Various Bits and Bobs from the last few weeks

Whew. With my internet problems solved, my life got a lot easier. I get through my morning 'netting much faster when I'm not being interrupted by the internet failing every ten minutes or so.

I've been doing some stuff recently, but I have mostly been posting about it all on Facebook, because it's easier than writing out a blog post for whatever reason. Still, I owe it to my couple of readers to let them know what I've been up to...

In September I went to Adam West Day in Walla Walla, and I wrote a decent article about it for File 770. At least, I think it's a decent article. I meant to write a more personal account and post it here, but my old problems resurfaced and I'm not sure I'll ever finish it. At the very least, check out the article and enjoy me slightly professional write-up of events.

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Just yesterday I received my prizes for the History Goes Bump flash fiction contest. I came in third place, which was lovely. You can listen to the episode by clicking here. If you only want to hear my story, it starts about 24 and a half minutes in.

My prizes were a medal and a t-shirt, which I adore. I also got a couple of awesome History Goes Bump stickers.

In addition to the story I wrote for the contest, my brain pumped out three more not-very-horrific stories as well, which I'm willing to share if people are at all interested. Considering the lack of response to my previous posting of fiction, I feel that's not likely.

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In addition to winning a contest for my actual writing, I also won a sweepstakes prize of $50 at Spirit Halloween, which I promptly spent on my first ever animatronic, a sound-activated skeleton. Hubby-Eric and I tested it by screaming at it and having it scream back. Then Eric forgot I turned it off and kept screaming at it, which really amused me.

I also got a Haunted Manor Greeter, which is a doorbell set that little kids at our porch at likely to get a kick out of, as there will be a ton of them, I'm sure. If it doesn't drive us crazy first.

I filled out my order with a Hand Held Candelabra which was unfortunately broken on arrival. When I contacted the company for support, they were less than helpful. I'm much less likely to buy from them again. As it happened, I spent a little money on Crazy Glue and some time with a file and managed to fix the main problem with the candle, making it usable. There are other issues with it that make me think the quality control on the thing is non-existent.

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Anyway, that's been the big events of life. I've also had some bouts of insomnia and an ankle that didn't want to work properly. I also joined a study on depression, and part of the study was a DNA test. I got the results from the test back and am about as white as it's possible to be, I guess. That's sort of depressing on its own, as I'd rather be a mutt. Oh, I'm also looking forward to the Justice League movie and seeing this new interpretation of Aquaman. And if you really want to see my political rantings, I keep those on Facebook and Twitter for the most part, now.

Haircuts and Life

A week or so ago Eric and I drove out to our usual place to get haircuts, the Sunnyside Beauty Academy. There was a note on the door that said the owner was retiring and the academy would no longer be giving haircuts to the public. Much disheartened, we went home without haircuts.

A couple of days ago I noticed my hair was in my eyes. All the time. It was driving me bonkers. I used a hair band to hold it back, but that turned out to annoy me even more. Then I read about record temperatures about to hit our area, with possible highs up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and decided I needed a haircut NOW. Last night I got to the point that I was seriously (and not for the first time) considering cutting as much off as possible then using Eric's shaver to clear the rest.

We needed a new place to get haircuts. I'm not inclined to be stylish - I just want short hair. And the women in this town literally ALL have long hair, and don't want to cut short. So I thought about a place I went to many years ago to get a photo of a child's first haircut, and suggested to Eric we try Fred's Barbershop. I checked the hours online, and off we went.

When we drove up, the place looked abandoned and I was a little worried until Eric pointed out that a) the barbershop pole was spinning, b) the open sign was out and c) it's Monday morning. Oh, right. We walked up and just before Eric could put his hand on the door, it opened. The gentleman behind the door was none other than Fred himself, who I remembered taking a photo of for that assignment at the paper. Sure enough, my photo was posted in the shop, with my credit on it and everything. I took the photo in September 2011 - not long after I started as a reporter.

I asked him if he was up to cutting my hair, and he asked - with a little trepidation - what sort of style I wanted. I told him I wanted a typical guy's haircut, and he said it would be fine. "It's all hair, right?" He admitted he hadn't cut a woman's hair in years, but he had no problem once we got started. And I love the cut. It's perfect for me. Short, even all the way across, above the ears. Just what I always want and hardly ever get.

