Busy October

The month has been zooming by and I have been so busy.

October 4th: This was the Hate You Give event at my store that I organized. I set out all the chairs, set up the table, brought out the books, brought up samples from the cafe, set up the display of books advertising the event, and was all ready for the event to start. The one person who showed up was the lady who had been calling us over and over to make sure that she got one of the movie tickets we were offering at the event. She thought she was very informed on ‘racial issues’ because she was from Detroit and had taught school in North Portland. She turned out to be just racist, and she ended up using the N-Word, at an event specifically about a book about racism. I was really upset by this whole situation.

October 9th: We had one of the Erin Hunters in for a book signing event. It was my first time assisting with an author signing and I was nervous, but I did it and I’m confident I can do more now. There was also a book fair going on at the same time, so it was really crazy that night, but I stayed calm and we all worked really hard to make both events a big success.

October ?: Reed wanted to watch the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy like he does every fall, and this year I decided to join him. I was very familiar with the Fellowship of the Ring, as I had seen it at least twice and read the book. When we got to the Two Towers, though, it was pretty unfamiliar. I hadn’t read the book, and as I sat there watching it I realized I must have never seen it when it came out. I remember going to see the Return of the King in theaters with my grandmother, and we were both pretty confused and bored by it. It turns out it was because we hadn’t seen the second movie, which made everything make SO much more sense, and Reed told me all kinds of interesting additional facts and helped me keep storylines straight, so I really enjoyed watching the movies and am now excited to read all the books once and for all. I went on ebay and got a 1981 box set that is the same set my mother has and I am excited to get started.

October ?: Getting nervous about the craft faire coming up, Reed helped me design business card/sign for the event, and I was able to get these printed out pretty affordably at Office Depot. Now I have a tablecloth, a table, a sign, business cards, square reader, and decorations. Now I just need to finish making all the voodoo dolls and I’ll be all set.

October ?: Yearly review at my work. Some of the yearly reviews went very poorly, mine was great for the most part. There weren’t any major criticisms and my efforts seem to be pretty well noticed. I did mention to my boss that I am interested in moving into a management position and that I need more hours. Since then, I have been training on a multitude of new jobs in the store and have been working 40 hours a week, and I forgot how much time and effort that takes up so its been pretty crazy, but I feel like I’m working toward what I need to be working toward. We also lost a few employees who’d worked there longer and that I was not fond of, so that was helpful.

October 13th: We had DnD over at Sean’s. Brooke has sadly gone off to the Navy, but in her place is Caspar, who plays a mute centaur. This has proved to be an interesting and difficult character, as he cannot communicate effectively and since he is mostly horse he is very heavy and awkward. Chase decided not to come because we didn’t want to go out to his place to do DnD because he’s the only one who lives far out in Gresham, and there would be no point in all of us driving all the way out there when we all live in Portland except for him. I was annoyed he decided to stay home and pout, but then we all noticed that, once again, things were a lot more fun without Chase being there…

October 17th: Today I have to take my cat over to Sean’s for a few days. We’re having an apartment inspection on Friday and they’ll charge us an extra $500 if they find out we have a second cat. I will miss my cat, though.

October 20th: This will be the day of the craft faire. I hope it will be worth all the effort I’ve gone to.

October 21st: Book club at Vintage Books. We’ll be talking about the book Eleanor and Hick, which I’ve been enjoying more than I expected.

October 24th: Book club at work. We’ll be talking about the book An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, another book I enjoyed more than I expected to.

October 27th: DnD at our proper room at Guardian Games

I will be very much ready for my birthday vacation to Port Townsend the first week of November by the time October is finally over…