2006-04-22
Argh. Wrote a fair amount detailing my misadventures on Monday, the successful second attempt on Wednesday, working Tuesday and Thursday, and the consequences earlier yesterday morning.
Then my computer crashed, and I thought Blogger had a periodic auto-save, but it doesn't, so the whole thing is gone. I might retype it later, but probably not.
Then my computer crashed, and I thought Blogger had a periodic auto-save, but it doesn't, so the whole thing is gone. I might retype it later, but probably not.
2006-04-19
Now I know what I've missed
So yeah, had last Friday off. Didn't ask for it or anything, just got a Friday off. It was pretty nice. Took Rose to see V for Vendetta, realized that we don't hang out nearly enough, especially with her moving to Austin and everything. Of course, they're moving to a place off of Wickersham, which means they're more or less on the way to going to play DDR, so I could theoretically stop by and say hi, either coming or going. The main difficulty there is that I'm not entirely over Lilie, but I don't anticipate that preventing me from saying hi to Rose. But yeah, V for Vendetta. Really, really awesome movie. Especially this time, staying awake through the whole thing and what-not, it really enhances the viewing experience. Cleared up a few plot points I was really confused about, but raised additional questions. First and foremost - why the hell isn't there more buzz about this movie? I mean, seriously, it's FUCKING AWESOME. Easily one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time. It's *almost* good enough to redeem the Wachowski brothers for the extreme pieces of crap that were Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolutions. Almost.
But yeah, we had a great time watching the movie. Got kind of a late start, but still managed to get her there in time for the awesome alliterative monologue he does at the very beginning, which I intend to memorize here shortly, starting tomorrow when Ambra and I go see it. So yeah, after that, hung around in MC for the Garr fight, then Cullen and I headed up to Austin to play some DDR. But first, I stopped by Domino's to get my water and bought the quarter roll that had been hanging out in the till for a while. Thus equipped, we went to play DDR. We went to Blazer Tag at Ben White and Manchaca first. That's kind of like my origin - the first place I played DDR and all that, so I like to stop by and play there from time to time. That, and there's usually a lot of people hanging around that aren't DDR players, so me being the attention whore that I am, can usually attract a few spectators, which is kind of cool. We got there... and they had In The Groove. It ended up being really cool - a *ton* of mods available, all new songs, good stuff. It's really, really easy to see why Konami sued over it. Closed Saturday and Sunday, had Monday off. I'll get to Monday later.
Sue -- Bliss
But yeah, we had a great time watching the movie. Got kind of a late start, but still managed to get her there in time for the awesome alliterative monologue he does at the very beginning, which I intend to memorize here shortly, starting tomorrow when Ambra and I go see it. So yeah, after that, hung around in MC for the Garr fight, then Cullen and I headed up to Austin to play some DDR. But first, I stopped by Domino's to get my water and bought the quarter roll that had been hanging out in the till for a while. Thus equipped, we went to play DDR. We went to Blazer Tag at Ben White and Manchaca first. That's kind of like my origin - the first place I played DDR and all that, so I like to stop by and play there from time to time. That, and there's usually a lot of people hanging around that aren't DDR players, so me being the attention whore that I am, can usually attract a few spectators, which is kind of cool. We got there... and they had In The Groove. It ended up being really cool - a *ton* of mods available, all new songs, good stuff. It's really, really easy to see why Konami sued over it. Closed Saturday and Sunday, had Monday off. I'll get to Monday later.
Sue -- Bliss
2006-04-15
Another day off, another day spent doing things not even worth mentioning.
So, of course, I'm going to spend the next twenty minutes or so mentioning them repeatedly. Why? To be honest, I can't really provide a compelling reason.
With that out of the way, with any expectations or hopes of significant content, of meaningfulness contained within this post dashed to the ground, scattered to the four winds, etc...
Actually, screw all that. I'm kind of tired, I think I'm going to go lie down.
Sorry to lie to you like that, I'll try to avoid it in the future.
Artist -- Title
So, of course, I'm going to spend the next twenty minutes or so mentioning them repeatedly. Why? To be honest, I can't really provide a compelling reason.
