Things have been kinda awesome lately. As in very recently. But I am glad for the change. Not that things were not awesome oherwise, but there was a lot of "this is water" which does not make for thrilling heroics and fantastical tales, exactly.
So here are the things that have been super great this week:
1) I am getting a fanfiction for my birthday! Ozhawk, the queen of rare pairs, is writing me porn for my birthday! At least, I hope it's porn. (Please be porn.) My prompt is "Can I sit on your lap?" If she not-porns it, I'll be a little sad, but still super happy, because I'm getting a fanfic for my birthday! :D
2) I found a new 'ship. It is the tiniest little ship. More of a jalopy, really. Because for some ridiculous reason, not enough people are watching Black Sails (WHYY??!! So many beautiful pirates! Who are pirates! And strong female characters! And love triangles that *actually* get resolved by threesomes! What more do you want, people?!) and the ship took sail with a glance and an almost smile, but omg, AsheBones is consuming my life these days. The name Abigail is so pleasant to read, and Billy Bones is so beautiful to look at, and the height kink, and Competent!Abigail and Conflicted-but-SO-tempted!Billy, and the old world conventions standing in the way ("she is a Lady and he is a Pirate!") is just... ahh, new ships are the best! I wish there was more fic.
No, I am not getting an AsheBones fic for my birthday. Sadness, but also... an even tinier ship. I'm literally expanding that ship by at least 20% by commissioning another story. Yay, porn! :D
3) I saw an owl. I've never ever seen an owl in real life before, but there it was, hanging out on a fencepost all, "I've been here the whole time, and I'm majestic AF, and a lot bigger than you thought, so hi," and I almost drove off the road, because omg, that was an owl right there! It made my whole day!
And then! Then today, I saw another one! What is going on?? To sum up: My whole life = no owls. This week = TWO owls! Am I to expect the slowest moving, owliest, version of The Birds, or what? Not that I'm against that, really. I'll take my owl death with gratitude and awe.
4) Our niece (who used to live with us) visited with her dad, Sven's brother - my favorite BIL - at the office the other day. It made for a less than productive day, but a lot more pleasant. Rikke, the niece, is pregnant with her second child. She's due within the next month. And she asked Sven and me to sponsor Baby 2 (Laura) at her Christening. Which is very sweet. And if ever I was in doubt that I was not embraced by my in-laws, well, that would do it, wouldn't it?
I asked her, because it felt pertinent to do so: "You do understand that I am not the least bit religious?" She said that she did, but that it was mostly symbolic, anyway, and that all that was expected of me was to *finger air quotes* "ensure the child is raised Christian, or whatever." I reiterated: "You understand that I will do what I can to ensure the opposite?" She said she was totally cool with that. I said "Ok. Then you're asking me for me, and I will do it for you."
Overall, I wish I wasn't in this situation. It still feels... hypocritical, which I'm highly allergic to in other people, and which I spend a considerable amount of effort avoiding in myself, doing my best to live my own truth. I'm also realizing that I probably have more respect for the instition than most Danes, who've never given the religion they only apply for the sake of tradition the least bit of thought. I'm mostly ok with just standing there. I won't have to speak and lie in church. If she'd asked that of me, I would've had to decline. But since I know that this is about family, and debts owed, I will let her pay it in the way she asked to pay. I'm honored that she asked me. At least tradition for tradition's sake can still make mountains out of molehills, in the best of ways.
5) Sven and I went to Copenhagen Comic Con on Saturday, and I met Humon, and she was every bit as lovely and sweet as she comes off in her comics and writings. I'm still a little bit beside myself, and so pleased that I didn't embarrass myself too badly. She liked my earrings and I nearly gave them to her. Now I wish I had. :p
Aside from that, Copenhagen Comic Con is pretty much exactly what I expected: Tiny and underwhelming. I think, if I was better versed in the world of comic books, it would've excited me more. But I'm not, really. I read Calvin&Hobbes, Garfield, Asterix, and Disney comics as a kid. I've dabbled in Marvel comics, but for the most part, the art kind of stresses me out, I'm sad to say. I know and own the complete collections of Preacher and Sandman. I'm getting into more and more female-centric comics, such as Rat Queens and Monstress, but these are still fairly new comics, and the only Danish comic I know with any sort of intimacy is Valhalla. So I felt a little out of my depth, not knowing much of anything about most of the names at the con. There were a very few international names, but nothing I recognized. All in all, we were there for a little over an hour, and by then we felt we'd gotten as much out of it as we could. I liked that they'd set up a reading corner for people to immerse themselves in whatever comic books were available, but we did not take advantage.
Instead, we went and had lunch at a place I'm fairly sure is closing soon. It was... not great. Well, the food was actually pretty good. But the place was hilariously understaffed (and the skeleton staff not particularly competent, either), and as a consequence, the wait times were long, the place was dirty, and they kept running out of essentials like glasses and toilet paper. Look, as a waitress, I've been in the weeds. I know what it's like to not seem to be able to catch up, ever, because people keep coming in and sitting down at dirty tables, but here's the thing: You gotta stay on top of the cleaning. You can bring a tray, and take whatever dirty dishes is on the table with you after you've handed out menus. You can return with a rag and give the table a quick wipedown before taking people's order. Once you place their drinks, it's too late. If you're returning from a table after handing out drinks, fill your empty tray with whatever is used and abandoned from other tables. You can optimize your movements and minimize your wasted time if you think ahead just a little bit. And for goodness sake: if you run out of glasses, go run the dishwasher. It's literally a minute of your time, and when next you return, you can take them out. Thinking up alternative solutions is great in a pinch, but it won't solve the underlying problem. And riddle me this: What is the point of lining up drinks on a tray on the bar, then walking all the way around the bar and taking the tray from the other side?
I can't tell you how many times I've just sat there and watched, and thought to myself, "man, I could have this place running like a well-oiled machine in a heartbeat." I miss it. I wish there was a job description that covered "waitress optimization."