Friday, March 30, 2012
So much for anonymity...
My cheese factory training was officially over as of yesterday afternoon. In actuality, it was over last week. My trainer hasn't shown me anything new or taught me anything since then. Yesterday he realized this and made it official. He wasn't sure what the powers that be were planning on doing with me since he informed them of this, so I'll continue to work mornings on the same line until they decide and inform me of what the next step is. They can keep me on that line for as long as they want. I know what I'm doing on it, I enjoy it, and I don't really want to start over learning a new line with new people any time soon. Anyway, so there's that. It's not a difficult job. It's not stressful. I enjoy it. Hopefully, I'll be getting more money for doing it soon. Everything is good. I even like working morning shift for the first time in history, even though I have to wake up at 5am to get ready for work. It's nice coming home while the sun is still up and things are still open in case I need to run some errands.
Paid my monthly bills yesterday afternoon before I passed out. Working over time made it possible for me to do this and still have some money left over. It wasn't enough to also pay my income taxes, but those will be taken care of next week. Not a big deal. Unemployment benefits are lovely when you need them, but not so favorable to your income tax return when they form the entirety of your income for half a year - and the majority of your income for the whole year even after you stop being able to claim them.
Blogger/blogspot has merged with Google+. I'm a little freaked out by the loss of my anonymity. Notice now that every post is copyrighted by me. I do not like that. I haven't posted as me since MySpace was the primary social network and EVERYONE was on it. It's hard to believe such a time ever was.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
"I want paint to work as flesh." ~Lucian Freud
That seems obvious enough quoted from an artist who specializes in painting nudes. I was going to share some examples of his work, but they're mostly all naked people and I'm not exactly in the company of people who would appreciate accidentally glimpsing any of that as I work it into the post. Even if it is art, it's not their taste at all.
Speaking of painters (but of an entirely different variety), the house painters are dancing on my every last damn frayed fucking nerve. Yes, this is the company I am in and of which I speak. It is week two of house painting. They have completed four out of six rooms. These are not huge rooms, apart from the living room maybe. Yet, it takes them two days to complete one room. I realize they have to do multiple coats and everything, but... it took half a day for them to paint the freaking bathroom. I say they and them, because there are two of them. Between the two of them, they might just paint with the efficiency and urgency of a single person. Usually, it's easy to ignore them. I'm in the basement doing my thing online - whatever that happens to be - and they're upstairs somewhere watching the paint they just applied dry or something. I don't know. Maybe there's a lot more to painting interiors than I realize and I shouldn't be so critical. Or, maybe not. I'm thinking definitely not, but who knows? I don't. Anyway, yesterday and today it has been completely impossible to escape them because they're painting the kitchen, hallway, and the stairway leading down into the basement. Yesterday, I had places to be and they were gone when I came home. Today, I don't have anywhere to be. I did leave for two hours anyway. I spent a significant portion of that time smoking in a parking lot at a nearby strip mall. Did I mention that the house painters are the brother and nephew of my sister's grandfather? Probably not. I have no freaking clue how that blood relationship translates to my sister. I don't have that type of vocabulary. Let's try it anyway: one is my sister's granduncle and the other is her grandcousin or maybe cousin-uncle? I don't know. Whatever. They're related to her and - perhaps more importantly - to her grandparents and father. So, I can't smoke while they're here because it would be even worse than smoking in front of our shared grandparents. Which is why I've been standing around in parking lots smoking lately. The house painters are here from about 9am to about 3pm. That's a ridiculous amount of time to not be smoking at least once or twice. Also, they like to chat. It was obvious that at least the granduncle was the brother of my sister's grandfather by how much he likes to talk. About everything. At 9am. I don't want to talk about anything at 9am. I was as tolerable about it as possible. I can be really polite regardless of whether I want to be or not if the situation requires it. And, it did. I just try to avoid them now. I think he tried to talk to me again just now but I've got my headphones on, music blaring, and I'm completely focused on typing out this post. I saw shadows moving in my peripherals, though. I'm fairly certain that was him and that he was probably talking to me about something. If it were important at all, he probably would have moved into my direct line of sight on the other side of my laptop. So... every last damn frayed fucking nerve. Seriously. As least tomorrow I'll have orientation for the new job, so I won't have to deal with it. But, there's still today and the four hours or so of painting fun that remain.
