Domestic Geek

I'm tired as hell. I've lost sleep for one reason or another all week. All I want to do is sleep, but I can't. Apparently it's the neighbor's turn to host the family get-together and there are 20+ really loud Mexicans outside my bedroom window jabbering. Even that would be bearable except for the little boy who is standing there screaming for no reason while he constantly beats on a plastic toy picnic table and no "adult" is telling him to knock it off. I really hate living here...

Well, I still have a job. I have mixed feelings about that. Relieved because I still need the money, but depressed that I still have to go to that filthy, dingy, mold-infested store every day. The art director at my new job commented on my hacking cough that I have (as a result of said filth and flour). The cough lessened after my vacation last year, so I'm hoping it'll totally go away after I quit.

My domain name is mine. Hallelujah! That's exciting. Now I just need to make the time to get the design business off the ground.

I went home from work at noon today. There wasn't any pressing jobs to do and while I could've worked on the company website in the afternoon, I was just too damned tired. That whole anger thing the other day really screwed up my sleep schedule. Shortly after checking email and blogs when I got home, I went to bed. I'd probably still be there had a huge storm not rolled in and a certain dog decided he needed to cry about it. Psycho pooch. Last Friday we had a bad storm as well and not only did it not bother him, he was outside strolling around in it. This time, because I'm trying to catch up on my rest, he's going to do the pacing and whining. *sigh*

I need a vacation. Bad. Marcus and Mike are heading to Tennessee on Saturday to visit Marcus' folks. They'll be gone about a week and are supposed to be bringing home a boat with them. We'll see. Nina and I will probably watch a movie and order in Chinese on Saturday.

I'm hoping I'll be able to take a vacation after the "busy" season ends at the screenprinter. That should be September/October. I'll either have my design business started by then or will be in the process of getting it going. I know I won't be working pizza anymore because I've given myself the deadline of my birthday (9/11) to be out of there (or ASAP). I'm thinking road trip to Las Vegas. When we went out for our friend's wedding in October 2003, I didn't have any fun at all. It's another incentive to get myself a newer vehicle. I'm going to try to get a Subaru Baja. Burt Subaru has a 2003 manual on their website with less than 40K on it. A Baja is cheaper than a comparable Outback or Legacy (the vehicle I now own). I've wanted a Baja since I saw the auto show concept car pamphlet at a mechanic's. It would be perfect because I can have passengers and a pickup bed.

I guess I'm going to be selling lots of stuff on eBay in the next week to get myself a down payment since my trade is worthless (I'm crossing 300,000 miles in the next week).

I've tried to refrain from spreading continuous woe here, but I need to vent.

I haven't been this majorly pissed off in a long time. The astrologer said I'd blow before Memorial Day. So, she was a little over a week off. I was so angry I forgot to surround myself with my white light bubble. *sigh*

It started when I got to pizza work this morning and couldn't do my work. Once again the loser closing manager couldn't be bothered to move stuff to where I could get to it and I absolutely refuse to put another food order away for free ever again (I put six weeks of food orders away for nothing hoping that I would get paid for the time I took off for my graduation like in the old days--I was wrong and got screwed). I was already pissed after seeing the abysmal weekend sales. I left a note saying I would return and went early to my other job.

When I got to said job, I took a few minutes to check the availability of the domain name of the design business that I'm starting (because I was feeling really motivated to get going) and some asshole bought it on Friday. Not somebody who is going to actually use it--one of those assholes that redirects it to a search site that probably installs spyware and adware. They have that whois cloaking, but there was an encrypted email address, so I sent an inquiry as to whether they are willing to give it up or not (I doubt it). I don't want to get the .net equivalent even though it is available, because future clients could mistype it and get crap on their computers. Arghhhhhhhh! I was soooooooo pissed.

Then I've got some stupid client at work whose shirts are supposed to be printed tomorrow, but I can't get her to call me back about a question I have and she never answers her phone. Why?

Our air conditioning there is broken. Yesterday they melted the ice off the condenser and we cooled off for the afternoon. Today we started out cool, but the unit conked by lunch. Since we're the only office upstairs, all the heat from the production floor rises up and gets trapped in our little room. It gets almost unbearable up there. I can't wait until we have a 90° day. It'll be almost as bad as being stuck in the pizza place.

