Trying Something New

Hello, lovelies!

So a certain someone (you know who you are) has pointed out that my blog might be getting boring since I talk about the same stuff over and over again. I don't think I do (because what person has the same week over and over again), and if I do, it's because I'm telling you all what really happened, and other than the book stuff my life isn't all that exciting (excuse me for being boring!). But since I don't want to bore my readers, I'm going to try something new by basically inventing a back story for any interesting or annoying customer who comes to B&N.

So let's start with our first character, and let's call her Rose. She has brown hair in a ponytail, glasses, a slight bit of an accent since she recently moved up from the South, and is married to a husband that lets her take the reins over every single matter. Her hobby is collecting really obscure movies and finding things that also share her name. Used to getting what she wants, Rose is a master of making snide comments that don't really sound snide at all and has a habit of looking at the glass half empty ("It's an out there movie, so I'm sure you won't have it."), which tends to annoy people. She also expects everyone to know what she's talking about, and therefore doesn't bother doing her research when it comes to finding things that she wants. Yet regardless of all this, she's still a Southern belle at heart, and displays that with her excellent manners, saying please and thank you when asking for something, which is why she has plenty of friends.

So how was my first faux customer roast? Tell me in the comments below!

Work was normal. Interestingly enough, I had nothing but night shifts this week, which I was fine with. I actually kind of like them; the store's not as busy as it is during the day, so it's more relaxed and I can actually get a breather. It's even better when I'm in the music department because it's practically a ghost town and I can watch whatever movie's showing (it's Paddington this week!). Nothing really interesting to report other than I did confirm with my boss that I want to do KCCC (Kansas City Comic Con). I've answered some questions needed for pamphlets and stuff, and my boss is going to help me figure out how many books I should bring along to sell.

My internship is getting really busy. I'm now looking after three writers, and the newest one (who I've worked with before) hasn't changed anything about her writing style since I last edited her. If there's no change this week, I promise myself I'm going to report her. But that's not even the biggest news. My intern boss sent me an email this week, not only telling me I was her strongest editing intern, but also asked if I'd be interested in "advancing to a Senior Editor internship"! According to her I'd be the first person ever to have this position, and while she hasn't laid out the details of the job (she says it needs some development on her end), it sounds really awesome. However I can't decide if I should accept it or not because I was actually thinking of leaving once grad school started; I don't know if I'll have the time for it anymore. Yet it sounds exciting and it goes to show how hard I've been working. Thankfully I don't have to answer right away, but right now I'm stumped. What do you guys think?

In M.O.A-27, Moa has finally entered 35's big black blob after it contacted Moa's own big black blob, and has basically gone into the sleeper mode where she remembers stuff from her old life. The only difference here is that she's remembering stuff from 35's life before and after she was turned into a cyborg. She sees Bentwood giving orders to catch her, as well as clips of 35's old life (it seems like she was quite the party girl. But hanging over all of this is something scary and familiar. Something Moa's seen before, but can't say what it is because she doesn't know. What could it possibly be?

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: I saved a turtle! My sister and I were pulling into our church parking lot when I saw the little guy crawling off the grass and onto the tarmac, so I got out and picked him up. He got as squirmy as a turtle can get, but he didn't go inside his shell, and I got him back to the grass safe and sound. Which is good, because I like turtles! They're just so cute and peaceful with how they don't do anything to anyone.

Dislike 1: I killed a squirrel! I was driving to work, and this car drove past me. Out of nowhere this squirrel came out from underneath it, and instead of running right in front of me, it ran under my own car and got hit by my back wheel. I could actually feel the little bump it made. Yes, they're rodents, but I still feel horrible about it. :(

And quote!

'"… How the hell can you be so optimistic all the time?"

"Because, bro. Pain and suffering is inevitable, but misery is optional."' -Author Unknown

Ta-ta,
Colleen

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey-yo, everyone! How are you all doing?
Work was normal this week. I was place at the mall cash register during all my shifts, which, as you can expect, got rather boring after a while no matter what books are lying around to be straightened up. I just don't get why the mall register doesn't get as many customers as the front one. It's like, half of the people that come into the store come in through the mall entrance, so why can't that half use the mall register when they leave? I don't know. There's not a whole lot that happened.