With that out of the way, with any expectations or hopes of significant content, of meaningfulness contained within this post dashed to the ground, scattered to the four winds, etc...
Actually, screw all that. I'm kind of tired, I think I'm going to go lie down.
Sorry to lie to you like that, I'll try to avoid it in the future.
Artist -- Title
2006-04-13
Having the time of your life
Hmm... yeah, Saturday was fun.
The crew meeting was fun, the bowling party was a blast. Oh, and V for Vendetta is FUCKING AWESOME. I say that even though I fell asleep during parts of it - not continuous sleep, just dozing off here and there, my head lolling back... kind of embarrasing, since I was on a first date and everything. She didn't say anything about it, I don't know if she noticed. I hope not. But yeah, the movie was still awesome, and it sounds like I'm going to see it (at least) two more times - Rose on Friday, and Ambra on Monday.
So, the date... it went well, I think. Well, as well as could have been expected. She admitted that it was kind of awkward, her being friends with Janelle and everything, which is understandable. I told her it was cool if she wanted to call the whole thing off, but she didn't. I got my truck vacuumed and everything, I think it looks pretty nice. Of course, it was a moot point - I got hung up at Mom's house as her and Mike were asking about Ashley, and since Janelle happened to be there, she pulled up her facebook, which was FUN. So yeah, by the time I got back here and showered, then left to pick her up... she called me as I got about a block away, asked me if I wanted her to just meet me here, so I didn't miss the beginning, which is what we eventually did. I ended up standing outside the theather for a bit, waiting on her, which I really, really hate doing - I mean, I'm not complaining since it was definitely my fault and everthing, I'm just saying, I feel like such a doof when I have to do that. But she showed up before too long, and we went and got our seats. Ended up sitting down *just* as the previews were ending, which is good and bad, but still good timing.
Then, the movie.
Afterwards, we ended up standing outside by her car for like an hour and a half, just talking about myriad varied topics. Fairly enjoyable, no long awkward pauses or anything. I would later learn that Gina drove by at one point, as her little cabal was going to a late show, but they didn't say anything, figuring that the last thing you need when you're out on a first date is for your manager to show up and be like, "Hey! What's up?" - which isn't really true. I mean, yeah, if Dave did that, I wouldn't be happy, but Gina's cool. So yeah, we stood around and talked, and she finally had to leave, competition in the morning and everything. I walked across the parking lot to my truck, very nearly broke out in tears. I really, really don't know why - I certainly wasn't disappointed with how the date went or anything; hell, at that point, I was still surprised it had happened at all. I mean, even now, I still don't know what set me off. But yeah... I had been thinking about going up to Austin to play DDR, but I ended up just falling right asleep, since I had been up for quite a while at that point, and running around crazy for a good portion of it.
Woke up, went in to work Sunday 5 - C. Gina told me she saw me on my date, asked about Ambra and me, apparently like half the upper management things we're dating. I mean, it's an easy mistake to make, given how much time we spend together and what-not. I did Sunday night paperwork as usual, Ambra brought some XL dough on her way in... and I managed to lock myself out of the store while I was looking at the dough. Good stuff. I got Joe's roommate to bring me up the store key - Joe was kind of drunk - and finished up everything. Ambra and I talked a little about the misconceptions going on about us. She said something to the effect of "I've been thinking about [us dating], but didn't want to say anything about it, 'cause I didn't want to be a tease." which can be read one of two ways, but more on that later. Took the paperwork, came back here and crashed. We were thinking about going to see V for Vendetta at 3, but when my alarm went off at 1, she was in no mood to get up, so I got up and doinked around for a few hours while she slept. Didn't do much with my day off Monday, worked Tuesday 5 - C. Really, really slow for a Tuesday night - I think our highest pie hour was like a 48, which is *really* slow for Tuesday night. Found out Jimmy's not going to be a manager, "just" an insider (well, a San Marcos insider, at least), which makes me happy, 'cause I don't like him.
