Friday, August 09, 2013

SMERFs and Leslie’s Poo

Now that I’ve gotten over the panic of finding a new job, and actually BEING at the new job, life is pretty damn good.

Here’s some quick snippets of life at the hotel / motel / Holiday Inn…

My official title is Assistant Corporate Controller, but when I write it down, I almost always write it as “Ass Controller.” I don’t know why I insist on forgetting that damn T every time, but I do.

One of our vendors, Leslie’s Poolmart, is in our software as Leslie’s Poo.

We had a reservation for a group listed as “New Englind Executive Ass”. I have no idea what they do, but I fucking LOVE the name. (Let’s just ignore the fact that the brain trust who booked the group in the system can’t spell New England.)

(Yeah… I’m 12 years old and laughing at ass and poop jokes.)

It is expensive to replace elevators. I mean, I know they’re not cheap - this is actually the second company I’ve worked for that’s installed new elevators - but it’s shocking when you have to write a check for six figures, which is only 40% of the total cost.

It’s also crazy expensive to be a franchisee of a brand name chain. The amount they charge us for the use of their name, among other brand specific things, is ridiculous.

SMERFs are a real thing! It’d be cooler if they were little blue creatures who live in mushrooms, but SMERFs are SMERFs.

I’m learning all kinds of exciting new things. The hospitality industry is like a gazillion different types of fascinating. So much goes into running a hotel that it’s insane… besides the meth lab in our HQ, I’ve heard stories of thieving housekeepers, domestic disturbances, trashed hotel rooms, shady front desk staff. Not necessarily at any of our hotels, but we did have a trashed room during my first or second week. That was pretty cool. OH! And the room next to ours? A car drove into it. Right through the fucking wall. (Long before I started, but that had to have been interesting.)

So yeah… now that life is calm, the bipolar is hibernating, and I’m generally feeling pretty damn chipper… I’m happy there and I can see myself there for a long time.

It took long enough.

It didn’t hurt that I got to see Black Mountain Symphony on Saturday, in Weedstock either. That was huge in putting my world right, as it always is.

Oh - let’s discuss the show, shall we?

I don’t know why, but Mike got the idea that he wanted to see me high. Like I’d be even more fun to be around. As if that were even possible!

That led to a confession to Rollz, that the closest I got I ever got to even thinking about getting high was when they were here on one of their road trips and it was me and him outside. I don’t know why I finally came clean. There’s just something about him… I even thanked him AGAIN for reading “Scott and Kate” and pushing me in the direction of reaching out to the Duke of Stud.

Someone once asked me if I had a thing for Rollz, and it’s not like that. He’s a nice guy, and there is a connection, but no. Just. No. There’s a lot to love about him (at least the bits I’ve been privvy to), but yeah. I’ll pass. I’m too old for that kind of shit.

Besides, if I’m going to waste my time worrying about a relationship that isn’t going to happen, I’m going to focus on Johnlock. (From the description of a fan fic I’ve bookmarked to read later: “because god dam in a row boat that man has the most delicious arse I have ever seen.” Come on! That’s so much better than worrying about whether or not I’m going to get it on with someone ten years younger than me who has a girlfriend. By the way, I am TOTALLY fucking stealing god dam in a row boat. That’s awesome.)

Speaking of relationships, “THIS WEEK: HARTFORD!!” (Part one of my Cabin Pressure ‘trilogy’ - which finally has a name!) is really, truly, almost ready for another round of editing. I did a little bit of a rewrite. OK. I did a LOT of a rewrite. This is a bigger bitch than writing a Sherlock case fic (and THAT is a right bitch, my friends). I wish I knew what drove me to write fan fic for Cabin Pressure. *sigh*

And on that note, I need to prep for GISHWHES. Misha changed things up and it starts on Sunday. (Instead of November…) SUNDAY! I’m not ready for that level of insanity. Wish me luck!!!

Saturday, August 03, 2013

Manic much?

Rereading my last few entries has led me to believe that I REALLY shouldn’t blog when I’m manic.

