Finally got to get into it with a customer today about the whole "You Got 30 Minutes" thing. First, I do think it's really, really dumb for them to be using that. I mean, yeah, the vast majority of our orders do get to our customers within thirty minutes, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong to play up that; the problem, however, is that we did that 30 minute guarantee in the 80's, so *anything* with Domino's and the number 30 is automatically going to make that connection in people's minds. It's pretty unfortunate. Anyway. He also got pretty mad that our drivers don't carry parmesan or crushed red peppers on them. Seriously, though. I mean, if you can't eat something without a given condiment, that condiment has ceased to be a condiment, and is instead an integral part of the dish. Well, those aren't. Deal with it. We do charge for them. Think that's ridiculous? Shop somewhere else. Customer's choice, and all that.

So the guy placed his order, and I told him at the end of the order that it'd be 35-45 minutes. The guy calls back at thirty-one minutes, almost exactly. I know this because when someone calls back that's already placed an order, when you bring up that phone line, it says when they ordered. There's that, and there's the clock right next to that, so it's pretty easy to see how long ago they ordered. So yeah, he called back right at thirty-one, thirty-two minutes. He was calling about our 30-minute guarantee, which we don't have. He kept bringing up the commercial, which just says "You've got 30 minutes". It doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes, or it's free." It definitely doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes (or it's free)". It says "You've got 30 minutes (or keep waiting)". Again, I'm not defending the fact that they're almost definitely playing to the fact that we did have one, a long, LONG time ago, and people are definitely going to make that association whenever they see the 30. Whatever. But it's there, and we're doing the best we can.

So yeah, the guy calls at 32 minutes, and I explain about it being an estimate, not a guarantee. We go through this several times.

He then calls back another twenty-ish minutes later, to make another complaint. Basically, (a) his pizza took 40 minutes, and (b) the driver didn't have any peppers or cheese on him. I would have had a little more sympathy for this complaint if we hadn't already discussed (a) when he called back ONE MINUTE after thirty minutes, and I told him that it'd be 35-45 minutes for delivery. And (b), well, there's not a lot I can do about (b). It's how our franchise operates. I can't really defend it.

Moving on.

Four of

Hmm. I got caught up playing around on Facebook, and I'm really not sure where I was going with that "Four of" thing. I'll get back to that, if possible.

Oh! I remember. Maybe. I might have been going to say something about I've done four of my eleven consecutive shifts? Probably not. I can't see me saying "Four of" as the beginning of that sentence. Anyway.

So yeah, been dealing with a lot of ex's lately, primarily through Facebook. I let it do the 'automatic friend finder thing' with my gmail inbox, and that brought up Chelsea and Lilie, got to see them. Oh, and Terri. Saw Mindy while going through some photos to upload, and Carrie, and Nikki. Ashley ordered pizza last night.

I knew you wouldn't understand

One more to add to the baby watch - Carrie. Yup, Carrie. We were talking today just randomly, since we were both on and all, and she just kind of dropped that bombshell. Now, Lilie was saying that that's what people do, it's natural, it happens, blah blah blah. I agree. However, it's something old people do. These people - Carrie, Terri, Montana, Kristina, they're my age, my peers, my friends. It's really weird for me to think about those people getting pregnant, having babies of their own. Lilie suggested that it makes me feel old. No, it makes me feel young. Way too young. That's part of being an adult, being grown up, and it's something I don't want for a good long while yet. Hmm.

Also, the second D&D movie doesn't suck. That much. It's just like playing D&D with Jarrod and Mat and Luke... right down to the bad accents, random encounters with bandits, and overdone fantasy clichès.

Colette -- Didn't Mean to Turn You On

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.

1. First and foremost, it's company policy. They tell us to do it, we do it.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
   
4. It's entirely likely it could be one of the other stores in our franchise calling with a question about paperwork, procedure, or inventory.
   
5. 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.
   
6. 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

Every time I see you, I try to hide away

So I was feeling really crappy, and Jess said she'd stay and close for me. That sweetheart. She's also going to Seguin instead of me. I didn't really want to; the only reason that I was willing to without putting up any sort of fuss was that it was to help out Ambra. It's much more convenient for Jess, though, since she lives right there and won't have to drive half an hour to work anymore. From what I hear, she's going to be there for two months, and then there'll re-evaluate the situation. Gina was saying something like if things don't get better by that time, she'll go out there with Jess, and Ambra and I will run San Marcos in the interem. That kind of scares me, but I don't think it'll happen. Had some new drivers come on board, they're doing okay so far, which is good, because I'm about to smack Wes. We're about to get mandatory random drug testing, which will probably cost us a few people. Most of the people I know we'll lose, I'm not sorry to see go one bit, but I don't know the full extent that we'll face. Supposedly, we're getting a 16" pizza here shortly, which is going to suck hardcore. Really, really hardcore. Have (had) 6 closing shifts this week, Tue - Sun (well, except for tonight, since Jess closed for me). Probably have about the same next week, because although we're getting Joe and Jenn back, we're losing Jess for a while. So things are going to be interesting. I'll be eligible for a week of paid vacation here in about three months, which will be cool - an entire week off, and pay for 40 hour that week. There's a chance I might end up spending it with Carrie, which would rock hardcore. There are a few other things I might end up doing during that week, but Carrie remains my number one choice.

So yeah, that's work. Let's see, what else...? Well, WoW's going okay. Up to rank 7 on Gnometastic, making a strong push for rank 8 this week. That'll get me the PvP Tier 1 robes and legs, and replace the last two auction house greens I have (Update: Just got the Dreadmist Leggings on a Baron run, bringing me up to 6/8 Dreadmist (2 of which I actually wear, until Tuesday, when I drop the leggings in favor of the PvP ones)). I'm debating whether or not I'm going to make a serious effort to get rank 10 and complete the Tier 1 set. I'd really like to - the helmet would be a definite upgrade, though I'd do better with the Crown of the Ogre King. The shoulders would be a good upgrade too... but mainly, I think both pieces look frickin' AWESOME. The whole set does, really, though slightly less than the mage set, which I think looks EVEN MORE AWESOME. There's no chance of me getting the PvP Tier 2 set, and I don't care about the epic mount, since I just have to do DM West with another lock that has the mats to get my epic mount, so after 8 or 10, I'll just be grinding rep with the BGs for gear. I'd like to hit Exalted with WSG for their Tabard, but nothing else - seriously, their rewards suck. I wouldn't be surprised to see Blizzard revamp their rewards a little soon. The Ironbark Staff, at Exalted with Arathi Basin, is definitely my most attainable staff upgrade, since I'm not likely to get a MC or BWL staff until the expansion. Speaking of which, went back to MC with Grief tonight on the freak 'having-Friday-night-off thing', which was nice. Didn't get anything (naturally), but if I'm able to attend a few raids, I think the chance of me getting stuff is decent. By stuff, I mean pieces of Felheart. Ihatebrooms is coming along nicely, 46 now. She's still shadow, but I'll be going disc/holy after 1.10 hits. I haven't touched Ereneda in a while now, since the renewed interest in Gnometastic and her starting to advance again. She's basically just a farming character - skinning, herbalism, and AoE'ing (which I absolutely *love*, btw).

After those two categories... not sure what else there is, really. And yeah, that's really sad. Our lease is up May 31st, at which point we'll be parting ways. David wants to live on his own, which is cool, and not very surprising. It might eliminate the joy that is playing WoW with someone right next to you, but we don't get to do that very often anyway, what with our current schedules and what-not. I'll be moving in with Ambra during that one month period between her roommate moving out (early May) and my lease ending (end of May). We'll another two-ish months 'til her lease is up to see if we can stand living together, and if we can, then we'll find a place. I think it'll be okay. I'm not terribly worried about anything developing between us, which would make things kind of awkward anyway, but yeah. I'm looking foward to living much closer to campus and being able to go play DDR every day, which will be really cool, even if it's during the summer.

Haven't seen any movies recently, so I can't really comment on that. We were going to see Ultraviolet, but Ambra was completely exhausted and fell asleep fairly soon after getting here. (Remarked David, "Did she come over here just to crash on our couch?")

So, what else, what else? Hmm... still ardently single. Ardently? That's not the right word. Stringently? Nope. Hopelessly? Eh... not quite right. Unflinchingly? Now I'm just being silly. Something along these lines, though. I don't think I'm co-dependant or anything - I certainly don't feel I *have* to be in a relationship, that I *have* to have someone with me to be complete.

