Just a drive-by update, because there's not a whole lot to update on. Today has been a loverly day so far, for a Monday. I finished drafting a chapter (15, I think?) that I've been poking at for weeks, so I'm thrilled about that. I'm out of money until my next paycheck, so for lunch I took my PB & (strawberry) J sandwich across the street to the garden courtyard of my old office building and ate by the fountain, and it, too, was loverly. If you're interested in a rundown of my weekend, check out my lj if you haven't already. And I think my computer time is about to run out so I'll leave you with that. Cheers!

Things are going well. And that makes for boring blog fodder. So here be a random list o' thirteen:

- I wore my red Chinatown mary janes today. These shoes make me happy.

- also wore my Chinatown dragon earrings. They make me feel a wee sexy.

- Got complimented on my hair, which I thought looked like ass today, and I'm pretty sure it was a sincere compliment, and that adds to the sexy feeling.

- I'm hungry. But I'll get to remedy that in another hour or so. Not sure yet where or with what.

- My nephew's band has a new web site, and it's much nicer than the crappy one I made for them back when. And now I can stalk them and find out when and where they're playing and actually go to some of the shows that Stacie always neglects to tell me about.

- Aww, Hanson is nominated for Artist of the Year at a local music awards show. I don't know why I felt the need to mention that. Especially since my nephew's band got snubbed. Bastards. The awards, that is, not Hanson. Although I think those Hanson boys have gotten snubby before, too.

- I might get a call from a cute boy tonight. Assuming I didn't piss him off in the last e-mail I sent him. But I'm all giddy with anticipation.

- Sidebar: must tape Joan of Arcadia so I don't miss any of it while I'm on the phone.

- I'm finally starting to beleive the rumors that I'm not an ugly duckling anymore.

- Tomorrow Tess and I (and my mom and her sister) are going to see the touring production of Chicago. Last time it was here it had Sandy Duncan headlining as Roxy. I have no idea who the female leads are this time. But Gregory Harrison is, er, whassisname, the lawyer guy. Should be fun.

- After that and dinner I think Tess and I are going to part ways with my mum and auntie and go see Team America. Whoo!

- I'm actually pretty disappointed with this season's Broadway tour lineup. The only show coming here that I haven't seen before that I can bring myself to care about is 42nd Street. I'll see them all, though, because woo, season tickets, which I have to keep getting because the year I decide to let them go will be the year that they'll announce that something completely fabulous that I've been dying to see is on the way and I'll have given up my guaranteed good seats. But that's okay, because even when the shows suck it's always a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

- I'm answering the phones some here at work, but I still don't have the switchboard down enough to be entrusted with it sans supervision. I'll be glad when the day comes when I've sufficiently got the hang of it and I don't have to ask questions every five minutes and I can actually feel useful around here.

Everyone seems to be excited about somebody's red socks today. I don't get it.

But seriously. I can't even force myself to care about sports. I love a good underdog story as much as the next person, but there's a distinct pattern today of people asking me, "Did you watch the game last night?" to which I reply, "Nope," at which point they go on to describe it as my eyes glaze over and I start mentally going over my To Do list. I just. Don't. Care.

I do care about politics, as far as deciding who I'm going to vote for, which I still haven't done. I don't discuss them much, mainly because most of my online friends and acquaintances are much more liberal than I am and they can get scarily hostile and I don't care enough to engage in lengthy, heated debates. But I'm starting to worry that I haven't made up my mind yet. I probably won't, either, until I'm standing in the booth on November 2. Politically, I'd describe myself as moderate with conservative leanings; but I also don't believe that it's the government's place to legislate personal morality. So I don't let myself get swayed by the moral issues. I'm not as informed about the war as I should be, either. These days I get most of my news from The Daily Show and my LiveJournal flist, both of which are pretty slanted. So my main concern that I'll probably base my vote on is the economy, and I just don't think I can bring myself to vote for a president under whom jobs have declined and the national deficit has increased. Problem is, I'm not sure I believe that Kerry can dig us out of this hole we're in. And like most good moderates, I can see the good and the bad in both sides of every issue, and in both of the major party candidates. So, yes. I'm still undecided. And really tempted to just stay in bed with my head buried under the covers on election day. I'm not sure I can handle the responsibility.

And here endeth my political post for this half of the decade.

