Category Archives: Work

Changing My Stance; or why I will be going to the business meeting at the Hugos.

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In case it wasn’t glaringly obvious from my other posts, I am a baby F/SF writer. And in an effort to make friends and influence people (and buy cupcakes and listen to amazingly clever people talk on panels and make a fool of myself in a public space,) I am going to Chicon this year! It’s in Chicago, and I’m actually staying in the conference hotel (with excellent people) and I am very excited.

As an attending member of the conference, I was eligible to nominate for the Hugo awards, which meant that in January I was carefully making a list of all the novels and short stories I had read in the past year (and for the Campbell, past two years), measuring them against each other, and filling out my ballot.

To be honest, I did fill out the ballot with the kind of giddy excitement you feel when you are finally part of the club and people take your opinions seriously. But I feel like that any time I get to vote. LOOK AT ME I AM AN ACTUAL ADULT FUNNY CAT SHIRTS NOTWITHSTANDING. Oh, okay you need to see my photo id, that’s fair. SEE I AM OF SOUND MIND WHOO. I may have been one of the only people to legitimately try to convince my peers to vote with the argument “but it’s so fun!”

Yesterday the Hugo nominees were announced, so of course my twitter feed went absolutely insane. I am gleefully delighted that two of my Clarion instructors are nominated, John Scalzi for Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue, and Kij Johnson for The Man Who Bridged the Mist.  The stories are awesome (though spectacularly different) and I know who I’m cheering for in their categories.

As the excitement continued, however, I noticed that it was only a certain sector of my feed lighting up with congratulations and counter-congradualtions and glee. The sector which writes books for “grown-ups.” None of the YA writers of Science Fiction or Fantasy were involved in this conversation.

I did not expect this.

See, I write YA Fantasy/Science Fiction. So when I go to the book store, I check out the YA section. (It’s usually near the front.) And then I go to the Science Fiction and Fantasy section. (Usually near the back of the store.) I knew that the books I liked were located in two different sections, but I considered that more of a fortunate shelving plus (two sections to browse! awesome!) than a sign that these were extremely different genres. I considered YA F/SF to be F/SF, albeit F/SF that dealt with themes of becoming and coming of age, strongly character-centred, and with maybe a bit more romance. But it’s just a flavour of the grander line of Fantasy/Science Fiction, right?

According to the voters of the Hugo awards, it’s a lesser flavour of the tradition. There is not a single book, novella, novelette, related work, short story, or etc on the ballot that could be termed YA. The only place where there is some cross-over is in the editorial side, where several of the editors have also worked with stories for the teen market. The ballot draws a line between the YA stuff and the Good stuff.

So I thought about that for a bit.

I think I should emphasis again that I am very surprised. I am new to considering the industry, but the people I follow all seemed to be interested in reading in more than one section of the bookstore. I got into Clarion with two stories that were YA, and for goodness sake, the anchor team at Clarion this year is two best-selling YA authors (Cassandra Clare and Holly Black). I had not before noticed the signs that my genre was not considered as “good” as those books in the grown-up section.

If there had only been one YA book on the ballot (or one story from a YA anthology), I think I wouldn’t have surprised at all. I mean, it is quite clear that some compelling story lines when you are 15 fail to be as compelling when you are 35 or 40. Twilight, for example. Very effective when you are not allowed to drive yet. Less wonderful to read when you are a bit older. But to have no YA represented at all?  That makes me think that the voters just aren’t reading in the YA section. Even when you look back at other years of hugo nominees, the only ones that made it to the list are books that would be cross-shelved in the adult section, like books by Cory Doctorow.

I mean, last year we had The Freedom Maze come out, a moving and spectacular inditement of racism’s multitude of forms. It happens to be shelved in the YA or MG section. Red Glove, a FREAKING AWESOME book with con men, spectacular magical and political systems, twisty romance and death. Bumped, a scathing and hilarious critique of the reproductive underbelly of modern religion’s focus on purity and secular society’s focus on sexuality. 2011 saw the release of Chime and The Demon’s Lexicon and Goliath and The Girl Of Fire And Thorns and The Boy At The End Of The World. None of them made it to the list. And I think that to have not one of these books even nodded to by the ballot is to have a poorer ballot.

