Fuck yesterday's euphoria - today SUCKS.

Could anything at work PLEASE GO RIGHT?

I'd like to get to eat lunch eventually. I'd like to get out of here at some point. I had hoped 5:30 so that Casey and I can get to Fort Worth at a decent time.

No, that can't happen. Today is a loss. The check signer leaves at 2, that would be about 1/2 an hour from now, and I cannot post an invoice, and I cannot get a check to print. WHOSE FAULT IS THIS? I WILL KICK THEM IN THE SHINS! WITH STEEL TOED BOOTS!

WTF?

Most days that I get to work early or on time move along just swimmingly. I get so much done! Today is off. It's broken. Shit is backwards. Is that enough emphasis?

I got to work on time! Woo-hoo!
Wendy's gave me no cream for my coffee, and I only drink coffee with a lot of cream.
One of the receptionist called in sick. Guess which one? This means I am working until 9 tonight. At least I'll have some extra over time.
Turns out, the other receptionist was having battery problems. Welcome to a world of car-dealership hurt, and office chaos. It's 8:15, and our reports are due at 10:00. Since we're all scrambling to get the phones covered...
Once that is all worked out we enter the last of the necessary items into the system and run "End of Day" so that they are "finalized" and show up on the report, and all the computer does is show us that good 'ole turning hour glass. For five minutes. This normally doesn't even take five seconds.
Okay, now it's 9:40 and End of Day is done and we're all scrambling to finish our shit.
After the 10 o'clock meeting we find out that our check signer is leaving at noon. This means I have two hour two organize 20 checks. I had planned to go to lunch at 11, but..
I finish right before noon, and I'm trying to get the heck out because I need to go to the bank, but I have a friend who's getting his oil changed, so I chat for a second with him and his daughters.
When I get out to my truck I realize I'd locked my keys in it this morning.

Despite how incredibly wrong today is, I'm not too pissed off about it. It must have something to do the amount of super incredible sleep I got last night. I sigh just thinking of it..

There is an apartment right in the part of town that I want to live in that is currently vacant. 1-1 with hardwood floors, walking distance of school, no weight restrictions on dogs. I first saw the ad a week or so ago and drove by the place. Today I saw it again and called. The owner Rick is nice and seems very flexible. I wasn't planning on moving until May. I don't have money for deposits. I am going to go by today and look at it anyway. At least I'll have an idea of what it is like so I can check back later to see if they have any vacancies. I could really use a winning $1,000 lottery ticket right now. It would be more than enough to get me through. I could get into the apartment and have my new bike serviced.

I haven't told you about her yet!

I was having bike trouble. I tried to asses the damages on the old bike I had, but it is fucked. After a disappointing attempt at a ride I threw it into the bed of my truck so that I could DRIVE it home and left it there. While resting the dry rot on the tires gave way and one blew. I was so over it.
I called Ellie and told her about it. She offered me her old but perfectly good bike, Chloe (Ellie, if I have misspelled it please let me know). She is a yellow 1975 Schwinn. She is so pretty! I need to get her serviced so that I can RIDE. .:sigh:.

Both situations are similarly frustrating.

Brilliant

I mean that as a compliment to the detainees, and an insult to the officers.
Thank you, New York Times online.

10 Detainees Pull Off Escape as Visitors Take Their Place
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: March 17, 2007

What would you do?

I had agreed to ask this question for a friend, quite a while ago, and just found this while avoiding homework and organizing things over here:

My friend got a Christmas gift in the mail the other day, from an ex. Their relationship ended over two years ago, but she is still sent gifts at Christmas and her birthday. I'm not talking a gift certificate to Old Navy, either - the most recent is a rare book from the 50s, signed by the author. We're talking gifts that cost hundreds of dollars - Things that she really does want.

Does she keep them?

Does she tell her current significant other?

What would you do?

The abomination known as cats - Opinion

The abomination known as cats - Opinion

. . . I am still not sure what I think of this. I'm trying to decide if I think that it is bad. I haven't even addressed the opinion part yet.

What Calligraphy Hand Are You?

Insular Majuscule- You are spiritual and well rounded. People look to you for advice, but sometimes find you difficult to understand.

I found this jewel of a time killer in Madge's Archives. I'm having to read her early posts since she's on holiday and not posting.

My Narcoleptic life

This sort of counts, but it was pretty late at night when it happened.

Hooray holidays!
I am doing tons of baking. I am making little goodie-kits for all of those people I love but cannot afford. They include snickerdoodles, oatmeal cranberry-walnut cookies, snowflake shaped sugar cookies, mint brownies, and either spiced hot chocolate and cider, or ginger-lemongrass green tea (depending on your expressed preference, or the fact that you're my grandma and like tea more). F-U-N!
So I've been staying up late watching Law and Order and CSI or, if it is really late, Strong Medicine, while I slave and ingest far too much sugar. I was particularly proud of my idea for the mint brownies. I had saved them for last the other night, I thought it would be great to have a warm brownie and milk right before bed. I tossed them in the oven to begin their 26 minute bake, had a smoke, played some sudoku, sat down on the couch to enjoy the new Damien Rice CD and woke up to a silent house, and the strong smell of burning sugar. I'd slept for over an hour, it was nearly three in the morning and if the brownies weren't on fire yet they were damn close.
I was still disoriented enough to not realize how long it had been. I was having trouble remembering what time I had meant to take them out. I grabbed the pan and set it on top of the stove, only to be hit by a smell that must resemble that of Santa's Elves burning at the stake. It was awful - but minty fresh. I grabbed it again, ran it outside and dropped it on the woodpile and came back in to clean up. Upon later inspection I realized that brownie bricks should have been used in the construction of temporary housing post tsunami and Katrina. REALLY.
I made them again last night. This time they went in first and I watched the Cosby show and ate dinner while they were baking. Yummy!

