Opossums continued…

Dear Ms Feehan, Thank you so much for your extremely prompt reply in regards to the new book size. I was ever surprised and appreciative of the answer, even though it did not come back in my favor. It is unfortunate that there is no plan to release the books in regular paperback size. Since you were so considerate to respond to my enquiry so quickly, my faith in you is reestablished and despite my objections, I will rush out to purchase the books. Goodness knows I was dying to get caught up with both series. Thank you again for your prompt reply. My enduring respect and love of authors is mostly restored.

Seriously, I was surprised to find an answer in my email regarding the book size. I had written Ms Feehan on a lark, not really expecting a reply, but ever hopeful that maybe an intern of hers would down the road write me back with some form letter. So imagine my shock and delight when I received a reply from the author herself explaining the situation. My esteem of Ms Feehan has risen so much more for this response and I am so tickled red (cause I hate pink) that she replied. All I can say is – WOW!

Now excuse me, I must run down and buy the books immediately.

To my friends, I give thanks.

I had lunch today with 2 of my best friends D & L (I have a few best friends – not a ton, but a few friends who I have known for a while and we really know each other. Despite that, or because of it, we still love each other). D made the comment today that she is lucky because she has a really good partner in life who she can talk to. And I think for all of us that is true - we do have someone in our lives that we can talk with and release some of that daily stress that happens. But, for me, I know it is different when I can get together with some of my close friends to talk about life and events and feelings and such.

I find that sometimes, just talking with them makes it seems like everything is okay; I will be able to handle it; and if shit happens, then I know they are there to watch my back. I think sometimes I need to be reminded of that though. I know they are there. I also know they have lives and they are busy and stressed and I don’t want to impose. Getting together with them reminds me that they are there for me just like I am there for them. And I appreciate that. A lot.

In life, we tend to focus so much on our day-to-day lives directly around us that things, and people, get left behind or put to the sidelines. To get together and just be able to talk and opine and think aloud with good friends - that is the bestest stress reliever and connector in the world. Connecting with others is so dang important in this fast food world. We don’t do enough of it. We don’t listen, we don’t talk, we don’t trust. We pull back and hold everything close; all the while hoping someone will push through and just connect with us.

I know, because I tend to hold my cards close to my chest sometimes, and to tell someone something can be a really big deal to me. Trust is probably the hardest thing for me to give. Which is why while I may have a few best friends, these friends are the elite of who I know.

Opossums

Opossums have thirteen nipples. Rumor has it they give birth through their nose. This is probably due to the female’s habit of putting her face into the pouch to clean it just before giving birth.

Just thought you’d wanna know.

Okay, so yesterday D and I went to the Keg. And of course, after a heavy meal, the best thing you can do is go shopping to wear off the considerable calories you just inhaled. So off to Chapters we went. If I had to pick any one thing I am addicted to, (now that I gave up Coke – sighhh – I still miss Coca Cola slurpees – sighhh –) I would pick books. I love books, always have and always will as long as I have money and my Chapters card. Heck even without that, there is still the library. So imagine my disappointment when I was browsing through Chapters and discovered that several of my fave – ie collected– authors had new books out – in hard cover. I mean seriously. I have some books I only collect in hardcover but most of my series are in paperback. So here is my rant.

Dear Mr Butler, while I adore your Dresden books, I have all of your novels in paperback and I have never seen your books in hardcover outside of the SciFi book club (which doesn’t count cause they will put any book in hardcover) (and yes, I am member of that club as well). I understand that you are now a Famous author. I can understand starting your new series in hardcover. But to come out with a hardcover Dresden book – are you seriously that cruel to your patrons? Now I have to wait – what a year, maybe more, maybe less - to read the next book because unless I order it from the library, I am not splitting my series up so I can have the 7th book in hardcover. And I am not replacing all of your books just so they are all in hardcover.

