ZEN AND THE ART OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

So ends another odd week of working at the bookstore. It began like shit. I don't know what was wrong, but I wanted nothing to do with humans on Monday. It happens every so often and when it does, I stay away as much as I can. The one thing I will say for NorCal is the people are genuinely nicer here. Sure you have your random asshole "important" person, but there are fewer of them here. Over all people are just polite. I have rediscovered the power of a smile.

The other day a man asked for a particular author, the name I cannot remember. He began to tell me about the books this author had written. They were your typical 'the world is going to end' books. The one he mentioned talked about how the U.S. was going to collapse. I couldn't help myself and smiled. "Everything is going to end some day," I said. He thought I meant that I agreed with this author. "We're all going to die, aren't we?" He looked at me a little startled. "You're Zen," he stated more than asked. "I try to be." I smiled again and he smiled back. (There's that power.) He wandered off to look for more books of doom and gloom and I couldn't help but think why do you want to read about our inevitable demise? What is the attraction to constant pondering about the end of the world, or atleast our society? Sure, sci/fi is fun, but why worry about this so much that your extracurricular time is spent dwelling on it?

I say this because there was a time when that person was me. I used to worry about everything. Not so much anymore. And I guess I'd have to thank The Art of Happiness. I know I've mentioned this book before, but Christians have their 'book' and I have mine. I picked it up after Monday and browsed through it to pick up some quick reminders. The thing I told that man before he left to find his dose of apocalypse was that I try only to focus on today. I work hard at having a good day and being happy. I do what I can in that day to make the world around me better. If I'm having a bad day, I focus on the fact that tomorrow will be here soon.

And the possibilites for that day are endless and all up to me.

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST

It's strange how the power of a song remains, but the reason why it is so powerful changes. It's all in your point of view.

"Hunter"

With one light on in one room

I know you're up when I get home

With one small step upon the stair

I know your look when I get there

If you were a king up there on your throne

would you be wise enough to let me go

for this queen you think you own

Wants to be a hunter again

wants to see the world alone again

to take a chance on life again

so let me go

The unread book and painful look

the tv's on, the sound is down

One long pause then you begin

oh look what the cat's brought in

If you were a king up there on your throne

would you be wise enough to let me go

for this queen you think you own

Wants to be a hunter again

wants to see the world alone again

to take a chance on life again

so let me go

let me leave

For the crown you've placed upon my head feels too heavy now

and I don't know what to say to you but I'll smile anyhow

and all the time I'm thinking, thinking

I want to be a hunter again

want to see the world alone again

to take a chance on life again

so let me go.

Dido

I finally threw off that crown and my world is all the better for it.

I usually never blog twice in one day, but I gotta say one more thing. I was looking at the picture of "ma bookie," Gizmo. Dammit! I want a dog so bad it hurts. Don't get me wrong-I like cats. I had Dingo (a beautiful all black cat) for fifteen years and I loved her with all my heart. But there is something about that unconditional love that a dog gives you. Cats give it too, but when they want to give it. It's even harder living out here because you can pretty much take your dog anywhere you want. Everyone brings their dogs into B&N.
Let's face it, I'm done with relationships. They don't work for me. The only kind of unconditional love I want walks on four legs. (And I can't find a man that will do that all the time!)
But seriously folks, I know that right now is not a good time for me to consider getting one. As soon as I can, you can bet yer ass I'm drivin' my happy butt down to the pound and giving some wonderful pooch a home.


Meet Theodore Bear (Teddy), one of the two puppies my sister just got. You can see Emmeline behind him. They are so cute and she is so lucky.

DON'T GET OUT OF BED, YOU FOOL!!!

Yeah, so today was the first truly crappy day here in Paradise. If I'd known, I would have used one the million sick days I have and stayed away from work. Ironically, I only helped maybe two customers. Usually I carry a phone and answer it all the time. Not today. And it didn't seem to help.

The day started with a conference call about the new magazine return procedures. Blah, blah, blah. Thanks for wasting nearly an hour of my time with something I could have read in a memo. When that was finally over, I had my first really heavy day-31 boxes. Ugh! Still that wasn't going to phase me, even though I had a shit-ton of other things to do. I somehow managed to get half of the magazines out and just felt yucky (I can't describe it better than that.)

