The Latest

Man, today was one of the worst days at work ever. I got there a little before 1 and it seemed like Chris was about one minute away from a nervous breakdown.

Supposedly this week is the "grand opening," but all that means is an extra flyer with a lot more coupons. . .almost none of which work. Or, they work, but they have lots of fine print that no one reads. For instance, the front page has a huge "50% OFF ALL BROOKS ITEMS" coupon, but that's the only part that people read. Right underneath the huge letters is a literal paragraph of items that you CANT use the coupon with. So between things like that and other, similar annoyances, it was impossible for Chris or I to get anything done. Thankfully it quieted down in the afternoon, but I was still running all over the place. It might not have been so bad if I didn't have to order the entire cosmetics section. I guess Chris told Lora I was doing a great job ordering the baby aisle (which, for whatever reason, people never order correctly), so she reassigned me to doing makeup, which is THE hardest section. Most aisles take 10 minutes, tops. This took ohhhh, about 5 hours. Granted, that includes all the time I spent helping the cashiers, talking to Chris, and taking my break. But still.

Because it was such a madhouse all day, I expected that the registers would be wildly over/under. Since that wasn't the case, and they were all only off by a few cents, I thought I was in the clear. One of the cashiers stayed after with me, so I told her she could get ready to go because all I had to do was count the deposit and that doesn't take long. But alas, I had gotten way too comfortable-- it was under by $20. That meant I had to recount all the drawers, and the change drawer, which is NOT fun. We found the $20 easily enough, but as it WOULD happen, the change was under 70 freaking dollars. I found 4 dollars in another register drawer, but that still leaves it short $66. Gah. All you can really do if you've already counted everything is write Lora a note and then pray to the gods that she won't be too mad the next time you see her-- and that's if she finds it! She usually does, don't ask me how, but seeing as it's JUST me and her from 8-10am tomorrow, I am soooo not looking forward to being there. And the only other person coming in during my shift is Katrina, so it's not like my day's going to improve much.

So although Chris and I were in no mood to check out the Ultra V Pipe today, we did spend plenty of time talking about The House. Nick found out about some more places, and even got to look at 2 of them this morning. He gave Chris a paper with the addresses, so we're going to drive by and check them out tomorrow afternoon. Apparently one of them is amazing-- it's on 2 acres, has a greenhouse, and is not very far from the beach! O_o And yes, it IS in our price range. The only bad thing is it's 4 bedrooms, and obviously there is no point to us having an extra bedroom if no one's going to be living in it. Chris and I aren't big on the idea of placing an ad for a random 4th person, but none of us know of anyone that needs a place to live within the next month. Seeing as Amanda and Nick have recently become an item, we figured she would be moving in, but apparently they aren't keen on the idea of living together. Hmm, weird.

The other places are a bit less interesting, but also less expensive and only 3 bedrooms. All Chris and I really want is something simple and affordable, though I must admit that having 2 acres would be nice, hehe.

Curiouser and Curiouser and Curiouser Still

mmm, Alien Sex Fiend.

Nick didn't work today, but he did stop by this afternoon, while Chris and I were both there. He had one of the local South County papers and had circled a whole bunch of potential places. The most expensive one was $1500 per month, but that was a 4 bedroom, so we'd probably try to find another roommate, thus making what we'd each owe fairly cheap. Hell, $500 is still damn cheap. Most of the places were in the $1100-1300 range, which is kinda awesome. We are all so, so excited about this.

Oh, and we're going to have a cat! I guess Nick's current roommate basically left it (not sure if it's a boy or girl) behind, so he's already gotten the okay the to take it with him. I already mentioned that I am so very much getting a hamster, but I guess this cat is used to there being small animals around, so it shouldn't be an issue. (I originally mentioned that I would like to get a snake, but Chris freaked out at the thought of it, so I guess it'll have to wait, haha)

Bowling is still on for tomorrow night, though we may be down a few people. Chris can't be there until 11 cuz he has a family thing to go to, so he probably won't play. I guess Kyle will be going, but he and his girlfriend just broke up, so she won't be there. I'm willing to bet that Heather won't show up since Chris won't be there for most of the night. And if she's not there, I don't know if Tim will go, so it could be an interesting game.

Another Possibility

I got to work this morning and found Nick upstairs in the office (er, one of my coworkers, not my ex or anything!). I was just digging my nametag out of my purse when he turned to me and was like "so I heard you've been looking for a place to live." I said that I was, and that I had a few prospects, a few places I would be visiting.

Much to my surprise, Nick said that he and Chris were thinking about finding a place-- a house probably-- and if I wanted to be the third housemate, that would be cool.

