Worrkkk

So, what am I doing now? Don't you love when that question shows up in the your status line on Facebook? Uh--I'm reading "what are you doing right now?" on your website. That's what I'm doing. What about you?

Maybe you don't use Facebook--that might be a good thing.

But I have enjoyed it for getting back in touch with some old friends from my home town as well as keeping in touch even with people in the DC area that I never see any more or who have moved to other parts of the country. I think I love it best when they post pictures and share their life, as well as reading those statuses. It's a nice way to keep in touch, so I would recommend Facebook. Just avoid the games. Some terribly addictive.

But aside from that, I'm working. And two jobs! I'm not sure how long this can go on, but I started one job last week, by recommendation of my roommate--a data entry job, just in the evenings. It doesn't pay terrifly well (I'm editing now--that isn't so much of a typo as it looks--I was trying to decide between terrifically and terribly, hadn't realized though that I'd merged them), but not as bad as temp jobs outside of the DC area still. And since it's in the evening, I thought that would be something I might be able to stick with when I did get a day job to help pay off these debts I have.

And it so happened that the day after I started there, the temp company that I've worked for for the past 1 1/2 years called with a job in Alexandria, really close actually, a job I can drive to, so have my car with me, as well as having hours that would permit me to get to the evening job on time. And though it's rush hour, I'm driving against traffic. Nice.

And so as of yesterday, I've had two jobs. It's pretty rough, as two jobs tend to be, I guess. The temp day job is 8-5 and the evening from 5:30 to 10:30. So I leave at 7:30 and don't get home til 11:00. :(

The good thing about the day job, though, is that I have time to write, as I appreciate. And the evening job keeps me busy for the full five hours, so I'm not at home wasting time with stupid tv shows that I'm getting tired of and only watch because I'm too tired to think about doing something else or too tired of doing the same thing I've been doing all day--likely writing or playing stupid computer games that I need to stop doing anyway.

Anyway, the other interesting thing about the day job is that it's for the same company that wasn't happy about my not wearing a suit to the interview. It's a different location--their warehouse. I still have to dress nice, but not in a suit. Thank goodness!

Things in the Wash

What's the most unusual thing you've found in your wash? Coins? Dollar bills? Notes? Receipts?
I'm sure people have found other things, though those were the extent of my experience until yesterday.

After I arrived back in Alexandria, one of the first things I did was my laundry, happy not to have to pay quarters for it now, and having some things I needed for today. ahem. Anyway, well, when I opened the washing machine after my second load had gone through, what was my surprise to find my reading lamp right looking up at me. Yes, a little lamp. Lightbulb and all.

I hadn't remembered when I'd dumped the load, but yes, since that was one of the last things I'd packed and the dirty laundry bag was ready and a nice soft place for the lamp to go undamaged, I'd tossed it in that bag and covered it over--for protection. Ha!

Well, even funnier, it didn't look the least bit damaged--not even the lightbulb. I wondered if I was an idiot for even thinking about trying, but well, I did. I plugged it in, and tada! It actually works still. Absolutely amazing!

Happy Independence Day!

I don't know that my Canadian family reads this much, but since there independence day is close to ours, in the US, I don't want to leave them out, nor any reader in a happily independent country. Today just happens to be ours, and I'm grateful to celebrate it.

Actually, speaking of Canada, I've found myself a few times in the past accidentally putting on one of my Canada T-shirts on the 4th of July. Sometimes because they happen to have red and white in them and look a little patriotic, other times just because they felt right for my mood that day, like any other day--the colors and fabric and style. And you know, I just realized--here I go again, talking about clothes! Gee whiz!

But anyway, so today I was actually conscious of what I put on and happily found my red Boston T-shirt clean in my drawer. Got the colors and the right country this time. But not only that, Boston has significance in our fight for independence, so I felt even better about wearing it. Nice reminders of the actual wars and fights our forefather and mothers went through for our freedom.

Another difference about this year was my locale. I've been in Roanoke on the 4th for the past three summers, but living on the other end of town. Since I'm on campus this summer, I found myself able to "hang with the Hollins crowd" --attend a little barbecue at the apartments and then watch the fireworks on a hill on campus. From there, we had a view of four or five different firework shows. For none of them did we have the best view, and I think they were also small shows this year. It sprinkled a little while we were on the hill so I wonder if there wasn't more rain down in the valley were most of the shows originated. But all the same, I had fun spending time with friends.

