Blog 5/11 & 5/12

 5/11

I got a paper jam today in the "new" printer.  Ugh.

But after I figured out the inner workings of the thing, it came right out . . . without breaking anything off inside.

I only had forty minutes to write tonight, and opened the Wikipedia page about Rodgers and Hammerstein, but before I knew it, they were announcing they were closing, I hadn't read any of the article, and I had crossed over the 41,000 word mark.  I wonder what I could accomplish if I came here at six or seven instead of eight o'clock.

I went to GameStop after I grabbed lunch (alone, I usually meet my cousin on Wednesdays), and they had an X-men figure I wanted to buy (it wasn't supposed to be out for months), but their computer said they couldn't sell it to me until . . . November?  What the what?  No big deal, I said, and tried to buy a Star Wars guy instead (I am incapable of simply being satisfied with nothing), and that one, the guy said, couldn't be sold until June.  Huh.  Out of curiosity, I asked about the overpriced Hulk figure.  First off, instead of the super-expensive $34.99 I assumed it would be, it rang up as $44.99 (!!!!!!), but secondly, it couldn't be sold until September.  Well, that couldn't be, so I asked him to ring up two figures I already bought a month or so back . . . and they couldn't be sold until the end of May.  That was super strange.

I grabbed an even older figure, from February or so, and it couldn't be sold until next week.  So we knew something was wrong.  I gave the guy my telephone number and asked him to save me the X-men guy for when the system got sorted out.

And here's the reason I'm typing all this: around five-thirty or so, I got a call from GameStop, and the guy said, "Hello.  I spoke to your husband earlier about an action figure, he tried to buy it but the system wouldn't let him?  Can you tell him that the problem is fixed now?"  I told the clerk that I was the one who had come into the store, but it made me think.  I'm flattered that he thinks I'm capable of getting some guy to marry me, but find it strange nonetheless.

WRITING/EXERCISE: Writing.

5/12

One of the goals I said I'd work on in 2022, besides that kiss-your-own-butt challenge all the TikTokers are obsessed with, was writing a story where there was a positive representation of a step-parent/stepchild relationship.  The year is almost halfway over, and I haven't taken a crack at it.  It's easy to say, "I'll tackle that one day," but I keep discovering how fast those one days pass by.

My four year nephew had a preschool graduation ceremony this afternoon, and I was pretty adamant that I wasn't going to go to it (he's got a dance recital on Saturday, and four is just too young to do anything, really.  I mentioned taking him to baseball practice the other day, right?), especially since he's going to be in preschool again next year, same teacher.  But because my sister and my niece both came over, and were making a big deal about it, I changed my mind.

I had made a Humpty Dumpty cartoon for him to hold up, and went through the rhyme with him three or four times (in addition to however many times my mom and sister rehearsed it with him), so I guess I was invested that much at least.  We walked three blocks to where the graduation was, and man, it was rough--the kids just couldn't stand still or be quiet, and my nephew didn't seem to know the words to any of the songs.

At least the kid wasn't the most troublesome child in the group (that was a little girl who kept jumping around, pushing other kids, trying to stick things into the fire alarm switch on the wall, and then burst into overloud tears when she felt either a) they'd been standing there too long, or b) the attention had been off her for too long.  The whole thing lasted around twenty-five minutes, which was just long enough (and too long to keep the children's attention, or that of the children in the audience).  At one point, to my horror, another kid also recited "Humpty Dumpty," but he didn't have a kick-ass illustration to go along with his.

The lesson I took after the little graduation was that whatever they're paying this teacher, it ain't enough.

Oh, I was pretty happy when that figure I bought with all my trips to GameStops yesterday sold today.  I was less happy when I got an email from the buyer, claiming her son bought it without her permission, and could I please cancel?  

Still, that stuff happens, so I listed it for sale again.  And before the end of the day, somebody else bought it (though for fifteen dollars less than the first buyer*).  And before I could do anything about it, that buyer too emailed me to tell me that it was a mistake and could we please cancel?

Of course I canceled and listed it (yet) again, but it does give me pause, wondering just how cursed this figure is, and how much ill luck will befall anyone who obtains it.

WRITING OR EXERCISE: Both.

*Which ultimately doesn't matter, does it?