the Strangeness that is my life

[Rebecca Iavelli]

So, things at my work have turned interesting, when it comes to customers and what they want. Recently, lots of changes have been being made. We got a new Team Leader in just before Thanksgiving last year, and now he has been going around changing all of the departments, to better "create a better shopping experience for customers".
Personally, I think he should have asked the customers first. No one likes change, even if it is for the better, which I really haven't seen anything better yet from the changes (have actually heard lots of less sales from the other departments), but anyway, they really shrunk down the flower department that I work in. We used to have one fair sized wall, where there were some steps that held the cut flowers, and they had large potted plants on the top stair part, to give the right ambiance, like your in a garden. Opposite from that we had a peninsula island that came off another wall, that is our work space, where we wrap the flowers and also had a built in 3 step level area where other potted plants were displayed. The whole wall area was taken away from us and now used to display the "sale of the week" (mostly grocery), this week it was boxes and boxes of elbow noodles, so we only have the peninsula island area for our display anymore, where we have to do both cut flowers and potted plants.

All we have heard from the customers since then is how ugly it looks in the area now, and that it is like going to a dollar store. One of our main customers even informed my assistant team leader that she would't be buying flowers here anymore because of the change. (Personally I wouldn't mind that, because she is a real pain in the hind-end, and one of the biggest complainers, that nothing, even though she ends up buying it, is never good enough, so it should be priced less that it is, ect....), but a lot of the nicer customers have really had their socks blown off when they walk into the store and see the difference. Its kinda funny watching them, as the first thing you see is a major jaw dropping, and a quick neck twist from the looking around at the changes. Then of course the first question we get asked anymore has changed, used to be "Where is the bathroom", and now its "What happened!"
Anyway, this will be a very interesting Valentines day, with only half of our space to use (though they said we would get back some of the wall space (which is kinda ridiculous, as the new steps they made for the display there are like only wide enough to hold half of a bucket, so we can't use them unless we want a lot of falling water buckets full of roses). This is so going to be a stressful week, more than it has ever been before. Sigh.

[Sister Sonya]

These forums really slow to a crawl when Dave doesn't post. (Are you frozen Romeo, or just a little under the weather?)

[Lady Grace]

The weather IS kinda crappy right now in OH...

[smafdi]

you say crappy i say pretty normal.

[Black Jack Rackham]

These forums really slow to a crawl when Dave doesn't post. (Are you frozen Romeo, or just a little under the weather?)

Hey now, I post pretty regularly!

[Sister Sonya]

Hey now, I post pretty regularly!

Yes you do. But a lot of your posts don't generate any feedback or controversy.

How do we respond or reply to a pontification that you have rewritten x yet again or have edited y? Other than: Gee, Wow, and Grrrrreat!

[Black Jack Rackham]

[Sister Sonya]

[salamanca]

nothing strange to mention so nothing to post.

Jeremy did rope me into watching the pilot episodes on Amazon for original series.

Now what that means is that Amazon is trying to horn in on HULU and do some on demand TV and they want to jump in on Netflix and HULU and get some original shows so they can win awards nominations (like House of Cards did) But nobody at Amazon seems to be paying attention to the fact that House of Cards is a really great show with a really great concept behind it and Really, Really great talent in front and behind the camera.

I will save you some misery.
-Transparent is an alleged comedy staring Gaby Hoffman and Jeffrey Tambor. it's about a guy with 3 adult kids that are all in various stages of early adulthood. it appears the whole family is pretty open about sharing information in their lives but Dad summons them to drop a bombshell. Then he chickens out and tells them he is selling the house. He is actually aiming to have a sex change operation. If it was a drama, it would have potential. If it had a single laughable moment in the episode, it might be worth watching. As it was, it was just 4 adults bitching about their misery because they are settling for sleeping with pretty people they are not seeing as long term prospects. It was so lousy we bailed on it.

