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    Monday, December 14th, 2009
    musesfool
    1:27p
    she feeds you tea and oranges
    I haven't done the last few love memes that went around, but here I am in this year's holiday love meme.

    Now to go through and leave some love of my own. Um. In a totally hygienic way. ♥

    ***

    So last night I was making this orange-cranberry loaf, and as I put the pan into the oven, I looked up and saw the box of sugar sitting on the counter and I thought, Oh, shit, I didn't put the sugar in the batter. So I pulled the pan out of the oven and stirred the sugar directly into the batter. It turned out fine. I had it for breakfast this morning. But wow, talk about senior moments. Eek!

    ***

    210 words on yuletide! I don't know that they are good words, but...words, I has them! Talking it out with [livejournal.com profile] fleurdeleo last night over dinner clarified some of the issues I was having - all tell and no show, basically - and hopefully now that I am working on fixing that (after I scrapped three separate opening paragraphs), the rest of the story will follow.

    *crosses fingers*

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/106749.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: amused
    Current Music: Suzanne = Judy Collins
    sams_cafe 11:31a
    I am home from the clinic! (for those of you reading on IJ and JF mirrors, I have a sprained/possibly torn MCL. No breaks!)

    I'm to ice and elevate today. I got a prescription for vicodin and didn't check it before I filled it -- holy crap he gave me 30 500-mg tablets. So I'm taking half-tablets, which should be more than enough.

    You can tell I was a little bit high when I filled the prescription. I bought vicodin, Calcium tablets (I was almost out), a spare Ace bandage, a toothbrush, two Snickers bars, and a jar of jam. I don't even remember buying the jar of jam.

    I can't recommend Michigan Avenue Immediate Care highly enough, for those in Chicago who don't have a doctor or need to see a doctor NOW but don't want to go to the ER. I was seen within half an hour, they charge on a sliding scale so you can generally get fairly cheap medical care if you don't have insurance, and they have really nice doctors.

    I did have to do the Walk Of Shame in my pyjamas, but that's why I wore pyjamas instead of just jeans, so I didn't have to keep taking off my pants; I could just wear my pjs and roll up the cuff. Undressing and taking off my shoes are the hardest thing right now.

    I am going to go sit down forever.
    Sunday, December 13th, 2009
    musesfool
    11:28p
    just completely fans
    Ugh. It was bad enough that I had to root for Philip Rivers today. Now the Giants are FAILLING (yes they fail so hard they get two Ls) against the Eagles. How is their tackling so bad? HOW? And how is their offensive play-calling so useless? And how come their receivers can make these huge plays one minute, and can't even hold onto the ball the next? Otoh, Eli can do these smart, smart things, and Bradshaw and Jacobs can make these runs but can't get out of bounds to stop the clock. Jesus. The agita is killing me.

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/106343.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: anxious
    Current Music: Giants v. Eagles on TV
    sams_cafe 6:59p
    I AM HOME. The shuttle took FOREVER because he decided to drive up Halsted. WHY? WHY NOT!

    I am sitting in bed with my leg up on a pillow and an ice pack on it. Is anyone shocked I keep ice packs in the freezer for moments like this? Me neither.

    The full story is, this morning I was going to walk my hosts' dog, because he loves me best and despite fearing the rain might actually pee if I walk him in it. So I was standing on the steps to their mud-room, and my host said, very clearly, "Be careful! The tile is slippery!"

    "I will be extra-super-careful," I said, or words to that effect, and then put my foot down on the tile and tumbled headfirst to the ground.

    I tried. I really did.

    I'm sure the fall sounded worse than it was, considering I took a hall table with me and nearly took the dog out in the process. I'm sure I traumatised the poor dog, and probably my hosts as well. I felt ok at the time, so I picked myself up, walked the dog, carried my bag to the car, and went to the airport. I got on the plane, got a seat where I could elevate my leg, asked the flight attendant for an ice pack (btw, Southwest flight attendants are the coolest MacGyvers ever) and spent the entire two-hour flight elevating and icing in fifteen-minute increments.

    When it came time to get off the plane, my knee felt...funny. And then it hurt. So I caught a shuttle home, yay door-to-door service, and put in a sick-call to work via email for tomorrow. I'd go to the ER tonight but I'd just sit there in uncomfortable dirty chairs for hours on end, when I could get a good night's sleep and go to the nice Immediate Care clinic tomorrow morning. I trust them more; they're the ones who had me see a specialist for my wrist after sending me off with a splint, when they didn't even have to call me again.

