Rantage (with a cognac assist)

Yes, it is a bit early to be imbibing, but I worked today (yes, on a Saturday), and I am stressed, so it’s justified.

Speaking of work. Got the shock of my life when I opened my email this morning.  My boss… (I think I should stop here and explain that I have two bosses.  A militaryish boss and a civilianish boss.  They don’t work in the same building let alone the same city.  I work for “someone” who “loans” me out to “someone else”.  Got it?  So… more on the shock of it all…

…my boss, (cc-ing me) wrote my other boss (the one who actually pays me) such a startlingly nice, complimentary email, talking about my recent work on a certain “lawsuit” (which I can’t talk about… not that I’m a lawyer, or a paralegal… not even a legal secretary, but I do work for militaryish lawyers) that it almost brought a tear to my eye.  I mean, as in crying. Me… crying.  I know, right, unheard of in modern science.

But, it made me wonder why the email was written in the first place.  I think my boss can tell that I am at my wits end with this project (dealing with lawyers who do not want to do any work of their own) and I believe that the flattering email was meant to curb any ideas of my flinging myself out of the office doors in a fit of resignation rage (a real malady… as I’ve been known to up and quit places once or twice)

What makes it so funny (and there is always a funny part) is the fact that I was actually in a semi-resignation rage last night after leaving work… so much so that I came home and applied for this job on the other side of the country (which I don’t have a prayer of getting because nobody hires from across the country anymore (unless you want to go to Saskatchewan and frack the begeesus out of some shale for $1000 a day!)

And get this, the job is for some more lawyers… only the more high-powered corporate type lawyers who REALLY don’t do anything for themselves.  But it is in Palo Alto, California and I can put up with a lot just to be near San Francisco!

Last night I contacted a friend who lives in the area, asking him what I probably already sort of knew: how does one live in Palo Alto when one has no money.  Well, apparently, one cannot live there.  He says the average person who works in Palo Alto actually lives at least 50 miles away.  I have a 20 mile commute here in Virginia that has already put me well over the edge; I don’t see it happening.  And like I said, the job is just a pipe dream, but heck, I tried.

Which, of course, doesn’t stop me from consulting the Interwebs, switching to fantasy mode, and playing my favorite game called: “Moving to California”.

It’s a game I have played for years and it goes like this:  I apply for a job (that I naturally won’t get) and then spend half the day looking up real estate I can’t afford and real estate that I can (usually the shadier of trailer parks) and planning my routes on the “CalTrains“… which leads me to wonder what kind of ticket I should buy (weekly?… monthly?) and whether or not my new employer (who is not going to hire me, mind) offers a transportation allowance. (Google does!!  Yes, I applied to them, too).

And, after all this plotting and planning, I usually come to my senses.  Then I slip into a depression.  And then put up a ranty blog post… with a cognac assist.

Courvoisier… my favorite.

In my James Earl Jones voice: “This is CNN.”

Or rather, this is me on CNN…talking about Jane Austen,… like I’m an expert or something.

I was asked to do a CNN iReport back in the summer and was told that sometimes the iReports develop into a feature story that appears on one of the main CNN pages.  And what do you know, yesterday, it happened on the CNN Travel page.

Nerd Pilgrimages: To boldly go on a nerdy pilgrimage

Hey, does this now qualify me for professional writer status? LOL! Probably not.

Click on my name on the article to see more about my pilgrimage (which, you have already heard about last year when it happened).

BTW: My photo of Chawton Cottage appears as #11.

The funniest “Star Trek” thing that I think I’ve ever seen

I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon All Our Trek Are Belong To.US, but it had me rolling.  The website seems several years old, and the owner of it goes to great pains to recap various Star Trek episodes, point by point, to prove to us all just how “slashy” Star Trek, (and more specifically, Kirk/Spock) really is.

It is funny because it is so true and you find yourself scratching your head, wondering why you never saw it that way yourself.

For example, this is a brief bit she wrote about Amok Time:

Here’s a very unusual episode. We visit Vulcan and get a slice of Vulcan life. This episode is also typical in many ways:

1) Kirk acts like a total masochist, as usual, for example, he can’t resist the urge to get into a big fight with a much stronger opponent despite some pretty good advice to stay out of it, *again*. 2) Spock, despite supposedly being a pacifist, turns out to be a kick-ass fighter, *again*. 3) McCoy goes ashore although there is no really good reason for him to be there, *again*. 4) Kirk gets thrown into a spicy situation with a sexy woman and, as in the ep Mudd’s Women (and many others), it’s NOT HIS IDEA (and nothing much comes of it), *again*. 5) Spock is insubordinate, steals the ship, kicks the stuffing out of Kirk and basically treats Kirk and other people like shit and gets away with all of it, *again*.

Not only does it become clear that Spock doesn’t really like women very much, but it’s also made quite clear that (bad attitude and bad behavior notwithstanding) he’s nuts about Kirk – and (strangely, in spite of everything) the feeling is very mutual. For once, somebody actually comments on it, too – so it’s not just us seeing it, the people in Kirk’s universe can see it, too.

Just go and finish reading the entire Amok Time recap plus some of the others.  I swear you will pee in your pants.  It is so hysterical.