So I've been sleeping on and off all day. It was kinda frustrating, since I wanted to write my MU 2313 essay earlier today (though I think we all know that the end result might be the same, though my room might be cleaner). Anyway, the most recent nap was from approximately 9:45 to 11:15 pm. I had a dream during that time. Parts of it are already fading, since it's like two hours later and I'm working on my essay, but I'll try to keep it coherent. Concise, well, that's not one of my strong suits.
Also, truck situation. But that's later, and will probably also be put on my MySpace blog.
Moving on.
We were in some type of warehouse store - like Sam's or something, or a really big Wal-Mart. I was with a good friend - it would have had to be Jarrod or David. I'm really leaning towards David. At some point during the dream, I ran into 'Becca Caudle, David's old girlfriend. I was walking around by myself and ran into her; we talked briefly. After that, David and I were walking around. The item we were trying to acquire was on a really high shelf, so I grabbed a nearby ladder and started to ascend. It was *really* rickety, so I was asking David to steady the ladder so I didn't fall or anything. While I was up there, I briefly ran into Chelsea and her boyfriend (I don't know why I still dream about her. That's, well, pretty weird. Really freaky. I'm glad nobody reads this). Very brief encounter. I don't know if I actually got the thing on the top shelf or not. Anyway, we were on our way out, and ran into them, and stopped and talked for a bit, then ran into Becca as well. Just the five of us.
So yeah, just a bunch of random crap.
Katy Perry -- I Kissed a Girl
Showing posts with label Chelsea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chelsea. Show all posts
2008-03-11
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.
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.
2007-12-28
I can see the things I'd like to be
So I had this weird, crazy dream. It's starting to fade already - I don't know if everyone's fade like mine. As long as I don't get out of bed, I can remember them just fine. But as soon as I stand up, they start fading really, really quick. The parts that I've already gone over in my head a few times, I remember. Even then, though, they fade. I come back two days later to a blog post I've made about them, and I don't remember that at all. It's weird.
Anyway. This one starts off on Scrubs, probably because I've been watching so much of it lately. I really like the show - the more I watch, the more I like it (even episodes I've already watched). I can't really remember that part. But then it goes to me being at home. There's a flier about someone coming home from California to do a lecture about something. I eventually realize it's Chelsea (had to have her in there somehow), and decide I'm definitely not going to that. Then, somehow, it ends up me being at a big house on a hill, and she's living nearby, training some weird, giant aquatic mammal. Then one day, I'm in the pool, and it's there - swims right in front of me. I'm really scared it's going to bite me, but it swims less than a foot away from me, and it just looks at me. Kinda scary. Oh, and Chelsea's swimming nearby. I really don't get it.
To be fair, this description doesn't do this dream justice at all. It was long and epic. I'm talking plots, recurring sub-themes, the whole ball.
In other news, Christmas was pretty good. Got a new desk, a new car seat, a chess set that moves its own pieces, and the Game of Thrones series. Good stuff. It was a lot of fun on Christmas Eve's party at work, we had a small party. It was me, Sergio, Bill, and Jenni working, and we were slow. Bill left at 5-ish, so it was just the three of us for the next four hours. We made cookies and had punch and wore Christmas hats. Well, Jenni wore one. I had a pair of reindeer antlers with bells on them that Jenni had been able to get the girl at Wal-Mart to give her. We ended up going to IHOP after work - the two of us - then talked a little about how she was going to be alone all night and wake up on Christmas Eve by herself, which sucks. Long story short, I drove her to Austin so she could spend the night at her grandmother's, a sweet little Hispanic lady. (Memorable quote: "Now do you believe I'm Hispanic?") Had some rum cake and hot cocoa, got lost on the way back. Well, not really lost, just went the long way. The *long* way. Came home from Austin by way of Dripping Springs - 290 to Ranch Road 12 - and it ended up taking quite a while to get home. That was cool, though.
Anyway, really enjoyed spending that much time with her. Super neat girl. Not like we'll ever date or anything, because that would be awesome. But she's too good for me. Not like that - not in a low self-esteem way, but in a purity kind of way. She even told me I shouldn't shave my head.
Bought my books online this year, saved a *ton* of money - $100 used versus $35 new, and $100 new/non-resellable versus $50 used. Good stuff. Seventeen days left until everything starts up.
Amber G -- Passing Time
Anyway. This one starts off on Scrubs, probably because I've been watching so much of it lately. I really like the show - the more I watch, the more I like it (even episodes I've already watched). I can't really remember that part. But then it goes to me being at home. There's a flier about someone coming home from California to do a lecture about something. I eventually realize it's Chelsea (had to have her in there somehow), and decide I'm definitely not going to that. Then, somehow, it ends up me being at a big house on a hill, and she's living nearby, training some weird, giant aquatic mammal. Then one day, I'm in the pool, and it's there - swims right in front of me. I'm really scared it's going to bite me, but it swims less than a foot away from me, and it just looks at me. Kinda scary. Oh, and Chelsea's swimming nearby. I really don't get it.
To be fair, this description doesn't do this dream justice at all. It was long and epic. I'm talking plots, recurring sub-themes, the whole ball.
In other news, Christmas was pretty good. Got a new desk, a new car seat, a chess set that moves its own pieces, and the Game of Thrones series. Good stuff. It was a lot of fun on Christmas Eve's party at work, we had a small party. It was me, Sergio, Bill, and Jenni working, and we were slow. Bill left at 5-ish, so it was just the three of us for the next four hours. We made cookies and had punch and wore Christmas hats. Well, Jenni wore one. I had a pair of reindeer antlers with bells on them that Jenni had been able to get the girl at Wal-Mart to give her. We ended up going to IHOP after work - the two of us - then talked a little about how she was going to be alone all night and wake up on Christmas Eve by herself, which sucks. Long story short, I drove her to Austin so she could spend the night at her grandmother's, a sweet little Hispanic lady. (Memorable quote: "Now do you believe I'm Hispanic?") Had some rum cake and hot cocoa, got lost on the way back. Well, not really lost, just went the long way. The *long* way. Came home from Austin by way of Dripping Springs - 290 to Ranch Road 12 - and it ended up taking quite a while to get home. That was cool, though.
Anyway, really enjoyed spending that much time with her. Super neat girl. Not like we'll ever date or anything, because that would be awesome. But she's too good for me. Not like that - not in a low self-esteem way, but in a purity kind of way. She even told me I shouldn't shave my head.
Bought my books online this year, saved a *ton* of money - $100 used versus $35 new, and $100 new/non-resellable versus $50 used. Good stuff. Seventeen days left until everything starts up.
Amber G -- Passing Time
2006-11-15
Dancing's what makes me whole
So I have a lot of stuff I want to write about, but this is just a quick post before I head in to work. I had some issues sleeping today - finally started falling asleep about two, but I woke up a few times; once, Bam called, once, Mat called, and around 7 or so, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. This kind of sleeping tends to produce weird dreams that I remember, if only vaguely.
Like this one.
First, it was about Chelsea. However, it was almost two hours ago that I woke up, so I really only remember bits and isolated fragments. I remember talking on the phone with her, at Mom's house, I think. Also, we were driving around in a car - my car, but not my truck, having some sort of philosophical discussion.
Aaron Smith ft. Luvii -- Dancing
Like this one.
First, it was about Chelsea. However, it was almost two hours ago that I woke up, so I really only remember bits and isolated fragments. I remember talking on the phone with her, at Mom's house, I think. Also, we were driving around in a car - my car, but not my truck, having some sort of philosophical discussion.
Aaron Smith ft. Luvii -- Dancing
2006-09-20
Through the sugar storm
The job hunt, day 1.
Went down to the HEB warehouse, put in an app, had an interview. Had to talk about working at Sonic and Domino's, which was weird. She put me through to the next round of interviews; I get to go back Friday at 9 (am). So that's cool, definitely a good sign. Went to Wal-Mart next - the retail center, not the warehouse - and (NOTE: If you get really irrated whenever I dare mention Mindy in my blog, skip the rest of this paragraph. Hell, I might end up talking about Chelsea at some point, so you'll probably just want to skip this entire post. Just to be safe. I wouldn't want to give anyone a headache.) sat at their little application station in the layaway center and filled out an application there as well. That was fun. Meh. Mindy walked by as I was sitting there, said hi to me. We talked a little bit. She had her baby, a healthy boy, named Travis II, after his father. Also, she now has the child's name tatooed on her right wrist, on the inner side.
Yeah, kinda weird. Definitely not the girl I dated for a year and a half. It's weird to see her all grown up, living her own life.
Wow, that last sentence verges on incredibly patronizing, or something, not sure what. It's really the only way I can think to put it, though. I certainly don't consider myself "all grown up, living my own life" just yet, which might help lessen the impact of that sentence.
Anyway.
I'm not sure where else I can really apply before I start falling back on fallbacks, stuff like CRI and TNI and [shudder] Sonic. I might end up there if I can't find anything else, though I really don't want to. I highly doubt things would come to that. Rose gave up on moving back down here and that whole thing, so I'm not even going to look for something in Austin. Besides, I think that would get too weird eventually. Or maybe not. I don't know, and won't have to find out now.
Moving on.
Still treading lightly in the Chelsea situation. Well... it's not like there's really a "Chelsea situation", just trying to figure out how to contact her. I sent her a message already, but I'm not sure it went out - there's no copy of it in my sent folder, and I was having a lot of errors during that time (Tried sending something to Megan as well, it never went out). The problem is that if the first one did go through, I'll seem overbearing, which is something I really, really don't want to do. We'll see how it goes.
Amber G -- Sugar Storm
Went down to the HEB warehouse, put in an app, had an interview. Had to talk about working at Sonic and Domino's, which was weird. She put me through to the next round of interviews; I get to go back Friday at 9 (am). So that's cool, definitely a good sign. Went to Wal-Mart next - the retail center, not the warehouse - and (NOTE: If you get really irrated whenever I dare mention Mindy in my blog, skip the rest of this paragraph. Hell, I might end up talking about Chelsea at some point, so you'll probably just want to skip this entire post. Just to be safe. I wouldn't want to give anyone a headache.) sat at their little application station in the layaway center and filled out an application there as well. That was fun. Meh. Mindy walked by as I was sitting there, said hi to me. We talked a little bit. She had her baby, a healthy boy, named Travis II, after his father. Also, she now has the child's name tatooed on her right wrist, on the inner side.
Yeah, kinda weird. Definitely not the girl I dated for a year and a half. It's weird to see her all grown up, living her own life.
Wow, that last sentence verges on incredibly patronizing, or something, not sure what. It's really the only way I can think to put it, though. I certainly don't consider myself "all grown up, living my own life" just yet, which might help lessen the impact of that sentence.
Anyway.
I'm not sure where else I can really apply before I start falling back on fallbacks, stuff like CRI and TNI and [shudder] Sonic. I might end up there if I can't find anything else, though I really don't want to. I highly doubt things would come to that. Rose gave up on moving back down here and that whole thing, so I'm not even going to look for something in Austin. Besides, I think that would get too weird eventually. Or maybe not. I don't know, and won't have to find out now.
Moving on.
Still treading lightly in the Chelsea situation. Well... it's not like there's really a "Chelsea situation", just trying to figure out how to contact her. I sent her a message already, but I'm not sure it went out - there's no copy of it in my sent folder, and I was having a lot of errors during that time (Tried sending something to Megan as well, it never went out). The problem is that if the first one did go through, I'll seem overbearing, which is something I really, really don't want to do. We'll see how it goes.
Amber G -- Sugar Storm
2005-12-23
Never ever have I ever felt so low
So Jess asked me today how things are going with Ambra, and Felicia and I touched on that topic when she called about getting some stuff for the Steak Fanatic pizza, since she was about to run out and the office decided at the last minute to prolong the period of time in which we're offering the disgusting abomination. Yeah.
In both cases, I didn't really have an answer. Well, I did, kinda. The answer I had was that there wasn't anything to be going. I think that's my fault, as I haven't really pursued anything yet, mainly due to our schedules. Well, that, and I don't think I'm in an emotional state to even consider seeing someone else, when I can't seem to get past the last person I saw. I don't think it would be fair, the whole thing just sort of screams 'rebound' to me. So every time the oppurtunity arises, I passively let it go. Which got me to thinking about whether or not I should even try. I mean, first off, I'm not over Lilie, not by a long shot. Her stopping by work today and talking was enough to send me to the walk-in, crying, after she left, which was fun. Yeah. But something occurred to me about my relationship history the other day. Generally speaking, if the past is any indicator, this (Ambra) would end up being a disaster, or not ending well, or something like that, for the simple reason that someone else didn't do the hard part already.
That sounds a little weird, so I'm going to go dredging about in my past, a favorite pasttime of mine, and categorize my relationships by some new standards and see what patterns emerge. It should be fun.
Ah, yes, the one that started it all. Now, to be fair, you can't really even call this one a relationship. I mean, holy crap, we were kids. To be fair, yeah, a lot of kids are pursuing relationships - or some twisted version of it - this young, but I sure as hell didn't know what was going on.
Overall, a complete disaster. And it was all me. Isolated incident, or ignored foretelling? We'll see.
I moped around a lot after Chelsea dumped me; one day, in Gamez's Algebra I class, Shayna raised her hand and asked, "Can I go over to Billy's desk and talk to him to make sure he's okay?" And gosh darn it, she did.
She started things off, and they went well, until I ended them in my own special way. Inconclusive so far.
So I developed a crush on Barbara, and pursued it. We went out for a while. I want to say sometime in April until band camp in the summer of our freshman year. Yeah, that sounds about right - her birthday was in late April, and I went to that as her boyfriend (or whatever), and I remember Josh giving me her break-up note after practice one day in summer band.
