Black Friday

So normally I wouldn't do 2 posts on one day, but Thanksgiving & Christmas aren't allowed to mix.

I did indeed survive working black Friday - honestly, it wasn't that bad; they had enough staff on hand that we were pretty on top of things.  The end-of-day reshelves were a bit daunting, though.
Since I was in a major store on black Friday anyway, I bought myself some goodies and did a little Christmas shopping.

I put the tree up last night just before bed, and decorated it tonight.  Time to start the Christmas count down!

Thanksgiving

So much fun!

Thanksgiving was at a friend's house.  Carrying everything on the subway wasn't that bad... and I was probably grinning like an idiot the whole way.  There weren't too many people out and about Wednesday night, but I did get a few smiles & nods from people, and a comment of "Hey, there goes a beef stew!" (Actually, it was a jug of cider, in a giant soup pot, but close enough.)

We ran to the store for a few last ingredients, made the meatballs for the wedding soup, and watched Howl's Moving Castle.  My friend has a giant tv, and the movie was just beautiful on there.

I slept on the couch, and the next morning got up and immediately started the soup.  Two more friends joined us, and we kept cooking - it was really fun.  We mostly knew what we were doing, and when we didn't we just made it up... or called various mothers.  (By the way, to my mother - THANK YOU, you saved our turkey.  None of us thought to cover it up, and since the timer never popped it would have been really dry if we hadn't put that foil over the top as soon as you suggested it.)

After dinner/between courses/during dessert we watched Firefly.

No one wanted to leave at the end of the day, but eventually it was time to go or we'd miss the last train out.  So off we went, carrying more weight than we'd brought.  Leftovers are so exciting.

My stomach loves Chinatown; my purse doesn't

Long day... but so much fun!

It's a Tuesday - so that meant laydowns & display changes at Borders.  I worked 8-5, which means I got to put a lot more time into ipt than I usually do.  And my boss was telling her boss about how good all her employees are, and she says he put my name in his blackberry!

...So does this mean I can demand a Christmas break now?

Then I got dinner in Chinatown, and went to class (Thursday's class was today, since we obviously didn't want to hold it on Thanksgiving).  Today's topic was contracts, and we had another guest speaker - it was really interesting!  But then again, I'm starting to suspect I'd find almost any aspect of publishing interesting... which means I'm in the right place, I suppose.  We also talked a bit about our final projects - more on that later - and our resumes.  We'll be going over resumes next class.

Afterwards, I went back to Chinatown with a friend and had bubble tea & sesame eggrolls (they were like cookies...yum).  I also bought dumplings for lunch/dinner tomorrow.  We wandered around for a bit & talked about Thanksgiving.  I can't wait for tomorrow!  And the next day!

...and the next, for that matter.  My plans for Black Friday:
1. Eat leftovers
2. Put up Christmas tree
3. Work closing shift at Borders.  I'm a brave, brave woman. ;-)

Harry Potter Day

So the greeting around town today was not "hi! how are you?" but "did you see Harry Potter yet? how was it?"

I am so excited to see this movie.

I spent the entire 40 minute train ride home talking about Harry Potter with the guy sitting next to me, named James.  He was pretty cool.

Also, got a bonus today - a penny more than my dinner cost, so go me!

And Mom's buying me a new coat.  Thanks Mom!

Slightly carried away

Oooo, look! 

Michele has learned Illustrator...

BAR (n)

a place where people go to talk to other people, who cannot be seen due to the lighting, and cannot be heard due to the music.  Often modifies SHOPPING (v) in such a way that a shopping list of "paprika and peas" can result in bringing home paprika, peas, and gingerbread.

Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here.

So, it's a new week - that means a new collection of cds to play!  We have 3 this time!  So we put them on shuffle...

We have:
1. Neil Diamond covering his favorite rock songs (?)
2. some sort of accidentally-opera Christmas cd (on consideration, Susie Snowflake is an excellent Christmas song)
and
3. a country cd we already listened to for weeks this summer (It's baaack)


Neal Diamond's never going to win any speed-singing contests.


ND: Then.... I saw....

(me: Are you a Borders member?  Would you like to be?  Are you Santa?)

ND: her face....
...

(me: Next!  Are you a Borders member?  Can I look it up? Can you spell that for me again?)

ND: Now... I'mmm....
...
...

(me:  You want to upgrade?  Great!  Fill this out... and let me tell you about this... and this... here, let me explain the receipt....)

ND: ...a beeee.....

(me: Next!  Are you a member?  Santa?  Have a good day!  Next! Are you a member? Santa? Have a good day! Next!)

ND: ...lieeeever...

(me: *takes lunch break*)

ND: Not... a trace....

And don't get me started on what his "Ain't No Sunshine" sounds like :-)

Addictions I Gave Into Today

1. Chocolate (that is, a chocolate crunch coffee slushy)
2. Reading Fox in Socks out loud (right at the register, for no reason at all)
3. French Onion Dip (but it's been calling me for months!)
4. Gum (it was on sale...)

Yeah.  It was a fun day.

Christmas Already?

I've been putting weird hours in at work, because we're trying to get everything rearranged and ready for:
1.The newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid release
2. The Deathly Hollows premiere
3. Christmas

...and at the same time, dealing with one of the biggest shipments ever.  I'm telling you, there's no room to move in the back room.

Meanwhile, I've been having plenty of fun elsewhere.
Two of my friends read at the last GRS, and we went to the Sweetwater afterwards.  I love the atmosphere there.
I went ahead and read How to Wash a Cat, the mystery novel I bought a while ago.  I'm still a bit disappointed, but it was fun.
Apparently Mercedes Lackey's major books are available at the BPL in-library only, and have to be requested a half-hour in advance at the desk.  I find this very, very strange, but as I had some time to kill, I requested one just to see what would happen.  The librarian was just as confused as I was, but she hunted it down and gave it to me.  I hung out in the window seat by the desk to read it, and got yelled at by a guard for not sitting up.  Go figure.
Two of my roommates had friends over to visit, which turned evenings into almost-parties.  Conversation topics ranged from Norse mythology to pop singers to serial killers.
Oh, and I don't think I'll ever manage an entire cannoli from Mike's again... but it was worth it...


Also: Check this out!

Ender's Game

OH WOW WHY HAVE I NEVER READ THIS BEFORE?

I may say something more coherent later... or maybe this is sufficient...

Oogy

No offense - it's about a good cause and all - but I was really surprised this made it to bestseller.  The advance copy I saw wasn't very good; though admittedly I didn't finish it.  It was just... I read the first few pages, skimmed the next chapter or so, and decided that it just wasn't interesting.  It had too much of the "and then I ate dinner, and it was steak, and then I opened a window..." feel.

Although I suppose this doesn't count as a real review, since I didn't finish it.

October 31st 2010: Part 2

Went to Salem!

We started off with the ghost tour, which focused mainly on those involved in the witch trials (naturally), but also referenced a few other bits of history.  We got dinner and then walked through the graveyard and checked out some of the shops.  I got a sweatshirt, because it was a lot colder at Salem in the afternoon than it was in Boston in the morning.  So now I have a souvenir.

Next we saw a reenactment of the arrest and examination of Bridget Bishop.  The audience was the jury, and my friend got picked to be a temporary constable.

Then there was the 3D haunted house.  It was amazing.  I loved the art of it, as well as the haunted-house bit.

Finally, as we were wandering around, listening to music, admiring costumes, eating kettle corn and cider, and occasionally wandering into shops, we were offered free tickets to a psychic show that would normally be $100.  So we went to that too, and it was fun.

All in all, a great Halloween.