Sidious, Snoke and Salacious B Crumb’s Sarcastic and Sassy Situation Saloon (Fanfic Social Thread)

So I kinda got some good news today. Our CEO (who I shall remind you went on a 3-month leave of absence with 2 day notice to start a business) wont be returning from her leave. We kinda had an inkling this was going to happen. I'm kinda low key glad because she was the micromanager from hell who nearly drove me to quit several times over the spring/summer (and I'm really glad I decided to stick it out to see if it got better). We are still crazy busy trying to cover for her leave, but it's now up to the board of directors if she'll be replaced, or if my co-worker will be permanently promoted. BUUUT it's going to help that my co-worker who quit over the summer is coming back for at least 6 months (possibly more if he doesn't get into med-school again). He's annoying but useful and we might get one of the long-term volunteers (he's been with the charity since the beginning and rents office space from us) on as a paid worker. Which would be really awesome since another co-worker will be on maternity leave starting in February and it's looking like I'm going to be the one taking over her job (which isn't going to be too bad since she's part-time like me).

 

I have completed my last lecture (actually just a review for the final exam) and will never need to sit in another lecture again! Although, and maybe I'm crazy, but I might just come back once in a while and take an evening class in a random subject. Being a transfer student meant that I didn't get chances for general electives at the community college, and the courses that didn't transfer into my major filled up all of the general elective requirements for my bachelor's degree, so I never had the chance to experiment with totally random courses.

Complete university to-do list for this weekend and next week:

• Finish my part of the senior capstone project and pull together the rest of the team's work
• Present the capstone project to our advisor (Tuesday, 10am)
  
• Finish the last parts of my independent study project and have a wrap-up meeting with my advisor (Tuesday, 4pm) for that
• Take my quantum computing final exam (Thursday, 2:45pm)
  
• Take my combinatorics final exam (Friday, 12:30pm)
  
• Attend a ceremony for graduates of the engineering college (Friday, 5pm)
  
• ATTEND GRADUATION!!!!!! (Saturday 12/11, 10am)

Then after that, I have to prep to move to my new apartment (basically just down the street from the university) on December 28, and then I start my new job on January 3!

Can you tell I'm excited?

 

Good stuff happening for you all, and it's about time. I'm navigating a rough patch, but I'll get through. The other day I learned that, while the US will give you solemn speeches and a flag ceremony when you get an award, Canada gives you your own theme song. Loved it, even though I missed half the references.

 

Congrats JC! That's so much to be excited for.

I hope your rough patch ends soon @Mistress_Renata . And yeah, that's the Governor-General awards for you

I pretty much got nothing accomplished at work today and I'm okay with that. My brain has just been in a weird fog the past few days. But I got my dreaded chore out of the way this month (changing the cat litter) and I can relax for the rest of the evening. I think I am going to order something yummy for dinner and finally celebrate never having to deal with my former boss ever again (knock on wood).

 

Hey, just wanted all of you to know that I’m okay and so is my family.

I’m glad that everyone else seems to be doing okay too.


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Glad to hear it. And yeah, some things are okay.

I just got invited to teach a class at a writers conference that I’ve been to and always wanted to contribute to. I submitted some ideas and they loved my proposal to teach about writing characters under the “ace umbrella” to make romance more inclusive and rich.

 

Not crazy at all! When I was about to graduate and was soooo done with school, I felt the exact same way. Still do, though I've not done it and I should. Though I'm in the I want to go back to school and get a Master's and then I'm like, ugh... do I really want to write papers again that badly.

Also, I don't know what combinatorics is, but it sounds terrifying! Good luck!! (With everything, but that was the one that made me go "eep!")

I'm so happy you won't have to deal with that boss any more! Hopefully that will makes things more bearable at work!

I'm sorry you are having a rough patch. We are here for you if you need to vent, or just have someone to 'listen' to you. Sending you positive thoughts and hugs!

Good to see you and I'm glad to hear you are all doing well!!

 

I forgot to reply to this earlier but I agree with Mav - it's not crazy at all. Part of me misses the really random History and anthropology classes I used to take. When I graduated, my brain was just kinda done, but I've contemplated going back, even just part time, to finish up either my BA in political science or economics (which I could do at my own pace and be finished fairly quickly since I was a poli sci major for 2 years) but, yeah, the idea of going back and paying to do endless papers doesnt really appeal to me right now. With everything going on right now, I'm kinda happy just putting in my hours for the week and being paid for it!

