(no subject)

Mountains have been formed and worn away at a faster pace than the local Social Security office processes customers. All I needed was a replacement card, (just one replacement card, and SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME! *ahem* Sorry.) which takes about 5 minutes at the window. I got there at 9:09 according to my ticket, and I got out of there at 10:40.

Anyway. I have a receipt now that confirms my SSN, so I can send that info off to the state to claim some money apparently owed me. I got the follow-up letter telling me what it is, but not how much yet. I thought it might just be an old negligible utility deposit, but it turns out that waiting for me are a state tax refund check, an expense check from three employers ago (madbodger, remember our common employer now out in Ashburn? Yeah, them. *boggle*), and something payroll-related from four employers ago. I'm a bit croggled that I'd have failed to claim any of this stuff if I knew it was coming to me. Trust me, when I left that earliest employer I was not in a position where I could blithely write off any pay that I knew was owed me; for all its other benefits, academia does not pay well.

Somewhat related to the first paragraph up there, y'all should consider yourselves warned: I'm in a pretty foul mood today. On top of being cranky and stressed, I'm also feeling extra insecure. That there's a stellar combination, I tell you. I emphatically don't recommend it. So hey, why don't I put on one of the most melancholy songs I happen to own because that'll surely help the mood!

(no subject)

The "completed books" number is adding up at a much more satisfactory rate. Since the last post:

21. Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury. This was a surprise birthday gift from redknight (Thanks again!) that just made it to the top of the "to read" stack. For some reason, I'd never managed to read it before now.


22. Summer Knight, Jim Butcher. More Dresden Files; this one finds Harry, thanks to receiving a proposition he literally can't refuse, getting himself caught in the middle of a war between the two Faerie Courts and on the hook for saving the world. No pressure or anything.


23. Death Masks, Jim Butcher. Felt to me like there was a bit too much going on. While the duel with Red Court vampire Ortega wouldn't be enough to flesh out an entire book on its own, it seemed like a distraction from the storyline involving the missing Shroud of Turin and everyone (including Harry, the Knights of the Cross, and a bunch of nasty demons) out hunting for it. But hey, Susan's back in town!


24. I Want to Buy a Vowel: A Novel of Illegal Alienation, John Welter. An illegal immigrant who knows only a few words of English picked up from TV makes his way to a small Texas town in search of the land of cash and prizes, where he's befriended by the two young daughters of a preacher. I didn't find Welter's satirical look at immigration and religious hysteria to be as amusing overall as Night of the Avenging Blowfish, but there are some gems scattered throughout.

Happiness is...

coming back from the library with a stack of books big enough that you have to balance it under your chin to keep the stack from falling over (or better yet, put them all into the empty wheeled suitcase that you loaned your coworker and are now bringing home). The last two Dresden Files books took me all of two days to finish, I think this stack will last a bit longer. Plus I have at least three more books in my hold queue that should be in shortly, although two of those are the first couple of Dresden books for nminusone.