New Job

Spy called tonight. She is still enjoying the job, even though she still hates wine. Even more than that she hates the music that they play in the store -- Frank Sinatra every day. She absolutely hates Frank Sinatra, but they are supposed to play jazz and classical in the store during working hours (lends itself to the hoity-toity air of the whole environment). She wants to make a CD for work of jazz that she likes, like Dave Brubeck and Mel Torme, but she doesn't have a CD burner so I told her to come on by some night and we'll make a cool be-bop CD for her job and I'll show her how to work the Nero Burning Room, since she seems a little intimidated by the PC burning software.

I almost got violently ill at work today. I bent down to pick something up and when I stood back up again I thought I was gonna urp all over the info table. Tracy grabbed me and pulled me back into the break room and had me sit down and drink a Pepsi for awhile to settle my stomach. I was feeling kinda sick this morning, and came actually rather close to calling in, but I thought I'd feel better once I got to work. Other than that one close call, I was fine for most of the day. I don't know why I've been feeling like such crap lately, especially early to mid-afternoon. Later in the day I tend to feel a lot better.

I am apparently doing outstanding work at PM, though. I had four managers gush over me today telling me how kick ass I am, that they are getting tons of compliments from customers as well as co-workers. What a trip -- all last year I had zero confidence in myself and my work abilities at Fantasy and Wherehouse, and I tried so hard at those places. Now I hardly make any effort at all at PM and everyone tells me what a hard worker I am. Go figure.

Past to Future

PAST: When we're children, we often aren't aware that some questions are best asked with a certain amount of discretion. Tell us about a time you piped up with a good question at the wrong moment.

As a kid I was the queen of sticking my foot in my mouth, especially when it came to untimely questions. In hindsight I suppose I was no more so than most kids, but at the time I really felt like I had some sort of problem, always saying things at the wrong time and getting the other kids mad at me. All the other kids, they seemed so wise, so socially acceptable -- they would never ask a question at the wrong time, and I felt like an abberation of nature every time I opened my mouth. I'm a little better at asking questions now, but over the years I had developed a habit of going through a lot of trouble to find an answer for myself, even when it would be so much easier to ask.

PRESENT: Right this moment, what's the one burning question on your mind?

What's for lunch?

FUTURE: You have a foolproof truth serum. You have the means, motive and opportunity. Who, and what question, do you ask?

Well... I could try and find Saddam Hussein and get him to admit to the world whether or not he had WOMD that he hadn't destroyed, but at this point I don't think it would make a lick of difference. The level of partisanship in this country has reached such a fever pitch even presented with the absolute truth -- whatever it is -- there are plenty enough spin doctors on both sides to keep the us-versus-them machine well-oiled. Heck, nowadays, what does truth accomplish anyway? Its all a matter of whether we wanna accpet it or not. Can truth exist if we don't acknowledge it? ARGGghhh Truuuuth. Truth bad truth make head hurt. Why truth no truth don't know Mongo just pawn in game of life.


I better go see what's for lunch.

Now Playing: Sonny Sharrock Band with Pharoah Sanders, Live in Washington D.C. July 3, 1993

I was walking out of the rental office yesterday on my way to work when someone said "Hiiii, Melissa." I looked and it was Crystal, one of my managers from PM. I asked her if she lived in these apartments too and she said that she was looking to start renting there, and was just walking into the rental office to talk to them about it. I told her good luck and took off -- shit! -- I don't want anyone from work living so close to me, let alone in my own apartment complex, and the one who gives me a harder time than all the rest of them over there. Its true that she has lightened up on me a good deal since I've proven to her that I can work hard and have experience. But still, I just hate having people that I work with so close to my personal life. I like to keep business out of my privacy.


SPOILERS BELOW:


Anyway, Alara's two new Q fics -- however much she plans to expand on them -- have intriguing foundations. The first one, Similar Features, is a Star Trek/X-Men (the movie version) crossover that due to its brevity and lack of conclusion tells me that she does intend to come back to this and expand on it. Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy locate what they believe to be a mutant in LaBarre, France crying out for help, but turns out to be Q who appears to have somehow lost his link with the Continuum. Q was trying to find Picard in another timeline and ending up honing in on Xavier instead. Of course Xavier and McCoy have no idea who or what Q is, but Q is taken aback at how similar the professor's facial features are to Captain Jean-Luc Picard's. Q explains that, although he still has his powers, without the Continuum to draw energy from he will get weaker and weaker until out of some uncontrolable, involuntary reflex he will wind up grabbing at the next closest powerful energy source available, which would be the Earth's sun, wiping it out, and the Earth will be in jeopardy. The professor and McCoy vow to help Q with his predicament, as well as save the Earth from possible destruction.