    Dad Lucky thinks that it's either a really bad sprain or a fracture in the head of the tibia.

    If my leg is broken again I'm going to laugh and weep simultaneously, just to scare the Immediate Care people. My New Year's Resolution was not to break any bones in 2010.
    musesfool
    1:58a
    is this because i can spell confusion with a "k"?
    On the upside, I wrote 1000 words tonight, for the first time in about two weeks.

    On the downside, none of those words were on my yuletide story. Sigh.

    I think I have to rethink the way I'm telling the story - I think the idea is sound, but I'm just not coming at it from the right direction. Or something. I thought about it while I was highlighting my hair (I miss the old Feria highlights I used to use. It makes me sad they don't make that anymore. This other stuff - Highlight Styliste - is... I like the color, but the coverage is difficult, and not just because I have more grey than I used to - it doesn't coat evenly! I don't like the whole powder thing. I liked it better when it was mixing one liquid into another. It just worked better. Sigh. I hate change. [/tan]) and I think I have to skip the exposition and just jump right in. Or something. I don't know! It's so inert right now, and if there's one thing this source is not, it's inert. It's an assignment that is a perfect match for me, and yet I can't get out of the gate. It's making me a little crazy, to be honest.

    I am going to bed now, but I guess I will be back at it again tomorrow. From a slightly different angle. Or something.

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/106132.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: frustrated
    Current Music: Konstantine - Something Corporate
    Saturday, December 12th, 2009
    musesfool
    3:28p
    it's something that i'm supposed to be
    Things I have done today:
    • made nutella cupcakes
      • can I just say that I find cupcakes intimidating? You can only fill them 3/4 of the way or they overflow! They have to be carefully removed from the muffin tin rather than just turned out like a cake! And this batter was kind of sticky and not pourable, so I had to spoon it into the cups. And then swirl the nutella in. Which... okay, I only had one mess-up, but still. It was only after I had them in the oven that my parents called and my dad mentioned using an ice cream scoop to keep the portions uniform and my mother suggested greasing it so the batter released easily. Why did I not think of that? Anyway. The cupcakes are good, if a little sweet for my taste, but I think for Christmas I will make it as a cake.

    • dropped off way too much laundry for washing

    • read fic


    Things I should do today:
    • Finish non-baking Christmas shopping

    • write [livejournal.com profile] yuletide. YULETIDE! YULETIDE!

    • start cleaning out closet and/or bookshelves


    Things I should not be doing today and yet apparently am:
    • playing bubbleshooter

    • Reading this week's EW

    • reading the latest comments on the return of Victoria Bitter wank.
      • this is the wank that keeps on giving, guys. It would have been hilarious enough if it had just included the false assertions of being an IRA member and the pseudicide, but the fact that it is also the return of VB makes it completely epic. It is the perfect wank for the holiday season, as it is apparently the wank that keeps on giving.

    • downloading the episodes of Being Human that I haven't seen.


    Things I someday would like to watch, possibly when YULETIDE is written:
    • Mad Men

    • Being Human

    • the seasons 1 and 2 episodes of Psych I haven't seen (which is most of them)

    • Slings and Arrows (Dude, I have the dvds, and yet they sit, unwatched. sigh.)


    Things I would like to do a full rewatch of (sooner rather than later):
    • The Wire

    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

    • Middleman

    • Firefly

    • West Wing

    • Homicide

    • Sports Night

    • Gilmore Girls (seasons 1-4 only)

    • Battlestar Galactica

    • Northern Exposure


    Jesus, that is a lot of tv. Why do I have to work again?

    Now, I must write!

    *opens Write or Die*

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/105815.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: determined
    Current Music: The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog
    Friday, December 11th, 2009
    musesfool
    11:46p
    it sways gently side to side
    I gave up on work about 3:45 this afternoon and spent my last 75 minutes redoing the food tags on my delicious, so now they are more specific and I can more easily find what I'm looking for. (Oddly enough, I don't have near the same problem finding stories with non-specific tags - I'm not sure why that is.)