It'd be nice, though.

Mysterio -- Fading Like a Flower

I want a curry and rice girl

No, I don't know what that means. But the song, and its video, are downright hilarious.

But it's time for a dream recap. I've been going through a non-posting phase, which always annoys me. Kind of, but not that much. So yeah, I've had a few weird dreams that I thought I'd post.

Lemme think... I had one last night about WoW. It's always cool to have those dreams, but it makes me feel like a total geek. Given the amount of time I spend playing and the time David and I spend talking about it, it makes sense, but still. I think Jarrod would understand what I mean here, and probably back me up. But anyway. So it was a first person dream - IE, I was the character. Yeah, kinda geeky. Alliance, but I don't remember what else. Something like 5v5, and we were in one of the first games to occur. There were five points in a really short V shape, but really long. Almost a line, but still a fulcrum. There were some weird objectives which I don't really remember, but there were multiple ways to win, and we were experimenting with different things, and had hit on something that worked really well. There were seeds at each one, and if you could control them all, you'd grow this magical tree that would start charming foes and really help you out. Everyone else had been ignoring that, but it was a tactic our group was experimenting with. It was working fairly well, but there was this Tauren Druid with the shoulders that looked like bushes that kept screwing with us. It wasn't Ganadar. I think he was immune to it or something, and was doing whatever he could to impede us in annoying little ways.

As David said, Tauren Druids even haunt my dreams.

Moving on...

I had one about Carrie the day she sent me this crazy letter. I'd post the full text, but it's kind of private. So yeah, I was lying in bed, kind of half-asleep, thinking about her, and fell asleep for a delightful afternoon nap. I've forgotten most of the detail in this dream, but I picked her up at the airport. I think that was about it.

Two nights ago, I had one where I was reading a Star Wars book. Yeah, that's an exciting dream. But I was also watching the action, while there was a voiceover reading the text of the book. Almost like a movie, but I was definitely reading a book. It had Corran Horn in it, and he was being kind of introspective. I think Wedge might have made an appearance, but that was about it.

Then, the one I had last night. David and I were in it, as well as Mat Petersen. He was still in High School, and we were a year ahead of him, having graduated the year before. We were back to visit him, and David and I had made these really cool glasses, built on the frame of old batting helmets. (It's a lot cooler without that last part). They were *really* cool, though. Voice-activated, with a bunch of different modes - edge detection, heat, motion, etc. We were testing them out, and were talking about playing "James Bond Tag" with them, where we'd have guns that shoot special non-harming bullets, and the glasses could detect the outcome of the shot, like they'd be monitoring the game and all. There was also some bizarre subplot where I kept unplugging this big plug from an external electrical outlet right outside a classroom, and it was actually unplugging their overhead projector. The teacher was about to come out and catch me the second time I did it, but that was about when I woke up and realized it was like... um.. crap. No idea. But I went back to sleep later, and woke up around midnight? Not sure. Ran RFD with Ihatebrooms.

So yeah, I've had some weird dreams lately. Nothing spectacular, but odd enough that I still remember them later. Still have another post to make about locking horns with almost every driver this week, but I'll do that one later. I'm kind of half-heartedly cleaning some of the apartment. Already got the dishes taken care of, David got the trash out, I'm going to work on my bathroom next.



MC Vikram & Ludakrishna -- Curry and Rice Girl

Love, life and laughter is all I believe in

Wow, I just had a series of bizarre dreams, and they're already starting to fade, so let's see what I can get down before they fade completely.

In one, there was a group of ten people - one of which was me, one was Larisa Oleynik, (Edit; Wow, that's a *terrible* picture of her up on IMBD, btw. She's very cute. Edit x2; here is a much better one) one was her big sister, and seven others - heading to her house, which is underwater. Oh yeah, I was a warlock. Which is sad, but given the amount of time I spend playing WoW, it's not *that* weird that I would dream about it once in a while. The others died off or had to leave one by one, until it was just the three of us by the time we reached her house. I forget why that proved anything, but we hooked up, and made out in her room for a while. This was by far the longest dream, and the one I remember the best, as I was in the middle of it when I woke up.


There was another one about Mindy. Details on that one are growing fainter by the second, and I think I'm getting them intermixed with the previous one, because Larisa Oleynik reminds me of Mindy at times. It also doesn't help that they were fairly similiar, except in this one, we went to the movies or something. Made out some (That's going to be a repeating motif).

There was, of course, one about Lilie. I think one of us was a mutant or something, and killed the other one? Not really sure. Anyway.

I even had one about Carrie. I think this may have been the first one, as I barely recall it at all, except for the kissing and hugging and making out and what-not.

It was one of those nights where I really, really didn't want to wake up.

Amber -- I'm a Dreamer

You treat me rough to show that you care, and I just can't refuse

This is not the post I talked about. This is just one where I sum stuff up before I leave for New Orleans in the morning. Yeah, did I mention that? I thought we were going to Baton Rouge. I have to get up around 7 or 8 am, then we're meeting up with Jenn and Cassandra, then driving down there. I'm... well, not excited. I'm not dreading it or anything, just not excited about it like Jess or Shelly would be. They both wanted to go, but Gina ended up sending me. I'm mainly just doing it for the name recognition and the money, not because I want a vacation (not like this is one or anything), though I can't deny it'll be good to get away for a few days, even if it's just to go make pizza somewhere else. I still have some stuff to do - some laundry, clean my room, do the dishes, get some bottled water, that kind of stuff. Yeah, I also need to change the songs on my player, since I'm going to be listening to it the whole way there and back. So that's fun.

Bill bought Janelle a new car. Well, certified pre-owned, but new. '01 Altima, if I understand correctly. I didn't get to go to lunch today to see it, but I'm sure I'll see it when I get back and we do her birthday next Sunday.

So Carrie and I have been talking more recently, mainly because I've felt really alone and have been reaching out where I can. Even talked to Jarrod last night, mainly due to Jessica at work living next door to him. She actually just called me, and we talked for about 10 minutes. Neither one of us is particularly fond of talking on the phone, which is why we do it so rarely, but we both enjoy hearing one another's voice every so often. Very comforting. We even talked about Lilie and this guy she kinda likes - weird, but okay.

Oh, wow. She just sent me an email:

From: {Carrie} To: jackalope@gmail.com Date: Oct 16, 2005 10:02 PM Subject: =)

i sit an wonder where my love billy is at... then i think..maybe i should send him something to tell him i miss him dearly so, i send him a kiss that i meant to last forever.... ps=why am i snding this? Because i have thought about you a lot...and though i would show you how much i miss my billy and love him dearly..hope this makes you smile--not the pics hahah but the thought---

So yeah, those two things kind of brightened up an otherwise dreary day. Week. Month. Well, not really month. It's had its up spots. A few. Too few. Ah, well, I guess that just makes me cherish them that much more. Of course, that's kind of backwards, as they're tainted now. Tarnished. Painful.

So yeah. T minus nine hours and counting. I'm stacking the deck on this one - I've got my mom calling me before she leaves for work, setting my alarm, and having David make sure I'm up when he gets up (or some point around there). I guess I am looking foward to getting away from here for a few days. It'll be good.

Girls Aloud -- Wake Me Up

Magical Moonlight

This is "Magical Moonlight", the bouquet I'm sending Carrie for her birthday (Shh! Don't tell her! It's a secret.) According to the description, "Our radiant, all-white bouquet reflects the luminous romance of moonlight to celebrate any occasion magically. Our florists gather white flowers such as roses, snapdragons, carnations, greens, and more into an alluring cobalt blue vase for a stunning arrangement that gives off a hint of stardust". If all goes well, it'll be delivered to her door on Wednesday, when she turns 21. We talked a little more on the phone last night, and her coming down sounds more and more like a definite thing.


Sounds pretty.

The club will be shaking, there we'll be waiting, 'cause I don't play nice, pt 2

Didn't expect to end that last post so abruptly, but I had to go. I'm actually writing this post on Sesami, the computer in the living room whose output is the TV, which means it's really, really hard to read the text. IF this post has a lot of spelling and punctuation errors, that's why. Get over it.

