I had excellent intentions, as I do most Mondays, of kicking the week off with a burst of productivity. But I overslept, and then my one-year-old nephew was here, and I spent the better portion of my afternoon playing toddler versions of tag and hide & seek and various other Ash & Aunt Jeanie games that we haven't come up with names for, most of which involve making faces and being really loud. And me following him around while he points at things and explains them to me in baby gibberish. And some dancing. Much fun was accomplished. Alas, I can't say as much for the work side of things.

It wasn't a total loss, though. I did manage a decent start on the first chapter on the novel with no name (I really need to come up with a better working title than the oh-so-creative and pretentiously spelled Faerie Tale that's currently scrawled on the front of the notebook). I only got as far as about 600 words before my attention span sputtered and died, but I'm feeling good about them. And I'm having a blast writing my own characters again. I'd almost forgotten what that was like.

I'm cutting myself a break since I had to work yesterday, which actually turned out to be the most interesting and unique temp job I've had to date: interviewing potential beauty pageant contestants. I thought that I was going to be doing data entry and processing their applications, but more girls showed up than expected so they had me help with interviews instead. The age group was 10-19, and I ended up mostly with 10-15-year-olds. I was given four questions: why did they decide to enter; how would they feel if they didn't get chosen to compete; what is one word that their best friend would use to describe them; and finally, what is the most important lesson that they've learned from life? It was my job to ask the questions and jot down keywords from their responses, as well as make any notes on my impressions of their personalities. I felt bad, because all these little girls thought I was an important judge-type person and they were working so hard to impress me, when all the actual decision-makers would see of them were a few key bullet points. I kept wanting to tell them, "Honey, calm down, I'm just a temp."

But the job was fascinating, and a lot more fun than I expected it to be. It also reminded me that I actually have pretty good people skills when I'm dealing with coworkers and customers. It's only in social situations that I become all spastic and shy. Having to play the extravert all day sure was exhausting, though. Much as I need the paycheck, I'm glad it was only for the one day.

Today I'll leave off with a link. Jessa at Bookslut pointed to this article on the question of comic books as literature. I couldn't get through the whole thing because all of the eye-rolling I was doing was giving me a headache, and when I got to the line (emphasis mine) "The reader can pick and choose as the mood takes him or her (no, that should just be him)" I feared that my eyes might actually freeze that way. I'm not sure which is more insulting, the article itself or that the author is so obviously trying to stir a reaction. The only reaction he stirred in me (beyond the eyerolling) was to shake my head and call him a moron under my breath.