So this one is kinda like Chelsea - I started the whole thing, no third party help and nothing from her, and it was... well, lukewarm, for lack of a better word, and it ended with almost no warning.
Not going to go through the whole thing with Mary, since it lasted... three weeks, if that? I'll just mention that she asked me out within two weeks of school starting, we went on one date, and then she broke up with me. Fun stuff.
Almost the exact same pattern as above. Hmm...
Ah, Kenni. These were the good old days. Now that I think about it, I'm probably going to drop the structed list format and just kind of ramble. I met her at a pool party when Kristina asked if she could bring her little sister, which she did. Didn't think much of it at the time, 'til school started. Kenni was a freshman; I was a junior. Every morning, she'd come find me and give me a big hug and wish me a good day. Didn't matter where I was - in the cafetaria, chess club, or doing random tutoring in an equally random classroom - every morning, a good-morning hug. I eventually realized that that might be a sign, talked to Kristina about it briefly, asked her mom for permission, then went for it. Great relatiionship - we hung out a lot, enjoyed each other's company, gave each other our first kiss after the Homecoming Dance... good memories. It ended rather abruptly, because of a third party, it had nothing to do with either of us. So yeah, fairly successful, overall, and she started it.
I'll try to keep this one brief. Crystal introduced us, since she thought we'd be good for each other, and Mindy wanted an older boyfriend. We hit it off very well right from the start, and had a long (at least by my standards - a year and a half) rollar-coaster relationship. We broke up and got back together eight times, and were a *bunch* of firsts for each other. Finally ended when I started going to UT. Fairly successful overall, and Crystal started it for us.
She im'ed me one evening about what a jackalope was, and when we finally started hanging out, she dropped a ton of hints - we were sitting in her bed, and she had me start brushing her hair, a few others, until she finally takes me to this empty beach at like three am, and we had a moonlight stroll with the tide gently lapping at our ankles. I kissed her, she kissed me back, and we launched a four month relationship that lasted until I broke up with her on February 1st.
Credit for this one goes to Kristen and Allison, who seriously tried to hook us up, and talked too much about it, respectively. The thought crossed my mind a few times during the relationship if it would have happened without their actions. Meh. Another fairly successful relationship brought about by other people's actions.
We only went on one date, but this was one that I pursued unilaterally, without second or third party assistance. Bombed when she found out I was an atheist, and told me she wouldn't be comfortable dating someone outside her religion.
Sort of skipped her, but I threw out any pretense of order a while back, and I'm approaching stream-of-consciousness writing here. We have a longer history than Mindy and I, and most likely just as tangled. It's really hard to say anything about this one in this context, though I remember one evneing at the Alkek library when she was definitely pushing hard to the hoop.
I guess the idea I'm trying to explore is that by far, my successful relationships have been those that were initiated by or came to fruitation through the acions of someone else, even the girl in question - Lilie, Mindy, Kenni, Suzie; whereas those that I initiated completely on my own - Barbara, Heather, Sara - tended to be lukewarm, go nowhere, and end relatively quickly or never even start. Now, it's not a definite rule - look at Crystal and Mary for very good counter-examples. However, as a general hypothesis, it does seem to fit most of the current evidence fairly well. Now, as to why, I have no idea. Granted, there's probably more of a confidence boost when there's definite signals coming in, and the fear of rejection is much, much less. That, and there's several layers of filtering already done, so any early flags that might have been thrown have already been cleared. However, I've never liked depending on other people to carry important messages for me - I'd rather do it myself.
I came to this realization almost a month ago during some reminiscing. I think it scares me, because as I grow more and more socially isolated, the chances of having that third party assistance - which, for the record, I've never solicited - declines rather steadily, not to say anything of the likelihood of second party signals.
I don't think much of this post makes sense, but I'm going to go with it anyway.
All Saints -- Never Ever
In both cases, I didn't really have an answer. Well, I did, kinda. The answer I had was that there wasn't anything to be going. I think that's my fault, as I haven't really pursued anything yet, mainly due to our schedules. Well, that, and I don't think I'm in an emotional state to even consider seeing someone else, when I can't seem to get past the last person I saw. I don't think it would be fair, the whole thing just sort of screams 'rebound' to me. So every time the oppurtunity arises, I passively let it go. Which got me to thinking about whether or not I should even try. I mean, first off, I'm not over Lilie, not by a long shot. Her stopping by work today and talking was enough to send me to the walk-in, crying, after she left, which was fun. Yeah. But something occurred to me about my relationship history the other day. Generally speaking, if the past is any indicator, this (Ambra) would end up being a disaster, or not ending well, or something like that, for the simple reason that someone else didn't do the hard part already.
That sounds a little weird, so I'm going to go dredging about in my past, a favorite pasttime of mine, and categorize my relationships by some new standards and see what patterns emerge. It should be fun.
Chelsea
Ah, yes, the one that started it all. Now, to be fair, you can't really even call this one a relationship. I mean, holy crap, we were kids. To be fair, yeah, a lot of kids are pursuing relationships - or some twisted version of it - this young, but I sure as hell didn't know what was going on.
- Initiation: Completely by myself. No help, nothing from her.
- Duration: A year, from the beginning to the end, but there's a lot of holes in the middle.
- Quality: Terrible. As I said, I had no frickin' clue what the hell was going on. My connection to reality has always been tenuous at best, and it was particularly weak concerning the fairer sex when I was younger (not to imply, by contrast, that it's any better now.)
- How: She finally realized that the entire thing was a terrible idea, had nothing to do with reality, and ended it. I appluad her for the action.
- Now: We never really talked before hand - I was too nervous - and not much after - I was too embarrassed. So, yeah.
Overall, a complete disaster. And it was all me. Isolated incident, or ignored foretelling? We'll see.
Shayna
I moped around a lot after Chelsea dumped me; one day, in Gamez's Algebra I class, Shayna raised her hand and asked, "Can I go over to Billy's desk and talk to him to make sure he's okay?" And gosh darn it, she did.
- Initiation: It was kind of a natural progression from the concern she showed for me, and the whole thing kind of grew out of that. I can't remember who asked who out, but the whole thing started from her.
- Duration: A couple months? I remember telling her I had a crush on Barbara in Ms. Baker's science class, which was still eighth grade, so I'm going to go with about three months, give or take.
- Quality: Pretty good, all things considered. Looking back, I'd say we clicked on certain things, and didn't really on other things, but more so positive than negative.
- How: She started things off when she came over and checked on me, and moved the whole thing along, until I torpedoed it all to hell. I'm pretty good at that. Told her I had written Barbara a secret-admirer letter, and that was pretty much that.
- Now: Friendly all the way through high school, but I haven't talked to her since. We're friends on MySpace, but haven't actually had any communication since. Good stuff.
She started things off, and they went well, until I ended them in my own special way. Inconclusive so far.
Barbara
So I developed a crush on Barbara, and pursued it. We went out for a while. I want to say sometime in April until band camp in the summer of our freshman year. Yeah, that sounds about right - her birthday was in late April, and I went to that as her boyfriend (or whatever), and I remember Josh giving me her break-up note after practice one day in summer band.
- Initiation: I asked her out after telling her I liked her. Nothing from anybody else.
- Duration: A few months. Five?
- Quality: Meh. We wrote letters back and forth almost every day, and went on a few outings - mainly movies, that I can remember. The Saint, Empire Strikes Back (I think), and Volcano spring to mind.
- How: We wrote letters back and forth all the time, so she broke up with me via letter - gave it to Josh to give to me after he was sure she'd left. In it, she said that I was "Immature" and two other things I don't really remember. She later (several years later) told me that she actually felt smothered. Fair enough.
- Now: We eventually started talking again later in high school after she spent most of freshmen year ignoring me (actively), except when her and Terri needed help in Biology, since Dufas was really, really bizarre and I was one of the few people who was able to figure out just what the hell he was trying to teach us on any given day. Spent some time with her via David a year or more ago, but nothing recent.
So this one is kinda like Chelsea - I started the whole thing, no third party help and nothing from her, and it was... well, lukewarm, for lack of a better word, and it ended with almost no warning.
Mary
Not going to go through the whole thing with Mary, since it lasted... three weeks, if that? I'll just mention that she asked me out within two weeks of school starting, we went on one date, and then she broke up with me. Fun stuff.
Crystal
Almost the exact same pattern as above. Hmm...
Kenni
Ah, Kenni. These were the good old days. Now that I think about it, I'm probably going to drop the structed list format and just kind of ramble. I met her at a pool party when Kristina asked if she could bring her little sister, which she did. Didn't think much of it at the time, 'til school started. Kenni was a freshman; I was a junior. Every morning, she'd come find me and give me a big hug and wish me a good day. Didn't matter where I was - in the cafetaria, chess club, or doing random tutoring in an equally random classroom - every morning, a good-morning hug. I eventually realized that that might be a sign, talked to Kristina about it briefly, asked her mom for permission, then went for it. Great relatiionship - we hung out a lot, enjoyed each other's company, gave each other our first kiss after the Homecoming Dance... good memories. It ended rather abruptly, because of a third party, it had nothing to do with either of us. So yeah, fairly successful, overall, and she started it.
Mindy
I'll try to keep this one brief. Crystal introduced us, since she thought we'd be good for each other, and Mindy wanted an older boyfriend. We hit it off very well right from the start, and had a long (at least by my standards - a year and a half) rollar-coaster relationship. We broke up and got back together eight times, and were a *bunch* of firsts for each other. Finally ended when I started going to UT. Fairly successful overall, and Crystal started it for us.
Suzie
She im'ed me one evening about what a jackalope was, and when we finally started hanging out, she dropped a ton of hints - we were sitting in her bed, and she had me start brushing her hair, a few others, until she finally takes me to this empty beach at like three am, and we had a moonlight stroll with the tide gently lapping at our ankles. I kissed her, she kissed me back, and we launched a four month relationship that lasted until I broke up with her on February 1st.
Lilie
Credit for this one goes to Kristen and Allison, who seriously tried to hook us up, and talked too much about it, respectively. The thought crossed my mind a few times during the relationship if it would have happened without their actions. Meh. Another fairly successful relationship brought about by other people's actions.
Sara
We only went on one date, but this was one that I pursued unilaterally, without second or third party assistance. Bombed when she found out I was an atheist, and told me she wouldn't be comfortable dating someone outside her religion.
Terri
Sort of skipped her, but I threw out any pretense of order a while back, and I'm approaching stream-of-consciousness writing here. We have a longer history than Mindy and I, and most likely just as tangled. It's really hard to say anything about this one in this context, though I remember one evneing at the Alkek library when she was definitely pushing hard to the hoop.
I guess the idea I'm trying to explore is that by far, my successful relationships have been those that were initiated by or came to fruitation through the acions of someone else, even the girl in question - Lilie, Mindy, Kenni, Suzie; whereas those that I initiated completely on my own - Barbara, Heather, Sara - tended to be lukewarm, go nowhere, and end relatively quickly or never even start. Now, it's not a definite rule - look at Crystal and Mary for very good counter-examples. However, as a general hypothesis, it does seem to fit most of the current evidence fairly well. Now, as to why, I have no idea. Granted, there's probably more of a confidence boost when there's definite signals coming in, and the fear of rejection is much, much less. That, and there's several layers of filtering already done, so any early flags that might have been thrown have already been cleared. However, I've never liked depending on other people to carry important messages for me - I'd rather do it myself.
I came to this realization almost a month ago during some reminiscing. I think it scares me, because as I grow more and more socially isolated, the chances of having that third party assistance - which, for the record, I've never solicited - declines rather steadily, not to say anything of the likelihood of second party signals.
I don't think much of this post makes sense, but I'm going to go with it anyway.
All Saints -- Never Ever
2005-06-29
You wear them so well, those innocent eyes
I have to do this now, while it's still fresh in my mind. It's funny. Lately, most of the time when I wake up and slowly stumble over to my chair in the command center, David's usually already sitting at his, and I'll often say "I had a weird dream." But he's now here right now - he's working for Mom, which is weird in and of itself. But I did have a weird dream, and I'd be posting about this one anyway.
It was about Chelsea.
No, not my truck. That Chelsea. And why not? With the complete and total disarray (-Disarray? Ha! Try non-existent.-) that my social and romantic lives are in right now, why not go all the way back to the beginning?
So I don't remember all of it, but I'll go with what I do.
We were dating. I think. No, I'm sure about that. Except I was displaying the vast insecurities and issues I've always had about her, including an almost completely inability to talk to her, and she was trying to help me overcome them. I remember at one point, she, um, what's the word? Pinched my nose? That's not quite the right word, but hopefully, you'll know what I mean. It was cute.
Speaking of cute...
It was weird. My dream was set in present times, or close enough. But she didn't look like she does now - not that I'd have any idea how she looks. The last time I saw her was... a brief visit during senior year in high school. But I guess my subconscious used the image I have permanently burned in my mind, that of *way* back, 6th - 8th grade. And she had a lot of freckles.
So I don't remember very much of it, except driving around in a little silver car (A possible reference to Lilie, which is odd, though I'm still a lot of anxiety about the possibility of driving her car back from Ft Worth, don't know why else that would pop up), and we were talking a lot, and she pinched my nose, and was trying to get me to talk to her more, open up, which is weird since I don't normally have that problem, and when we were going through the intersection at Bishop and Hopkins right before it turns into Hunter (or maybe after), we got hit in by another car. Not enough to hurt us, but enough to damage the car a little.
That's about all I remember. And it was enough to keep my eyes wet for the last hour or so since I've been awake.
It was about Chelsea.
No, not my truck. That Chelsea. And why not? With the complete and total disarray (-Disarray? Ha! Try non-existent.-) that my social and romantic lives are in right now, why not go all the way back to the beginning?
