Weirdness abounds at work, and why I want to marry slidellra and have her little author babies
Short cuts because not everyone is fascinated by labour action, annoying coworkers, or my random and disorganized approach to teaching college courses.
There has been a fair amount of labour unrest here at the municipal bus company, and my union is the midst of trying to finally negotiate a contract (we've been without one since December). The drivers are spreading rumours of a lockout so I've been fielding a lot of panicked calls from people who depend on the city bus to get to work and school and such. It's a bit hectic and frustrating, because I feel like the drivers are doing their best to alienate the public and cause unnecessary panic. *sigh* I don't anticipate any action until at least September, but I'm worried the next few months will be full of PR calls that I'm not trained or authorized to handle.
In brighter news, the annoying woman I work with is retiring at the end of September. No longer will she shut off her phone and stand over me, babbling incessantly for forty-five minutes about her drainage problems or the aphids that are attacking her garden. And I won't have to keep an eye peeled for her random attempts at giving me creepy shoulder massages (ewwwww I don't like people touching me when I can't see them!). Although I miss "exchanges" like this:
Annoying Co-worker: "My little dog is keeping me up nights. She sits on my boobs and I can't sleep."
Me [concentrating on LJ and trying not to listen to her talk about her breasts]: “Hmmm.”
AC: "I think she's really upset about something. Maybe we have a ghost. Do you know anyone who could get rid of a ghost?"
Me [laughs]: "Who you gonna call?"
AC: "I'm not kidding."
Luckily school starts up in September and I'll escape from the nuthouse long enough to lose myself in another kind of nuthouse, this one involving the teaching of college classes. I'm doing the same course, however this time I'll be armed with a textbook and an actual set of expectations and course goals. Which are all good things except for the fact that I haven't yet managed to get a hold of a desk copy of the textbook. My department contact hasn't answered my emails or phone messages and I need to start planning for the course so I think I'll be paying for my very own copy of the text and asking the school to reimburse me later. Two weeks is enough time to read the textbook, come up with assignments and a grading scheme, and then plan lectures/presentations/PowerPoints, right? I know some of you are teaching four or five university courses, so please reassure me and let me know that I'm just being a bit of a panicked loser.
Now that the RL unpleasantness is out of the way, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to slidellra, who has just posted Possible, a fabulous Wilby Wonderful story that in less than one thousand words managed to completely change my whole perspective on Duck. And she writes about Dan's beauty and sex appeal, which isn't a subject on which WW writers often wax poetic. It's a lovely story and it just might break you into tiny little pieces. Go read!
I also watched eXistenZ last night with scarfe, and ladies, the BF argued that CKR "makes a very good nerdy video game clerk but a terrible soldier, with his sweaty pits and big gun." I really had to disagree. I kinda like a sweaty CKR, even though Callum in glasses is pretty damn adorable too. And Don McKeller's wig in the film killed me ded. As did his accent. He sounded like Darren Nichols after a couple of years in the Wiemar.
Yeah. I know eXistenZ is supposed to incite deep thoughts about the nature of reality, and film, and such. I couldn't quite get past Callum and his adorable glasses. And the *sweat*. Jennifer Jason Leigh was hot like fire in the film, too, and I discovered that I still think Jude Law looks like an airbrushed Ken doll. I thought it was just because I've watched "A.I." about a thousand times, but no. He's actually that plastic-looking.
And now that I have waxed poetic about Jude Law, I think I need to go write or read or do something productive.
There has been a fair amount of labour unrest here at the municipal bus company, and my union is the midst of trying to finally negotiate a contract (we've been without one since December). The drivers are spreading rumours of a lockout so I've been fielding a lot of panicked calls from people who depend on the city bus to get to work and school and such. It's a bit hectic and frustrating, because I feel like the drivers are doing their best to alienate the public and cause unnecessary panic. *sigh* I don't anticipate any action until at least September, but I'm worried the next few months will be full of PR calls that I'm not trained or authorized to handle.
In brighter news, the annoying woman I work with is retiring at the end of September. No longer will she shut off her phone and stand over me, babbling incessantly for forty-five minutes about her drainage problems or the aphids that are attacking her garden. And I won't have to keep an eye peeled for her random attempts at giving me creepy shoulder massages (ewwwww I don't like people touching me when I can't see them!). Although I miss "exchanges" like this:
Annoying Co-worker: "My little dog is keeping me up nights. She sits on my boobs and I can't sleep."
Me [concentrating on LJ and trying not to listen to her talk about her breasts]: “Hmmm.”
AC: "I think she's really upset about something. Maybe we have a ghost. Do you know anyone who could get rid of a ghost?"
Me [laughs]: "Who you gonna call?"
AC: "I'm not kidding."
Luckily school starts up in September and I'll escape from the nuthouse long enough to lose myself in another kind of nuthouse, this one involving the teaching of college classes. I'm doing the same course, however this time I'll be armed with a textbook and an actual set of expectations and course goals. Which are all good things except for the fact that I haven't yet managed to get a hold of a desk copy of the textbook. My department contact hasn't answered my emails or phone messages and I need to start planning for the course so I think I'll be paying for my very own copy of the text and asking the school to reimburse me later. Two weeks is enough time to read the textbook, come up with assignments and a grading scheme, and then plan lectures/presentations/PowerPoints, right? I know some of you are teaching four or five university courses, so please reassure me and let me know that I'm just being a bit of a panicked loser.
Now that the RL unpleasantness is out of the way, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to slidellra, who has just posted Possible, a fabulous Wilby Wonderful story that in less than one thousand words managed to completely change my whole perspective on Duck. And she writes about Dan's beauty and sex appeal, which isn't a subject on which WW writers often wax poetic. It's a lovely story and it just might break you into tiny little pieces. Go read!
I also watched eXistenZ last night with scarfe, and ladies, the BF argued that CKR "makes a very good nerdy video game clerk but a terrible soldier, with his sweaty pits and big gun." I really had to disagree. I kinda like a sweaty CKR, even though Callum in glasses is pretty damn adorable too. And Don McKeller's wig in the film killed me ded. As did his accent. He sounded like Darren Nichols after a couple of years in the Wiemar.
Yeah. I know eXistenZ is supposed to incite deep thoughts about the nature of reality, and film, and such. I couldn't quite get past Callum and his adorable glasses. And the *sweat*. Jennifer Jason Leigh was hot like fire in the film, too, and I discovered that I still think Jude Law looks like an airbrushed Ken doll. I thought it was just because I've watched "A.I." about a thousand times, but no. He's actually that plastic-looking.
And now that I have waxed poetic about Jude Law, I think I need to go write or read or do something productive.