JD came over last night and we watched some MST3K, and I'm *still* copying over his collection. He has all of them. All 199. I've got the majority copied over, but the lest set is a huge pain in the ass, because neither David's nor my computer's DVD drives will read about 10 of the DVDs he has, but the media center will, so I have to do it all from across the room. Meh, could be worse. A lot worse. Went over for breakfast tacos at Mom's house earlier, that was cool. She keeps sending stuff my way, as she's adjusting cooking for two instead of three or four. Saw Lilie in her new car (the Shiny; he doesn't have a name yet) delivering pizza. Things are going very well with her right now, I'm really happy with where we are. Where we are now, which is different from where we were the last time we saw each other (it makes sense, trust me).

Work's been hell lately. Had two 50+ weeks in a row. This week, at least I have Sunday off, though I did have to work 6 am to 4 pm yesterday to get it. I originally asked for last night and today off because I thought Terri was going to be in town; it's probably just as well that she's not. Long story. But I'm enjoying the heck out of my day off. Going to dinner later with the family 'cause Janelle's leaving on Tuesday for a month and a day. David mounted the speakers yesterday (we were going to do it together, but I fell asleep and I guess he didn't feel like waiting until I woke up.) It looks *really* cool. I can't wait to watch something that takes full advantage of the 5.1 format. But back to work. Lacey just quit - she walked out Friday night about 10:30; Dave's *real* pissed - he said he doesn't want her on the lot at all, not even as a customer. Which I have no problem with, I never liked Lacey. Emily's quitting too - she put in her two weeks, but Dave's just taking her off the schedule now, as people who do that tend to not show up and he'd rather just cover his ass. I hear Allison is about to leave as well. I'm glad Emily and Lacey are leaving, though Allison leaving makes me sad. A little. She's changed a lot lately. Kristen commeted on it as well when she came over to check the place out. Krystle got her job back and is going to stay, which is good. Flaky idiot though she may be, I prefer having her on the shift.

Time for a crew rundown. Sort of. Jennifer C is really cool - she came over and hung out with David and I the other day. We watched Euro Trip, then ran errands. That was fun. Got to know her a lot better. She's a lot weirder than she lets on. WHich is cool. Lala *did* call me on Wednesday to go floating, but didn't leave a message, and her phone was turned to private, so I couldn't call back. IT was annoying ot miss out on, but I'll live. Most of the other carhops don't like Stacy 'cause they think she's a bitch. I don't disagree, but I don't have the same reaction. I think she's really cool, bitch and all. The other night, she came up to me and asked me if I could teach her how to skate. We spent about half an hour after close on the lot, trying to teach her. Didn't go very well. I think she's going to try to get some blades, or talk to Dave about just fountaining. Either of those would be cool; I don't want her to leave. Jill and Krystie have finally settled into things; nothing either way on them. Josh N is out, finally. I hated that guy. THe other Josh is still here; I don't think he'll be leaving any time soon. I can work with him without problem, I just don't ilke him. Dave can kiss my ass, but I refuse to be forced to like my coworkers. Being able to work with them is enough.

Lilie hasn't been playing WoW much lately, though she did finally get Suchevane to 60. Jarrod and I are going to jump on the next PVP server and have Horde characters; David's going to join us, probably one of his friends as well. We might also have Alliance characters on David's server. Possibly; that'd be cool too. I've been having a lot of fun as Schlemilly, my gnomish mage. Pretty much have her spec down, which is a first.

Finally got Carrie's letter mailed, which should surprise her when she gets it. Her birthday is coming up soon, and I'm going to send her some flowers. That should surprise the crap out of her, which will be cool. I don't know if she still plans on coming down at some point, but I hope so. I haven't seen her in over two years. Imagine - someone to actually play DDR with. What a concept. Speaking of which, Rose is really enjoying living in FLorida. Her roommates are wither 'princesses' or 'villians', neatly segmented based on the characters they tend to like in Disney movies (She's a villian). She really wants me to come visit, but I don't know if Chelsea is up for another cross-counry trip. I'm thinking about it, though. I could visit Terri and Carrie as well while I'm over there; maybe even Aunt Janet and Uncle Barney as well. Hell, I"m sure I can find a decent number of reasons to go, as if the ones I have aren't enough already.

So... we finally finished season 1 of B5. We're 1/5th of the way done. Wow. Of course, given recent events, this one might be delayed, or dragged out further, or something. I don't know. We have a few other marathons we're also going to do.

• Red vs. Blue

We could probably do this one in one night, definitely in two. We've both seen all of it extensively, though. Having Lilie over so she could finally watch it (though she doesn't seem to be able to go more than three episodes without falling asleep) is the main reason for this one.


• Star Wars IV - VI

To remind ourselves what Episode III was supposed to be transiitiong *to*, and to remember how fucking AWESOME they were. And are.


• MST3k

Don't konw about this one. It'd be ever longer than the B5 one... almost twice as many episodes, and each episode is roughly 2x as long. We're talking 20,000 minutes of viewing. Damn. Well over 300 hours, or ~ 2 1/2 days *straight*. Well, more than that - I did a ton of rounding. I'm tired, leave me alone. Given recent events, though, this one, at least in parts, is more likely, though. And I don't mean JD letting me borrow his entire collection, though that does help.

THis has been a fairly thourough post, so I think I'm going to end it here. Though it is fairly comfortable typing in the living room recliner.

My oh my, do you want to say goodbye?

I'll probably use that lyric again on my next post, since this one isn't going to be very long. Just checking in. Last night/today was a ton of fun, for various reasons. More on that later. Apartment's working out rather well, more on that later (picture tour). Finally got Carrie's letter out; need to remember to send her some flowers for her birthday. Work's... work, I s'pose. Few updates there, though I have met some cool people there. Actually hung out with one. Getting a ton of hours right now. Up to 'Babylon Squared' on our B5 marathon; we're really ripping this up.

But it's time for work, so more later.

You move around like you're unbreakable, and time after time you prove that you're unshakable

This is going to be a very quick, short post. I have to leave for work very soon. After the first weekend at the new pad... things are going pretty good. Got the living room basically set up - still need to do little things, like mount the huge dry erase board, and set up the secondary gaming station. Both of our pcs are up, running, and talking to each other; we (David) set up the media server last night and watched "Josie and the Pussycats", as well as bits of "Hero", an episode of MST3K, and some Red vs Blue. So it looks like that whole thing is definitely set up and ready to go.

I've got my room... somewhat set up. Got my bed set up and made, and it's pretty comfortable. Lilie says it's not as comfortable as my bed back home, but there weren't any sheets or pillows or anything when she said that. The next time she comes over, and it has its full compliment of stuff, we'll see what she says. Of course, she's leaving for New York on Friday. I still have to make a post about her. Or five. Something along those lines.

My characters on WoW have been getting some nice equipment upgrades; Kat's 24 now.

Work sucks. Tracy and I almost went at it last night right before she left. I can't stand either Josh, though one may be out of there before too long, since he keeps trying to call in and doesn't want to be there. The other one, though, is about to start running shifts. That's going to be fun. I'm just glad I won't have to deal with him then. I've got like 51 hours this week - working every day - and I might stretch that out to 60, especially this weekend. I don't know how much I want to be lounging around the house, just chillin' this weekend. Yeah.

So living with David is interesting - need to make a post about that too.

But I have to leave for work, so this will all have to wait for later.

Oh, and Carrie might be coming down to visit as well. That would rock. Hardcore.

If I had just one last wish, I would like a tasty fish

Man, things have been... weird lately. Well, not weird. Bad. Let's do a recap.

Wrote Carrie a four page letter before work on Tuesday; should surprise her when she gets that in the mail. Took Mom's car to work Tuesday morning; Allison freaked out when she first pulled up. She was all, "Crap, who the heck's car is that? I thought I was opening with Will!" I explained the whole thing to her, though. The phones went down again Tuesday. Morgan tried to call in, but she couldn't, so she ended up coming down there to let us know what was going on. She was *really* sick. I mean, her voice was all messed up, she was coughing something awful, you could tell she had massive congestion. She also just found out she has asthma, which really sucks. We couldn't call anyone to cover her, so she kinda hung around. Luckily, we were really slow. Javi got there and sent her home. Not much else notable, though I did manage to get a hold of Mom concering L&S, they would have Chelsea ready to go around 5 or 5:30. For 440 dollars or so. To be fair, that did include an oil change.

