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Haven't felt like I had much to blog about recently, despite things going on.

Flogging Molly concert was great. I've never been to the Tabernacle, and it's a hell of a place for a rock concert. (It got damaged in the tornado, by the way). Used to be a church, and it's painted on the inside- looks like some talented kids got in there while it was closed one night, did the place up, and when the owners came back in the morning they left it as it was. Funny seeing all those pipe organ bits behind a punk rock band.

I rode the Marta to get there, from Perimeter Mall. In all the times I've ever ridden it I've never been sure what gives it the bad rap. I use it to get to the airport when I fly, and mostly that's so early in the morning it's only business types. Different riding it at night, mostly because I like all the lights outside the window in the darkness. Easy to pretend you're flying through space. Family panicked a little when they found I was going alone. I just don't know any other fans of the band, and I wasn't going to miss the concert because of that; it's like waiting for someone else to see a movie in the theater and they can't ever make it until the thing is on DVD. I hate that. Anyway, Marta- well lit, police every where, lots of other concert goers to walk the block and a half from Peachtree Center Station which had an escalator so tall that on the way back down I had to sit on the steps to feel like I wasn't going to keel off into space. And it's got one of those lovely white-rectangular-tile walls against the escalator.

Hrm. What else?

I guess since I haven't got a call from the police I'm not being called as a witness so I can probably talk about this... I went to Steak and Shake Saturday night, and arrived just in time to see a customer rough up one of the employees in the parking lot. Over a bunch of nothing. But my long career in retail and waitstaffing made that no surprise. It's not like I don't get upset about things, but mostly they're "what's the meaning of life?" kind of things or some great injustice (personal or worldwide) not... Steak and Shake. And this guy was totally off the handle. Mind boggling.

That's the same day one of the customers copped a feel on me, too. Must have been a weird day.

I love SciFi. I love space operas, but most of the time I love them better as movies or tv shows. I'll try reading a book now and then and there's always something off about it that I don't like. I'm struggling to think if there's even one scifi book on my shelves. Possibly not. Well. There's one of those Padawan Obi-Wan and Master Qui-Gon adventures for little kids, but I'm partial to that team up. Anyway, I went to Borders last weekend to pick up my new Torchwood novels, only they didn't come in, and I'd braved the cold to get there, and Jamie was being really nice (he's one of the store's customers, and a fellow Torchwood/Doctor Who fan, and he works at Borders and said he'd hold my books for me) so I went to look for something else to use my coupons on since they were going bad the next day. And after all my years doing retail I pulled that thing that customers do sometimes that's completely unhelpful to employees.

Me: Hey, Jamie? There was this book on the New SciFi/Fantasy/Horror/Romance table about a month ago, and it's not there now.
Jamie: What was it?
Me: Uh. There was a girl space pilot? And a soldier guy?
Jamie: ...
Me: There was a space port on the front cover.

So, he's doing what he can, and I'm remembering one Christmas at Barnes and Noble where a lady came in, and asked what a book was that had a green cover and had been on a table over in one of the isles (those little end table looking things that move around) a year ago. (I actually found it for her, can you believe it? And the table wasn't even there when she came back to ask). This is when I run into Mark Brummel, another of Dr. No's customers, and actually one of my customers that I knew from Barnes and Noble, and it was actually kind of funny to see him because I'd told him I was going to be there, and he said he wouldn't that night.

(Maybe a month or two ago I was there, and this kid came up to me yelling a lot and asking if I was "That girl from the comic store?" and I said yes, and he yells for me to stay right there and then just runs off. If it was a cartoon something would have fallen on me, right after that. Turns out he's Mark's kid, and he went to go get his Dad. This is also the night I first saw Swordbird, which has to be the most insanely creative rediculous thing I've ever encountered. Charles, theoretically, how would a bird fight with a sword?) (The other funny thing is I've got a really bad memory, especially for people. And I hadn't seen Mark in about six or so years since Barnes and Noble when he came into Dr. No's and I remembered him, but he's also the only person I've ever met who had epilepcy, so that's probably why. Also, one of my coworkers almost beat him up)

So now it's a joke that when I see Mark in our store I tell him if I'm going to Borders. And he said he wasn't, but then he was there, and I told him about the book that I couldn't remember anything pertinent about, and met his wife. She was nice. None of that "how do you know my SO? why are you talking to them?" stuff. I hate when people get like that. Both of them are nice, and so are their kids.

I realize this book is never going to be found, unless I go on cobbcat.org, then onto Galileo, and from there to Novelist, which has got to be the best thing ever. You can search for books by plot on there, and I'm not happy about the fact I'm going home empty handed so I call one of my library coworkers who knows the ins and outs of the system and can get on Novelist for me. And while I'm on the phone I lean on the shelf, then turn to see what I'm leaning on.

And I'm not kidding you, I went over the shelf two or three times, the whole SciFi thing not facing the front doors because I recalled seeing the book that I was looking for on that shelf when I was at the store months ago and that meant I could half the alphabet in my search, and just as he's asking me what to put in Novelist, there's the freaking book I've been looking for. Go figure.

It's Crystal Soldier by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. It's really good. Really, really good. One of the semi-main characters is a tree. It's really not, but M Jela Granthor's Guard (the real main character- seriously, that's his name) kinda treats the tree like it's a main character, and it grows on you (Cliff, make a joke here). Him and his pet tree. I like Jela and his tree almost as much as I like Damien Vryce and Gerald Tarrant as a team up. (They're CS Friedman characters, from the Coldfire trilogy). It's good. Nothing has really happened yet kinda. It probably has, but I'm liking the universe and the writing so much I'm not trying to figure out what's going on- Jela and the tree could spend the rest of the book walking around space ports and I'd probably enjoy it. It's too good to try and figure out, I guess.

And now, finally, Torchwood Episode 11 has finished, so I'm going to go watch it. After I spell check this. Yay.