Dear Ms Feehan, I have all of your series, all of your stories in anthologies and I am a frequent visitor of your website. I love what you have done with the video trailers of the books and such. I own 23 books from your series. I am currently missing 2 books and why, you might ask, because while you may have stayed with paperback as your format, you made them “comfortable reading” size. Which means that they are as tall as a trade paperback but as wide as a regular paperback. How is this comfortable reading? I read with one hand and you are asking me to control a book that is even taller? Are you coming out with a regular version of the paperback? And if you are, when? How long do I have to be tortured with the knowledge that a new book is out and I do not have it? Do you not understand the emotional stress this causes?

It was bad enough when JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts – but much cooler) started with her series in hardcover. I now have to wait 6 months to get the book in paperback. Thank goodness, she has dedicated writing 2 books in that series a year. I don’t think I could survive waiting a whole year for the book.

Please understand that I am not asking for a lot. I have a large library (it is the reason I bought my house) and I adore it with every cell in my soul. But the spacing is very particular and I do not like having trade paperbacks with my regular paperbacks, let alone mixing hardcover with paperback. I will add to my library eventually and increase the number of shelves, just like all readers do occasionally. But until then, I have a strict size limitation to my shelves and when you mix the size of the books in a series, you get a mess and are less able to adjust the layout so more books can fit. And I certainly cannot see any of you authors advocating that I buy fewer books. So please, can we come to a consensus on this? If you start the series in paperback, then continue in paperback and if you must have hardcover, just give in and release both types at the same time. Be kind to your readers and they will be kind to you.

Thank you.

Whoo hoo!

Today is one of those days when I am ecstatic that I am no longer in retail. I got up today at 10 just after D, made a yummy breakfast of homemade egg mcmuffins for us both, and even watched Star Trek 3 for D even though I prefer the food network or HGTV just cause deep in my heart, I was grinning like there was no tomorrow knowing that in 30 minutes D was off to retail hell. Heh heh heh. Instead, because I am in office work, I only worked 4 days this week, I have 4 days off and then I only work 4 days next week before the next weekend comes. Sighhhh!

Course, how good these 4 days will be is iffy, cause I am trying to be more domestic, which of course means, I got up this morning and start writing my to do list. It's quite extensive. And I have managed to avoid some of it so far just by playing on the computer. Heehee. Course, cleaning the office is on the list and out of the corner of my eye, I can see the large piles of filing that needs to be done. Sighhh!

Irregardless, I am determined to have some fun amongst my duties. And of course, I always have my family easter supper to look forward too - yum!

I spent a good 45 minutes just going through my email today at home. Knowing of course, that on Thursday, I was supposed to spend about an hour or two doing my emails at work. Part of me is tempted to go into work tomorrow and do a little overtime and just get the emails gone through and the order done, so come next week I am not stressing, plus overtime is nice to recieve on the cheque. Heehee.

This past week has been stressful. My nails have become cracked and I have papercuts everywhere because I have been trying to get things done as fast as possible so it is done. Unfortunately, my supervisor, unlike the supervisors of the other trainers, decided that if I was visible then I was able to work where he wanted and not doing what I was supposed to be doing. I said No several times, but other times, it was fine, let me do it, so I can get back to what I need to do cause otherwise you are just going to keep interrupting me! Ack! The week after next I am also in my office doing my coaching so I will make sure that I explain to the supervisor that I am NOT available for any of my old duties as I am needed in my coaching position. Plus, having taken over the leading of the trainers has left me with more work to do. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, it drives me nuts. And next week I have to do my regular job and since I didn't get a chance to go through my emails, I really have little idea of what I need do since they changed 3 major factors of my job. Breathe! Sighhh!

That's my rant for today. I should get back to cleaning. Heehee.

Don’t you need…

Sorry, I have not been up to date. There is so much going on and yet, it seems like I am on a circular moving sidewalk and going nowhere slowly.