So I got my truck back, was running good. Talked to Heather, she mentioned a friend of hers was selling a king bed for like 95 dollars. I figured there was a slight miscommunication, but it sounded like he had a bunch of furniture he was trying to unload, and thought I might still be able to get a good deal. Got David to come along, which is always nice. Mom printed out some thing from the 'net about a rental property that they were clearing out, anybody could just go by and pick up whatever they wanted. I was going to go, but I wanted someone to go with me. Took about three minutes to exhaust the list of potential partners-in-crime in San Marcos. That was fun. Ending up taking Janelle; we got there, and it was... well, kinda weird. It was dark when we got there, and of course, there was no power. We left my truck lights running, but that didn't really help once we got inside. Nothing in there was worth it, though Janelle did get a bag of stress-relief toys, so the trip wasn't a total loss.

Wednesday afternoon, went to Pflugerville with David to meet up with this guy. He wanted 350 for the bed, but he came down to 310 since we also bought a couch with a little fold-out bed. It's kinda small, though - more love seat-ish, really. Two cushions. Though it means people will have somewhere to crash. Or something like that. Loaded up the bed and the couch and drove home. I thought the bed looked a little small, but I figured that that was just my high expectations failing. Stopped at the Buda Sonic, 'cause I really wanted a cherry limeade. I climbed into the bed to check out my recent acquisition. Something seemed kind of off, though - a king bed is supposed to be about 6' 1/2" square, which means I could lie either way without anything dangling off. However, that didn't seem to be the case. I thought it might have just been the way it was sitting in my truck or someting, but I resolved to check it out when I got home.

So we get home, and I pull out a tape measure. Sure enough, it wasn't a king, but a queen. That kind of upset me. I mean, I can get a brand new queen bed in town for like 120. I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt; I called him back and confirmed that it was supposed to be a king bed, and informed that it was, in fact, a queen. I told him this, and he reacted... in a bad way. He started saying how we had an agreement, and that I had looked at the bed and said it was okay, etc. I then told him that yeah, we had an agreement that I was buying a king bed. So he scooted around the issue a little bit more - said something about how when you buy something at a store, you can't just bring it back 'cause you don't like it. I told him that yeah, you basically can, *especially* when they lied to you about what you were buying, and in that case, they can face legal action - not that that would have to happen in this case - so that was kind of a bad example. Eventually, he agreed to just give me my money back. He tried offering some of it back, and I'd keep the bed, but after his little thing, I was really pissed, and didn't want him to get anything. I was ready to bring the couch back as well, but David wanted to keep it.

Went to work, got to talk to Lala. She seems cool. Came home, showered, etc. Started to feel a little bad. By 3 or so, it had graduated to full-on nauseua. I knew I was going to throw up, but I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. So I kind of lay there in bed, with Eddie Izzard on, in a half passed out state, 'til it finally came. And come, it did. It was *gross*. Went back into my bed, and just kind of lay there, not quite asleep, but not entirely awake either. I threw up, I think, about five more times. Most of them were just dry heaves, which were terrible. It felt like someone was wringing me out, like a wet towel. I had been drinking water and took some anti-nauseua medicince, but I threw that up as well. It wasn't pleasent. The *really* fun part came a few hours later. My stomach and chest muscles were really sore from all the contractions during the dry heaves, so I couldn't breathe. Well, not really. I'd start to breathe in, and my lungs would start expanding, but the muscles around them were really sore and wouldn't go any further. So that was fun.

'Round noon, I left to get David and go *back* to Pfulgerville (this is an hour drive, mind you) to get my money back from that guy. I really didn't want to, given how incredibly crappy I was feeling, but I didn't really have much choice. So we got there without incident, he didn't really say anything as we unloaded the bed back into his house. I was *so* pissed at him. So we had to stop at a gas station on the way back so I could go to the bathroom. Got back to David's, and he let me hang out there for a little bit. I felt really bad, and just wanted to lie down for a while. I did, 'til he had to leave to go to San Marcos to talk to the guy at Best Buy here. I came home, and fell asleep. Upon waking up, I felt... well, kinda better. Different. I don't really feel nauseous anymore, though I do have a massive headache. But I can deal with headaches. I'm good at ignoring them.

A little piece of heaven, baby, a place to call my own

So, I'm re-installing WoW right now. It's been freezing up while playing - I mean the computer, completely, not just the game. I've already run various scans - ad/mal/spy ware, virus, updated my graphic drivers, run a few different system scans. If this doesn't work... well, I'm not completely sure what's next. I don't really want to reformat my C drive or reinstall Windows XP. So I hope this works. Would have done this sooner, but I had to wait for Jarrod to get back from whereever he was; my disks were still over there from when I installed the game on his computer.

So, in the interim...

First, work. We've lost a ton of people, and have been hiring new people rapidly to try to fill those gaps, in addition to gearing up for the summer. Let's see...

Right before Spring Break, we lost like eight people - Katie, Shelley, Emily, the other new girl, Drew, Ashley, and two others. Can't really remember who else. Katie went to Slaughter. Ashley and Shelley just quit; Drew was mistakenly fired (and subsequently re-hired). Emily was the new girl hired on Monday; she was really cool and picking everything up, but for whatever reason, she quit on Thursday. We've also recently lost another clump of people. Jenn got fired, Frank got fired, amongst others. So, who do we have now?

Kitchen:

Ray:
Still the big dog in the kitchen. Despite having stepped down from being a manager, he still opens once or twice a week - which is nice, because one of those shifts used to be mine, and I don't particularly like opening.

Freddie:
Freddie's still Freddie, though he's more prone to getting pissed off at me lately. Of course, that might be my fault; meh. He's going to be leaving in August (?) when his lease expires, to move up to Austin and move in with his girlfriend Lauren. So I'm excited for him.

Larry:
Larry's going to be moving to days, since he ended his other job, and picked up another one with a different schedule. Other than that, he's still the same. Got a rather nasty burn on his stomach a few days ago when the grease trap fell out of the vent and splashed into the fryer, spilling grease onto his stomach and a little on his cheek. Luckily, it wasn't *that* bad, but he did stand in the walk-in freezer for a bit with mustard on it (Don't ask.)

BJ:
BJ's a new cook we picked up a while back. He's great - already knows how to do the boards and has no qualms about doing so whenever asked, and has a good sense about when to do it when we don't.

Mark:
Mark used to work at the other Sonic, and it shows. He's another good cook, picking things up quickly.

Filèmon:
A new hire, without previous experience. Seems to be going okay so far. His first day, we didn't have a shirt in his size, so he had to cook in the shirt he came in, which looked kind of funny.

Tomas:
Still lazy and perverted.

Andrew:
Still here - got mistakenly fired again when the message didn't get relayed to Dave about his child being born. But I love working with him.

Albert walked out in the middle of a shift without notice or explanation; Frank got fired one Sunday when he called in and said "I partied too much last night and didn't get enough sleep."

Front:
Members of the old crew that are still there: Allison, Erica, Tracy, Megan, Emily, Lacey, Cat, Adam, Jessica. I think that's about it.

New:
Krystle:
Chelsea's friend, she's... kinda stupid. She'd be really cool if she wasn't. Cute voice (she's the one on my voice mail), cute face/body... but a total idiot. For shame. At least we've got her working on the boards.

Amanda:
This is the girl in this round of hirings that I've been accused of liking (at least it's not *every* new carhop now). All I said is that she was attractive. Anyway. She used to be a stripper, and is really cool. Had two incidents with customers already, but neither was major - luckily. We do get along pretty well, which is nice.

Morgan:
She's one of the older new people, hired not too long after Krystle. She's alright, I guess.

Brandi:
Adam's girlfriend. I like her a lot better than him - she's a hard worker, doesn't screw around or mess with people that are having bad days.

Brenda:
She's almost 40. But she came from another Sonic, and I like working with her. The only annoying thing is her tendency to call everybody "Hun". I *hate* that. A lot.

Courtney:
Bruce's little sister. I like working with her as a carhop, kind of. Shared background and stuff is always good, though her constant talking - while nowhere near as bad as Jessica - does get annoying.

People I don't have an opinion on yet: Natalie, Samantha, Staci.

My schedule's changed, so now, I'm usually opening Tuesday, then doing 5-C Thu/Sat/Sun. That'll go up once school gets out, but I hope to keep Fridays off. There's a rumor that Dave's going to leave and Javi will get the store. That'd rock, and I'd probably step up to first assistant.

