(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Taking tomorrow off, and I've got Thanksgiving and the day after off as Holidays, also taking next Monday off. So gifting myself a lovely six day holiday.

Wales will be coming to Thanksgiving Dinner - and wants to bring a salad, I also suggested green beans. She threatened to bring a pie, but I already have one. I do not need two.

This is going to be simple - mainly because neither of us can eat all that much.

Menu?

Cornish Game Hen
Baked Potato (maybe)
Green Beans
Salad
Pumpkin Pie

Basically a Gluten-Free/Carb-Free Thanksgiving Feast.

And I managed to have cauliflower crust pizza without my blood sugar sky-rocketing. It helped that it was low to begin with. Split the Pizza in half. It's actually the best gluten-free frozen pizza that I've had. The crust rises and has air pockets - so crispy, the sauce, cheese, and veggies just right. All fresh. And I had a craving.


Took state mandated training today on my computer. I took the same courses last year. They make us take the same ones every year. Cyber-Security (which basically advised me not to share personal stuff and work related stuff on social media platforms and to use long passwords, don't write them down or save them anywhere - I think IT folks want job security.) Right to Know (basically I have the right to know about various hazardous chemicals), Internal Controls (why government is so bureaucratic), and there's a few more that I can't remember the names of. The good news is everything is down by videos on the computer now - so I don't have to travel to some class, or worse, listen to someone lecture me in a monotone for five hours like they did in the good old days.

I feel old. It was twenty-two years ago this month that the Buffy episode Smashed first appeared live on television. 22 years ago. I went on social media in February of 2002. So been on some form of social media for 21 years. Live Journal (predecessor to DW) was in 2003 - so that would be 20 years ago? Damn. Got me to thinking what if anything I've accomplished in that time period. This is easier if you get married, have kids, etc.

Although I am in a far better place career wise now than I was twenty years ago. I was unemployed twenty years ago. Twenty-two years ago? I was working at evil library reference company (and being gaslight by a crazy boss. BYT may be problematic, but at least she's not crazy). Now, I'm making a good salary, have a pension, and am five - six years to retirement.

Plus? I published a novel - people read it, both folks I know and folks I don't. I got a new apartment, far better apartment than the last one and in a nicer area. (Current apartment has a nice kitchen, bigger bathroom, bigger tub/shower, more space, nicer view, elevator, laundry in the building, live-in super, better mail delivery (I can actually get packages here), buzzer, and more subway and bus availability. I joined a church and its community. I collaborated on a play. I performed in the Vagina Monologues. Traveled to Costa Rica. Reconnected with various family members. Visited them.

So not so bad. Better than a lot of folks. Always compare yourself to homeless folks and drug addicts, you can't go wrong.

On tap?

Clean apartment tomorrow
See if I can get some small cans of white wine or red wine for Thanksgiving
And thermometer
Work on novel

Oh, and my Super finally installed my smoke/carbon monoxide detector - except he didn't do it on the ceiling, he did it above the door. Because it's almost impossible to put on the ceiling. This one has a ten year battery, so I'm good until the alarm has to be completely replaced. I'll probably be in a new apartment by then, who knows.

***

Making my way through Fall of House of Usher - which is definitely satire. Satire - you don't care about the people. The series is kind of preachy though.

Also, it never occurred to me until now - but Edgar Allen Poe had a thing about guilt and revenge, the two overriding themes in his work are "guilt" and "revenge".

And playing Jeopardy on my phone via Apple Arcade. It's addictive. And cheaper than Redecorate at the moment.

Regarding The Barbara Streisand book - she's spending a lot of time complaining about various talk show hosts at the moment. Mike Wallace irritated her. Mainly because he mocked her Zen Buddhism. She's funny.
"I asked Mike to ask me about Zen Buddhism, because I was into Zen Buddhism, well that is until I lost the book." I can see why Mike and the crew ruthlessly mocked her on this, it's kind of hard not to?

She met Elliot Gould on I Can Get it For You Wholesale - which was both actors first major roles in the theater. They both started in the theater.
They fell in love, and kind of bonded over getting fired from the play. Barbara for not being able to shut up - she kept questioning the director's direction. Gould for sweating too much - he was apparently a sweater, and dripping sweat onstage.

She actually includes a clip from the show - with her singing Ms. Marmalestein in the audio book. So, yes, this may be the best format for this book in my opinion.

The reviews of Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand indicate that she kind of goes in the same direction as she has with all her novels - a bunch of semi-wealthy or priveleged artists meet somewhere spooky in the woods or somewhere...and bad things happen. This is a very popular trope with the NY Publishing Houses, mainly because most of the folks who run the houses hailed from priveleged (semi-rich) artistic dysfunctional families and can identify. That said, I'm enjoying the book so far. Better paced than the last two I read.

Comments

[spiffikins]

Wow that seems like it's been ages since you mentioned that your landlord said they would install a new smoke detector for you!

Your mentioning training makes me think I should log into my customer provided laptop and see if I have any overdue trainings for them - they usually assign me a bunch around this time of year!

[shadowkat]

It does, doesn't it? They finally installed it on Tuesday - and they installed mine not their own.
Every time I talked to her about it - she'd talk about their issues with the laundry room.

My workplace's required training isn't really computer or IT training, it's NY State "let's cover our legal asses and show the public that we're honorable" training. Things like - "oh did you know that you have the right to know there are dangerous and toxic substances in your work place? And here's how to report them!" or "all these annoying little regs are part of our internal controls system!" The only really useful one to date was "Cyber-Security" - which is impossible to get right. It's a good thing we're not the CIA, although if we were - I have a feeling security would be a lot tighter?

[spiffikins]

Yeah the training that I have to do for this customer is similar - in their case it's "taking bribes is bad, if you see a coworker doing it, tell us!" and "personal information is private! don't share it!" and "if you hear ANYTHING about someone having adverse effects and they are taking one of our drugs, you must report it!"

[shadowkat]

That is similar. Courses designed to legally cover the organization's ass.

[yourlibrarian]

Interesting about their joint firing. And sounds like she developed that reputation early.

[shadowkat]

Yep. She was a very strong personality. If it didn't make logical sense, she questioned it. She wanted to know why and have the logistics spelled out. And took nothing at face value. And, she never learned how to flirt or be charming. I can relate.