So I don't remember all of it, but I'll go with what I do.
We were dating. I think. No, I'm sure about that. Except I was displaying the vast insecurities and issues I've always had about her, including an almost completely inability to talk to her, and she was trying to help me overcome them. I remember at one point, she, um, what's the word? Pinched my nose? That's not quite the right word, but hopefully, you'll know what I mean. It was cute.
Speaking of cute...
It was weird. My dream was set in present times, or close enough. But she didn't look like she does now - not that I'd have any idea how she looks. The last time I saw her was... a brief visit during senior year in high school. But I guess my subconscious used the image I have permanently burned in my mind, that of *way* back, 6th - 8th grade. And she had a lot of freckles.
So I don't remember very much of it, except driving around in a little silver car (A possible reference to Lilie, which is odd, though I'm still a lot of anxiety about the possibility of driving her car back from Ft Worth, don't know why else that would pop up), and we were talking a lot, and she pinched my nose, and was trying to get me to talk to her more, open up, which is weird since I don't normally have that problem, and when we were going through the intersection at Bishop and Hopkins right before it turns into Hunter (or maybe after), we got hit in by another car. Not enough to hurt us, but enough to damage the car a little.
That's about all I remember. And it was enough to keep my eyes wet for the last hour or so since I've been awake.
2005-02-22
My tear ducts are so completely drained right now
Yeah, that didn't work so well. Went to create a new character... and didn't. I just don't feel like going through all the early stuff again (I can hear Lilie yelling at me at this point "Then why the hell did you delete your characters?"), especially since the environment will be so isolated now. This may be a momentary lapse, or a sign of major burn-out or paradigm shift.
We'll see.
So... let's do a relationship recap. Those are always fun. I'm in tears anyway; dredging up a bunch of old memories and mucking about in the pain of the past seems like the perfect way to spend the next four three hours.
So, without further ado...
Ah, the first one, the one that started it all. We met in fifth grade (?). I think. I know we were in the same group of classes in fifth grade - Mrs. Hirsch, Mrs. Jimenez, and Mrs... Barragon? They sort of rotated around, so Hirsch did Social Studies, Barragon did Math, and Jimenez did Science. No, wait. Jimenez was sixth grade science. Crap. Anyway. There were five of us that they just didn't know what to do with - me, Chelsea, Roland, Stacy, and Melanie. They put us in this little 'enrichment group' and had us do projects and stuff during class, since we were all bored with normal classwork anyway. The one I really remember is we did a 'game show' for the rest of the class. I don't really remember the parameters, but I do remember the five of us sitting outside the classroom, talking about polar bears and penguins and their co-existence. We finally did the game show; I was the announcer; Mel and Roland were the hosts, and Stacy and Chelsea (both were fairly shy in that grade) were the judges. We had two little things that came from a Happy Meal or something; theyw were like little air-buttons, attached to a car, and when you hit the button, the car went foward. That's what we used to have them indicate that they were ringing in to answer the question. It was over Christmas vacation that year (that may be starting a little early... but I've always been a very emotional person) that I thought I liked her. Didn't say anything that year, of course.
Next year, at Lamar/Hernandez, I met David and Michael, amongst others. David's been a very influential person in my life - he's introduced me to a lot of things, including Weird Al, Star Wars, WoW, computers... the list goes on. Anyway. That was also when I made the shift from a very quiet, shy person to a loud extrovert. I want to say we had the same homeroom (Chelsea and I). I know John Brown and I did, 'cause we often played chess during homeroom. I know we had English and Social Studies together (due to specific memories), so I know we were in the same block. But I can't remember if we had homeroom together. So one Friday, I told Michael and David that I liked Chelsea. They both laughed. That should have been my first warning.
So eventually, the entire school knew. I don't know who told who, and this much later, I don't really care. I just remember that *everyone* knew, and they teased her a lot about it. They teased me too, but I've never cared about being teased. Stopped caring... in first grade? Something like that. Anyway. I've never been 'cool' or 'popular'. I've never quite been an 'outcast', either, though. So, I couldn't bring myself to talk to her at all. I was just so devastated that she was being put through all of this because of me. I don't think I've ever really dealt with that fact. I think I still carry around a lot of guilt for that. Maybe. Anyway.
So I didn't really talk to her all year. I went to decent lengths to avoid her, in fact. At one point, they were experiementing with how we sat at lunch. (This may have been fifth grade. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think it was fifth grade.) Anyway, they had the boys sitting on one side, and the girls on the other. I remember the day I was sitting across from her. Couldn't meet her eyes at all. Isolated little anecdote.
So, yeah, didn't really talk to her all year during sixth grade. I mean, I'm sure we talked once or twice, but nothing of any substance. We were in Horizons together (despite my abbreviated attempt to quit over them forcing me to do a speech in front of the class). I do have a few specific memories of that year. We took a Social Studies test in Mrs... can't remember her name, though I can picture her - 's class. We were allowed to leave as soon as we were done. I was done first, as usual, and left. Apparently, after I left, someone yelled out "Billy loves Chelsea". And yes, she was in the room as well. The teacher didn't really say anything. Also... oh wait, this was fifth grade - we did a play called "Travis in TAAS Land"; I was the bathroom monitor. I lip-synched a remix of "I am the captain of the Pinefor" and got wrapped in toilet paper. Roland, Chelsea, and... Mel (?) were the three sidekicks (this was basically a parody of Alice in Wonderland). Anyway. Near the end of the year, Chris Carrasco - he played trombone, and we hung out a few times - found Stacy's address book. He had a crush on her, so it was fortunate. In any case, I gave him two dollars, and he gave me Chelsea's address out of it. From there, I got her phone number as well.
After the school year ended, right at the beginning of the summer, I wrote her this letter, about how sorry I was about what had happened that year, and everyone teasing her, and I would understand if she hated me forever. The thing I remember is writing "PS. I do like you." Figured she might as well know. So, the summer went on. Sorta forgot about the letter. Near the end of the summer, a letter came, addressed to me. It was in a pink envelope, postmarked Austin, and had a question mark in the return address. We thought it was from my cousin Felicia, but that didn't make that much sense. Of course, she was the only girl in Austin I knew (we'd later find out how stupid I was). So, I open it up, and it says the following:
To this day, the meaning of that last 'like' is still up in the air. Though, of course, almost ten years later, it's a bit of a moot point.
Anyway. So, seventh grade. That and part of eighth grade are kind of a blur, and I have trouble differentiating between the two, and sorting out what happened when. I do know that we wrote each other three more times, and that my half of the correspondence was quite possibility the stupidest things ever written (I swear that part of one of them was talking about how "Run, Forrest, Run" was stolen from Star Wars: Episode IV. Yeah. I *really* didn't know what to say back then. Still don't, but I'm slowly making progress.) I'll just go with the assorted and sporadic memories I do have.
Valentine's Day, '96. The PALS club was doing this rose thing where for $1.50 (or 12 for a dozen), you could send a rose to someone, and they'd give it to them during last period on Valentine's Day. I worked out a deal with mom where I'd fold all the laundry on the couch (and it was *full*), and she'd give me the twelve dollars. I spent a few hours doing so - watched the Stanley Cup while I was at it - and did it. Lauren Wyatt said she had this huge smile when she got into her car. As for myself, I got two that day. One was actually from Chelsea (From: Chelsea Williams; Have a Happy Valentines Day. Sorry I haven't written. ?) The "?" is actually written on the card; and one was from Michael, Donny, and them, trying to screw with me. The first hint is that they misspelled her name. Though, and I don't know if I've ever noticed this before, Chelsea spelled my last name "Martian." That's just cute.
There was a dance that night. I don't know if I went. Wait.. no, I didn't. Because in her next letter, she wrote:
Looking at the postmarks of the envelopes, that would have been the last letter she wrote me, in eighth grade. No, seventh. Anyway. We went to see Sgt. Bilko. I remember a lot of that very well. She was wearing a yellow dress. Josh and I were standing there, talking, while she was standing in front of one of the pillars. I kind of peeked my head around the pillar and asked her if she already had a ticket, and she told me that yes, she did. (Josh was telling me I was supposed to buy hers.) This was back in Cinema 5. It was on the... left side, where there were three screens. She had a Dr Pepper, and I had a Sprite. I spent probably half the movie trying to figure out if I should hold her hand. I never did, for the record - I started not making moves early on.
There were two other letters between the first and last one.
It took me forever to get the riddle. She gave me two clues - it's four letters, and it starts with 'k'. Of course, the answer is kiss. Again, any meaning in there is debatable, but I still lean towards 'no'.
This next one was the conclusion of some drama. Jennifer Hunt told me that Chelsea didn't like me and wanted me to fade out of her life, and I wrote her a letter telling her that I would. I also felt really bad about something Mat did - don't remember what.
Of course, that riddle is a lot easier.
So, we did go to the end-of-year dance together. Didn't slow dance, though.
Any memories after that lose all coherence or chronology. I remember during... sixth grade (?) we had a talent show thing, and she got up and sang 'El Shaddai' acapella (?). I couldn't look at her the whole time. Eighth grade, after we were apart, she sang 'Lemon Tree' and accompanied herself on the acoustic guitar. We went on after her and did 'Since You've Been Gone' by Weird Al (David and I). We went to the skating rink.... twice? I broke up with her for some reason in seventh grade, and we got back together like a week later. I called her a total of four times; once, was from Jarrod's - he started attacking me with a spatula, and I fought back with one; once, I called her from my house while Jarrod was over and Mom was gone; we were watching Transformers: The Movie; I don't really remember the other two times. She called and broke up with me some time during eighth grade. I was devastated.
This leads us to:
Shayna was... really short. Had freckles, long black hair, dark eyes. Her mom was an english teacher at the high school (had her for a year and a half). This was... probably a week after we broke up. We were in Gamez (Alg. I)'s class, and we were working on some homework. I had already finished, and had my head down on my desk. Shayna raises her hand, and asked, "Can I go see if Billy is okay?" The whole class was like, "Whoo!" But she did, and talked to me, and... things went from there. We talked on the phone a lot. I don't know if she liked me from the start, or was just being friendly and I grew on her, but either way, we started going out. I know we went to the eighth grade Valentine's Day dance together; I'm having trouble remembering what else. I figure we probably went to a few movies, since that's really all there is to do in this town. I do remember that she gave me this old-fashoined key, which represented "the key to her heart". Yeah, I know. My response? Put it on some fishing twine and wear it as a pendant for the duration of our relationship. Yeah, I know. Shayna was a very touchy-feely girl, which was new for me. We were always holding hands, or had our feet together. So... um, how did that one end? Oh, crap, that's right. Totally my fault. I um... sort of had this crush on Barbara? And wrote her a letter to that end - didn't identify myself by name. Shayna found out, though. So that ended that. I have no excuse... other than, well, it was eighth grade. Not much of one, I know.
So we ended up going out. Not a whole lot to tell. Went to her birthday party, we saw The Saint starring Val Kilmer and Volcano. Oh crap! We also went and saw Galaxy Quest... which I'm watching right now. Strange times. Those are the things I remember off the top of my head. She was a very quiet, very reserved girl, which was quite a change after Shayna. (Of course, none of that applies now. She's... grown up, I think, would be the best way to put it.)
Um... we were dating for about five months or so. We went to Project PASS together, which was this weird thing between eighth and ninth grade where they helped orient us to high school. It lasted... a week? She pushed me to complete the typing section and get credit for an entire course. That was... nice of her. Fun, too. I have a lot of sporadic memories of her. We went to Academic Pentathlon together. I took the Math category by a substantial margin. Jennifer Hunt, Barbara and I rode together while the rest of the group rode in the van. I remember that was my first exposure to pop music. Before that, I mainly just listened to Weird Al. On that trip, I heard 'Lovefool' by the Cardigans, 'Stay' by Lisa Loeb, and... one other song I can't remember. Yeah, that was a fun trip. We shared a pint of ice cream on the way home... I'm pretty sure I still have the spoon. We were a prolific letter-writing couple, often a few a day. Lemme think... That's all I'm coming up with.
Anyway, so summer band camp started. I remember the day very well. It was about a week or two into it. It was the end of evening rehearsal. I was sitting near the trombone cubbies, putting up my trombone. This was back when the trombone cubbies were across from the door. Josh and Anna came up to me; Josh was holding a note. He handed it to me. He mentioned something like "Don't read it 'til I'm gone, I don't want to get hurt. I'm just the messenger." I hate it when people foreshadow things in the *immediate* future like that. So it wasn't any surprise when I opened up the note and it was her breaking up with me. Something about me being "obnoxious, irratating, and immature." I would later find out that she meant "smothering." 'Cause, yeah, they mean about the same thing. She wouldn't talk to me for the rest of Freshmen year, except when she needed help in biology ('cause our teacher was bizarre, and most of the class had no hope of understanding anything he meant. I carried Josh, Terri, and Barbara through the course.)
So, yeah. Dumped right before high school started. Fair enough. Within two weeks, though, I heard through the channels (from Shayna, oddly enough) that there was this girl that wanted to ask me out or something. Her name was Mary, and she was a sophomore. After some initial confusion, we hooked up. Red hair, freckles, nice body. She called me once while I was helping Mom carry in groceries. We talked about stuff - she was also taking German, and demonstrated how well she knew the German alphabet. She also gave me a tape with "How Do I Live Without You?" by LeAnn Rimes and "Fly" by Sugar Ray. We went on one date, to a movie. Some chick flick. Sporadicly, thoughout the movie, she turned towards me. I'd note this through my periphial vision and turn to her and see what was up. She'd say 'nothing' and resume watching the movie. Everyone I've ever told this story to has told me that she was basically screaming at me to kiss her. Good to know. She broke up with me within a week. Total time for us? Two weeks or so. I still hung out with her group during lunch a lot, though. I talked to her not too long ago, too. More on that later.