I did learn something today-actually a few things:

1. Don't open the gate to the ginormic trash compactor that way cuz you'll pinch your hand! (It still hurts, btw)

2. There are like a b-zillion people living here, and they were all on 17 tonight when I was going home.

3. And hold your cup when you're pouring the milk.

Yeah, so whatever. I only have a few more hours of today and then I'll start a new day. This weekend is supposed to be in the 70's so maybe I'll do some last minute basking in the sun.

I hope your day was better.

I JUST GOTTA SAY THIS...

Sometimes I think I'm missing some sense of logic. Or maybe it's just everyone else is crazy.

I was reading Time Magazine the other day. If you scroll down on this link, you'll see a short write up about Keisha Castle-Hughes. I never thought I'd see the day when a "reputable" magazine would be so flippant about teen pregnancy. Ironically, I searched their archives and found this 11 year-old cover story. Funny how much a decade or so makes. The word 'corroding' might be a little harsh, but then maybe not. Kids having kids, anyway you slice it (I'd like to slice them), is insane. Doesn't this put a burden on the parents/grandparents who, let's face it, are going to wind up raising these offspring. Or atleast baby-sitting during homecoming, prom, SATS, etc. Oh wait, I'm assuming the young mothers will stay in school. I don't know the stats, but I'm sure the drop out rate is incredibly high. And if the parents/grandparents don't help, the burden shifts to us. Our tax $ has to cover the cost of welfare and healthcare. And then the government will give her all kinds of cash (again coming out of our pockets) so she can go back to school; however, I don't get shit for consciously taking steps not to have children that I know I can't afford and don't want. If I were smart I'd pump out some puppies so I can get a free ride. Damn my moral fiber!

Oh! But wait! There's a few things I'm forgetting:

a. she's not American, so our tax $ won't be used;

b. she's been dating her boyfriend for 3 years, so this obviously is a stable environment to have a child;

and c. she's an actress, so you know she's more mature for her age.

O.k. then. That makes everything hunky dorey. Let's just comment on how her experience playing the "Virgin Mary" will come in handy with this pregancy. Only if she's giving birth to the FREAKIN' second coming!

I've vented. Thanks for bearing with me. Let me know if you agree or not. Love to hear what others think. Am I a just an uncaring bitch? In this case, I hope so!

And while you're thinking of a response, a little FYI...

The U.S. just passed the 300,000,000 million mark this week. Hurray for us!!! Let's go overpopulation!!!

IT'S MOVIE REVIEW TIME!

I haven't seen too many movies lately, but I thought it was about time to weigh in on what I have seen.

I finally went to the theater here in NorCal. My uncle gave me a twenty and told me to scram (the latter part isn't true) and it took almost all of it just to get a ticket, some popcorn, and a drink! Yikes! Think I'll be investing in Netflix soon. Anyway, I saw Fearless. I mistakenly thought this was to be Jet Li's last action film. Who could blame him if it were true. You'll understand why a 43 year-old man might want to slow down after you see it. Actually this is Yuen Wo Ping's last choreography gig. I can't say that I blame him either. It's got to be a challenge to come up with new fight sequences. And he did an excellent job in this movie. But when you have Jet Li as your instrument, you better do good. The film is packed full of all the stuff I love in this genre. Plenty of variety in fighting styles including the use of many different weapons. I am in awe of Mr. Li. And the story was interesting, too. It tells the true story of Master Huo Yuan Jia who founded the Jin Wu Sports Federation. His life is the stuff of legend. He endured a great deal and became much-loved by the Chinese people. Be warned though, this movie does have subtitles. So if you're the kind of person who doesn't like them, this may not be for you.

The next film is Thank You For Smoking. Wow! This film is Jason Reitman's debut for both directing and writing. Man, I would be in hog heaven if I could do something like this. If you're a film geek like me, you recognized the last name, too. Yes, he is the son of Ivan Reitman. If you don't know the name, you know the movies. Anyway, this film is written superbly. The acting is great. You should hate these people-these doctors of spin-but you don't. By the end of the movie, I wished I could be as smooth and convincing. If I tell you exactly what the movie is about, many of you would think "I don't want to see a movie about slime like that." But you do. Trust me, everyone should watch this movie and toughen up their collective hides. The problem with today's world is we take too many things too seriously and definitely too personally. It's great to see things through a new perspective and this film does that. Trust me, watch it. And if you hate it, we'll talk. ;^)

I was going to review a few more movies, but this blog is horrendously long as it is, so I'll leave them for another day. Suffice it to say, there are some incredible indie films out there. So grab your favorite munchie, sit down, and enjoy! And let me know what you think.