I had heard people say before that the Hugos should include a YA ballot, but I had thought that was rather silly. Wouldn’t they be included in the regular ballot of novels, short stories, novellas and novelettes? Why would they need an extra category?

Because, it seems, nothing found in the kids section is worthy of making it onto a list of best F/SF of the year. It has to be put on a separate list of best TEEN F/SF. I can’t say that I’m delighted to finally figure that out. I liked it better when I thought I was a full member of the club. However, if making a new list, is what it takes to get people to recognize the awesomeness that is going on at the front of the store, I am all for it.

Also, let’s face, it, this way we get twice as many nominees to squee over and fete, and the possibility of more authors and therefore fans coming to the con, and GENERAL AWESOMENESS. What’s not to love?

“I’m not quite down with the way they roll/ they throw knives from their eyes at my parasol.”

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Si vales, valeo!

I bought an airline ticket! Moreover, it is not Air Canada, which causes me much joy. My, it is nice knowing that if my flight gets canceled due to flooding or bomb threats or freak snow storms of mechanical failure, I am covered. Not that getting stuck in airports isn’t interesting, but it does also tend to mess up the schedule. 
And why, you ask, did I buy an airline ticket? Was it just for the wonderful experience of modern economy air travel? No, I answer, it was not. You see, on Monday I was startled to find out that I get paid vacation time at work, and I needed to figure out when I was taking it. Like, NOW I needed to figure out when I was taking time off. Cue me sitting on my bed staring at a schedule and panicking. One of the options I was leaning towards was popping over to Europe for a week and climbing around castles. However, traveling Europe alone, for my first Vacation, (read: I’m not an experienced traveler), didn’t really seem safe. I need someone to watch my luggage while I’m on the train, and stuff. And I was unable to find someone to commit to European travel for a week in the summer on twenty minutes notice. *sigh* People are so unimaginative, all hung up about work terms, and internships, and money, and study terms…. Just jesting, you know I jest. Well, not about the not being able to find someone, but about the fact that I am vexed at people for not being available for two weeks in England. *cough* 
Moving on! The next option that came to mind was; Visit People! It was right about then that I remembered that my College, (Augustine College- you should go), has a graduation this year. Just like last year, in fact. However, this year I am an Alumnus- Alumna- Alumnas- I am a person who has successfully graduated, and the fact that I remember none of my Latin has absolutely no bearing on that fact. Moreover, it is an Augustinian tradition, of sorts, to attend later graduations in full stately robes and sarcasm, and pat the students fondly on their sleep-deprived heads. ALSO, (yes, there were more reasons,) Em is still at the college, Moon Unit is in town and will be attending, Moon Unit’s friend Zaktrik is graduating, Lord willing, and some of the other alumni might be there as well! 
Then, I looked at air costs for the two days I was going to be traveling. Lo and behold, not only were the two flights the lowest fares within 28 days, what with airline costs and such the cost of the ticket was still just covered by my shiny new Visa card. At this point, I was clearly receiving divine signs. And who am I to tamper in the divine plan? I bought the tickets. :D
All joking aside, though, I am continually amazed at how obvious and easy things are when that’s what God wants me to do/where God wants me to be. Problems just take one look at me and melt away. 
Anyway, that’s my news. And I’m excited to travel and take my first ever professional vacation, and I’m trying not to count down the days from TOO far in advance. 

Why I’m going to be wearing turtlenecks for the next few days.

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For work, I have a key I have to carry around. It goes to my cashbox, and to reduce the chance I loose it I wear it on a lanyard. All nice and logical, no? Well, logical if you’re me. If you’re not me you might carry the key with your car keys or something. Anyhow, being me, I choose to carry mine on a lanyard, around my neck. 

