What Not to Do On a Hot, Sticky Day May 27, 2008

I’m seeing a pattern here…maybe I should rename this blog “What not to do…” We’ll see. Well the thing to definitely not do on a hot, sticky day is to have three computers on, leave the air conditioning off, and sit upstairs a lot. And of course, I know this because that is what I spent my day doing.

But there was one thing good that came out of all of this discomfort. I discovered an awesome game that my brother showed me. Its called Audiosurf, and if you’ve played it before, you know why I love it, and if you haven’t played it, you should! Anyway, I spent a majority of my day upstairs in a room full of computers taking turns playing it with my brother. To put it mildly, we had a blast!

I forgot to put in a few days ago that I did, indeed, go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I enjoyed the movie, although it had its faults. But no movie is perfect, except for, possibly, The Princess Bride. But thats another story. I will have to admit that the major reason that I was probably having such a difficulty in getting interested in the Indiana Jones movie was that I was cramped in a car at a drive-in with my dad and brother in the front seat, and my mom and our dog, Bailey, in the backseat with me. Being in the backseat (If you have ever gone to a drive-in you will know exactly what I mean) is very difficult for someone who actually intends on watch the movie. Add to that a restless dog that keeps crawling and jumping on top of you as you practically lay across the seat to be able to see the screen, and you begin to understand the true scope of the difficulty in focusing on anything, let alone the no doubt wonderful plot of said Indiana Jones movie. I will have to say, though, that I enjoyed the scenes with the aliens and the forshadowing during the wedding. If you haven’t seen the movie, I hope that doesn’t really give anything away, and if you have seen it, I hope that is enough to know which scenes I’m referring to.

Beyond that news, my days haven’t been that chock-full of action, or even any mild thrills. But in case anyone was wondering, I did indeed finish that hellaciously difficult chapter, and it is now posted to be read. I did not inflict any severe head injury or even a mild pounder, but did put in a bit of a mind-boggler reveal about some mysteries of the storyline. Intrigued? I hope so! Because I would sure love to hear any feedback about how terrible, or not so terrible I am at writing. Please! If I am causing nightmares by my awful prose, it is most definitely your duty to tell me to throw in the proverbial pen and don’t quit my day job (which, coincidentally, also has to do with books and prose). But enough of that. I’m sure we all have lives to get back to.

And on a parting note, it has finally begun to rain, as the weatherman has been telling us all day that it will. The temperatures are beginning to slide back to marginally less uncomfortable levels, and the breeze is most refreshing. I hope your day ends just as well.

What Not to Do With a Pounding Headache May 25, 2008

Top on that list…going to work. So, being the stickler for independence and going against the grain, that’s just what I did. I went to work today. With a skull-splitting, earth-shattering, jab-your-eyeball-out-with-a-butcher-knife headache. And I work in customer service. So today was, for lack of a better word, or just for the sake of the discerning reader, interesting.

The type of conversations you get into when your brain is playing whack-a-mole with a sledgehammer are pretty outstanding. Such as deciding to remodel your expansive bookstore and turn it into a giant pet shop equipped with pygmy elephants and hippopotamus, Siberian tigers and llamas…oh, and your everyday dogs, cats, reptiles, rodents, and birds. A fine concept, but highly unlikely. Another topic for consideration today? Well, actually, a topic for consideration everyday, regardless of the state of one’s head. The intelligence of the customers that shop at bookstores.

Now you’d think that having an average if not high IQ would be a prerequisite for patronizing an establishment such as a bookstore. Not so, I have come to realize. A few highlights from my past year in customer service at this store are as follows. Customers calling in to the store, being greeted with the store name and associate, and asking for the phone number for said store…interesting. Being approached frantically by a customer right before closing and being asked, ‘Can you show me the book section?’ in a perfectly serious and urgent manner. Needless to say, I was more than able to assist said customer without delay. Although it took him several minutes of aimlessly browsing and chatting with associates to realize we had closed quite a while previously. And today’s wonderful addition to the list of humorous inquiries. A customer approaches me at the service desk with a magazine, which he places on the counter, looking at me expectantly. Seeing that I am obviously not going to do anything with said magazine, he asks me if the desk with the gargantuan sign that says ‘Customer Service’ behind it is where he can pay for his item. I respond with, ‘If you would like to pay for your item, you can take them to the checkout (which is also very prominently labeled) or to the cafe.’ I point for further clarification. To which the customer glances back in that general direction with a disappointed look, and returns his attention to me. Picking up his magazine, he pushes it closer. ‘Can’t I just pay here?’ he asks, slightly annoyed with my attempts to defer him, I presume. Smiling a wonderfully patronizing smile, I shake my head and apologize. He sighs in frustration and curses his misfortune, literally. And he proceeds to head over to one of the checkout areas. I see him later wandering around the store, bag with magazine in hand. It seems it wasn’t that uncomfortable experience for him to checkout at the checkout line as he had previously thought. Or so I hope.