    So tonight I baked this raspberry buttermilk cake from smitten kitchen, and dear god, it is tasty. It took about ten minutes longer in the oven than the recipe says, but that's because I baked it in an 8" round instead of a 9". SO SO TASTY OMG! Maybe next time I will skip the raspberries and do lemon flavoring. Or orange. I don't know, but it's a good, tasty, easy cake that tastes really good. I don't think it'll be included in the Christmas baking, but I can definitely see making it on a Sunday night for breakfast for a few days.

    Tomorrow I am going to attempt self-frosting nutella cupcakes, and if they come out as awesome as they look on that page, I will probably make a bunch for Mary and Sal for Christmas.

    Mmm...baking...

    Before I baked, I watched this week's Friday Night Lights. I thought I was going to make it through without crying for once, but then spoilers )

    I probably should attempt to write, but I think I am going to go put the flannel sheets on the bed and then crawl into it.

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/105703.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: content
    Current Music: Untouchable Face - Ani DiFranco
    musesfool
    12:36p
    rested and longing for motion
    Good lord, I tried to do a spot of online Christmas shopping, since Boss 1 is gone for the day and Boss 2 is in a three hour conference call, and the phones will not stop ringing! And when the phones aren't ringing, people are stopping by! WTF? It's Friday! Give me fifteen minutes of peace so I can order some gifts! *rant about international shipping and the lack thereof from some sites redacted*

    Speaking of Christmas, I don't send holiday cards anymore - I got out of the habit and never got back into it, so I never put my name in anymore for people to send me cards, since I feel bad that I don't reciprocate. I do love receiving cards, though, so thank you so much to [livejournal.com profile] rei_c for the lovely card! First one of the season! *hearts*

    ***

    Last night, [livejournal.com profile] mosca posted a poem in [livejournal.com profile] breathe_poetry that I really liked (Different Uses for Windows by Arlene Ang), and included a link to H_NGM_N, the literary journal in which it appears, so of course I had to go over there and poke around.

    I found this poem:

    Fifteen Beautiful Colors
    by Erica Bernheim

    I. Four mornings in a row of dawns, reversed sunsets, greasepaint reflections of peril heightened.



    II. Ash, scattered, tastes of care and warns of inter-mural collisions. Expected, their flat hues.



    III. Speaker, formulaic, blends all domestics into hard-won remainders like salt and rock salt.



    IV. Lights at their brightest are the first to be extinguished. Six tickets rigged. Stained clandestine yellow.



    V. Signals, misfired. Cornflower becomes alabaster, what voices scrape the self-professed neutron into action.



    VI. Sweets, water, rested and longing for motion, the completion of the voiced projections: picture, abandon.



    VII. My love, this journey and you have worn me like a jacket, like bluish seams erased and easily worn out.



    VIII. Comfortable lead, pulling from center together, narrow as spit rope. Forty bowls, none glass.



    IX. No one cares for the plights of the professionals, their amber sweat, their safety is what this does for you.



    X. This is what the conversation looks like when no one wants to have it. Someone keeps score in red.



    XI. Dead pull hitter. No trigger. Even the handle has been sold. What remains, iron.



    XII. Two arms reaching make little sound grasps at smoke. Nothing here will bloom or rise, planetary faces.



    XIII. Ball into glove is to tincture as impact was to need. Precious intensity wheedles its own sins.



    XIV. Fine and ground to pieces no bigger than the heart of palm that holds yours. Waves out, be mine.



    XV. What is this moon but silver ending, this flesh but nothing, this lamp, this stiff night.

    ~*~

    I liked the first poem on the page well enough to scroll down and keep reading this one, and I liked it too, even though it didn't really ping me. Interesting use of language, and the first sentence of IV is well put, but nothing to really jolt me until I hit this:

    VII. My love, this journey and you have worn me like a jacket, like bluish seams erased and easily worn out.

    How perfect is that? It packs a whole relationship into one line, twenty words long, nothing tricky about it, deceptively simple. You know exactly what kind of jacket she's talking about, and exactly what the narrator feels like. This is why I love poetry and why I wish I could write like a poet. (It also doesn't hurt that it makes me think of Sam and Dean. Shut up.)

    And X. reminds of fandom. Sigh.

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/105339.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: cranky
    Current Music: Grown So Ugly - the Black Keys
    Thursday, December 10th, 2009
    sams_cafe 10:13p
    In the insanity of the last few days, I've been remiss in not sharing with you a new triumph for Nameless!