Eric then got his cut, not as short as he might have since school only starts in another month or so. We were delighted and, frankly, I think we've found our new place to go. His son and grandson also cut hair, and if they learned from him I'm not afraid to get my hair cut by them.

Ok, I promised a photo of my new haircut when I got it (if only to let people know I didn't go for Eleven's look on Stranger Things). I took a few photos and all of them were awful, but here's a couple that I can tolerate (barely) other people seeing:

Hubby and I both got haircuts this morning.

It's nice and short!

My hair has always been a cause of stress for me. I never liked it long, and I hated bowl cuts that my dad gave us when we were children. I don't like fancy - my cowlicks make that pointless in most cases. I just want something I can wash, towel dry, comb and go. This is just what I want.

Ok, moving on to another topic... Below the fold: Fires and Boxed shipments (with Inkwell photos)

My Final Day of 2016

After helping Adi and the posse see out the year earlier in the day, I've spent most of the evening playing the original Fallout, a post-apocalyptic video game with radiation mutants and desperate people trying to survive. I found it cheerful.

Reflecting on the Past

The recent political revelation has led to a lot of attention on the issue of sexual assault. There is a NPR story about a tweet that launched a million women remembering the first time they were assaulted.

I cannot remember the first time. I remember a number of times, mostly petty and small, where a boy rubbed up against me or put his hand where it wasn't wanted. Most events happened when I was in grade school, mostly guys that literally didn't know any better. I didn't either. It wasn't until I was in college that sexual harassment became something people talked about - and it took people awhile to figure out what was normal and what was actually something that could be considered actionable.

David Gerrold has a disturbing Facebook post about learning that virtually all women have a story about unwanted contact.

I've been having nightmares the last few days, remembering things I'd worked hard to forget. I've never been raped. In fact, until recently I would have said the things done to me weren't enough to worry about. But if that's the case, why am I having constant nightmares about them every time I try to fall asleep?

I don't blame the boys. I blame our society. I blame every person who thinks that sort of rhetoric is acceptable "locker room talk". It isn't. It's discussion of sexual assault. Whether or not the "men" who talk that way act on those words, they are enabling rape and assault by allowing that talk and claiming it's normal. And, frankly, if you are inclined to defend those words, I don't want to know you. I don't want to hear from you. I don't want anything to do with you. As a society, we know better now. We are better.

Don't Drive Drunk

...is the advice I would have given the driver who just slammed into a car across the street, pushing it into a truck and damaging both. The driver then raced off, peeling out on a sidewalk before roaring away from the neighborhood, leaving half the neighbors to come outside and have an impromptu street meeting. I called the cops, who sent a nice officer to take stock of the situation. One neighbor believed the car came from a party, and everyone was in agreement that the driver had to be impaired. Probably with alcohol, but who knows?

I was told that the car that was hit belongs to a 19-year-old kid who has been working extra hours to maintain the car and make sure it stays running and in nice shape. The young man is apparently in Seattle this weekend, and will not be happy to learn that his car has been crunched badly.

I heard the crash from inside my house, and by the time I got out of my chair, across the room and to the front door, the vehicle that caused the crash was gone.

Ah well, nothing like a car crash to get your blood pumping at 11 p.m.

Social Anxiety

It's becoming clear to me that I was able to use my job as a crutch to get around my social anxiety. I was able to shunt all the anxiety over to blaming it on my job, saying to myself the reason people are looking at you funny is because you are a reporter. This worked. I was able to not feel the terror of being out and dealing with people because I could justify all the fears and panic and everything and somehow put it on my role instead of on me.

Since leaving the job, I've become a hermit. Except for a trip to Seattle last weekend, I've spent most of my days looking for writing work that will keep me away from other people. It's probably not healthy, and I wouldn't recognize that except for the last four years, eight months that I spent working in a job that kept me out in the community and busy.

I realized that, yeah, I probably do suffer from social anxiety when I spotted a clickbait article online about Illustrations that Perfectly Capture Anxiety. The first one struck me as so *me*... and I had a strong reaction to it. It was a massive and painful gut punch. Then I read the other comics and realized almost all of them matched what I've been feeling. Most of them not quite as strong as the first, but all of them matched.

What I was having at work the last few weeks before I got booted was panic attacks. I called them anxiety attacks because they didn't paralyze me completely. But they were pretty bad. I guess it was a case of not being able to stay, but leaving wasn't the best for me either. I don't know if I can put myself into that sort of a situation again, but I'm not sure what I'll do if I stay at home writing. I need to be out in the community, but I hate being out and involved. It terrifies me.