- The After is one of those supernatural weird shows about a handful of people that were in an elevator when something happened. (we never do find out what happened) but when they finally get outside, people are claiming 24 hours have passed, there is massive panic in the streets and chaos has totally overwhelmed humanity. So they flee to the rich lady's house to regroup and discover a pile of weird coincidences they share (like the same birthday). Right at the end some alien/demon thing shows up and skitters off in front of them. One would expect better performances from Aldis Hodge and Sharon Lawrence but everybody is just playing a cliche.

-Bosch is about a dirty harry style detective who is on trial for murdering a suspect in the street with no witnesses. But during the trial he gets onto a new case involving the skeletal remains of a young boy that was probably abused before he was murdered and buried in the woods 13 years ago. Ignoring the fact that no police force int he country would let this guy work during the trial, it's a solid procedural detective show that will be one of those long unsolved cases that takes a season or more to resolve.

-Mozart in the Jungle is about the NY symphony and it's radical new conductor named "Rodrigo". Damn show stole my character. But it's really about the new guy making the retired conductor (Malcolm McDowell) hate everything he does and the new people he is hiring to perform and their bohemian Village lifestyle. I think it's a little too insular to appeal to a broad audience but concede it was well written and performed. But it's very Sex and the City.

-The Rebels is a comedy about an LA football team where the owner has died and left the team to his former cheerleader wife. The hot wife with no business skills must now foolishly turn down 700 million dollars and run the team herself because she is willful and independent. I should also mention the team is naturally in last place, has lost all established executive staff and is full of colorful screwup characters. My favorite may be the star player that hosts a cocaine laden party where his pet monkey gets coked up and shoots the kicker in his foot before escaping with a pistol. At least it was actually funny but compared to anything on a real network, I would likely skip this one too as I have seen this plot 50 times.

[salamanca]

a friend dropped an invite to a gathering for Valentine's day. It appears that being single on a day dedicated to couples is bugging somebody and they need to gather a bunch of like minded souls.

As I had no plans, an afternoon and evening of really bad movies and tacos sounds like a good idea.

Then I heard the planned movie list is centered around "Sharknado" and the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special." And I feared a bit for my brain.

Then I remembered said host is a vegetarian so those tacos are gonna be tofu and black beans instead of mysterious meat that is probably beef like a good taco should contain.

This morning I got a challenge to bring something along to eat and share that is pink. Pink food is our theme. Pink vegetarian food... I picture a ton of artificial strawberry flavored dessert stuff, food colored quinoa and rice, and... damn, I can't think of anything else. (and I am actively avoiding taco comments to be polite)

will update saturday on the results... possibly sooner.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Not sure, but I think if you put Beet Juice into Mashed potatoes it turns them pinkish. Not sure about the taste though, lol. Would probably work the same dipping white cauliflower into beet juice too.

If you want to get expensive, you could also dye white asparagus pink (asparagus is expensive, but white is more expensive usually, at least up here).

[Lady Grace]

Grenadine mixed with orange juice turns it pink (just add vodka!).

[salamanca]

Vegan alfredo sauce made with pureed cauliflower. I will just presume it is an acquired taste. On an entertainment note, "Sharknado" is bad but it's so over the top bad you can have fun with it. "Stonehenge Armageddon" is bad in a bad way and worse with a Mischa Collins fan swooning everytime his face is on the screen. The "satr wars holiday special" is as bad as ever but NOBODY else had seen it. It was like letting kids play with an electrical outlet. I should have stopped them but let them learn the hard way.

[salamanca]

Something you never want to hear your waitress shout while she heads back into the galley. "Hey Jane, guess what. I just wet my pants!". Yeah it was late and there were only 3 customers and all were regulars but that is just TOO MUCH information. Plus, you know she is going to end up not promptly getting your meal out because it's about to become Jane's job. I felt I had no choice but to yell back, "Thank you for sharing!". Jane, meanwhile, was worried because the last time she dealt with me was her first day and she apparently failed to refill my beverage and was slow getting me the bill. Now in my storied history of lousy service, these slights didn't even catch my attention as having happened. (let alone stick with me two weeks later). Might, however, start tipping in adult diapers or potty training books.