I do have some news concerning the stand at Comic Con; I was able to work out a deal with my publisher concerning how to get ahold of some books, but now I need to figure out just how much is enough, and for that I want my boss' opinion, but I haven't had the chance to see him all week. Hopefully I can this time around, because I really want to confirm with him that I can do this.

With my internship, I got another new writer on my hands, and OH BOY. Her articles were a mess in the sense that she was capitalizing everything and her sentence structure/flow was a disaster. She used multiple words too many times, said the same point in multiple sentences, made weird word choices ... I could go on, but the point is nearly one whole page of my editor notes was donated to listing all the changes I had to make! That was a first for me, but then again, sentence structure (how sentences are put together and how it sounds as a cohesive 'unit') and flow (how sentences interact with one another) is the one biggie that needs fixing in all the articles I've ever read over. It's an work in process for all writers in general (including me) to get to a point where good word choices and sentences come somewhat easily, and all we can do is read our work over many times, learn how to pick the right words and how to construct sentences. What sounds good to the author doesn't necessarily sound good over all, and we learn that over time with help from editors. As it is, this girl appears to need A LOT of help, but she is new, so I'll wait and see what her work is like next week. I only hope and pray that she'll be like my other new writer and listen to my notes.

In M.O.A-27, Moa's finally exploring the inside of 35's head as she looks out for any info on Bentwood. She's already downloaded a big file, but something has caught her eye; this about invisible blob in 35's systems that's severely out of place. What's even weirder is that Moa has a similar blob in her own computer brain. Not knowing what it is, she reports her findings to her friends. All of them know what has to be done if they want to find out more (to the point where no says, "Let's download it" because they know that's what everyone's thinking), but the nerves are back, because for all they know it could be some sort of virus planted by Bentwood as some sort of failsafe. But speaking of the imagery here, I had fun coming up with what Moa's inner mind looks like when she pulls it up on a computer screen. It's basically a big glowing blue room with a brain that looks like "a cross between the model of an atom and a spider made of nervous cells", where the electron 'rings' carry all the info that Moa knows. I wonder, though, how it will hold up against the black blob?

Here's the Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Happy Mom's Day, mom! My mom actually flew in today because she'll be spending some time with us, and it was so good to see her. My sister and I picked her up at the airport, then went out for some yummy Mexican food (anyone remember Ponaks?), gave her her Mother's Day presents, and did some shopping. It's going to be great having her around for a while.

Like 2: I went on a small shopping spree with my sister. We drove up to our really awesome outlet mall, where we stopped at J.Crew (my sister had to return a swimsuit that could only be taken back at that certain store), then went to T.J. Maxx and Designer Shoe Wearhouse. I got a simple yet lovely navy blouse and some pinstriped shorts (originally sixty-two dollars but on sale for ten!), so it was a trip well taken, not to mention I got to spend time with my sister (have I mentioned how much I love her?).

Dislike 1: Seed pods getting stuck in my windshield wipers. There's a tree right over where I park my car and recently it's been dumping seeds on the window. If's it's sunny, it's not a problem because the wind take them off when you're driving, but it's a pain when it's raining because they get wet and gross and when you try to use the wipers some of the seeds stick and leave streaks behind. Yes, I could remove them from the blade, but not while it's pouring rain out!

Dislike 2: Washing my bed sheets. I hate this in the sense that it takes the comforter and the blanket FOREVER to completely dry even when the dryer is on its highest level. It wastes energy and time to do it all over again, and since I usually do laundry in the evening (because any other time doesn't work), I sometimes go to bed without the full set (especially if I decide to hang the heavy stuff over the banister to air dry instead of another spin in the dryer).

And quote!

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." -Mark Twain

Ciao,
Colleen

Stand Up

Hey howdy hey, folks!