Now I have to figure out how to move forward, and that's the hardest thing of all.

All I really know for sure is that I want to write. That's the thing that brings me joy. Everything else is secondary.

Not a Great Day for the Music World

I won't go into the obvious. It's all too depressing to think about.

Today I got a few things done, including reading and writing reviews for some comic books, taking care of the yard as much as I could, playing with the cat, and starting the search for a new job.

Yeah, I was going to wait until Monday, but I decided to get started today. There are a few local options that aren't completely horrible, but none that I really want to take. I found a couple of online writing mills, but again, nothing I'm particularly interested in. I'll look a bit deeper tomorrow, update my resume and start getting serious, I guess.

Other things I need to take care of include worrying about my health insurance status and possibly applying for food stamps. I hope we don't need food stamps, but if I don't find something fast, it might be wise to at least look into it again.

I also spent some of the day cleaning stuff up, washing the winter blankets to put them into storage, generally tidying the house. There's a lot I wasn't doing because I was sick and depressed from work. I hope to change that moving forward. I just hope I don't find another job that makes me sick and depressed.

Overall I'm not happy with how unprepared I was to be unemployed. I knew it was coming, but it was a helpless spiral and I was fighting so hard to try to actually be what I thought was wanted that I had no energy for anything else.

The best news is that I haven't had an anxiety attack since Monday. That's the longest I've gone without one in four months. Admittedly, they were pretty small at first, but they were getting worse every week. The Monday right before Emerald City Comicon was the worst one, with this Monday's being the second place finisher. Most of the others were less severe. I don't think I'm depressed right now, in the clinical sense. I'm a little sad about not having a job and worried about money, but that's not the same as depression.

In short, it's going to be alright, I think. I don't expect it to get wonderful right away, but I think I'm doing pretty good, under the circumstances. Now if only my fantasy billionaire would casually pay off our mortgage, life would get really cool... *grin*

Total Slob Day

I did nothing today.

It felt great.

Now, as the night closes in and hubby goes to bed, I'm thinking about all the things I really ought to start doing to start my new life. If I think too much, I get nervous. But hey, the daytime today was lovely.

Because I didn't really do anything, I don't have much to write about, which makes me wonder why I'm trying to blog. Except that I wanted to try to blog regularly now that I'm unemployed. Although, once I start job-hunting full time, I'm sure this won't be as fun either. I hate job-hunting.

I just wish some nice billionaire would pay off our mortgage, because then we could probably get by on Eric's salary alone. Not that it's fair to Eric for me to not be working when he is. But maybe I'd be able to finally start cleaning up the house and doing writing and research and... eh. It must be late at night for me to be fantasizing like this.

Inkwell is thoroughly confused by me. He seemed resigned when I took a shower this morning, expecting me to leave at any moment. When I didn't, he kept coming up to me and staring. Then he'd walk away, find a spot to watch me from, and stare some more. Every time I moved he got up as if ready to bid me good-bye, then seemed confused if I just went into the kitchen to grab a refill on my water bottle or just did a spot of cleaning.

I also moved my workstation down from the bedroom to the living room, to a spot I think will work better for my comfort levels. I spent a good part of the day with my legs up, which I haven't been able to do for awhile, and it really felt good.

I did text an ex-co-worker today to make sure a couple of things I had left undone will be taken care of. I didn't have to do it, but it would have been petty of me to not at least let someone know. There were a few other things I didn't have time to do that will just be left for someone else to figure out, if they ever do. I think I was far enough gone that mostly it doesn't matter to me anymore. But I still want my friends at the paper to succeed, regardless of how I feel about the fellow in charge.

Inkwell is now snoring contently in the chair next to me, and Eric has stopped making noises upstairs. I think I'll drink more water, play some Doctor Who Legacy, then head to bed when I'm too exhausted to continue.

Not feeling all that great...

First full day of unemployment in quite some time. I didn't enjoy it much. Between my Aquaman blog still being down and a petty city official being an idiot about dandelions, I had what little enjoyment I might have gotten from not-dealing-with-a-boss-I've-come-to-despise taken away from me.