    A few months ago, I was approached by Rebecca, a reviewer for Voice of Youth Advocates, which is a library journal targeted at librarians and teachers serving teenagers in a literary capacity. Although VOYA does not ordinarily review self-published books, Rebecca thought they would be interested in Nameless because of the process of its creation, and they agreed to publish a review in the December issue of the journal. VOYA is also tentatively set to run an article about Nameless which I believe will be in April's issue.

    I received the review a few days ago and was really pleased with it. Rebecca submitted a long review and two teen reviewers, Alisa and Julia, also submitted shorter reviews. They're all positive about the writing, which is always nice, but also conscious of the book's flaws, which I appreciated. (Julia, in particular, hit the nail on the head with her assessment of my fear of conflict in writing, and Alisa and Rebecca both commented on the rather leisurely pace of the thing. :D)

    It's late tonight and I'm traveling tomorrow -- I'll be out of town this weekend, though I'll have the netbook -- so I'm going to pull some quotes later to add to the brag post, and I'll link when I do so. If you have access to VOYA, which is a great resource in general, check out page 424 of the December issue to find the reviews.

    As a little PR reminder, you can always find Nameless (and my other self-published books) in the links on the right sidebar of my journal, and digital PDF downloads of the book are still completely free.

    I FEEL LIKE A GROWNUP WRITER OMG.
    musesfool
    3:58p
    she's just someone's favorite daughter
    Thank you to [livejournal.com profile] pinkfinity and [livejournal.com profile] regala_electra for the lovely v-gifts.



    *

    \o/

    Three sets of minutes done! Well, not done-done, because they still have to be reviewed/revised etc. but the hardest part is done and the first drafts are now in the hands of the appropriate staff members for editing. Woo!

    *

    Apparently I'm now famous in [livejournal.com profile] fleurdeleo's office because I gave her half the baked goods I made last weekend and she brought them into work and they were a big hit.

    I brought in the cheesecake to my office today for the potluck luncheon (which is in lieu of a holiday party? I don't even know), and the funny thing is, yesterday, a number of people asked me if I were bringing something in today - I guess the blueberry cake and the banana cake made an impression. Heh. Winning the world over with baked goods - a sound strategy.

    The people I sat with during the luncheon liked the cake, so that was a winner. Someone actually asked me if I ever made grain pie, and I was able to say I have, and then someone else recommended Veniero's grain pie, which recommendation I totally seconded.

    I'm full of a lot of food - there was pulled pork and brisket and ribs and pierogies and chicken with string beans (too spicy!) and mac and cheese and a dozen other things I didn't even get to because I was so full with what was on my plate. Boss 2 made pineapple rum punch and I had a half a glass of that as well. And for dessert, a piece of cheesecake (I made it! I had to taste it!*), a chocolate mini-cupcake, a bite of apple crisp, and a half slice of flan. Everything was very good, but I totally want to curl up and go to sleep now.

    FOOOOOOD COMAAAAAAAA.

    So I mentioned that I decided I would bake for Christmas gifts for the adults in the family - there are four couples I usually buy for, and this seems like a cheaper, more personal gift (and also easier than trying to figure out what to get them either as individuals or couples). Of course, I had to listen to a harangue from my dad about it, as he mansplained why he thought I shouldn't do it, and just buy gift cards instead (is there a special subcategory for dadsplaining? because I think he does it to my brother, too). I was like, I'm not twelve years old and I have thought it through and it's totally workable, especially if I do most of the baking in their somewhat larger and more counter-space-having kitchen (plus! an industrial size KitchenAid stand mixer! Woo! *is mad jealous of that*). So we had one of those "I'm at work and can't yell at you like I'd like to so I'll speak in furious hushed tones on the phone" arguments the other day and the upshot is that I am baking for Christmas, but I am also taking an extra day off to do so (my boss was all, "that's fine - nothing is going on 12/23 anyway").

    I won't even go into the way my mother makes me crazy sometimes, and specifically how she did so yesterday, because arrgh!

    *deep calming breaths*

    I love my parents, but dear god, the can be infuriating sometimes.

    ANYWAY. I ordered a springform pan to be sent to their house since they don't have one and I don't want to lug mine from home, and I also ordered these star-shaped bake and give paper pans from King Arthur Flour. Anyone ever use them? It seems like a great idea, but do they really hold up in the oven? I guess I will find out. I don't think they're good for cheesecake though, hence the springform.