This building has an onsite chiropractor. Score! Bit pricey, though, so I won't be going until after my probation is up and I can sign up for insurance. My back's been doing better lately, though, so no big. The yoga seems to be helping.

So here's the lowdown, as far as I understand it so far: I have a 90 day probation period in which I'm still working through the temp agency, and when that's up I'll switch over to the company payroll, at which time my pay will go up a dollar an hour and I'll be eligible for benefits. Which is cool with me right now because as long as I'm with the temp agency I'll get paid weekly. I don't know yet what the payday schedule will be after that. But until I'm caught up on everything and have a chance to pad my savings account and whatall, a weekly check is a very good thing. I also still owe people money for various event tickets they were kind enough to get for me, and that's my number one priority right now. Except, I'm so desperate for office-appropriate clothing that I think I'm going to go ahead and go shopping with this week's check. It's from last week's part time hours, so it won't be big enough to cover my debts, anyway.

I'm feeling good about the writing, too. Despite what I said elsewhere about holding off on novel work until I get acclimated, I'm actually managing to get quite a bit done on my lunch hour. Rewrites are still on hold until I get my own login and e-mail account set up, though, and know the phones well enough that they'll leave me by myself long enough to get anything done. For now I only get to be on the computer when the other gals go to lunch. But eventually I'll be on my own pretty much all day, and then I should have ample opportunity to work on my revisions. Yay!

Now if I can just figure out how I'm going to work in the working out...

I got the job!

They told me not to come in today, and I don't know what that means as far as my job prospects go. My recruiter at the temp agency told me that they love me, and the hiring manager wanted to check out one last thing before she made her final decision about me. She also said she was going to get back in touch with me today about it, but so far, nothing. Maybe they found another candidate they want to give a test run or something. Anyway. I knew I shouldn't have let myself start making plans for how to spend a steady paycheck.

So I've kurtailed the mental spending, and I've kept myself busy all day in an effort not to stress out about it. Spent the morning catching up on some bills and getting some accounts straightened out, spent the noon hour finally setting my knit purse up on eBay, and spent the time since doing housekeeping and yoga. I think now I'm going to reward myself for all this domestic productivity by finally watching this week's Desperate Housewives. After that I might try to write a little until dinnertime.

Man, I hope I get this job.

Hmm. I just spoke with the hiring manager, and she sat me down and asked me my thoughts on this job so far, and then she said that today is "a very important day" for me. So I'm thinking that today is decision day as to whether they're going to keep me around. I think they're pretty desperate, so I'm not too worried. Still: *crosses fingers and prays*

Did I mention how they booted my car on Friday? I parked where they told me to, and when I went to leave there was a boot and a $100 ticket on my car. It was no big, since our office is the office that handles those, so I just had to go back upstairs and ask them to please tell maintenance about me. Bit of a hassle, though, so I hope that doesn't happen again.

I wish I could be one of those people who can get up at 4 in the morning and get a lot of crap done before work. If I was, then I'd work out first thing, then get dressed and drive in early to hang out someplace and write until time to clock in. But there's just no way I'm gonna be going to bed before 10, and then I'd never get enough sleep and I'd be a scary-cranky beyotch pretty much all the time. But if I don't do that then I don't know how I'm going to fit in the writing and the working out. I really need to keep up the workouts, too, because if I don't exercise my back really goes to hell and the pain also makes me a scary-cranky beyotch and that's no fun for anybody. Sigh. I'll get it figured out eventually. I think I really need to get myself a TiVo and, y'know, stop scheduling my life around my TV shows.

Well. It would appear that the job is mine on a trial, temp-to-hire basis. I got a wakeup call from the temp agency this morning saying that they (the potential new job place, that is) wanted me to come in today to cover lunches and get the lay of the land. So I did. And after lunches, they kept me around for a couple hours of training. And then they asked me to come back tomorrow for more lunch coverage and training. And they kept introducing me to the tenants as the new receptionist. So I'm feeling fairly confident that I got the job. Nothing's official until they actually hire me away from the temp agency, though, so I'm not getting too confident. I hope they make a decision and for-real-hire me soon, though, because it would be really nice to have some health insurance.

