blucola

A truly rare thing indeed. I have started writing an actual story with words, and like, people. And and, wow, I'd forgotten how much I missed doing meta with a friend and then taking what I'd been pondering and trying to go somewhere with it. I am notorious for not finishing things, so I likely will not post anything that couldn't stand as a story by itself.

And it's Star Trek, which I have never attempted before because I was too intimidated by the SF element. But it's silly, because it's just a story in space. And I've lived in the skin of K/S for years. ST is the world I visited at night, when I was an insomniac. Usually my night time fantasies featured me and either Kirk or Spock, but even then, my subconscious recognized the special relationship that is K/S.

I hesitate to say anything about the story, or even the focus. It's all still working itself out in my mind. And it feels so comfortable, ST was my first fandom. And I love that the new movie has resurrected that love.

I have to get this off my chest because these people enraged me. First was an old lady who insisted on asking me a question while I was knelt down, reaching out to put on a book on a shelf and also talking with a customer on the phone. I got the person put on hold, looked up and said (with considerably more cheer than I felt) hello to her. She started in on with the complaint, rather than asking about her damn book. I suppose it's so much more important to bitch and moan than to get what you wanted and get out of my face. She asked if someone is working at the desk. I said yes, that would be me! And my voice got chirpier, pretty soon I was going to sprout wings and fly off. She still complains and I'm nodding in a totally insincere, I understand, yes, yes, mm hmm... Finally I get her to ask for the book.

"Well, do you know where they keep the Bill Bryson books?" she asks in a totally and unnecessarily bitchy tone.

I give her the consideration face, which enraged her (snicker) and then rattled off all the places in the store where his books can be found. She waves her hand in a shut up gesture and blathers somethingsomething kid. I took one step to the side (partially to keep from throwing her to the ground) and then reached over and plucked The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid right of the shelf. She grudgingly thanks me and stalks off with a "I'm going to go find your manager" spring in her step.

You know, guys, I really wish I could stand behind a counter and simply wait to answer questions. The reality of the current economy is that I have to accomplish tasks as well as answer questions. I always carry a phone and I always make sure that I'm keeping the desk within my sights or have another bookseller nearby, manning it. I love helping customers, but if you condescend to me, you get my bare minimum, which is a shame, because I think my best is pretty spectacular.

Which leads me to bitch customer number 2.

Lady comes up to the counter. "Where are the chairs?"

Confused, I shrug slightly. "They're towards the back and over by the window."

"Are there any upstairs?"

"Oh yes," I say, perking up, because I think she's going to bugger off now that I know what she's going to do.

"What kind of chairs?"

"Oh, well, just the wooden ones, the comfy chairs are on this floor."

"How many of them are there?"

"Um, four? Two in back, two by the window, and wooden chairs scattered around."

"Do you know for certain that there are no chairs upstairs?"

"There are, they're wooden chairs."

"Not those," she sighs, "the others," making it clear she thinks I'm an idiot.

"Just the wooden."

More sighs, pause.

"What about the first floor?"

"No, no comfy chairs on first."

"Are you sure, because I want to sit and read. Is this the only floor where I can sit and read?"

I shake my head. "No! You can read on any floor."

"Well, I can't read on this floor, because someone is in the chairs," she explains very slowly, like I've had a stroke within this five minute conversation about chairs. She continues to blather on until she's satisfied she's made her point, then stalks off in the direction of the up escalator to the third floor.

And just so you don't think I'm just picking on the women, although this guy was more; "who raised you, monkey?" than stunningly rude. He waits, while I give a customer restaurant advice (hey, it comes up and it's better to keep folks happy!) and then starts to fidget after about 30 seconds. Here's the thing, if you fidget, death glare me or otherwise try to imply you're more important than the person with whom I'm giving customer service, you just earned a longer wait. Yes, sometimes folks are in a hurry, but there is never a reason to be rude. Trust me, I know, I can be a massive bitch and it always comes back to haunt me. Always. I finally get to him and he requests his title in that; "stupid liberal bookseller" tone and is satisfyingly startled when I know the book right off the bat. We don't have it, he doesn't want to order. So he buggers off, swaggering like the two women I already waited on. This is, this all happened within a 45 minute period. I had a lovely day of chats and smiles with customers and fellow employees, until 4 O'clock rolled around, then I guess the polite and courteous part of the day was over. Lucky me.

If you stuck with this long post of suck, here's your lollipop and thanks for reading. Truly. Getting to vent online is such a cathartic thing, sometimes.

