Conversations...
Aug. 18th, 2022 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatDelightful Manager from Haiti ("Haiti"): You look tired.
Cubicle Aisle Mate with the Tattoos ("Tattoos"): You do. You're eyes are at half mast.
Haiti: You should get some sleep.
Me: Sigh. Better yet - can I switch to your department?
Haiti: Nah, I'd take you, but they aren't hiring and they don't post for your position.
Tattoo: You should become a ticket agent.
Me: Noooo...
Haiti: She negotiates contracts - it wouldn't work. What do you do when you get home? Do you drink?
Me: No, I stopped drinking.
Haiti: Ah, that's usually my step one.
Me: I like to write -
Haiti: I know you do. And you write really well - (turns to Tattoo) - she wrote a book, it was a very good book, excellent.
Me: Thank you.
Haiti: Still waiting for the sequel, although I'm guessing its not forthcoming...
Me: I've revising a book, but it's not a sequel. I like that my book ended where it did. I don't feel a need for a sequel. If I traditionally published it - it would have a sequel, I'd be forced to do it, and another one and another...plus side of independently publishing is I don't have to do that.
The downside - is you have to pay for the line editing (although more and more traditionally published writers do too, only one's who don't are ironically the ones who can afford them). The other down-side is the armchair critics, although they are nasty to traditionally published writers too.
You can't win when you put your work out there. It will be ripped apart by somebody. Mine was ripped apart by a white male Canadian former journalist who wrote romance novels about Native American Environmental Activists in Arizona. I kid you not. He went so far as to post his negative reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Good Reads, and Youtube. I don't know what I did to tee him off, but it was definitely something. Best to just shrug it off. (I was actually torn between being amused and annoyed. Being attacked by people on the internet is like being attacked by tribbles.)
***
Me: How was California? And where'd you go?
Chidi: I drove down Route 61 which is spectacular - I mean it is so amazing, I could not believe it - (he looks like a little kid who discovered ice cream exists or balloons.)
Me: It is pretty amazing. Wait until you see Washington State and Oregon Coast..(He hails from Alabama). I heard you went to San Francisco?
Chidi: Yeah, I started there - and it's fallen on bad times. Real down-turn. I mean, I used to want to live there and all - but now, not so much.
Of course I visited the not so nice section - the Mission District and the Tenderloin - but still, it's really bad. Hardly anyone is out and about, stores shut down, and everyone has gone full on remote. COVID hit it bad.
Me: That and the wild-fires...which did not help.
Chidi: I really loved Berkely though.
Me: I've heard it's a great college town.
Chidi: Great shops and great vibe.
Me: How about LA?
Chidi: Wasn't there that long - so can't really comment too much, except...(his voice goes down to a whisper), there's no black people.
Me: Oh they are there - just segregated. The Williams Sisters are from LA - I think the Hood.
Chidi: The Hood?
Me: Well, that's what they call it.
Chidi: True, it is what we call it.
Me: I can't remember the name of the neigbhorhood - I think Compton.
Chidi: Right, Straight out of Compton..
Me: Everyone is in their cars, so it stays segregated. NYC isn't segregated, it's among the few that aren't. Why I like it. I like diversity.
Chidi: Same. I need the diversity.
Most of this stupid country is segregated. I live in NYC partly because it's not. Everywhere else, kind of is. Personally? I don't understand it. I need to be in a diverse area, so I can find folks who are like in the inside. I don't care what folks are like on the outside - looks or practicalities are deceiving. I wouldn't know what ethnicity or what folks were on the internet unless they made a point of describing themselves.
People thought I was a guy for a bit. I don't know why - shadowkat skews feminine to me, but whatever. It could be anything I guess. I'm not certain it matters.
Mother called, and among other things was worrying over well...
Mother: I told MG (Mean Girlfriend) about this interesting guy I met at the widowed singles table and she accused me of moving on and flirting just after your father died. She judged me.
Me: She no business doing that.
Mother: I was just talking about someone I found interesting - I'm not interested in him in that way. He's too short, and hunts. I just thought he was an interesting person. I find people interesting.
(And mother likes to gossip.)
Me: And there's nothing wrong with that.
My poor mother has been worrying over this for two weeks now. It's the Mean Girlfriend again.
I keep telling her to back away from mean girlfriend.
***
Watched She Hulk - it was okay. Hopefully it will get better.
YMMV. (Your Mileage May Vary.)
Actually, I should just use that as a tag line on every thing, would save a lot of time, bother, and annoyance.
Cubicle Aisle Mate with the Tattoos ("Tattoos"): You do. You're eyes are at half mast.
Haiti: You should get some sleep.
Me: Sigh. Better yet - can I switch to your department?