    I also took care of my nieces' gifts yesterday - the boys just get Best Buy gift certificates these days - so I feel much more on top of things than I did earlier. Heh. I love Christmas shopping and I'm good at picking out gifts for people, but the past few years have been harder - I don't seem to get much in the way of Christmas spirit until it's much later than is wise to start shopping. Doing a lot online helps, and walking past the trees being sold on the sidewalk always perks me up, but still, I miss being more excited about the holidays.

    So I was thinking of redoing my delicious tags regarding food - right now that's the only tag I use for anything food-related. When I started, I didn't think there would be much - the online menus of a couple of restaurants I order from, some food-related gift ideas, and that's it - but clearly there is more than that. I bookmark more recipes these days than stories (which is a whole other rant I won't subject you to), so I am thinking I should maybe differentiate a little to make things easier to find. Maybe food: recipes: [type of recipe, i.e., meat, pasta, dessert, etc.], food: information, food: menus? Hmmm...

    I wrote most of this post earlier, before the luncheon and now I am too brain dead to remember if there was anything else I wanted to say, so I'll just hit post.

    --
    *I don't taste the things I don't like to eat, even when I've cooked them myself - I am a very finicky, unadventurous eater. When I used to cook regularly for the family I often made things I don't eat, but I wouldn't have brought something like that in for strangers, anyway.

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/105072.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: full
    Current Music: Chinese Burn - Curve
    sams_cafe 11:23a
    So, it's something like nineteen degrees below zero in Chicago this morning.

    Okay, it's 4 degrees above, that extra 23 degree drop is for wind chill, but I'd like you to stop and think about the kind of wind that causes a 23-degree drop in temperature. And then imagine me walking in it, and you will understand that I am not delirious or surrealist when I make the following statement:

    My house keys froze to the inside of my jacket pocket this morning.

    I'm not particularly fussed by the cold, except when my belongings freeze together. Today does present some obstacles, namely that everyone who could call in sick did so. BossBoss, Coworker Fail, and three department heads are all mysteriously missing, which means basically I'm running the place. The down-side to this is that anyone who could provide lunch support, or who could concievably notice that I don't have lunch support, is gone.

    It's going to be a long day.
    Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
    musesfool
    11:13p
    you might find you get what you need
    My hair is thick and knots if you look at it funny, so for years I've used a detangler or leave-in conditioner - usually Infusium 23. I ran out and they didn't have any in the CVS in my neighborhood, so I bought this L'Oreal leave-in conditioner gel, and it says on the bottle that it smells like rosemary and mint.

    Maybe in BIZARRO WORLD.

    It smells more like the backseat of a Cutlass owned by a guy named Joey Bones in 1986. After it's been locked up tight on a 90° day. Ugh. Works really well, but makes my hands stink of nothing that resembles rosemary, mint or any combination of the two. Sigh.

    I'll use it, I suppose, but I am going back to Infusium after this. It doesn't have a horrible smell.

    *

    So my LJ comments have started slowly trickling in. Yay? I'm glad I didn't post any fic during this time of no notifications.

    I made a cheesecake tonight to take to work tomorrow. Hopefully it came out as good as the one I made Saturday. It looks good and smells good. Sadly, my oven was not big enough for me to put the cake pan in a hot water bath, so the top cracked. (The largest pan my oven fits is a 9x13", but a 9" springform does not fit in that.)

    Then I watched Criminal Minds. spoilers )

    Then I watched Glee. I tried to dl some of the songs from tonight, but iTunes tells me something is being modified and therefore I cannot. But I really liked song spoilers )

    *

    I'm done with two sets of minutes and 3/4 of the way through the last set, and then hopefully I can actually do some work on my yuletide story at work. That would be good. I still have the same 73 words I had on Saturday. Sigh. I used to be good at this writing thing. What the hell happened? Possibly baking is my new fandom? I was an enthusiastic baker when I was younger and I've enjoyed rediscovering it, and I am more squeeful about it than I am about fandom these days. Hmm...

    Speaking of which, I need to go unfrock my cheesecake, and then I am going to bed.

    *

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/104750.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: accomplished
    Current Music: People Got a Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
    sams_cafe 8:27p
    I was going to do the "If I came with a warning label, what would it say?" meme that's been going around, but I'm pretty sure "HEALTH HAZARD" covers it. :D Possibly "Contents Under Pressure".

