from home. So, when I attempted to log-in this morning from home (I wanted to figure out my work schedule for November as I missed most of October and, you know, a paycheck is important,) I got the weirdest message which was, paraphrasing, "Yep, your info is good, right log-in and password, but we're not letting you in because you're on a browser." I was like, "WTF." So, I called in to my supervisor and left a rambling message, because I had wanted to check in about a half-dozen things: my schedule, the up-coming Inservice day, and also now this whole "what is up with my email thing."

I thought, man, I need more coffee.

So, just as I sat down to complain to my online friends about how everything I tried to do today was blocked, I got the call from Amber at work and the fix is in, as it were. Whoo! I will still have to follow some instructions on my email to figure out how to log back in, BUT I now know when and where the inservice is and I have several dates to work in November.

Since I felt like I was on a streak, I texted a friend that I have neglected to get back to in a while and hopefully he and I can connect this upcoming Sunday, as Shawn and I are signed-up to do the "fall colors" tour in Lakewood Cemetery at 2 pm. It goes rain or shine, but I sure hope we FINALLY get a break in the rain.

In other news, Mason brought home a rather curious award from one of his debate tournaments last week:



The award reads "Fifth Speaker" which felt to me as if it were missing the word "BEST," but, because I first posted a jokey post about this on social media, I was inundated with explanations as to what this means in debate. Probably the best one came from my FB friend Laurinda Holm: "As a high school (and college) debater, I can tell you the 'best' is assumed and this is really good. It means he had the 5th most speaker points in his division."  My family, of course, just finds the wording humorous and Mason has been running around telling people silly things like, "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm Fifth Speaker." :-)

It does seem like he got an award for speaking fifth in a row, you know? Like, hey, you went fifth, so here's an award!

Anyway.

Otherwise, the New York Times thinks all y'all should catch up with us cool kids and write hand-written letters via snail mail. "We Could All Use a Little Snail Mail Right Now.'

My birthday is coming up in about a month (Nov. 18) so y'all have time to write to me.

I feel somewhat responsible for the snow that fell this morning.  I was out of coffee in the house and decided to 'turn that frown upside down!' by using that as an excuse to fetch a fancy latte for me and muffins for my family.  At the coffee shop, I was talking to the barista about the weather (like you do in Minnesota) and I said, "It's raining, but I wish it would snow, instead."  Everyone in the coffee shop looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head.  Thing is, it's only February.  The warm is nice, but it's not natural.  More than that, it's going to break our hearts when it does start snowing again, because March hasn't even started yet!

Here on Sunday evening, I can say I've had a pretty good weekend.  

Mason had the day off on Friday, and so we ended up taking a friend of his Christy out to lunch and Japanese candy shopping at United Noodle.  Then, she came over to ours for a little otaku bonding, aka watching anime on our TV in the basement.  The funniest interaction I overheard was this:

C: Um, so... would you be willing to watch dubbed?
M: Oh. In English. Um, yeah, sure, I guess.
C: A true otaku friend! Someone who prefers sub, who will watch dub with you!

Meanwhile, upstairs, I was thinking: Man, I don't know if I like anyone THAT much.

That same night, I had an invitation to a board gaming night at a friend's house. Shawn and Mason were also invited, but they are true introverts and had filled up on their people quotients.  Mason was pooped from having entertained Christy, and Shawn has been having to deal with Swedes all week (guests to the Minnesota Historical Society, naturally, but Shawn has been required to do those dinner out with work colleagues things that tire her out).  So, I went to the party on my own, which was still a great deal of fun. I played <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cash-N-Guns-Second-Edition/dp/B00KU10OUU">Cash 'n Guns</a>, which was a tremendous amount of fun, and had also brought along a card game called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-Pass-Card/dp/B00J57VU44">Sushi-Go</a>, which Shawn had bought the family for Solstice, but none of us had figured out the rules.  The nice thing about bringing along a game you haven't played before to a party like that was that someone usually has played it and/or is willing to read through the rules and figure it out with/for you. It was a fairly fun game.  Low-key, I'd say.  Not like getting to point a foam gun at your former martial arts head instructor.  

Saturday was the insanely beautiful day here, and, so of course, I had to work.  It was one of my tiny 3 hour shifts, however, at North Saint Paul.  I really enjoy working there because not only is my shift super-short (3 hours, from noon to three,) but also so is the library.  It's so small that usually by the time someone turns in a book, we can have it back on the shelves within the hour.  There just aren't that many books (or patrons.) Plus, I've done so many shifts for them there that the regular patrons sort of know me and the staff trusts me enough to set me up on the desk or wherever and get their other, backlogged work done.  Which makes me feel useful.  

Today, I just didn't feel like doing much, and I absolutely managed it.  I mean, I did some basic maintenance things like taking out the garbage and doing the dishes, but a lot of they day was spent like a Sunday should be, IMHO: relaxing. I finished a book that is up for the PKD award, (R)evolution by PJ Manney, which I'll have plenty to say about on Tuesday, when my review goes up on BitterEmpire.  (Not a good book, IMHO. Actually, I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been a fail, because there is much fail in this book.)  Last night, I started Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong.  I can no longer remember which award that one was up for, but I had to read it because of the title.  I should probably be reading either of the last two PKD nominees: Brenda Cooper's Edge of Dark or Windswept by Adam Rakunas.  I will say I've hesitated to rush out to get Cooper's book.  I was not overly fond of Creative Fire, the first book in the series that this new one continues.  I just bought Windswept for my Kindle, so we'll see if that one is any good.

I have to say the PKD has been a mixed bag this year.  I liked both Archangel and After the Saucers Landed quite a bit, but the rest have been a really mixed bag (including one serious stinker.)  I feel like last year the quality was consistently much higher.  Out of the 5 books I read (I skipped the short story collection), all of them were at LEAST more than passably entertaining and well written, if not knock-your-socks-off amazing like Memory of Water, Elysium and Book of the Unnamed Midwife.

There are new judges every year, and I did a little research into the two groups (not hard, as their names are published on the PKD awards page.)  Out of the five judges, one was a woman... The previous year, the year with all the books I found fantastic?  THREE out of the five were women (and women I know and respect like Ellen Klages and Laura J. Mixon.)  

If I Twittered this moment's comment would be: "headed for lunch; up for a Lammy."

Because... the anthology PERIPHERY was just short-listed for the 21st Lambda Award in the lesbian erotica catagory. My AngeLINK short story, "ishtartu" included in that, though it's not terribly sexy and I'm sure it had very little to do with the nomination. But, if any of you have the power to vote on the Lambda, please consider casting a vote for PERIPHERY if you liked it!

Also, I am not watching the Saint Paul St. Patrick's Day parade right now because a) I couldn't find a date, and b) it looks like it might rain any minute.

Anyway, I should write. I've managed to go several days now without writing thanks to the weekend and the school field trip. It's time to get back to work, alas.

I should tell folks who might be interested that our gerbils have names. The black one is "B" (for "busy like a bee") and the sandy-brown one is XOXO (pronounced "zoe-zoe"). I seriously considered John's suggestion of "food" and "supplimental" as Inky's vote, especially since if there was a fair vote (as in one for every animal in the house) "food" and "supplimental" would probably win. The cats, I think, have lost weight due to the never ending excitement that is the gerbils. There is much tail twitching and batting and jumping and whisker flicking. Both Inky and All Ball like to sit on top of the cage and loom. It's quite a sight.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!