I've often said, if I'm not happy with where I am by the time I'm 30 or 34, I'd go back to school for something completely different, probably apply to law school, or get my PhD and go into teaching. Even without the horrible boss, I am not doing what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. I said to my co-worker the other day, I dont know when I'll leave - will I be around for the next year, probably. The next five years? Hell no.


I keep meaning to try out skill share. Maybe that will fufill my need to learn something new.

It snowed here all of yesterday! I think I'm going to ignore all the chores I shoud do and instead spend that energy going for a walk.

 

Double post but I just need to rant for a moment. My wrist injury is acting up again - it's not too bad today but it was REALLY bad yesterday (I blame the weather and the dumping of snow we are getting - I love snow and the cold but my body does not) so I asked my (newer) co-worker for some help finishing writing this outline for an adaptive cross-country ski course. My job is basically teaching volunteers how to help people with various disabilities participate in our activities. Anyways I'm trying to get this course done by January so I asked for her help finishing it up. She completely overhauled the course and it's not what we want. We basically aren't teaching able-bodied people to ski, we are teaching people WHO ALREADY KNOW HOW TO SKI and teaching them how to assist people with disabilities. And, yeah, I know I can sometimes be too concise but a whole lot of the information she added in, just doesn't need to be in there. A big aspect of training volunteers is not bogging them with info they don't need and wasting their time (and attention span) with info they already know.

I think I need my lunch (breakfast) break and then make a copy of the former version of this doc.

This is why I don't ask for help.

 

Sometimes you just work with useless people. Take that break @Briannakin, tell her thanks for the help, and then erase it all and go back to what you had done yourself.

I'm a big believer in "if you want something done right, do it yourself."

My team had to present our senior capstone project at 10am yesterday. Problem was that our mobile app was a certified mess and not doing anything useful because my teammates couldn't figure out how to store data in the app. I ended up pulling an all-nighter Monday night sitting in the big study lounge in the engineering building working on it and getting the app done just before the dining hall opened for breakfast. We never did get the app to communicate with the toothbrush (our project was a smart toothbrush), but many teams had communication problems, and the project was more about learning how real-world projects work and having a fully working project was only a very small tiny percentage of the final grade, with most of the grade being the process and the presentation.

After the presentation, I bought a hoodie in the bookstore to wear to my graduation party on Sunday, then got lunch, then headed home and crashed into bed about 1:30 PM. I woke up around 7:30 PM, got dinner, went to the grocery store, and then went to bed around 2:30 AM and woke up naturally about 8:00 AM today.

 

I learned this back in high school and not much has changed since then. I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm (probably) not the stupid one in a given situation. Volunteers don't want to, nor do they need to, sit through a 3 hour slide show to cross country ski with us for all of 8 weeks out of a year. Maybe for an activity like kayaking that is much more high risk, but (surprisingly) our winter activities are probably our lowest risk activities we offer.

Anyways, I took a break, had lunch, helped out a different co-worker, and now I'm procrastinating getting back to the original task.


Congrats on finishing, even if the app didnt totally work. Hoodies and gear from uni bookstores are always the best. I love all mine! I'm missing one (I think it got lost in the move) from my undergrad department so I'm considering ordering anouther in an absolutely huge size to wear around my house. And bravo for getting your sleep schedule back on track. Mines kinda slipping (I started work like 15 minutes late). I blame the weather. Maybe I should put in the effort fix it, but maybe I should just wait till after my vacation. ONE MORE MONTH, then I get 10 days off.

 

Way to go, @jcgoble3!

Today, it’s feeling very weird that I’ll be on another vacation in one month and 14 days. We’ve paid off the cruise, but have not bought our plane tickets to and from Puerto Rico.

 

I need a god damn vacation right now. Get a message from my co-worker "are you zooming into the meeting?". WHAT KRIFFING MEETING? I was not aware we had one. No one sent me a message or email, and it's not in the calendar . Anyways so she sends me a link and I've been waiting 10 minutes to be let in by the host

I am so done with today.

