Echo in the Tardis... err.. Bone. Diana Gabaldon book signing.

I am such a bad blogger. I promise, when Hell is over I shall be back to my overly verbose writing updates.

Work has been killing me. I kid you not.
I even had to take a mental health day this week. Before one of my superiors reads this and fires me, I very much felt sick and had the start of one of my poundy headaches. You know I don't call in sick if I'm not, so please don't fire me. I couldn't come into work because I was not physically capable to do so.

Speaking of work, it has gotten easier in the aspect of the actual work. Today I only had to ask for assistance twice, and it wasn't actually "what do I do" type questions, it was the "This is how I think I should code the ticket, and I do not want it bounced back, is this correct?"
I'm on the Approved Escalation List, have been for a week now. I could have been on it as of 2 weeks, now but I had chosen not to. I did not feel I was ready. Now I am, and so far nothing has come back as a feedback. My current team lead is not the kind to hold or delay "coaching" someone, so I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been one.

But yes, work is killing me. The mad rush of beginning of the school year is starting to calm a bit, but then the politics come into play, and still makes tons of work.

I've realized one of the reasons I dislike my job...
I am good at it.
What do I mean by that? I mean that I actually know what I'm doing, and how to do it. So I get through my calls rather quickly. Which means I am doing 2 to 3 times as much work as everyone else on my team (and I have the daily stats to prove it.)
This means I also burn out faster. But I cannot slow down, I cannot purposefully make calls last longer, it just is not possible.
It was just like how I started on Postal.
The thing that saved me was actually getting onto Backlogs, I was able to pace myself a bit more, and even then I still did more work than everyone else, but I didn't have the constant beep in my ear, and I was able to research the problem before I ever had to speak to the client.
It was my manager's wish here on DOE to eventually get me on "Contacts" (aka Backlogs), but there is nothing they can do to get me started on that till after September is over at the very earliest.

I digress, lets move along.
Wednesday, after a particularly bad day (back was tweaking, people were horrid... the usual.) I get an email from Mother of Mine stating that we didn't have a choice, we were going to drive to Denver for the Echo in the Bone release and book signing of Diana Gabaldon.
Mind you, all I had wanted to do was curl up in my jammies and sleep. If I closed my eyes for a moment, I would honestly fall asleep.
But, Katte had gotten us tickets for our spot in the signing line.

Mother of Mine and I drove to Denver and went to Baja Fresh for dinner before going to The Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch.
We got good seats in mad crowd of people, and as Katte so elegantly put it "Well at least I'm touching butts with girls I know" - mind you, she had the benefit of being wedged between Michelle and Myself. So every boob to elbow collision and cheek to cheek bump was nothing new for us. (Come on, we've known each other for about 10 years now) Katte was lucky sharing bum space with us, as I unfortunately had to touch a half tock with a stranger! Oh well, at least here was no boob to elbow collision with the stranger.

Diana aka 'Herself was absolutely amazing.
I learned something that I did not know.
Outlander, when it was in it's original blank pages of "What do I want to write about", was inspired in part by an old episode of Doctor Who.
"There was this image of a fine figure in a kilt. And at that point, I thought "hmm... Scotland would be nice"" (I'm paraphrasing of course, but I was rather exhausted and cannot be required to remember every word. I just don't have the mental ability. -I honestly can't wait to get the full use of my facilities again)
Diana is a talker. She loves her digressions. (and that, is her verbage)
She did a reading from Echo, which to be quite honest had all of us blushing in our seats. (Thank goodness there were no small ears in the crowd!)
I shall share a line from the reading, it's in truth the only line I can remember... well.. other than the last line.. but I'm not going to share that because... well.. I'm ebbbil.

"I haven't seen you naked in 6 months. Which means you'll be the best thing I've seen in 6 months." Jamie to Claire. (And forgive if I got any wording wrong, it's past my bedtime, and read the disclaimer above)

Oh, I bought a copy of course. I couldn't not. I have all the other books signed.... Oh shoot.. I don't. I forgot that I do not have a full collection, as I do not own a copy of Fiery Cross, nor Breath of Snow and Ashes. Those are Mother of Mine's copies. Oh well, it's not like I could afford to buy them that night as it was.