So this is what last week felt like:

It's better now.

to make a bad day worse -

I really tried to be positive today despite my early early-morning panic.

At the end of the day it just isn't working for me.

I was 10 minutes late to class, but that is only five minutes later than the professor, so I wasn't too shook up about it. I was giving a presentation in class, but I had mailed my outline to the kid putting it in power point, so I was set.
Only, it didn't work out that way. Less than a fifth of what I needed made it into the power point. So, I get to look like the idiot? Partially my fault - I should have printed out my outline. I guess I was just being optimistic.

Big paper due in 2nd class - not finished. No worries, I went to the lab to work on it.

Still not finished when it came time for the quiz in the 3rd class . No time to do a once-over on the notes again ... What year WAS the UNCED Earth Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro?

1992. That's what I wanted to put. I only had to answer 10 of the 12 questions, so I skipped it. Now I wish I hadn't.

They watched a movie, I snuck out. It's great that the lecture hall bathroom also has a door that leads outside. GREAT!

Back to the Library.. let's see it's 11:30, I'll just hang out here in the computer lab until... 4:45. Crap, time for work.

So this bitch in a Taurus parked where no space exists behind me and blocked me in. Trust me, I tried to get out quite a few times before I was successful. I bumped the Lexus next to me in the process. I should have just plowed her Taurus. It was her fault and a the car was a P.O.S. Problem is, I like my back bumper too much. I called UTPD instead, hopefully the Taurus will get the boot! In the end, a guy helped guide me out after I pulled up 'close like a lover' to the SUV parked next to me. I had an inch and a half to get past her.

Guess who was almost out of gas?
One try.

Ooh, ooh - here is a good one - Guess who was late for work?
Right-O.

Guess who has a tire that has ridiculously low air?
That's a tricky one, huh?

This isn't even all of it!
Can you imagine what my day would have been like if I hadn't been positive as long as possible? I mean, I deserve credit for making it until almost 5pm.

Fuck today.

Because I Am So Cool

Last night I went to Gingerman with my friend Paul. I've only been there once before, on his birthday, so I knew it would be okay with him, and they have an awesome selection, so it was the place to be.

I don't go out too often. Especially some place so downtown on a Friday. Downtown is stupid busy, with drunk pedestrians, careless pedi-cabs, indifferent cabbies, sometimes horses with carts and cops everywhere.

I took 4th street last night, which I have never done after dark. Right out in front of the bar was a cop, lights blazing. I was stopped at the light and trying to figure out 1) what was going on at the bar, 2) where I was supposed to go around him. Apparently I was in a turn lane? I had no idea, I was too busy worrying about the effect the cop up there was going to have on my life. So I went straight in a turn lane. Guess what effect that cop had on my life... yeah. He motioned me over right away. I had not seen the "clearly displayed sign," honestly. I was genuinely confused as to why I'd been pulled over. Which he noted. But where is my insurance. In that mess on my floor-boards?

Cop: "You do have insurance?"
The Q: "Oh, yeah. It's in here somewhere... on the floor maybe? As you can tell, Officer, I keep a very clean vehicle."
Cop: (chuckles) "On the floor? 'Cause that's a good place for it."
The Q: "If I give up, and save both of us time, I can have a citation cleared with proof of insurance, right?"
Cop: "Yeah just (blah, blah, blah...)"
The Q: "That's fine. We'll be here all night otherwise."

Way to start-out my night. The best part? My eyes were INCREDIBLY blood-shot. I'd slept with my contacts in the night before, and they rip up my eyes like no-one's business. He over-looked that. I suppose because my eyes still reacted to him shining his flashlight in my face.

Otherwise, I had fun. I wound up hanging out with a bunch of people that Paul knows. They'll be the people that haunt me when I pass them on the street and can't seem to figure out WHERE I know them from.

I once had a thing with Paul. It was brief and there was an understanding. Last night we agreed that we might be the only example of something working out so well. After all, we were out enjoying each other's company, there was no awkwardness, or resentment.

After talking about what'd passed between us, I had a dream with him in it. I don't have any clue what happened in it. For all I know it was a version of the previous night's dream that my brakes only work well enough to slow down, not stop. Just with Paul, instead of Lauren. He had been making fun of me because there was a hill in my dream. "Hills in a parking lot? What kind of parking lot was this?" It was a parking lot in a dream, Paul. I also just drove in circles the whole time, waiting for my car to stop, yet was able to get out of the driver's seat and into the passenger's seat. No one said it would make any sense.

Good News: I got a letter from the University informing me that they had decided to accept my request (with this place it's request, request, request) for re-evaluation on an Educational Psychology course. I wanted it to count towards my minor, and now it does. Hooray! Now I don't have to take that a-hole's class.