    I have been adjusted and massaged and manipulated, and apparently my ass is literally too tense. They kept poking it. IT'S MY ASS, STOP POKING IT.

    In happier news, [info]celestialsoda made me an OMG AWESOME drawing of a maskmaker's self-portrait. It's all sepia and Leonardo Da Vinci! And he's sculpting in a mirror!
    sams_cafe 3:51p
    I forgot I have to go to the chiropractor tonight at 5:30. On the one hand, yay theraputic massage. On the other hand, it's supposed to storm and I won't be getting home until 7:30 at the earliest. And then there's the eternal question: do I eat before I go, or wait till I get home?

    Also, as it is approaching finals season, and Stressed Out Season, and all the rest, a reminder: [info]deleting_my_lj. If you're going to delete temporarily, please post first! It saves us all a lot of worry and scrambling to find copies of your fic.

    I had other things to post about but now I don't remember what they were. It's been that kind of day.
    musesfool
    10:44a
    and this emptiness in my heart
    Still no comment notifications (even recent comments is running slow), but I am neck deep in minutes, and need some entertainment, so, a meme, gacked from [personal profile] cereta:

    If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/104462.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: busy
    Current Music: but whichever way i go i come back to the place you are
    sams_cafe 8:58a
    You guys will not believe what Coffee Diva Coworker did next.

    THIS IS A WOMAN WHO ACCEPTS NO SUBSTITUTIONS! EXCEPT FOR DECAF COFFEE!

    She decided that since her suggestion of No Coffee After 3pm had received tepid, if not outright hostile, reviews from the Operations group, she would institute it herself. She apparently spent much of the afternoon telling people that there could be no new coffee after 3pm, and implying this directive came from us. For those of you who question the logic of this:

    1. There isn't any.

    2. Her reasoning, I believe, is that people would finish the coffee in the pots after 3, and He Who Finishes The Coffee Shall Rinse The Pot.

    3. This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the basic human condition.

    People reacted in one of two ways. First, they ignored her, and brewed coffee whenever they damn well pleased right up to 5:30, an hour after I had already left. Second, they waited until I was gone and then sent me FURIOUS and DEMANDING emails.

    The result of which is, I have been soothing frazzled nerves since 7:45 this morning, and may have to send out a companywide email announcing that NO, there is NO BAN on coffee after three.

    Which will deeply embarrass Coffee Diva, and I'd feel bad about that, but the entire Operations group and about 90% of the office are on my side on this one, so I don't feel too badly.
    Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
    sams_cafe 2:40p
    TEMPEST IN A COFFEE POT.

    This afternoon, one of our managers emailed the operation staff (of which I am the lowest rung and yet hold all the power...interesting) to notify us that every morning, when she comes in to brew her pot of decaf coffee, the coffee pots from the night before have not been rinsed out. She is outraged! She demands the cleaning staff be reminded of their position!

    1. While I hate to say it, nobody thinks decaf coffee in the morning is in any way worthy of their time. I know people like the taste of coffee, and like not being caffeinated, and I'm not going to say morning decaf is stupid. It's just that nobody else in the world cares. I can guarantee you my hard-caffeine-drinking bosses, ALL THREE OF THEM, went "Oh fuck that noise, decaf junkie."

    2. The cleaning staff are under no obligation to wash our coffee pots.

    I emailed her back that the coffee pots are communal kitchen responsibility, because the cleaning staff can wash the coffee pots but it'll cost us $50/night, which is a trifle prohibitive.

    She asked about the possibility of a rota, or of a no-new-coffee-after-3pm rule.

    I am hoping she will compromise on a "please rinse out the coffee pots if you see them full after 5pm" sign. It won't actually work, but she'll get a warm feeling of martyrdom when she sees them as she's rinsing out a pot for decaf every morning.

    Coworker Fail saw the email and said, "If BossBoss makes cleaning out the coffeepots part of my evening duties, the union's getting involved."

    I might have LOLed. On the inside.
    musesfool
    10:22a
    my cup's already overfilled
    Big Bang Theory

    Sheldon! ♥

    spoilers )

    *

    Castle

    spoilers )

    *

    Hopefully today will be less fraught and crazy-making than yesterday was, and I will be able to get some work done on my yuletide story. I am worried I won't live up to the source, but then I think, in some ways, who could? Which will make more sense once I can talk about it.

    *

    LJ, please to be fixing comment notifications ASAP. It is really freaking irritating that I'm still not getting any.