For those of you not in the know, I'm no longer a reporter. My boss broke the camel's back Monday morning after an incredibly difficult morning, during which I was having a massive anxiety attack at work. I stormed out after he insulted me and, because I left work suddenly and without permission, I got fired. It's been coming for several weeks now, so it was not a huge surprise to me. I should have realized I'd be gone eventually because this is the guy that, when I first met him years ago when he was working at a different newspaper, I said, "Boy, I'm glad I don't work for him."

I'm curious to see if he'll succeed at his job. He's supposed to revive the local paper, bring up circulation and make it a thriving business. So far, he's managed to drive off a few advertisers and employees on the one hand, and expand into two cities that were desperate for a good newspaper to cover them on the other hand. I don't really care if he fails or succeeds, but having seen his methods first-hand, I don't doubt he'll rub a lot of people the wrong way before he's done. I'm not going to root for the paper to fail: I loved my job before he came along far too much for that. But I won't be cheering his successes in the slightest. All the awards in the world don't make you a good person.

I cannot predict how he'll do in the long run, but I'm glad I'm not part of it. He and I get along like flame and water. I will say this: I gave it my best shot. But it's hard to work with a person who makes you physically ill when you just think of him. I've been having frequent anxiety attacks, due to him. And they were getting worse.

Anyway.

Eric and I agreed I should take a week off to recover from the hell of the last few months, after which I need to find work. We can't quite make it through the summer without me bringing in some income. The mortgage payments are just a little too much to swing without something from my side.

I'm going to miss being a reporter. I enjoyed a lot of aspects of the job, which made the annoying parts tolerable. I've learned I absolutely hate crime reporting. I don't mind council meetings and anything technical, like port, is kind of fun for me. I handle people much better in small doses, so generally speaking, those sorts of meetings were much more comfortable for me to handle. I still love to do research, and would gladly hunt down facts from anywhere to help write a story. I also have a better idea of how to interview people, which is a skill I simply did not have before. I'm still nervous most of the time, but at least I can do it now. I'm a bit better at editing, though I'll never be a great copy-editor. I can edit for clarity just fine, but typos are my Kryptonite.

I'm told I'm a good writer. The boss told me I wasn't a good reporter, and kept saying it. The last few months have been horribly demoralizing. I didn't realize until I started writing this paragraph just how bad it was. I'm not sure a day went by when I didn't ask myself if I was any good at my job, because if I was any good at it, why would the boss keep insulting me constantly? I think he isn't even aware of how insulting he is. I'm not sure whether I pity or hate him. A little of both, but mostly apathy. He's not worth my time any more. I think I'd already determined his opinion shouldn't matter to me weeks ago, but it's going to take longer to handle the stress of having worked with him.

My confidence has taken a massive hit. Not because I got fired: I was expecting that and ready for it. But because of the thousand little insults flung at me by the boss. I'm still bleeding from the wounds. If only I could convince myself it is him that was the problem, and not me! But the little demons are telling me I should have adjusted to his style faster, and that I was so crappy at my job that I'm better off flipping burgers somewhere. At least I'd make as much money flipping burgers as I did there. Yeah, that's how little I got paid.

I'm not sure how to break into freelance writing properly, or if there's a proper way. All I know is that I'm going to need paying jobs if I want to make a go of it... otherwise I'd better get my apron and spatula ready.

What a day...

So, Monday I went to the high school first thing in the morning for an assembly. As it turned out, the principal had won the state's Principal of the Year award, which is awesome. We got it in Monday's paper, although I was very disappointed in the placement of the story on the front page, since I believe such good news for the town should be above the fold, not below it.

In any case, it was a bit of a frantic morning for me, despite being trusted by the district to write up the information ahead of time.

That afternoon I went to an open house and worked up a little story about the local community college's tiny branch in town. It's a great place, and I wanted to give them some inches in the paper.

That evening I got to go to a Port meeting, which was fun as those meetings tend to be... lots of great folks talking about wonderful technical stuff that supports the town's economy. I enjoy the meetings, even though I wasn't expecting, and didn't get, a full story out of it.

Then I went to a "Math Night" in a neighboring school district. It wasn't at all like the Math Nights we put on at Math 'n' Stuff (I don't remember ever having teachers get pies thrown at them at our math nights) but it was still a lot of fun and nicely mathy.

It was a big day, and the cold that had been brewing in my lungs was grabbing more and more at my energy. By night time I was finding myself struggling.

Then came Tuesday.