Hunny of Mine is jealous that I got to go to the signing. Mind you, he's currently in Singapore at the Grand Prix. Jealous? Moi? Never. ;-) (He keeps sending me messages while he's in the Executive Lounge of the hotel eating sushi and drinking Gin and Tonics... the lucky bast... lucky bloke)

I politely informed Hunny of Mine, that we will of course just have to go to Scotland when Diana is in on her yearly visits. I shall of course by then have my full set again. And of course Hunny of Mine will have actually been introduced to the books properly. (I can't recall at the moment if he has actually been able to read them or not, but if he hasn't I do know he is intrigued by them.)

All in all, I had a wonderful time at the signing. For photos, and other anecdotes you can go read them at Mother of Mine's blog here.

One last note before I go. Diana has given me hope. She didn't start writing Outlander until she was 35. Mind you, she was very lucky when it came to landing an agent. In fact, she got what every author dreams of. I doubt I'll ever be that lucky, but at least I know that even at 35, one can start a persons dream. Oh, and she was amused that the last time I saw her was when Drums of Autumn was coming out, and it was in California and I was like 12 or 13.

Oh, big news involving "The Wedding", so I didn't blog about it, which I'm glad about. But with Guy coming to town in December, there had been chatter about having a handfasting while he was here. Just a small intimate thing with a few friends. Then of course as these things do.. it spiraled. No.. snowballed. Suddenly it was becoming an actual wedding.
Between the stress from a wedding I wasn't wanting to deal with and work, I snapped. I reached my breaking point. There were constant tears, fighting etc.
I finally reached a decision.
I called it off.
Back to what was Plan A.
IF there is a Handfasting, it will be at my going away party in June. It will be casual, it will not have any pomp and circumstance, and it will just be Myself and Guy getting handfasted with my family and friends.

The actual wedding will happen in October, and will be in England. I feel bad that a lot (most) people in the US won't be able to attend. But unfortunately, I'm not going to feel too guilty. I do not have the ability to pay for the plane tickets of everyone I want to be there, so I am not going to stress out over things I have no control over. If someone really wants to be there, they will make it happen. I cannot. If they cannot be there, they will be there in spirit, and will be in my thoughts.
I have a wonderful Hunny to Be, who is being wonderful and is researching places for us. He's got some favors tucked away in his sleeves, but no matter where we end up having the wedding, it will be fantastic. (Alright, just heard Christopher Ecclestons voice right there... Can this blog get anymore Whovian? Oh yes it can.. stay tuned)
I am contemplating the Doomsday song as my down the aisle song. It's beautiful, it's mostly instrumental, and it would be quirky at a wedding, just like me.
Which of course means, Song for Ten would need to be played at the reception, and if that is played, then Love Don't Roam also needs to be played. Ah, the "Ten" song trifecta.

Oh, completely random. Mother of Mine just finished watching an eerie British show from the 70's called "The Children of the Stones" which even if we hadn't just come back from a book signing of Diana's, and both are champing at the bit to start reading Echo in the Bone, would have still immediately gone "oh my gawd, this reminds us of Outlander"
Standing circle of stones.
Buzzing coming from the stones.
when you touch the stones, you hear screaming, and get flung multiple feet away.
Time being manipulated by the stones.
Some people being "sensitive" to the stones.

Honestly, thats the quickest synopsis of the show. But it screams of Outlander. And it made us wonder since we just found out that Outlander was originally partly inspired by a British show from the 70s..it made us wonder if also this little obscure show was also partly inspiring it. Or even if she knew about it at all.

Alright, I guess I'm done babbling for now.

Current book:
Fatal Journey by Kathy Reichs
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

I have to admit, I really do like both covers. I'm not sure which one I like more. I know of course the US cover is the one Diana has been wanting for years.