Work, Life and A.F.F.
We're overdue an update of what's going on over here on the northwestern front, soooo let's see . . .
My job at Washington County became publicly available as a direct permanent position, so I have my application in, and we'll see what happens from there. Already it's been interesting, as I received a letter a little over a week ago from them thanking me for my interest in law enforcement positions, and requesting that I show up on the 26th for a full day of written, physical and agility tests. Bweh?! I got that on a Friday, so I went in the following Monday to get it straightened out. Seemed that I somehow was put in the stack for a corrections officer position. Yeah, with the willies I get going into the jail, they want me to be a jail guard. Uhm, no. ;) Needless to say, the problem is now straightened out. And, by the way, I was informed by my boss the other day that, indeed, whether I get the job or not, my contract will be terminated, likely right after Memorial Day (which I am having to work, because I don't get holiday pay, so they don't have to pay me double-overtime to get me to work it). :p With that in mind, ATSI (my contract agency) is actively trying to find me work. Heh . . . My rep there said she was also looking for work to keep me from accepting the position if I DO win it, too. Hey, I'll keep my options open. :)
Speaking of this job, folks may remember from last time that it requires a driver's license and a clean driving record. Well, the clean record is still a problem, buuuuuut . . . watch out, roads of Oregon and beyond, because I now have my license back! Now to eventually get a car, which will probably roughly resemble a cheap rusty roller-skate with a wind-up engine. ;) Definitely going to go cheap, as I only plan to use it for being out after the bus stops running, picking something up that I cant take on the bus, and going on road trips. Already have one road trip in mind,and that is heading to Seattle sometime this summer. Ah, to be able to hit the road again. ;)
And speaking of hitting the road -- hey, I do try to make smooth transitions from one item to the next where I can ;) -- one of the big things going on with me recently was a week and a half ago: All Fur Fun, up in Spokane, Washington!
This had a rather unpleasant start thanks to my own ditziness. I have often joked about having acute dyslexia, and occasionally do have problems with transposing letters, numbers, words, dates . . . For some reason, lately, it has gotten a lot worse, and it apparently reared its ugly head when I was making my plane and hotel reservations. Even though I clearly knew the dates, for some reason, I made all my reservations exactly one week late! (Though, as one astute individual pointed out, it could have been far worse: I could have made them one week EARLY!)
I didn't realize that I had done this until I got to the airport. Thankfully I was plenty early -- or really, REALLY early, depending on your point of view ;) -- when I tried to check in on one of those self check-in terminals, which told me that my flight wasn't available. I looked over the reservations, wondering if maybe I had arrived an hour or two too early to be able to check in, then realized my mistake when I looked at the date. I was on the verge of tears when I went to the customer service rep to beg for mercy. Thankfully, bless Alaska Airlines' hearts, they were very nice about it. They didn't have anything available on the flight out I meant to take, but they put me on stand-by for it, and booked me for the later flight that evening, just in case that didn't work. Thankfully, a seat DID open up, so I made it Spokane relatively on time. The trip back, however, was not quite so smooth as I would have liked, as I did wind up having to take a flight back later than I had planned. I landed in time to catch a train to my side of town, but not in time to catch the bus from there. So, I had to take a taxi from the train station to home, which actually didn't work out as badly as I thought.
As for my hotel reservation, with that I was not so lucky on rebooking. They were totally booked for the weekend. So, I called a recently-met friend -- more on that another time; there's a kinda funny story about how we met -- who I knew was going, and pleaded for a bit of floor space, anything. Skiver, like the airline customer service agent, was most merciful. I wound up rooming with him and his friend, Okami, both attending their first fur con. You know, in the end, it worked out a lot better than my original plans, because I had a ball hanging with them. We may even be working together on plans to hit Rainfurest in September!