So I didn't have a morning event to go to, but I had a lot to write up and a very big afternoon. Plus I expected to have a morning meeting... as it turned out, I ended up not doing the morning meeting. Other things, some terribly chaotic, were happening right in the middle of it all. I was still feeling sick, but I tried hard to keep it under control. In the middle of everything, I was told to go get a story about a medical marijuana collective garden... so I went in an took a photo of giant marijuana plants while I was already feeling woozy.

Afternoon was tough, I started by running out to the bridge with a hole in it and getting yet another photo of it. I've only been there... three times? Yeah, three I think, since the hole formed. It's just on the edge of our new coverage area.

After the hole, I went to a local high school to have an interview with a Miss City candidate. I didn't grow up with the concept of Miss City, but over here there is a Miss Sunnyside, Miss Mabton, Miss Grandview, Miss Prosser, Miss Granger, Miss Toppenish... if there's a city, there's a royal court for it. And somehow, through some sin of mine, I've been doing the interviews for two of the cities we are covering. There's a total of four courts/pageants we will likely be regularly covering. One thing we have done with Miss Sunnyside in the past is do a bio of each candidate in the weeks leading up to the pageant. The bios run on Fridays and are a big deal. The new publisher said if we are going to do bios for Miss Sunnyside, we have to do them for every city... and so, here I am, interviewing teenage pageant candidates. Yikes.

After that, I went to a place I'd driven past many times but never knew what it was. Turns out it's a company that makes fishing lures, Yakima Bait Company. Our congresscritter was coming to do a tour, and the media was invited. Since I was already in the same town for a later city council, I went to the tour as well. It was fascinating and fun, and I got lots of photos, even though we only ran one.

Next up was the council meeting, which was less fun since it was about banning marijuana, a topic I'm heartily sick of. As expected, the council banned it. I got my story and a nice bonus photo of the girls basketball team, which won third place in the State Tournament and was the top-rated public school in their division in state, posing with the mayor.

I was home late, had a late dinner with hubby and crashed into bed exhausted and still fighting that cold.

Wednesday morning I struggled to wake up. The cold was hitting me hard, but I got to work, wrote up my stories and got through the first half of deadline. Then I found myself running to the bathroom every five minutes for dry-heaves and decided to leave. I didn't really ask permission, since I was afraid I was going to pass out or throw up on my boss. That may come back to haunt me, I don't know. I didn't care at the time, and I'm not entirely sure I care now.

Once home, I tried to write up my Miss City story while staying near the toilet, but quickly discovered I couldn't write. I couldn't read, either, so I finally went upstairs to try to sleep. I discovered that pulling the comforter, an extra quilt and all the blankets I could find over me was enough to drown my nausea and pain, and I slept until Eric got home and woke me.

This morning I felt much better and was able to accomplish some stuff. I had yet another surprise "somebody in the school district got an award" event, and, yes, another Miss City interview in a different town. I got those done, but needed to do some more "Over the Shoulder" archive searches for tomorrow, so I stayed late and got it done. It was nice. I have to run and get a photo tomorrow morning, but I don't need to be in the office until 8 a.m., which is nice. I also don't have much on my plate, supposedly, which *might* mean I can get some of the long-term special section stories written, which would be REALLY nice. Knock on wood.

And so to bed...

Quick Update

I need to go to work soon, so I can't write much.

Work has been... stressful. So much so that I, as I have said before, basically turn off when I get home. I would like to write more of what I want to write, but that hasn't been an option the last few months. We're adjusting to a new house style and a new publisher and it's just taking longer than it ought to be taking. Depending on the day, I'm either deep in despair that we'll ever get on an even keel or hopeful that we're finally starting to "get it" and making progress.

That said, I finally received my Hugo PIN, and I'm starting to sort through my reviews from last year and working on figuring out what I want to nominate. I haven't had time to read in the past few months, thanks to the new boss, but I hopefully have enough to get started. I'm excited to be nominating for the first time, and I hope to get it "right" in the sense that the stuff I put on the ballot is truly the stuff I think is the best I read published last year.

I tend to obsess. I think most of my readers have figured that out by now. I've got a handful of current obsessions at the moment. One is my so-far pathetic attempts to start a Doctor Who club locally. I know there's the interest, and I know my hubby's model for a club (bring food, watch Doctor Who, have fun, no fees) should work, but I'm having trouble reaching the local fans, since they are all students. And since hubby is subbing a lot in another district, he can't spread the word. Ug.