I normally write somewhat terribly here (compared to my fan fic, work, etc.), but wow.

I fucked up loose/lose and that’s one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. And that whole thing about my Subie?

What. The. Fuck.

I would never, normally, call my Subaru a Subie. It’s a Bubaru. Always has been since the woman fucked up saying ‘Subaru’ during my very first Subaru’s very first oil change. Always will be.

For a car that survived high school, college, and the move to Ohio (so what, 10 years?), we saw a lot of things, lived through even more, and THAT’S still one of my top ten memories.

That says a lot, doesn’t it?

——

Any way… calmer emotions, a quieter head, today.

It’s good - I need to recharge before heading to NY tonight. Annie will be crushed. I’m staying with her brother and his girlfriend, but C offered first and I’m looking forward to getting to know her a little better.

I’ve needed the release of a good night, with good music, and better people in a while. This show couldn’t have come at a better time. I don’t care that we’re going back to NY in two weeks for Annie’s wedding… I NEED to be in upstate tonight like I need to breathe air.

——

Feeling better about work. It kind of ebbs and flows. I’m worried I’ve made the wrong choice still, and I know that’s my stupidity. I’m perfectly capable of doing this job. They love me. There are things I want to do there to really make everyone’s life easier. Month end’s not rocket science…

I know this is residual from the last job that didn’t work out because weeks 3 and 4 were when all hell broke loose then. Week three was not a good week (mania…), but that’s not directly job related so I think I’m OK.

Besides, if anything, the perks make it more tolerable than most jobs I’ve held. Free lunches every day and I’ll never pay more than $59 for a hotel room as long as it’s within our parent brand’s properties. (And they own some VERY NICE brands that I would never stay at because of the pricing.)

OK. I should go pack…

Here’s to good friends, good music, and a good time in Weedstock!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

We broke Lestrade

One of the Facebook Sherlock fan pages I like has an admin named Lestrade, and the worst thing that could ever happen to a Sherlockian just happened.

Lestrade discovered “Alone on the Water”.

Then, someone named Echo introduced Lestrade to the fucking video.

We did more than break Lestrade…

We fucking DESTROYED her.

——

In other news, I’ve taken a break from my Cabin Pressure fan fic because it’s bothering the fuck out of me and I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. It’s written in the style of the show, so each piece is a stand alone “episode”, but there’s just something off. (It doesn’t help that my wonderful proofreader didn’t like it because “it’s not funny”. I know the show is a comedy, but they do have lives outside of the episodes… my fic focuses on those.)

Since I have a physical need to write, I’ve decided to focus on my Johnlock case fic.

I suck at writing cases - there’s so much work involved to make something up and make it sound plausible that I decided (again) to take an interesting real life case and tweak it a bit to make it something that Sherlock might enjoy solving.

I was going to pick up the Zodiac, since it’s still unsolved, and then I got the great idea to combine it with the Son of Sam murders. Right now, I’m researching the two killers (thank you, Tru TV’s Crime Library!) and trying to figure out a way to have the Son of Zodiac(?)  terrorizing London.

My research led me to the fact that there were TWO Zodiac killers. One in San Fran (the real one) and one in NYC.

The best part of this?!?

The NYC guy got caught, but prior to his arrest, the media compared his crime spree to… The Son of Sam!

——

I get that the different countries have different laws regarding copyright and royalties, etc…

If someone wants to buy something from the UK iTunes store (or the US iTunes store, which is the more popular issue), you should just let them. Yeah, you run the risk of not getting your money (I’m sure there’s a lot of fraud), but the majority of people who want to cross borders to buy stuff, will pay for it.

If you don’t let us, we’ll just find ways around it.

There’s no end to the amount of creativity people will exercise to get their way, and it’s only a quick Google search away.

(And, of course, this has absolutely NOTHING to do with my earlier rants about the UK version of Benedict Cumberbatch’s “Top Gear” episode being VASTLY different from the version that aired on BBC America. Nope. Not at all…  It also has nothing to do with the Cumberbabe’s reading of “Jabberwocky” that’s only available in the UK iTunes store. Not. One. Bit.)