The other story, Te Morituri Salutamus, is a follow up to It's Always Fun Until Someone Loses, which she recently revised to explain why in this situation Janeway and Co. couldn't catapult around the sun like Kirk and Co. did to go back in time (I admit I had never thought of that). So far in this story, Q is presumed dead after losing the war with the Continuum and Continuum has relegated all alien life forms to their home planets and solar systems, preventing them from leaving and exploring the galaxy. All hybrid aliens have been given a choice as to which side of their race they wished to favor and were made into that race and sent to their planet of origin. The populartion explosion in Earth's solar system is driving humans to madness, murder, and suicide, and Janeway is working with Annika (Seven Of Nine, now a full human) and Montgomery Scott to find a way to send a message into the past to either Q or Janeway or Picard or anyone who can stop this all from happening in the future. In this new segment, we are taken to the moment where Admiral James T. Kirk dies on the hillside after his battle with Soren, but is brought back to life by Q, dressed in a Revolutionary War uniform from Earth, carrying a musket. looking bloody and bruised. Q changes Kirk into his younger, fitter self and tells him that he needs his help. He says that the Continuum doesn't know now that Kirk is alive, so he will be able to move about a bit more freely than the other humans. Q is helpless against his people, but perhaps Kirk, with his infamous resourceful nature, can do something, since he is a free human now. Q's hopes are practically non-existent, but any ray of light couldn't hurt. Although he knows that he will never see them again, he tells Kirk that if he ever comes into contact with Picard or Janeway, tell them how much he (Q) is sorry.


I still need to read Hybrid Vigor, a Star Trek/Farscape crossover. I've just held off because I have never watched Farscape before so I am not familiar with the universe.

The Daily Show did a little tribute to Charles Doty

Tonight The Daily Show did a little tribute to Charles Doty by showing his very first piece, his election campaign from 2000 -- with Vance DeGeneres! Woo-to-the-hoo!! Beautiful, delightful Vance Elliott DeGeneres. God bless him. I don't know what it was, seeing Vance back on TDS, even as a rerun, but it felt rather nice (even thought TDS reran that same story back in September 2001 shortly after 9/11). Jon even gave a little teeny-weeny shout-out to the man after the story. TDS is so different now then it was back when Vance was the familiar face from the show, and it was strange seeing the show from the present reaching back into the show from the past like that.

And Vance just logged on! Oops... and then logged off. I wonder if he saw himself on TV tonight. Connie wrote him yesterday just to see what's been going on. I wonder if he just wrote her back.

I'm all giddy now -- I just saw my Vaaaaancy-paaaaants!

:::squeeing like a teenybopper Cold fan circa 1980:::

Pro wrestler "Classy" Freddie Blassie died yesterday at age 82

The news is still coming through the wires, but I leanred last night that pro wrestler "Classy" Freddie Blassie died yesterday at age 82. He, like Miss Elizabeth who died a few weeks ago, was another icon of my youth watching wrestling with my father on Saturday mornings. Joe told me that Blassie was just on WWF the other night promoting his new book, which Joe just bought last week.


Also gone just recently is 5-time presidential contender Charles Doty, an eccentric old man who dreams of becoming president one day. He used to drive his old blue van around to public places were he hopes that large groups of people converge (i.e. Wal-Mart parking lots) and holds little "political rallies", usually consisting of only two or three people. Vance once interviewed him for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (top of page) and he even appeared on the TDS election night special. When TDS came back on the air after 9/11 they reran the Charles Doty story as an example of what makes this country great -- the freedom for anyone to pursue their dreams, no matter how far out of reach they may seem.

Now Playing: Ginger Baker & Sonny Sharrock, Live in Geneva 3/19/87

I had a dream last night that I was at my boss Nilda's house and I kept knocking over things and breaking them. Valuable things that meant a lot to her. I finally ran from the house before I did something like burn the place down. I think I am having worries of pleasing my boss and making a good impression on her. So far she seems very happy with my work, but she comes off as a perfectionist in a way that even Diane never achieved (or at least about some things -- obviously not all things). and I think I am afraid of letting her down in some way, perhaps. Maybe I feel intimidated by her. I don't know.

Steven Soderbergh film Full Frontal

After watching the Steven Soderbergh film Full Frontal today I decided to go ahead and drop Larry a line again and see if he had spoken with Steven about The Backbeats video. He says he'll get back to me soon on that. Looks like Steven's role in the making of A Confederacy Of Dunces has been fluctuating over the past ten years that he has been trying to do it, going from director to co-writer to producer. Looks like David Gordon Green is going to be directing it now. Still no word on when it will be shooting.

Ugh, my tummy hurts. Wish I could go crawl back into bed, but I have to leave for work in a few minutes. I hate working Monday nights. All the new stuff that has to go out for Tuesday just sucks.

Now Playing: "Heart Of The Sunrise" by Yes

Vance has gotten himself a serious case of ants in the pants this morning. He keeps logging on and off, like a man waiting anxiously for a very important e-mail. Whatsamata, ducks? Still waiting for new word on that new television show you're making for TNT? Please deliver us some good news for a change!


I just discovered that my old childhood friend Sheryl is 8 months pregnant. Wow, do I feel uninformed. My mother was showing me all these little baby clothes that she bought and I was looking at her like "Uh... who's having the baby, mom, cuz it sure ain't me." and she told me about Sheryl's pregnancy -- Sheryl who was once my best friend as a child, but whose mother is still my mom's best friend so she knows these things. Anyway, she's having a girl, and is naming her Ashby. I knew Sheryl always loved the name Ashleigh, but mom said she chose Ashby since Ashleigh is so common nowadays.