So after the epicness of last week with the thieves getting caught and justice being served, things have gone back to normal at Barnes and Noble. I'm watching the registers, spying-not-spying on the customers, and keeping my eyes peeled for interesting books. But something awesome did happen; I got invited to host a stand at Kansas City Comic Con! One of my managers took me aside and told me how B&N was looking for local writers to participate since they had a bunch of stands (or maybe it was my manager himself who had the stands; I don't exactly remember) and he asked me if I wanted a stand to promote SWAMP ANGEL at! He talked about how it would be good coverage or my book, and how there might be a chance for me to actually be on some writers panels and talk about writing and stuff. I thanked him immediately for the opportunity and said I would think about it, but secretly my mind was already made up (answer: YES YES YES!). Nothing's set in stone just yet, so I need to figure out my schedule for August and how many books I should have on hand for my stand (I'll have my own stand!).

In my internship, I was rather surprised this week to discover that one of my writers is quitting. It's one of the two that has a habit of not listening, so I can't help but wonder if I had something to do with that considering my last report to my boss. Now I'm stuck wondering if I should ask the boss if I had anything to do with this, because as much as it annoyed me being ignored, I didn't want anyone to quit over me. But is this something that I can ask her about (this is where my lack of social tack shines brightly :P)? I don't know. At least my other not listening writer showed some important this week; I'm constantly telling her she needed to shorten her links, and she did do that for at least one of her articles. I hope she can show more improvement next week considering I'm going to start asking my writers to email me confirmation that they got my notes and understand what to do. Why didn't I think of doing this before?

Writing is writing. I still haven't gotten to the actual scene where Moa downloads whatever is in 35's head, but I'm slowly working towards that. I'm excited to describe all that gets into Moa's head, not only because it's an important plot point, but also because I just like describing things; it's fun and a true test of writing and making stuff up. As it is, Shawney's still connecting everything together and Thayer's getting impatient, so if something doesn't happen soon, he's going to break something or pick a fight with Ursele.

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Possible stand at Comic Con! See above.

Like 2: My youngest sister is home from college. Her school ends early, so now she's here with me, and it's wonderful to see her; I've missed her a lot. Love you!

Like 3: I went to a small graduate banquet hosted by UMKC, where I'm going to go to grad school this fall. It was at a professor's house, and the new students and I basically met older students and professors while noshing on some snacks and listening to some awards given out. I was nervous (who wouldn't be surrounded by people they don't know), but everyone was very friendly. I spoke to a lot of people, including my advisor (who's as nice in person as she is over email; we had a brief talk about what classes I want to take), and I found out some more about campus life, including the school's literary magazine and this graduate internship I want to try out for (you edit a magazine, and it counts for school credit. Talk about a learning experience!).

Dislike 1: Traffic. I got stuck in some driving over to the banquet, and AAAAAHHHHH! I mean, I still managed to get there on time, but why?!

And quote!

"What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?" -George Eliot

Goodbye,
Colleen

Busted!!

Salutations, ladies and gentlemen.

So remember in my last entry when I used the phrase 'grand theft bookstore' to say my work week was normal in the sense no one tried to steal anything? Well, I did have another normal week, but we (the store) actually almost had such an incident! I wasn't working the day everything happened (bummer), but I got the whole story from the manager and I can't help but be impressed with not only how everything turned out, but also with how my manager handled the stinkin' thieves.

As it is, it actually started a few months ago when two teenage girls stole a bunch of tiny plastic figurines right under our noses (not mine, though, because I wasn't working that day). Management, of course, wasn't happy and made it very clear by hanging a plastic bag full of the boxes the figurines had been in on the 'people to watch out for' billboard along with a security shot in case the two ever decided to come back. Well, this week they did. According to what my boss said, the guy working the mall cash register recognized the two when they came in and called one of the managers, who then called the boss, who confronted the two right at the same cubicle where the figurines had been stolen. What followed was a volley of questions and story changes where the girls said they weren't stealing, then they gave the receipts to a mom, then mom had left, then their phones died, and so on and so forth with my badass boss not taking no for an answer until the two finally admitted that they were stealing. After that, they were taken by mall security to the police branch that's in the mall (I didn't know that was there), where it was was discovered they had stolen merchandise from THREE OTHER STORES on them. Because they stole from four stores in a time range of seventy two hours, they actually committed a felony, and were charged as such, which means it's going to stay on their permanent record or whatever forever; even when they turn eighteen, which is the age records get sealed and stuff, the fact they shoplifted cheap plastic stuff from four stores won't suddenly vanish.

