The trauma of training

*Warning – extreme and pointed sarcasm may be used in this post. Those with weak hearts and constitutions may want to stop reading now*

Dear people-who-have-agreed-to-attend-the-training-with-a-supplier-that-we’ve-set-up-for-your-benefit, I am very, very sorry.
I obviously forgot a few things.
I forgot:
  • That I am your personal diary secretary, and I myself should have reminded you that you had agreed to attend this training.
  • That you are incapable of leaving your seat without my specific instruction to point you towards a training room, and therefore cannot make your own way to your training.
  • That the frequent pop up reminders on your computer of your imminent training session are only for you to ignore. Every time they pop up. For an hour beforehand. Every 10 minutes.
  • That you can only tell me that you’re not attending the session once I have had to come looking for you and ask you personally.
  • That you cannot write an email or pick up the phone to spend 20 seconds telling me you will no longer be attending, and thereby stop me wasting my time chasing around the building for you.
Foolishly, I assumed you were adults, and therefore able to deal with grown-up stuff like this.
Of course, when you have any issues with the product you didn’t attend training on, you’ll be able to solve them yourselves, won’t you? Excellent.

Steampunking Austen

So, I finished Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters a few days ago. I have to say, I enjoyed this even more than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters has a society that was much more altered from the original (I imagine, not having read it), and which was much more steampunk, and humorous, than I expected. Lots of boats, pirates, monsters, strange chants, various animal attacks, experiments, underground cities, and trained mutant lobsters. With some old-fashioned morality and “proper” behaviour thrown in.

And of course, there’s various mysterious sub-plots, the solution only revealed at the end, which hints about pop up throughout the book.
I don’t want to say much more, so I don’t ruin the fun of discovering the contents. I’d definitely recommend giving this one a go!

The sea monsters, the sea monsters!

You know, I’m really, really enjoying Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I know even less about the actual story of this than I did about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but I really son’t think it matters. I seriously doubt that homicidal sea creatures, massive domed submarine living quarters, mysterious island-dwelling, mountain-worshipping semi-humans, and regular battles with sealife featured in the original book!

And you know what? I don’t care! On its own, this is a fun, and funny book! I have no idea how the in depth conversations on who feels what for who fit into the original, and whether polite society included women who had been stolen form their native lands in burlap sacks, and forced to be wives to seafaring adventurers were in there (I have a sneaking suspicion not…), but to read about two ladies maintaining the niceties of conversation while being attacked in a canoe by the Fang-Beast certainly amused me!
About half-way through now…oh, who will win the hearts of these lovely ladies? What man will be theirs? And will he have the facial appendages of a squid? Who can tell!

I PROMISE I’m not stalking her!

It just so happens that Woodsiegirl has been blogging lots of things recently that catch my attention, and interest! So, I’m copying her Q and A!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Depends where I am when reading. Usually, it’s on the bus to / from work, or in bed, neither of which are snacking hot-spots for me. If I’m spending a few hours on the couch reading, then yup, usually crisps….but those crisp-smeared hands never touch the book until they’ve been cleaned!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

No writing in books! I have enough trouble removing the underlined passages in books at work (which at least tend to be historic, and in pencil…current users know I’d gut them if they inked up the library books!). I didn’t write in books while studying either – I remember things better if I’ve written them myself, so I’d write notes on lined paper instead.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Bookmark or laying it open carefully, without cracking the spine. Having bought a lot of old, charity shop books, I know pages tend to fall out at the points where the spine’s broken first…and I have a liking for smooth spines, if it’s a new book. If I’ve read a book, it can be hard to tell, as the spine’s usually still perfect.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Fiction. I have to read enough non-fiction information in daily life to not want to deal with it in my free time. Unless it’s about murders of course. Yes, I am morbid, and love forensic science.

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy. Not sure that I’ve ever listened to an audio book. I read really fast, so to have to sit and listen to someone reading out what I could read for myself in a quarter of the time would drive me mad.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

End of chapter if possible. If not, I’ll just put the book down where ever I feel like I can’t read any more for (evenings) or when my stop’s coming up (commute).

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it

up right away?

Nope. I can usually work it out from the context, and if I can’t, I’ll just ignore it. One word’s not usually critical to understanding things. If I remember, I may check it out later, but usually, I just forget!

What are you currently reading?

“Arthur and George”, “The Shadow of the Wind”, and “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters”

What is the last book you bought?

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, new. I tend to bulk buy from charity shops though, so often it’s hard to tell what I bought last as it’s just a bagful, but SSSM I really wanted to read, so pre-ordered from Amazon.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

As you can see from my current reading list above, I can have anything from 1 to 4 books on the go at once.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

Afternoons, or evenings. If I have nothing else to do (cue hysterical laughter here) I love an autumn afternoon or evening on the sofa, lost in a book, with a cosy blanket.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

I like stand alones. As my usual book sources are charity shops, finding the parts of a series is a rare event, so books that stand alone suit me better. Although, if I like a series, I’ll buy the books new, to ensure I can read the whole lot.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

I love the Time Travelers Wife, but haven’t read Audrey Niffenneger’s new book, so I don’t know if I can recommend the author. I’d recommend the book (I’m ignoring the misspelling of the title!), and tell anyone who’s seen the film to forget that pile of pants and read the book! I also have a weakness for David Eddings fantasy books – brings back my teenage years 🙂

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

Organise? Books? Nah, that’s for work! My books go on the shelves according to…erm…no rules. See? It’s all higgledy piggledy – books I’ve bought, gift books, read books, unread books, toys, photographs, scrapbooks, craft stuff…my bookshelves are a glorious mess 🙂 And to be honest, there’s not even all that much room for books!