I mean, just as a person. I'm sure he's a fine worker, there hasn't been anything to make me dislike him, that's just my snap judgments kicking in. I'm not engraving that in stone, he still has an oppurtunity to show me I shouldn't dislike him, but 'til then...
Today (Wednesday)'s been okay. Had to go to training class with Joe 7 - 10. I really hate being in a San Antonio-based franchise, when we have to drive like 30-45 minutes to get to these things, very annoying. The class itself was pretty bad - the title was "Fundamentals." The only thing I learned was that someone has trademarked the phrase "Emotional Bank Account", which I still can't really wrap my head around. There were comment sheets to fill out, and that's really all I talked about. The rest of the stuff was stuff they had already shoved down my throat by the end of the first week, so yeah, pretty boring. I crashed on the way back, which is why I'm still up, and probably won't go to sleep. I just finished filing my taxes, netted a fairly sweet 1600+ return. Unfortunately, most of that - about 1300 - will go to finishing paying of my transmission loan, but that's still about 350 or so to play around with. Probably just go into my account, nothing really excited looming or anything. Well, except for moving in with Ambra in a little over a month.
So, what else is new? Let's see...
Rose and Lilie are moving to Austin, sounds like they're going to be moving into the Hills of Chevy Chase, which is an awesome name for an apartment complex. They'll be up on Wickersham-ish, so I can definitely stop by to say hi when I'm up there to play DDR or whatever. I'm taking Rose to go see V for Vendetta on Friday, which will be fun - again, it's a fantastic movie. She's still with Richard, which is great, but I don't know what's going to happen when they move to Austin, except I think she's buying his old car. Or something. Lilie kind of half-way admitted she had kind of led me on, which is nice, I s'pose, 'cept I don't really care. I mean, I'll always be in love with her, I just don't love her. I still get a little melancholy about her every once in a while, but that's very few and far between, so that's nice. I doubt I'll ever get over her fully - why should she be the first? - but it's progress. Hell, one day, I might even be able to talk to her again.
But anyway.
Played DDR on campus today, which was fun. I've fallen far - I couldn't even pass Healing Vision (Angelic Mix) on Heavy, but I know I can get back up there. Cullen and I are (pgoing up to Austin on Friday to play, which will be fun. We haven't really hung out in like nine months or so, so that'll be cool.
Ambra's being weird, as usual. She's just hard to read, I guess. Hell, most girls are, I'm just dealing with this one up close and personal, so the difficulties are magnified. But that's another story for another time.
Shana Vanguarde -- Dancing Queen
The crew meeting was fun, the bowling party was a blast. Oh, and V for Vendetta is FUCKING AWESOME. I say that even though I fell asleep during parts of it - not continuous sleep, just dozing off here and there, my head lolling back... kind of embarrasing, since I was on a first date and everything. She didn't say anything about it, I don't know if she noticed. I hope not. But yeah, the movie was still awesome, and it sounds like I'm going to see it (at least) two more times - Rose on Friday, and Ambra on Monday.
So, the date... it went well, I think. Well, as well as could have been expected. She admitted that it was kind of awkward, her being friends with Janelle and everything, which is understandable. I told her it was cool if she wanted to call the whole thing off, but she didn't. I got my truck vacuumed and everything, I think it looks pretty nice. Of course, it was a moot point - I got hung up at Mom's house as her and Mike were asking about Ashley, and since Janelle happened to be there, she pulled up her facebook, which was FUN. So yeah, by the time I got back here and showered, then left to pick her up... she called me as I got about a block away, asked me if I wanted her to just meet me here, so I didn't miss the beginning, which is what we eventually did. I ended up standing outside the theather for a bit, waiting on her, which I really, really hate doing - I mean, I'm not complaining since it was definitely my fault and everthing, I'm just saying, I feel like such a doof when I have to do that. But she showed up before too long, and we went and got our seats. Ended up sitting down *just* as the previews were ending, which is good and bad, but still good timing.
Then, the movie.
