Commentary from work again. It’s not even 1:30, but it feels like it’s been longer than an hour and a half since I got here. I have about a dozen fic tabs open, though, so I’m set for reading material for the rest of the afternoon, at least.

I have had all of two customers and no one has phoned, which weirded me out so much that I actually called the ticket line from one of the other phones in here, just to make sure I didn’t mess up coding the phones this morning. I didn’t mess up; the lines are open. I have just genuinely had no calls at all.

Bizarre.

There’s Christmas music blasting in the foyer, because there’s going to be some kind of City-employee family Christmas party here starting at 2. I have been cautioned not to stick my nose into things if kids get rowdy, because apparently hair-trigger parent complaints have gone all the way to the mayor in the past. *_* I just have to sit here and respond to inquiries (if there are any) and sell tickets (if anyone wants any) and ignore the ruckus (which is inevitable). Sort of curious to see how this all plays out, but hopefully it won’t be too unpleasant.

Incidentally, Tim Hortons gingerbread hot chocolate is the bomb.

Okay, customer count is up to three, and the party’s about to start. Ave Caesar, and all that.

So we’re an hour into the party and it’s really, really not that bad. I have had one phone call and a startling little crush of customers that I’ve just finished serving. Other than that, I’ve just been sitting here reading. I like my job. Not just the sitting reading part, but the part where I sometimes get three sets of people who all want to sit near one another and I can actually oblige. I actually like customer service, which I realise is kind of strange, but so be it. Also, I just had a lady inquiring about children’s art classes and I like that I can just politely tell such people to go ask at the Information desk, because I’m just the box office and don’t know squat. Well, not quite true: I know all about box office business. I just don’t know about other stuff that goes on here, and I’m not supposed to. :P

There’s been a rather surprising lack of children running around screaming and climbing on things; people are just having fun, and it’s just nice. It kind of makes me happy.


* * *

And home again, home again, jiggity-jig. Mummy made bacon and French toast for supper. I love that woman so much. :D

Went and sang karaoke with my kid brother tonight. Good times. He knows a surprisingly few songs that were in the book, so ended up singing Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys) and it was decent. I sang Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road, which I somehow always forget is way low for me. I didn't quite bottom out, but my low range, while adequate, isn't especially audible. Which is not, I think, to say inaudible, but anyway, not optimal. Fun, though. Then I sang Eye of the Tiger which I only sort of know, and it could have been worse. :P Totally learning it properly so I can do it justice at some future point.

I think perhaps my brother is up for exploring the karaoke opportunities in Medicine Hat. I hope that together we can fight through the inevitable lame and emerge victorious. :D

Today at DQ, a man came in. He had his father's jaw and his mother's eyes. And lo, I knew him, for he was my best friend when we were five. But I almost disbelieved it; the last time I saw him was about eleven years ago.

But it was totally him. He didn't recognise me until I said something. Seeing him pretty much made my evening.

Earlier, at the box office (both jobs today), I spent a significant chunk of the afternoon drawing angels and folding origami. I love my job.

( tonsil TMI )

I really think that I may eventually make a list of SPN h/c genfic cliches and then write a fic and use them all, just for kicks. Including present tense for an instantly heightened sense of immediacy. XD Seriously, it's getting funny. Not that the fic isn't still good. Just, patterns emerge. :P

Work today was awesome. Lately, hours have been drastically cut because of the season, so weekday evening shifts are down to one girl plus supervisor, and the kitchen boy. I don't mind it as much as I thought I would, because I'm getting along with Supervisor better than I used to, I think, or maybe I'm just getting better at trying to understand her. Either way, it's not too bad. However, I do miss working with the other girls; I haven't worked a weekend all month, what with the show and the box office. Tonight, though, Supervisor had the evening off for a former employee's birthday dinner or some such, and there were three girls on, which was awesome. It was me and Kassia and Tya, and Robert was in kitchen instead of the kid who's usually weekday evenings, and it was just so nice for a change.

Finally finished reading v.21 of Fruits Basket, which I bought months ago. Dude, this thing is getting ridiculous intense. And I would say some of it feels contrived except I know these things have been set up from the word go, pretty much; I can remember all the hints. The narrative refers back to some of them. It's kind of really awesome.

Meanwhile, I actually have to work in the morning, so I should oughta get to bed.

