In 2007, I bought two plain t-shirts at JC Penney’s, where I never shop. I just needed new clothes for a trip and the store was convenient.

Last year, I got notice of a class action lawsuit. Penney’s had done… something. I ignored it.

Last week, I got a card in the mail that gave me $10 off a $10 purchase as settlement for the lawsuit. Basically, something free from Penney’s. Well, okay then. I went to the store and tried on some stuff. Nothing fit or looked good.

So I went back to the same rack where I bought two t-shirts before, and bought two more t-shirts of the same brand and style. In different colors. Total cost: $2.18.

This post has no point. And I think I’m the kind of customer JC Penney’s would like to see spontaneously combust.

Like last year. If you have any questions, just ask. If you’re on a panel and won’t have time to get your lunch, let me know; I’m probably sending Husband Delivery Services out for myself, and he may be able to pick up a few things. 🙂

I’m sorry this is scheduled against the ally meeting, but that’s the way things came out.

Name Journeyman Writers Meeting
Track(s) The Craft and Business of Writing

Description A round–table discussion for anyone with one or more SFWA–qualifying sales. A chance to talk about craft, business, and anything else that strikes our fancy. Bring your own lunch.

Location 629
Schedule Sat 11:30AM – 1:00PM
Panelists M: Vylar Kaftan

It’s earnings season.

I work part-time as a financial transcript editor. Every financial quarter, corporations hold earnings calls where they discuss their earnings, expenses, and future plans. Like this.

These calls are captioned live. If you’ve ever watched captioning on TV, you’ve probably seen how many typos and errors creep into the text. My job is to fix all that. The text streams into my computer, and I fix the mistakes. This often involves researching names/spellings of product names, competitors, and executives. It also involves listening closely to fill in the right words when someone mumbles through a few phrases.

It’s part-time. I work 4 weeks on and 8 weeks off, and I work from home. Calls happen at the financial quarters, which start Jan 15, Apr 15, Jul 15, and Oct 15. During earnings season, I work 12-14 hour days. I get paid by the transcript length, so it’s in my interest to work as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Whenever I say I work 4 weeks on/8 weeks off, people say, “WOW, that sounds GREAT!” Well, yes. I like it or I wouldn’t do it. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. During earnings season, I work my butt off. Think about five days in a row of 12-14 hour workdays, during which you are constantly working (i.e. no chatting with co-workers, cleaning your desk, or whatever). Now think about all the errands you would run, the emails you’d answer, the LiveJournal posts you’d make… yeah.

During earnings season, I often miss important emails or forget to respond to things. I haven’t read anything on LJ in weeks. Sometimes I think I should set up auto-responder with a vacation notice, but that seems a little much.

I do like a lot of things about this work. The pay is pretty good. I work from home and choose how many calls I want to work. One of my biggest frustrations with the work is that the difficulty of individual calls varies a lot. Some transcript writers are terrific, but others are terrible, and their skill level makes a huge difference for me. Also, I have to listen to some seriously slimy corporate executives sometimes, which is really depressing.

Anyway. So that’s where I am. This upcoming week is the end of the Apr 15 earnings season, where call volumes taper off. So I’ll be frantically trying to catch up on email stuff and get ready for WisCon.

Through the 90’s, I wore a women’s size 8.5. “Aha,” my pubescent self thought, “I have grown into my adult shoe size.”

In 2004 or so, after Shannon had moved in, I found that men’s shoes seemed to fit better. So I switched to men’s 8 (which is equivalent to women’s 9 wide, a half-size larger than I thought I wore.)

My shoes always seemed too confining somehow, and last year I started buying men’s 8.5 (women’s 9.5 wide) and that felt a lot better.

Yesterday I just went shopping for shoes, and now I’m in a men’s 9 (women’s 10 wide). Shoes sizes haven’t changed–it’s me.

Is Bigfoot disease marrigenetic? Can I inherit it from my husband?

So who else thinks a swine flu pandemic would look a lot like what we saw at WisCon 2008?

The Fark photoshoppers have done another splendid job here.

What to do if you encounter a mountain lion.

Some of these are truly awesome. Mostly work-safe, unless anyone looks closely at your screen.

Shannon’s dental surgery was easier than expected, and he’s recovering faster than we’d thought–which is wonderful news.

As he rests, he’s drinking lots of soy protein shakes. This has the odd side effect of me finding empty bottles scattered around the house–the plastic corpses of the slain soy-shakes. That’ll teach THEM to come into this house.

1. This list is such a great idea that I stole it from you. Though I wish your pain and suffering had never happened, our friendship has deepened as a result and I’m glad for that. You’re stronger than you think and you have power you don’t even realize.

2. You’ve been a bedrock of support through a difficult time in my life. I should have turned to you when I needed you. But even now, you give me the support that helps me be strong.

3. I feel like we bonded instantly when we met. There’s some sort of connection between us that crosses the continents. Let’s wander the Mission together again sometime. Or just brainstorm like mad about anything and everything.

4. You’re under so much stress lately and I wish I could make it better. I do what I can to help, which includes making a great tuna salad and giving backrubs. You bring out the best in me.

5. I always feel guilty about asking you to read a story draft, but you’re so damn good at finding the problems that I keep asking. I hope you’ll let me know if you ever get overwhelmed. And by the way, I like you exactly as you are.

6. We don’t talk as much as I’d like, but if I were there, I’d give you the biggest hug of your life and let you cry on my shoulder.

7. I know you won’t read this for another month, if ever, but I’m incredibly proud of the commitment you’ve made to change your life. Your letters are a delight to receive. I will keep writing to you four times a week as you heal and recover. You are amazing: never forget that.

8. I know these days look dark for you, but good things are around the corner. You’ll get there. I’m thinking I might fly out there next year so we can write together.

9. Your new kitten came into your life at just the right moment. I’m glad you have him. And that he has you.

10. I wish you believed in yourself as much as I do.

So far, replacing the couch with a Wii Fit was an awesome idea. Our living room looks bigger, and we have an indoor exercise space. And it’s right in front of the air conditioner!

I’ve been doing yoga and strength exercises. Shannon likes some of the sports. It’s funny because we use our Mii characters, so we see mini-versions of ourselves playing the games. And our opponents are often our friends’ Miis. And some odd ones we created like Hellboy.

Anyone with a Wii want to be my Wii friend? My Mii will visit you too. We just have to exchange codes.

Let me know. I want someone besides Shannon’s Mii to play with. 🙂

This video of Susan Boyle, a 47-year-old singer, is so wonderful it nearly made me cry. Work-safe.