Another obsession is Fortean Times. I had a thrown-together page of cover scans, but I upgraded it to a wiki over the weekend to make it easier to update. I was getting tired to hand-writing the HTML files and uploading it via FTP, when with a wiki I only upload the latest scan once and then it's got all the sizes automated by the wiki. Of course, being an obsessive, I started to index issues while I was at it... hey, don't judge me. I know what I am.

The final recent obsession is with a slightly local news incident, which I refer to as the Bird Sanctuary Bozos. Living in a largely conservative area, I know a lot of people who sympathize with the cause of the bozos, but I find it hard to accept that most of them would support the people who did the occupation if they knew even a little about the background of those people. I ended up writing a long Facebook post about it, which I will reproduce after the fold. I have no idea why I'm obsessed about it, I got obsessed long before I knew that some of the "protesters" claim to share my religion (they understand their religion about as well as they understand the Constitution, which is to say: not at all). All I know is that they fascinate me, like watching a car wreck or something, and for a time I couldn't get enough about their antics. Now only a handful of people are still paying attention, since the media has mostly moved on, but I'm still curious to see how it turns out and find out what damage they actually did to archaeological sites in the area... a crime for which I hope they pay most dearly.

Well, time to get dressed and head to work, so if you are interested, my Facebook rant is below...

My Moment of Panic

I call the police every day.

It's part of my job, calling the sheriff's office or the police to get information for our daily report of police activity. I've gotten used to talking to cops.

But I never call 9-1-1. That's the emergency number, and I never have an emergency. Right? Well... today I called the emergency line.

I was driving home after finishing up my last story for the day. I turned an annoying blind corner onto the street that leads to my subdivision, and there was something strange in front of me.

I first registered an SUV stopped in the roadway, askew. It wasn't aimed straight. I then noticed there was something/somebody on the sidewalk to my right side, and there was a big orange dog in the street headed toward the sidewalk. I registered that the dog was attacking/lunging at a dog on the sidewalk being held on a leash by a woman who looked, frankly, really angry and scared. Then I noticed that she had a child with her, trying to hide behind her.

I then realized the SUV was trying to block the orange dog from getting to the woman. I pulled up, stopped my car and turned on my emergency lights. I heard the woman yell, "Get your dog on a leash!" to a man carrying a two-by-four approaching from a house on my left-hand side. I wasn't sure what to do, so I dithered while the man ran behind my car, where the orange dog was running to either get away from him or cut off the woman and her dog, or both. I heard a smacking sound and the orange dog yelped, then the man was headed back to the house. I didn't see the dog after that (I think it ran while I was looking at the woman).

All this time the woman had been trying to drag her dog, which appeared to be a young brown Doberman, up the street. She was now next to my car, so I yelled (since my windows were up) "Do you want me to call the police?!" She nodded, looking grim and frightened, and I dialed 9-1-1 for the first time in many years.

I may have been a little over-excited. I told the dispatcher that a dog was attacking a jogger and her dog and child. I offered to stay and direct the police to where the dog and the man had come from. While I was talking, the woman got her dog around the corner and away. The SUV driver slowly drove off. And the man returned to his house. I didn't get any names, and no one was there to support me.

Rather than stay in the middle of the street, I pulled a u-turn and parked nearby. The police arrived a few minutes later and I directed them to the house. As soon as he saw the officers, the man came out and started to apologize, saying his dog had broken its leash. Because of the neighbor dogs, which always run loose, he said. Two more officers arrived, including one I knew. I gave my name and address and such, then I went to my car...

...which I'd locked with the keys inside. D'oh. Fortunately, it's cold out. When it's cold out, I wear a coat. When I wear a coat, I keep my wallet in the pocket. And in my wallet... my spare key. I was able to get inside my car without utterly embarrassing myself in front of the cops and clear out. As I left, the police were questioning the dog owner.

I'll be sure to look at the police log tomorrow to see what I hath wrought.

Morning thoughts

I can't honestly say I'm surprised by the result in Ferguson. The system is messed up. Any prosecutor who sets up an evening press conference, building the tension like that, ought to be driven out of office on the rails. The man was trying to get a negative reaction. It was a national embarrassment.