Here are just a few pics. I know they look hazy--it was dusky and dark, so I used the night setting on my camera, but that setting doesn't still movement very well. I kind of like it though--it fits with my appreciate for candidness, like there should be motion depicted when motion is taking place.

Validation with a Cinderella Connection

I've noticed that I tend to include little this and that about clothes quite a bit on here, and yet I haven't really considered myself a terrible clothes fanatic. But then in class the other day we had to write down memories of our childhood and I was drawn to remember that I did have a bad habit of judging people based on their clothes, and well, I was quite a bit more clothes conscious when I was in junior high and even to a certain extent in high school. Not that I sought people who were really highly fashionable. No, they just had to have similar level of moderation to mine--not even the same style--just this undefined level of balance between too slummy and too haughty. Perhaps there was a certain level of maturity in that because it seemed once I got to college just about everyone was "just right." But then again, maybe I'd matured by the time I was in college, and it just didn't matter so much any more. Perhaps that's why I look back to those college days with some longing. I could wear blue jeans all day and nice tops and feel I was "just right," because that was just generally what everyone else did. None too haughty or too lowly.

But then the working world came along, and new rules came into play. How I hated that transition. I really would prefer to wear blue jeans all day. That's probably why I was such a pill at that place of work where I did data entry--I wrote about it before but I've since deleted that post because I felt bad about it. Anyway, you might remember it regardless. I think part of it, too, was the money issue. I was a really poor graduate school drop-out at that point, and so when they changed the rules and said I had to wear pants to work, well, what's a girl supposed to do? Most of the pants I owned were pajama pants I'd been sewing with my recent acquisition of a sewing machine, as I strived to improve my skills.

Now we come to the Cinderella connection comes. Nancy Willard is our writer-in-residence this summer, and she came to speak with us this evening. It was a wonderful speech, too. Quite different from a lot of our author guests who talk about their writing career and all that--which is fine, too, not to disparage them. I'm always glad to hear about those things. But anyway, so in Nancy's speech, she was talking about the writing craft with particular attention to the narrator's voice. Things I've learned about before, but the stories she shared were a little new and different. One of them was a Scholastic editor's demand for a new retelling of Cinderella under the belief that what drove the love for the Cinderella story was not the prince, not the pumpkin, not the wicked steps, not even the glass slipper, but the dress. Girls love the Cinderella story because it validates the idea that a change of clothes will create enough of a change so as to change their whole life. I would have to nod my head to that. It makes perfect sense. That's why, as the Scholastic editor based his theory, so many young girls want to dress like Cinderella for Halloween.

So why is that validating for me? Well, I can relate. I still feel, even in my recent work experiences that clothes tend to make you or break you. People notice what you wear and treat you accordingly. That was a point I was trying to get to in that old post I deleted, but couldn't quite get there because all of the experiences weren't adding up. But I think it's true, within certain contexts, expectations. Anyway, I'm dropping this now because it edges so much on judgment that I don't want to cast out.

Aside from the work place, and even the school place--even now being back in school, I'm not as comfortable dressing just however I want to dress because, well, perhaps because it's summer and everyone doesn't just wear blue jeans and nice tops. There are all other kinds of levels of modesty and casualness and fanciness going on. I don't think I base my friendships on how people dress now, but for some reason, clothes are still on my mind under some premise that they can make or break me. Of course it's a total fallacy, which is probably why the Lord had to warn against love of clothing in a few places in the scriptures. But anyway...

I'm not done, nor even "there" yet--that's not the whole of the connection! What I've been trying to get myself to is the literature connection. That considering the high profile Cinderella has in literature, the number and variety of the stories she shows up in, in one form or another, her story is pretty significant to the reading population. So, for a blogger who does like to write about this that and the other thing but who tends to write more about clothes in oddball form and books and writing in slightly less so, but still oddball form, my world is starting to come together to make some certain degree of sense. Clothes and books--there really is a connection.

Stay Away from the Bleach!

When I left home to go to college, I tried using bleach, knowing that was one of those products that goes with the laundry. Fortunately at that time, I only ever used it with my underwear. But the result was still somewhat amusing as I had colorful underpanties at the time and after I'd washed them they were a lot more colorful.