Then this evening, after five hours at work, one of the Brownies asked why I had green on my neck. Me: “Green?” *runs for the washroom* My first thought, given my prior history, was that I had poked at my sore neck with a green indelible marker. But no, the truth was much more subtle and devious than that. Instead, the lanyard had diabolically decided to leave a line of corroded metal around my neck. It’s just about the colour of copper that’s been left outside for five years, and shows up nicely on my pasty skin. For those who do not have quite my skin tone, that is also the colour that bruises make after they’ve started to heal. As one of the leaders said, “it looks like you had something around your neck and someone really yanked it off.”
Which leads me to postulate that high collars are totally in this month. All the best people are (going to) be wearing them!

“Downtown Lewisporte, alive and well. Only, it’s not exactly alive, or well. But it is Downtown Lewisporte…”

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A quote from the McWork meeting on Tuesday, when we were asked if all the managers enforced the rules consistently. 

Kenneth: “Yeah, they do. They all always tell me to shave every time I come in.”
Joan: “Don’t feel bad, they tell me to shave too.”

Work today was rather amusing, due to the fact that no one had had quite enough sleep. (Reasons ranged from early-riser children, to drunk’n'rowdy husbands, to vivid dreaming. I’ll let you decide which one applied to me…) We were all giggly. Including the guys, which was rather disconcerting whenever you stopped to think about it. *smirks* 

There was one moment that could have gotten quite interesting- when Norman told me to shut up and go away cause I was taking all the fun out of everything- but our manager Pauline managed to keep the peace. 
The situation arose in this manner. 
As anyone who knows me knows, I tend to use archaic, unusual, large, and even subculture-specific words in general conversation. As anyone who knows me also knows, I have a difficult time letting other people’s smart remarks pass without a returning smart remark of my own. If the person is quick, a delicious verbal battle usually commences. If the person is not quick (or unused to girls talking back) a confused expression is donned and the conversation dies. Norman does not seem to be one of the former group. He tries, but is severely hampered by not recognizing most of my vocabulary. At any rate, after I responded to one of his remarks, I don’t remember what it was, he said that I sucked all the fun out of life because I turned everything into an educational moment. Hmmmm. I should point out here that no one else at work has yet made a negative comment about my vocabulary.  So. Norman seemed to find that observation hilarious, and he kept repeating it at intervals throughout the morning. All in a joking manner, and not mean-spirited- but still… Pauline, the manager, noticed that I wasn’t grinning quite so broadly at the comments after a couple of hours. And after Norman told me to shut up and go away, she said- in his presence; “He’s just intimidated by your intelligence, honey. You should get used to that.” So I stopped reverting to my age ten memories of being told I talked weird, and perked right up. Norman, on the other hand, went quiet and stopped teasing me. So a crisis was averted. :P
Then after work, the family went up to the Penney’s for a BBQ. The food was lovely, and the conversation was hilarious. My stomach hurt from laughing by the time dessert was brought out. Unfortunately I can’t quite remember any of the quotes. They wouldn’t be the same without the accent anyhow. *makes dismissive motion*

“There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity!”

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I got onto the system today! And my brain exploded. 

Yeah, I’ve had a headache since about Noon. This is due to doing nine courses that are supposed to take an average of an hour each, in five and a half hours. Which is what happens when you read fast and have worked in customer service before. But I did learn some interesting things. Did you know, to be eligible for Private Wealth Management, you have to have over a million dollars under the care of CIBC? I was pretty impressed. (and here I had a minor rant about things, and then realized that I was probably contravening the privacy policy I just agreed to today. Hmmmm)
Although, the one guy who didn’t look at me for the past two days? The Only Guy, (OG), in the office? I walked in today in a grey shirt, and was invisible. Then I changed to a pink shirt, as per branch policy for the day, and he suddenly perked up, said hello, and waved at me. Now, the first time I walked right past OG’s line of vision, and everybody else said hi to me, and he said hi to everyone else, so it wasn’t that I was sneaking in or that he was occupied. Maybe he doesn’t acknowledge girls who don’t wear pastels. 
A mystery…
Tomorrow is work at McWork. In fact, I’m working at either McWork or the Bank every day through Thursday. Then on Friday, I’m working at both. :P More power to me!

“Cause I’d probably let you in if we had a hostage situation cause I like company.”

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I’ve done two shifts at the bank so far. 