I'd like to add "...and then I want that flesh to ball up into a fist and punch you in the face." to the title quote.
Speaking of painters (but of an entirely different variety), the house painters are dancing on my every last damn frayed fucking nerve. Yes, this is the company I am in and of which I speak. It is week two of house painting. They have completed four out of six rooms. These are not huge rooms, apart from the living room maybe. Yet, it takes them two days to complete one room. I realize they have to do multiple coats and everything, but... it took half a day for them to paint the freaking bathroom. I say they and them, because there are two of them. Between the two of them, they might just paint with the efficiency and urgency of a single person. Usually, it's easy to ignore them. I'm in the basement doing my thing online - whatever that happens to be - and they're upstairs somewhere watching the paint they just applied dry or something. I don't know. Maybe there's a lot more to painting interiors than I realize and I shouldn't be so critical. Or, maybe not. I'm thinking definitely not, but who knows? I don't. Anyway, yesterday and today it has been completely impossible to escape them because they're painting the kitchen, hallway, and the stairway leading down into the basement. Yesterday, I had places to be and they were gone when I came home. Today, I don't have anywhere to be. I did leave for two hours anyway. I spent a significant portion of that time smoking in a parking lot at a nearby strip mall. Did I mention that the house painters are the brother and nephew of my sister's grandfather? Probably not. I have no freaking clue how that blood relationship translates to my sister. I don't have that type of vocabulary. Let's try it anyway: one is my sister's granduncle and the other is her grandcousin or maybe cousin-uncle? I don't know. Whatever. They're related to her and - perhaps more importantly - to her grandparents and father. So, I can't smoke while they're here because it would be even worse than smoking in front of our shared grandparents. Which is why I've been standing around in parking lots smoking lately. The house painters are here from about 9am to about 3pm. That's a ridiculous amount of time to not be smoking at least once or twice. Also, they like to chat. It was obvious that at least the granduncle was the brother of my sister's grandfather by how much he likes to talk. About everything. At 9am. I don't want to talk about anything at 9am. I was as tolerable about it as possible. I can be really polite regardless of whether I want to be or not if the situation requires it. And, it did. I just try to avoid them now. I think he tried to talk to me again just now but I've got my headphones on, music blaring, and I'm completely focused on typing out this post. I saw shadows moving in my peripherals, though. I'm fairly certain that was him and that he was probably talking to me about something. If it were important at all, he probably would have moved into my direct line of sight on the other side of my laptop. So... every last damn frayed fucking nerve. Seriously. As least tomorrow I'll have orientation for the new job, so I won't have to deal with it. But, there's still today and the four hours or so of painting fun that remain.
I'd like to add "...and then I want that flesh to ball up into a fist and punch you in the face." to the title quote.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Damned Scorpios
So... about a week after my last post I was terminated from the temp job at the factory. I'm not an idiot. There were warning signs. When I first started temping in the warehouse and I was sent to one of the other two buildings for various reasons, the employee parking lots were nearly full. Which is rather amazing for night shift. Anywhere, it would be amazing. By that week when I finally transferred over to start working in production, there were barely any vehicles in any of the parking lots. Also, corporate was going to visit the location. That's the entire reason I had a temp job there in the first place. My job was preparing the warehouse (and occasionally the other buildings as well) for this visit. Which is fine, but I know from experience it's NEVER a good thing to have people from corporate show up anywhere. No good ever comes from it. And it certainly didn't this time, either. The corporate representatives were impressed by how great all three buildings of the facility looked for their visit, but they had already decided to and were still going to downsize the location. Temps were first to go. My friend was fired about a week later.