Crap, looks like it's almost time to go to work. I'll get to the later ones - Terri, Kenni, Crystal, Mindy, Nikki, Suzie, and yes, even Lilie later. I might even mention some of the incidental ones - Zara, Sara, and Heather. Hell, I might even bring Dru, Leslie, Melissa, and a few others into the fold. Fun times. I should do this more often.
We'll see.
So... let's do a relationship recap. Those are always fun. I'm in tears anyway; dredging up a bunch of old memories and mucking about in the pain of the past seems like the perfect way to spend the next four three hours.
So, without further ado...
Chelsea
Ah, the first one, the one that started it all. We met in fifth grade (?). I think. I know we were in the same group of classes in fifth grade - Mrs. Hirsch, Mrs. Jimenez, and Mrs... Barragon? They sort of rotated around, so Hirsch did Social Studies, Barragon did Math, and Jimenez did Science. No, wait. Jimenez was sixth grade science. Crap. Anyway. There were five of us that they just didn't know what to do with - me, Chelsea, Roland, Stacy, and Melanie. They put us in this little 'enrichment group' and had us do projects and stuff during class, since we were all bored with normal classwork anyway. The one I really remember is we did a 'game show' for the rest of the class. I don't really remember the parameters, but I do remember the five of us sitting outside the classroom, talking about polar bears and penguins and their co-existence. We finally did the game show; I was the announcer; Mel and Roland were the hosts, and Stacy and Chelsea (both were fairly shy in that grade) were the judges. We had two little things that came from a Happy Meal or something; theyw were like little air-buttons, attached to a car, and when you hit the button, the car went foward. That's what we used to have them indicate that they were ringing in to answer the question. It was over Christmas vacation that year (that may be starting a little early... but I've always been a very emotional person) that I thought I liked her. Didn't say anything that year, of course.
Next year, at Lamar/Hernandez, I met David and Michael, amongst others. David's been a very influential person in my life - he's introduced me to a lot of things, including Weird Al, Star Wars, WoW, computers... the list goes on. Anyway. That was also when I made the shift from a very quiet, shy person to a loud extrovert. I want to say we had the same homeroom (Chelsea and I). I know John Brown and I did, 'cause we often played chess during homeroom. I know we had English and Social Studies together (due to specific memories), so I know we were in the same block. But I can't remember if we had homeroom together. So one Friday, I told Michael and David that I liked Chelsea. They both laughed. That should have been my first warning.
So eventually, the entire school knew. I don't know who told who, and this much later, I don't really care. I just remember that *everyone* knew, and they teased her a lot about it. They teased me too, but I've never cared about being teased. Stopped caring... in first grade? Something like that. Anyway. I've never been 'cool' or 'popular'. I've never quite been an 'outcast', either, though. So, I couldn't bring myself to talk to her at all. I was just so devastated that she was being put through all of this because of me. I don't think I've ever really dealt with that fact. I think I still carry around a lot of guilt for that. Maybe. Anyway.
So I didn't really talk to her all year. I went to decent lengths to avoid her, in fact. At one point, they were experiementing with how we sat at lunch. (This may have been fifth grade. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think it was fifth grade.) Anyway, they had the boys sitting on one side, and the girls on the other. I remember the day I was sitting across from her. Couldn't meet her eyes at all. Isolated little anecdote.
So, yeah, didn't really talk to her all year during sixth grade. I mean, I'm sure we talked once or twice, but nothing of any substance. We were in Horizons together (despite my abbreviated attempt to quit over them forcing me to do a speech in front of the class). I do have a few specific memories of that year. We took a Social Studies test in Mrs... can't remember her name, though I can picture her - 's class. We were allowed to leave as soon as we were done. I was done first, as usual, and left. Apparently, after I left, someone yelled out "Billy loves Chelsea". And yes, she was in the room as well. The teacher didn't really say anything. Also... oh wait, this was fifth grade - we did a play called "Travis in TAAS Land"; I was the bathroom monitor. I lip-synched a remix of "I am the captain of the Pinefor" and got wrapped in toilet paper. Roland, Chelsea, and... Mel (?) were the three sidekicks (this was basically a parody of Alice in Wonderland). Anyway. Near the end of the year, Chris Carrasco - he played trombone, and we hung out a few times - found Stacy's address book. He had a crush on her, so it was fortunate. In any case, I gave him two dollars, and he gave me Chelsea's address out of it. From there, I got her phone number as well.
After the school year ended, right at the beginning of the summer, I wrote her this letter, about how sorry I was about what had happened that year, and everyone teasing her, and I would understand if she hated me forever. The thing I remember is writing "PS. I do like you." Figured she might as well know. So, the summer went on. Sorta forgot about the letter. Near the end of the summer, a letter came, addressed to me. It was in a pink envelope, postmarked Austin, and had a question mark in the return address. We thought it was from my cousin Felicia, but that didn't make that much sense. Of course, she was the only girl in Austin I knew (we'd later find out how stupid I was). So, I open it up, and it says the following:
Dear Billy, |
To this day, the meaning of that last 'like' is still up in the air. Though, of course, almost ten years later, it's a bit of a moot point.
Anyway. So, seventh grade. That and part of eighth grade are kind of a blur, and I have trouble differentiating between the two, and sorting out what happened when. I do know that we wrote each other three more times, and that my half of the correspondence was quite possibility the stupidest things ever written (I swear that part of one of them was talking about how "Run, Forrest, Run" was stolen from Star Wars: Episode IV. Yeah. I *really* didn't know what to say back then. Still don't, but I'm slowly making progress.) I'll just go with the assorted and sporadic memories I do have.
Valentine's Day, '96. The PALS club was doing this rose thing where for $1.50 (or 12 for a dozen), you could send a rose to someone, and they'd give it to them during last period on Valentine's Day. I worked out a deal with mom where I'd fold all the laundry on the couch (and it was *full*), and she'd give me the twelve dollars. I spent a few hours doing so - watched the Stanley Cup while I was at it - and did it. Lauren Wyatt said she had this huge smile when she got into her car. As for myself, I got two that day. One was actually from Chelsea (From: Chelsea Williams; Have a Happy Valentines Day. Sorry I haven't written. ?) The "?" is actually written on the card; and one was from Michael, Donny, and them, trying to screw with me. The first hint is that they misspelled her name. Though, and I don't know if I've ever noticed this before, Chelsea spelled my last name "Martian." That's just cute.
There was a dance that night. I don't know if I went. Wait.. no, I didn't. Because in her next letter, she wrote:
| Dear Billy, I'm really sorry that I haven't written in so long. I'm a terrible pen pal. I have absolutely no discipline. By the way, I never got a chance to thank you for the roses. They're beautiful. It made me feel wonderful. I tried to dry them out, but I guess I did it wrong, because they fell apart. I wish you had come to the dance. I didn't have a partner for the slow dances, so I danced with an invisible person (no, I'm not kidding.) Do you know that Josh asked Rebecca Caudle to the movies. I wouldn't normally write about something like this, but Rebecca's a friend of mine and her mother wants her going on group dates. So Rebecca wants couples so Josh doesn't have to go with a bunch of girls. She wants me to ask you to go along. Would you like to? I don't know what movie they're going to, but I'd really enjoy going with you. Write back soon. Chelsea. |
Looking at the postmarks of the envelopes, that would have been the last letter she wrote me, in eighth grade. No, seventh. Anyway. We went to see Sgt. Bilko. I remember a lot of that very well. She was wearing a yellow dress. Josh and I were standing there, talking, while she was standing in front of one of the pillars. I kind of peeked my head around the pillar and asked her if she already had a ticket, and she told me that yes, she did. (Josh was telling me I was supposed to buy hers.) This was back in Cinema 5. It was on the... left side, where there were three screens. She had a Dr Pepper, and I had a Sprite. I spent probably half the movie trying to figure out if I should hold her hand. I never did, for the record - I started not making moves early on.
There were two other letters between the first and last one.
| Dear Billy, Hi! It's great to hear from you again. With all this school stuff I never get to talk to you. My report cards pretty good, although I need to bring my grade a few points up in Horizons. As far as my electives, I was in drama, but the class was cut, I'm not sure why. Anyway I was snatched up by art, which also explains the lunch thing. If you like riddles here's one for you. 'I'm just two and two. I am hot, I am cold. I am the parent of numbers that cannot be told. I am gift beyond measure, a matter of course. I am given by pleasure, when taken by force. What am I?' [For the record, I didn't have to look at the letter to type that. I still know it by heart.] I got it out of a horror book. By the way, I do love chess, but I'm not very good at it. May the force be with you too Well gotta go Chelsea Williams PS Sorry, I'll send you a picture soon. I was absent the day of pictures. As soon as I get one I'll send it to you. PPS Thank you for the compliment. You're a really cool guy. |
It took me forever to get the riddle. She gave me two clues - it's four letters, and it starts with 'k'. Of course, the answer is kiss. Again, any meaning in there is debatable, but I still lean towards 'no'.
This next one was the conclusion of some drama. Jennifer Hunt told me that Chelsea didn't like me and wanted me to fade out of her life, and I wrote her a letter telling her that I would. I also felt really bad about something Mat did - don't remember what.
| Dear Billy, What are you talking about?! I never said anything like that. I don't want you to fade out of my life. Jennifer is not my friend. Not really. My best friend Lauren told me what had happened, she's in your class. I got really mad at Jennifer. I don't blame you for what happened with Mat or Rat Boy. You're probably going to hear a lot of rumors. Please remember that most of them aren't true. I really like you and don't want you to fade out of my life. fade in would be better. How are you doing in school? I'm doing pretty well. I have another riddle for you - What is: 'The beginning of eternity the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, the end of every race?' Bye, Chelsea L Williams. |
Of course, that riddle is a lot easier.
So, we did go to the end-of-year dance together. Didn't slow dance, though.
Any memories after that lose all coherence or chronology. I remember during... sixth grade (?) we had a talent show thing, and she got up and sang 'El Shaddai' acapella (?). I couldn't look at her the whole time. Eighth grade, after we were apart, she sang 'Lemon Tree' and accompanied herself on the acoustic guitar. We went on after her and did 'Since You've Been Gone' by Weird Al (David and I). We went to the skating rink.... twice? I broke up with her for some reason in seventh grade, and we got back together like a week later. I called her a total of four times; once, was from Jarrod's - he started attacking me with a spatula, and I fought back with one; once, I called her from my house while Jarrod was over and Mom was gone; we were watching Transformers: The Movie; I don't really remember the other two times. She called and broke up with me some time during eighth grade. I was devastated.
This leads us to:
Shayna
Shayna was... really short. Had freckles, long black hair, dark eyes. Her mom was an english teacher at the high school (had her for a year and a half). This was... probably a week after we broke up. We were in Gamez (Alg. I)'s class, and we were working on some homework. I had already finished, and had my head down on my desk. Shayna raises her hand, and asked, "Can I go see if Billy is okay?" The whole class was like, "Whoo!" But she did, and talked to me, and... things went from there. We talked on the phone a lot. I don't know if she liked me from the start, or was just being friendly and I grew on her, but either way, we started going out. I know we went to the eighth grade Valentine's Day dance together; I'm having trouble remembering what else. I figure we probably went to a few movies, since that's really all there is to do in this town. I do remember that she gave me this old-fashoined key, which represented "the key to her heart". Yeah, I know. My response? Put it on some fishing twine and wear it as a pendant for the duration of our relationship. Yeah, I know. Shayna was a very touchy-feely girl, which was new for me. We were always holding hands, or had our feet together. So... um, how did that one end? Oh, crap, that's right. Totally my fault. I um... sort of had this crush on Barbara? And wrote her a letter to that end - didn't identify myself by name. Shayna found out, though. So that ended that. I have no excuse... other than, well, it was eighth grade. Not much of one, I know.
Barbara
So we ended up going out. Not a whole lot to tell. Went to her birthday party, we saw The Saint starring Val Kilmer and Volcano. Oh crap! We also went and saw Galaxy Quest... which I'm watching right now. Strange times. Those are the things I remember off the top of my head. She was a very quiet, very reserved girl, which was quite a change after Shayna. (Of course, none of that applies now. She's... grown up, I think, would be the best way to put it.)
Um... we were dating for about five months or so. We went to Project PASS together, which was this weird thing between eighth and ninth grade where they helped orient us to high school. It lasted... a week? She pushed me to complete the typing section and get credit for an entire course. That was... nice of her. Fun, too. I have a lot of sporadic memories of her. We went to Academic Pentathlon together. I took the Math category by a substantial margin. Jennifer Hunt, Barbara and I rode together while the rest of the group rode in the van. I remember that was my first exposure to pop music. Before that, I mainly just listened to Weird Al. On that trip, I heard 'Lovefool' by the Cardigans, 'Stay' by Lisa Loeb, and... one other song I can't remember. Yeah, that was a fun trip. We shared a pint of ice cream on the way home... I'm pretty sure I still have the spoon. We were a prolific letter-writing couple, often a few a day. Lemme think... That's all I'm coming up with.
Anyway, so summer band camp started. I remember the day very well. It was about a week or two into it. It was the end of evening rehearsal. I was sitting near the trombone cubbies, putting up my trombone. This was back when the trombone cubbies were across from the door. Josh and Anna came up to me; Josh was holding a note. He handed it to me. He mentioned something like "Don't read it 'til I'm gone, I don't want to get hurt. I'm just the messenger." I hate it when people foreshadow things in the *immediate* future like that. So it wasn't any surprise when I opened up the note and it was her breaking up with me. Something about me being "obnoxious, irratating, and immature." I would later find out that she meant "smothering." 'Cause, yeah, they mean about the same thing. She wouldn't talk to me for the rest of Freshmen year, except when she needed help in biology ('cause our teacher was bizarre, and most of the class had no hope of understanding anything he meant. I carried Josh, Terri, and Barbara through the course.)
