In the Wee Hours

History was going to be made anyway. Our nominee for the 2008 presidential election was either going to be a woman or an African American man. In a way, I kind of secretly hoped for a woman, but that was only the feminist in me. I voted for Obama in Washington’s pointless primary (I couldn’t get to the caucus), as did my entire family and my boyfriend. He has made the most apathetic Democrat care about politics and the election.

I’ve always believed that Senator Obama is the best choice we have to go up against Senator McCain in the general election. I think he can heal not only our country, but our relationship with the rest of the world. I don’t want anyone to have an excuse anymore to blame the world’s problems on American, and I want to finally feel like our president represents my beliefs and principles. Obama is going to win in November, and I can finally have a president that I’m proud of.

I have decided to create my own book reviews blog, Crescent Moon Book Reviews! Of course, my reviews will also be posted on BCF - The Reviews, but I wanted a place to keep mine all together. It will probably take me all day to post up all the reviews I’ve written thus far, so please be patient! New reviews will be posted later this week. Please check it out!

I wanted to share my review of this amazing book, posted on BCF - The Reviews.

Date of Publication: 1998

Number of Pages: 456

Synopsis (from back cover): Journey to a time before King Arthur as Marion Zimmer Bradley brings the mesmerizing world of Avalon brilliantly to life in this spellbinding novel of epic grandeur - the story of three remarkable women who alter the fortunes of Roman Britain as they fight to reclaim the magic and traditions of a once-glorious past….

Caillean, the young priestess fated to become Lady of Avalon, who rescues and raises the orphaned Gawen - heir to a mystic and dangerous royal line…Dierna, who must use all her strength, wisdom, and love to guide Avalon through treacherous political waters and veil the island from a hostile world…Viviane, Lady of the Lake and keeper of the Grail, destined for true greatness as she prepares Avalon for the coming of a legendary king…

Review: This is the first book of the Avalon series that I have read, and I’m glad I started with it. Although there are events referred to that obviously occur in other books, it’s not done in a way that takes away from the story. This is the book that sets up the events in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s popular masterpiece, The Mists of Avalon, so I felt fortunate to be beginning here.

This is the first book I have thoroughly enjoyed in a long time, and it’s turned me into a devoted fan of this author. There are elements of several genres in this book: historical fiction, fantasy, and romance, making it appealing to many different kinds of readers. But what will really appeal to people is the superb story-telling and the realistic and complex characters. There are few characters, even among the leading Ladies of Avalon, who could be called wholly good or bad. Some make good decisions and some make such bad decisions that they adversely alter the course of history. The women portrayed are completely believable, with human foibles that all of us have, but at the same time they possess a power that infuses the story with magic. This is a book that celebrates womanhood in all its forms, from the innocent virgin to the croaking hag. If you’re a woman, you will find yourself somewhere in this book. And if you’re a man, well, there’s plenty of fighting going on to keep even you interested!

Rating: 10/10

I didn’t sleep hardly at all last night, and I came home from work early. You see, the lack of sleep triggered my IBS, so my stomach has been flaring up all day. I wanted to come home and settle on the couch with a book, just to relax, but nooooooo…..the asshole next door decided it was time to turn on his death metal and crank up the bass on his stereo. He saw me park my car because he was outside, and about two minutes after I got in, the pounding bass started. Why? Because he’s a fucking asshole, that’s why!!

We’ve GOT to move.

There are many types of discrimination in our societies. Although every kind of discrimination disturbs me greatly, for some reason, homophobia is my hot button issue. I think it’s because the people who condemn gays and lesbians basically tell them that they are evil and are going to hell. The idea that another person would, 1) believe that homosexuality is a choice at all, and 2) think that they have the moral authority to condemn another person for anything, makes me incredibly angry.

I think my emotional response to homophobia and the anger it causes in me stems from my first reading of And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts. It’s basically a work of journalism and tells the troubling story of the emergence of AIDS in America and how it was ignored by the government for so long because it affected people they didn’t care about. The negligence of President Reagan and Congress allowed thousands of people to die. The book also delves deeply into the politics of homosexuality during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Reading this book changed the way I thought about not only homosexuals and their struggle, but also the way I saw my country. It was sort of a watershed moment in my life.

So, what I would like to know is, what issue matters to you the most? Here are some issues of discrimination, and I would love to receive some comments from you all about which one is the most personal to you.

Racial discrimination
Homophobia
Sexism
Religious intolerance
Ageism
Ethnic/Cultural discrimination
Health/Medical discrimination
Class discrimination

If you have one to add to this list, please feel free. I really hope to hear from many of you about your feelings about these issues! Talking about them is the first step toward eliminating them!

What we’ve been having here in the Seattle area is the Springtime of most people’s nightmares. The temperature is about 10 degrees colder than normal and has been this way for over a month…probably longer. There has hardly been even a single day of sunshine. Every day is cloudy, windy, cold, and sometimes rainy. I don’t know the meteorological reasons for this unseasonable weather. I don’t honestly care! Tonight, my boyfriend and I went for a walk around downtown Edmonds (we like to hear the waves). I had to wear a scarf, gloves, a hat, and my winter coat. My boyfriend wore his down-filled winter jacket. It felt like January. I am just so tired of it! My fingers are freezing just typing this, and I’m indoors.