    *

    Lastly, thank you again for all the lovely snowflakes. I wasn't able to get to everyone before they shut it down, but if I could have, I would have. *heart*

    *

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/104195.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: awake
    Current Music: Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
    Monday, December 7th, 2009
    musesfool
    11:18a
    the solemnity of things left to themselves
    Thank you so much to [livejournal.com profile] ingridmatthews, [livejournal.com profile] spectralbovine, [livejournal.com profile] tygress [livejournal.com profile] girlmostlikely, [livejournal.com profile] tartanshell, [livejournal.com profile] midnitemaraud_r, [livejournal.com profile] devildoll, and also to the anonymice for the snowflake cookies! ♥♥♥♥♥ *twirls you all*

    [eta] Thanks also to the folks at [livejournal.com profile] crack_impala for the snowflake they sent to [livejournal.com profile] unfitforsociety. *g* [/eta]

    I have been very meh recently and now I feel all warm and loved.

    I've fallen behind completely on answering comments, so I am declaring today comment amnesty day, and getting rid of all the unanswered comments (on anything but fic - those I will try to answer) from before today.

    I have three sets of minutes to write now, plus yuletide and broken toys. Yay?

    Have a poem:

    Rhymes and Songs

    It's late now, December, a few trees
    continue translating.
    A menorah
    holds up its little buckets of light.
    An old woman with hands to her ears,
    two homeless men discussing the nature of evil.
    It's a clear morning.
    Everyone's carrying luggage. There're gaps
    between passersby, larger than usual.
    The sun sets silver shields
    in a row of window frames, all but one,
    where a girl in a fur hat looks out.
    Dawn riddled with memories
    fading and dispersing among the trees,
    fever subsiding —
    you think, at last I can do what I want,
    but mostly
    you're building on the silence,
    the solemnity of things left to themselves.
    White limousine at the corner: an
    intricate, depressed millionaire
    trolling for a girl so beautiful
    & frightened she might be enticed.
    And a new life, arduous
    and dire, commences. Years
    on a backcountry farm near one of the Great Lakes,
    a bent for poetry, little rhymes
    & songs
    to soothe yourself
    and children you've come to know.

    ~Charlie Smith

    ~*~

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/104108.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: loved
    Current Music: 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco
    Sunday, December 6th, 2009
    musesfool
    9:03p
    swinging to the right side
    Thank you to [info - livejournal.com] deirdre_c, [info - livejournal.com] marciaelena, [info - livejournal.com] catdancerz and [info - livejournal.com] dotfic for the lovely snowflakes in my userinfo! ♥♥♥♥♥

    *

    LJ, let my comments go!

    *shakes tiny ineffectual fist*

    *

    \o/

    Giants beat the Cowboys! That always makes for a great Sunday. And they swept them this year, so I think that means they have the upper hand should it come down to a tiebreaker.

    *

    After brunch, I went to Supercuts and while she was cutting my hair, the hairdresser quizzed me on 19th c. novels like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice (well, technically movies adapted from 19th c. novels). I thought she said she'd read Jane Eyre, so I kind of spoiled it for her (crazy wife in the attic omg!) but she didn't seem to care. She said she was going to bump it up on her Netflix list, 'cause she likes the creepy ones.

    Generally, I hate having to chat while having my hair done, but this conversation was amusing and also about something I am familiar with, which is not usually the case. Also, she washed my hair with this lavender and mint shampoo that I really liked so I ended up buying it. Obviously, the way to upsell me is with conversation about books and things that smell nice.

    *

    I have a whopping 71 words on my yuletide story. Wah! Also, I am trying to figure out how I am going to find a beta who knows the source, because I'd like someone who is at least familiar with it to read the thing over when I finally finish it.

    When that's done, I can focus on Broken Toys, among other things. I think I know what I'm writing for that, but writing it in my current unable to write state should be interesting.

    Stupid writing. Why so hard?

    *

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/103705.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: mellow
    Current Music: Vikings v. Cardinals on tv
    sams_cafe 7:06p
    LOL, IT'S A SNOWSTORM IN MY PROFILE PAGE.



    (Additional thanks to [info]celandineb, [info]chinatree, [info]beathen and [info]_kyri!)
    sams_cafe 2:05p
    WINTER IS UPON US.

