Author: Elaine

My first day back to work, and I’m taking a little break to get out of the office and experience this delightful afternoon sun. Yes, I went to Starbucks. I wish there were another good “hang-out” option, but this is the wilderness of south(ish) Lacey. I just got tea, though, because I don’t want the burst of caffeine, and I don’t want to spend the extra money.

I know: super-boring LiveJournal-style blogging. But I’m trying to get into a regular writing habit — I’m not doing the full NaNoWriMo experience; I am thinking about finally finishing off last years, but mostly I just want to be writing, to explore technique, to get into stories, and just to enjoy writing.

I’m overhearing a job interview (I think) for a food-service-focused temp company, two older women being walked through the process by an older guy in slacks and a black trenchcoat. Lots and lots of rules about calling in, getting paychecks, etc. And now the women are gone, and he’s talking to a young guy, I’d almost guess high school, although now I’m too old to be good at estimating that anymore. Or rather, the young guy is looking at paperwork while the interviewer eats a pastry. He has another fellow with him, also in slacks and trenchcoat, but with an injured foot, also a bit younger, probably about my age, with a goatee or a soul patch…and a really irritating laugh.

I’ve seen a surprising number of job/business opportunity interviews at this Starbucks. If a business has its own office, why do they interview here? Always strikes me as sketchy at best.

Now that I have the WordPress app on my crazy little tablet thing (with keyboard!) and I can have a computer anywhere, and I can write w/out internet access, I think I’m going to do this more often. So forewarned is forearmed, or something. (Ie, if you find my rambling dull, you may want to unsub or whateveer now. FWIW, I’m doing tech writing at thewebgeneralist.com.)

I thought my vacation would either be about getting out for some sun, or doing ALL THE THINGS around the house. Instead, I got home from Portland (Google Analytics training, then Drupal Summit) and almost instantly came down with a cold. Bleh. Then, later: stomach bug! But at least there’s been some sunny days, and lots of knitting.

well, I tried logging in on the browser, and it’s really pokey, and it complained that I was using an out-of-date browser (Dolphin, FWIW)…and when I went into the full-screen editor, it just froze up entirely. 🙁

Which is a bummer.

Oh, but hey: I see that this text box expands when I keep typing, so I don’t have to worry about it being a cramped little box.

Been listening to C’s frustrations with Google Plus — annoying glitches, weird interactions with Gmail Contacts, and so on — might have to start helping write them down. Also, sorta glad that I’m not using it all that much now!

Using the Android app, instead of the web interface. Not too bad; quite simple, although not a whole lot of writing room. I’ll have to see if there’s anything weird about the web interface.

It’s not a bad little device for typing on, really, with the dock and touchscreen together.

[ed: finally publishing this after it having been on my tablet’s “local drafts” for more than a year. not sure of exact date, but seem to remember late Oct-early Nov.]

Last night I started up in a new role-playing game, my first experience with “D20 Modern,” which is like D&D set in the present or near future. The GM is a guy I know from work and Twitter; also playing are C, the GM’s wife, and a good friend of theirs.

The email Scott* sent out with info about the mileiu (sp?!) included that it’s set in 2050; which made me think: hey, I could be alive and kicking in 2050. As it happens, I’ll be 75 going on 76. With continued good health, excellent family longevity, and modern medicine, that’s still a pretty active age. (My favorite aunt and the president of the local friends of the library are both in their early 70s. I think they both have more energy than I do.) And for some reason, then I thought of Jessica Fletcher – the protagonist of the old TV show Murder She Wrote. My mother watched that Every. Single. Week. (A rare exception from my early teens: a special after-hours event at the LA Zoo. I was almost a bit surprised when she picked that over her shows; Murder She Wrote came on after 60 Minutes, which as far as I know, she still watches every Sunday night.) Together with the knitting, my early-teen-years fondness for Miss Marple, and a bit of contrariness, that made up my mind about the kind of character I wanted to play. Later I added in the professional background — if not the stunted social skills — of Chloe from 24.

Over the course of last night’s adventure, I was the respectable front-person for our motley group (young dilettante; treasure hunter; and an ex-Army gnoll – we’re playing with Urban Arcana rules, which include a lot of D&D stuff) – and I made a good cover helping the treasure hunter scope out the front entrance of the bowling alley…as she walked me across the street a couple of times. At the same time, I did all the computer stuff and helped navigate to our quarry. It was fun; I think I horrified C a little bit at how “marm-ish” I could be in play-acting. (Lecturing the director of the organization we’d just joined on how poorly his receptionist passed on messages, for example.) I’m looking foward to playing again!

It occurred to me that I’ve never seen or even heard of anyone playing an old woman in D&D. I think it’s a great opportunity; either that, or a bit of a disappointment at the narrowness of presumed “heroes” in these games. I totally recommend trying it out.

* I’m in three different games at the moment and TWO of them are being run by guys named Scott. WTF?