Of course I said sure-- I'd much rather live with a few other people than by myself anyway, and I don't think Nick and Chris and I would have any problems. We're all at Brooks most of the time anyway! haha I picked up some local newspapers today and started looking at the classifieds. Split among three people, there are actually a lot of places we could comfortably afford. I'm not sure if they plan on asking anyone to be a fourth housemate-- Nick is pretty good friends with Amanda from the old Brooks-- but I wouldn't mind. I think Nick said he wanted to start looking and calling for some places after work tomorrow, and since we're both doing 8-4, maybe I can be sit in on that and show him the places I already found.

I called my Mom for an unrelated reason this afternoon and told her about this new option. Her main comment was "You'd be living with two guys?!" haha Yeah, definitely wouldn't be like that though.

Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to share the latest news!

Apartment, Appaloosas, more Ap- Words

Two apartment prospects so far!

One is off of Devil's Foot Road in NK, about 2 minutes from 7 Moons. Still no takers roommate-wise? haha I have an appointment to actually look at it next Wednesday; all I know now is that it's a studio apartment, $650 a month and that *includes* heat and hot water. The other is more expensive, $695 not including utilities, but it's an actual full 1 bedroom apartment. It's also a bit closer to work (maybe?), as it's down by Yawgoo Valley. I probably won't be going to look at that one until the week after next, but if I like the first one, I'll probably just go with it.

So, I will probably be out of here by the beginning of June, which is fine with me.

Totally changing gears, I am totally disturbed by the coffee I am currently drinking. My Dad is part of one of those online "get paid for your opinion" programs, so he occasionally gets sent stuff to try and send back comments on. The latest thing he got was a bag of Folgers coffee, but neither he nor my mom drink anything but decaf, so they gave it to me to try. It's pretty good, not as strong as I'd like, but I *am* used to dark roasts. The disturbing thing is there's a big white label on the side stating "In Case of an Emergency, Call This Number." Should I be expecting something to happen?? O_o heh

I also went to the park this afternoon and walked on the trail for an hour. I walked past the horses and !!! they have not one, but several Appaloosas! So intriguing, hehe. After witnessing a little girl getting run away with last year, I became leery of going to that barn for a trail ride, but I think they have new owners this year. Someone I have been working with at Brooks knows the lady that currently runs the barn and considers her trustworthy. Everytime I go to the park, I'm so tempted, though I don't even know if they'd do a trail ride for just one person. I'll wait until I've gone out and bought a helmet though. I don't care if I'm put on the most bombproof horse they have (and I probably wouldn't be since I'm sure they'd ask how experienced I am), I never, ever ride without one. But that's another whole rant, and I don't have the time right now!

Well, I have to get ready to go up to the condo now. Hopefully I won't get any weirdnesses from the coffee while I'm driving!

Gah

I cannot wait to go bowling on Saturday. Chris and I have our names picked out for the next month, lol.

And there is quite a story behind the ones for this week. Hell, a story that we caught in pictures, though they won't be ready for awhile, unfortunately!

I beat Katamari today, but only with 850+ m. I think I can do better than that. Rob said he might buy KD2 as well, so keep your fingers crossed.

:

So yesterday my Mom and I went to Boston, and it was fine, but it would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been so COLD out. I made the mistake of not checking the weather, but I figured it was going to be as mild as the days before had been. Ha, not quite. It wasn't too bad when the wind stopped, but more often than not it was gusting happily along. :p

We didn't really do too much besides wander around Newbury Street and check out a bunch of the shops there. Of course, the first place we hit up was Lush and ohhh man, it was everything I dreamed it would be! The girls working there were extremely nice and helpful, without being pushy. I told the girl that first approached me that I was already familiar with most of the products, a reader of the forums, etc. and so she let me just wander around until I had a question-- not like some other bath product stores where everyone that works there practically assaults you until you buy something. I ended up getting a big chunk of Spank Me With Saplings, cuz it's getting discontinued, and a piece of Honey I Washed the Kids, which is a honey-toffee scented soap. I knew I wanted to get one more thing, something entirely new, but I wasn't sure what. Two of the employees did help answer some of the questions, and were more than happy to let me test some of the products. I still couldn't decide however, so I told them we'd be back.

We didn't go anywhere exciting for lunch, just a random Uno's on Boylston and then to the cafe in the BPL for something sweet afterwards. We made the mistake of deciding to take the 4:50 train instead of the 2:35 one and since it was gross outside, we quickly ran out of things to do. We even took a walk to the Lucy Parsons Center, but it was unfortunately closed-- probably cuz the Anarchist Bookfair was going on (but was too far away for us to walk to). Hell, we even hung out in the basement of Trinity Church, but there didn't seem to be any tours going on, so we didn't get to hear about the foundation, or nab any awesome pins, haha.