As they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Anyway, other than that bit of crisis and panic, and a lot of pain in my legs for a few days after from my own doing (and it was sooooo worth it), I had a great time this year! The dealer room was much more active this year, folks were all friendly, and it was just an all-around relaxing convention. Picked up some nice art, have a few commissions that will be coming to me later, and, most importantly, got to chat with a lot of people, including some locals who I'm looking forward to getting together with sometime. :) I can't think of anyone who wasn't just downright nice and friendly to chat with! Got to see Fire and Kiefer, Foxy and Crash -- yay to the new Mr. and Mrs.! -- SR Foxley, and a bunch of other old friends and acquaintances, and even finally struck up some conversations with some folks I've seen around for ages and just never got around to gabbing with for one reason or another. (And, by the way, Kacey, K'Sharra and Jennifer, if ya'll read this, yes, you were missed! *pout*) Played some of the neat party games -- which started the sore legs -- and, unlike last year where I was having leg troubles due to the after-effects of my car accident, I actually got to go dancing! I sucked, of course . . . ;) But, man, I had fun out there, waving my glow sticks around like a maniac and bouncing around like a frog in a blender with no sense of rhythm whatsoever for hours into the night. It was great! *grin*
After the con, I admit that I got a little bummed, as I often do after a good convention, but also just a little blue about life in general. Seems to be a recurring theme, but I try not to let things get me down for long. Also have been crazy-busy with work, including training a new permanent hire guy (who may well take over part of my job if I don't make the cut, but, meh, one can't invest their ego in their job when one's working on contract). Other than that, I've been working on a few little projects around the apartment. Sort of let the little game-playing I do go to the wayside, though I did get in some Villains one night last week, and Heroes this evening, and some EVE over last night (Sunday). Also didn't hit the costuming chat rooms so much, though I did manage to catch a marathon session the other night (Saturday). Rabbit and Stria both put on a heck of a show online! Wish I could make it to A-Kon to see them live again, but, alas, will have to hope that they can make it out to Further Confusion again next year.
OH! Speaking of this past weekend . . . ;) If you like martial arts movies at all, and haven't seen it already, "The Forbidden Kingdom" is a must-see! I mean, come on! Jackie Chan AND Jet Li in the same movie? How could it be anything short of awesome? I caught it on Saturday, and absolutely loved it.
And, as far as costuming for myself goes, I am starting to see some results with my effort to lose weight, my weight now down consistently around 217-218. Woot! It's getting there. :)
Further Confusion news: If you have not already heard, the overflow block at the Holiday Inn WILL be opening up on Thursday, May 1! So, if you weren't able to get a room during the mad sell-out rush at the Doubletree, my suggestion to anyone wanting a room is to waste no time in getting one at the Holiday Inn on Thursday! Even if you think staying at the overflow stinks, heck, reserve a room, and continue to see if you can find accommodations at the Doubletree. If you succeed, cancel the room at the Holiday Inn; if it doesn't work out, at least you have a room at the overflow. I hope as many of you out there can make it to FC2009 as possible. :)
All right, enough rambling for tonight. Time to go play with the rats for a bit, then call it a night. I hope everyone is doing well for everyone out there. (My prayers are with you, by the way, Foxy. Was so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. :( If you need anything here, you and Crash want to get out and hang out or whatever, just drop a note, all right?) Keep safe, but have fun where ya can. :)
My job at Washington County became publicly available as a direct permanent position, so I have my application in, and we'll see what happens from there. Already it's been interesting, as I received a letter a little over a week ago from them thanking me for my interest in law enforcement positions, and requesting that I show up on the 26th for a full day of written, physical and agility tests. Bweh?! I got that on a Friday, so I went in the following Monday to get it straightened out. Seemed that I somehow was put in the stack for a corrections officer position. Yeah, with the willies I get going into the jail, they want me to be a jail guard. Uhm, no. ;) Needless to say, the problem is now straightened out. And, by the way, I was informed by my boss the other day that, indeed, whether I get the job or not, my contract will be terminated, likely right after Memorial Day (which I am having to work, because I don't get holiday pay, so they don't have to pay me double-overtime to get me to work it). :p With that in mind, ATSI (my contract agency) is actively trying to find me work. Heh . . . My rep there said she was also looking for work to keep me from accepting the position if I DO win it, too. Hey, I'll keep my options open. :)
Speaking of this job, folks may remember from last time that it requires a driver's license and a clean driving record. Well, the clean record is still a problem, buuuuuut . . . watch out, roads of Oregon and beyond, because I now have my license back! Now to eventually get a car, which will probably roughly resemble a cheap rusty roller-skate with a wind-up engine. ;) Definitely going to go cheap, as I only plan to use it for being out after the bus stops running, picking something up that I cant take on the bus, and going on road trips. Already have one road trip in mind,and that is heading to Seattle sometime this summer. Ah, to be able to hit the road again. ;)
And speaking of hitting the road -- hey, I do try to make smooth transitions from one item to the next where I can ;) -- one of the big things going on with me recently was a week and a half ago: All Fur Fun, up in Spokane, Washington!
This had a rather unpleasant start thanks to my own ditziness. I have often joked about having acute dyslexia, and occasionally do have problems with transposing letters, numbers, words, dates . . . For some reason, lately, it has gotten a lot worse, and it apparently reared its ugly head when I was making my plane and hotel reservations. Even though I clearly knew the dates, for some reason, I made all my reservations exactly one week late! (Though, as one astute individual pointed out, it could have been far worse: I could have made them one week EARLY!)