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 80% Deanna Troi 80% Chekov 75% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 75% Uhura 70% James T. Kirk (Captain) 60% Geordi LaForge 50% Worf 50% Spock 47% Mr. Scott 45% Data 44% Jean-Luc Picard 40% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 35% Beverly Crusher 30% Mr. Sulu 25%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

I was starving when I got off work, but most importantly, I wanted the BK Star Trek glasses. And you have to buy a value meal to get one. So, you know, I ate a hamburger, bun and all. Bad Lorraine! Fell asleep promptly afterward, of course. But the thing that got me was I actually had the celiac stomach cramps. I don't usually get those. Weird.

So, been several hours now and the symptoms are pretty much gone. And now I have that weird desperate hunger I used to always get when I didn't have a clue about gluten and its effects. I know I shouldn't do this kind of silly stuff to myself (especially for a BK burger, of all things) but what can I say. Does knowing better make folks not go out, drink six beers, throw up in parking lots and declare that "OMG, I'll never do that again?!" It's human nature to do things we know we shouldn't. Even as I remind myself that wheat indulgences lead to stomach issues, as well as neurological.

Head's doing better. I already have a wee scar on my forehead, the scab dropped of today. My story has now entered the land of the ridiculous. A co-worker giggled while I described the TP holder hitting my head to another person. I mean, really, it is silly! A toilet paper holder landed on my head! How is that not naturally one of the most snicker worthy things ever? *g*

I want chocolate. And maybe a pony. I think it's time for bed.

So, I didn't sleep much last night, stressy stuff, whatever. This morning, at work, I was fishing around for a tissue. Someone used up the last box so I went to get a box from the broom closet. There was a carton of Angel Soft (there's a joke here, I'm thinking) and I couldn't quite reach it so I resorted to my old short girl standby, I grabbed a pen and stuck it in the bottom to drag toward me. A split second of; "you know, it's not usually this heavy and then I hear sliding, metallic screeching and the next thing I know I've been bashed in the forehead and blood is dripping down.

I'm clutching this carton, stunned and trying to figure out where to put it, but then there's blood, so I need to stop it! So I fish around for a tissue box, get it open and grab a wad to press to the wound. I press hard, because I know that's what you do with this kind of injury. And somehow I manage to get the box back up onto the shelf (I have my priorities, apparently.) Finally, dripping blood everywhere, the wad of tissues pressed to my forehead, I get to a phone and call a manager; "uh, I have a bleeding head wound, can you come up?"

Everything else is kind of a blur, it's amazing how when you're covered in blood, people want to stop you and ask what's happened. Hey, let me get the cut cleaned, since the metal toilet paper holder was pretty dusty! I finally get into the bathroom (after being called out once by another concerned employee!) and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked a mess. There was blood dripping down my face, my glasses, my shirt was splattered (but black, so not so noticable, although the blood smell made me gag) and my hair was matted on one side.

You know those movies where the guy keeps fighting, cracking jokes, but his head is covered in blood? Yeah, that was me, I was riding high on adrenaline. Dammit, I wasn't going home, I'm fine, lemmee just get some ice on it. *sigh* Dumbass, your name is Lorraine. Several people (and I'm embarassed to admit it had to be several) told me to get it looked at, so, an hour or so after it happened and the shocky feeling was starting, I saw reason and decided to get *finger quotes* proper help.

It took a long time for the manager to come up with an address for me to go, which I took a taxi to get to, which was stupid since it turned out to be within walking distance. I didn't believe the address so I called the manager and she let me have the taxi driver take me to St Luke's emergency room. My mistake was walking through the door and talking to the people at the hospitality counter. I would have been home hours sooner. They sent me back to the other address, it was actually family care, except that they don't take walkins. My worker's comp insurance company sent me to the wrong place! And I had kept asking if I could go to the emergency room since I have a head wound, after all.

I have to say the lady in the family care was wonderful, she called around for me because she felt horrible for me. She didn't have to do anything once I found out I was in the wrong place. Nice nice lady. A bright point in the day. Which makes up for the taxi driver, who talked himself into a bigger tip, from a person with a knot on her head which was still bleeding, nice? No.

Nice were the security guards who'd given me a ride after the taxi driver left me. Nice was the nurse who gave me sympathy after 2 1/2 hours waiting in the emergency waiting area. And nice was the doctor who sped things up (including an X-ray) so I could get back to where I knew my husband was going to be picking me up. And nice was my best friend, texting to make sure I was OK when she didn't even know I'd had an accident.