Well, this past couple washes, after noticing my whites aren't as white as I'd like, I thought I'd try again, perhaps thinking that I was a lot older now so maybe I would know better. Well, the whites worked out successfully. Hooray! I'm not sure how I could have messed them up, but progress is progress, right? Well, so I was thinking I have these towels that tend to smell moldy pretty quickly, so maybe I could try bleach on them too, right? So I tried again putting bleach in with some coloreds. (I'm not smart enough to separate all of my coloreds, but I'm glad at least I kept out my delicates.)

So, to make a long story short, voila le resultat:
Actually, I think this skirt might like better like this, don't you?

Sandals!

Today, I put on a new short-sleeved shirt that I got for Christmas (I asked for summer shirts because I was low on them, even though it was winter at that time, what can I say?), and since it was black and white, I wore my black pants. And then since I was wearing basically black all over, I couldn't wear my normal brown shoes or navy shoes. I had to wear black shoes. And since they're in the closet where I keep shoes I don't wear as much, I happily surprised myself when I saw that I had some other black shoes that I could wear today--sandals! Yippee, yeah, yeah! It's sandal weather! I guess that comes with short-sleeved shirts, but since my sandals are black, I hadn't thought of it til now! And you know what the best thing about sandals is, don't you? You don't have to wear socks! That means I can sleep in an extra minute because I don't have to rummage through the sock drawer to find some that match. But I probably shouldn't tell myself that, because, as I just mentioned, sleeping in and having to drive to the metro is already a problem. So, now I um, can get up at the same time and maybe make it to the bus on time because I don't have to rummage...yah dah yah day....

Happy St. Patty's

Okay so this is actually from last year, but it was taken in March. I just felt the need for a pretty picture and this is a nice green one. Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Spring! I pulled out my spring/summer wardrobe over the weekend, though I still found I needed a sweater yesterday and wore my winter coat to work today, but it's coming. Spring is in the air! Can't you feel it? I guess it depends on where you are. It's a nice feeling anyway.

Cohesion, or incohesion, or Cohesiveness or Incohesiveness. ???

A few follow-ups that may or may not cohere, except inasmuch as I will in some way talk about cohesion. Maybe. Maybe not. You know one of the qualities of a hero? Consistency. I learned this in high school. The teacher also pointed out that a hero can be consistently inconsistent. So I still have some hope of being a hero, right? No, a heroine. Even if I don't have a romance? No, that was the other way around, romances can only be for heroines, but not all heroines have to have romances. Though I still think I might like one.

Anyway, so the first, follow-up. I'll call this one Defying Murphy's Law.
Yesterday, the day after my splurge at Dress Barn (okay, so I didn't admit it then, but I'll admit it now--I bought more than just the one pair of pants. I also bought a couple shirts and another pair of pants), I received a coupon in the mail for Dress Barn. Can you believe it? It was for sales from the 12th to the something--anyway, I made my purchase on the 11th. Stink! Well, I figured I could just return them. It was interesting because when I got up yesterday morning, I had kind of wanted to wear one of those outfits, but I felt I shouldn't. Good thing, eh? So, today, I wrapped them back up and took my lunch hour to return my purchases and buy them back. I did think I might give them an opportunity to just give me the $s off amount. But they couldn't do that (I kind of figured they wouldn't). They almost didn't even want to let me return the items and buy them back. She kept reading the coupon for the stipulations saying it couldn't apply to previous purchases and even if I returned them it would still be a previous purchse. Oh brother. Technicalities!

So I just said I'd return them straight out. Why should I be the one with the loss? I couldn't help which day my pants ripped. So that's what I did. Then after I'd returned them, she said she'd ask her manager if she could override the coupon. Of course. See, the solution to Murphy's Law: Attitude. Stick to your guns. I could probably use some help on the right kind of attitude. I mean when I hear work on your attitude in Church, I think of bowing humility and submissiveness, but maybe that's not always the right way to see it. Sometimes stick-to-your-guns attitude is good, right?

The manager said of course they could seel them back and use the coupons. They didn't really need to lose out, here. So they got there sale and I got myself a nice $20 back--and a tote, to boot. Not that I needed the tote. If my totes had some cohesion to them, I could probably sell them all and make more than $20.