When I first heard all this, I was angry that these two dunderheads (I want to call them something worse, but let's keep this blog clean, people) would try something like this, and felt those two got what they deserved. And I'm still happy that justice was served, but I can't help but shake my head in disappointment that those girls would screw over their future for some tiny five dollar toys. How could something be worth that? Were they so confident they could get away with it (apparently not, considering the boss said they burst into tears when put in the holding cell)? So concerning the event it's with some mixed feelings of triumph and disappointment, and though shoplifters are always going to be a pain in the butt, the triumphant part of me is going to do my best to catch the badies before the financially hurt the store I love so much.

After all the excitement with my job, my internship seems kind of boring. I did get a break with one of my doesn't-listen-to-me writers getting temporarily switched to another editor, so that was sweet, as was the smaller amount of articles to edit. However my other writer who doesn't listen was a mess concerning sentence structure and flow with how often she repeated herself, and once again didn't listen to my suggestions. I'm going to email the boss about it (she told me to do so if it happened again), but at this point I'm either going to ask for a new writer or email her directly and figure out just exactly is going on. But it's not all bad; my newbie writer has listened to me so far, and her work has shown obvious improvement since last week. Working with her is going to be a treat.

Writing is slow in the sense that I'm still at in the scene where Moa's trying to convince everyone to upload whatever info's inside 35's head to her. Or maybe that's just me, because some scenes do seem to drag on. Most of the time it's scenes that are either boring or hard to write, like fight scenes, but every once in a while a scene that I think is going to be fun starts to stretch out. Maybe that's a sign that I need to start wrapping said scene up? Either way, when I get this feeling I just power through because I know what happens next and I want to get there!

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: The shoplifting incident. See above.

Like 2: My sister Allison visiting. One of her friends from college, who lives in the Kansas City area, was flying home from her study abroad program in Japan, so Allie flew out to essentially get her while some of the mutual friends drove out with Allie's car. They stayed the weekend, and it was fun. Allison and I had a good time showing them Kansas City; we took them to the farmer's market, walked around Union Station, Kaw's Point, and the World War I memorial, visited Crown Center for shakes at Fritz' (where model trains actually deliver your food), and stopped for some good Mexican food at Ponak's. It was great to see her, and her friends were funny and awesome. A short but sweet visit indeed.

Like 3: Bubble tea. I ordered some when we had some breakfast at the farmer's market, and it was DELICIOUS. Sweet milky tea with gummy balls mixed in; yum! I wonder if I can get some more without having to go back to the farmer's market again.

Dislike 1: The shoplifting incident. See above again.

And quote!

"Tough times never last, but tough people do." -Robert H. Schuller

See ya,
Colleen

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Hey-yo! I know I'm a day late; I blame the internship and all the editing I had to do on Sunday.

Work was normal this week, which basically means no crazy/interesting customers, no grand theft bookstore, and no memberships sold. However, I did, after a very long drought, got more than just emails one day when I managed to sell both a Kids' Club card and a special offer (this special offer being half off a kid's picture book with purchase of another picture book), so I do feel somewhat accomplished this week. The only other thing I can make a note of is one of my managers showing me a new guidebook which I looked through one day when I was working the mall cash register. It touched on some things I didn't know (or forgot), but other stuff seemed to be geared towards employees with a higher position. Which, when I think about it, would be nice. I'd like a full time job in Barnes and Noble and be surrounded by books all day, though I think I'd prefer a customer service or 2nd floor job over cashier if it was full time. :)

My internship was normal this week, though once again my two regular writers didn't listen to me at all. I know I've griped about it before, and I'm sorry, but I just can't understand why they, as writers, won't at least think about the advice I, their editor, am giving, and more important why they can't do their best to make their drafts as close to perfect as possible. I mean, when I was writing and rewriting SWAMP ANGEL, I made sure to do my best with my spelling, grammar, and sentence flow because I didn't want to give Rich-the-editor a sloppy mess to work with; that felt rude and disrespectful to me. But am I the one in the wrong? An editor's job is supposed to fix mistakes in a piece, so does it not matter what state a written work is in since I'm supposed to correct it all anyway? I don't know, but I do know I'm not giving up on this internship; it's given me a lot of good experience. And my newbie writer listens to my advice, not to mention my boss is on my side, so I guess everything's pretty good after all.

