The Scrolls

Archive for the ‘Work’ Category

Techno-What?/A Fool Such As I

I began writing this entry with the intent to tell you all that I will be writing a few blog posts in the future which build on an article already on this site: Blog 101. Except, that article isn’t on this site. It’s one of those things I’ve been procrastinating about!

[edit]Turns out I had put up the page, just hadn’t linked it. Without further ado, Blog 101.[/edit]

Expect that soon! Then, can you also expect some blog posts (which I will eventually add to the site as articles) which discuss advanced Blogging tools such as feeds, social networking and ping/trackback.

In that vein, I figured I better claim my blog at Technorati which I will now do. Go ahead and step over to my Technorati Profile (which I probably won’t ever use).

Speaking of my site, I added some Valentines Day icons for use on Livejournal here.

Also, a little anecdote from my life. I woke at 8:16 this morning, to the sound of the alarm, and hit snooze while rolling over to cuddle Ryan for a few moments as I usually do. Shortly after, I receive a phone call from work, the cashier leader asking me why I wasn’t already there working harvest?

It turns out I had looked at the schedule wrong! I swear I worked lunch (what I was getting up for) at 10:30 but, NO! I was supposed to be in a 7. E’gads. We’ll see what type of trouble I am in now.

You Can’t Win ‘em All

Do you ever try really hard to like someone, or at least be tolerant of them, and fail miserably? I know I’m much more tolerant than I was. I know, now, that in some situations you simply bite your tongue and shut up in order to get along with someone because you have to, even if that someone is ignorant or foolish or just plain difficult. Of course, since we’re all wired with differently personalities, the people who fit the bit of being ignorant, foolish or difficult to me may not be the same for you; I may even be one of those people to you and that’s fine but because we need to live and work and exist alongside others, we must learn to deal.

I used to write people off because of face value – how they looked or what they said but first impressions can be, and often are, misleading. I was missing out on people because I was quick to label them as boring, too different, unintellectual, sheep, so on and so forth. What was really happening was that these people played the part, often unawares, in certain situations which led me to these incorrect assumptions. After all, in most social situations, we all modify ourselves ever-so-slightly as to fit in and get along?

But take an individual person or two out of these situations and provide the opportunity for me to become better acquainted with them, and my eyes would be opened to just how unique a person he or she was. This then inspired me to be able to see more of this unique person, in a group situation.

A few of these opportunities which I wasn’t so keen on, would make me much more interested in getting to know other people and, eventually, I would become much more tolerant to others and even when I wouldn’t have the chance to make someone’s acquaintance, I was much less likely to write them off or lump them in with another nameless group.

So I recognize the value and necessity of tolerance, today, and look forward to new friendships and relationships that I might otherwise have missed because of my former intolerance. Still, it’s not always easy to tolerate some personalities. In particular, 2 people are currently being very intolerable which leaves me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth and a resentfulness within me.

One of which is someone who has always rubbed me wrong but I thought perhaps I was being too intolerant and that this person needed a second chance. I went out on a limb trying to build a friendship, which never went anywhere because of their response – which is fine. I still tried to be tolerant but I noticed the things this person said and done were extremely hypocritical, rude and often condescending. While some people loved this person’s “confidence” and free spirit and others even thought of this person as fair and objective, this person only came off and arrogant, bitchy, stubborn and pretentious to me. And you know what, I don’t like that. I don’t like this person and I think that I don’t have to tolerate that sort of bullshit. M I Rite?

The other situation which comes to my mind easily is one with a coworker. Generally, I didn’t like her at first impression: clothes, make up, voice, laughter so on and so forth. Though, all of that can generally be ignored, I found I didn’t really like her any more the deeper I would delve. But, while I disliked this person overall, it was difficult to pinpoint a specific reason. We would greet eachother in the morning, bid adeu in the evening, chit chat during the day and be generally courteous but we weren’t making any effort to become fast friends. I figured that acting friendly might translate in actual feelings of amicability and truly being friendly but such just isn’t the case so I go on faking. Of course, the side of me which isn’t the better person sort of likes ‘holding’ that over someone – the not liking them but pretending nothing’s wrong thing. -eg-

Like Fry is Destined to be a Delivery Boy..