At work, we did our first training session last week and while I can honestly say, it could have been better, I think we did our bestest. However, having 11 participants in the first session with such a large number from one office was not a performance I would care to repeat, though we learned a lot about group dynamics. This week, I have been back to my usual haunt and while I have been gone 4 weeks, it seems like it is months. There is a tension in that office that is oppressing. Lots has changed and everyone expects me to know what is going on, like I wasn’t working or anything in the last 4 weeks – actually, my supervisor said to me today that it isn’t fair that we got 3 weeks to learn the new program and everyone else gets 4 days. I set him straight real quick about what we were doing for 3 weeks. I did my old job for just ½ hour today and it was like learning a whole new job – mind you, my desk area is worse than a mess. My home office is a mess. My work desk is Atrocious. And of course, a week after I left, somehow they trashed my system and no one has fixed it as of yet. Next week, I spend the entire week (short that it is) doing my old job and I don’t know how I will be doing it with the decent computer being broken and me not knowing what is going on.

Add to this, my new activities at work – which I am trying to do. Somehow I ended up taking charge and organizing it – okay, I know it is just because that is who I am, but no one fought me for the honor – gee- I wonder why. So I am trying to organize and coordinate with 6 very dominant personalities, 2 of which have no problems handing over the reins, 2 are technically my higher-ups but all is good, one I have no idea on his stance other than he likes my office, and one who I know has a problem suddenly with me being in charge, mainly cause he is not. Wednesday, I am getting together with the 4 other trainers and we will be working on our presentations and such. I can just see that this is going to be a very intense meeting.

On the other side of all of this, I have to get used to people talking good about me. I know, I am a freak, but hand me a compliment and I still blush and stammer. The good news is that I am doing a good job and people are noticing. The bad news is I am doing a good job and people ARE noticing. Ack! I can hope that this leads as everyone has been hinting to a promotion – or an opportunity. I am wasted at my current job and most people know that, but I really don’t know what I want to do when I grow up – that is not true – I would love to be someone’s executive assistant. I love organizing lives and hammering details down. It stresses me and drives me crazy, but I love it. Now, how I get from here to there – that I don’t know.

Home-wise – things are okay. We recieved the new bed. Sighhh! I still miss the waterbed. The warmth, the softness, the comfort. So far, in this bed, I have managed to stay asleep for about 5 hours straight at the most and usually it is more like an hour or two. Whether this means I need to just keep getting used to it or if this is the wrong bed for me, I don’t know. Having never slept in a real bed in a number of years (hotels don’t count – and sometimes, those were so uncomfortable I just slept on the floor), I really don’t know what I should do to make it better. We bought new sheets and I put on an extra mattress cover (cause the deep pits on the top of the bed were annoying), so the bed is comfortable – it is just not waterbed comfort. It’s not floating on a raft comfortable. There is something to be said about water being the bearer of your weight. And being a Scorpio, I think I miss the water being so close. Maybe I’ll push more for a hot tub. Heehee.

Anyway, that is really all that is new. I am spending soooo much time doing work at home and just trying to keep the house tidy, that I am exhausted. And here I bug D when it seems he brings work home – mind you, I have a lot more time alone to do work and it won’t affect anyone else.

Just one more note – We frequent a popular bar downtown that is known for being a gay bar. It is a great place to go. The music ranges from 70’s to now and it’s fun and a visual delight. Lately, it seems to be the hot spot of non-gay couples. Now, don’t get me wrong, while I may be open in my choices, most of my friend would classify me as straight (course that would be because I usually don’t mention my openness – oops – surprise guys - heh) and so this sounds slightly hypocritical, but hey, I am all about double standards. There are a lot of really straight people hanging out at this place. So much so, that it’s not that one or two stand out, but groups stand out and they are not comfortable with being there and so it begs one to wonder why they go there. If you are too scared to face the urinals straight on (no, I never saw – I hear stories), then maybe you should go back to Barry T’s. But it is weird to watch these waves of seemingly straight people flowing through the bar. Anyway, that’s my rant – as an added bonus, the dance floor was rocking – whew! There were 3 guys simulating sex and while that bothers some people, I can say – they moved well. And the one guy – aside from the dirty dancing, was just an awesome dancer – he twirled and dipped and spun his partner(s) around so well. It was fascinating. And when someone got in the way of my view – I just walked up to him and said “Honey, you’re blocking our view of the dance floor.” And he moved. Ahhhh – sometimes you just have to state the obvious, much to some of my friends’ astonishment.