So, I left work and headed back across town. I-25 was a stand-still, so I took Federal. Big mistake. The stop and go traffic was just as bad. My poor car couldn't take it. The heat, the fumes and the gas overburning took its toll and I conked out at Federal and Speer. WhooHoooo! After a couple of light cycles, I got it going again and limped off to a side street where I had to let it sit for 15-20 minutes before it would restart. An hour and a half after I left, I got to the pizza place. When I walk in, what do I find? The stupid staff is breaking down the makeline--AT 5:30!!!! Every other store I worked at would never allow that to happen until being closed for carry-out, which is usually 9 pm. That place is so freaking out of control that it is unreal. When I first started there, the breaking down started at 8pm. I thought that was unreasonable then. No wonder we've lost customers when they have to sit on the phone waiting because washing makeline stuff is more important DURING THE DINNER RUSH. That's when I lost it. I grabbed my car keys out of the office and stormed out. One of the managers tried to follow me to my car, but I yelled at her (the one who closed last night). To top it all off, when I got to my car, it wouldn't start again. I was so angry, I was shaking. I'm sure they went crying to the head manager. We'll see if I have a job in the morning. If I don't, he and the owner are getting earfuls.

Man, it took me almost two hours since getting home to calm down enough that my heart isn't racing. That's pathetic.

So, today was the last straw. I need a new car and I need to get my design business off the ground. I also realized yesterday that I can't get too comfortable at the screenprinters. I deserve to make more money that I get paid there and they really can't afford more than I get. I know I'll still work there awhile, I like the people and it is good experience, I'm just not going to make a career out of it, y'know?

Tomorrow I'm putting stuff on eBay. I need cash.

I'm going to bed.

Wow, I haven't posted anything of substance in quite a while. I haven't had much to say, I'm afraid. New job is going well, old job isn't, I'm busy, I'm not getting enough sleep, I don't eat well, I don't get any excercise, my car sucks, I hate where I live and I don't have enough money. That about sums up all that's been going on.

I did, however, get free tickets to Bandimere again from work, so Dad and I spent a day out at the track. I got majorly sunburned, especially on my legs. I wore shorts and the poor things haven't seen any substantial sun in almost two year. Pictures are here if you care to see them.

Busy week. I've been wanting to take a few minutes to write here, but just couldn't find the time. The following is going to be a jumble of randomness from the week:

I'm starting to get my self-confidence back. I'm really starting to believe that I am going to be designing part-time soon and that the pizza job will be just an unpleasant memory. I think I can have my bills caught up by the middle of June and then I can start getting my software, my domain, PO Box, nice clothes, etc.

I really wanted to get my hair styled before graduation on Saturday. I haven't had my hair done in many, many years. Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to do that, though. Wouldn't have been a problem if I had been hired two weeks earlier or if graduation was a couple of weeks later. *sigh* Oh, well. Maybe I can get it done Friday night when I get paid. We'll see.

Pizza job is getting unbearable. I keep having a hard time getting the front door lock open. Makes me feel really safe to be standing outside at 3 am fighting with a lock. I complained about it last Saturday and the manager said he had been having problems with it too. SO GET IT FIXED, YOU FREAKING MORON! Some days it turns easily and some days it takes 15 minutes of turning the key back and forth (and blistering my index finger) to get the tumblers to turn. I'm either going to get picked up by the cops or get assaulted by someone. I have a feeling that dumbass manager is spraying WD40 in it, which probably works for a day or two, but in the end makes the problem worse. It probably needs to be disassembled and greased with the right lubricant.

The sales are sucking bad, too. I need to quit comparing this year's sales to last year's. It just depresses me. I've lost an entire paycheck this year compared to last. *sigh* Good thing I've got other work now.

Since I was so bummed about the state of things at the pizza job on Thursday morning, I was just sitting on my butt in the office. I was listening to Rick Barber on KOA nad he was having his astrologer/psychic night. He had astrologist to the stars Maria Shaw on and I decided to do something I had never done before--call a radio show! All I gave her was my birth date and some of the things she told me were uncanny. We'll see if any of them are true. If nothing else, it made my evening interesting. One thing she said that I will mention here is that I'm going to have a blow up with someone who zaps my energy (my dumbass manager?) by Memorial Day if I don't learn to keep a bubble of white light around me.

OK, that's enough for now. I need to start marathon web coding. The queen of procrastination strikes again. I must get my final web project turned in this week so I can get my degree on Saturday. I won't poke my head in here until that's accomplished.

Have a great week!