Like I said, I'm not an idiot. There were warning signs. The week I was fired, I had an interview for a job in Pennsylvania. Same commute time, more money out of training. I'm still actually waiting to hear back from that. I also contacted another temp agency and applied for several positions with them. I had checked my current temp agency's website for available positions and tried to apply to them, but was told I couldn't while working on a contract. I had to wait to be fired and by then the job I wanted was no longer available. They are supposedly going to call me when something else becomes available. Too late. I've already accepted a job from the new temp agency. There were hundreds of available listings on this new temp agency's site. There was only one on the first temp agency's site and it wasn't something I can do. I'm not a certified whateverthehell. I honestly don't remember. Who cares anyway?
My new temp job for the new temp agency begins on Wednesday. It is for a cheese factory. That'll stop being funny... never. I laugh every time I say it. Anyway... The job starts out just a few cents less than I was making at the previous temp job, but I get a $4/hr. increase after my first 30 days. Then, there are quarterly raises and a pay cap at double the starting wage. Yes, I'm very, very, very excited about all of this. Also, it's much closer than either the previous temp job or the job in Pennsylvania. Plus, it's obviously a much better rate of pay than either would ever provide. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing other than lifting bricks of cheese weighing 50 pounds repeatedly for several hours a day. This is also very exciting for me because I've lost 30 pounds now since the last week of January. Let me repeat:
I've lost 30 pounds.
I'm really happy about that. Anyway, I'd like to continue making progress on that effort. I've done about everything I can do diet-wise. I've completely changed my entire diet. I cheat sometimes, obviously. I'm not a robot. But, it's very healthy compared to what it used to be. I definitely need to workout in order to fully capitalize on my weight loss efforts. If I can do that and get paid for doing so... Win-win. Also, I like doing physically demanding work now. I know, how bizarre. But, it's true. Loading shipping containers by hand was my favorite part of my warehouse temping job. It made the time fly by and I usually lost a few pounds whenever I did it. It even became a lot easier each time I did it. It was good. So, I'm very excited about my new job and the potential extra benefits.
Which reminds me: the uniform. I'll be wearing a hairnet, beardnet, and a lab coat. There's no actual dresscode other than I'm not permitted to wear shorts or capris. Since the facility is kept at a constant temperature of about 55 degrees, that's not going to be a problem for me to adhere to that policy. I don't imagine that's ever been an issue for any of the employees, but.. then again... I will be issued a locker for my personal belongings and I was instructed to purchase a combination lock for it. I'm not allowed to have anything in my pockets, not even a key to my locker lock, so it has to be a combination lock. I purchased this one this afternoon on my way home from my interview/hire-in. No problem. My shoes also have to be slip resistant, so I'll be wearing my work boots until I decide to buy more comfortable work shoes. Unless they have an issue with the dried paint on them from the previous temp job, then I'll be buying a new pair of comfortable slip resistant shoes immediately.
I tried online dating for about a week during all of this. Very disappointing experience. There are a lot of old perverts in this area. Seriously, it was horrible. Also, there are a lot of married "straight" guys who want to take a little detour into Fagtown. No, Homoville. Queerapolis? Whatever. I met one seemingly normal guy and had an instant, amazing connection which lasted all of but a day when we realized we were simply not compatible. I'm not going to explain that. Well, maybe I will. I'll be vague. I'm exceptionally good at that. You need an X and a Y for a sexual relationship, but we're both X or we're both Y. It all depends on how I'm working that metaphor. So, we could have a great relationship only as long as we never planned on having sex with each other. Really shitty. Oh, and for the record, I'm actually X AND Y - but, my partner needs to be as well in order for me to be satisfied. Or, it doesn't last long. Anyway... I deleted my account. I'm over it. I should have known we were headed for some terrible mishap since he was a Scorpio. Every guy I've ever been with has been a freaking Scorpio and it's all been disastrous. In the beginning, it's amazing. It's really amazing. Then, their emotional intensity gets to be a little overwhelming - not to mention the possessiveness. But, in the beginning, it's amazing. I should know better and I totally do, but that's been my type forever. I really need to change that. Fucking Scorpios. At least I'm over the whole "straight" guy fixation. That's probably another reason it always ends in disaster, except for this most recent time. I just can't help it. I recruit for my team. It's much easier than you'd think. Kind of scary how easy, actually. Anyway... I'm going to be single for now and work on working and getting my life in order.