 

That was my yesterday. Customers were just being exceptionally rude and awful, and three of us almost broke down in tears over the course of the day. Happy ******* holidays.

I'm sorry to hear about your coworker frustrations! That's a serious lack of communication, and it would be super-annoying to deal with!

 

Oh no! The best solution I've ever found to a no-good horrible very bad day is to go to bed early. A good, long night of sleep helps you move past your troubles. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

And a Bah Humbug to you too! Sounds like retail, and December is the worst for retail employees.

 

Oh no! I agree with JC, sounds like retail in December - or really anywhere in December. People can be awful during the holidays and I'm so sorry they are taking it out on you.

The lack of communication is just awful sometimes. It's an ongoing issue.

I think I'm going to do that, but first I'm going to wrap myself up in a blanket and watch a movie.

I'm also kinda in a bad mood because the flare-up of my wrist issue mean I cant write (typing from my phone is fine but I can only stare at this tiny screen for so long), AND OF COURSE MY MUSE HAS IDEAS IT WANTS TO WRITE

Beh humbug indeed.

 

I have so many communication issues at my workplace as well and I hate it. I don't understand why it's so hard to let people know what's going on!? Sorry you have to go through this. I completely sympathize.

I don't know how you do it, but I just want to say that I'm proud of you for being able to handle this job.. I'm dealing with a seriously rude coworker and I've had enough of them already...I can't imagine dealing with awful customers. Nobody deserves to be treated terribly and just remember that it's not about you, they're the problem and have issues. I wish people weren't so nasty to each other.

 

I decided to take a random day off because my body is just being a butt. My wrist needs a break from typing and last night I could NOT fall asleep- I ended up taking a sleeping pill at 3am because I was just done. So I’m now laying on my couch, watching a dumb Christmas cooking show, and trying to find some sort of keyboard alternative so maybe it won’t get this bad again. The bed thing I can think of is one of those mini keyboards so I just have to use my thumbs to type.

(someone will inevitably suggest a speech to text software which unfortunately isn’t an option for me)

I JUST WANNA WRITE FANFIC!!!!

 

The last presentation is done.

The last exam is done.

The last independent study meeting is done.

The clock has struck midnight.

That can only mean one thing... TODAY IS GRADUATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Woooooo! Congratulations! Hope you enjoy the day!!!


(I searched party on giphy and was not disappointed)


So, I had a random genius idea last night and I wanted some other techy opinions on this. Basically, due to my disability and 25 years of typing at a keyboard, I have a pretty bad repetitive stress injury in my wrist (thankfully these days when it is acting up I can generally take a day off work, rest, and it's better but this wasn't the case in school and it is kinda annoying not being able to do what I love doing - see post above). I have a Bluetooth ergonomic keyboard which helps a lot but my wrist still acts up if I overdo it. I've looked at - and tried - dozens of other options but they either didn't work for me or took too long (I'm not the world's fastest typer, but if something is too slow, I lose my train of thought). I've been trying to figure out a way I can still be productive, even when I only have one semi-functioning limb. ANYWAYS. I realized last night, I'm actually fairly quick at apple's swipe keyboard (I think it's called quick paths) and I would be even faster at it on an iPad. So, I'm considering buying an iPad pro (my current iPad is so old it wont update to do what I would need it to do). I have money tucked away for when this mac-book finally decides to quit on me (though - knock on wood - it's been fairly cooperative lately).

My only hesitancy is that I did try to replace my laptop with an iPad before and it killed my creativity (IDK why - the notes app just isnt conducive to writing fanfic for my brain) and it didn't do a large chunk of what I needed... but that was back in 2011 (I remember because I had just started uni). Ipads - and now the iPad Pro - had come a long way - or so I've read - the ability to connect a mouse or trackpad (and of course my keyboard) would be bounds better than what I was trying to do 10 years ago. I can use the swipe keyboard when my body is just being a butt - even get an apple pen when all I can do is move my fist around.