GOODBYE IS NOT FAREWELL

I found out last night that I lost a friend Thursday night. I'm not sad today. Rather, I am enjoying all the good memories of her. I thought I'd share them with anyone who wants to know...

Her name is DD. I worked with her at Red Lobster in FL. I think the thing I respect the most about her is how she always told you the truth. If you are thin-skinned, don't ask her opinion, cuz you'll get it...straight up, not watered down. She never sugar-coated anything. I was going through some serious relationship problems then and she told me exactly what she thought I should do. I didn't want to hear it, but she wound up being right. She may have been harsh, but she always had my best interests in mind.

A lot of people at work didn't like her at first because she was all business. She worked hard-harder than people more than half her age-and the "kids" didn't respect that in her. We got along fine because I shared her work ethic. And what many of those youngsters finally learned was that DD was a riot. She may have been serious about work, but not about life. She loved to laugh and had a great sense of humor.

She was devoted to family. She has two daughters and one son and told us about all of their accomplishments with great pride. She had lost her husband a few years before I met her, but you could feel the love she still felt for him. To get a true sense of who she was, you only had to walk into her apartment. It was decorated in the Southwest/Country style she loved. Her walls were adorned with wonderful pictures of her family. And in a spare bedroom, her "piggy bank," a real slot machine would call out to you enticing you to feed it.

Several of us from work went over there a few times for a night of cards. Raquel, Tara, Sasha, DD, and I would spend hours playing Uno, eating delicious egg salad sandwiches that DD made, drinking, and laughing. And laughing. And laughing. I really miss those nights.

I found out that she had become ill last April when I went to FL for a visit. I was fortunate to have lunch with her and do some catching up. Although she did seem weak, she was the same DD-still laughing that great laugh of hers. My friend Raquel had left me a message Thursday night. It was too late to call back, but something made me think that DD was gone. Friday after work, I got another message from Raquel. I called her back so she could tell me what I already knew. She said that she had this uncontrollable need to see DD in the hospital on Thursday. Someone from work told her that DD had wanted her nails painted, so Raquel said that did it. She and a few friends bought some polish and went to see her. Although she looked bad, Raquel assured me she was the same DD. She even flipped off Patrick when he made a snide comment. That's our DD. I'm so glad Raquel had the chance to say goodbye.

I've lost several people in my life. And for some reason, it seems to get easier each time. I came to terms with death many years ago. I don't see it as an end. It is the beginning of the next incarnation in a long journey toward complete happiness and peace. I am excited for DD and her new journey. I know these words won't come as much comfort to those who miss her, but DD wouldn't want people to wallow in sadness. "Snap out of it," she'd say. "Have a beer for me!" And then she'd laugh.

I won't miss you, DD. I will remember you! You are forever in my heart.

A REFORMED COUCH-POTATO

For over 5 weeks now I've been without television. Those of you who know me have all just gasped. But I actually like it now. And now that I have internet access it's much easier because if I want news (which I rarely do) I can get it there. So what do I do with my time, you ask? Apart from a great deal of basking in the sun- which there is none of today :^(- I've been reading. I finally finished Veronika Decides To Die. It was a difficult book to read, but wound up being very satisfying. Coelho is my new fav author. He really get's what's going on in people's heads. I recommended him a few blogs back. If you haven't checked him out, get off your ass and do so.

I then reread the last Harry Potter book. Had to, I couldn't remember a damn thing about it. Not that it was bad. I think I just had a lot of shit going on when I first read it. I'm both excited and sad about the last one. Don't really want it to end.

Next was Lamb. I have hand sold tons of this book. I tell everyone about it. It is the funniest book I've ever read and also is bittersweet at the end. I have cried both times I've read it. I think everyone knows that if it's about Jesus you know how it ends. I don't cry because he's crucified, I cry because of the devotion between two friends. What would I do if my best friend were on a collision course that I couldn't change? But that's just the end. The rest of the book is hilarious. Read it!

I finally read Running With Scissors. It is a truly quirky book. Interesting to read, but you do wonder if all this could be true-especially after all that Frey shit. I saw the trailer last night at the theater (I will review that movie in another blog) and it didn't seem anything like what I had read. Which is not surprising. It's definitely worth a read, especially if you think your family is out there.

I've just started Saving Fish From Drowning, so I can't say too much about it yet. It's pretty good so far.

So that's what this couch potato is doing now. I will be able to watch the new Lost episodes on my computer, so all is not lost. Ha, ha. But I must say that life goes on without that glowing box in front of me.