My own opinion is complicated. I don't know what happened because I haven't seen the evidence. But it seemed to me that an indictment would have cleared everything up. As it was, we basically got a secret trial. No one will have their opinion changed by this decision. If the officer was justified, a trial would have cleared it up. Now? He's going to be forever guilty in many people's eyes, just as the kid he killed will be forever a thug in many people's eyes. It was a dumb choice by the prosecutor. Again, the guy needs to be fired and perhaps ought to pay for all the damage done by the riots he intentionally stoked.

In other news, I had a city council meeting last night. I'm going to have some difficulties writing about it, but then... I usually do. I often end up re-listening to the audio several times to make sure I get things right. It's annoying and time-consuming. But the folks in town deserve to understand what their council-critters are talking about and doing. Hopefully I'll be able to make sense of the nonsense that goes on at council meetings and turn it into something a normal person can read.

Inkwell has been terribly cuddly lately, jumping up on my lap and motioning at me to move my laptop over so he can settle in. Last night he brought one of his toys (a teaser with a long handle!) up onto the bed and settled between Eric and I for the night, but not before meowsaging me by sitting on my chest, purring loudly and giving me a massage with alternating paws stretched out and then pulled in. Eric apparently got a picture of Inkwell on top of my face while I tried to get whiskers out of my nose.

Ok, school board meeting tonight... I can endure the work schedule and get to Thursday... I can do this...

Morning thoughts and links

A New York City high school is teaching kids how to interact with police. I've often thought a crucial element of drivers education should be how to react if you are pulled over by a cop.

Not much to report this morning. It's chilly out, which has led to Inkwell settling on my lap, usually when I'm trying to do something on the computer or iPad. I've turned the heat way down to save money, as medical bills are killing us so far this winter. This is a short workweek, in that I'll be working three days, have a day off, then working on Friday. I also have evening meetings today and tomorrow (city council and school board) so I'm going to not get much rest between now and the holiday.

I'm looking forward to seeing my parent-in-laws Wednesday night. I sometimes get a little too wrapped up in my job... it's nice to see people I'm not reporting on once in awhile.

I'm more than a month behind in reading comic books, and I've got three issues of Fortean Times piled up to read (which will be a joy, but is kind of strange to see because I love reading the mag so much). I've been very busy at work, and not in the mood for much when I get home.

Other than that, I'm surviving, and hopefully I'll have enough energy to make it through the holiday season this year.

Links

Boing Boing has rules for a quick dice game to play whenever. I think I'm going to start carrying some dice just so I can play if I get bored. Scoring: 4-5-6 wins automatically and nobody else gets to roll after in that round. Three of a kind ("Trips") is next highest, with higher numbers winning. "Spare and a Pair" next highest, with the high spare being the higher score. 1-2-3 is automatic loss. Each player only gets five rolls to get a usable roll. Seems simple enough...

How about a totally awesome Batman Beyond short? I really did enjoy that show, although I suffer from too-much-Batman-itis (Hey, DC, you have OTHER CHARACTERS).

Top 5 reasons why the customer isn't always right. Personally, it disgusts me when rude customers get better service or free product simply because they are rude. People who work in customer service deserve basic respect. I've often thought that all teenagers should work in public service for a few years in order to see what it's like on the other side of the counter. I also think rude customers should be banned from stores. Let them figure out how to buy stuff if no store will allow them entry.

An unexpected connection

I moved to the Yakima Valley a few years ago, but had never heard of most of the cities in the area before in my life. However, it appears there was a very close connection that I'd never known about, as seen in this "Over the Shoulder" piece from ten years ago that I ran across today while working on the current "Over the Shoulder" for Friday's paper. I graduated from Hazen High School.

My Morning

Spent a couple of hours mucking about in mud that wasn't just mud this morning as I did the rounds with a local FFA teacher to get some interviews for our annual FFA special section. When I got home I left my shoes in the garage to dry up so I could get the... stuff... off 'em.

I did enjoy the experience overall, though. I got to see cows, horses, pigs, cats, dogs, chickens, roosters, ducks, sheep, pygmy goats and rabbits. The barn cats tended to be quite friendly, but skittish. At one place the cows were wandering loose in the yard and crowded up to me, checking to see if I had any food hidden in my camera.

When I got home, Inkwell spent a VERY long time sniffing me. I hope he enjoyed the "show".