    Not that you'd know it here in Chicago, where it's sunny and cool out and has snowed ONCE and it's DECEMBER.

    *shakes fist at the sky*

    But I can pretend, after all. [info]viggosterri and [info]pinkfinity both sent me a lovely snowflake via LJ (thank you! It's like a flurry!), and I've been curled up pretending it's snowing and watching videos.

    [info]bluejeans07 linked me to DOCTOR CLAUS:



    Less Christmassy, but no less hilarious, is [info]cluegirl's accusation that I am secretly one of these gentlemen, professing my love of typeface. I WISH.



    And finally -- this was one of my favourite films as a child, around the holidays. Most of the actual cartoons in it are old or clipped from barely-relevant films, but I loved the little intervals with the dancing toys and the incredibly stupid lyrics. This is just part one; you can find the rest on youtube pretty easily.

    sams_cafe 11:11a
    WELL.

    The beans and the beer bread came out well -- for the many who've asked, the beer bread is a quickbread, a mix from Trader Joe's, $2 and well worth it because it is DELICIOUS.

    Meanwhile this morning, the yoghurt is yogging and will be for the next ten to fourteen hours; the pumpkin bread is baking, the rice is soaking, and the curry for the rice is defrosting. I am going to have some EPIC LUNCHES this week, between the curry and the beans and the chowder. And the fried stuffing, oooh.

    As long as I'm taking a break from cooking, I may as well post Chapter Nine of Valet of Anize; Chapter Ten might...take a while.

    I used to write faster than this, you know, but I also used to have a job that wasn't nine-to-five and I don't think I wrote as well. I'm trying to embrace the genre-adventure-story thing and not struggle with imbuing too much meaning in this; it's never going to be the same kind of story as Nameless was. It's still my problem child, but I'm finding moments of pure beauty in it, so. I do what I can.
    musesfool
    11:13a
    i don't care if all of our steps come out wrong
    Two thumbs up for both the flourless chocolate cake, which tastes like a really intense fudge brownie, and the Sicilian cheesecake, which is just yummy, with a hint of orange flavor (I wonder if adding almond extract would work. hmm...).

    ***

    Here is some music I uploaded. The theme was "songs to wake up to" and I did two small sets:

    for when you need to ease into the day with some softness:

    For No One - Azure Ray
    Raining in Athens - Azure Ray
    The Shape I Found You In - Girlyman
    You Will Rise - Tom McRae
    Anna Begins - Counting Crows

    for when you need to get the adrenaline going:

    Every You Every Me - Placebo
    Back in Black - AC/DC
    Wherever I May Roam - Metallica
    One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix) - Superchick
    Slow Down Gandhi - Sage Francis

    I uploaded this for [info - livejournal.com] angelgazing, because it is THE Remus Lupin theme song (pre-Azkaban, anyway) in my head:
    There Is a Boy Who Never Goes Out - the Lucksmiths

    And here are some songs I was thinking should be SPN vids:
    Rise Up in the Dirt - Voxtrot
    Sam and Dean, saving people! hunting things! the family business!

    Red Shoes (The Angels Wanna Wear My) - Elvis Costello
    Sam and Dean v. angels

    (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding - Elvis Costello
    Down In It - Nine Inch Nails
    Terrible Lie - Nine Inch Nails
    Sam wondering how things got all fucked up, and if it's even possible to fix them.

    ***

    Now I have to go get ready to meet [info - livejournal.com] fleurdeleo for brunch. And then another day of not-writing my yuletide story! Woo!

    ***

    This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/103496.html. comment count unavailable people have commented there.

    Current Mood: busy
    Current Music: And We'll Dance - Thea Gilmore
    Saturday, December 5th, 2009
    sams_cafe 7:49p
    Hokay, I have taken out the trash and gone to the store and done Wii workout for the evening. I've done it enough now that all the exercises are in order on my "favourites" menu -- six yoga positions, boxing, penguin-feeding, and then the "sit very still" game as a closer. Though one of the yoga poses is out of order because omg it feels so good to feel my whole spine pop when I do it. :D

    Tomorrow is the DAY OF COOKING. I'm going to make baked beans (with turkey, naturally), beer bread, pumpkin bread, Hellish Gluten-Free Fruit Bread, yoghurt, rice for the turkey curry, and ground beef. And then do a lot of dishes. A LOT OF DISHES.

    On the plus side: I will have food for, you know, EVER.
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