As far as that goes, everything seems to be on track right now. Things are definitely getting very exciting. I'm probably even happy. Well, not right now, since that thing with the Scorpio just happened last night. But, I would be if I wasn't moody and disappointed about that. Definitely.
One more thing, I might actually be considering getting a tattoo. I have to blame my recent discovery of pinterest on this. Basically, pinterest.com is a site where you can find all these images of whatever and pin the ones you like to thematic virtual pinboards for easy sorting and reference. You can even post directly to twitter, like on facebook, embed in a blog, or email the image/video clip. You can comment on pins, add descriptions, follow your friends as they pin things. It's basically a visual show and tell social app. It's somewhat addicting, actually. I have like 200 things pinned and I started two days ago. Anyway, I saw these tattoo ideas on pinterest and decided I liked them enough to consider maybe getting them put on my body somewhere.
This one is fairly straight forward. It's a bleeding heart in black ink. I blame my dealings with the Scorpio for this one as well. Both of these, actually. Anyway, still like both.
The next one is very interesting. It's a white ink tattoo which is almost like having a secret tattoo. You'd have to know to look for it to even see it. It looks almost like a brand or scar, actually. I think it's very unique and interesting and cool.
I'd like to manage to combine these two ideas somehow. Who knows if I'll ever actually get a tattoo, let alone this one, but it's a thought for now. I'm definitely thinking about it. I'm seriously thinking about it, even.
Oh, one last thing: I found this incredible French couple making amazing music videos on YouTube. They are disturbingly entertaining or entertainingly disturbing. One video even had mimes. MIMES! Anyway, this is one of my favorites. Enjoy. Oh, this isn't the one with the mimes. I realize not everyone likes mimes.
Alice, Marc, and the Noband from Paris, France.
Like I said, I'm not an idiot. There were warning signs. The week I was fired, I had an interview for a job in Pennsylvania. Same commute time, more money out of training. I'm still actually waiting to hear back from that. I also contacted another temp agency and applied for several positions with them. I had checked my current temp agency's website for available positions and tried to apply to them, but was told I couldn't while working on a contract. I had to wait to be fired and by then the job I wanted was no longer available. They are supposedly going to call me when something else becomes available. Too late. I've already accepted a job from the new temp agency. There were hundreds of available listings on this new temp agency's site. There was only one on the first temp agency's site and it wasn't something I can do. I'm not a certified whateverthehell. I honestly don't remember. Who cares anyway?
My new temp job for the new temp agency begins on Wednesday. It is for a cheese factory. That'll stop being funny... never. I laugh every time I say it. Anyway... The job starts out just a few cents less than I was making at the previous temp job, but I get a $4/hr. increase after my first 30 days. Then, there are quarterly raises and a pay cap at double the starting wage. Yes, I'm very, very, very excited about all of this. Also, it's much closer than either the previous temp job or the job in Pennsylvania. Plus, it's obviously a much better rate of pay than either would ever provide. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing other than lifting bricks of cheese weighing 50 pounds repeatedly for several hours a day. This is also very exciting for me because I've lost 30 pounds now since the last week of January. Let me repeat:
I've lost 30 pounds.
I'm really happy about that. Anyway, I'd like to continue making progress on that effort. I've done about everything I can do diet-wise. I've completely changed my entire diet. I cheat sometimes, obviously. I'm not a robot. But, it's very healthy compared to what it used to be. I definitely need to workout in order to fully capitalize on my weight loss efforts. If I can do that and get paid for doing so... Win-win. Also, I like doing physically demanding work now. I know, how bizarre. But, it's true. Loading shipping containers by hand was my favorite part of my warehouse temping job. It made the time fly by and I usually lost a few pounds whenever I did it. It even became a lot easier each time I did it. It was good. So, I'm very excited about my new job and the potential extra benefits.