In M.O.A-27, it's the return of M.O.A-35! Nah, just kidding, but Moa has reminded everyone that she has 35's head with her, and she's suggesting that they somehow hook Moa up to 35 and see what can be learned from the other cyborg's central processor. It's a good idea, but Shawney's slightly hesitant because he's the eletronics guy but has never worked with what Moa's made of. Of course, she says she'll help, and he'll accept it, but is there another reason behind his nervousness? Hmm ... (strokes imaginary beard and smiles mysteriously)

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: I went to my first official Royals baseball game (and no, the one in Arizona doesn't count because it was a practice game). It was awesome; the seats were good and we won, but there was also some fighting in between the Royal and the Athletics with hitting players with balls and lots of booing from the audience. That was actually kinda exciting (because I've never seen anything like it), but I hope the other teams we play aren't

Like 2: I've found out who my advisor is for UMKC. I've also got my list of classes for Fall term, so now it's time to pick what I want to learn next. Some of them sound like classes I took at Knox, so I'm torn between sticking with what I know or trying something else.

Dislike 1: Return of the Metro Fee paperwork! All right, it wasn't that bad, but it turned out I'd left out some paperwork for my application to get in state tuition, so I had to send them some more stuff. Kinda annoying, but at least the parents and grandparents were around to help!

And quote!

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast." -Charles Dickens

See ya,
Colleen

Easy Going's

Hi, my lovely readers! It's been a good week in the sense it's been slow yet steady in pretty much every aspect of my life.

Work is going well. For the first time in forever I actually worked at the front cash register for a few hours, and I was surprised to discover how much I missed it. I don't miss the long lines where you have to press the emergency, someone get over here and help me buzzer, but I did miss how you're never completely bored up front because there's always someone to check out or something to straighten (the one time a messy customer is actually good). Other than that, I was music and mall cash register again, and maybe the most interesting thing that happened at work this week was me getting called in for an extra shift, which I accepted (gas doesn't pay for itself). However, I have taken up customer watching when there's nothing to do (don't want them to steal something), and this week I've come to a small realization of how grateful I actually am to have had braces because the last two weeks have been nothing but customers with very horrible teeth. Seriously! Of course, not everyone has bad teeth, and those who did were nice customers, but it was just a little reminder of how braces were worth the trouble so my mouth doesn't end up looking gross.

In my internship, I've finally gotten a new writer. She actually writes, which means she puts out articles of decent length instead of only a few hundred words, which does means more to edit but the pieces read and feel like actual articles. Of course, she's not perfect; while there's no spelling and grammar errors, the way she sets up sentences needs some work. In fact, that's something all my writers need to work on; they all have the habit of writing short sentences that should be combined together and using weird phrasing that sounds awkward when you read it. I've given them some feedback, but once again my two regulars don't seem to be paying my notes any attention. Let's hope the newbie actually listens and learns.

With M.O.A-27, the characters are still talking about what to do next, but the conversation has taken an interesting turn when they start discussing just why Dr. Bentwood had to make cyborgs and touch upon the 'lore' of these beings and why they're against the law to make. It was mentioned before, but at this point we're getting some more details, like how when the experimentation started in the BW age (Before the War), they used criminals as test subjects so if something went wrong, they wouldn't lose any soldiers that they were hoping to turn into super-soldiers. That didn't help the cyborgs reputation, and what really damaged their rep was how much destruction they brought, both by themselves and when the enemies started looking into how to destroy the other side's cybertronic forces. To quote Shawney:

"...people were sick of fighting, and here’s a new weapon to enter the war force. ‘Yes, it looks human, but it has machine parts in it, and machines have done nothing but hurt us for forever’. That was the mindset people got, and it stuck around for a long time.”

It kinda makes you think about violence and war in real life. Don't you think anyone who holds a gun for too long ever gets tired of it, or wonders how much more will be done to win the battle?

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Appreciating the fact I went through braces (see above).

