Tea with Christine

I went out for tea with Christine and her aide.  She took me to this new teahouse that recently opened.  Christine had apparently been there, but I had never even heard of it until maybe March or April. 
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this tea house.  I had a giant chi tea, which was really good once I added about eight packets of sugar to it.  Christine just got herself some Earl Gray, which is notoriously her favorite.  I have to admit that I like Earl Gray too (there are few teas I don't like, just things flavored mint or peppermint, which I don't like anyway.) 
Christine sort of caught me up on all that's been going on in her life.  Mostly, this means Doctor Who.  I'm grateful that I love the show too, because with her it is almost all she talks about.  Even Dave, one of out mutual friends, has mentioned this, and I know he doesn't watch the show.
Christine loves Matt Smith and she talks about what she thinks of the show.  We theorized about who River Song is.  (This was before the recent episode, which did answer some questions, but not all.)  We talked a little about Sherlock, another show Christine loves. 
Christine almost always has someone around taking care of her, and her aide was a young woman training to be a nurse.  She was nice.  She talked about being from Grand Rapids and how driving to and from there was miserable.  When she saw the purse I had with me, she asked if I had been on a trip recently. 
It's not as strange of a question as you would think.  The purse is usually sold to people going abroad.  I use it mostly when I have to. 
I sort of hate carrying purses, mostly because they're such a womanly thing.  I usually would just carry a big bag, like a tote or a backpack or a messenger bag.  I want to carry a wallet like guys do, but I am increasingly suspicious that women's jeans are designed so that you can't fit a wallet in them.  (Maybe this means it is time to invest in men's jeans.)
Christine and I also talked poetry and this upcoming conference she is going to.  She actually helped set it up with some mutual friends.  It sounds like it is turning into a really big thing, because she said they had tons of people they had to turn down both in terms of speakers and attendees.
I sort of wish that I could do something like that in English, because it sounds like a lot of fun.  I don't know where I would even begin with something like that.  I've never even worked at a conference or convention or anything equivalent.  I think I would want to get some experience doing that first before I dove into something that huge. 
Afterward, Christine, her aide and I walked home together.  Christine and her aide dropped me off near my place.  At the front door, a whole group of my friends were standing outside, taking pictures.  It made me smile to see all of them. 

Lefty Loosey

A young girl and a mother came in.  They asked if I had anything with just Taylor Lautner and not the rest of the Twilight cast.  "No, we don't," I answered.  And then the young girl and I talked about how cute Lautner is.
This actually happens a lot.  Someone will come in asking for something, and it'll occur to me that "Oh, hey, we should sell that." 
I also broke one of the rules about work and called Dan.  Dan hates texting, which I really don't understand.  I don't text people I know who can't get texts or have to pay for them, but neither of these is true with Dan.
"I didn't think you were going to call my bluff," he said on the phone. 
"Yeah, well, I'm not suppose to be doing this.  If I have to put this down for a moment, that's why." 
Dan went into one of rants about why texting is a terrible medium for communication.  He carried on for a bit, complaining about how you can't get the timber of someone's voice. 
He brought up some good points, but the thing that hung in the back of my mind as he was talking was how much of my communication is written.  I'm a writer, so, duh, of course my communication often takes place in written form.  But even disregarding that, I spend a lot of time writing to people.  Obviously, I write on this blog.  I write emails and keep correspondences up with several friends (Ashley, Robert, Josie, Caryn and Jennifer as of right now.)  I even use instant messaging to talk to people, particularly Christine.  And then I texted about twenty-five people within the last week.  If I could only use my voice to communicate, I'd be cut off from a lot more people.  And I would miss them.  (And in some cases, would have trouble getting things done, since some of those communications are work-related and not just making small chat about lip piercings, made-up words, and homework.)  I didn't really get to making this argument back to him. 
A couple of customers kept asking me questions (which I didn't mind, because that's what I'm there for, dur.)  This ticked Dan off, and he hung up on me, which of course ticked me off.
I know that I explained where I was and how I was breaking the rules for him, I thought to myself.  But then I decided to carry on.  I can't let this kind of stuff bother me.  I've clearly got a full plate of drama.
Later on in the evening, a woman was asking me about a particular model we had out for people to try out.  It runs on batteries, and I noticed a small amount of liquid around that area.  My breath sort of held.  It looked like pop, but maybe I was wrong.  I told her it just needed new batteries. 
It took me a few minutes to take off the lid, just because it didn't adhere to the whole "righty tighty, lefty loosey" concept.  But even as I was trying to work it off, more liquid was coming out and all I could think was "Eww."
Midway through my battery incident, I turned around, an older woman was standing there.  I had one of those scare moments, but she just had a question. 
I finally opened it up, and indeed, there was a nasty oil over everything.  Great.  Someone had left these batteries in here so long they leaked out.  I picked them each out and discovered only one of them was spilling out, which I guess I should have been grateful for.  I picked up the two good ones and threw them into the recycling batteries bin.  I went to the back to get papertowel and lifted the bad, leaky battery.  And then used more paper towel to clean the rest of the mess up. 
Then I nearly face palmed over how stupid I was.  I was treating this like what happened when batteries exploded with white Manganese.  This wasn't that, and maybe I was doing something unsafe or unsanitary. 
I wasn't sure what to do then.  Who among my friends would possibly know what to do?  And then I realized the only answer: Dan. 
So I texted Dan, even though I know he hates texting.  I asked him what to do.  And then I waited.  About a half and hour later he texted me back, recommending baking soda.  Oh, bloody hell, I thought.  We can't even get enough room for our stock.  I sure as hell don't have baking soda, and of course, I'm working alone, so I can't even leave to try to find some nearby.
Maybe this is like one of those things where I can substitute something, like in baking.  So I texted him back asking if there was something else I could use.  He told me no.  Frak. 
So I ended up just doing what I had done and then leaving the model out for an extra half an hour to make sure it dried out.  And then I put new batteries in it and it worked, no problem. 
Speaking of batteries, this woman came in and demanded that I sell her batteries.  We don't sell batteries, but we use them in our models.  And we have gone weeks without them, because the boss hasn't purchased any.  So I didn't sell her any, and boy, did she let me know how much she disapproved of that.  A part of me felt like I should just sell her the batteries for an ungodly sum and pocket the money, but that would be dishonest. 
I've been closing a lot at work lately.  I think I would prefer to open, just because it involves less work.  I also wonder if my brain's just too tired to make things work, because after a shift of six or seven hours, it feels like I'm moving really slowly and in that sluggish way that signifies nothing good.  
It's also so cold where I work.  We're suppose to have the door open, and I try to keep it open for as long as possible.  Even after I put on a sweater I find myself shivering.  The good and bad thing about shutting the door is I think it makes some people think we're closed even though the lights are clearly on.  