Which reminds me: the uniform. I'll be wearing a hairnet, beardnet, and a lab coat. There's no actual dresscode other than I'm not permitted to wear shorts or capris. Since the facility is kept at a constant temperature of about 55 degrees, that's not going to be a problem for me to adhere to that policy. I don't imagine that's ever been an issue for any of the employees, but.. then again... I will be issued a locker for my personal belongings and I was instructed to purchase a combination lock for it. I'm not allowed to have anything in my pockets, not even a key to my locker lock, so it has to be a combination lock. I purchased this one this afternoon on my way home from my interview/hire-in. No problem. My shoes also have to be slip resistant, so I'll be wearing my work boots until I decide to buy more comfortable work shoes. Unless they have an issue with the dried paint on them from the previous temp job, then I'll be buying a new pair of comfortable slip resistant shoes immediately.
I tried online dating for about a week during all of this. Very disappointing experience. There are a lot of old perverts in this area. Seriously, it was horrible. Also, there are a lot of married "straight" guys who want to take a little detour into Fagtown. No, Homoville. Queerapolis? Whatever. I met one seemingly normal guy and had an instant, amazing connection which lasted all of but a day when we realized we were simply not compatible. I'm not going to explain that. Well, maybe I will. I'll be vague. I'm exceptionally good at that. You need an X and a Y for a sexual relationship, but we're both X or we're both Y. It all depends on how I'm working that metaphor. So, we could have a great relationship only as long as we never planned on having sex with each other. Really shitty. Oh, and for the record, I'm actually X AND Y - but, my partner needs to be as well in order for me to be satisfied. Or, it doesn't last long. Anyway... I deleted my account. I'm over it. I should have known we were headed for some terrible mishap since he was a Scorpio. Every guy I've ever been with has been a freaking Scorpio and it's all been disastrous. In the beginning, it's amazing. It's really amazing. Then, their emotional intensity gets to be a little overwhelming - not to mention the possessiveness. But, in the beginning, it's amazing. I should know better and I totally do, but that's been my type forever. I really need to change that. Fucking Scorpios. At least I'm over the whole "straight" guy fixation. That's probably another reason it always ends in disaster, except for this most recent time. I just can't help it. I recruit for my team. It's much easier than you'd think. Kind of scary how easy, actually. Anyway... I'm going to be single for now and work on working and getting my life in order.
As far as that goes, everything seems to be on track right now. Things are definitely getting very exciting. I'm probably even happy. Well, not right now, since that thing with the Scorpio just happened last night. But, I would be if I wasn't moody and disappointed about that. Definitely.
One more thing, I might actually be considering getting a tattoo. I have to blame my recent discovery of pinterest on this. Basically, pinterest.com is a site where you can find all these images of whatever and pin the ones you like to thematic virtual pinboards for easy sorting and reference. You can even post directly to twitter, like on facebook, embed in a blog, or email the image/video clip. You can comment on pins, add descriptions, follow your friends as they pin things. It's basically a visual show and tell social app. It's somewhat addicting, actually. I have like 200 things pinned and I started two days ago. Anyway, I saw these tattoo ideas on pinterest and decided I liked them enough to consider maybe getting them put on my body somewhere.
This one is fairly straight forward. It's a bleeding heart in black ink. I blame my dealings with the Scorpio for this one as well. Both of these, actually. Anyway, still like both.
The next one is very interesting. It's a white ink tattoo which is almost like having a secret tattoo. You'd have to know to look for it to even see it. It looks almost like a brand or scar, actually. I think it's very unique and interesting and cool.
I'd like to manage to combine these two ideas somehow. Who knows if I'll ever actually get a tattoo, let alone this one, but it's a thought for now. I'm definitely thinking about it. I'm seriously thinking about it, even.
Oh, one last thing: I found this incredible French couple making amazing music videos on YouTube. They are disturbingly entertaining or entertainingly disturbing. One video even had mimes. MIMES! Anyway, this is one of my favorites. Enjoy. Oh, this isn't the one with the mimes. I realize not everyone likes mimes.