But enough about my very dry and sarcastic humor pertaining to my wonderful customer service experiences. There are many more, but I try to follow the adage ‘everything in moderation’. We shall see how that pans out. All thats left to say is that I am hopelessly bogged down trying to plan out the next chapter of my fanfiction I am writing. Don’t be surprised if it showcases a person afflicted with a tortuous headache, as I feel a bit biased right now and think I will relish inflicting my malady on the poor unsuspecting characters. But we shall see.

And with that, I shall wrap up, and rest assured I will be attempting to render myself unconscious for the rest of the evening with some soothing music and cool breezes. Unfortunately, I don’t really ascribe to medicating myself at every opportunity, so I must content myself with the holistic approach. Wish me luck!

Stargate Thursdays and Bodhisattvas May 23, 2008

Here’s an update for yesterday, since my post yesterday was actually o’dark thirty in the morning for the previous day.

A friend stopped by my house yesterday for my newly appointed Stargate Thursdays. I’m attempting to induct two old friends from school into the wonderful world of Stargate, and we had a bit of a marathon on Saturday. They loved it so much they said we had to make it a regular occurrence (which had been my evil plan all along). So we decided on Stargate Thursdays. Unfortunately, one of these friends opted out last minute due to family problems, so it was just me and my friend Nikki.

It was a beautiful day, nice cool weather, good breeze blowing, so we sat in my covered swing I have out in my yard for a while. While sitting there, somehow we got on the subject of Buddhism and bodhisattvas. My metaphorical description of them made Nikki laugh. I said to picture Brahma (the creative energy force) as on one side of a doorway, and the material plane on the other side. As each person reaches enlightenment and dies, they become a Buddha and go through the doorway to become one with Brahma. Some people, though, decide they would rather stay behind and help others reach enlightenment. These are the bodhisattvas. They walk up to the door and stand on either side, like ushers (my friend Nikki offered up this description) pointing the way to others. Finally, when everyone has reached enlightenment and passed through the door, the “ushers” check off the last person on their checklist and pass through the doorway themselves, closing it once and for all on the material plane.

My friend couldn’t help but act out a little scene where she stood there with an imaginary checklist, looking around and saying “I think we have everybody, wait…where’s Bob? Bob?” and then from the back of the imaginary crowd Bob would call out “Here” and she would nod and trudge through the imaginary door. Yes it was quite the sight.

We ate some wonderful Chinese food at a nearby restaurant, simple but good. My friend Nikki is a vegetarian, but she was able to get the General Tso’s Shrimp and I just had some shrimp fried rice. But enough of that.

Since only one of my little Stargate club was present, we decided to not watch several consecutive episodes as previously planned, and I merely chose one of my favourite episodes in season one. We watched Fire and Water, and she absolutely loved it. She was practically petting my laptop’s screen every time they had a close up of Daniel Jackson, which wasn’t really a problem, except for the fact that it blocked my view!

Today’s my cat Poppy’s 12th birthday, so he’s going to get a special meal. My other cat, a black cat named Anubis, is very jealous. But his birthday has already come and gone. Well thats all for my update, I have to go try to write another chapter for the fanfic that I’m working on. The audience awaits!

Here goes nothing! May 22, 2008

Well, like the title says…here goes nothing.  First things first.  I’m not sure how often I’m going to post, hopefully every day, but I wouldn’t stake my life on it.

A little about me…I was born in Germany, spent hardly any time there at all, then moved to the US.  I love to travel and have visited almost every state in the continental US.  On the travel note, I’ve also been back to Germany, visited Iceland briefly, spent a day in France, and enjoyed some time in England.  I’m extremely interested in ancient history and religions, have a few aspirations to become an archaeologist (comes from watching Indiana Jones and Stargate SG-1 too much when I was younger.  Nobody told me that’s not how actual archaeologists spend their time).  Since gradeschool, I’ve enjoyed writing.  If you asked my teachers and friends, supposedly I was pretty good.  My writing tends toward fantasy, science fiction and the like, not much for the romance or realistic fiction.  I mean really, why should I read about something that could happen to me (or has happened to me) when I can enjoy an adventure into someplace completely apart from my own.

Unfortunately, you’re not likely to find any of my works published.  Most of them are languishing in my computer or on worn pieces of paper in the amazing condition of…unfinished.  I have managed to write a few short stories of fanfiction, which I normally try to stay away from, but when the muse calls (as they say) who am I to deny her?

I am a rabid fan of movies and tv (who isn’t), especially science fiction and fantasy, as before.  For movies and tv, though, I would add the subjects of historical and adventure to my list of favourite subjects.  I’m not sure where else I’m going with this, but if anyone has good movies or books, or even television shows, they would like to recommend to me, I’d be happy for the consideration.

I think I’ll call it quits for this entry, and look forward to seeing if anyone enjoys reading about my (self-professed) boring life.