So eventually we went back to Lush, and after more looking around and sniffing things and testing products, I decided to get a moisturizing bar that has gold tinted glitter in it, so I can be all sparkly if I want to. :p My Mom actually decided to get the same thing-- yay! I love converting others to the things I enjoy, haha. The girls were so happy that we came back (and it probably didn't hurt that we both bought stuff) that they gave us free samples of these all natural face masks they make. I'm not usually a face mask type of girl, but I'll give it a shot. Hell, it was free, hehe.

We'll go back again when the weather is definitely going to be warm, cuz as I said, even though it was a good day, the coldness put a big damper on everything. *I* want to go back to visit the Fine Arts museum, maybe some of the other museums, and maybe Chinatown sometime. So if anyone wants to waste a Saturday doing such things in the upcoming months, just let me know.

This week will probably be a boring one. Today I'm working from 1-9, but at least Chris will be there half the time. This is my first time closing *my* store, so we'll see how it goes. Then Monday I work 8-4, Tuesday I work 1-9, Wednesday I have off but my Mom and I are going apartment hunting, and then Thursday and Friday are both 8-4 days. Saturday I am finally getting my hair chopped off-- it's been way too long for awhile now. Once it's cut, I plan on dying it darker and maybe I'll add some purple to it or something. Then Saturday night is bowling once again and we are taking back our trophy! It would be nice if we had a "generous" lane like we did last time, haha.

Live Studio Audience!

Hey everyone, hope you had a good Easter! I did until my stomach died, but what else is new?

Was going to write a long entry, and maybe I will later, but I feel like doing some reading for awhile.

Only real news for now is that my Mom found a potential apartment advertised in the newspaper today, so I will probably call on it tomorrow. It's in NK, and it's $725 a month (a loft), but all utilities are included. The price is a little steep for my liking, but the reality of me finding anything much cheaper is slim to none. So we'll see what happens with that.

Oh, and I did *not* do atrociously at bowling last night! Our team might not have lost so badly in the last round if the other team hadn't had a blatant advantage. Then again, the lane we were using was automatically giving everyone on our side extra points, but hey, at least that was out of our control. :p

Reading. Later!

Hey

I decided not to go out tonight afterall, but that's alright. I practiced some lessons on the bass, instead of just playing tabs-- seeing as that's all I've been doing lately. Yeah, doing that is fun, but I think it's important to learn the basics. I also started writing the second half of my "memoir," the first half of which I wrote several years ago. I am only a page into it, but it's the type of thing that once I sit down and just start typing, it automatically flows. I'm not sure how I could even end this part though; I may even have to leave it open ended for now.

Tomorrow I am going to be at the URI library when they open and get in a few hours of research. I'm hoping to be able to start writing SOMEthing by the end of this month, no matter how cursory it'll be. It's getting to the point where I will have to do some other research, not just microfilm style, but what exactly I need to find out will become clear once I start writing my outline.

I do feel a little guilty that I didn't do any work on it today-- it IS 4/14 afterall!

Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now. I've been getting weird vibes for a few hours, so I hope everyone's okay. I was/am having a decent night, but I feel a little out of sorts and down because of it.

B is for Bowling

And we even have a sweet trophy for the store that wins, haha.

After months and months, my friends from work finally decided to forego drinking for a night of bowling instead, so I am 99.99999% sure I'll be joining them.

Work was more usual today, in that I wasn't stuck behind the register at all. We're getting even more morning people next week, although I still have to work several mornings.

I'm also going to be closing all by myself for the first time next Friday. . .and not at the new store! The Wakefield store is going to be lacking a managerial type person that night, and since I was right next to Lora when the person called asking for help, she just turned and asked "Will you close the Wakefield store next week?" Maybe I should have mentioned that I have not, in fact, closed even the stores I'm used to by myself yet, but I guess it can't hurt to try, haha. Besides, I will be closing Sunday nights starting not this week (cuz of Easter), but the following one, so I guess I should get used to it.

The one scary thing about being higher up on the Brooks food chain is that I've had to call so many people for various reasons. I. HATE. PHONES. When I don't know who to expect at the other end, it's terrifying. I used to be able to get someone else to do the calling, but I'm sure that wouldn't fly now that I'm a supervisor. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

I don't know what I'm going to do tonight. If Brewed Awakenings were closer, I'd probably go there. I could hit up the usual Starbucks, but I don't really feel like having anything from there. Felicia's would be fine, but it's usually pretty empty and I'd prefer to be somewhere where there are people tonight. Or I could just stay in, say the hell with research, and have a chips and ice cream party. Cuz why the hell not?