Haiti: Nah, I'd take you, but they aren't hiring and they don't post for your position.
Tattoo: You should become a ticket agent.
Me: Noooo...
Haiti: She negotiates contracts - it wouldn't work. What do you do when you get home? Do you drink?
Me: No, I stopped drinking.
Haiti: Ah, that's usually my step one.
Me: I like to write -
Haiti: I know you do. And you write really well - (turns to Tattoo) - she wrote a book, it was a very good book, excellent.
Me: Thank you.
Haiti: Still waiting for the sequel, although I'm guessing its not forthcoming...
Me: I've revising a book, but it's not a sequel. I like that my book ended where it did. I don't feel a need for a sequel. If I traditionally published it - it would have a sequel, I'd be forced to do it, and another one and another...plus side of independently publishing is I don't have to do that.
The downside - is you have to pay for the line editing (although more and more traditionally published writers do too, only one's who don't are ironically the ones who can afford them). The other down-side is the armchair critics, although they are nasty to traditionally published writers too.
You can't win when you put your work out there. It will be ripped apart by somebody. Mine was ripped apart by a white male Canadian former journalist who wrote romance novels about Native American Environmental Activists in Arizona. I kid you not. He went so far as to post his negative reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Good Reads, and Youtube. I don't know what I did to tee him off, but it was definitely something. Best to just shrug it off. (I was actually torn between being amused and annoyed. Being attacked by people on the internet is like being attacked by tribbles.)
***
Me: How was California? And where'd you go?
Chidi: I drove down Route 61 which is spectacular - I mean it is so amazing, I could not believe it - (he looks like a little kid who discovered ice cream exists or balloons.)
Me: It is pretty amazing. Wait until you see Washington State and Oregon Coast..(He hails from Alabama). I heard you went to San Francisco?
Chidi: Yeah, I started there - and it's fallen on bad times. Real down-turn. I mean, I used to want to live there and all - but now, not so much.
Of course I visited the not so nice section - the Mission District and the Tenderloin - but still, it's really bad. Hardly anyone is out and about, stores shut down, and everyone has gone full on remote. COVID hit it bad.
Me: That and the wild-fires...which did not help.
Chidi: I really loved Berkely though.
Me: I've heard it's a great college town.
Chidi: Great shops and great vibe.
Me: How about LA?
Chidi: Wasn't there that long - so can't really comment too much, except...(his voice goes down to a whisper), there's no black people.
Me: Oh they are there - just segregated. The Williams Sisters are from LA - I think the Hood.
Chidi: The Hood?
Me: Well, that's what they call it.
Chidi: True, it is what we call it.
Me: I can't remember the name of the neigbhorhood - I think Compton.
Chidi: Right, Straight out of Compton..
Me: Everyone is in their cars, so it stays segregated. NYC isn't segregated, it's among the few that aren't. Why I like it. I like diversity.
Chidi: Same. I need the diversity.
Most of this stupid country is segregated. I live in NYC partly because it's not. Everywhere else, kind of is. Personally? I don't understand it. I need to be in a diverse area, so I can find folks who are like in the inside. I don't care what folks are like on the outside - looks or practicalities are deceiving. I wouldn't know what ethnicity or what folks were on the internet unless they made a point of describing themselves.
People thought I was a guy for a bit. I don't know why - shadowkat skews feminine to me, but whatever. It could be anything I guess. I'm not certain it matters.
Mother called, and among other things was worrying over well...
Mother: I told MG (Mean Girlfriend) about this interesting guy I met at the widowed singles table and she accused me of moving on and flirting just after your father died. She judged me.
Me: She no business doing that.
Mother: I was just talking about someone I found interesting - I'm not interested in him in that way. He's too short, and hunts. I just thought he was an interesting person. I find people interesting.
(And mother likes to gossip.)
Me: And there's nothing wrong with that.
My poor mother has been worrying over this for two weeks now. It's the Mean Girlfriend again.
I keep telling her to back away from mean girlfriend.
***
Watched She Hulk - it was okay. Hopefully it will get better.
YMMV. (Your Mileage May Vary.)
Actually, I should just use that as a tag line on every thing, would save a lot of time, bother, and annoyance.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-20 12:22 am (UTC)That sucks about the MG. After my friend's mom passed away (she had been sick basically all my friend's life), her dad went to a concert with a female friend and when her mom's family found out about it, they basically rejected him. It really made things hard for my friend to have to go between them. I don't get why people are the outside have to butt in and be so awful to someone who is obviously grieving.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-20 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 12:26 pm (UTC)I remember asking my brother and his wife about LA (they lived out there for a while, and visited it a lot):
"You'd hate it."
Me: Why?
Brother & Sisinlaw: You have to drive. All the time.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 01:43 pm (UTC)