An interesting find from last night

During the last two hours of my shift, I was cleaning up and putting away things, when I came across the spring-themed table. Lying there was a small envelope, already open. I flipped it over and saw this written on the front (I took the pictures after the fact):

Okay, can't say no to something like that...
What a pretty card! It was glittery, the picture doesn't show that well.

And what's this? A message?

Close-up of message:

What a sweet message! I was having a bummer night: I had a headache, my right knee was acting up, and some good ol' anxiety/OCD was messing with  my head. This was a much-needed dose of medicine. Even though it was already open, it was probably for anyone who needed a little pick-me-up.

As I carried it around, considering whether to keep it or not, a female customer saw that I had it and said "You found it!" I thought she was "Alice", but then she revealed to be the person who first opened it. We talked about it for a bit, then she asked if I was going to leave it. "In fact," I said. "I'm gonna do just that."

After taking the pictures, I sealed it with tape and hid it somewhere in the store. No need to keep something like this to myself. Someone may need this more than me.

Whoever you are Alice, thank you very much. You brightened the night of one customer and one retail employee. May good things happen to you. You have a good soul. I hope you are just as lovely inside and out as your handwriting.

Vacation!

I'll be heading to San Francisco in June! Very excited! After weeks of pre-planning, I booked my flight and hotel. My plan is to use public transportation to get around  mainly the MUNI and BART (only for the airport trips, though) and visit the sights I missed on my first go (this was back in '06). I'm sure a ton has changed since I was last there. I also plan on mostly checking out the restaurants, bookstores, and a few music stores, but not get too carried away. I do have limited monies.

As for the job search, I think I will wait until the trip is done to do that, plus I'm going to take the time before that to research job prospects (like what skills could transfer to, say, an office position), talk to job counselors at my alma mater, and even work on some skills that could make me look excellent (like learning more about Excel, etc.).

I may even enter a few contests, but not too many. Need to save some money, after all. So yeah, not too many big purchases for a while. The last big one, not related to the trip that is, is the newest BioShock, which comes out tomorrow (yea!).

I will post entries about San Francisco once it occurs and all that. With that in mind, I realize I have neglected to post the last post from the NYC trip last year. I do apologize for keeping y'all waiting and will be right on it this week.

Sorry for my lack of posts these days. Been forgetting about my humble blog. Let's change that, shall we?

91,303 words

I did it.

I effing did it.

Spiders is finished. As of today on 3:46 PM local time, the first draft of the novel is finished. (But holy mackerel, the prologue is NOT going to be in the final draft.)

Dance party time!

And let's have some Band (the official band of the novel) to celebrate:



*memes do not belong to me*

Never mind

I just saw Joyce Carol Oates post on Twitter, calling the latest episode of Girls "a poignant new feminism". She likes Lena Dunham and thinks she is relevant and all that.

And this is where my love affair with Ms. Oates comes to an end. I just like her now.
Oh Angela Carter, never let me down.

World Book Night

For those unfamiliar with this wonderful annual tradition, take a gander over here at the site and learn a bit more. Every year, on April 23rd (Shakespeare's birthday), people go out with free books provided by the folks at World Book Night to give out to the public (mostly light or non-readers). This year, I was chosen to be a giver! And I got my first choice book: Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (and yes, I did read this last year and chose it as my third favorite book of 2012)!

I'm super stoked, mostly because it allows me two things: 1) to get out of my comfort zone and 2) have some decent excuse to give out free books to random people.

So yeah, this is a thing that is happening. Soon.

Never mind, everyone!

No wedding scene. Spiders says "naw, no wedding! You don't wanna write that, don't ya? S*** goes bad now, okay?"

Okay, Spiders. If you say so...



This does explain why I was hesitant to work on the novel for a while.

*meme does not belong to me*

I was mad for a while...

when I read this article by Joyce Carol Oates concerning Lena Dunham (who I SEVERELY dislike with a passion). But after reading it, I realized something. It is the equivalent of

Ms. Oates offers very little to no praise for Ms. Dunham herself, doesn't exhibit any true emotion other than "this is a thing that is happening".

Never mind, not mad anymore. You've been forgiven, Ms. Oates.

*meme does not belong to me*