[salamanca]

The Radio just played a promo public service ad about the imminent TIME CHANGE this weekend. (so turn your clocks forward one hour saturday)

It was sung to Bob Dylan's "Times they are a changing" and the twisted lyric that caught me was, "don't go to church when they're all goin home because the time it is a changing"

Laughed so hard I almost drove off the road.

[salamanca]

Something a little more serious today. (do not panic, nothing tramatic happened, well not to me)

We found out this morning that one of my grandmother's friends passed away earlier this week...Via the newspaper. This is a little odd because her kids were pretty much raised as part of a combined family with my mom and her sisters. But they are kind of flaky so it's less of a surprise than it should be. but you all need a bit of background to realize where I'm going here.

My grandmother has/had a very tight circle of friends in school (and keep in mind she is turning 92 this year) There were 5 girls that were basically inseparable back then. they were the basketball team, the glee club, the class officers, etc. the popular click, whatever you want to call them. A couple of them married guys in their class or the class behind them, one of them married a guy that turned out to have been in the same battalion as my grand-dad during the war (yet they never met during that time). They all had kids and they all stuck together after school. For 70+ years.

I don't mean dropping a christmas card in the mail or making a birthday phone call. I mean getting together at least once a month and for many years weekly to hang out. Until some of them moved out of the area, then the get togethers ended up happening every 4-6 months. I didn't know they were not relatives until I was probably 10. I'm talking about 90 year old people with failing eyesight driving 8-12 hours to have lunch together and driving home afterwards.

Now the first of these gals passed away about 12 years ago or so and her husband still flies up from Florida. But he was always sort of adventurous. He went to Southeast Asia last year by himself as a completely blind senior citizen. We had another die last year and now the third.

That leaves grandma and her oldest friend. These two have been pals since they were 7 years old.

I don't know anybody outside of family that I knew when I was 7. I'm not sure I want to.
But I plan to see you all at Origins or whatever gathering we replace it with when I'm 92. (I have to be there, Mark has plans for a campaign that will wrap up around that time and I'll need to run it)

And that works just fine for me.

[cpugs]

Dave, I am there.... But when your 92 I might be a little older......

[salamanca]

I'm holding you to that, Charlie. 2064 Origins. The rest of you may as well save the date now.

[cpugs]

I'll be 107 then, but it is a date. 2064 here I come!!!

[Black Jack Rackham]

I'll only be 97, and since my plan is to take the title away from Jeanne Calment (because 'murica) so heck I might even have to run an entire new campaign after that so count me in.

PS Dave your post was very touching. I am honored that you'd be willing to tolerate me for that long.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, just did some math, and I think we got the year wrong. 2062 would be the year Dave is 92, so that's the correct year. ( Dave, your almost 8 years younger than me, so if your going to be 92, I'm going to be 100, and as I was born in 1962, makes the correct year 2062.)

So, we are going to have to do it up big, as you got to do something big for your 100th birthday!

[Sister Sonya]

All right! So we have a new campaign in 2062!

It will be in Cathay, right?

[salamanca]

A) I figure i'm due for a midlife crisis that will see me skipping a couple birthdays that I shall continue to deny (so that was where I pulled 64 from. B) mark keeps me young by virtue of being a couple years older so he has to stick around. C) IF YOU WANT THAT OLDEST PERSON TITLE FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE YEARS, YOU BETTER OUTLAST ME. And most importantly: since Jeremy asked me the exact same question about the campaign setting, WE WILL run a campaign set in Cathay starting in 2062!!!. That might be long enough lead time to fix that setting. (unless I switch to another historic fantasy system that year like Shadowrun).

[Sister Sonya]

(unless I switch to another historic fantasy system that year like Shadowrun).

Shhh! Don't let Mark hear that!

[Black Jack Rackham]

heh heh heh, *snerk*