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*cry* A TYPO IS PROBABLY NOT A HACK. YOUR USERNAME IS NOT A BEAUTIFUL AND UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE.

OMG wtf bbq.

Trainer has learned a new phrasing: "Great firewall of China". Was v. surprised that he had not heard that one before.

Also! What evil spirit possessed me that I thought that I should answer technical questions from the general public? Technical questions I'm fine with. General public... um.

Don't worry. I'm not going to back down from this. Not without sufficient cause, and days of OMFGBBQ are not sufficient for that. I like Mongolian BBQ better.

Phones! (A Thursday summary.)

Went live on the phones. Did buddy calls with hcolleen. Answered some questions, solved some problems, educated some users, freaked the hell out with massive, massive stage fright.

Came home, determined that the office people were no longer in the office and therefore I should leave a note, which I shall do this morning, and then went on a massive cleaning spree, interspersed with computer stuff and supper. Called places about Hermione-cat. Vacuumed. Took a reasonably large bag of stuff down to the laundry room.

Today I learned (I'm not sure if it was for the first time or not) that no matter how well someone gets along with me, energy-wise, things still don't work out well if I'm strung the hell out and having my professional face on and they touch me with great sympathy. The effect is sort of like unexpected light socketing with a nice wet hand. (One of the very few people to actually get away with something like this is Darkside, because he knows how to somehow match the note that my soul sings. That makes it so that I can barely tell that it's him and not me, sometimes. For every rule, there is an exception. He is it for many.)

We need kitty litter. I need to refuel before work. We need to stop by the Temple of Doom after work; the one right by work works, right? Good timing there; beat the horrible worst of the rush.

Stage fright, trucks, and other oddities of my life

We were almost late for training today due to leaving later than I'd planned (my fault), refueling the car (also my fault for not doing it sooner), and a truck halted right in the middle of the carpool lane, stuff strewn all around it on the road and a number of people hopped out of it busily picking stuff up off the road and shoving it back in the truck (not my fault). I got a chance to call the attendance line for the first time. Note to self: must not space the roommate under these circumstances, no matter how good her shields are.

My stage fright is getting better. That's what I'm battling right now at work. In my heart I know I'm reasonably competent, and that with the knowledge available to me and the support of the trainers/supervisors/people around me, I can kick ass on the phones. But tell that to my stage fright. I'm recognizing it for what it is, though, and that's a start.

The phone I've been working on has its ring tone set to something futuristic and explosive. Do not want. But it's someone else's cubicle, so I didn't want to mess with it.

I did actually get real sales today.

When The Owl Kid handed our trainer the signed card and the gift card, our trainer turned bright red. It was a touching moment.

Two news helicopters crashed into each other today. They were downtown following a high-speed chase. My class watched a video on the website of a third news helicopter filming the park into which the two helicopters had crashed. You could tell from the voice of the person in the helicopter that this wasn't just another tragedy. This was personal.            

After work, hcolleen and I picked up a few essentials (decent shoes to replace the two pairs I threw out plus the ones I'm about to wear until they fall apart and then throw out, plus a serviceable work skirt and more kitty litter), picked up supper, and went home. I finished stringing my new badge lanyard, and hcolleen had me watch while she crimped it together. The apartment was most clean and welcoming. Miss Kitty was reasonably clean, and very glad to see us. There was massive yowling as she demanded to be fed.

Called Darkside. Got to talk to same. Amazingly enough. (He's been hellaciously busy.) (I did get to speak with him for a few seconds on Wednesday, but that's not much.) When the two of us get to geeking, there's no stopping us. His father recently enjoyed a hardware upgrade and suffered a software upgrade. The old man picked out a top-of-the-line gaming machine from Fry's ... fully loaded with Vista. There were mild levels of commiseration. I haven't had to use enough of Vista that I can fully sympathize, but boy. There was geeking, there was me explaining my new job, there were wisecracks, there was smartassery, there were bad, bad, bad puns, and there was a whole lot of giggling.

Darkside's determination to never be in a sales position again is stunning. His level of sympathy for me was less than stunning, given aforementioned aversion to sales. I don't mind the idea of inbound sales, where the customer calls me wanting to buy something. I do mind the idea of outbound sales, where the levels of DO NOT WANT are incredibly high. I've done outbound surveys. I've taken inbound irate calls from people who didn't want to be doing a survey. I've taken supervisor escalations of irate respondents from surveys. That side of it is nothing new to me. Darkside was sure that there was an outbound division. No, not as such. There are the people who ask that we call them back, and the people who get the "Hey, you have just tried to set up this -- did you need helpz?" calls, but not the "Yo! BUY OUR SHIT!" calls. I have standards. I'm in this for the tech support.

My cellphone, Ruby, now has a leash. Yay! (Everyone who calls me: note that the landline no longer redirects to cellphone. The cellphone that did that has been lost and the service canceled since mid-May. Ruby is a prepaid cellphone; as such, I'm limiting use to texting, emergencies, urgent business, and every now and then some calling of certain best friends.) It is a pretty little blue heart.

I'm gravely behind on some of my internet duties. I don't have access to my personal e-mail at work. You can imagine how brilliantly delighted I am at this. I'm tagging up suggestions, but it's slow going.

Tomorrow is Anime Night, now Anime Afternoon? In any case, it should be fun.

I decided to see what happen when candied cherries and strawberry schnapps are combined in a shot glass and microwaved for 15 seconds. The results are warm and fruity.