Friday, July 26, 2013

Learning methods

In the Cabin Pressure episode “Limerick”, Arthur is trying to learn the phonetic alphabet using the spot check method of revision. Being requested to name a random letter on demand wasn’t really working for him.

Well, when I was learning the phonetic alphabet for my Cabin Pressure fan fic, guess what?

I didn’t enjoy the spot check method of revision, either.

However, I did notice that when it came to G-T-I (the plane’s call sign), I could always remember Golf, Tango, India. (Or when they call her G-ERTI: Golf Echo Romeo Tango India).

It dawned on me that learning the letters as parts of words made sense.

Juliet, Alpha, Mike, Echo, Sierra…

Tango Alpha Mike Alpha Romeo Alpha… easy.

Alpha Papa Alpha Charlie Hotel Echo… also easy.

Golf, Uniform, India, November, November, Echo, Sierra, Sierra… easy peasy mac and cheesey.

You get the idea.

If you had asked me to just reel off the alphabet, there wasn’t any way possible that I would remember it. By associating the letters with words, it makes much more sense.

Think about it:

If I know Apache is Alpha, Papa, Alpha, Charlie, Hotel, Echo, it’s easier for me to remember what P is when I can put it in the context of a word.

Amazingly enough, it works for Arthur, too. *grin*

It got me thinking, though.

Some people learn by repetition. Some have to get creative.

I tend to do a little of both, while the boss favors the spot check method.

If that doesn’t explain my whole panic attack from a few days ago, I don’t know how else to describe it.

(alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, golf, hotel, india, juliet, kilo, lima, mike, november, oscar, papa, quebec, romeo, sierra, tango, uniform, victor, whiskey, x-ray, yankee, zebra)

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Summa cum laude and I can’t read a headline…

I seriously pictured Nine (I don’t know why him specifically) doing some sort of raiding in a jail with Bin Laden. And I don’t even know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean. I think tumblr has destroyed my brain. Too much time with the fan girls, speaking our pidgin language and thinking/writing in British English has completely ruined my command of American English.

——

“Okay, this was an adorable story! I really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for writing :D”

I took a correspondence writing course waaaaaaaay back when we lived in Ohio. For the children in the audience, a correspondence course was when you snail mailed your homework to your teacher. Online courses didn’t really exist back then. Plus, with writing, it kind of made more sense - she could underline, write corrections, etc. and make it easier to understand the notes.

Anyhoo… I found the course’s notebook, filled with the writing assignments, my turned in homework, and the teacher’s comments. (That class is where “Scott and Kate” came from, and maybe one day, I’ll suck it up and make it public.) I went back and read all the assignments (write from the antagonist’s point of view, do a character study of your main characters, blah, blah, blah…). I’d forgotten how much work it took to flesh out realistic characters, but looking back at how it all came together, it was worth it.

All the reactions to my assignment were high praise. Such high praise that it pissed me off to where I basically accused her - in my final review of the class - of blowing smoke up my arse. After she chewed me out for being a complete dick to her, she reminded me that her one CONSISTENT (and pretty much only) complaint about my writing was the way I tend to write in choppy sentences. I had no idea I was doing it back then, but I’ve discovered since that its my voice. It’s just who I am when I write. Whether or not it’s on my blog or in fiction.

Fascinating.

I’m still amazed that I’m getting positive feedback on my fan fic. (I still feel ridiculous admitting that.) People are favoriting my story, giving me kudos, following my story (which is pointless - it’s all been uploaded - but sweet nonetheless), and most importantly, favoriting ME and following ME. Not my story. ME. As a writer.

Dude. It blows my fucking mind like you don’t even know.

I guess in a way, I feel like people are being kind. That I don’t deserve the praise. That I’m a completely shitty writer. (See? Choppy sentences.)

Once day, I’ll accept that I can write, and that people aren’t just blowing smoke.

But it ain’t gonna be today…