Mary
So, yeah. Dumped right before high school started. Fair enough. Within two weeks, though, I heard through the channels (from Shayna, oddly enough) that there was this girl that wanted to ask me out or something. Her name was Mary, and she was a sophomore. After some initial confusion, we hooked up. Red hair, freckles, nice body. She called me once while I was helping Mom carry in groceries. We talked about stuff - she was also taking German, and demonstrated how well she knew the German alphabet. She also gave me a tape with "How Do I Live Without You?" by LeAnn Rimes and "Fly" by Sugar Ray. We went on one date, to a movie. Some chick flick. Sporadicly, thoughout the movie, she turned towards me. I'd note this through my periphial vision and turn to her and see what was up. She'd say 'nothing' and resume watching the movie. Everyone I've ever told this story to has told me that she was basically screaming at me to kiss her. Good to know. She broke up with me within a week. Total time for us? Two weeks or so. I still hung out with her group during lunch a lot, though. I talked to her not too long ago, too. More on that later.
Crap, looks like it's almost time to go to work. I'll get to the later ones - Terri, Kenni, Crystal, Mindy, Nikki, Suzie, and yes, even Lilie later. I might even mention some of the incidental ones - Zara, Sara, and Heather. Hell, I might even bring Dru, Leslie, Melissa, and a few others into the fold. Fun times. I should do this more often.
2004-11-18
Dance Dance Social Uprising
Argh. Tuesday *sucked*. I developed this MASSIVE headache fairly soon after going in. I'm not sure from what - stress, frustration, tiredness, you name it. Probably a combination of all three. So that's fun.
The new manager, Adam, was working. When I got there, things were fairly chaotic. There was 1 fountain, 1 cook, and two carhops. Yes - he had, in fact, cut a fountain and a cook early. They said it was really slow, but that still seems excessive. I walked through doing the deposit with him, but he knows how to do it already. So it was a typical Tuesday night - people going apeshit because burgers are half price, and Dave going apeshit because, well, he is apeshit. So I did 8 o'clock temps, and the ice cream cabinet was hot, like it had been a while back. I told him about it, but didn't think much of it, since it was doing that a while back. He freaked out, and started yelling at me, because apparently a previous crew - I hadn't worked since Sunday - had hooked up some ice cream and changed the settings on the left side. And he really, really ripped into me. Then he stayed and cleaned it out, and finally left. Things went okay after that, except I occasionally had trouble focusing and/or seeing straight because of the incredible pain I was in.
Wednesday morning, Javi called me and asked me if I could come in for Adam, who called in because of the rain (apparently some street he needed to cross was flooded or he was sick or something). I told him I could come in after class, and I did. My headache was still there, and I just felt dead. Not literally, of course. Things went fairly okay unti it was time to count my carhops down. Allison came up forty dollars short, and Erica, fifty. They're both fairly experienced carhops, and there's no way they lost that money. So that sucked. I stayed and counted everything like three times to make sure, which meant I didn't leave until after 7. I was almost home when Lilie called; we talked, and something reminded me that I still had the deposit with me - I was almost home. So I had to drive all the way back into town to turn it in, then I went to check the bridge at Lime Kiln for her. There was still some water, but not enough to cause anybody any problems. I called her to tell her that, but didn't get an answer. Come to think of it, I still haven't talked to her to let her know.
Played some DDR Wednesday after Fine Arts (got a 97 on the test, by the way). I did a couple random courses, and some with the guys. My final course was Exotic Ethnic, Rhythm & Police, and Healing Vision (Angelic Mix). I max'ed Exotic Ethnic and Rhythm & Police, and was short 5 on Healing Vision (Angelic Mix). So that was fun. Ran into Nick and Rem on my way out, and they invited me to some Halo 2 after the meeting last night. I ended up not going, though. Suzie IM'ed me this morning at some odd hours. I was falling in and out of sleep, though, so we didn't really have any conversation. Speaking of which, I got an email from Chelsea (the Chelsea) this morning; it was an E-Card for my birthday. I was proud of myself - I didn't break down or anything. Mom keeps asking me what I want for my birthday and where we're going for dinner tonight, neither of which I know the answer to.
Well, I've told them I want a megaphone, but I don't think they'll get me one. Most people agree in the assessment that I'm one of the last people on Earth that needs a megaphone. So we'll see. I mean, there's plenty of things I want for my birthday - I want a true relationship with Lilie, I want Dave to die, I want to hurry up and graduate and get a real job, I want a chance to go back and redo a number of things in my past, etc. It's just, none of those things you can really give someone. Shelley and I are opening, and I'm picking her up on my way in, and I'm heading in early, so I have to wrap this up fairly soon.
Oh!! I was IM'ed by someone named 'Vi' who apparently reads this and has had some insightful advice concerning Lilie. Which is cool. It's still kind of weird to realize people read what's going on in my life.And both my student loan people and Defensive Driving.com have wished me a happy birthday. That's just wrong, on so many levels.
The new manager, Adam, was working. When I got there, things were fairly chaotic. There was 1 fountain, 1 cook, and two carhops. Yes - he had, in fact, cut a fountain and a cook early. They said it was really slow, but that still seems excessive. I walked through doing the deposit with him, but he knows how to do it already. So it was a typical Tuesday night - people going apeshit because burgers are half price, and Dave going apeshit because, well, he is apeshit. So I did 8 o'clock temps, and the ice cream cabinet was hot, like it had been a while back. I told him about it, but didn't think much of it, since it was doing that a while back. He freaked out, and started yelling at me, because apparently a previous crew - I hadn't worked since Sunday - had hooked up some ice cream and changed the settings on the left side. And he really, really ripped into me. Then he stayed and cleaned it out, and finally left. Things went okay after that, except I occasionally had trouble focusing and/or seeing straight because of the incredible pain I was in.
Wednesday morning, Javi called me and asked me if I could come in for Adam, who called in because of the rain (apparently some street he needed to cross was flooded or he was sick or something). I told him I could come in after class, and I did. My headache was still there, and I just felt dead. Not literally, of course. Things went fairly okay unti it was time to count my carhops down. Allison came up forty dollars short, and Erica, fifty. They're both fairly experienced carhops, and there's no way they lost that money. So that sucked. I stayed and counted everything like three times to make sure, which meant I didn't leave until after 7. I was almost home when Lilie called; we talked, and something reminded me that I still had the deposit with me - I was almost home. So I had to drive all the way back into town to turn it in, then I went to check the bridge at Lime Kiln for her. There was still some water, but not enough to cause anybody any problems. I called her to tell her that, but didn't get an answer. Come to think of it, I still haven't talked to her to let her know.
Played some DDR Wednesday after Fine Arts (got a 97 on the test, by the way). I did a couple random courses, and some with the guys. My final course was Exotic Ethnic, Rhythm & Police, and Healing Vision (Angelic Mix). I max'ed Exotic Ethnic and Rhythm & Police, and was short 5 on Healing Vision (Angelic Mix). So that was fun. Ran into Nick and Rem on my way out, and they invited me to some Halo 2 after the meeting last night. I ended up not going, though. Suzie IM'ed me this morning at some odd hours. I was falling in and out of sleep, though, so we didn't really have any conversation. Speaking of which, I got an email from Chelsea (the Chelsea) this morning; it was an E-Card for my birthday. I was proud of myself - I didn't break down or anything. Mom keeps asking me what I want for my birthday and where we're going for dinner tonight, neither of which I know the answer to.
Well, I've told them I want a megaphone, but I don't think they'll get me one. Most people agree in the assessment that I'm one of the last people on Earth that needs a megaphone. So we'll see. I mean, there's plenty of things I want for my birthday - I want a true relationship with Lilie, I want Dave to die, I want to hurry up and graduate and get a real job, I want a chance to go back and redo a number of things in my past, etc. It's just, none of those things you can really give someone. Shelley and I are opening, and I'm picking her up on my way in, and I'm heading in early, so I have to wrap this up fairly soon.
Oh!! I was IM'ed by someone named 'Vi' who apparently reads this and has had some insightful advice concerning Lilie. Which is cool. It's still kind of weird to realize people read what's going on in my life.And both my student loan people and Defensive Driving.com have wished me a happy birthday. That's just wrong, on so many levels.
2004-11-09
Your words were like a dream.But dreams could never fool me
So Lilie came over yesterday and downloaded the WoW beta client. it ended up taking a while; we were dl'ing from Blizzard's dedicated server, and of course, everyone and their dog was as well. It ended up leveling out at about 50 KiB/s, which meant the 2.5 gig file took about 14 hours to download. She got here about 4; left about 10. So that was fun.
Yesterday was a weird day. It was a day of ex-girlfriends. So I ran into Kenni at the LBJ student center; already wrote about that. I sent Chelsea a short 'Happy Birthday' email that morning, and she responded. The entire exchange is posted below. Later, Suzie IM'ed me, and we talked a little bit. Which was kind of weird, right in front of Lilie.
Right after I got home, I checked my email, then started cleaning up my room, in an attempt to make it halfway presentable. Got most of it done; went ahead and took a shower. I brought my phone into the bathroom so that I'd hear it - I wasn't sure if she or Sonic would call, but wanted to get it either way. She did, and we talked ("You're talking on your phone in the shower?") briefly. I told her to take her time heading over, since I was about to finish up my shower. I did, and she pulled up right as I was getting the last pile of dirty clothes out of my room. I checked my email real quick, and that's when I got the message from Chelsea. All Lilie saw was me go "Oh shit; oh shit" as I read it, then I closed it up. It was really, really weird. Apparently, I still have all kinds of unresolved issues there - I started to break down pretty fast. I went into the bathroom and shut the door and cried a little, but managed to regain my composure. I came back into the bedroom and lay back down, but I just kind of lay there. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but I kept almost crying. I hate that feeling.
She picked up on what was going on - or rather, that she didn't know what was going on - really quickly, and tried to comfort me. I eventually (sort of) explained what was going on. It was just... really weird. This is the second girlfriend (well, technically, she's not, but it sure feels like it sometimes) (Suzie being the first) where I've just completely broken down in front of them about Chelsea. Tracy and Ashley agree that that's probably not a good thing, especially if I want to form a lasting relationship - that's not something a girl likes to see, their boyfriend (or whatever) crying to them about another girl. It's not like I chose to, though.
But anyway.
We got it up and running no problem, other than the slow connection. I've never had terribly fast connections here as it is. So we hung out. Watched 'The New Guy', which is an awesome, awesome movie. She hadn't seen it before. We also watched a bunch of misc. comedy clips I have, and some Celebrity Jeopardy from SNL. Janelle came home at one point, and made dinner, which was cool. Steak fingers, fries, and corn.
Delicious.
Lilie is a salter, just like Janelle. Disgusting.
Qw juaaws kir rgeiyfgiyr rgw xiyeaw id rgw wcwbubf, Rgwt awwnws ri vw niew bs niew o aauib rwm rii, U agiyks xk eudt rg rm rgiyfg, Rgwew q ab;r bt n jubf iyrm vyr kir id rgwn awwnws xkiawe riq esa rg r rg b vwdiew, U sus xinnwbr ib urm bs U ajws gwe viyr ya juaaubfm bs giq agw awwna ri oyr ya ub oiauruib qwkkm bir hyar gwe U gwko ri juaam qg r qurg iye d xwa ai xkiawl ainwrunwam iye kuoa ew ai xkiaw rgwt;ew kniar riyxgubf, Qw ar erws ri q rxg Sisfwv kkm vyr fir viyr ducw nubyrwa ubri ur, Qw g s birgwe kibfm kibf r kj viyr ya, U riks gwem U kq ta awwn ri d kk die rgw qeibf owiokw, Agw ewaoibswsm U quag U xiyks vw rgw eufgr oweaib, Rg r;a ew kkt hyar bir d ue, Agw kai a us ainwrgubf kibf rgw kubwa id ;ya; Bir vwubf ub rgw x esa m qg rwcwe rg r nw ba, U ybswear bs rg r gwe bs Aw b g cw ainwrgubf aowxu km bs U sib;r q br ri ubreysw ib rg r,
Wait. Ignore that last sentence.
Twam U si, Hyar ibxwm U;n fiubf ri ubsykfw ntawkd, U ew kktm ew kkt q br gwe, U q br ri vw qurg gwe, Qgwb qw;ew ktubf bwzr ri w xg irgwem U q br ri juaa gwe bs bir g cw ri giks btrgubf v xj, U q br ri kiij ubri gwe wtwa qurgiyr dw e id kujubf qg r U aww rii nyxg, U q br ri jbiq rg r agw;a rgubjubf id nwm bir ainw fyt yo ub Q agubfrib,
Okay, glad i got that out. I can come back to reality now.
Ai drwe rg rm U q kjws gwe iyr ri gwe x e kujw bien km bs U juaaws gwe fiisvtwm dufyeubf ur qiyks vw ibw id rgw k ar runwa U juaaws gwe,
I was wrong.