Alice, Marc, and the Noband from Paris, France.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Update
So much to review. Too much, almost. It's slightly overwhelming to think about, so I'm just going to dive in and hopefully get it all covered in a random, hectic fashion.
I'm baking chicken right now. If you know me at all, this should be a total shock and surprise. Anyway, I've got about half an hour before I need to think about prepping the sides. I'm also going to make some rice and maybe stir fry vegetables or perhaps just peppers like last time I made chicken - a week ago and again a few days ago, but I used the George Foreman for the chicken the first time and I fried it on the stove the second time. I also have some Tilapia I need to start cooking and eating here soon, but I need to Google how to make it since I never have and I'd rather not just guess while cooking any type of meat. Oh, and everything is fine, by the way. Usually I start cooking like a mad man when I'm dealing with some particularly troubling mess or personal crisis. I'm just cooking this time - no pretense.
I moved back home a few weeks ago as well. I had quite enough of the whole domestic partnership experiment. Here's a tip and you probably already know better, (but I'm stubborn and foolish and will never take any advice that I haven't personally tried to disprove first) but NEVER live with and work with anyone. Not if you want all parties involved to survive, anyway. It should be obvious enough, but again... I can't be told anything until I'm ready to hear it, not even from myself. So, whatever, that mess is over and we barely managed to salvage a relationship of any kind toward the end of it. It got really nasty. I'm not going to rehash, but... It was ridiculous.
Nurse Egg provided the down payment and is the primary on a second vehicle for me to use and make the payments on. I'm waiting on offers for parting out the Jeep. It's done. There's no saving it anymore. It's fine though. I love my new car. I haven't had a car for a decade. It's been all SUVs and trucks - stick shift even. Now I'm zipping around in this little automatic car. It's like driving a go-cart or something.
Work is fine. The temp job at a warehouse that was only originally meant to be 1-2 weeks became 4 and then 5 and now 6. It was meant to end, but I'm going to start working in another building next week at the same company. I'll be in production, actually making things or maybe just boxing them up to send them over to the warehouse. I don't know. We'll see, I suppose. I was supposed to make that transition a week ago but my boss kept postponing it to keep me with him in the warehouse. Because I'm awesome, obviously.
Lost 20 pounds since starting that job by not really doing anything different except working for a living. That's an awesome bonus. It probably would have been a larger loss if I wasn't always painting everything all the time. You don't burn a lot of calories painting. Oh well. I definitely need to wear a belt now.
Grandpa is back in the hospital. Situation is much worse than it was back in January. Nurse Egg was the family relay this time around which is just as well since this is more here area of expertise than it ever was or will be mine. Taking a break from my usual role of family herald/diplomat was rather odd but nice. Anyway, I'm sure if you know anything about the situation you already know as much or more than I do about it. Again, this isn't really my area of expertise, so I won't bother with any of the details.
We're moved into the house. So long, condo. It was... very Stepford. We live on a tiny dead end street now. There's about nine houses on our street. It's very quiet. There's a police officer with police dogs two houses over on one side with a sweet, little old couple living between us and him. On the other side is a large Latino family in an ugly ass orange house and someone else on the other side of them. I don't know anything about that house other than an old lady used to live there and she was a hoarder. But, someone else lives there now. I only know something about one of the houses on the other side of the street. Directly across from us is a deaf man. He left us a note in our mailbox introducing himself, explaining his condition, and informing us as to when to put our garbage and recycling cans out. There is one strange thing about this quiet little dead end community: every single house on our street has a basketball hoop - even the frail old couple have one - except for us. Our driveway is the only driveway on the entire street that doesn't have a basketball hoop in it. I'm not sure why, but it's perplexing and disappointing. I wonder if they're all secretly hoping we'll install one so we can form a full team or something. I wonder if they're going to hold it against us and judge us harshly when we never do. In any case, I might get some pictures up shortly or I may wait until all the rooms are finished being painted next week.
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