Ranting and Raving

I finally finished Mercedes Lackey's Joust. It was very good; a very satisfying read. Angelica mentioned that it seemed like it may be the start of a series (most likely a trilogy, since that's what Misty does best). And it certainly seems like it could be that. Going back to the flap/description, there's a line that says something about how the main character, Vetch, may bring a valuable secret over to his home land's side of the war (that of how to raise/train dragons). The end of the book (where he is on the verge of crossing over into his homeland), however, is one of those endings where it could very well just leave you with only speculation as to what happens when he crosses the border; the point being that the story was about his struggle to get where he is now, and that the rest is another story. The question is whether there will be another story or not. I guess I won't know until the next book comes out, if it does. Hmmm, I wonder if Misty has a website...

Yvette is now on the verge of giving birth. Her due date was Thursday, but she isn't dilated and they suspect she's going to have to have another C-section. They scheduled the operation/delivery for Thursday, the 12th, which happens to be the day Angelica and I are supposed to leave for Yuricon. I had already planned to work that morning, as usual, since I leave at 1pm (although I'll probably now stay to at least 2pm). But now I don't know whether I am staying longer, or if Angelica is taking over at 2, or both of us will be there on Thursday... and if Angelica does take over for the afternoon shift, then should I go ahead by myself to Newark? I had wanted to be there by 4pm, but now I don't know what to do. Or maybe we can close a bit early? (Angelica, this is your cue to let me know what you think.)

The problem is that Yvette wants her mother with her, so Fay will definitely not be in on Thursday. Luckily, that's relatively coverable. But Fay has also said that she wants someone to be able to work on Friday just in case something comes up and she has to go to the hospital. So Fay has been trying to get one of us to be at the store for Friday. Saturday, she said she doesn't care about -- we can just close and not lose a lot of business. But Friday is usually our busiest or 2nd-busiest day of the week. I would have been willing to go to the con a bit late on Friday, but I'm on staff and I really have to be there. Angelica's volunteering, but we desperately need all our volunteers, and besides, I don't think she'd want to not go on Friday, anyway, even if she wasn't volunteering. But then, apparently, Fay said something to the effect of a demand that she be at the store on Friday, which of course made her want to say a complete and utter “NO.” And I feel bad for leaving them with no one to open the store if Fay can’t come in on Friday, but I can also understand Angelica’s resentment; Fay especially, has been really unaccommodating toward her these past 6 months. She’ll give you what you want when it’s convenient for her, but she’ll hardly even work toward a compromise when it’s something that’s even slightly inconvenient for her. Which is what makes me mad when she presents herself as such a generous-hearted, open-minded, liberated individual. It’d be more honest of her to just come straight out and say that she’s an opportunist and does and says things that are convenient and beneficial to herself, and herself alone.

I can understand why Yvette would not want to reschedule her delivery (as if it’s something so insignificant that it isn’t worth a second thought), but her claims that she didn’t know about this con are untrue and besides the point. She’s trying to convince us that it’s our duty to stay at the store because she didn’t know about the con (implication: that we didn’t tell her about the con). But it’s untrue and she knows it. We’d been telling her about it from the beginning – in fact, we’ve had several conversations about it, all 3 of us (Yvette, Angelica and I), and individually. She might have forgotten about it, but that’s why it was marked down on two different calendars. This con has been planned since before she even knew she was pregnant; she has no right to demand that we give it up to be on hand just in case. Ask? Yes. Demand? No.

Whoa. Okay, sorry for the mild rant there. Onto other things.

Metallica. The new album, St. Anger. I admit it, I’m disappointed with it. It’s not really what I wanted to hear from them. It sounds like a mixture of their old thrashy stuff and the sound of the nü-metal-ish rock that’s currently playing on the radio. Don’t get me wrong, I love their old thrashy stuff, and I love the metal/ballads from the last 3 albums (the Black album, Load, and Reload). But I generally dislike nü-metal, so there are certain songs that irritate me from the new album (even though it’s only nü-metal-ish – I don’t think Metallica would ever go nü-metal for real). =( But I was so looking forward to this album; it got such great reviews – a new return to thrash. I guess I just interpreted it differently that it really was. There are some songs that I like. And, as always, I love the music. But there are some songs whose lyrics and/or vocals just get on my nerves. ::sigh:: Maybe it’ll grow on me if I listen to the album more? I’m going to try that, and we’ll see.

Sharon, I know that with the last 3 albums, they were moving away from your tastes. I’d be interested in your opinion of their new album (or whatever songs you’ve heard so far).