What the job is, is a receptionist/secretary for a building management company, and also switchboard operator/ receptionist/ secretary-for-hire (meaning that if they ask me to, say, type a letter, they have to pay extra for my services) for the building's tenants. It's kind of a weird set-up. But nothing I can't handle. I looked over the job duties and I don't think they entail anything I didn't handle in some form or another in my old job. One thing I love about it is that it's in one of the historical downtown buildings, built in 1917, and it's just gorgeous inside, with a lot of the original fixtures. I think it even has the original elevator cars, which is actually kind of frightening. But it's nice working in a pretty place instead of just another cubicle rat's maze.

Other pros: they do have outside Internet access, and they don't care if I play around online when I have nothing better to do (thank God). They also don't care if I bring my novel and work on it when things are slow. For that matter, they don't care if I bring a book or a bunch of magazines to read. I wonder if they'd draw the line at bringing my knitting? Anyway. I don't anticipate things being very slow until I'm done with training and more settled into the job, but it'll get there eventually. Also, there's a Java Dave's a block or so down the street (or at least there used to be), so I can go there to write on my lunch hours, and one of my favorite indie coffee shops is about 15 blocks down the street, so I can go there either before or after work, also to get some writing done. This job might actually make me more productive, since for some reason I always focus better in coffee shops surrounded by people than I do at home alone with my pets vying for my attention and the siren call of the Internet just a few clicks away. Really, I don't think I could have invented a more writing-friendly job. So, yes, I'm feeling very good about it. And I think I'll be really sad if it doesn't work out for some reason.

And I can't wait to start getting paid. Yay!

I sat down to work on revisions about an hour ago and so far I have:

-gotten back up to scoop out the catbox

-gotten up again to wipe all the coffee stains off of the top of my minifridge

-refreshed my LiveJournal newsreader about a dozen times

-reread the last several entries in this blog

-gotten up again to light a candle (Mmm, pumpkin spice)

-gotten up again to crack open a window

-stared a lot at my Word screen

What I have not done:

-written a single frickin' word

Grumble.

It's a beautiful fall day. Well, it was. Now it's kind of gray and depressing. But for a while there, the weather was gorgeous. Earlier I took a snack and a book and my doggie and went to sit on the shady steps of the back deck and read and nosh whilst Fizzgigg sniffed and felt his way around the newly fenced in back yard (he's not totally blind, but he has terrible vision, poor pup, and mostly he's figured out the existence of the new fence by bumping into it a lot). It was nice until the sun shifted and got in my eyes and all of the neighbor dogs started barking and howling at Lord knows what and various bugs wouldn't leave me the hell alone. For a while, though, it was pretty peaceful out there.

And now it's starting to cool off a lot. I might have to get up again to go close the window.

I'm starting to suspect that I won't be writing today.

I interviewed this morning for a receptionist job. I think it went well, but then I always think these things go well and so far I don't have a job to show for it, so apparently I'm not a very good judge of these things. It seems like it will be a good fit for where I am in my life right now. They were honest with me about how there's no room for advancement and I was honest with them that I'm not looking for advancement, I'm just looking for something that will support my writing. The only hang-up is that I told the recruiter who sent me on the interview that I can't commit to anything for more than a year since I want to go to grad school as early as next fall (if my novel fails miserably, that is), but the hiring manager said she's looking for a two year commitment, so I went ahead and said I could do that. That'll just give me another year to pay off the last round of student loans before taking on another bunch. But then the guy who's over her joined the interview and he said he wants a three to five year commitment, and I told him about my grad school plans and that the most I could promise him right now is two. But then he acted like that wouldn't be a problem, and I got the impression that he exaggerated just so he wouldn't end up with somebody who'll be out of there in six months. So hopefully that won't turn out to be a deal breaker. *crosses fingers*

I suppose I should update here for the benefit of anyone who doesn't read my livejournal (is there any such person? Or is this blog just one big redundancy?). I'm having a lot of problems with my ISP, and they're preventing me from being online as often as usual. I'm also working a temp assignment all week (and through next Tuesday) in an office that doesn't have outside Internet access. So any kind of updates from me are going to be few and far between for a while yet.

Novel rewrites have, frustratingly, slowed down. I'm totally rewriting a lot more than I thought I would. Everything I wrote in the longhand draft is serving as more of a general outline than something I can transcribe directly. And the job is also slowing down progress on that front, although I did spend most of the slow periods yesterday working out plot kinks in the outline. So it's still coming along. Just not as quickly or smoothly as I'd like it to. But slow progress is better than no progress, right?