Irony is the Shackles of Youth

Why yes, 4:49pm on a Thursday is the perfect time to start cutting a large chunk of asphalt out from the middle of my street. I am absolutely sure you will be done cutting and repairing that piece of pavement by 5:00pm when you decide your workday is over and go home. You certainly won't leave a big hole surrounded by orange traffic cones to be dealt with tomorrow. Or possibly Monday. Not at all.

I am eyeball deep in the second round of edits for my story. The good news is, I don't have to re-write the entire first part again. The bad news is, I still have to do some rewriting. Nothing too bad so far but I'm only about 1/4 of the way through. Thank goodness I had some time off so I don't have to try and cram edits in around my normal work hours.

The thing is, as much as I find some of these edits annoying, it really, really does make for a better story. Even if I don't agree with them. I at least am now aware that someone picked up on something in certain places and it allows me to fill in the gaps even if I do it in other places.

I'd prefer doing all my own editing with no commentary, but I know that that doesn't work. One, because I am even slower at editing than I am at writing. Two, because a lot of times I cannot get out of the story enough to see the weak spots. Still, this will never be my favorite pastime.

shoiryu told me long ago that one of the romance novels she read went something like this:

"The entire book the author kept talking about the heroines weight. 'She wasn't skinny like some of those other girls. She had curves like a real women.' Every time it gets mentioned , I mentally add 15lbs to the author's weight."

I now know exactly what she meant. I swear, this romance novel I'm reading mentions this heroine's weight/curves every other damn page.

Dear Google,

You know what bothers me more than anything? When I am given the semblance of a "choice" that is no choice at all. For example, do not given me the "option" of updating all my Google docs to the new format and then tell me in a few months, you are going to update them anyway. That is neither an option nor a choice. Why not just do it. That way I can spend my time fixing all the formatting you are fucking up instead of previewing how you will fuck up my formatting, but knowing I won't really be able to stop you from doing so.

No love,
Tsaiko

Not that I'm really working on anything people will want to read. Just this fantasy novel set in a world loosely based on Victorian England, and oh so proper letters and etiquette. At least this story isn't like the other one set in this world, which is in a wordy, frou frou writing style that takes me forever to get into. But it's ridiculous and fun and the story is evolving into something interesting. Not that there is anyone on the internet I hate enough to inflict it upon. :D

I am reading The Sentinel fanfiction, which I don't think I can recommend as a whole since most authors seem to think that if the main characters have sex, puppies and rainbows follow them ever afterwards and all of life's problems are fixed. I feel like most stories are almost the exact opposite of the romance novel trope where if the two characters would have a five minute conversation then the entire reason for the book would be solved. In The Sentinel fic, since the two characters know each other's every feeling, all their problems are solved. Sorry, life doesn't work that way.

I was telling miome that despite this, and the fact that I've only ever seen half an episode of the series, I keep reading. Mostly because I keep wondering how much of what I'm seeing repeatedly in fanfics was actually based on the show and how much is fanon. Of course, Miome asked me what I remembered about the half episode I'd seen. Below is my summary.

"There was a curly haired guy and a macho man. They were in South America. I think curly haired guy had been kidnapped? Anyway I remember a village and that macho man kicked ass. Then there was a black panther. I didn't get that part."

Miome tells me I pretty much summed up the series there. :D

Also, the AC for our apartment is still not fixed. This is getting ridiculous. We've called the apartment complex several times and nothing. Not pleased.

My AC is out for the third day in a row. It's not really hot here, but it's hot enough that it gets around 78 degrees inside. I do not sleep well when it's not cold in my apartment. 78 degrees is not cold enough.

I am so glad I am moving out of this apartment.

I wish Kate and William all the best in the world.

But I don't need a play by play, CNN, on what the hell is going on. "Happy Couple signs the wedding registry at Westminster Abbey as the choir plays." "Royal couple leaves Westminster Abbey hand in hand as Orchestra plays." "Royal couple leaves Westminster Abbey in carriage, waving to the crowd." Fuck, I don't even pay this much attention to weddings I'm actually attending.

I'm in America. Not Britain. There was a war fought that caused us to be two separate countries. Maybe you've heard of it? So why do you feel this event important enough to eat the front pages of every news organization website I visit? I mean, the BBC I understand. It's the BBC. Britain is happy. Their celebrations are to be expected. But the New York Times? USA Today? The Washington Post? Really? Is there nothing better going on?

Man, I'm glad those two are married. Then maybe I won't have to hear any more about them for awhile. May they live a long and happy life together, far away from the media.

How the hell do you pick a wedding date? Summer? Fall? Winter? Spring? The only thing it really affects is what color the invitations are, because I'm not doing the traditional wedding thing. I honestly do not care as long as all the principle people are there. In this case, that would be miome and the Justice of the Peace, possibly family though even they aren't required. Mostly because I'd think my mom would give me the DISAPPOINTMENT FACE for the next ten years if I eloped. I have no experience with any of this sort of thing. I both want to plan and hate planning at the same time.

I'm almost tempted to line up some calendar pages on the wall, throw a dart, and pick whatever date it hits.

I hate the Federal Student Aid's loan service for one very important reason. Their "electronic debit account" program. On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. set it up so that every month the FSA gets to withdraw money from your account and get a discount on the interest rate you have to pay. They get a guarantee that they'll get paid on time and you get to pay less interest. Everyone wins. So what is the issue?

The issue is that when you set it up, the only option is to make minimal payments. That's it. No other options. Which means that when you sign up, if that's all you do, it'll take you 10 years to pay off the loan and you'll have paid the maximum amount of interest possible and still meet the terms of your loan.

But wait! In the terms of the loan agreement, there is no penalty for paying off a loan early. Which leads me to the next frustration: trying to figure out how to give these people more money than I owe them. There's actually two different ways and both of them suck. First, I can remember to log in every month and send more money as a one-time payment. Yeah, that's not happening. Or you set up a recurring payment option with will deduct an additional amount from any account and apply it to the loan.

So why am I so annoyed?

Because these recurring payments can only last 6 months. That's right. After six months. And after that, you once again have to remember to log in and set up another recurring payment. Otherwise you default back to the minimum payment, maximum interest schedule.

It's so ridiculous. I mean, on one level, I understand. They want to get as much money from you as possible. On the other hand, this is terrible customer service. In order to give them the money I owe them, I have to set up two drafts from my bank accounts. Then I have to remember to go through this process again every six months. Why in the Hell can I not just increase the amount I pay them through their electronic debit account program?

The government. It makes no damn sense at all. -_-

Person: When you said that the data would not appear in any maps you produced, I didn't realize you meant that the data wouldn't appear in any of the maps you produced.
Tsaiko: Where exactly did you think it would appear?
Person: In the maps we got.
Tsaiko: Do you want it to appear in the maps you get?
Person: No, we don't want it to appear in any maps.
Tsaiko: Great. Then we're good to go.
Person: But the data doesn't appear in the maps we're going to get!
Tsaiko: ...

I swear I honestly expected the theme from The Twilight Zone to start playing.

Well actually I returned yesterday. However, after being snowed in, having the place I was doing a site visit be on a two hour delay, running around trying to get everything done in half as much time, pushing back my return flight, getting stuck in traffic for an hour on I-40, and somehow getting a scraped bumper on the rental, I just wanted to veg for a night. But I am back!

Only to face the prospect of getting snowed in this weekend and then having to travel again early next week.

Sigh.