Second follow-up. I'll call this one Bookaphobe. No, that's not really it. Abook. Anti-book. Well, maybe a little Bookaphobe. I am getting a little afraid to try new books because I've started so many bombs lately. As for that history book for the fictophile (this is the follow-up part), I couldn't finish it. I did read at least 100 pages. I think that's doing pretty well. But it got to be so much about war tactics that I lost interest. I kept hoping they'd get out of the war. It's not like the Revelotionary War constituted the whole of General Washington's life. I mean, we don't usually even refer to him as General so much as, okay usually we just call him George, but really we remember him as President. I didn't get that far.

So you don't think it's just history book that's putting the snooze on, I'll go on. I've started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin here at work, because it's free online and that's pretty cool. I can look like I'm busy working or something even though I have nothing to do, and it's free. And it's got a lot of history to it, too, so I can feel like I'm doing some duty in that regard. However, it's downright depressing and I think I might be done. I have no idea how many pages I read because that's now how things work online, but I did get into Chapter 16, I believe, out of 40 something. Heh.

And, now so you don't think it's just history I don't like, whether fictionalized or opinionized (is there a difference?), I'll say the next book that I'm struggling with right now is this incohesive fiction book that isn't historical. I mean at least not yet. It's still contemporary. :)

I'm trying to read these LDS fictions so I have at least a little background when I write my critical part about it, and I thought this one series looked pretty a propos, a girl through her high school and college years, and it looked like some romance involved. I didn't buy the first one though, because it didn't look too interesting, and was earlier in high school than concerned me. I did buy the second one, however. In some ways it's actually pretty in-line with what I need--it includes her last year of high school and first year of college. But I'm kind of missing what ties those two years together. I'm much further in this one--like maybe 150-200ish pages? I don't know, and I'm just not seeing the cohesion--what's the threading plot? Conflict? I mean there is conflict, but I thought it was one thing, but now the book is half way over and it's resolved so it's not that. Hmm.

Generally speaking, the cohesiveness in the plot isn't the only thing amiss, though. From the three authors of LDS lit I've read over the past few weeks, I will say that if the LDS fiction market needs anything it's an author who actually knows how to write. I'm not saying that's me, but one is needed. There are LDS people who know how to write, but it doesn't seem to me that they are writing LDS fiction. What a pity.

And then the other thing isn't really a follow-up, but it's about the LDS market and incohesiveness. Just saw the Singles' 2nd Ward movie, and it lacked cohesiveness. Just thought I'd throw that out there, as my incohesive conclusion to this talk about cohesivness.

Or was there something else? I seem to feel the need to keep writing. Is it because I'm cohesed to the computer? No silly, that's adhesive. You're not stuck to the computer. You can leave now.

Oh yea, the other follow-up. See. I'm cohesed! or adhesed or adhered? I don't know. Anyway, so I'll call this one: ReFicto
I'm actually back to writing the creative part, letting the critical part rest for just a little bit, because I thought of a few plot things I needed to add and embellish and stuff, and now I've got to make them cohesive throughout the story. Hee hee hee.

Benefits of Bouncing

I didn't hear a rip. I have no idea when it happened, which is actually kind of scary. But when I went to cross my legs as I worked on something at my desk--which I do occasionally--I noticed a nice hole along the inner seam of my pants, yes right along the top of my thigh. So lovely.

I've had the pants for a few years now; they were the first pair I bought when I got my first respectable job that might require I have some professional attire. It actually makes me laugh a little to think about how I first perceived the job. A year or more into it, I didn't feel quite the need to have such formality. Nonetheless, I did participate in some meetings where I felt grateful to have some professional clothes.

But as all good things must come to an end, here almost a year after losing that job, I've lost the pants as well.

Fortunately, I don't have a lot of personal interactions in my job now or it could have been worse. I was able to wait until lunch to get out, but my priority was, of course, to get some pants I could finish the day in.

If it had happened when I was at AIA the last time--back in November and December--I wouldn't have known what to do with myself. I might even have felt obligated to spend the rest of the day in the open. But since I'd had another temp assignment not too far from here that happened to be just above a Dress Barn, I knew exactly where to go. I spent my lunch hour shopping for some pants. An hour or so afterward, I was particularly glad because, yes, I actually did get some work to do, which involved some personal interaction, and it could have been kind of embarrassing!

So though I don't have any other "benefits" with this job, at least there are benefits to bouncing.