Dave... argh. I still hate him with every fiber of my being. He has a tendency to call me before shifts on Thursday and Saturday to give me a rundown on stuff that's going on - which is nice - but he'll ask me how I'm doing, how school's going, that kind of thing. Which really bothers me. He invited me to go flying with him a while back, and I was seriously considering it, though I ended up sleeping through the time period in question.

So, that's work. Not quite as in depth as I had planned, but I think it kind of catches up everything I"ve missed. At least now, when I throw out Amanda's name, it won't need that much explanation. Oh! I think Allison and I are going to start hanging out some. Maybe. We *were* going to go see Sin City on Friday, but I woke up about five minutes before the movie was about to start, and she left by the time I got there (about three minutes after the movie was supposed to start). I talked to her Monday evening and straightened everything out, and we had a nice chat. So we'll see how that goes. I just have this memory of Kenny's party - the one I kissed Lilie for the first at. She had pulled me aside to talk to me about what was going on with JD, and to give me some advice, but - and I think this is mostly the alcohol talking, but still - started telling me what a great guy I was, and eventually broke down in tears. She composed herself fairly quickly, but it was a weird moment. Anyway. Oh, and I let Megan borrow The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and she seems to be enjoying it. I think we might go see it when it comes out. I mean, I'm supposed to go see it with Lilie, and I have every intention of doing so (which means I might see it twice, if both work out), but I'm not a hundred percent sure that she wants to. But that's another story, one I don't know if I have the energy to tell right now.

So yesterday, Carrie IM'ed me. Almost completely out of the blue. It was really cool. We hadn't really talked since... well, since around September or so. And even then, it had already been growing sporadic. But we caught up on what each other were doing, talked for maybe half an hour (it's hard to remember, 'cause Terri called near the tail end of the conversation, so I was talking to both of them for a while. But anyway. She broke up with that guy she had been seeing the last time we talked, and is seeing some new guy. She's about to start working at UPS, which is cool. But it's the stuff about us that was cool. Some choice quotes (all unedited):

sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: billy sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: I have been trying to get a hold of you for so long sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: i miss you so much mr_binky_the_jackalope: I miss you too. mr_binky_the_jackalope: You always pick the best times, like when I'm at school, or at work, or passed out asleep. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: lol sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: i know...im always good at that it seems. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: well, what about right now? mr_binky_the_jackalope: I was about to leave to go see a movie. mr_binky_the_jackalope: But I think I'll have to pass on it now. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: I don't want to stop you from having fun, how about i give you my cell and you can call me when its a good time for yous mr_binky_the_jackalope: Well... mr_binky_the_jackalope: The problem is that a 'good time' for me is usually between the hours of 12 and 4am. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: I just thought i would give it a shot and say hi, i dont really know your timing anymore :(( sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: oh my

sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: i don't care what he has to say though because there is nothing that is going to keep me from talking to my billy (putting him working,sleeping,schooling to the side that is)

mr_binky_the_jackalope: We were talking about you at work last night. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: really? sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: :D mr_binky_the_jackalope: Really. sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: good i hope mr_binky_the_jackalope: Of course :0 mr_binky_the_jackalope: ** ;) sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: :) sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: oyu know, the promise still stands sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: you* mr_binky_the_jackalope: Uh-oh... sin_deeply_my_wicked_angel18: :P ina couple years if we are still single then we are just gonna get together and get married :O

I mean, it's so weird. We haven't really talked in over half a year. There are parts of her that I've forgotten, with everything that's been going on, and things I can't forget. That sounds weird, I know. I mean, if both of us did long distance - which neither of us do - we'd so be dating right now. Well, we would have; dunno how long it would have lasted. I"m gong to write her a really long letter and surprise the crap out of her. I've been half-heartedly thinking about making a trip out east - visit Rose while she's in Florida, 'cause I know she'll miss everyone here (not really, but she's been bugging me to promise that I'll come visit), *maybe* Terri, though it would be weird, since she lives with Ed, Carrie in Kentucky. But I don't think it'll happen. It'd be cool, though.

Oh, speaking of which, Terri has re-emerged as well. She's been calling me a lot, and we talk. About life, about us, about everything. It's... good. We're just, well, I guess the best way to put it is transparent to each other. There are no barriers between us. It's the kind of relationship that I hope to have with whomever I end up with. I finally got the dates for when she'll be visiting, which is cool, so I can take at least part of that time off. Probably won't get all four days, but two consecutivelty would be great.

Finally talked to David; he's coming down on Friday, and we're going to start looking for a place. His price range is a little higher than mine, but based on preliminary discussions, I think we'll be fine. I'm so looking foward to finally moving out, though I don't think it will help all the things it could.

(Wow, I'm writing some really vague, poorly constructed sentences tonight. It'll pass as I get back into the swing of things. Bare wth me).

Mom insists on having this bizarre 'Moving-out Party'. I wasn't consulted at all, though it will be bearable. Jarrod's going to be out of town, though Rose said she could make it. Lilie's up in the air. David might come down as well. I'm really not sure what to expect, though Mom said something about "Eating pizza and giving you a hard time." Frankly, I'm sick of being the person in groups that's always 'given a hard time.' I know it probably stems from who I act, so I'll be examining that in days to come. But anyway. I'm getting the big speakers that are on top of the wall unit right now, and am considering buying a queen-sized bed. I *love* being able to stretch out at Lilie's and Rose's, which I can't really do on mine. This bed will be a pain in the but to move anyway, so we'll see abou that.

I've covered more or less what I wanted to, 'cept Lilie. I'm still not sure what to write about her. I'll keep it brief: I still like her as much as I ever did; she's seeing someone else, and I wish them nothing but the best of luck. I highly doubt we'll ever get back together agin, but I can hope.

And to quote Lorien, "Hope is all you have."

In my heart, I call out your name

Some bits and pieces I forgot:

First off, Rose called yesterday evening while I was hanging out at Lilie and Shelley's. Well, technically, she called while I was on the way back from Taco Bell, but the majority of the conversation took place over there. Apparently, I was pacing a great deal. I wasn't doing it on purpose - I just do that. I mean, I was really excited - I hadn't really had a chance to talk to Rose in a while, so catching each other up was a lot of fun. Rose is like a sister to me - sometimes she's younger, sometimes I am, but her and I are very, very close. Not in a romantic way - when we first began talking and realized how close we were growing, we briefly discussed the possibility of the two of us hooking up, but realized it wouldn't be a good idea. We're compatible, but not quite each other's type. It's just something I do - I tend to form very close relationships very quickly - Carrie, Mindy, Lilie, Rose (notice that not all of those names are of girlfriends, just of people that I've gotten very close to very quickly). But anyway. She quit her job at Dell, and her and Katie both are going back to IHOP. Katie is still with James, and the two of them are very happy. They've actually gone to Oregon until like Tuesday, so Rose and I are probably going to hang out Friday or Saturday. We were going to go play DDR - 'cause Rose has played DDR a few times, and really enjoys it - but she managed to hurt her ankle again (well, not again - this time, it's the other one, and it's not nearly as severe this time). So I'm not sure what we'll do. But we'll find something.

Speaking of Oregon, I told Rose about probably having to drive to Washington, and she really wants to come. It'll be a fun road trip. I told her she'd have to buy her own plane ticket back, so she's looking into that. I'm still not completely sure I'm going, but it'd be AWESOME if Rose went too. I'm not sure of what route we'll take - Lilie suggets going up to Colorado then cutting over; we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Man, I guess this is the day for renewing acquantinces. Carrie just IM'ed me!! It's been months since we last talked. For those of you not in the know, Carrie was a girl I met in the arcade when I went to North Carolina the last time. We only talked briefly, but exchanged AIM sn's, and started talking a lot after I got back. For a while, we were really close - had we been closer to one another (she lives in Kentucky now), we would have been going out, but neither of us really wanted to do the long distance thing.