I didn't realize that I had done this until I got to the airport. Thankfully I was plenty early -- or really, REALLY early, depending on your point of view ;) -- when I tried to check in on one of those self check-in terminals, which told me that my flight wasn't available. I looked over the reservations, wondering if maybe I had arrived an hour or two too early to be able to check in, then realized my mistake when I looked at the date. I was on the verge of tears when I went to the customer service rep to beg for mercy. Thankfully, bless Alaska Airlines' hearts, they were very nice about it. They didn't have anything available on the flight out I meant to take, but they put me on stand-by for it, and booked me for the later flight that evening, just in case that didn't work. Thankfully, a seat DID open up, so I made it Spokane relatively on time. The trip back, however, was not quite so smooth as I would have liked, as I did wind up having to take a flight back later than I had planned. I landed in time to catch a train to my side of town, but not in time to catch the bus from there. So, I had to take a taxi from the train station to home, which actually didn't work out as badly as I thought.
As for my hotel reservation, with that I was not so lucky on rebooking. They were totally booked for the weekend. So, I called a recently-met friend -- more on that another time; there's a kinda funny story about how we met -- who I knew was going, and pleaded for a bit of floor space, anything. Skiver, like the airline customer service agent, was most merciful. I wound up rooming with him and his friend, Okami, both attending their first fur con. You know, in the end, it worked out a lot better than my original plans, because I had a ball hanging with them. We may even be working together on plans to hit Rainfurest in September!
As they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Anyway, other than that bit of crisis and panic, and a lot of pain in my legs for a few days after from my own doing (and it was sooooo worth it), I had a great time this year! The dealer room was much more active this year, folks were all friendly, and it was just an all-around relaxing convention. Picked up some nice art, have a few commissions that will be coming to me later, and, most importantly, got to chat with a lot of people, including some locals who I'm looking forward to getting together with sometime. :) I can't think of anyone who wasn't just downright nice and friendly to chat with! Got to see Fire and Kiefer, Foxy and Crash -- yay to the new Mr. and Mrs.! -- SR Foxley, and a bunch of other old friends and acquaintances, and even finally struck up some conversations with some folks I've seen around for ages and just never got around to gabbing with for one reason or another. (And, by the way, Kacey, K'Sharra and Jennifer, if ya'll read this, yes, you were missed! *pout*) Played some of the neat party games -- which started the sore legs -- and, unlike last year where I was having leg troubles due to the after-effects of my car accident, I actually got to go dancing! I sucked, of course . . . ;) But, man, I had fun out there, waving my glow sticks around like a maniac and bouncing around like a frog in a blender with no sense of rhythm whatsoever for hours into the night. It was great! *grin*
After the con, I admit that I got a little bummed, as I often do after a good convention, but also just a little blue about life in general. Seems to be a recurring theme, but I try not to let things get me down for long. Also have been crazy-busy with work, including training a new permanent hire guy (who may well take over part of my job if I don't make the cut, but, meh, one can't invest their ego in their job when one's working on contract). Other than that, I've been working on a few little projects around the apartment. Sort of let the little game-playing I do go to the wayside, though I did get in some Villains one night last week, and Heroes this evening, and some EVE over last night (Sunday). Also didn't hit the costuming chat rooms so much, though I did manage to catch a marathon session the other night (Saturday). Rabbit and Stria both put on a heck of a show online! Wish I could make it to A-Kon to see them live again, but, alas, will have to hope that they can make it out to Further Confusion again next year.
OH! Speaking of this past weekend . . . ;) If you like martial arts movies at all, and haven't seen it already, "The Forbidden Kingdom" is a must-see! I mean, come on! Jackie Chan AND Jet Li in the same movie? How could it be anything short of awesome? I caught it on Saturday, and absolutely loved it.
And, as far as costuming for myself goes, I am starting to see some results with my effort to lose weight, my weight now down consistently around 217-218. Woot! It's getting there. :)
Further Confusion news: If you have not already heard, the overflow block at the Holiday Inn WILL be opening up on Thursday, May 1! So, if you weren't able to get a room during the mad sell-out rush at the Doubletree, my suggestion to anyone wanting a room is to waste no time in getting one at the Holiday Inn on Thursday! Even if you think staying at the overflow stinks, heck, reserve a room, and continue to see if you can find accommodations at the Doubletree. If you succeed, cancel the room at the Holiday Inn; if it doesn't work out, at least you have a room at the overflow. I hope as many of you out there can make it to FC2009 as possible. :)
All right, enough rambling for tonight. Time to go play with the rats for a bit, then call it a night. I hope everyone is doing well for everyone out there. (My prayers are with you, by the way, Foxy. Was so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. :( If you need anything here, you and Crash want to get out and hang out or whatever, just drop a note, all right?) Keep safe, but have fun where ya can. :)