I have a job. I’m not super excited but after a day, I don’t hate it so that’s good, right? I’m cashiering at a place on base and my job consists mostly of currency exchange (USD to Yen and back), check cashing and club (credit) card payments. I was quite nervous as they gave me money and put be on the register immediately after I arrived and had the tour of the place (which didn’t help – those back halls are confusing!).

It was definitely a different form of training than Wal-mart where I had to to do hours of computer-based training and watching over others cashiers’ shoulders until I was almost ready to murder because it was not helping. I admit, I would have preferred to work on the register in training mode but I think I caught on pretty fast.

It was a long day, though: over 9 hours before I could leave. I haven’t done that much standing for a while and my feet were killing me by the time I got home. I need new shoes. )= I was also quite sore when I woke up this morning.

It sucked being away from Rian, too. On days when we both will work, we’ll barely have a chance to see eachother and I am not looking forward to that. Still, it’s nice to be out of the house sometimes and I’ll be making some money. It’s not the best in the world but I was honestly surprised that I didn’t hate it.

I was a bit disappointed because after I was hired, my supervisor had offered me another, better sounding position but had not offered it to existing employees so she had to rescind the offer.

Anyway, aside from that I’ve been really bitchy lately. Rian and I got into (and still are in?) a spat earlier because it’s such a nice day and I just want to be outside, but not by myself. I know there’s nothing to do but I’d be find just wandering around off base looking for something to do – and if we find nothing, that’s cool too – but Rian just doesn’t like to do that. It just escalated from there and it shouldn’t have.

But I think my overall bitchiness is related to the fact that I’m much more confident these last few days. I’ve been taking the time to “doll myself up” and feeling quite good about it. I did have a frustrating time trying on some potential tops for work, earlier, but aside from that I’ve been in a pretty good mood and I think Cole in a good mood equates to Cole feeling more aggressive and, ultimately, being bitchier.

It bugs me, a bit. Mostly, everyone else seems fucking stupid and needs to shut the hell up and/or die (preferably a quiet death – thank you!) so my time on forums and The Pork has been limited. (Speaking of, Cradz – the admin – had issues so the release of The Pork 4.0 has been delayed yet another 3 weeks)

On the plus side, Wendy will be here next month (and for my birthday!) which should be cool. They actually have a Disneyland tour set up then and I am hope-hope-hoping we can go! That would be super cool!

PS. Happy birthday internet.

Is anybody out there?

I bet someone is. -peers among the faces in the crowd* At the very least, I bet Sav or Elyse might stumble upon this entry. -chuckles*

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been in the Milwaukee area for over a week, specifically in a little south-western suburb called Greendale. It’s bigger than Milwaukee but doesn’t seem so. All it is is houses – houses which were government built and owned for smoe time so they looked astonishingly like houses one might find on a military base. Pair this with the fact that while the houses are oddly rectangular, there are no normal square shape blocks and half the roads are only one block long, ending at someone’s house proving it a bit of a task to get turned out after you find yourself on one of these roads.

Enough of that.. A bit about the situation. Becky’s house is small and even though my cousin, Violet, is only there half the time, it definitely can be straining. Becky is a bit of a neat freak in denial – at one point she called Violet a slob – which she certainly is not. She is just a normal 13 year old girl and Becky’s expectations are.. way too high and just not realistic. Becky is also stressed because she’s very busy at work and because of this, she feels she shouldn’t have a house guest (obviously me) but she did anyway. I would have preferred she just said so in the first place so we could avoid this mess.

Anyway, the first week was disappointing and frustrating – because of the reasons already mentioned and because of my job and apartment search. Although I had sent out a few resumes early in the week – mostly to temp agencies – and done a few online applications, I had recieved no call backs so I went back to the phonebook and called every temp agency listed (and there were 6 or so pages) and sent out resumes to everyone I qualified for. I figured temp work would be fast to find, based on its nature, but I guess I was wrong.