And really cool was coming home to an email from Joshua Malina, one of the actors of Sports Night, wanting my address so he could mail me autographed DVDs (thanks again to atanvarne for sending me to his twitter.) I'm not sure this makes it a balanced day, but it wasn't boring, that's for sure!

This was my favorite soap opera, even surpassing my affection for All My Children (which I stopped watching in the late eighties.) I loved Vicky (Anne Heche) and Ryan (Paul Michael Valley) and then Dean (Ricky Paull Goldin) and Jenna (Alla Korot.) The show also had the wonderful Linda Dano and Stephen Schnetzer (you hear him a lot in commercials.) The show was supposedly set in Illinois, but peppered with with actors with unabashedly New York accents, so it always felt East Coast to me.

And the writing, god! People wonder why the soaps are failing now. Search out Another World on Hulu and watch a few episodes and you'll see stories with actual family and dialogue. A particular treat are any scenes with Ryan Harrison and Carl Hutchens, or Dack Rambo (so pretty and so missed!) as Grant Harrison and David Hedison as his father, Spencer Harrison.

The show jumped the shark when the networks got involved, trying to beef up the show's ratings. Young actors were hired and ridiculous storylines plotted, but for several years this was the best part of my day. The saddest thing ever was when Ryan was shot, or maybe when Frankie Frame was murdered. I was riveted to the screen, bawling my eyes out. That never happens anymore to me, certainly not for Days of Our Lives.

It was awful when Another World was cancelled. And now, Guiding Light is about to see it's last days. And that show has been on over 50 years. Hard to see the soap era end. But the networks have only themselves to blame for trying so desperately to change the demographic of their viewers to the young crowd.

Yeah, not so unfamilair to some of us in fandom. Stargate Atlantis comes right to mind. It had a strong, loyal fanbase and they jacked with that. And Farscape had the same thing happen to it. How many times does this have to happen before these network execs get the message that perhaps they should be damn grateful for the viewers they have and not alienate them?

I look at these old AW episodes (so grateful to Proctor and Gamble for making them available) and I think it's a shame, because this show was such a jewel.

This is the weekend of the infamous Brookside Art Fair. Yeah, I know it sounds cool and stuff. But this year they started setting up on Thursday which means that traffic in an already screwed up and insane intersection, is even more screwed up. And now it's friday, so now that intersection is closed off as well as the street for an entire block. Gah! I have almost been hit 3 times today! This means I will not be leaving my building any more than I have to for the entire weekend because I don't trust drivers not to kill me!

By the way, folks; get off the phone! You're driving, so cut it out! I don't see Nascar written anywhere on your cars, so I don't trust your abilities to multi-task!

I had a talk with a woman in the Information tent and she was rather unapologetic about the mess, the fact that crosswalks and sidewalks have been covered by trucks and cars and that people, like me, are forced to walk out into traffic. This is a safety issue! Best I got from her was a phone number to call to check if the cars parked in the lots for my building belong to any of the artists setting up. My building manager is promising to be really aggressive about the towing of unauthorised vehicles this year. I gave him a box of chocolate to pass around Staff, for all the extra work this weekend. It's not much, I know, but I can't afford to buy them pizza! LOL

I would like to be able to enjoy this fair, but as a resident of the area, all I can see is the chaos and annoyances it causes us. I feel like a year rounder on that island in Michigan grumbling about Fudgies (name given to tourists because they buy the fudge sold in the area) and bicycles. *facepalm* When did I turn into an old lady? "Hey kids, off my lawn!"

I'm learning...Whee....

Amusingly enough I was creating an open ID account at the same time my BFF was sending me the invite code. So I guess I'm with both? *shrugs* I'll poke around this thing tomorrow, figure out how it all works (within my limitations, lol.) Still, here is where I shall always be. There is just more connection, I suppose. :)

She told me that booksellers in California could learn a lesson from me, because no one there treats her as well as I did. All I'd done was go through the fiction section suggesting horror titles. She finally ended up with a book of vampire stories written by women and an anthology of horror. I told her they'd be a good idea because she was on vacation and short stories are better when you're travelling around. Such a nice lady.

Then another customer approached me because I've suggested books to him before and he apparently now adores me, lol. So, wanting vampire stories and wanting ones I've enjoyed, I had to send him to the Half Price store. Which is fine, because he bought other things in the store today that I helped him pick out. The books I'd suggested previously were; "Dark Angel" by Meredith Ann Pierce and "Looking For Alaska" by John Green.

This is the part of bookselling that's the best. All the other stuff is work. :)

And tomorrow we have free passes to Star Trek! Eeeeeeee!