I finished the book "Children of God" last night. It was more a book of philosophy or religion than science fiction. I really liked the narrations, and philological parts --most of the major mistakes made by the exploration party came from misunderstanding the meanings of the words, even if they knew the definition. For example, the phrase "serve others" gets misinterpreted to the detriment of one of the Jesuit priests. In the second book, many of the aliens who were somewhat vilified in the first get deeper characterization. Once you get the thought process behind them, some of their heinous decisions become tragic mistakes.

The entire world undergoes revolution. The aristocracy falls. And the ruling carnivores are almost extinct by the time the Jesuits send their second mission. One human thought to be dead turns up again on the planet. She dedicated her life to freeing the herbivores. She and her autistic son transform the planet. The ending is not a perfect "everyone lives happily ever after," but it wraps up enough loose ends to bring some comfort after two very emotionally charged books.

Ahhh! Another hot day in California. I'm hiding out in the library for an hour or so.

Tonight is going to be very crazy. One of our cocktail waitresses went into labor last night. She's due at the end of August. It's really pridefull. She won't let any of us help her. She won't take it easy, or carry less, or let us do the lifting in exchange for doing the sidework. I hate polishing glasses, so I'd be happy to let her take that over in exchange for carrying wine cases. We haven't heard how she's doing, but I'd assume she won't be in to work for the next couple of days. Probably the doctor is going to enforce bedrest. That puts us really understaffed.

In other news, Phil the bartender is going to be out for three or four weeks. That means lots and lots of double shifts and more bartending. That makes me very happy. Especially the double shifts. Just working days cut my pay a lot. But if I can do both, I get night gratuities and overtime. THAT makes me happy.

I cleaned off my little patio two days ago and set out a rug and my folding rocking chair. If only porch didn't have a window into the mens bathroom, it would be a perfect reading nook. As it is, I'm going to have to get a plant to hang to muffle the sounds. Why do guys insist on singing, whistling, and talking to each other? It's rather noisy...and not in a good way.

Last night there wasn't a single good table in my room. Every one of them was "Um, miss? There's no one sitting here. You can just take that setting away."

Oh. Can I? Please? Because I'm not carrying a full tray of drinks or anything. Wait, here. Let me just drop that somewhere and take away the offending napkin.

Sheesh.

Ooh. Bad week financially. My paycheck was 300 less than the last. Doesn't that suck? I had plenty to pay the bills, but not much else. I really wanted to pay off some more of my car loan principal. On the plus side, I do have my freedom account partially funded. Some of those funds are discretionary.

I think I have it....maybe.

Well, I had archives. Now I'm missing half of my sidebar. This is really frustrating.

Pam, I have archives again!

Yesterday was a day off. Wendy and I went to Ventura to buy more flowers. My garden is so pretty! I got a new mini rose and a fern.

On the way back she needed coffee, and what better place than Barnes and Noble. I bypassed a boxed set of Peter Mayle and went for "Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell. I'm halfway through. Work was very slow.

Tomorrow for my sister's birthday, we'll be having margarita pedicures. Doesn't that sound decadent! I need one too, my feet are in bad shape!

Read Peter Mayle, anyone with a traveling bug. He writes verbal pictures of provencal life. Born English, then became American, then moved off and on again to Provence, he can make snails sound appetising. His books are full of decolatage Patronesses, stations without a single train, the town ex-patriate, olive trees, lavender, summer breezes and country markets. And the food -- heavens all the food. It rivals Brian Jaques mouth watering accounts. All of his books will soon grace my shelves.