Agw juaaws nw v xj, Niew o aauib rwkt rg b agw;a wcwe juaaws nw vwdiew, Qw n sw iyr, kir, Qw wbsws yo oewaaws f ubar gwe x e, U rgubj ur q a ainwrgubf kujw rwb nubyrwa qgwew rgwew q a birgubf wkaw ub rgw qieksm hyar gwe bs nwm bs rgw xibbwxruib vwrqwwb ya, Qwkkm bir birgubf wkaw x e sus seucw vtm vyr bwurgwe id ya x ews, Qguxg ua xiik, drweq esam agw sus n jw xinnwbr viyr giq agw;s fibw bs xibdyaws rgubfa f ub, Qguxg q a qwues, U g s dwq are t rgiyfgra ua agw siubf ur ib oyeoiaw Siwa agw wbhit rgw issurt U;n bir ayew, Agw wcwb ajws nw drweq esa ua agw;a fiis juaawe, Agw ua, U dwkr v sm rgiyfgm ;x yaw U jbiq U;n ew kktm ew kkt eyart ur;a vwwb yurw qgukw aubxw U;cw ew kkt n sw iyr qurg btibw,
U g s ri x kk gwe kurrkw k rwem ;x yaw agw kwdr gwe aybfk aawa bs w eeubfa gwew, Agw x nw v xj bs fir rgwnm bs agw qwbr ri juaa nw fiisbufgrm vyr U susb;r juaa gwe v xj, Qguxg q a ibw id rgw vwar bs qiear ninwbra wcwe, U sus qguaowe ub gwe w e rg r agw g s bi usw giq nyxg U q brws rim rgiyfg,
I fell asleep 'bout 3 or so. Woke up and opened today. Tracy was the carhop, which is great - her and I get along really well. There's a lot of verbal sparring. She got mad at me because I kept forgetting to ask if they wanted creme and sugar with their coffee, so I started putting "-KS" on random things (that's code for "No creme or sugar"). She started doing it too. There were a few frustrating moments, but all in all, it went pretty well. Ray's stepping down as a manager, though, and Rick is starting to express some concerns and anxieties as well. We're also losing Rudy in a week or so, which means Dave may be in a tough spot here soon. I'm going to try to take advantage of the situation and get a raise, because my current pay rate is ludicrous.
Lilie stopped by right before I got off to see if her thing had finished downloading. It had. Well, I was fairly sure - when I left at 6, it still had about half an hour left. I fired up the torrent for the K season of MST3K (12+ gigs; about 10% done) before I left, so at least something would be worked on as well. I told her I'd call her when I got off, and she could come over and we'd figure out how to burn this 2.5 gig archive to disk (with WinRAR as a last resort). She actually got there about the same time as I did.
On the way home, there was this really obnoxious blonde bitch right behind me. She was doing like 30 - 45 down these tiny residential roads, and was kind of swerving, and just causing problems. I really, really hate people who can't drive. I mean, I make my share of mistakes, but they're few and fair between. For the most part, I'm a competent driver. I've never been in an accident, though I've come fairly close. The other area I really excel is multi-tasking. I can carry on multiple conversations at once (and do so fairly regularly at work, especially taking an order and talking to someone at the same time), and can split my attention multiple ways without significantly degrading performance in either area. So, I can drive while talking on a cell phone without issues. I don't really pay attention to the phone. Let me rephrase that. I do, but just enough to maintain the conversation - my primary focus is still on the road. I've even had people comment on my ability to do so. However, I've seen plenty of people who *can't*. And that's really annoying.
So anyway.
We had some issues with the archive, until I grabbed Winzip 9.0 - Winace couldn't handle it, for some reason. Took 4 CDs, but got it done. She didn't really hang around much longer after that, which was suprising. Well, not that she left, but that it took her so long to do so. Shelley IM'ed me/her/us/whatever while she was here. Had a couple interesting conversations.
I crashed after Lilie left, and woke up about 7. I initially freaked out, since I thought it was 7 am, and I had two tests to prepare for and some probability homework to do before then. But it wasn't; I had just taken a short nap. Mike came in shortly thereafer; we had some interesting conversations. I finally showed Janelle the wonders of BitTorrent, and got that, as well as Spybot and Ad-Aware, set up on her computer. Cleaned up her start menu and got rid of a bunch of unnecessary programs as well.
Which leaves me here.
Yesterday was a weird day. It was a day of ex-girlfriends. So I ran into Kenni at the LBJ student center; already wrote about that. I sent Chelsea a short 'Happy Birthday' email that morning, and she responded. The entire exchange is posted below. Later, Suzie IM'ed me, and we talked a little bit. Which was kind of weird, right in front of Lilie.
Right after I got home, I checked my email, then started cleaning up my room, in an attempt to make it halfway presentable. Got most of it done; went ahead and took a shower. I brought my phone into the bathroom so that I'd hear it - I wasn't sure if she or Sonic would call, but wanted to get it either way. She did, and we talked ("You're talking on your phone in the shower?") briefly. I told her to take her time heading over, since I was about to finish up my shower. I did, and she pulled up right as I was getting the last pile of dirty clothes out of my room. I checked my email real quick, and that's when I got the message from Chelsea. All Lilie saw was me go "Oh shit; oh shit" as I read it, then I closed it up. It was really, really weird. Apparently, I still have all kinds of unresolved issues there - I started to break down pretty fast. I went into the bathroom and shut the door and cried a little, but managed to regain my composure. I came back into the bedroom and lay back down, but I just kind of lay there. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but I kept almost crying. I hate that feeling.
She picked up on what was going on - or rather, that she didn't know what was going on - really quickly, and tried to comfort me. I eventually (sort of) explained what was going on. It was just... really weird. This is the second girlfriend (well, technically, she's not, but it sure feels like it sometimes) (Suzie being the first) where I've just completely broken down in front of them about Chelsea. Tracy and Ashley agree that that's probably not a good thing, especially if I want to form a lasting relationship - that's not something a girl likes to see, their boyfriend (or whatever) crying to them about another girl. It's not like I chose to, though.
But anyway.
We got it up and running no problem, other than the slow connection. I've never had terribly fast connections here as it is. So we hung out. Watched 'The New Guy', which is an awesome, awesome movie. She hadn't seen it before. We also watched a bunch of misc. comedy clips I have, and some Celebrity Jeopardy from SNL. Janelle came home at one point, and made dinner, which was cool. Steak fingers, fries, and corn.
Delicious.
Lilie is a salter, just like Janelle. Disgusting.
Qw juaaws kir rgeiyfgiyr rgw xiyeaw id rgw wcwbubf, Rgwt awwnws ri vw niew bs niew o aauib rwm rii, U agiyks xk eudt rg rm rgiyfg, Rgwew q ab;r bt n jubf iyrm vyr kir id rgwn awwnws xkiawe riq esa rg r rg b vwdiew, U sus xinnwbr ib urm bs U ajws gwe viyr ya juaaubfm bs giq agw awwna ri oyr ya ub oiauruib qwkkm bir hyar gwe U gwko ri juaam qg r qurg iye d xwa ai xkiawl ainwrunwam iye kuoa ew ai xkiaw rgwt;ew kniar riyxgubf, Qw ar erws ri q rxg Sisfwv kkm vyr fir viyr ducw nubyrwa ubri ur, Qw g s birgwe kibfm kibf r kj viyr ya, U riks gwem U kq ta awwn ri d kk die rgw qeibf owiokw, Agw ewaoibswsm U quag U xiyks vw rgw eufgr oweaib, Rg r;a ew kkt hyar bir d ue, Agw kai a us ainwrgubf kibf rgw kubwa id ;ya; Bir vwubf ub rgw x esa m qg rwcwe rg r nw ba, U ybswear bs rg r gwe bs Aw b g cw ainwrgubf aowxu km bs U sib;r q br ri ubreysw ib rg r,
Wait. Ignore that last sentence.
Twam U si, Hyar ibxwm U;n fiubf ri ubsykfw ntawkd, U ew kktm ew kkt q br gwe, U q br ri vw qurg gwe, Qgwb qw;ew ktubf bwzr ri w xg irgwem U q br ri juaa gwe bs bir g cw ri giks btrgubf v xj, U q br ri kiij ubri gwe wtwa qurgiyr dw e id kujubf qg r U aww rii nyxg, U q br ri jbiq rg r agw;a rgubjubf id nwm bir ainw fyt yo ub Q agubfrib,
Okay, glad i got that out. I can come back to reality now.
Ai drwe rg rm U q kjws gwe iyr ri gwe x e kujw bien km bs U juaaws gwe fiisvtwm dufyeubf ur qiyks vw ibw id rgw k ar runwa U juaaws gwe,
I was wrong.
Agw juaaws nw v xj, Niew o aauib rwkt rg b agw;a wcwe juaaws nw vwdiew, Qw n sw iyr, kir, Qw wbsws yo oewaaws f ubar gwe x e, U rgubj ur q a ainwrgubf kujw rwb nubyrwa qgwew rgwew q a birgubf wkaw ub rgw qieksm hyar gwe bs nwm bs rgw xibbwxruib vwrqwwb ya, Qwkkm bir birgubf wkaw x e sus seucw vtm vyr bwurgwe id ya x ews, Qguxg ua xiik, drweq esam agw sus n jw xinnwbr viyr giq agw;s fibw bs xibdyaws rgubfa f ub, Qguxg q a qwues, U g s dwq are t rgiyfgra ua agw siubf ur ib oyeoiaw Siwa agw wbhit rgw issurt U;n bir ayew, Agw wcwb ajws nw drweq esa ua agw;a fiis juaawe, Agw ua, U dwkr v sm rgiyfgm ;x yaw U jbiq U;n ew kktm ew kkt eyart ur;a vwwb yurw qgukw aubxw U;cw ew kkt n sw iyr qurg btibw,
U g s ri x kk gwe kurrkw k rwem ;x yaw agw kwdr gwe aybfk aawa bs w eeubfa gwew, Agw x nw v xj bs fir rgwnm bs agw qwbr ri juaa nw fiisbufgrm vyr U susb;r juaa gwe v xj, Qguxg q a ibw id rgw vwar bs qiear ninwbra wcwe, U sus qguaowe ub gwe w e rg r agw g s bi usw giq nyxg U q brws rim rgiyfg,
I fell asleep 'bout 3 or so. Woke up and opened today. Tracy was the carhop, which is great - her and I get along really well. There's a lot of verbal sparring. She got mad at me because I kept forgetting to ask if they wanted creme and sugar with their coffee, so I started putting "-KS" on random things (that's code for "No creme or sugar"). She started doing it too. There were a few frustrating moments, but all in all, it went pretty well. Ray's stepping down as a manager, though, and Rick is starting to express some concerns and anxieties as well. We're also losing Rudy in a week or so, which means Dave may be in a tough spot here soon. I'm going to try to take advantage of the situation and get a raise, because my current pay rate is ludicrous.
Lilie stopped by right before I got off to see if her thing had finished downloading. It had. Well, I was fairly sure - when I left at 6, it still had about half an hour left. I fired up the torrent for the K season of MST3K (12+ gigs; about 10% done) before I left, so at least something would be worked on as well. I told her I'd call her when I got off, and she could come over and we'd figure out how to burn this 2.5 gig archive to disk (with WinRAR as a last resort). She actually got there about the same time as I did.
On the way home, there was this really obnoxious blonde bitch right behind me. She was doing like 30 - 45 down these tiny residential roads, and was kind of swerving, and just causing problems. I really, really hate people who can't drive. I mean, I make my share of mistakes, but they're few and fair between. For the most part, I'm a competent driver. I've never been in an accident, though I've come fairly close. The other area I really excel is multi-tasking. I can carry on multiple conversations at once (and do so fairly regularly at work, especially taking an order and talking to someone at the same time), and can split my attention multiple ways without significantly degrading performance in either area. So, I can drive while talking on a cell phone without issues. I don't really pay attention to the phone. Let me rephrase that. I do, but just enough to maintain the conversation - my primary focus is still on the road. I've even had people comment on my ability to do so. However, I've seen plenty of people who *can't*. And that's really annoying.
So anyway.
We had some issues with the archive, until I grabbed Winzip 9.0 - Winace couldn't handle it, for some reason. Took 4 CDs, but got it done. She didn't really hang around much longer after that, which was suprising. Well, not that she left, but that it took her so long to do so. Shelley IM'ed me/her/us/whatever while she was here. Had a couple interesting conversations.
I crashed after Lilie left, and woke up about 7. I initially freaked out, since I thought it was 7 am, and I had two tests to prepare for and some probability homework to do before then. But it wasn't; I had just taken a short nap. Mike came in shortly thereafer; we had some interesting conversations. I finally showed Janelle the wonders of BitTorrent, and got that, as well as Spybot and Ad-Aware, set up on her computer. Cleaned up her start menu and got rid of a bunch of unnecessary programs as well.
Which leaves me here.
2004-11-08
I will lift your name on high - El Shaddai
| From: jackalope <jackalope@gmail.com> To: Chelsea Williams <> Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:03:43 -0600 Subject: Happy Birthday!! |
|
| From: Chelsea L Williams <> To: jackalope <jackalope@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 13:08:08 -0800 Subject: Re: Happy Birthday!! |
Thanks so much, Billy! And a happy birthday to you as well (please forgive me; I cannot remember the exact day, but I'm pretty sure it's in November). Chels P.S. Have you seen The Incredibles yet? There's this short at the beginning called "Bounding" that has a Jackalope in it. It made me think of you. P.P.S. Have a nice day. :) |
2004-09-08
Another Weird Dream
I don't know why, but i remembered another dream. This one is about Chelsea. Yes, Chelsea.
Basically, I'm back in High School, and I'm walking on campus, there're a lot of people walking around (not more than normal, though, just a lot), and Becca comes up to me. She tells me that Chelsea has AIDS. There's some other part I don't remember, then I'm out in front of campus at the bus area, waiting for my bus. There was something about a group of Mexicans driving up in a weird car, yelling things at me, or something. I don't really remember that part. Really, the only part I really remember is Becca coming up to me and talking to me. But that part is still crystal clear, and it's been well over 12 hours. I usually forgot dream specifics within an hour, and can only provide summaries. That gets vague as well over time, until after 12 hours or so, I can barely recall what they're about. That's if I don't try to remember or anything.