So, Adam. I have a number of problems with him. First, he tells people to ignore the boards completely for a bit. I mean, all of the managers *sort* of do that - we'll let the boards go off for a few seconds while we catch up on bagging or making drinks, but we know we have to get them as soon as possible. Adam will leave them going and tell people to just ignore them for a while. It's almost as bad as when Rick just goes through and cancels all of them. Sunday, when he came in early, he parked himself on the dresser station. That's good, because we really need a strong dresser. However, I got a few complaints - one guy ordered two junior burgers with cheese; the first time, they went out without cheese. He called back, and we sent him two new ones out. This time, they went out without pickles - he just asked for a side of pickles. A few minutes later, someone called back, because their double cheeseburger that was supposed to have extra bacon had, in fact, no bacon. I rung it up again with a 'see me' so it would be free, and Adam asked me why I had done it that way. I explained to him that the first time, he had sent it out without bacon. He tried to retaliate with "Well, it wasn't rung up that way", but I knew that was a complete load of shit, since I took that order. I even brought the original order back up on his screen so he could see. He just got all huffy and said "Fine, whatever." Some people don't handle being wrong very well. I then told him about all the complaints I'd gotten on burgers in the past few minutes, and he said, "Fine, if you think you can do it better, you get back here and do it." There are a couple of responses I have to that. First, what does he think, that I shouldn't tell the guy dressing burgers when there's a number of complaints about burgers? Second, I could have done it better - I was a cook for over two years, and the vast, vast majority of the time when I made a burger wrong, it was rung up wrong. I've gone through this with a number of fountains, and they've learned to listen to me.

So then, he comes up and starts making drinks later. There were several orders on the screen, and instead of making the drinks on the first one to get it out, he starts making one drink on each of the first few orders. I called him on it again, and he got really defensive again. I really just wanted to smack him. I later found out he had an altercation with Tracy and told her she was fired. He got in trouble, she didn't.

The Christmas party is this Sunday. I'm contemplating going. I haven't talked to anyone else yet about if they're going, so we'll see. I've gone to two of the three parties we've had, and they're usually a decent time. A few hours of free bowling, hanging out with everybody outside of work... I'll probably go.

I've started playing FFX-2 a lot. I'm really enjoying it. They definitely dared to do something different. The static party throughout the entire game, dresspheres and garment grids... all in all, it's a fun time. Just finished Chapter One.

Just got off the phone with Lilie. I had a couple game related questions to ask her. She sort of had some answers. She (sort of) reiterated her previous invitation (we talked earlier on AIM) to come over. I passed on it. I know, it surprised me too. But we both have to work in the morning - I'm opening; she goes in at 11. There's the chance I'd oversleep, and even if I got up on time, I'd probably wake her up. That, and just because we can spend all this time together, doesn't mean we shouldn't. Let me elaborate on that one, because it sounds weird. I think it has something to do with the idea 'me' time, or time to be by yourself, or something. I don't know. I was going somewhere with this, but I don't remember. I think I was just trying to say that I know what she meant, and I agree?

Anyway.

Do you believe in magic, in a young girl's heart?

I can't believe it's taken me until Wednesday morning to do these posts (and I'm not entirely sure I'll get to them right now either; I'll just get through what I can.)

Went in to work Sunday morning. It was actually kind of fun. I was cooking, Kristen was fountaining, and Lilie was carhopping. Apparently, she hadn't quite abandoned the idea of us hooking up yet - she asked her a few questions ("Have you played DDR?") and just generally helped foment conversation between us. Interestingly enough, though, it took place without her prodding - somehow, I got on the topic of the new release of the Star Wars Trilogy (that's another post coming up), and got really worked up about that and Episodes I and II, and she made a few comments as well. She even said, and I quote, "At least you're not a Star Wars book nerd." My response? "I am." It was just a fun shift.

Didn't do much Sunday night, other than my chemistry homework. Woke up Monday and went to class. I left at about 8:30 to grab a parking spot, but of course, they were already full (I'll be leaving about 8 today for my attempt). Drove back quickly and hoofed it, though I did grab the bus about halfway. Went to chem, did Matt's PrC while waiting for it to start. The person in the seat on the other side showed up - another cute girl. Go me. Nothing of note happened during Chem, really, except I learned that the two girls on my left aren't... terribly smart.

Went to Intro Fine Arts. Our first critique is due Monday; our first test is today. I'm prepared for it - I went through his flash review on Blackboard and got everything right, so I think I'll be fine. He has a very aggressive testing schedule, as well as having four midterms and a final (though we get to drop one, I think; that, or have the final replace it).

Didn't go to Prob. or CS after that, for various reasons. Since I had the afternoon off, I went and played some DDR. I passed Healing Vision (Angelic Mix) and Exotic Ethnic (pictured below), both on Singles/Heavy. Went and played D&D with the guys (pictures to come); almost quit the campaign, but decided against it. I haven't completely ruled out another hiatus, though. They're playing Matt's campaign next Monday, so that'll give me a small break. We even squeezed in a few Halo matches before and in the middle of the game. Jarrod dominated, as usual, but I did manage a strong second in the first match. We talked about having a Halo event - we have the X-Boxes, the TVs, and the router.

Worked yesterday 12 - 5, short shift. I got to fountain again finally, mainly due to the influx of new cooks. Not only did I get to fountain, but I got to fountain with Tracy, which is awesome. Ashley was carhopping, and she's finally started coming out of her shell. It's always fun to watch someone who's been fairly quiet start to open up and talk with us. I vaguely remember going through the same thing myself, though I doubt most of the current employees would believe it. Dennis and George were cooking, and they didn't get along at all - apparently, George took issue at Dennis's repeated commands. Hopefully, he'll leave. That'd be great.

Came home and hung around. Played a little Warcraft 3, took a shower, and then crashed out. I had a very nice nap, but woke up groggy. I talked to Freddie after that, and it sounds like he's going to be getting a blue shirt as well. Possibly. Jarrod message'd me to ask about me quitting the campaign, and was very glad when I told him that I wouldn't be any time soon. Rose also called; she's going to be in town this evening and would dearly like a ride home, which I'll be providing. I'll also be giving Laurin a ride home sometime later this week - I hate Freddie *so* much.

In general news:

*) It seems like my internet connection is finally, truly stable. I sent Grande an email, but without any account or identifying information. However, it does seem to be working now, so I'm happy.

*) My loan went through, finally. I checked my account balance, and it was all paid off. I'll be getting my check at some point, which will be great. I'll be saving most of it, though, to accrue for later expenses, tuition, and what-not.

*) I haven't been able to play a game of B5 in a while now. It's fairly depressing. Engine participation has dropped off severely lately, though that's no surprise, given WotC's pulling of 9 games, most of which were popular and actually drew people in. I'll say it again - most of the licensed games suck. And even the ones that don't aren't sufficient to bring people in and have them pay to play them. I know V:TES might be the exception to that, but we'll see how that goes. A lot of games (non-licensed) that don't suck have a lot of anticipation but fail to follow through. Novelty also commented on that trend, and it's fairly disheartening to some PLs.

*) I finally got to talk to Carrie online again. I really miss her. I hope against all odds that we'll get to see each other again some time.

*) Played some Star Ocean 3, and finally rescued Nel. The boss fight was... pathetic - I pulled off two battle trophies during the fight - Beat with 1 minute and Beat with No Damage. I got lost in the mansion prior to that fight and leveled up significantly higher than I should be right now, which usually happens to me at one point or another in most RPGs. I've also been considering getting Phantom Brave, an sRPG from Ichon Nippi (I might be making that name up; I know it's something like that), the makers of Disgaea (which I love) and La Pucelle (which I don't care for). I might even pull something really weird and rent it first.

*) After an hour or so of messing around, I managed to finally delete my 'My Documents' folder this morning at about 2. Unfortunately, that caused my Wallpaper Randomizer program to seriuosly malfunction, so I un- and re-installed it, and it recreated the "My Documents" folder. I guess I'll have to learn to live with it for the time being. I did, however, learn how to change what it adds to the title bar in my IE windows; for example, this window says "Enter the Jackalope :: Create New Post" - Crystalline Shard". Normally, it would say "- Internet Explorer" at the end.

I need a life.

It's been a long day

A very, very long day.

First off, I got my truck back today. Three hundred and fifty-five dollars.

Yeah.

Not only that, but apparently, running at a high temperature can cause massive internal damage (duh), and it might die (completely) sometime - if so, probably in the next two weeks.

So that's fun. I'll be driving it to Austin tomorrow to see how it handles that. On the good (?) side, the possibility is fairly minute, since I didn't drive it hot for very long, and Randy didn't see any obvious damage.

Second, I've finally accepted that things aren't going to work with Katie, at all. However, I really do follow my heart, not the other way around, which means I still have deep feelings with her, and it's going to take me a while to get over her. The disparity between my heart and head hurts too.