In other news, Eric and I saw the local high school's version of Romeo and Juliet last night. It was a cut-down version, about 80 minutes long according to the program. Sound was an issue in some scenes because they didn't have enough mics to cover the entire cast. Best part of the show was at the Capulet's ball where Mercutio led most of the cast in the Oppa Gangnam Style dance, complete with excellent lip-syncing on Mercutio's part. The lead actor and actress also had a decent amount of chemistry, enough to definitely buy that they would fall in love so quickly. Not the best version ever, but certainly not bad. I'm actually tempted to go see it again tonight just to see the dance scene again.

I think my Wednesday column will be about cheese zombies. I just haven't figured out what angle I'm going to take. There's the school nutrition commentary, which is obvious. There's the nostalgia commentary, also obvious. I could also talk about regional differences. I'm leaning toward a comparison with my school lunches and what I see the local students eating. Maybe.

Eh, boring blog entry. I'll try to put together a nice linkdump sometime in the next week.

Mowed the yard

Eric did the first mowing of the year, so I was just taking my turn, but man I was exhausted after. I really need to start exercising regularly again.

The kitten is hyper tonight. Which is fine, but a little unsettling when he's attacking anything within reach of his paws. Gently, but startling.

It was a nice day today, weather-wise. A good day for a mow. A good day to get lots done. Still more to do before sleep.

Good Grief

I've been talking about nothing but the cat for several weeks now. Perhaps I ought to update you on the rest of my life?

First off, I'm still a reporter, somehow. I'm constantly terrified of being laid off, but I'm apparently slightly decent at the job. I need to improve more. There's a lot of room for improvement. So it goes.

I haven't read much of my comics for the last few weeks, meaning that I'm essentially two months behind. I'll catch up, but it'll be awhile with my concern about keeping the kitten alive and happy trumping the comics. I'm getting one or two read each night, haven't even started my little reviews yet.

I got my media credentials from Emerald City Comicon, but was unable to get the interviews I wanted. I will not get to interview George Takei. *sigh* Probably for the best. I would have a lot of work to do to work out the set of questions I wanted, and then I'd have to practice not gushing like the fangirl I am when I met him. I also didn't get the Chris Lloyd interview, which I had hoped to ask some Wizard of Oz questions in. So those were busts.

Beyond that, my life is as predictable as a reporter's life can be. I took pictures at a wrestling tournament yesterday, go to regular meetings each week and the occasional irregular meeting. I just got a terrifying glance at the seamy underside of local politics this past week and am worse off for the experience as far as my faith in humanity goes, but a bit better off in terms of knowing what I'm dealing with around me.

I had to replace the front tires on my car. I was driving around a corner and felt the wheel jerk under my hands, and then it felt like my car was driving through molasses. I stopped at the Les Schwab, and sure enough, flat. It hadn't quite blown out, but close enough to worry me. We had known the tire needed replacing, just didn't think it was quite that bad. So that's another thing we have to pay for. Money is getting tight again.

Weather has been good. Cool, but not too much freezing. We've had some fog and some rain, but I find them refreshing (unlike natives to this side of the mountains).

My new alarm clock woke me up at 5:34 a.m. this morning with a kitten paw up the nose. I'm never going to get to sleep in again, am I?

Just an Update

It's been cold here. Not as cold as I've ever felt, but certainly a bit chilly. I'm experiencing freezing fog for only the third or fourth time in my life. It's strange, like snow that doesn't fall, just sticks wherever it feels like.

In the last week I went to Rotary (guest speaker was sick), the Port meeting, a grief ceremony at a local hospice, a Christmas celebration to interview a former member of the Billy Graham crusades, a local business that's being sold soon and this morning I went to a cemetery for a wreath laying ceremony in the freezing fog. I've also had a mammogram, had blood drawn, interviewed one of our carriers about her efforts to self-publish a book of poems and listened to a telephone town hall with politicians whose ideas I mostly disagree with, then had to write a fair article about the call. Today I still have a museum open house and basketball games to go to, and tomorrow I need to attend a VFW dinner. And that's just this week.

I have LEGO advent calendars, TWO of them, but I haven't had time to sit and enjoy them. I also haven't had time to put together the Winkie Newsletter, which has given a couple of people a bit of consternation, I know. I'm working on it!

Monday morning, I'm going to have a minimum of seven stories to write up before 10:30 am, which is one reason I've started on as many as I can right now. Thank goodness for basketball coaches who get back to you quickly! All of my teams and the team I'm taking over while one of the other reporters is on vacation have two games each this weekend.

So life is busy. And I'm enjoying it, mostly, quite a bit.