Afterwards, we ended up standing outside by her car for like an hour and a half, just talking about myriad varied topics. Fairly enjoyable, no long awkward pauses or anything. I would later learn that Gina drove by at one point, as her little cabal was going to a late show, but they didn't say anything, figuring that the last thing you need when you're out on a first date is for your manager to show up and be like, "Hey! What's up?" - which isn't really true. I mean, yeah, if Dave did that, I wouldn't be happy, but Gina's cool. So yeah, we stood around and talked, and she finally had to leave, competition in the morning and everything. I walked across the parking lot to my truck, very nearly broke out in tears. I really, really don't know why - I certainly wasn't disappointed with how the date went or anything; hell, at that point, I was still surprised it had happened at all. I mean, even now, I still don't know what set me off. But yeah... I had been thinking about going up to Austin to play DDR, but I ended up just falling right asleep, since I had been up for quite a while at that point, and running around crazy for a good portion of it.
Woke up, went in to work Sunday 5 - C. Gina told me she saw me on my date, asked about Ambra and me, apparently like half the upper management things we're dating. I mean, it's an easy mistake to make, given how much time we spend together and what-not. I did Sunday night paperwork as usual, Ambra brought some XL dough on her way in... and I managed to lock myself out of the store while I was looking at the dough. Good stuff. I got Joe's roommate to bring me up the store key - Joe was kind of drunk - and finished up everything. Ambra and I talked a little about the misconceptions going on about us. She said something to the effect of "I've been thinking about [us dating], but didn't want to say anything about it, 'cause I didn't want to be a tease." which can be read one of two ways, but more on that later. Took the paperwork, came back here and crashed. We were thinking about going to see V for Vendetta at 3, but when my alarm went off at 1, she was in no mood to get up, so I got up and doinked around for a few hours while she slept. Didn't do much with my day off Monday, worked Tuesday 5 - C. Really, really slow for a Tuesday night - I think our highest pie hour was like a 48, which is *really* slow for Tuesday night. Found out Jimmy's not going to be a manager, "just" an insider (well, a San Marcos insider, at least), which makes me happy, 'cause I don't like him.
I mean, just as a person. I'm sure he's a fine worker, there hasn't been anything to make me dislike him, that's just my snap judgments kicking in. I'm not engraving that in stone, he still has an oppurtunity to show me I shouldn't dislike him, but 'til then...
Today (Wednesday)'s been okay. Had to go to training class with Joe 7 - 10. I really hate being in a San Antonio-based franchise, when we have to drive like 30-45 minutes to get to these things, very annoying. The class itself was pretty bad - the title was "Fundamentals." The only thing I learned was that someone has trademarked the phrase "Emotional Bank Account", which I still can't really wrap my head around. There were comment sheets to fill out, and that's really all I talked about. The rest of the stuff was stuff they had already shoved down my throat by the end of the first week, so yeah, pretty boring. I crashed on the way back, which is why I'm still up, and probably won't go to sleep. I just finished filing my taxes, netted a fairly sweet 1600+ return. Unfortunately, most of that - about 1300 - will go to finishing paying of my transmission loan, but that's still about 350 or so to play around with. Probably just go into my account, nothing really excited looming or anything. Well, except for moving in with Ambra in a little over a month.
So, what else is new? Let's see...
Rose and Lilie are moving to Austin, sounds like they're going to be moving into the Hills of Chevy Chase, which is an awesome name for an apartment complex. They'll be up on Wickersham-ish, so I can definitely stop by to say hi when I'm up there to play DDR or whatever. I'm taking Rose to go see V for Vendetta on Friday, which will be fun - again, it's a fantastic movie. She's still with Richard, which is great, but I don't know what's going to happen when they move to Austin, except I think she's buying his old car. Or something. Lilie kind of half-way admitted she had kind of led me on, which is nice, I s'pose, 'cept I don't really care. I mean, I'll always be in love with her, I just don't love her. I still get a little melancholy about her every once in a while, but that's very few and far between, so that's nice. I doubt I'll ever get over her fully - why should she be the first? - but it's progress. Hell, one day, I might even be able to talk to her again.
But anyway.