(Side note: I talked to Rose a little bit ago, and her and Bluebird are going to Enchanted Rock tomorrow, probably spending the night there. Awesome.)

Krista was trying to get on me for never saying anything to her, for not giving it a chance. i came back with something good though - "Have you ever eaten dog shit?" "Um, no." "Why not?" "Because it tastes bad." "How do you know, if you've never eaten it?" For whatever reason, she really, really liked that.

Whatever.

Third, work was an absolute hell. I worked 12 - 10 (by choice; I needed some extra hours, so I picked up Katie's 5 - 10 fountain shift) and had to deal with Joel for like eight of those hours. At one point, I was on number one making burgers, and he was bagging, and he starts going off on how I'm worth less than dog shit, how trained monkeys would be better than me, and how I'm stupid and not intelligent and what-not. Now, I've been teased my whole life. Especially in sixth and seventh grade, when it involved Chelsea. That hurt. I still cry about it. They knew exactly how to hurt me. Comparitively, this doesn't bother me at all. Well, most of the time, it doesn't. But when you pile on top of a bunch of other stuff, it starts to get to you.

And finally, one bright spot: Carrie really, really likes me. I mean, really likes me. And given the oppurtunity, I'd definitely pursue a relationship with her.

Except she lives in KENTUCKY.

Carrie's Back, and Spider-Man 2 is awesome. And my speech professor is... okay, but not terribly intelligent.

Possible spoilers, I don't know yet.

So Carrie's finally back from NY. That's cool - Carrie's *so* awesome, like a bear. We met at the arcade the second time I went to go see Terri; didn't really talk that much while I was there, but I got her AIM sn, and we started talking when I got back. And we've talked a *lot*. We just kind of clicked. I mean, if we had been in the same area, and had this great connection, there's no doubt we would eventually hooked up. I mean, we just... I don't know. It's hard to explain.

But it's good to hear from her again. She's been gone like all summer, and it's been lonely without her or Rose to talk to online.

Except:

Heather and I have been talking online again. Which is weird - I had almost, almost written her off. In fact, I know her number isn't in my cell anymore, and she was off my buddy list for a while (spring cleaning). But we've more or less picked up right where we left off - well, sort of. I think basically just ignoring the, um, well, you see:

mrbinkyjackalope: :( Heather: ? mrbinkyjackalope: i trusted you mrbinkyjackalope: i liked you Heather: and? Heather: something has changed? mrbinkyjackalope: you fowareded me something mrbinkyjackalope: *fowarded Heather: hahaha mrbinkyjackalope: well, it almost makes it easy to get over you mrbinkyjackalope: well, it would, if i possessed whatever part it is that allows you just move on Heather: you do mrbinkyjackalope: hahahahahahhaahahahahaaha mrbinkyjackalope: i still like you mrbinkyjackalope: i mean like Heather: Im sorry mrbinkyjackalope: when there's really no reason to, as it's abudnantly clear we're always going to be just friends - and don't get me wrong, i'm not dissing that in the slightest - i love it

Don't ask why. I don't understand it myself. This was from October sixth, 2003.

Wait a second... That must have been like, a couple days before I met Suzie. Or she found me. Or whatever.

Weirdness.

Anyway....

So yeah, Spiderman 2 is really, really cool. Jarrod didn't like it, but he's an idiot. Not really. I thought it was great; better than the first. The villian wasn't some super-buff guy who got dosed with strength serum or whatever; he was a flabby, middle aged guy who just happened to have four super arms wielded to his back. He does end up with MJ, which wasn't completely unforeseen, but I think he should have explored other options first, like the chocolate cake chick. She was cute. King Arthur and Anchorman come out Friday, which I am definitely and possibly going to see, respectively.

Speaking of Friday...

I'm going up to play DDR Friday after work, and I will probably crash at Katie and Rose's that night. That'll be cool - I still haven't done that since they moved, and I've only been up there once since. They both still seem to want to talk to me, which is a good thing. Rose is already kinda hooking up with this guy from (her) work, which doesn't surprise me. I don't know what Katie's been up to, but I hope to find out Friday night. I'm going to bring some flowers - not a romantic bouquet, but a house-warming, colorful array. I think it'll work well.

My truck's back in the shop; this time, for a cracked radiator. Which, despite how bad it sounds, isn't that bad at all. I should have it back sometime tomorrow, ready and raring to go.

I'm enjoying my speech class, although the instructor is annoying me as he incessantly repeats himself. But I find that happening in most classes I've taken, which is just a function of my personality.

I'm totally pulling a Jarrod, and need to stop it. It'll be resolved tomorrow. I miss her.

I'm SO TIRED. I closed last night, then opened this morning. Luckily, I have tomorrow completely off. That'll be nice. I'll get to do some laundry, sleep in, stay up, and fix up my schedule and see how I'm gonna do it.

Now:

Jessica = the girl from Michigan
Jess = the Jessica that worked at Sonic Februrary - June

If things had gone differently while Jess was here, I could have ended up with her. Not anything long-term, and I don't know if it would have any effect on where I am right now... although The Butterfly Effect teaches us that that statement is impossible. I mean, we got along great - we can still talk a lot, and we had a small spark, I think. Although, we would have had the same problems I have now, but more so. So I mean, I still care about her, but only as a good friend.

So then there's Jessica, who's a cool girl from Michigan, who came down here chasing a boy. Her and I get along really well too.

So it turns out Edward and Jessica... yeah. And he's supposed to be hooked up with Jess. Or something like that. I don't really know. But A) the thought of Jessica with Edward is just repulsive; B) that means she's cheating on him (this one is actually none of my business - hell, neither is (A); hell, neither is (C)) C) Edward's cheating on Jess. B isn't any of my business; A is just an opinion, but C really pisses me off. I'm a pretty laid back, easy-going guy for the most part, and (outside of worK ;) it's fairly difficult to annoy or upset me. But don't mess with people I care about. Then, I was talking to Carrie:

Carrie: do you have minutes on your cell?
mr_binky_the_jackalope: huh?
Carrie: you have a cell phon right>
mr_binky_the_jackalope: yeah
Carrie: :P
Carrie: are you allowed to call me? for a few minutes....i miss talking to you :O

So I called her, and we talked for a bit. Just like the old days.

Carrie sent me this ridiculously long quiz; I had nothing to do right now (I don't until Friday night - SUZIE!!!!), so I thought I'd explore the deep and innermost recesses of my psyche.

So, without further adieu:

1. Name: William "Billy" "Jackalope" "Polar Bear" "Will" "Binky" Martin
2. Birthday: November 18, 1982
3. Sign: Scorpio
4. Age: 21
5. Sex: Male
6. Location: San Marcos, TX

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. School (if in school): SWT

8. Work (if you have a job): Sonic Drive-In; blech!! The only decent thing about working here is that the people are cool.

9. Height: 5'10"? 5'11"? Something like that

10. Do you like boys or girls: Girls. Boys have cooties!

11. Do you have any siblings: 2 sisters

12. What are their names: Bambi and Janelle

13. How old are they: 17, 27

14. Do you have any pets: 1 dog

15. What are their names: Alpha

16. If you could choose anyone to rule the world who would you choose: Me, of course. Who else would I just to do my dream job?

17. Do you talk to voices in your head: Yeah

18. Do they tell you to do stuff: Yeah

19. Do you listen: Yeah

20. How often do you talk on the phone: Um, three or four times a week. It's not like I have any friends or anything ;)

21. How often do you surf the web: All the time.

22. How often do you hang out with friends: Once every other week, maybe?

23. Do you have a bf/gf: No/Yes.

24. Do you love them: This is a hard question. I mean, Mindy really fucked up my emotional compass; I don't think I trust my responses at the moment. (Although I think I'll be able to re-calibrate it without terrible difficulty, now, that I've found such a sweet, wonderful girl). I do feel all warm and fuzzy with her, and I miss her terribly when we're apart for long stretches of time. And the past two months have been great!!

So... I guess I'm saying yeah, but I have to re-learn what love means.

25. Have you ever loved anyone: Hmm.... I thought I did. She taught me better. And one other, I think I did.

26. Have you ever made-out with someone: Three people. Not at the same time, though.

27. Have you ever broke any bones: Not any of mine.

28. If so, which ones:

29. How often do you shower: Everyday.

30. Do you get along with your parents: Mom: Yes; Dad: no.

31. Who is your best female friend: LOL; Suzie, duh. Although I don't know if she's eligible for that (being my girlfriend and all); in that case, it'd be... Carrie? Rose?