For pleasure on my laptop, pretty much all I do is surf the web and write in Scrivener (which now has an iPad app). Work might be a bit more tricky in one aspect - I teach the volunteers through a website called thinkific - it's a lot of writing slideshows (on Canva which I can do on an iPad) and video editing, but I can always just pull out my laptop for anything really serious and everything is on a google drive at work anyways so I can also use the (ancient) PCs at work. At home, the odd thing I might need to print out, again, I can just pull out my laptop.

Plus for writing on the couch, it would be much easier to fit an iPad and my keyboard on my couch table than it is to have my 15 inch MacBook, ergonomic keyboard and sometimes even my trackball mouse on it.

I feel like this idea is too good. I need someone to poke holes in it. I have time to think on it anyways - I am not dealing with going in store or ordering anything expensive online (shipping is a MESS) until after the holidays.

 

Apologies for the double post I JUST NEED TO VENT MY OUTRAGE. I went out to dinner with some friends (the first time I've been out doing something fun in forever). I got back to my car AND I HAD A PARKING TICKET. I PAID FOR PARKING! I quickly looked at it before getting in my car and I figured I got it AS I was paying.

I got home, all ready to fight the system... and looked at my emailed parking receipt and realized I put in the wrong licence plate (it was a different company from much of the rest of the city, I was running late and in a hurry to download the app, putting in all my info to pay as I was on my way in). I asked my sister if it was worth fighting and she said they MIGHT take a few bucks off but it's not worth the time or the outrage to try to argue with dumb parking authorities.

So I paid it and I'm still kinda pissed.

 

We had a noisy street yesterday. Max Verstappen won the F1 and that was reason for celebration

 

I’ve tried text to speech and sometimes it’s great, especially if I’m struggling with how to spell something, and other times it’s a royal pain! Not sure if I’m unknowingly slurring my speech at times or just not annunciating properly. Or I can’t say a word properly to save my life: I’ve been struggling to say sabbatical correctly; it was coming out as saspatical or spatical or something like that; that was a ‘P’ in the first syllable that didn’t belong.

Not to mention that I purposely pronounce the ‘T’ in the multiple of tens as ‘D’s as for whatever reason I hear ‘thirteen’ instead of ‘thirty’.

Evan is learning Direct English Sign Language as part of speech. He’s not talking as much as he should still but he seems to be vocalizing more and even ‘sang’ during church on Sunday; one of the ladies, who’s part of a choir, said that he was on key.

Got to meet my nephew Stanley in October when Kathy came over for a visit. He was fifteen months at the time of the visit and tiny compared to his cousin Evan (Kathy said that he’s either at his age percentile or just below it). When I first picked little Stanley up I was so surprised by how light he was, but then I’m picking up a two and a half year old that’s three feet tall and thirty-five pounds (he’s the size of a four or five year old).

We’re still hoping to be able to visit family in Utah and Arizona next year and it looks like we could get flights for under $200 per ticket; which is exciting.

Ephraim (my husband) and I have discussed moving out of State but nothing final has been decided as we want him to have his driver’s license before we seriously look into it.

We also need to consider cost of living and what he’s going to be earning.

We both love it here but most of my family here is heading West and I love my family dearly and maybe my MIL and FIL might be interested in moving elsewhere.

Lots to think about.

Edit: for those curious Direct English Sign Language uses the same Signs as American Sign Language but you Sign ‘a’, which is left out in ASL, and you Sign how you would talk/write.

The example Evan’s Speech Therapist gave was in ASL to say ‘pretty girl’ you would Sign ‘girl’ then Sign ‘pretty’.

In Direct English Sign Language you would Sign ‘pretty’ first and then Sign ‘Girl’,

The reason for this change is that in studies they discovered that people that relied solely on ASL to communicate were less likely to have a reading level above the fifth grade level as they were more likely to become confused by how different reading was to Signing.

There’s more but she only had a few minutes to explain something that she could’ve taken Evan’s whole thirty minute session to explain.


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Way to go @jcgoble3! That's so awesome, congratulations!

 

In August 2017 when I started college, I started a note in my notepad app on my phone to keep track of all of my assignments in one place, a master syllabus if you will. Over time, that note evolved to be my entire calendar with all of my tasks, appointments, and everything else, both school and personal, in it.

20 minutes ago, after transferring the last few remaining appointments into Google Calendar, I deleted that note for good. It feels so good to be done.