Played DDR on campus today, which was fun. I've fallen far - I couldn't even pass Healing Vision (Angelic Mix) on Heavy, but I know I can get back up there. Cullen and I are (pgoing up to Austin on Friday to play, which will be fun. We haven't really hung out in like nine months or so, so that'll be cool.
Ambra's being weird, as usual. She's just hard to read, I guess. Hell, most girls are, I'm just dealing with this one up close and personal, so the difficulties are magnified. But that's another story for another time.
Shana Vanguarde -- Dancing Queen
2006-04-09
2006-04-08
I'm walking from the wreckage
So I knew going into that today was shaping up to be a busy, hectic, but fun-filled day, and so far, I've been right. Had the store meeting at nine, that went alright. As usual, the people that needed to hear what was being said the most weren't there. It's nice to know that some things are the same, no matter where you're at. Ashley, Joe, and I all stayed to help put the truck up, left around eleven or so. Ambra ended up coming over last night, she's still crashed out on my bed. I just finished washing my truck - first time in 3 1/2 years that I've done so - the last time was on my birthday, when we went and played Lazer Tag, and Zara was joining us. I also ended up driving to Austin and back four times that night - good stuff. I also just got my first mail at PlentyofFish.com, a free dating site I put my profile on a month or so ago for the heck of it - she was commenting on my wings. So now, I still need to go figure out what I'm going to get Mom for her birthday - I'm thinking some mulch and a good book - and vacuum out my truck, to really complete it. I need to be at the bowling alley by 1:30, so I'm doing fine on time, but I need to squeeze a shower in there too somewhere, which is going to be interesting. After that, I'm probably going to come home and shower *again*, then take Ashley Hughes (who, as it turns out, not only knows Janelle, but has several clases with her) out for dinner and a movie. That's going to be interesting, if she doesn't cancel - it is kind of weird, after all, her knowing Janelle and going out on a date with her big brother and all. After that... well, after that, I'm strongly considering heading up to Austin to play some DDR, hopefully at Blazer Tag, and definitely at Einstein's. I even sent an email over to Cullen, try to re-establish contact with him, see if he's interested in going with me, which would be frickin' awesome. So yeah, that's where I'm at now... and it's almost 12:30, which means I need to move my little heiny out the door if I'm going to get all the stuff done that I need to within the time frame I have.
The goose is, in fact, loose, ladies and gentlemen.
Route-1 Ft Jenny Frost -- Crash Landing
The goose is, in fact, loose, ladies and gentlemen.
Route-1 Ft Jenny Frost -- Crash Landing
It was one by one, baby, two by two
So, the internet is acting all crappy. More specifically, our connection. It's not totally crapped out, just mostly. Sporadic, even. IM'ing isn't really affected, browsing is tedious and frustrating, but tolerable. Gaming? Not gonna happen. Even with this, though, I have to say I very much prefer Time Warner over Grande. We'll test how much of the terrible service from Grande was due to our location after I move in with Ambra - she has Grande high-speed as part of their rent, so yeah. So no WoW or anything right now, but it does give me a good chance to deal with some backlogged posting I'd been planning on.
So, I'm going to tackle my to-do list, see how far I get on that.
Let's do dreams first. I've two recently. The first one involved Carrie and a space shuttle. We were on the space shuttle, a group of like maybe twelve-fifteen of us, sitting around this big table. There was a problem, and apparently, none of us could move. Something to do with not being able to take our shoes off the floor, and not having any way to remove our shoes. I wasn't affected by it, since I wasn't wearing any shoes. There really isn't anything more to that part than just that image, that explanation. The second part of the dream, I'm with Carrie. I think we were still in the space shuttle, or a train. Some sort of enclosed compartment with a window. I go to hold her hand, and she says that it's okay, but that her boyfriend might not approve, and I was just heartbroken. Very weird.
