Words Written: “Pledges of Allegiance”: 1500+

So, I’m gainfully employed again.

I didn’t want to talk about it through the interview process, and overall, I won’t say much. (Guess I’ve read about too many people who’ve lost their jobs because they talked about them online.) If anyone wants more info than I give here, they’re welcome to e-mail me and I’ll discuss it in a more private venue. Really, that’s cool.

The company is ABC-CLIO, a publisher of history encyclopedias, abstracts, and websites for schools. They’re based in Santa Barbara, so I’ve got one of the prettiest commutes possible, even if it is an hour without traffic. I’m exploring mass transit options; I understand there’s a very convenient bus, which would allow me to write for two hours a day and still have my evenings free with my beloved. Also, they have flex hours, so if I do have to drive on a particular day, I can avoid the worst of rush hour.

I’ve been hired as a Project Editor, and I’ll be working on a current issues series of books. Two of us were hired at the same time, and the two Acquisitions Editors whom we’re working for started about 7 months ago, so it should be a fun experience. Overall, the company seems to be a very positive, pro-active place to work. The fact that at least two people said they were excited that I’ll be working there feels really good.

I had a 2-hour database training session on Friday, and I officially start Monday. Thankfully, they have no problem with me working for 3 days and then taking a week and a half off for the two OCW workshops.

I had to be there at 9 a.m. Friday, so Ken took me up on the bike. Afterwards, we had lunch, and then went to the Santa Barbara Zoo! Hurrah! I do love that zoo. I was mildly miffed that the otters napped in a big plastic bucket rather than rushing up and chirping at me like they usually do (with a tone of “Where have you been, lady? You never visit us.”); however, we were there later for feeding time, and it turned out that these are new otters, so they wouldn’t remember me. Brothers named Merry and Pippin. I want to take them home with me, but we no longer have a pool with a slide. Must re-landscape the backyard…

We also saw adorable meerkats who ran up to the barrier to check us out, white swans with black necks and heads, bizarre anteaters, and boring piranha (where were their teeth?!). Oh, and one of the bald eagles lost his balance and fell out of the tree while we were watching. He fluttered to the ground and pretended that He Meant To Do That.

Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up. Thursday morning I got the official job offer. After my dr’s appt, I gathered up Ken and we went for a celebratory lunch at Frankie’s, then to the mall so I could obtain actual work clothes, since I have none (my last full-time out-of-house job ended 7 years and many pounds ago). I bought 3 skirts and 2 tops, and ordered 2 pr jeans. ABC-CLIO is a very casual environment, so what I really need is more tops, but this will tide me over for a bit. And I like wearing skirts on occasion.

That night we had dinner with Morgana and Brian, helped assemble the Oak Leaf at Lick-n-Stick, and I stayed for Healing Circle. Because I’ve ended up with headaches after the last few, I’m trying an experiment. This time, I helped heal, but didn’t get energy. We also made a point of grounding officially. Next time, I’ll get energy, but not do the healing thing. We’ll see if we can track down where I’m blocked, or whatever the problem is. (Actually, today, my shoulders are killing me, but I don’t know if it’s related.)

Friday, after training and otters, I made some final edits to AETW, printed it, and got it in the mail to the final workshoppers. We failed to find two out of the three things we needed in Target. And then we went to the quarterly Shire birthday dinner at the Mongolian BBQ and had a fantastic time hanging out with our friends.

Cat came up last night; didn’t make it in time for the dinner, but we hung out for a bit before we all fell over. I was exhausted from way too little sleep the previous two nights.

Today was largely spent working on my latest BT story, “Pledges of Allegiance”. I had a slow start, because I don’t know the mechanics of space travel in that universe. However, I have an expert working on my questions, and I managed to bludgeon my way through (it’s only the first scene, really), and also figure out how to fix another universe error in my character’s backstory. Things sped up after that, but then it was late and supper had become a necessity in our lives…

I made chicken parmesan (or, at least, what I think chicken parmesan is) and pasta for supper, and the three of us watched four out of six eps of the British miniseries The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. This is the show that began my ongoing lust of an actress named Simone Lahbib (which led to me watching one of the worst series in history, Bad Girls, but boy, was it worth it in the end!)—and Cat, as a rock star in training, just had to see it.

There’s more, I’m sure, but I’m too tired to think of it now, and I must get to bed so I can get up and do a few things and hopefully work on the story in the morning before a very full Sunday.

Zzzzzzzzzz

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Currently Reading: Loren L. Coleman, Double-Blind (Battletech)

Lately Listened To: Evanescence, various EPs

Recently Watched: otters! and 4 eps of The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star