As a counterbalance to my last post, have a bit of Fry:

Every month I'm surprised. Every time I'm sure it doesn't usually get me this much, and then I remember what I thought last month. I was on the verge of tears watching the special features on my Star Trek DVD, for goodness' sake. I mean, yeah, that whole deal is pretty intense, but seriously?

Probably doesn't help that I've been reading sappy fic. Oh, hey, two things - Thing One: I am really starting to get irritated by the rarity of fic authors who use lie and lay correctly. Otherwise spectacular writers get tripped up on this tiny thing and probably don't even notice. But it bothers me. "Nauseous" as a state of being is one thing; I will never like it, but I realise that it has somehow blackmailed its way into standard English rectitude. Lay vs. lie is a whole different kettle of fish. Noun cases are so much more clearly handled in other languages. *pines* (EDIT: Having slept on it, I recall that this is less a noun thing than a verb thing, but my comment stands, albeit less well connected to the rest of this paragraph.) (Hey, does anyone at all remember that atrocious compound German noun for "the envy one feels upon learning there is a word in another language that is perfectly expressive of a nebulous concept which cannot be so expressed in one's own language"? Pretty sure I posted a link to a random girl's LJ and never bookmarked it, so I can't find it and I don't remember the username. Half of it is on the tip of my brain and it's driving me up the wall.) FOUND IT. I was hoping I'd remember her username if I let it stew long enough. :D If you don't want to bother with the link, and it's maybe kind of creepy that I'm linking to a post by someone who doesn't know I exist, but it's a public entry so whatever: the word is

fremdsprachenfeinheitseifersucht.

And may or may not be real. But it makes my heart happy all the same.

(Another common homophone error that's starting to irk me is "lead" for "led." Is it really that hard?)

Thing Two: I think I have discovered gen's rough equivalent to PWP: the hurt/comfort Excuse Fic. When you know the author just wrote it for the sake of having that one scene where the characters have this deep emotional moment, or hug, or someone pulls somebody out of a fire, whatever. When there's enough going on around it, it doesn't count, but sometimes you can just tell that everything else is completely there to justify that one situation.

Another thing that caught at my heartstrings today is this giant chunky yarn I have. It's lambswool/acrylic and cozy as anything and I'm using, like, number 13 needles with it - I can't find the package, may have tossed it, so I can't tell you what that is in millimetres, but it's somewhere in the general vicinity of a centimetre in diameter. Anyway, trying to think of other things to use it for, because man, this stuff is magic. Knits up beautifully and it's going like lightning. I'll be done before the week is out.

Today, I realised that M&Ms still remind me of The Matrix. Haven't watched it in years, I'm pretty sure, but when my brother was away doing his undergrad, we would watch it together and eat M&Ms every time he came home for a holiday. Good to know my conditioning is still intact. MLIA. :P

NOTE: if I don't have your address yet, please rectify the situation here.

SHOW IS DONE. YUSSS.

There was a banquet thing this evening and I went to it and it was tasty food and I was introduced to a new drink involving 7-up, orange juice, yellow grapefruit juice and Malibu rum. Yummy.

I am so wired. Less so than before, so that should tell you something. I got a ride home from my friend Jill, who, until this show, I hadn't seen in years, so it had been awesome that I have been able to see her, and I got her number and she has mine and we are going to hang out.

Part of me is insane and doesn't want it to be over. The rest of me is incredibly relieved.

I need to stop creating awkwardness in my head, because it carries itself out into the situation, and I hate that. I can't even tell you how many times I've had to stop and reel my brain back in because I just couldn't gauge when to shut up.

This musical is going to be lodged in my head for quite a while. I think maybe I'll start listening to Avenue Q; I heard Schadenfreude for the first time and it's ridiculously catchy. It might drive out the Producers demons. :P

Now, then: fanfic or show? Decisions, decisions...

Woke up to snow and put on Christmas music. A good start to my day.

Ate a pomegranate for breakfast/lunch. I bought it yesterday to eat after the musical, but when it came down to it, I couldn't be bothered, so I ate it today instead.

Just finished reading this huge six-chapter SPN fic, one of the h/c recs from the gen comm (holy jargon density, Batman). The narration is unbelievably sappy, but the actual dialogue and action are within the realm of believability and the plot is good. And I am a bit of a sap myself. But if I had to count the number of times Sam's gentleness or the green of Dean's eyes is remarked upon in those six chapters, for instance... it was a bit much even for me, let's put it that way. But, at the same time, oddly satisfying. Because despite the fact that nothing's perfect and not a lot breaks surface ("no chick-flick moments" and all), there is a lot going on underneath, and sometimes you just want to, I don't know, pull it out and revel in it. :P Hey, I said I was a sap.