I finally got some call backs and have gone on one interview which might lead to something, and have 2 more interviews tomorrow and Friday, one of which is at a law office. Wouldn’t that be cool? There wasn’t much in the paper when I looked and I don’t have the experience in the field I’m intending on breaking into (clerical) so that leaves me with fewer options still and, even then, Becky thought I was aiming too high but that call back certainly gave me a boost of confidence.

During all this I’ve been making numerous phone calls about apartments – mostly studios. I’m a bit surprised that everything I’ve looked at is cheaper than I expected rent-wise and most of those include most if not all of the utilities, unlike the apartment in Wausau.

I’d looked at a few but kept running into dead-ends when it came to leasing and being unemployed. It was either I needed a cosignor or a double security deposit. The latter while doable, was not prefferable. The apartment I liked the most, actually doesn’t require either, which rocks! I hope I get it. -crosses fingers-

I’ve been looking at what Becky calls the “fashionable East side” close to downtown and UWM so there would be a lot of people my age there which is good; I don’t like being lonely. Plus, it’s definitely not the suburbs!

I’m way excited to be in the city because there’s so many shops and restaurants which look like a ton of fun – plus I’ll be close to shows, concerts and festivals (they do a weekly Jazz in the Park thing and just had an art fest at the museum plus, of course, Summerfest! (they have a whole Dew-sponsored stage.. how cool is that?!)) and the musem is a real live one, not like our pitiful excuse for a museum up north.

So, anyway I don’t really have money-issues to worry about and even if the jobs don’t work out, having an apartment much closer to downtown (where I desire to work) will allow me to check it out and find something there. Did I mention I’m so relieved to be done with Wal-mart? Well, I am!

Gov’t Conspiracy!

I’ve uploaded a new song for you to download here.

Did you know that my favourite park in all of Wausau is one without swings? How can that be, you ask?! Simple: it has a great view. I love that little park which overlooks the Wisconsin river, of of Stuart Avenue. I can’t recall the name but it’s such a nice place to stop.

I took a walk today for, what else, food. It might be silly but there’s nothing material which comes close to bringing me the pleasure that Mt Dew and bourbon chicken do. I just appreciate rich tastes, I think.

On my way I stopped at said park. The girl leaning against the brown poll and sitting on the short, stone wall whose stones had had the vision of wooden grains in her stocking feet because her boots were kicked off several feet away, was me. It was delightful.

It’s such a beautiful day today and I long to be out while the sun shines, to take walks and go places and spend time with people and laugh and smile and be in touch with nature rather than locked in this prison, my bedroom, all the time. Alas, damned third shift!

But as time progressed, June is coming sooner. Ashley and I packed up a box of her stuff and I’ll add more to that so that, when the lease is up, Wendy and I won’t have much to pack up besides our stuff. We could probably make due with paper plates and plastic cups, even, to make it easier. Hey, that’s a good idea!

Speaking of Wendy – I miss her. I miss my fun, silly, childish, cute Wenny the wainbow wemur. -sigh* Moving in with people, is not such a good idea. First because my friends don’t make the best roommates and secondly because it’s so difficult to be mean to them when need be and last, because I’m always looking for someone to blame, someone with whom I can be angry and I take this out on my friends-become-roommates. I don’t know who’s right anymore, or even if anyone should be right.

I hope after this is all done, we can go back to being good friends because I am most certain she’s avoiding me. I knocked on her door to ask her to pay the bills, and she did so as I was rummaging in my room for stamps and I came back to her door shut tightly and the checks on the table.

I missed the mailman and ran out of stamps, anyway. Than I took a quick walk to the grocery store to buy stamps (I had to buy something else to get cash back first, anyway) and their stamp machine is broken! A fine time, I tell you. But browing the USPS web site I found some reaaaallly cute stamps: here and here. I’ll have to buy stamps from the machine at work tonight to mail our bills in, sort of , on time but I can buy these for later.