Like 2: Noodles. I've had some macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles this week, and both of them were delicious. God bless the guys who invented noodles, because they're the tastiest stuff on earth!

Like 3: Extra money from extra shifts. Who can complain about that? Now I have more to buy what I need.

Dislike 1: People who don't use their lane change signals when driving. It drives me nuts (pun unintended) because it comes out of no where and you don't know what's happening until the other driver does it. If anything, it's bad driving manners, and who knows if something so small can cause an accident? Are people that stupid to forget it? I think they are (I also think I'm turning into my mom, because she hates bad drivers and always complains about it).

And quote!

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." -Reinhold Niebuhr

Good day to you all,
Colleen

Happy Easter!

Hello!

So after last week's fun filled update with Arizona and all that jazz, everything been back to normal since then. Work remains pleasant; I was watching the music/DVD department again this week, so that was relaxing. Another thing that did happen was I turned in a score sheet completely blank (we have little cards where we tally how many emails, memberships, etc. we get). And it wasn't on purpose; I literally didn't even get a single email that day because there were so few people and the customers I did have didn't want to give it or didn't have one. So that was a first, and though it's not like the end of the world, I hope I don't have to do it again; an empty card feels like I'm not doing enough work (though I always try my best). Just have to keep trying!

With my internship, one of my writers was transferred to another editor. This one was kind of troublesome, considering that until Boss sat the writers down and told them to stop ignoring the editor's notes, she was one of the biggest offenders (not to mention she misspelled the simplest words). She's improved since then; however, just last week Boss asked me to inform her if any of my writers' articles were too short, and C (let's call her that) sent me one piece that was nothing but a list of spring fashion needs. I don't know if me kindly telling Boss about it was the reason for the change, but I hope C continues to improve with her new editor. As for me, I'll be getting a brand new writer under my wing this week, so let's hope she/he is willing to listen and learn.

Currently, Thayer is NOT a happy camper in MOA-27. And who can blame him when Moa's just told him that if they all hadn't escaped from Bentwood, he would've been killed with Moa while Ursele and Shawney simply would've had their minds erased? So he's currently have a full blown rage attack, shouting and swearing and kicking about an innocent chair and everyone's letting him do it because his anger is understandable; you would think 'utopia' would've removed these sorts of barriers between everybody despite their lifestyle choices, but sadly that's not true. Those who live the 'bad' lifestyle are bad and thus are treated differently, but it's coming to a point where the question is, who's living the 'bad' lifestyle here; the one full of crime, or the one without truth? Which do you think is worse?

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Easter! I had a wonderful Easter Sunday. I went to Mass with my grandparents, then the three of us met up with some family friends for a delicious Easter brunch at my grandparents' country club. Just as good were the two care packages from Mom and Dad: Peeps, jellybeans, malted milk balls, fruity marshmallows, prickly pear taffy, and a stuffed rabbit. Thanks guys!

Like 2:I finally got that dreadful Metro Rate paperwork done for UMKC. If all goes well, I'll be getting in-state tuition and not have to pay the out of state price.

Like 3: I can eat sweets again! Oh, how I've missed you!

Dislike 1: The fact that many customers don't know how to respect my personal space. When I'm looking up something on the computer in the music/DVD section, I do not have the luxury of having a counter in between me the customer and I like at customer service. As such, a lot of customers think it's perfectly okay for them to stand right next to me and look over my shoulder while I'm searching, completely obvious to the fact I'm trying to lean away from them as much as I can. It's not like I can say anything, because they're the customer and have the right to look and see if we have what they want in stock, but them getting so close is awkward and uncomfortable for me, as I'm sure it is for everyone else (because who likes having someone look over their shoulder? Honestly?). Should I suck it up, or kindly ask them to stand back? I don't know.

Dislike 2: Bookclub being cancelled. You know how I said I was going to join one? I did, but when I drove to the meeting spot, I was told by the leading lady that she cancelled it because she wasn't feeling well; in fact, she'd sent out an email to all the members telling them about it just moments before I arrived. So that stunk, and now I'm left hoping we can discuss Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy next month instead of reading another book.

And quote!

"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

See you all again,
Colleen