Who the heck do I think I am?

I'm actually going to plug the book first, because it's much more exciting and happy than the rest of my argh-filled bitching.

Right, so "Bad-Ass Faeries II: Just Plain Bad" is hitting Amazon and other fine purveyors at the end of this month.

The pre-ordering information is HERE:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1892669463/ref=s9_ri_wizard

For ALL YOU AREA PEEPS: I'll be at a launch party and book signing:

Friday, May 30th, 6:30 pm
Generations Gifts
277 Main Street
Oxford, MA

for more information on any of these programs please visit their website www.generations-gifts.com or call 508-987-3310

Oxford is just southwest of Worcester. And Generations is an herbal apothecary and gift shop. Should be fun. I know it's out of the way for Bostonians (especially those without cars) but it'd be great to see folks there.


And here is a Map with directions from my house!

So, Crown. Or more specifically, driving to and from.

I have had the most annoying rental car experience in the history of rental cars. Well, maybe not. But it's about to get worse. ( And now I shall cut to spare you details of just how much I hated this driving experience. )

So my $85 rental for the weekend? Will be about $200 by the time they add up all the charges.

And? There was a tiny crack I noticed in the windshield - obviously from road spray, but what do you think the odds are that because I didn't get the limited liability insurance, they'll find me "at fault" to replace the glass?

GRRRRRRR.

Rain aside, it should have been a fun drive, if a long one. As it was, it was 14+ hours, round trip, of just ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

So, yeah, it's been a while since my last general post.

Main thing to make public: I've found a job. Yay. It's right back at BIDMC, but it's in Facilities Management, learning (among other things) how to manage new buildings, backfill of newly opened space, and engineering operations. Should be interesting, and I've heard nothing but good about the department. My two bosses (Engineering and Operations) give off no crazy vibes. So far. Starts Monday.

The book signing at Balticon was a blast. We're already talking about putting together a "sequel" and possibly another project for next year. My cousin's wedding was fine, but it took until Saturday night (at the after-party) to find anyone with whom I had anything in common to talk about, so it was fairly boring most of the weekend. (If you haven't bought "Bad-Ass Faeries," go order it!)

My father has left Baltimore and took a couple weeks getting up here. He's coming in to Boston today and will stay presumably through the weekend, I'm not sure exactly when he leaves yet (but after Father's day is a good bet). Our only planned activity is a Boston Duck Tour, because neither of us has ever been on an amphibious troop transport. :^D

Because I'm going *not* going to be looking for work for a while (really, really, I hope!), I'm looking at auditions again. I really want to be in something this fall, not just helping out on production. Lots to do this upcoming season, so yeah, gotta get back in the swing of that.

I'm also looking forward to working again. It's good to have someplace to go in the morning, and I know (ironically) that I'll lose weight when I'm working - I'm annoyed that I actually gained weight during this layoff period. Sitting around with nothing to do but snack, dammit. (Work will fix that. So will getting in a show and rehearsing in the evenings.) Lately I've been doing the temp thing, though the jobs have been *insanely* low-key, really just getting paid to sit around, answer the phone and emails, and the rest of the time read fanfic. Which I've been doing. A lot of.

Because...here's the thing: I found my new fandom. I fell hard. Supernatural pwns me. I've been watching it intermittently since about mid-first season, but not religiously, and not even all that closely. Thursdays at nine? Yeah, usually in rehearsal, or packing to go away for the weekend, or whatever. So even though I'd have it on in the background, it wasn't, like, appointment TV. And I hadn't even really approached any of the fanfic, despite all you wonderful flist-people telling me how awesome it is.

So, two things happen: 1. etakyma gets the Season 1 DVDs and we started watching from the very beginning (the first ep I ever saw was 9, "Home"); and 2. I get this job at MetLife and have nothing to do all day but read fic. Which incidentally, I had to do by saving files to a flash drive, because I couldn't get to LJ on their servers. Ahem.

Anyway, that's done it. I'm well and truly hooked. Completely obsessed. It's kinda like the rush of those early days of HP, and that's kinda weird too, because given the spoilers about S3 (I'm reserving judgment and I won't talk about them here, for those who want to be spoiler-free), I may again be entering a fandom just as the source material is peaking. But who knows?

What I do know is that I've got an incredibly frightening crush on Jensen Ackles, way too much for my own good. Again, this is odd, because I was *aware* of his character on Dark Angel, but didn't really pay attention to him on the show. Then again, he was (IMO) not even as good-looking then, *too* young and hadn't really filled out the way he is now. Now he's serious man-candy. Sigh. Sorry, grouchyoldcoot! But be comforted by the fact that a. he's way too young; b. he's got a girlfriend; and c. it's not like I'd have a chance anyway.

So, the upshot is that I'm working on a bunch of SPN fic, devouring the episodes as fast as I can get etakyma to share them, and delving deeper into the fandom online. Most of the message boards (supernatural.tv, winchesterbros.com, television without pity) kind of scare me, and I'm trying to cultivate that healthy fear to keep from teetering off the edge. But oy, it's hard to resist the information. We even bought the comics because I just have to know!!! I'm such a geek.

And I was even so t00by as to start a community (mainly because I couldn't believe there wasn't one by the name): wee_chesters. Of course, no sooner do I do this than I find out about spn_flashback, sn_flashback, weechesterfic, and a bunch of similar comm's, but that's what happens when you're late to the party. You don't know what stories people have already told.

And I really, really wish I could go to 10-year, but there's no way, even before my father decided to visit this weekend. I keenly miss AEthelmearc.

I still suck at guitar. But I suck on many different songs and chords and strums. It's amazing how many songs one can play with G, C, D, A, D7, Am, E, and Em. Though apparently none of these is the one I need in "Seasons" for one particular change. Hope to find it soon - maybe at Pennsic if not before. But I can't barre to save my life. And any chord requiring 4 fingerings? Forget it. Changing chords? Also kind of a problem.

Jeez. Looking at the last few months of my life like this really sums up how lame I am.

Does anyone else ever wish they could get a do-over, like from college on? (With all experience and knowledge intact, of course.)