Should probably go make macaroni soon. Because apparently that's dinner today. Mom's out, so the kid and I are fending for ourselves.

Also, I think that all future scarves that I knit will be made from giant yarn on giant needles. This is going incredibly quickly.

ADDENDUM: Mom just called and she's bringing home chicken. So much more satisfactory. :D

Woke up from a bizarre post-apocalyptic dream this morning to find that my throat/breathing was not feeling quite right. As I have a show tonight, I have been holed up on the couch with a blanket all afternoon thus far, drinking tea and knitting and amusing myself on the internets. (Who am I kidding, I'm watching SPN. :P) I have also taken a leaf out of my big brother's book: to combat a cold, he uses orange juice for the vitamin C and vodka for its disinfectant properties. Basically, yes, he drinks screwdrivers. And apparently it works. So I'm trying it.

Hopefully by this evening I will be fine. *crosses fingers*

Today's xkcd breaks my heart a little.

In other news, no drama in band. Whew. Also, I totally should have at least warmed up yesterday, because today I had this appalling stiffness in my embouchure for the first half hour or so, especially through the first piece (a chorale). I hate that feeling. :P It's like all of a sudden I'm incompetent again. But it more or less passed, so that was good.

Also, for part of my warmup beforehand, I decided it was a good idea to play the new Star Trek theme (HORNS REPRESENT) and The Final Countdown (BADLY SYNTHESISED HORNS REPRESENT). I don't even know. I was playing them in the same key, even, though I'm pretty sure Final Countdown should have been about a fifth higher.

I love my mother for many reasons, one of which is that she bought more shiraz. I loves my shiraz. May end up a lush when I move out again. We shall see.

Kat: I think I can do it, especially if I can manage to get another job. Erica: I may join you at the SPN con next year. Just a warning. :D

And a reminder - it's been a while since I posted it, but if you haven't left me your address yet so I can send you something awesome, please leave it here. (Post is locked, so if you're reading this and you don't have an LJ and you want a present, Facebook or e-mail me your address.)

ADDENDUM: Whilst watching the credits of Star Trek, I noticed that the transportation coordinator was Tommy Tancharoen. I wondered if he might be related to Maurissa Tancharoen (one of the Dr. Horrible writers, and the Asian fangirl in the show itself). So I checked. It's her dad. Now I feel like a super detective.

ADDENDUM THE SECOND: ( New Mario Paint video, if anybody wants to see. )

Incredibly enough, I got everything done that I intended to today so far. All that's left is band. (...which I am slightly dreading by reason of the fact that a certain trumpet player and a certain actually-a-flute-player will be there, and I don't really want to talk to them, but you know, if they want to make a big deal, they can. And they probably won't. And I don't have to interact with either of them directly. So, you know, whatever.)

(I'm not even fooling myself. Way to go. ¬_¬ Whatever, though, really. Just doing my usual mountains-out-of-molehills stunt.)

Carrying on...

I OWN STAR TREK. Bought the special edition after a minimum of hemming and hawing; ten dollar difference? Totally worth it. Haven't even touched the features yet, but I will. And meanwhile, my dad and brother have now seen it. :D And it's awesome. :D And they agree. :D

And that means everything is okay.

I was listening to Stairway to Heaven and seriously considering trying to learn the guitar riff at the beginning and maybe transcribe the recorder parts and make a project out of it and record the whole thing myself just for fun. But then it hit the electric part and I remembered that I can't reproduce all that. Still considering whether there might not be a workaround.

I really don't have time for this. XD

Speaking of time, I've decided I need a day job, since my two current ones are competing for the evening/weekend slots. Not that it's much of a competition, because the one works happily around the other and I'm only losing shifts right now a little bit because of the show. But I need a day job. Kat suggested Money Mart and I find I am curiously eager to give that a shot. The catch: the Money Mart in my city is roughly an hour's bus trip away. Regardless, I'm going to take over a resume tomorrow.

Itinerary for Tuesday:

-take bus out to Money Mart, apply there and possibly other places
-buy Star Trek (!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE MAY, PEOPLE)
-come home
-help Dad and Isaac with some recording between 2 and 3
-WATCH STAR TREK
-go to city band
-profit! :D

Unexpected internet access is unexpected. Worked box office this afternoon; am currently in the green room on a leather couch and have an hour and a half before I have to be anywhere.