It's just weird, but of course, anything for me involving Chelsea is. That's a whole quagmire that I don't want to start wading in right now. I mean, it's not like I ever really choose to do so, but...
yeah, I'm rambling.
So I worked 10 - 5 today. Mark sent me over to Guadalupe to pick up some tortillas. I was standing in the lobby, waiting for Rob to get them, and someone came up from behind me and hugged me really hard from behind. It scared me for a second, until I heard Kassi say "Hi Willy!" It was really good to see her again. She told me (again) how great it is there, and asked me when I'd be going over there. It really put me in a great mood for the rest of the day. I'm a very physical person, so I tend to respond very positively to physical contact - hugs, holding hands, etc (as Rudy would say, I'm a "good big sister".)
I finally started playing Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time (henceforth abbreviated as SO3). It's pretty cool - lots of voice acting (which can be comically bad at times, but I love that, being a huge fan of MST3K, Army of Darkness, etc), a very chaotic, fast paced battle system, gigantic, immersive plot, and nice graphics, even if the FMVs are a little short so far. Those tend to be very impressive in Square Enix's big name games - Final Fantasy, etc.
Javi sent little Dave home last night. It was awesome. Apparently, Javi found him in the back, writing down his schedule, for the third time, while there were like 3 boards going off. He told him to go home, and called in Katie. Wish I would have been there (sort of; I worked 10 - 5, so I'll live with not having been there), but Kris and Kristen were the carhops, and Lilie was learning how to fountain. Tony, the manager that's been with Sonic for a long time and is just here to get some training and adjust to our coop, trained her how to fountain (the blind leading the blind). Other than that, nothing special really happened.
School's been going okay. I'm walking to class today, so I have to leave soon (I started this entry last night, but it's Wednesday morning now, about 8 am. It publishes the date based on when you start the entry.)
Basically, I'm back in High School, and I'm walking on campus, there're a lot of people walking around (not more than normal, though, just a lot), and Becca comes up to me. She tells me that Chelsea has AIDS. There's some other part I don't remember, then I'm out in front of campus at the bus area, waiting for my bus. There was something about a group of Mexicans driving up in a weird car, yelling things at me, or something. I don't really remember that part. Really, the only part I really remember is Becca coming up to me and talking to me. But that part is still crystal clear, and it's been well over 12 hours. I usually forgot dream specifics within an hour, and can only provide summaries. That gets vague as well over time, until after 12 hours or so, I can barely recall what they're about. That's if I don't try to remember or anything.
It's just weird, but of course, anything for me involving Chelsea is. That's a whole quagmire that I don't want to start wading in right now. I mean, it's not like I ever really choose to do so, but...
yeah, I'm rambling.
So I worked 10 - 5 today. Mark sent me over to Guadalupe to pick up some tortillas. I was standing in the lobby, waiting for Rob to get them, and someone came up from behind me and hugged me really hard from behind. It scared me for a second, until I heard Kassi say "Hi Willy!" It was really good to see her again. She told me (again) how great it is there, and asked me when I'd be going over there. It really put me in a great mood for the rest of the day. I'm a very physical person, so I tend to respond very positively to physical contact - hugs, holding hands, etc (as Rudy would say, I'm a "good big sister".)
I finally started playing Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time (henceforth abbreviated as SO3). It's pretty cool - lots of voice acting (which can be comically bad at times, but I love that, being a huge fan of MST3K, Army of Darkness, etc), a very chaotic, fast paced battle system, gigantic, immersive plot, and nice graphics, even if the FMVs are a little short so far. Those tend to be very impressive in Square Enix's big name games - Final Fantasy, etc.
Javi sent little Dave home last night. It was awesome. Apparently, Javi found him in the back, writing down his schedule, for the third time, while there were like 3 boards going off. He told him to go home, and called in Katie. Wish I would have been there (sort of; I worked 10 - 5, so I'll live with not having been there), but Kris and Kristen were the carhops, and Lilie was learning how to fountain. Tony, the manager that's been with Sonic for a long time and is just here to get some training and adjust to our coop, trained her how to fountain (the blind leading the blind). Other than that, nothing special really happened.
School's been going okay. I'm walking to class today, so I have to leave soon (I started this entry last night, but it's Wednesday morning now, about 8 am. It publishes the date based on when you start the entry.)
2004-08-18
I'm tired
I went over to Matt & Luke's about 11 or so to play D&D. I didn't have anything planned, though, since we had just played Saturday night and I've been ass busy with work and sleeping the rest of the time. I finally fixed the margin issue - instead of just '20', it needed to be '20px' in the padding area. The only reason I didn't catch this one earlier was because the preview button showed my blog with the margins, while publishing it immediately after didn't have them. But it's better now. David called, and it looks like we'll be hooking up for lunch or something.
Speaking of which, Michael told me that Lauren's back from California, and mentioned incidentally that Chelsea is in Lexington. Which of course meant I spent the whole session about three feet from tears, and had to get up and go outside for a few seconds to compose myself and calm down a few times. She still has that effect on me.
Speaking of which, Michael told me that Lauren's back from California, and mentioned incidentally that Chelsea is in Lexington. Which of course meant I spent the whole session about three feet from tears, and had to get up and go outside for a few seconds to compose myself and calm down a few times. She still has that effect on me.
2004-08-09
I apologize for the recent... lack of substance
Looking over my blog, I realize that I haven't made a substantial post in a while now. I'll try to review the past week so, in various formats. Try to keep up.
I'll just handle everything at work in one clump.
Work: Work's been... interesting lately. It's hard to organize it chronologically, so I'll experiment with some other methods.
Joel's last day was today. I am infinitely glad for that. He was an alright manager and got his stuff done, but he annoyed everybody. Not in a small stone in your shoe way, but in a large group of fire ants on your leg kind of way. He cooked for Mark M today - just him and me after 2, when Mark left. He made a few comments early on, so I kept quiet most of the shift. I did rip into him a few times, when I just couldn't take it anymore. He started talking about me being a "big, dumb animal" that "wasn't beaten often enough in school", which meant I "didn't know my place." That was about his only verbal remark - most of it was just making weird noises in a futile attempt to mock me. He does to a lot of poeple - mainly people that aren't afraid to speak up - JJ, Allison, myself, Krista, et al. I don't know if I already mentioned it, but the other day, he referred to me as a "bald faggot" several times. I feel that both times, he was crossing the line.
Ruben left as well - his last day was yesterday. He was actually fairly cool, if annoying at times.
I've been asserting myself as a blue shirt more, and have been meeting some resistance from some parties. One shift, I was fountaining, and Javi was taking inventory in the back. I noticed Kenny wasn't taking out the courtesy tray (Erin said, 'I know you don't care, but your timer went off', and I personally watched him not take it out through two cycles), so I asked him about it. He asked me, "Why? Why are you asking me?" I wasn't quite sure how to respond. He later went back to bitch to Javi about me.
Kenny: "Why's he asking me about this? He's not above me."
Javi: "Actually, yes he is."
So that was nice, to have Javi back me up. He didn't take it out any more often, though, except when Javi or I asked him about it.
lil' Dave: He's still being a smarmy little arrogant ass. One night shift (I think it's the same shift I had the issues with Kenny, come to think of it): He was filling up the ice, in preparation to go home; I pushed it back and asked him to get another. He got really pissed off. At several times during the evening, he was just standing around talking while there were orders to be made and what-not; I called him on it - "Dave, there's drinks to make." "Do you need something to do?" He wasn't too happy about that, either. Finally, he was putting up some sundae cups, and he looked at me, and said "Will, are you gonna be a manager (it might have been 'are they gonna make you a manager')?" "Yeah." "Good. I was going to quit and get a real job, but now I'm going to stick around for a while." Weird, indeed.
Krista: Apparently, I made a comment about her being annoying after I thought she had left, only to find she had come back in in the interim. So she's real pissed at me. Big whoop - she is annoying.
JJ: She's a triflin', shady bitch. She made the following comment to Freddie: "Why don't you just get in line to fuck Katie like everyone else?" That doesn't fly. She also tries to tell blue shirts (me) and assistant managers what to do. I don't like working with her, unless she's carhopping, and about to leave.
Katie: She's dating some guy who comes up here every day and orders a Dr. Pepper. Or something like that. He's on drug probation right now, which seems a little odd, considering her reply to Freddie.
Jenny: She's damn cute. Reminds me of a cute puppy with big, floppy ears. She said she'd marry me, or something like that. She likes guys with big noses. (?)
Jimmy: I hate this guy. He's really annoying, and sucks as a cook. He's complained about Larry telling what to do, and stated he doesn't have to listen to him. Except he does. We had an interesting debate about various things, mainly drugs and alcohol, Saturday night. I don't like Scott or Pedro, either. In fact, I basically just hate new cooks. Jason's back, and I don't care for him either.
Sunny: Patronizing bitch, as always.
I've noticed something - as I mature at Sonic and move up, the list of people I really don't like and would rather not work with grows. That's terrible. It's a combination of two things - first, we're getting in some new people that suck, and secondly, I'm more aware of how people are.
We had a meeting Saturday morning. Ray talked for a little about listening to managers and blue shirts, which is interesting, since I'm the only one right now. I'm finally getting my blue shirt raise, three months overdue. I'm also beginning assistant manager training.
We've had two customer service 'incidents'. This morning, I was taking orders, and some lady ordered three Rt. 44 slushes. She called back and clarified, she was supposed to have 4 slushes. I told her it'd be 6.88. She came in a few seconds later and demanded to know who took her order, because they called her an idiot. Which I DID NOT. I told her her total was 6.88; she must have misheard me. I've been taking orders for over 3 years; I know better than that. Secondly, some guy was being a total bitch last night. He ordered three steak toasters, a bacon toaster, and some sides and drinks. I didn't take the order, so I don't know how he phrased it, which might be an issue. He ordered it with the bacon on the side. He came back and said it wasn't in there - I bagged it, and it was. Unless he meant a breakfast toaster, which he probably did. He comes back a second time, complaining that the patty on his remade bacon toaster sucked - piece missing, old, etc. So Joel gives him a full refund and some more free food. He comes back a third time, saying that he got a bacon toaster, instead of a breakfast toaster. I can buy most of it, but if he noticed the patty sucked the previous times, how did he not notice it wasn't a breakfast toaster? Seriously.
And anyone that makes a comment about the importance of customer service or making people happy will be put on my idiot list, permanantly. I know that - I'm just venting and ranting.
I asked for this Friday and Saturday off, because I just want a few days off. I left a note that if it was any problem, I could work those days. So what does he do? Gives me them off, but a terrible schedule the rest of the week:
Mon: 8 - 5
Tue: 8 - 3
Wed: 8 - 2 (truck)
Thu: 6:30 - 2
Fri, Sat: off
SuN: 10 - 5
It's nice that I got a ton of hours and the weekend off, but it's annoying to have to go in so early repeatedly. I'll be sleeping during the day, which is going to dirve Mom nuts. She'll live.
That's it for work, I think.
School: Speech class is almost over - just the test tonight, and I'm done. I didn't do the persuasive speech because frankly, I don't need to - my grade will be high enough anyway. In retrospect, I would have done it on the benefits of pollution. School starts August..
STUDENT SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2004
INDEX CORE COURSE SCTN TIME DAYS LOCATION INSTRUCTOR
266092 MATH 2358 0011 900A- 950A -M-W-F- DERR 00336 Shen J
266124 MATH 3305 0071 200P- 315P -M-W--- DERR 00333 Snyder D F
269420 031 CHEM 1141 0029 1200N- 250P -----F- CHEM 00117 McVey W J
269445 030 CHEM 1341 0002 1000A-1050A -M-W-F- CENT 00157 Feakes D A
269678 CS 2308 0001 1230P- 145P -M-W--- DERR 00241 East
271272 050 MU 2313 0003 1100A-1150A -M-W-F- MUS 00236 Hall R D
Fun stuff. It comes out to something like:
MW 9 - 3:15
F 9 - 2:50
So that'll be fun. I guess if someone wants to stalk me now, they can. I'll still be working full time as well, so that'll be fun.
Personal: Ha. What life? Exactly. I went up to Blazer Tag and played DDR again. I played doubles, and afterwards, some wierd old guy brought me a bottled water. I gestured to my 1.5 liter bottle, and told him I was good. He told me to drink up, he wanted me to do that again for his kids (he was the chaperone for some church group that had come to Blazer Tag for some good Christian wargame simulation). I told him the other people there were mostly better than me, although I didn't know about doubles. Mike, the big guy, said he was better than me in general; I said well, you're a bar raper. (For those of you who don't follow the lingo, a bar raper is someone who has their hand on the bar the whole (or a significant portion of the) song, significantly lessening the challenge, as a lot of their weight isn't on their feet anymore. Some people use both arms, others just switch arms. It's an issue that divides DDR players into two camps - those who feel that it doesn't matter, do whatever, and those who feel that it makes the game a lot easier, and demonstartes a lower skill level than someone who does a song equally well without using the bar. I pissed them off. All of them. They all bar rape. Unabashedly. Except maybe the guy with the big hair; I don't recall seeing him play that often, so I don't know, but I don't think he does. I stand by my statement, and anyone who responds with something about everyine being free to have their own opinion or do things however they want to will be put on my idiot list permanently. So yeah, I don't know if I'll be going back there anytime soon. I'll probably just go back to playing at Le Fun. - it's cheaper, with more mixes. The only downside is less people.