It is sleepy time soon!

Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems?

Well, that’s how the saying goes, isn’t it?

Money has been on my mind quite a bit recently. For starters, I just finished my taxes and what should have been a healthy little exercise turned out to be quite a lot less fun than normal (which isn’t much fun at all).

I had done my taxes on the H&R Block website last year, for free, so went to sign in this year. I go through the whole process without a problem and get to the end and leave it to check on a few things with Rian (and in hopes that it will somehow give me more of a refund. lol) and I get back, thining all I have to do is basically “click” send when it tells me that I can’t e-file (on any site, period) because of my filing status.

Fine, I’ll just print it out so I talk to their chat helper person – the first one who doesn’t recieve my messages and closes the window sooo I talk to another and he keeps telling me to click links which aren’t there because, as it turns out, I have to pay. He tells me that, in order to use this service for free, I need to register a new account and cannot import any of my information.

Okay, fiiine! Be that way if you want. So I go to register a new account and they won’t let me select the status I want at all! After a few phone calls to the IRS, I order some forms to be sent to me because I have no printer ink and don’t know the password to Wendy’s computer. >_>

However, my aunt and I stopped off at the library a few days later and picked up the forms I needed (and instructions!) after I went driving. So, yesterday I start my taxes and I finish my federal, only to see that I somehow owe them money, but H&R Block had said I’d be getting a refund.

As it turns out, I forgot to -ahem* claim myself and after I fixed that minor error, I got the same results as I had on the web site and went ahead and did my state taxes, as well. I intended to send them off today but became distracted by Maple Story. -lol*

My taxes are about a third of what they were last years, which seems to be common among everyone I know. -stomps* I want money, dammit!

Speaking of – we finally recieved our bonus checks from work for not going over our alloted accidents for the safety committee. They kept telling us it was “$500″ but it turns out, that they took out taxes – about $150 from mine. They might as well not tell us to expect anything because we expect what they say and a lot of people made plans for all of the $500. I really don’t need it, but it’s the principle of the thing, y’know?

I thought I was starting to save up the money I’d spent, but my checking account has quite a bit less than I thought – I think because I forgot to factor in bills. Damn them!

As I’m looking at my account statement, I see that I’m beeing charged for Emusic.com and while I signed up for a free trial several months ago, and haven’t used it since, they seem to think it’s okay ot start billing me without even letting me know, so I sent them a scathing e-mail demanding my money back! d=

Alas, I need to throw my clothes in the washer and hit the sack, like I intended to do almost an hour and a half ago!

Oh the horror!

feeling: Headachey and extremely tired

So, after about an hour of sleep I’m all refreshed and ready to work tonight – not. I went to bed around noon but just couldn’t manage to fall asleep, probably because I slept so much and so late this morning.

Anywhoo, I was waiting for Mom to call when she was done with work so Wendy and I could go over there and iron on some transfers to make Wendy a Dir en Grey tank top for her concert on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, it just wasn’t going right from the get-go. First, Wendy had to run home because she realized she forgot the shirt. LOL. Then I realized I had to invert the images (I lost the main instruction sheet and couldn’t remember since it’d been so long and the only one I had said you didn’t need to invert it)! Finally, we get to ironing after running home twice, having Floppy jump on the ironing board with the hot iron, and it doesn’t work.

It wouldn’t peel off. The paper hardened and stuff to the shirt. So we figure we’ll iron the back just to see if that would work and it turns out the image wasn’t inverted even though we’d run home to invert it? It didn’t work anyway so we attempted to peel the hardened paper from the tank top but that failed, too.

So now I’m home with a headache and no sleep and I have the distinct pleasure, no, honour of going in to work. Not only do I get to work with Diane (aka the slowest cashier on the face of the planet) and Kim (aka read my “Dear X” post) but the new overnight CSM, Katie, starts. After working there for a full 3 weeks she earns promotion – how the hell?! Anyway, I’ll miss Deb once she goes back to grocery but hopefully I’ll be out of there soon – I applied for 10 or so places online a few days ago.