Nap time.

Either that or I could finish reading the multi-chapter fanfic about Sam and Dean on a ghost ship in the middle of southern California.

...no, nap time. Nap time on a leather couch with Zeppelin. I like my plan.

Aibohphobia is my new favourite word.

Though it is kind of too bad that it's a fictitious word.

ADDENDUM: Now listening to When The Levee Breaks. Guh. How did I live this long without realising the awesome of Zeppelin? How??

ADDENDUM THE SECOND: Kitchen Boy informed me a while back that he and one of the other front girls had been speculating about my musical tastes and figured that I could potentially be a closet Kiss fan. Not having bothered to check it out before now, I've been on YouTube for the last half hour testing their theory.

...Yes.

Show tonight was better than last night. Crowd was pretty live. This one dude on the left at the front thought everything was hilarious and it kept making us laugh. Also, seeded laughter in the rest of the audience, which I suppose is always good.

Ice cream and tea and MLIA and I am a happy Olwyn. I work box office tomorrow, 11:45-5:15, so I'm just going to bring my horn and probably my computer and stay through until the show. Good times.

This afternoon I found MLIA and I cannot stop laughing.

help?

ADDENDUM: I HATE YOU ALL. XD

Had lunch at 2:30 and then a nap. Going to have a shower (and probably blow-dry my hair, because I do not wish to get sick-for-real, and I'm not exactly on top of the weather, if that expression even works) and then eat something, and I really should call Vicki to see if it's 6:15 or 7:15 she's picking me up. Because I could have sworn that we were discussing a 6:30 call, but the show doesn't start until 8, so that seems a little extreme.

Still making my way through some very decent SPN genfic, but enough authors have mentioned the "coppery" taste or smell of blood that it's starting to get on my nerves a little, because I think of little Spock and his split lip every single time. Human blood is iron-based, people. Just say metallic.


ADDENDUM: 7:30 it is. Rock.

My last shreds of dreams as I slept and woke fitfully through the last hour or two of my time in bed this morning were essentially Supernatural fic. I wish I could remember properly, because Bobby had some great lines.

Once I woke up completely I had this sudden and overwhelming urge to write Firefly/SPN crossover fic. Spent about fifteen minutes before I got out of bed just working out particulars. Still don't have a good analog for Kaylee, but pretty much everyone else fits solidly except maybe Inara.

One crossover at a time. Maybe when I finish everything else I'm working on, I'll start this one. It's going to need a good solid plot, though, and it's definitely going to have to be within the last season or so, which is daunting to me because it's a lot of people and events to keep track of, which is not exactly my forte. We shall see what becomes of this.

Don't you hate it when you start reading a story and the plot looks interesting but the writing just does not measure up? I want to know how this thing ends, but the narration is just stilted enough to be painful. Dialogue's not too bad, but. Still. This is the kind of thing that keeps me from writing more because I'm afraid that my motivational exposition is going to come out that lame.

Also, I'm starting to feel like all my songs sound the same. I need to get comfortable with more than just straight major/minor chords, because if I had to guess, I'd say my guitar skills are limiting my songwriting capabilities. At the same time, I don't want to put off writing just because it isn't spectacular. That's what's kept me the opposite of prolific for most of my life, and I'm trying to fight that. Not everything has to be a masterpiece. And I know I have a problem, because that last sentence feels false as I read it over. :P But it's true. It doesn't mean I'm not going to try, but I should probably take a leaf out of Walt Kelly's book and go for the next 80% instead of spending that time getting the last piece up to 95% or whatever's my max. Or else not trying at all because I know the best I can do is less than 100%, on whatever esoteric scale I'm measuring myself against.

The fact that I have a reflexive distaste for Nike doesn't help matters; otherwise, "Just Do It" might be an acceptable motto for me. As it is, I'm stuck trying to find a workaround. :P

So I thought I wasn't going to make any more rehearsals until opening night.

So I was happily wrong.

Wednesday being Remembrance Day, we've only just all found out that the Esplanade is going to be closed in the evening. This means the dress rehearsal is going to have to be at noon instead.

THIS MEANS I CAN ATTEND. ROCK ON. lml

In related matters, it's really just as well that today cannot therefore be wreck-the-face day because I need it tomorrow; my face is already kinda wrecked from yesterday. I am so pathetic. :P Somehow, though, I will survive this. It will all be fine.

Right?