I Know What

I'm watching tomorrow night.

Let's hope they don't botch it up!

(Er, it won't let me link directly to it, but I bet you can guess which episode I'm referring to. :p)

And I totally rocked the trivia quiz.

If You Read ICA

please do so.

Better

Today was a better day at work. This was despite the fact that I had to ring all day, higher-ups visited again, and the two creepy guys were still there. The mornings haven't been busy though, so I can't complain about that, and I havent had to deal with the scary 1 hour photo machine yet either. I actually had stuff to do behind the counter today, too, instead of standing around being bored like yesterday. Sunday should be better (despite having to be there at 7am, not 8. . .ugh), because it's Chris and I and a regular cashier who can be the main ringer. I highly doubt any higher-ups will be there on a Sunday and hopefully Lora won't decide to drop by.

I haven't spent enough time with the new cashiers to know what I think of them yet. And the one assistant manager that I had heard bad things about seems okay so far.

Nevertheless, I am glad tomorrow is my day off. Two days in a row has been quite enough!

I think partially what's been so stressful is that I've been doing things that I'm SURE Lora would be infuriated about, ie. not carding people who are OBVIOUSLY old enough for cigarettes. At the other store, yes, I faithfully carded everyone, as she wanted. . .we all did. As you may remember, John revoked that rule because he, like all of us, realized how ridiculous it was. I am not sure if Lora is enforcing that rule again at the new store, and I forgot to ask Chris what he told the new kids to do. All but one of them were trained a different store, and ours was the ONLY one that had that rule, so I'm thinking unless Chris told them to card everyone per Lora's request, they probably aren't. We're also "supposed to be" asking everyone's zip code before we scan in their items-- a prompt for it comes up on the screen. They make us do this every few years, but it's such a pain in the ass. I've just been rotating through several different zip codes instead of asking and I *know* everyone's been doing the same. There is more, but I think you get the idea.

I might go to P Place tomorrow, although I could probably just find the clothing/shoes I need elsewhere. The shoes are the most important part, because the flat black ones I currently wear to work are ancient and are almost worn through on the bottom! I also want to get a new pair of work pants, because the ones I've been wearing are also very old. Maybe I'll go tonight, before I go out for coffee and notecarding. . .who knows. I don't want to spend too much because I want to have spending money for when Mom and I go to Boston-- that I will be buying things at Lush goes without saying, and that is far from the only store we'll be visiting!
But I will still be going to the mall tomorrow regardless. I still want to go exploring in the area where Matt and I walked the other night, but I'm not sure if it would be safe even during the day. We'll see. I've put myself in worse situations.

Getting ready to head out now, but I'll be online tonight.

Yawn.

Well kids, don't expect to see me online past midnight for awhile. I stopped by the new store today to see my schedule and I'm working 8-4 for the rest of this week and all of next week. Possibly for a few weeks after that, too. One of the assistant managers didn't work out, so we're short one management-type person everyday, and guess who gets to fill in his shoes! Chris was probably Lora's first choice, seeing as he IS an assistant manager (I'm one step down), but he has school and can't do mornings. I don't think it's going to be a big deal, as Lora's going to also be there at 8 every morning except next Tuesday-- on that day it's just going to be me and a bunch of new people for the first few hours. O_o

And although I was pissed that I'm gonna have to get up around 6:15 every day, at least I'm going into a nice warm building! The last time I had to get up that early everyday was to go slave in the cold at the barn. Not that I minded the work, but when it got to being 18 degrees in the morning, that was NOT a good time.

I was thinking about last night's concert some more and although I was happy with most of the songs he played (er, out of the ones I knew!), I was kinda hoping he'd play "Don't Change Your Plans." That's the only one I actually went in specifically wanting to hear. I was glad that he played "One Angry Dwarf. . ." cuz I don't think he did at either of the other concerts. Also Matt, if you're reading this, has he ever played "Fair" at any of the shows you've seen? That's another one of my favorites, though I wasn't expecting it would be played.

Alright, bedtime! I'm sure I'll have stuff to write about tomorrow.

Home From Ben

and discovering that pierogis are a great midnight snack, hehe.

Yup, Matt and I saw Ben Folds in Providence tonight and it was a good show. This was the first time I had seen him with other band members and I definitely liked having them there (although I think enjoyed the last time I saw him a little more. . .just cuz I knew most of what he played, and we were relatively close to the stage). I'm not going to try going into detail now, but it was a good time and I'm glad I went this time around.