Rose, Katie, and James stopped by my Sonic Saturday night. They ordered some food and I did get to go out and talk to Rose for a bit on 31. She told me about Ozzfest; they had a great time. I got them their drinks free, 'cause I'm cool like that. When I went out to my truck after closing, I found a note written on a napkin on my steering wheel - "We (heart) you Billy - KT, Rose, and James". Awesome. I also stopped by there Friday before going to play DDR. Rose assumed I'd be sleeping with her that night, but I was going back to play D&D afterwards, when Matt and Luke got out of work.
Brett invited all of us to his wedding, in December (?). I might go, but probably not. Michael's dating Lauren Wyatt now (sorta), who's in California visiting Matt and Chelsea. Yes, that Chelsea.
I haven't been up to too much else - playing Chrono Trigger a lot, since I picked up Final Fantasy Chronicls at Gamespot a week or so ago.
I'll just handle everything at work in one clump.
Work: Work's been... interesting lately. It's hard to organize it chronologically, so I'll experiment with some other methods.
Joel's last day was today. I am infinitely glad for that. He was an alright manager and got his stuff done, but he annoyed everybody. Not in a small stone in your shoe way, but in a large group of fire ants on your leg kind of way. He cooked for Mark M today - just him and me after 2, when Mark left. He made a few comments early on, so I kept quiet most of the shift. I did rip into him a few times, when I just couldn't take it anymore. He started talking about me being a "big, dumb animal" that "wasn't beaten often enough in school", which meant I "didn't know my place." That was about his only verbal remark - most of it was just making weird noises in a futile attempt to mock me. He does to a lot of poeple - mainly people that aren't afraid to speak up - JJ, Allison, myself, Krista, et al. I don't know if I already mentioned it, but the other day, he referred to me as a "bald faggot" several times. I feel that both times, he was crossing the line.
Ruben left as well - his last day was yesterday. He was actually fairly cool, if annoying at times.
I've been asserting myself as a blue shirt more, and have been meeting some resistance from some parties. One shift, I was fountaining, and Javi was taking inventory in the back. I noticed Kenny wasn't taking out the courtesy tray (Erin said, 'I know you don't care, but your timer went off', and I personally watched him not take it out through two cycles), so I asked him about it. He asked me, "Why? Why are you asking me?" I wasn't quite sure how to respond. He later went back to bitch to Javi about me.
Kenny: "Why's he asking me about this? He's not above me."
Javi: "Actually, yes he is."
So that was nice, to have Javi back me up. He didn't take it out any more often, though, except when Javi or I asked him about it.
lil' Dave: He's still being a smarmy little arrogant ass. One night shift (I think it's the same shift I had the issues with Kenny, come to think of it): He was filling up the ice, in preparation to go home; I pushed it back and asked him to get another. He got really pissed off. At several times during the evening, he was just standing around talking while there were orders to be made and what-not; I called him on it - "Dave, there's drinks to make." "Do you need something to do?" He wasn't too happy about that, either. Finally, he was putting up some sundae cups, and he looked at me, and said "Will, are you gonna be a manager (it might have been 'are they gonna make you a manager')?" "Yeah." "Good. I was going to quit and get a real job, but now I'm going to stick around for a while." Weird, indeed.
Krista: Apparently, I made a comment about her being annoying after I thought she had left, only to find she had come back in in the interim. So she's real pissed at me. Big whoop - she is annoying.
JJ: She's a triflin', shady bitch. She made the following comment to Freddie: "Why don't you just get in line to fuck Katie like everyone else?" That doesn't fly. She also tries to tell blue shirts (me) and assistant managers what to do. I don't like working with her, unless she's carhopping, and about to leave.
Katie: She's dating some guy who comes up here every day and orders a Dr. Pepper. Or something like that. He's on drug probation right now, which seems a little odd, considering her reply to Freddie.
Jenny: She's damn cute. Reminds me of a cute puppy with big, floppy ears. She said she'd marry me, or something like that. She likes guys with big noses. (?)
Jimmy: I hate this guy. He's really annoying, and sucks as a cook. He's complained about Larry telling what to do, and stated he doesn't have to listen to him. Except he does. We had an interesting debate about various things, mainly drugs and alcohol, Saturday night. I don't like Scott or Pedro, either. In fact, I basically just hate new cooks. Jason's back, and I don't care for him either.
Sunny: Patronizing bitch, as always.
I've noticed something - as I mature at Sonic and move up, the list of people I really don't like and would rather not work with grows. That's terrible. It's a combination of two things - first, we're getting in some new people that suck, and secondly, I'm more aware of how people are.
We had a meeting Saturday morning. Ray talked for a little about listening to managers and blue shirts, which is interesting, since I'm the only one right now. I'm finally getting my blue shirt raise, three months overdue. I'm also beginning assistant manager training.
We've had two customer service 'incidents'. This morning, I was taking orders, and some lady ordered three Rt. 44 slushes. She called back and clarified, she was supposed to have 4 slushes. I told her it'd be 6.88. She came in a few seconds later and demanded to know who took her order, because they called her an idiot. Which I DID NOT. I told her her total was 6.88; she must have misheard me. I've been taking orders for over 3 years; I know better than that. Secondly, some guy was being a total bitch last night. He ordered three steak toasters, a bacon toaster, and some sides and drinks. I didn't take the order, so I don't know how he phrased it, which might be an issue. He ordered it with the bacon on the side. He came back and said it wasn't in there - I bagged it, and it was. Unless he meant a breakfast toaster, which he probably did. He comes back a second time, complaining that the patty on his remade bacon toaster sucked - piece missing, old, etc. So Joel gives him a full refund and some more free food. He comes back a third time, saying that he got a bacon toaster, instead of a breakfast toaster. I can buy most of it, but if he noticed the patty sucked the previous times, how did he not notice it wasn't a breakfast toaster? Seriously.
And anyone that makes a comment about the importance of customer service or making people happy will be put on my idiot list, permanantly. I know that - I'm just venting and ranting.
I asked for this Friday and Saturday off, because I just want a few days off. I left a note that if it was any problem, I could work those days. So what does he do? Gives me them off, but a terrible schedule the rest of the week:
Mon: 8 - 5
Tue: 8 - 3
Wed: 8 - 2 (truck)
Thu: 6:30 - 2
Fri, Sat: off
SuN: 10 - 5
It's nice that I got a ton of hours and the weekend off, but it's annoying to have to go in so early repeatedly. I'll be sleeping during the day, which is going to dirve Mom nuts. She'll live.
That's it for work, I think.
School: Speech class is almost over - just the test tonight, and I'm done. I didn't do the persuasive speech because frankly, I don't need to - my grade will be high enough anyway. In retrospect, I would have done it on the benefits of pollution. School starts August..
STUDENT SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2004
INDEX CORE COURSE SCTN TIME DAYS LOCATION INSTRUCTOR
266092 MATH 2358 0011 900A- 950A -M-W-F- DERR 00336 Shen J
266124 MATH 3305 0071 200P- 315P -M-W--- DERR 00333 Snyder D F
269420 031 CHEM 1141 0029 1200N- 250P -----F- CHEM 00117 McVey W J
269445 030 CHEM 1341 0002 1000A-1050A -M-W-F- CENT 00157 Feakes D A
269678 CS 2308 0001 1230P- 145P -M-W--- DERR 00241 East
271272 050 MU 2313 0003 1100A-1150A -M-W-F- MUS 00236 Hall R D
Fun stuff. It comes out to something like:
MW 9 - 3:15
F 9 - 2:50
So that'll be fun. I guess if someone wants to stalk me now, they can. I'll still be working full time as well, so that'll be fun.
Personal: Ha. What life? Exactly. I went up to Blazer Tag and played DDR again. I played doubles, and afterwards, some wierd old guy brought me a bottled water. I gestured to my 1.5 liter bottle, and told him I was good. He told me to drink up, he wanted me to do that again for his kids (he was the chaperone for some church group that had come to Blazer Tag for some good Christian wargame simulation). I told him the other people there were mostly better than me, although I didn't know about doubles. Mike, the big guy, said he was better than me in general; I said well, you're a bar raper. (For those of you who don't follow the lingo, a bar raper is someone who has their hand on the bar the whole (or a significant portion of the) song, significantly lessening the challenge, as a lot of their weight isn't on their feet anymore. Some people use both arms, others just switch arms. It's an issue that divides DDR players into two camps - those who feel that it doesn't matter, do whatever, and those who feel that it makes the game a lot easier, and demonstartes a lower skill level than someone who does a song equally well without using the bar. I pissed them off. All of them. They all bar rape. Unabashedly. Except maybe the guy with the big hair; I don't recall seeing him play that often, so I don't know, but I don't think he does. I stand by my statement, and anyone who responds with something about everyine being free to have their own opinion or do things however they want to will be put on my idiot list permanently. So yeah, I don't know if I'll be going back there anytime soon. I'll probably just go back to playing at Le Fun. - it's cheaper, with more mixes. The only downside is less people.
Rose, Katie, and James stopped by my Sonic Saturday night. They ordered some food and I did get to go out and talk to Rose for a bit on 31. She told me about Ozzfest; they had a great time. I got them their drinks free, 'cause I'm cool like that. When I went out to my truck after closing, I found a note written on a napkin on my steering wheel - "We (heart) you Billy - KT, Rose, and James". Awesome. I also stopped by there Friday before going to play DDR. Rose assumed I'd be sleeping with her that night, but I was going back to play D&D afterwards, when Matt and Luke got out of work.
Brett invited all of us to his wedding, in December (?). I might go, but probably not. Michael's dating Lauren Wyatt now (sorta), who's in California visiting Matt and Chelsea. Yes, that Chelsea.
I haven't been up to too much else - playing Chrono Trigger a lot, since I picked up Final Fantasy Chronicls at Gamespot a week or so ago.
2004-07-09
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.
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.
2004-05-23
This is going to bug me for a while
So I'm sitting here, watching "The Tech of... (Casinos)". Intersting program, while I'm still calming down from work before I take a shower and move on to other things. I get the following message:
I checked the profile, and all it says is "female". That narrows it down - a girl from my high school, one year later. Hmm... I don't really have any high school yearbooks; the only ones I have on hands are like from seventh and eighth grade. Both only have my grade, so that's not a big help. I was flipping through one, though, and came across a picture of Chelsea. I'm okay now, though. There was a few minutes of tears, though, so I guess I've regressed, or just was never as far as I thought. But anyway, this'll really bug me (this mysterious IM) until it's resolved.
Ah, well. Se la vie. Summer school starts together, so that's 5 1/2 weeks of fun, with another 5 1/2 after that as well. Intro to Philosophy for 2 hours every day in Austin, followed by 4 (?) hours Monday and Wednesday night. We'll have to re-schedule the D&D game, but that's no big deal. I'm actually going to do some fairly major planning for this game - they're going to attack an orc encampment. Hilarity shall ensue.
Watched the E3 review on X-Play. I'm really excited - FF XII, Star Ocean - 'Til the End of Time, Front Mission 4... all good stuff.
Ah, well. Time to shower.
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I checked the profile, and all it says is "female". That narrows it down - a girl from my high school, one year later. Hmm... I don't really have any high school yearbooks; the only ones I have on hands are like from seventh and eighth grade. Both only have my grade, so that's not a big help. I was flipping through one, though, and came across a picture of Chelsea. I'm okay now, though. There was a few minutes of tears, though, so I guess I've regressed, or just was never as far as I thought. But anyway, this'll really bug me (this mysterious IM) until it's resolved.
Ah, well. Se la vie. Summer school starts together, so that's 5 1/2 weeks of fun, with another 5 1/2 after that as well. Intro to Philosophy for 2 hours every day in Austin, followed by 4 (?) hours Monday and Wednesday night. We'll have to re-schedule the D&D game, but that's no big deal. I'm actually going to do some fairly major planning for this game - they're going to attack an orc encampment. Hilarity shall ensue.
Watched the E3 review on X-Play. I'm really excited - FF XII, Star Ocean - 'Til the End of Time, Front Mission 4... all good stuff.
Ah, well. Time to shower.
2004-04-09
2004-03-02
They had weird sitting plans at lunch at... Lamar? I think it was Lamar. Yes, because it was the same place I was chosen to play trombone. They sat the girls in the class on one side; the boys on the other. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before I ended up sitting across from her. It may have happened multiple times, but I remember the first time. I couldn't look at her, much less meet her eyes. In fact, I have trouble remembering any time when I really met her eyes. Wait. The hallway, walking from Horizons, when I apologized for breaking up with her (I have no clue about any of this, by the way - I've firmly established I never had, nor ever will, a firm grasp on human emotions or relationships); the time at the skating rink when she was leaving, and I fell, and she helped me up. I looked everywhere else that lunch period, everywhere else except at the person across the table from me.
We went and saw "Sgt. Bilko" with Josh and Rebecca. That was, in fact, the premise for our outing in the first place - Josh had asked Rebecca on a date, but the Caudle's didn't like single couple dates, and wanted it to be more of a group thing, so Becca asked Chelsea and Chelsea asked me. She wore a yellow dress (I think - this is one of the things I'm fuzzy on). Josh and I were talking; he mentioned I was supposed to buy her ticket. She was standing in front of one of the pillars; I peeked my head around and asked her if she had already bought a ticket, and she said she had. I had a Sprite; she had either a Dr. Pepper or a Coke; can't remember which. We sat in the back left (from the screen's perspective - from ours, it was the right side of the theater). My Sprite was in the right armrest thing, she was sitting on my left. The movie was pretty funny. I spent the majority of it contemplating whether or not I should attempt to hold her hand - naturally, I elected not to. That would be a continuing theme both during that "relationship" thereafter - in fact, it applied with everyone but Suzie. We went to Hastings afterwards. That was back when Hastings was on the corner, not the "Superstore" it is now.