Night at Grandma's

It looks like I am going to spend tonight at my Grandma's.  It's not that big of a deal, but after all that has happened today, my Grandma threw up right as my Mom (who is also with me here tonight) got her into bed.  She was literally sitting on the side of the bed. 
I don't really want to spend the night here, since the power has gone back on now at home, but there's not a lot of choice in the matter.  I'm just grateful I don't have to go to church tomorrow. 

I watched a little of SNL tonight, which featured Taylor Lautner.  Like I've said before, I don't like Twilight, but I'm falling further in love with Taylor Lautner.  He's so sweet, and I get the feeling that he is at his happiest when performing, as all great actors are.  I love that he can't give an interview for beans. 

Oh God.  Am I emotionally cheating on my current celebrity boyfriend, Vincent?
I'm so sad Lautner is going to GVSU, a school not so far from my school.  In my imaginary world, I totally charm Lautner, not by throwing myself at him or by dolling myself up, but through my wit, like Elizabeth Bennet.  This is, I know, crazy talk. 
I texted my sister, since my Mom told me she likes Lautner.  This surprised me, because, well, she hates reading, so there's no way in hell she's read the books.  And she never mentioned the movies.  It's good to know that we have the same taste in men in at least one way.  Usually we totally disagree. 
Then I texted Nate, since he thinks Lautner is a moron.  He complains that he sounds like an idiot in interviews.  I disagree, obviously.  I just think he's nervous when he gives interviews, afraid he's going to say something stupid.  As someone who has given interviews before, I can tell you it's nerve wracking, especially when the interviewer comes at you with something you didn't expect.  And I've said some super stupid things during interviews.  It's like a curse I have. 
Nate and I talked a little, giggling over stuff.  I love him so much.  He's a nice boy.  
My Mom is falling in and out of sleep as I move around in the apartment doing things.  I'm trying to read through that romance novel that I mentioned. 
So far, it's been okay.  There's been some explaining of Amish culture, which I like.  The character keeps talking about how obedient she is, and that drives me nuts.  I hate hearing about women who are obedient.  Seriously, it's the most famous archetype for women, right behind women who are sluts and leave the narrator/stand-in for author all confused as to what women want. 
The other thing this book discusses is the tourist trade associated with the Amish.  Josie is into the Amish (she likes to take pictures of them, which I quietly disapprove of.)  But I was thinking, maybe if I ever make some money worth talking about, I'll buy her a weekend trip to Pennsylvania to see the Amish.  She'd love it.  And how expensive could it be, really, since the Amish are notoriously old-timey. 
Of course, what I should be doing is watching the end of this season of Doctor Who, but there are other distractions, like my Grandma getting up in the middle of the night. She just threw up again.  Christine has been talking about the season finale all day, making vague illusions to what happened.  I want to yell at her to stop, because, seriously, it's annoying me. 
This is the first time I've ever spent the night at her new place.  It's going to be kind of strange to see how it compares to when I was a kid and spent the night at her place.