The second dream starts out with Roland and I walking down the halls of our high school. Now, something I didn't really notice when I was there, mainly because I was in all AP level courses which were predominantly white, but our high school has a strong hispanic majority. Not too startling in hindsight. So Roland and I are walking down the hallway, and there's a *ton* of hispanic guys as well - almost to the point of congestion. He starts getting elbowed a little, bodily pushed, and eventually ends up getting pushed out this door. He was killed, though there was nothing to support it; I knew it, the way you randomly know things in dreams. So a little later, they come to take me out; there's a group of them about to attack me in the middle of a hallway; everyone else is in class. I basically beat the crap out of them, I distinctly remember throwing one guy into the wall. It was pretty cool. One of them eventually pulled out a baseball bat, but he didn't use it until some sort of authority figure was confronting me about the incident. He swung it at me, but I caught it, which was pretty cool, then I went on a rampage with it. Later, they came after me at my house; I was hiding under a blanket or something. They poked me with a baseball bat, and chaos ensued again. The final part had me facing the mafia leader in my house, but he was caught with police on the way, and trying desperately to get me to free him, which I wasn't going to do. He lights a lighter and drops it, indicating that he's going to burn the house down if we don't free him. We don't, and just walk away. I'm trying to remember where Lilie made a cameo in the dream - I wrote that she did when I was making my post list, but I don't rememeber anymore. Ah, well...
Most of the rest of the stuff I plan to post has to do with work - even hanging out with Ashley, moving in with Ambra, it all ties in to work in one way or another. Except... WoW. Blech, but out of a mindless sense of duty, might as well.
So, 1.10 finally hit. I respecc'ed Ihatebrooms to Disc/Holy, as I planned to, got her to 50. Haven't been playing very much lately, just haven't been in the mood. I've considered cancelling once or twice, but I don't think I will, not just yet. That'll probably take a day off or two where I have absolutely no inclination whatsoever to play. We'll see. Only done the first step of the Dungeon 2 set with Gnometastic, probably working on the next step.
So yeah, on to work.
Let's start with all the new hiring going on. We have a *ton* of new people right now - a *ton*. It's frustrating, but there are a few nice aspects to it. Some of the new people are panning out nicely, but they're not quite enough just yet to replace everyone we've lost. I mean, in the driver section, the *only* people we've retained are Mal, Travis, Ray, and Ross. We haven't lost any of the managers, though, which has really helped pull us through the worst bits. I'm hesitant to start naming names and really going in depth on who I don't like and why, but there are a few. I won't shed any tears over the two we just lost, though - they were the top two on my list of people I really, really didn't like to work with. I'm still toying with the idea of leaving and going to work at the Wal-Mart or HEB Distribution warehouse. Interesting random fact - I *hate* working in food, and I *hate* being a manager. At least, I hate the part of being a manager that involves dealing with whining. I HATE whining. I should probably clarify that. I don't hate *all* whining - I think some whining is constructive, even necessary. People have a need to vent, to blow off steam about things, and that's close to whining, but perfectly fine. People are going to complain about things that happened, they're going to talk to their friends about it, sure, yeah. I'm talking about whining about doing your DAMN job, ESPECIALLY if you get paid more than me.
But anyway...
So yeah, people are really immature when they call after close and get all upset. I mean, I can understand not being sure of our hours, or the whole open later on Friday and Saturday thing, and I don't mind answering a question or three. But seriously, GROW THE FUCK UP people. I mean, I'll hear people in the background going "Man, fuck Domino's! I'm never buying stuff from there again!" , or asking if I can just make *them* an exception and send them out a pizza, or - my personal favorite - getting upset that I had the nerve to answer the phone, even though we're not open. That one *really* pisses me off, and as such, I've created a list of reasons why we do it.
Not a terribly long list, but one that I feel presents sufficient explanation for answering the phone after close.
So yeah, Ambra. She's doing okay. Well, better than she was. She just wants out. And I don't blame her - none of us wanted the job, certainly, which is why she got stuck with it. Things are still on track for me to move in with her after Jessie moves out, and I'm still looking foward to it. We've been hanging out a lot lately - Eileen and Gina have banned her from coming to the store to hang out after close, which is weird - but she's been over here a lot, I'm taking her to Mom's birthday party tomorrow. In fact, she's sleeping in my bed right now... good times. Definitely nothing there, though, which is what she said she wanted, so that's all good. I still like her, probably more after hanging out with her so much, which makes me more confident that it's for the right reasons, which I was worried about. Or maybe I'm just being stubborn... I don't know.
