The Marci Rating System

This fic is so far from any style I would write, and yet I read it yesterday and then wanted to read it again today, and I think I really like it. It’s about — I guess I’d say it’s about how sometimes we feel like we can look into the future and not see any way things could turn out okay, but we keep going anyway, and sometimes they do turn out okay, and that’s not a miracle, or a fairy tale, it’s just life, and it’s ours.

Until Tomorrow Comes, by morganoconner

SPN, Dean/Castiel, Team Free Will unexpectedly wins the day, and life goes on

Cassidy will herself be a mother when she finally tells Dean that she has in fact met Castiel…that he broke the rules Heaven placed on him when she was a child to whisper to her in her dreams. Dean will smile fondly when he hears this, and raise his glass up to the sky in a silent toast.

Because really, you never know when you might need to have the link to the SGA story where John and Rodney are Girl Scout cookies at the tip of your fingers. (Especially the bit way at the end where it reviews what type of cookie all the other characters would be — Lorne as a Do-Si-Do is particularly awesome.)

The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies in Love [The Pix or it Didn’t Happen Remix], by bitter_crimson

Rodney was really far too busy to waste his time on an air-headed, wafer-thin, minty bimbo. Yet, for some indiscernible reason, the Thin Mint seemed set on spending all his time with Rodney.

(with thanks to the SGA storyfinders request that led to this link popping up on my friends page)

Let me set the scene. There I was, at work. In a store — you know, the kind with registers where you purchase things. They’re *really* obvious. After all, if there’s one thing a store wants its customers to be able to find, it’s the place where you pay, right?

Anyway, today was the day chosen to relaminate the counter on which the registers normally reside. It’s a big counter. Takes up a lot of space right there in the center of the store. And to make this project happen we had to clear the entire thing — registers, screens, big flower arrangement, candy, dog biscuits (yeah, it’s a weird juxtaposition, but some people really love their dogs…)

So now there was this large, empty counter. I’d like to reiterate that it was empty. (We were using an auxiliary register on a side counter.) But a woman walked up with a full basket, and started unloading products onto the (empty) counter.

Me: “I can take you over at this register.” ::broad hand gestures indicating the emptiness of her current chosen counter, and the awesome register action happening elsewhere::

Customer: “What?” ::long pause; confused expression:: “Well, okay, if you’re sure.”

Me: “Yup, I’m sure.” ::not sure if I should comment on the obvious register change, but deciding to err on the side of caution:: “We’re laminating the counter today, so we have to use this register today.”

Customer: ::understanding dawns:: “Oh!”

(*This is the question I always want to ask when people say or do things in the store that make me worried to be driving on the same highway system as them.)

I’ve been Netflixing the past seasons of Burn Notice — 3/4 of the way through Season 2, I’ve started to notice a few patterns. Like it *rains* a lot wherever they film (is it actually filmed in Florida? I’m not sure). Also, while Michael Westen does many astounding things, there’s certain things he never seems to do:

1. Put gas in the car. (He does various other car-fixing things to it, along with crazy car modifications like turning the trunk into an x-ray machine, but it apparently never runs low on gas.)

2. Charge his cell phone. (They lose their phones, have their phones stolen/burned up/dropped into a vat of acid/etc, but never seem to just hook them up to a charger.)

3. Stir his yogurt. (Come on, anyone who’s ever eaten yogurt knows it gets all weird in the container, and vigorous shaking and/or stirring is required to make it look tasty and delicious. Either he has someone crew person pre-stir all the yogurts before he eats them, or those yogurt cups are actually full of something else, like ice cream.)

Well, the bad news is that if I’d given in to the urge yesterday at work, my forehead would’ve been bruised black and blue by the end of the day. Gah! Can we *please* be grown-ups for ten minutes? It’s all “so-and-so is being mean to me,” and “I think someone took my pencil case,” until I want to be all, “I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND I SWEAR TO GOD!”

The good news is that I think the desire to work out my frustration can be translated into motivation to work on my story, which is a total yay moment.

From Chile Earthquake, Earth’s Rotation, and Big Changes

The 8.8 earthquake in Latin America last weekend has caused considerable changes throughout the world. The force of the earthquake actually caused the earth to shift three inches off her axis. With the shift, the earth sped up 1.26 microseconds.

Energetically speaking, if anyone’s been feeling vaguely nauseous and out of sync since the earthquake? I’d say that’s why.

Re: White Collar (the one with the kidnapped girl and Neal without his tracking anklet)

Just as a note to the show’s producers: I’d like to officially cast my vote for being 100% over the music box storyline. The amount of caring I originally had about it, which was, admittedly, slim, is now nonexistent. SRSLY, just make it a buddy show where they solve a case of the week. I’d be cool with that.