Oh, and I must say that the new Lupo's is about ten billion times BETTER than the old one! The old place was such a hole-in-the-wall, so I can't say I'm upset that they moved. I'm also glad that we didn't have to wait in line outside for *too* long-- it was cold today! Once the line got moving, we sped right along. They also didn't frisk us, which is fine with me, but I think that's the first concert I've gone to where that was the case. Don't worry, I didn't have my boxcutters with me anyway, so there was nothing to worry about. :p

Earlier today was my last day at my usual Brooks, which was kinda sad. Before I left, Joyce told me that she'd rather it was someone else that was leaving our store, but there's really no way it could be switched around now. I am probably gonna have to stop by the new store tomorrow to see exactly what hours I have Thursday and Friday. I was told I'd have the same hours that I had here, but I'm not sure exactly what John told Chris. Chris was only familiar with my old schedule, when I worked Thurs and Fri afternoons-- lately I've been working mornings. I won't mind if he put me on this Thursday afternoon, but I'll have to let them know that my availability has changed for that day. I already know I'll be working Friday afternoons in the future, since that's the day Chris and I traditionally work together. . .just not sure if that's what I'm down for for this week. Yeah, I'm pretty much just typing my thought, I'm not expecting you to find this part interesting, haha.

Anyway, it's been a long day, so I'm going to bed!

Bits

-Ben Folds on Tuesday night! yay! Matt and I decided how exactly we're going to meet up, so I think we're all set. I'm gonna be a bit out of the loop since I haven't really listened to anything he's done since Rockin' the Suburbs, but then again I really enjoyed the first time I saw him live, and I only knew a handful of songs back then.

-Previews of Awake and Sing have been getting good feedback, and I was elated that there was a thread on one of the Bway boards along the lines of "Why Don't More People Adore Jonathan Hadary?" No, I didn't start it. :p I would especially like to see him in this since it's a play, not a musical, and he's always espcially lauded for his acting.

-All Shook Up is touring! Or will be, starting later this year. It's coming to Boston in September and you know what? I'll go by my freaking self if I must, but I would love to see that show again! It'll be interesting to see how it compares to the Bway version, though of course I'll get to read other people's reviews of it beforehand since there are plenty of ASU fans on the boards.

-I figured out that it will only cost me a little more than one paycheck to buy a new riding helmet, half-chaps, and some short, heeled-boots. If I am serious about wanting to ride again, I am just gonna have to get out there and do it. . .the usual approach that I advocate. I know that I can afford one lesson, and I will just be up-front with the instructor about my situation, so that maybe we could work something out.

-I have to be careful about not spreading myself too thin in the near future, however. I am going to be working 40 hours a week, probably a mix of mornings and nights. I am doing my research several days a week. I want to begin running again. I want to get involved with some of the George Wiley Center's actions. Throwing horseback riding in that mix, especially if working at the barn to lower lesson costs is an option, might be difficult. Besides, when will I have time to go home and do laundry or just hang out? And constantly going all the time causes major cases of burnout when it comes to me. This is something I am going to have to work out. . .

-But before I get all gung-ho on the riding lesson idea, I can't forget that I SHOULD be looking for a place to live. $700+ really does seem to be the cheapest I can find for a 1 bedroom, which isn't surprising, but still a bit scary. I even asked around at work again recently, trying to find out even from some of the newer people if anyone was looking to move any time soon. Everyone's set in their living arrangements though, so it sucks to be me. I really need to approach my parents about the whole matter this week, because remember, they did offer to help me out when this time came, but you know how good they are at keeping their word. :/

-I ate all day long today. Constant grazing. I probably hit 6,000 calories, which is like 3 times the normal amount. :p I won't even bother TRYING to make a food list in ICA, because I am not sure I could remember everything. I ate for 4 hours straight upon coming home from work today, and I was *finally* full for about an hour afterwards, but I managed to eat more ice cream a little while ago.

I wouldn't say that it was bingeing, I just had this constant hunger gnawing at me all day long. I think it's due to being female. >_<

Oh, and Joyce told me a horrific birth/labor story about something that happened to her. She almost died and had to have emergency surgery and was messed up for almost a year afterwards, etc. etc. Just more fuel for my fire, hehe.

-I should just sell my eggs for money. All of them.

Better yet, they could take my whole reproductive system. Not serving much of a purpose right now anyway!

-I think my Mom and I are going to go to Boston (LUSH!) on the 22nd of April, which also just so happens to be the day of the Anarchist Bookfair. She doesn't have to know that til we get there, haha.

I'm done.

Nah

Rob and I are still leaning towards the BRU thing being a hoax. I just want them to hurry up and announce what's actually going on. Enough already! haha