So it's been a real blast working with Ashley (Emily too, but she hasn't introduced me to any cute friends, which is why I bring up Ashley, but not Emily) - great personality, driven, quick learner, etc. That, and she has three really cute friends - Aliare, Beth, and Ashley. Way back when, she was talking about trying to hook me up with Aliare, since she thought our personalities would go well together, but I kind of negated that one, since Alaira does pot, smokes, and drinks, which are my three main things I look for to not exist in a girl. The second and third are negotiable to some degree, but the first is definitely not. In fact, I even asked Ashley out - I'm picking her up later today, I think we're doing dinner and a movie? Nothing terribly creative, but hey, it's the first date. Of course, that's your only chance to make a good first impression, but I've always really sucked at first impressions. It's going to be a fun day, regardless, with Mom's birthday party, a date with Ashley, and then, most likely, heading up to Austin for some DDR. That'll be fun, yeah...
Rihanna -- Pon De Replay
So, I'm going to tackle my to-do list, see how far I get on that.
Let's do dreams first. I've two recently. The first one involved Carrie and a space shuttle. We were on the space shuttle, a group of like maybe twelve-fifteen of us, sitting around this big table. There was a problem, and apparently, none of us could move. Something to do with not being able to take our shoes off the floor, and not having any way to remove our shoes. I wasn't affected by it, since I wasn't wearing any shoes. There really isn't anything more to that part than just that image, that explanation. The second part of the dream, I'm with Carrie. I think we were still in the space shuttle, or a train. Some sort of enclosed compartment with a window. I go to hold her hand, and she says that it's okay, but that her boyfriend might not approve, and I was just heartbroken. Very weird.
The second dream starts out with Roland and I walking down the halls of our high school. Now, something I didn't really notice when I was there, mainly because I was in all AP level courses which were predominantly white, but our high school has a strong hispanic majority. Not too startling in hindsight. So Roland and I are walking down the hallway, and there's a *ton* of hispanic guys as well - almost to the point of congestion. He starts getting elbowed a little, bodily pushed, and eventually ends up getting pushed out this door. He was killed, though there was nothing to support it; I knew it, the way you randomly know things in dreams. So a little later, they come to take me out; there's a group of them about to attack me in the middle of a hallway; everyone else is in class. I basically beat the crap out of them, I distinctly remember throwing one guy into the wall. It was pretty cool. One of them eventually pulled out a baseball bat, but he didn't use it until some sort of authority figure was confronting me about the incident. He swung it at me, but I caught it, which was pretty cool, then I went on a rampage with it. Later, they came after me at my house; I was hiding under a blanket or something. They poked me with a baseball bat, and chaos ensued again. The final part had me facing the mafia leader in my house, but he was caught with police on the way, and trying desperately to get me to free him, which I wasn't going to do. He lights a lighter and drops it, indicating that he's going to burn the house down if we don't free him. We don't, and just walk away. I'm trying to remember where Lilie made a cameo in the dream - I wrote that she did when I was making my post list, but I don't rememeber anymore. Ah, well...
Most of the rest of the stuff I plan to post has to do with work - even hanging out with Ashley, moving in with Ambra, it all ties in to work in one way or another. Except... WoW. Blech, but out of a mindless sense of duty, might as well.
So, 1.10 finally hit. I respecc'ed Ihatebrooms to Disc/Holy, as I planned to, got her to 50. Haven't been playing very much lately, just haven't been in the mood. I've considered cancelling once or twice, but I don't think I will, not just yet. That'll probably take a day off or two where I have absolutely no inclination whatsoever to play. We'll see. Only done the first step of the Dungeon 2 set with Gnometastic, probably working on the next step.
So yeah, on to work.