BEST PART OF THE SHOW:
At the end, when Neal disappears without his anklet, Peter tells Jones, “Let’s check the usual haunts.” In “real person language,” this would indicate they were planning on doing work to find him. In “government employee language,” it apparently means going back to the office and waiting for the thing you’re looking for to walk through the door. I feel this explains a lot about how things happen in the world.

The thing about being away from the internet for a few days is that when you come back, everything seems shinier (and more hilarious). “Tiny Bunneh Noms Flowers”? “Meowing Nom Nom Kitteh”? Heck yes I want to see that!

Right now I’m saving fics in the time between Staff Meeting (8 am, but we got pastries!) and Work Time (yeah, I should have given myself a less crappy schedule this week), to be read this evening. (Except for a couple I read now, because they’re so hard to resist!)

Fic that made me laugh: Plot Devices, by entangled_now
Leverage, Eliot gets amnesia and Hardison tries to explain his fake id
“Excuse me, did you just call my terrible head trauma a plot device?”

Fic that made me go “Awww…”: Slow Burn, by entangled_now
SPN, Sam/Lucifer, follow up to the Fourth Wall series
Dean’s calmly but pointedly cleaning his guns and Castiel is out getting surprise!takeout. Which is Dean’s way of encouraging his individualism. Sam’s halfway through a book about water demons.
(It’s domesticity, Winchester style!)

TIMELINE OF NON-POSTING-NESS:

Last Thursday: Lost power just after 11 (did get to watch Burn Notice, though the power flipped off then back on a few times). Freakily timed to happen after Mom fell asleep — I swear, when the power goes off, she *calls* it, and it comes back, but there’s like a time limit or something — once she was asleep, it went off and stayed off.

Last Friday: Got electricity back in less than 24 hours, much rejoicing. No cable or internet. Ate dinner at Panera, made lots of new friends with *Andrea’s computer-saving power strip of power!

Saturday & Sunday: Kept my mouth shut at work about having power when others did not, still no cable or internet. Checked personal email at work, learned that I have no idea what the password is to my own blog.

Monday: Cable back! (just in time to miss the giant beavers in the Closing Ceremony). Still no internet, company says they have no idea why we have tv, and should stop complaining.

Tuesday: Seriously starting to feel internet withdrawal. Watched Burn Notice dvd as distraction.

Wednesday: Panera again, this time armed with computer and breakfast souffle! Interwebs, I missed you!

Actual Conversation From Work Today:

Current Boss Who’s Soon Moving Far Away: “I will keep in touch using a fantastical new technology called a blog!”
Me: “Hey, now that you’re not going to be my boss anymore, I can give you the address of *my* blog!”

Yes, my boss is moving. To the South, which I find in general to be a terribly frightening and intimidating portion of the country. Of course, I feel that way about this part of the country too. Basically I find most things intimidating. The good news is, I got a promotion. The bad news is, I got a promotion. I am now living Management: It’s Harder Than You Think, But Not As Hard As You’re Making It Look.

Through luck or lack of luck, you have been promoted/hired/chosen in some way to a position of power over other employees. Don’t feel bad; it happens to almost everyone at some point. In most of my jobs, that process has worked something like this: “OldBoss just left/quit/moved/retired/got fired. We need someone new. Who works here who’s 1) not planning on moving; 2) unlikely to steal office supplies; and 3) someone we want on the company softball team?”

OMG YES. THIS. But we don’t have a softball team, so that wasn’t even a requirement! (The process for picking Assistant Manager was even more LOL-able — we literally picked the only person on the staff who could possibly do the job, and then crossed our fingers they’d say yes.)

You don’t get a fresh slate when you become a boss. Back when you were a lowly employee, you had friends. You worked together, ate together, went out after work and complained about the boss together — fun times. Most of these people probably still like you, unless you did away with free coffee in the break room or some other hideously unfair thing.

Also, OH NOES THE BIGBOSS JUST DID THIS! I find this to be a significant problem. Currently torn between just paying for the coffee myself, and taking up some sort of collection. I guess the question is, “How much coffee are we actually drinking?” Less than $20 worth per month? More? Show me some digits, people.

(One final note: It’s easy to be a good boss, but it’s also easy not to be — to do something and then think, “Wow, that was really asshole-ish. (Dammit.)” I hesitate to say don’t worry about it, but really — don’t worry about it. Life goes on, and all that. You don’t need to try harder (although it may help, depending on how hard you were trying in the first place), you just need to keep trying. At the risk of sounding too Disney movie-esque, we’re all making this trip together.)

::deep breaths::