Impressions? I think I’m going to like it. 
The vault is awesome. 
“It’s like in the movies, except there’s no one drilling up through the floor…”

Really, it reminds me of a cross between a submarine and a storage closet. The door is about 9 inches thick, and incredibly heavy. Also, all the safes have double locks, of which any one person can only know the combination for one, and more locks inside. And they’re on time combinations, which is mildly marvelous. 
There is also a whirring machine that counts bills, and a cart to push coins around since they’re too heavy to carry. And I can see the inside of the ABMs and the Night Deposit, uh, thing. I don’t think I’m high ranked enough to actually count the deposits, but that may come in time! *is hopeful*
The actual job looks quite interesting. *grins* Foreign Exchange… Of course, it will take a while until I’m actually out front. I have a lot of training to do. And the training is not hurried along by the whole IT vs. HR issue. First HR hadn’t given me a employee number, so I couldn’t be logged on to any computer. That was yesterday. Then today I received an employee number, logged on, and came up against IT. It seems that HR hadn’t talked to IT, so IT didn’t know I was allowed on the system. “Try again tomorrow…” FUN. But despite the fact that I’ve not been able to do any actual training so far, I have learned a couple of things. For one, due to a “possible or perceived” conflict of interest, I’m not allowed to serve anyone I’m related to, in a relationship with, or was formerly employed by. Also, I’m supposed to make the experience of banking at our branch “delightful” for customers. Not just pleasant, delightful. No use aiming low, eh?
Oh, and the break room looks like a church basement. The same out-of-date-but-still-hearty furniture. The same immortal fridge. The same cupboards full of mismatched cups. Even the same pale yellow paint and sunflower border. So there’s a strange sense of deja vu involved in taking break time. 
The co-workers seem to be nice. I forgot to bring lunch the first day (too much time on Fast Food), and most of the staff pitched in to give me something. :D Since they are all on the thinner side of toothpick, I ended up having a larger dinner than most of the staff. :D There is one lady, the other recent hire, who doesn’t like me because I got the part-time job and she was hired for call-in. This is probably exacerbated by the fact that most people seem to think I’m 17. But maybe if I ignore the office politics, they’ll go away! Right? :D The one guy in the office has also yet to look me in the eye. He just slides on by whenever I”m present, talking loudly to everyone else within eyesight. Which is slightly disconcerting, but I’m used to being invisible if necessary. *grins*
It’s a little overwhelming, but I think I’ll like it. 

“I’m just telling it how I see it-” “You need to get your eyes checked.”

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After stepping into a puddle up to my ankles, I realized that what I had forgotten to bring was my new work shoes. 

True story. 
However, the day decided to disregard that omen, and be a good one. 
The reason I stepped in the puddle was that I had just had an epiphany- of sorts. I’ve been feeling rather out-of-sorts lately. Wound too tight, if that makes any sense. At any rate, I realized that a big reason I was in that state is that I’ve just come up for air after working all summer, and slowed down as everyone else sped up. Most of my friends are getting ready for school, or getting new jobs, or going off to camp, etc, etc, ad nauseam.  Meanwhile, I’m not really doing anything. “I got 13 hours of sleep last night. Does that count?” *cough* Once I know where an emotion’s coming from I can usually get my head around dealing with it, or ignoring it, which ever works. I therefore apologize, (once again,) if I’ve been weird to anyone. I do that, but nothing is meant. Anyhow, I had one of those lovely moments when a whole host of thoughts just click into place, and didn’t tread the edge of the puddle carefully enough. *tsk* 
(For those who might have been worried by my previous post, I have no actual plan to shave my head. “I was being facetious. There was no call for it.” )

“Something’s fishy here. Do you smell anthrax?”