Let's start with all the new hiring going on. We have a *ton* of new people right now - a *ton*. It's frustrating, but there are a few nice aspects to it. Some of the new people are panning out nicely, but they're not quite enough just yet to replace everyone we've lost. I mean, in the driver section, the *only* people we've retained are Mal, Travis, Ray, and Ross. We haven't lost any of the managers, though, which has really helped pull us through the worst bits. I'm hesitant to start naming names and really going in depth on who I don't like and why, but there are a few. I won't shed any tears over the two we just lost, though - they were the top two on my list of people I really, really didn't like to work with. I'm still toying with the idea of leaving and going to work at the Wal-Mart or HEB Distribution warehouse. Interesting random fact - I *hate* working in food, and I *hate* being a manager. At least, I hate the part of being a manager that involves dealing with whining. I HATE whining. I should probably clarify that. I don't hate *all* whining - I think some whining is constructive, even necessary. People have a need to vent, to blow off steam about things, and that's close to whining, but perfectly fine. People are going to complain about things that happened, they're going to talk to their friends about it, sure, yeah. I'm talking about whining about doing your DAMN job, ESPECIALLY if you get paid more than me.
But anyway...
So yeah, people are really immature when they call after close and get all upset. I mean, I can understand not being sure of our hours, or the whole open later on Friday and Saturday thing, and I don't mind answering a question or three. But seriously, GROW THE FUCK UP people. I mean, I'll hear people in the background going "Man, fuck Domino's! I'm never buying stuff from there again!" , or asking if I can just make *them* an exception and send them out a pizza, or - my personal favorite - getting upset that I had the nerve to answer the phone, even though we're not open. That one *really* pisses me off, and as such, I've created a list of reasons why we do it.
- First and foremost, it's company policy. They tell us to do it, we do it.
- That phone is really annoying, especially since I've been listening to it ring for the past eight to ten hours. If I don't pick it up, I'm going to have to listen to it ring until you hang up.
- Along those lines, if I don't pick it up, you're going to be sitting there, listening to the automated message saying "Your call is being transferred to a team member", wondering if we're open and just taking a while to answer the phone, closed, or what, until you decide to hang up. It's a courtesy to you, bitches.
- It's entirely likely it could be one of the other stores in our franchise calling with a question about paperwork, procedure, or inventory.
- Most of our employees know the best time to call with a question about their schedule is after close, when, while we're still busy, we're able to pause for a minute or three and let them know when they come in the next day or whatever.
- Along the same line, family members and significant others often call after close, since it's the best time to catch someone who's closing, for the same reasons noted above.
Not a terribly long list, but one that I feel presents sufficient explanation for answering the phone after close.
So yeah, Ambra. She's doing okay. Well, better than she was. She just wants out. And I don't blame her - none of us wanted the job, certainly, which is why she got stuck with it. Things are still on track for me to move in with her after Jessie moves out, and I'm still looking foward to it. We've been hanging out a lot lately - Eileen and Gina have banned her from coming to the store to hang out after close, which is weird - but she's been over here a lot, I'm taking her to Mom's birthday party tomorrow. In fact, she's sleeping in my bed right now... good times. Definitely nothing there, though, which is what she said she wanted, so that's all good. I still like her, probably more after hanging out with her so much, which makes me more confident that it's for the right reasons, which I was worried about. Or maybe I'm just being stubborn... I don't know.
So it's been a real blast working with Ashley (Emily too, but she hasn't introduced me to any cute friends, which is why I bring up Ashley, but not Emily) - great personality, driven, quick learner, etc. That, and she has three really cute friends - Aliare, Beth, and Ashley. Way back when, she was talking about trying to hook me up with Aliare, since she thought our personalities would go well together, but I kind of negated that one, since Alaira does pot, smokes, and drinks, which are my three main things I look for to not exist in a girl. The second and third are negotiable to some degree, but the first is definitely not. In fact, I even asked Ashley out - I'm picking her up later today, I think we're doing dinner and a movie? Nothing terribly creative, but hey, it's the first date. Of course, that's your only chance to make a good first impression, but I've always really sucked at first impressions. It's going to be a fun day, regardless, with Mom's birthday party, a date with Ashley, and then, most likely, heading up to Austin for some DDR. That'll be fun, yeah...
Rihanna -- Pon De Replay
