Off the Cliff

Whatever the malign astrological influences are that've been at work this last week, they're still working overtime. I find myself sinking into a generalized sullen irritation: though mind you, a threatened transit strike is reason enough to be irritable. I could silver-line it: a transit strike means more money for replacement worker me, since certain staff can't or won't get into work if it happens. But I don't feel like silver-lining it. I feel like sneering at the one staff who loudly insists that *she* isn't walking any three subway stops to work; the more so as another staff who lives thirteen stops away and across the Viaduct is all prepared to bicycle in.
( But what has this to do with Hellsing? )

Love. I think I may be in love. Five pages in is a tad early to tell, but-- the Hellsing manga arrived ten minutes ago (thank you, deepfatfire) and.... ahhh. You just might be the one. Time will tell.

Though I see manga Integral is distinctly Integra, and Alucard is Aakaado, which can be many things but not Alucard. Alcard at best, that does nothing for the "Dracula spelled backwards" argument. OTOH the Japanese will sometimes correct romanization errors that aren't there, as in their stubborn insistence that I live in a place called Toront. 'The English is obviously Dracla and we keep mistakenly pronouncing it Dracula. I'll get it right this time.'

'You had the flu,' my doctor says about my cough and dark-night-of-the-soul last week. 'Good thing you got a flu shot so you didn't have the whole high fever and ache routine.' Yes, I had that when I got the flu shot itself, but oh well. 'You'll feel better next week.' In fact I feel better now, and prove it by staying two hours past closing to babysit for a co-ordinating cttee meeting, which for the first time in anyone's memory involves sitting babies. Two of them. I won't flaunt my specialist's knowledge by explaining in detail why one person sitting a pair of year-old not-quite-walkers (who are not her own) from 6 pm to 8 is a virtuoso feat, but it was a virtuoso feat, and I'm never doing it again thank you very much.

Yesterday's melt did indeed become oceans of glare ice covering the sidewalks inches thick. This winter has sucked so hard it probably strained its cheek muscles.
( Hellsing and the fully realized female )

Note to me: do not watch Hellsing with a fever.

Also: the really down side of staying home sick is the stunningly massive number of phone calls. Half are telemarketers wanting to speak to Mr. or Mrs. Johnson, a phrase that reduces me to foaming fury. Half are people from work who weren't listening yesterday when I said Don't call me to work for you tomorrow I'm sick. This /would/ reduce me to foaming fury if I wasn't used by now to working with narcissists.

Also: if there's a sillier point to rant and flame about than 'It's Alucard you dumb fuxx!!' 'No it's Arucard!!!', then I have not met it. People who have ranted on this point will remember the fact ten years hence and die a thousand deaths.