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I was just going to write “I am officially done with the library,” but I realized that I still have to drop of my key and pick up the tea pots. So it still lingers in the queue of my responsibilities. But I’m almost done! I tell you, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! It’s blinding, the light is! *nods*

The ending party went well, I think. Nine kids showed up, and given the fact that my family was missing, that was a good turnout. It’s true! My family skews attendance numbers both ways! It’s nice to have power… *cough* But we had a cake, and hot chocolate and juice served from teapots, and I read Alice. That was a stomach roiling moment, I will admit. When the oldest attendee is 6, the humor in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party tends to be missed. *cringes* But they were all good and sat quietly, and then we decorated tea cups, and it was agreed to be a good evening. Now that it’s over, of course, I’m boiling over with ideas of how to improve the program next year, up to and including dragging children off the streets. Not that I would do that, no. *shakes head* I’m not fanatical at all.
After clean up, Ms. B, who was helping out, stared at me for a couple of minutes. I said, “yes?” She said, “Are you doing anything this evening?” I said, “I have some cleaning to do, and I’m taking the teapots home-” She said, “No, you’re coming to a youth group movie night. You’re going to take part in a social activity, if you like it or not.”
So I went and watched a movie.
It was fun, and there was pizza, of which I ate much too much. The movie was Evan Almighty, which was chosen chiefly because it was clean. It lived up to that qualification, and furnished a few funny moments in addition to a lack of socially objectionable material. The theology, however, is probably best left untouched. Really, don’t look to hard. I told you- oh well. 
When the guys went off to get the pizza the girls were left in the house to talk drama. And they did. I listened, of course. For a passel of 16 year olds, they sure manage to cram a lot of double-dealing and otherwise hazardous behavior into life. I mean, golly! I think I was the oldest person in the room, and those kids are way ahead of me. We’ll leave that subject alone, yes. 
After the movie night finished up Ms B and I went for a walk to discuss theology, and the walking tragedies many of her friends have made of themselves. It is very sad how easily people can justify their actions, and then it just grows until they don’t even need to justify themselves. They just do whatever they want. 
On another note, I have the house to myself this weekend, as the family is away at Camp Delight. The remaining non-campers have gone in for Family Day. Hmmm, the house to myself. Maybe I should shave my head?

“Canadians and your obsession with Britain…” “Well, Americans and your obsession with- YOURSELVES!”

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As you might have noticed, I did some research into Post-Secondary Distance Education this morning. It was not a stellar success. But I shall draw a veil over that, and continue on. 

The drive on Sunday was fun. We went out to K and C’s cabin, and threw rocks and such. :D Then Grammy left for her home in Colorado on Monday while I was at work. That was a rather interesting work day, since I was the most senior non-management person on shift for much of it. In two weeks, I’ll be the most senior non-management person on staff, period. I started in MAY. Talk about a high staff turnover rate! 
Side note; I watched The Queen last night, which was good. Very quiet and fun, though there were some scenes obviously put in for American audiences. Just things which don’t need saying in Britain, or even much of the Commonwealth, such as the fact that the Queen was a mechanic during the War. I think my favorite scene had to be when it was being explained to the Queen Mother that they were going to use the funeral-plan code named Tay Bridge for Diana’s funeral. 
“But that’s my funeral!”
“Yes ma’am. But it is the only one that has been, *pauses* rehearsed. It is the only one we could have ready in time.” *awkward pause*
Hmmm, I thought I had a bunch of news to talk about, but I have forgotten it. No wait! It comes back to me now. 
Today I stopped by the bank, and I’m back on the list for a possible job. They’ll call me on Friday or Monday. Fingers crossed, eh? I also this evening went over to Ms. B’s house, and helped her to buy a school computer. Hers had died, and her dad wanted to buy a $400 toshiba. I said NOOOOOOOO!!!!! Only, I actually put on my professional demeanor and explained, “that will break in three months, and cause you to tear out your hair in pain and frustration when it’s not broken.” Then I waxed slightly poetic on the virtues of Macs, and the crisis was averted. This is where being able to keep a straight face wins the day! Augustine, you come in useful yet again… So, we bought, with her dad’s money, a shiny new MacBook. 
*is gleeful*
Moreover, she wants to show me how to get around in Mac. This MEANS that I get to play around with a brand new computer in two weeks or so. No, I’m not looking forward to it at all. /lies :D Maybe I’ll get to name it too.
And now my memory is shutting down, so I can truly no longer think of anything to write. Must go to bed now….