I'm getting better at fighting the future
"Someday you'll be fine."
Yes, I'll be just fine!
Work is going fine. Had a workload check-in with my boss on Friday. The one-hour meeting ended up being twice that long, but it was good things. I am sill managing to consistently impress her. Taking on those extra vendors a month ago also gave me enough to do now that I don't feel like I am wasting 4+ hours every day. I actually have emails coming in regularly and stuff to follow-up on. It's a very productive feeling.The loudmouth coworker who I took the vendors from (you know, the one who threw he huge tantrum over it) finally got over herself and is back to her normal self. Up side: the constant passive-aggression is gone. Down side: now she wants to talk to me *constantly* and won't leave me alone. Everyone else in our area either is like me and is not a morning person, or knows to just not bother anyone else until 10m or so unless it is important. Not this lady. She has to go to every person and tells us all the exact same story of how her morning went. All the while she holds this bowl of eggs and onions that she microwaves. I brought in one of those Renuzit air fresheners and will set it right under my face on my desk whenever she makes those eggs. It's absolutely nauseating, but she ignores you if you say anything to her about it. She has yet to make the connection between my air freshener and the eggs. This is also the same woman who can't make the connection between someone wearing huge noise-cancelling headphones and the fact that they aren't listening to her. She will still stand there and talk to them whether they acknowledge her or not.
Every year around this time my company throws this HUGE book fair at the local community college. They usually do writing competitions for kids in school, they fill the great hall with hundreds of books all 20% off, the school and library mascots wander around, and so much more. They also have one author and one illustrator come and give a talk and sign books. I didn't really get to talk to the author, Jamie Ford, but I did get to meet the illustrator Suzanne Kaufman. She was super nice and encouraging! Apparently my mother told her about me and my writing, so she was really supportive and high-fived me and told me to keep at it. She even did doodles in a bunch of the books that she signed. The book fair was decenly busy this year, a slight improvement over last year. We're hoping that we start bringing in bigger names again, but tbh the company might be usin the fair as a way to get the word out about their lesser known authors... Ah well.
Jerboa came all the way up to join me at the book fair. He even got a gift for his sister. It was nice to wander around with him. He even got to meet my parents, which I makes him the only friend aside from Draco out of our nerd group that has met them, and Draco hasn't seen them in 5+ years. After the fair, Jerboa and I grabbed lunch at Applebees, and then headed to a local ice cream shop that has the best homemade ice cream in the region! You can't visit this area and not stop in. Jerboa was really impressed and enjoyed his milkshake.
While at the book fair, I also got to meet my not-nephew. To make a long story short, my oldest brother was a donor for his best friend and her wife to have a baby of their own (one has a son from her previous marriage to a very unpleasant guy who no longer gets to see his child). My brother signed away his rights and all that, and never really took any issue with it. He's honestly not really the dad type, anyway. More like the cool uncle who lets you get away with stuff your folks wouldn't normally approve of. The baby was born I think late last summer or early fall. I don't remember exactly when. My brother hasn't seen the kid in person yet, and isn't really in any rush to. But the women and their kids were at the book fair, and were excited to see me and my mom, so we got to hold him and everything. I still stand by my "babies are slimy and gross" mentality, but this one wasn't so bad~ It was cool to be able to see him, considering I never really expected to. His moms are super nice, but only the one is good friends with my brother, and that is the only way we are really connected. So I never expected to meet him myself, and here I was meeting him even before my brother!
Anyway, I think that's about all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!
Gaming:
Anthem finally came out! I went on a blackout for about a month and a half leading up to the release, so that I didn't have the impressions of other people in my head. It was most definitely a good idea. I really enjoyed the game! I finished the main story and am working on extra contracts and missions. Between missions you hang around the fort and get to talk to people. It is really cool to get to know them and hear their stories. You can even influence their decisions! Like one guy nearly gets wrapped up in criminal activity all because of a cute girl. Two fashion designers end up in a fued but if you play the dialogue right they become best buddies and open a store together. You help an elderly woman come to terms with the sadness in her past. You help a runk turn her life around and start a booming bakery business with another woaman. It's just a lot of really cool little interactions and minor things! You can even hear people talking about it when you walk around and eavesdrop on conversations. It's little touches like that, that make the world feel dynamic and like you had a part in it, that I really enjoy. Granted, the game does have a good number of bugs, some of which were genuinely gamebreaking. They are actively working daily to fix them, though. There are some minor little bugs, too, that are more amusing than gameplay-altering, like people teleporting around in the fort sometimes when you walk through a door.
Watching:
I am working on getting through The Pinkertons. I had this one in my queue because I really enjoyed Ripper Street (it's one of my favorites!) and this was suggested because it was similar... Noooo, noooo.The acting in this feels entirely unbelievable, and the mood is like they couldn't decide between joking and half-hearted, serious, or just plain parody. It feels like I am watching a high school play, to be perfectly honest. I can see why it only has one season. I feel bad saying that, but it's the truth.
Today I also watched Velvet Buzzsaw. Normally I would sit here and go on and on about how I adore Jake Gyllenhaal, but my goodness was this painful to watch. His character was awkwardly mashed together, for one. For another, the rest of the acting wasn't really any better. I liked the premise about killer art and hauntings, but I felt the execution was just not well thought out or practiced enough before filimng started.