The all-powerful weather folks here are calling for sunny skies and 80 degrees by the end of this week. All I can say is that it will happen practically overnight. To go from 50 degrees to 80 degrees will most likely shock the area into crazed outdoor ambitions. Boats will be out, people will go hiking and camping in the mountains, and for some reason, people will be out excessively late, making a ruckus. I don’t know why this happens, but it does. Oh well. Bring it on, I say! Anything is better than having to bundle up like it’s winter in late spring.

I’m so excited! I have been asked to be a moderator on my favorite little corner of the Internet, The Book Club Forum, by Michelle, our fearless and amazing leader. I love this forum, and the people on it, so it was a great honor to be asked. All I can hope is that I do a good job. I think what I’m looking forward to the most is encouraging even more great discussions among the members. Back when I was a manager, my favorite part of the job was coaching, motivating, and training my associates, and I was pretty good at it. It’s really important to constantly come up with new and creative ways to keep people interested, while still maintaining the aspects that they already enjoy and are comfortable with. That’s true with work, and it’s what the Mod Squad on BCF have always done. I think I’ve been kind of missing that part of my old career, so I hope that I can be a successful mod on the forum.

As a side note, I know I haven’t been posting anything much lately, but with finals last week and starting the new job, I’ve honestly been exhausted! I also caught a nasty cold, which has made me even more tired. And for some reason, being sick always makes me think weird thoughts that don’t translate well into a written format. Does anyone care to know about the beautiful color of the light coming through the window and the way it hits my bottle of Vitamin Water? Probably not. I’ll get back to posting more interesting things when I’m healed of this weird sickness.

I have decided to change the name of this blog from This closet isn’t big enough to In the Wee Hours. For one thing, the old name always bugged me, mainly because it didn’t make any sense. I thought of it at the spur of the moment, but it doesn’t say anything about me or my life, except that my closet is messy.

The new name reflects my habit of staying up late into the night, generally into the wee hours of the morning. This is something that affects my everyday life, especially when I have to work early in the morning. So, it tells a little something about me!

So, if you’ve added me to your blogroll, please change the name. But don’t worry, the URL will stay the same.

Both of these can be exciting, but most often are just scary! I’ll start with the new job, which I started this past Monday.

The job itself is really easy (just ring people up and clean up after their slobby asses in the fitting rooms), the girls I work with are outstandingly friendly and interesting, but the company itself SUCKS. Since I’m not a manager, I can maintain a certain amount of distance and can laugh at the stupid things they do, but I have a feeling that my frustrations will reach a point where I’ll either get fired for yelling at someone higher up, or I’ll just quit. Not that I’m planning on staying all that long, just for the summer.

One of the main complaints I have is that the higher ups, which include about 3 people, given the minuscule size of the company, have completely unrealistic expectations of their stores and associates. Minor mistakes are broadcast company-wide, after the offending associate is given a personal phone call and chewed out, theoretically to shame them into doing things “properly”. This is something I cannot abide and will not get drawn into. I have been in retail too long and have had enough experience as a manager to know that shaming and embarrassing your employees is not only inappropriate, but is not the best way to achieve results. These people don’t realize that there are a hundred other places these girls can work where they will actually be treated with respect. They switch that around and say that there are a hundred other girls waiting to take this job. But associate retention is important to every company. It boosts morale and productivity, and has a positive effect on customer service and retention. Happy employees = happy customers = more money. The fact that they don’t understand this makes me mad already, and I haven’t even met anyone from the “corporate” office yet.

Anyway, that’s enough ranting for now. They don’t deserve this much of my attention. Now to focus on my finals, which are happening this week. Here is my finals schedule for this week:

SUNDAY: Study, study, study
MONDAY: Do Writing Assignment #8 in Intro to East Asian Culture, do preliminary prep work for final project in Technical and Professional Writing.
TUESDAY: Work from 9:30 - 5:00; bring school stuff to work and ignore customers. Do Renaissance History essay exam after work.
WEDNESDAY: Work from 3:00-10:00; bring school stuff to work and ignore customers.
THURSDAY: Do timed final exam in Intro to East Asian Culture, finish final project for Technical and Professional Writing.
FRIDAY: Work unknown 8-hour shift (May schedule isn’t final yet). Final project and Oral Presentation Discussion are DUE - NO EXCUSES!
SATURDAY: Breathe a sigh of relief and think about the fact that I won’t have classes again until the end of August.

You see, this new job has had me scheduled for 5 days this week, meaning that I have fallen behind in my studying and preparing for finals. This means that today, my day off, will be spent panicking and juggling text books with my boyfriend, who has two of my classes and two of the same finals. Of course, here I am, procrastinating my little head off on WordPress, checking into my favorite forums, and basically doing nothing. But I will relish my day off from work and use this day to focus on my exams, I promise! Just let me check out the weather, the news, and the new posts on The Book Club Forum first…

EDIT: I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea about my new job, like I hate it or something. I’m happy to be there, and I haven’t experienced anything bad yet. But I have the feeling that some people are kind of frustrated with the company, so the things I’ve been hearing about are possibly a result of that. I’m happy to just do my job and wait and see!

In the past half hour, we just got hit with a freak hail storm. It’s coming down really fast, with small hailstones that look like pure ice. Here are some pictures I took. The first is from our front door, looking out at our cars and parking lot. The second is from our back door, which looks down a ravine onto a street. Although it doesn’t show well in the pictures, the hail is coming down fast and thick!

Come on, weather gods! It’s almost the end of April! How about some sunshine already!