32. Who is your best male friend: Jarrod

33. Who do you talk to the most on the phone: Um... Mom?

34. Who do you talk to the most on the net: Carrie, Rose, Daniel

35. What are you most afraid of: Dying alone, unloved, and unremembered.

36. How long does it take you to get ready for school/work: School: Five minutes; work: three.

37. Do you have a crush: Yup.

38. Do you sleep with one pillow or two: I USED to sleep with 3, but thanks to Suzie, it's now 2 ;)

39. Do you like coffee: Icky poo.

40. How do you know the person who sent this to you: Pretty well; we used to talk *forever*!

41. Where do you want to live: Whereever my love does; or Texas.

42. Where is the most fun place to go: DDR

43. Where do you want to meet your husband/wife?: Um... I don't know?

44. Where do you want to get married?: On the beach.

45. What do you like to do?: sleep, read, electronica (computers, video games), DDR, D&D, MST3K, gEngine, swim(http://www.ccgworkshop.com), that kind of thing

46. What was the most fun vacation/trip you ever went on?: No clue.

47. What friend is always there?: In person? No one. In my heart? Suzie. To talk to? Carrie or Rose

48. What do you like about your church?: HAHAHAHAHAHA

49. What do you like about your school/job?: Nothing really.

50. What do you/did you want to be when you grow/grew up?: World domination, professional wrestler, computer programmer (in that order)

51. What is your favorite sport?: Anything that involves and encourages people to run into other people at high speeds, as hard as they can.

52. What is your favorite piece of clothing?: Sleeping pants.

53. Have you, in the last 24 hrs Cried?: no

54. Have you, in the last 24 hrs gotten in major trouble?: no

55. Have you, in the last 24 hrs cut your hair?: no

56. Have you, in the last 24 hrs ate a meal?: yeah, about... two hours ago?

57. Have you, in the last 24 hrs hugged someone?: nope

58. Have you, in the last 24 hrs kissed someone?: nope

59. Have you, in the last 24 hrs made a new friend?: nope - that only happens once a year or so, if that

60. Have you, in the last 24 hrs lost something?: nope

61. Have you ever Been so drunk you passed out?: nope, never drank

62. Gone out in public in your pajamas?: many, many times

63. Had an imaginary friend?: yup

64. Cried during a chick flick?: yeah, but it was because my girlfriend had just broken up with me.

65. Gotten in a car accident?: no

66. Liked someone so much you cried?: Indeed.

67. Sung in front of the mirror?: no

68. Sleepwalked?: I wouldn't know.

69. Talked in your sleep?: yep

70. Watched a scary movie and couldn’t sleep all night?: no

71. Gone caroling?: nope

72. What is the funniest movie you ever saw?: um... every episode of MST3k contains a movie, and they're all hilarious

73. What is the stupidest movie?: see 73

74. Which movie could you watch over and over?: princess bride, x2, a few others

75. What was the last movie you saw?: I'm watching X-2 right now.

76. Who do you go to the movies with?: By myself, most of the time; occasionally, with Suzie (once so far)

77. What movie made you cry the most?: Braveheart

78. If you were stranded on an island, who would you take?: Suzie, duh!

79. What island would you want to be stranded on?: No clue. A desolate one with plenty of supplies?

80. What wild animal would you kill for food?: A wild cow.

81. Would you write on the sand 'help!': Only if I needed to

82. Would you panic or relax?: relax

83. Would you ever or have u ever... Jump out of a plane?: yup

84. Kiss your best guy friend (or if you’re a guy girl friend)?: under the right circumstanes, yeah

85. Go bungee jumping?: no tempting death, remember?

86. Stay in your room for a whole day?: I've stayed in my room for a whole week

87. Go in the snow without clothes?: Fun

88. Skinny dip?: Suprisingly enough, yeah

89. Go to a foreign country?: not yet

90. Fly a plane?: yep

91. If you died tomorrow who would you leave everything you own to?: Family, i s'pose.

92. Who is the one person that you could stand spending a straight 24 hours with and not get the slightest bit annoyed with?: Suzie, duh.

93. If you woke up one morning and noticed that your leg was missing who would be the first person you would call?: My lawyer

94. Let's say your dad came in your room one day and told you that you had to get married in the next week but you can pick the person but you have to stay with them for the rest of your life no getting out of it, who would you pick?: Well.... if my dad came into my room, I'd be likely to hit him with my new sword; I don't like him. But, to answer the question you meant to ask, why the hell not? Oh Suzie... (notice a pattern?)

95. What if you woke up tomorrow and you were someone else completely, who would you be?: Me, duh.

96. What would be the first thing you would do if you woke up one morning and you were the opposite sex?: I don't think I should answer this one ;)

97. If all of a sudden you had the ability to do one thing better than everyone else, have one amazing talent, what would it be?: DDr, duh

98. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change (personality and looks)?: weight

99. What is your dream career?: Emperor of the Universe

100. What is the one thing you just have to do before you die?: Know true love (notice a pattern?)

101. If you could be a member of any band that has ever existed, what band would that be?: not even

102. What is the thing you care about most in your life?: True love

103. Winter or summer?: Winter

104. The beach or the mountains?: Beach

105. Rock or rap?: rock

106. New york or L.A.?: LA

107. Dogs or cats?: cats

108. Leno or letterman?: Letterman

109. Day or night?: night

110. Lake or ocean?: ocean

111. Waffles or pancakes?: pancakes

112. Chocolate or vanilla?: vanilla

113. If you could be in any movie as the lead role what movie would it be?: Braveheart, but without the dying part

114. If you could design your perfect mate what would he/she look like and be like?: "Perfect mate'? I don't know - I take people as they are.

115. Run into a wall?: yup

116. Kissed someone of the same sex?: I would, under the right circumstances - for example, large sums of money

117. Snuck out of the house at night?: yup

118. Laughed so hard that what you were drinking spewed out your nose?: all over the place

119. Swallow a bug? yeah

120. Have you ever actually kept a new year's resolution?: yep

121. Would you ever eat bugs purposely?: ew

122. Commit a crime?: already have

123. Change your religion?: A few times - but I'm home now.

124. Lie to your parents?: You gotta do what you gotta do.

125. Jump over a waterfall?: sure, i love the water.....

126. Change clothes in front of an open window?: I do so whenever the possibility arises

127. Sing a harmonized duet in front of 500 strangers?: no

128. Tell someone that you liked them if they were much older than you?: sure

131. Have you ever lied to your parents about something really important?: You gotta do what you gotta do.

132. Had your life threatened?: yup

133. Stayed up until the morning light talking online?: a few times

134. Made people give you really weird glances? I only worry if they don't

135. Read a Shakespeare play?: yup

136. Sung at a karaoke bar?: yup

~*SIgh*~

My first day of freedom. What'd I do? Not much, really. Played a ton of DW 4: XL; got Zhang He and Wei Yans' lvl 11 weapons, finally. They're POWERFUL. Went and played some DDR - did a hard nonstop course (Boys (Euro Mix) (Trick), Furahata's Theme (Maniac), Shooting Star (Manic), Saints Go Marching In (Manic) (Doubles)). I couldn't finish the last song - Furahata's Theme killed me. Shoulda warmed up first.

(Argh: Janelle just came in, for help with physics and calculus... We started on the calculus, on determing relative extrema, concavity, that kind of thing. One of my weak points... But we got through it. Then we got to a second problem, which was taking me a few minutes to think about... So she gets all frustrated, and says "I'll just do it in the morning. Well, excuse me!! I'm so sorry that I couldn't explain your calculus homework off the top of my head, and that it might take me a bit to remember some of these really obscure classes of problems that I haven't had to look at in 2 1/2 years.)

Talking to Carrie right now; she's doing okay. It's kinda funny, when you look at some of the logs from our early conversations. Well, I guess you could say the same thing about Suzie, but for different reasons. Sigh. I really would like to spend some time with her - I have two more days of NOTHING, until I work on Thursday. Once "Finals" are over (a week and a half or so), I'm free until... I believe January 19th or so. Damn. I'd like to spend a lot of time with Suzie, and I don't think it'll be a problem... if I can ever get a hold of her (LOL).

So yeah...