a [pot] lucky day

Today is crunch day, like most Wednesdays, once again. The difference between this Wednesday and the Wednesdays of the past few weeks is this: I'm in (mostly) full health [coughs], my day is just starting (I woke up at 8:45 instead of 5:45), I have a full water bottle (I don't mind tap and recycling is good for Earth), and iSaac is fully charged and ready to keep me entertained whilst I break down the system (and thanks to my past friPod countdowns, you have an idea of what I'm jamming out to).

Today in particular is a big meeting day at the office. The company would like everyone to be there, by everyone, they mean those who work at home, like me. Will I be there? No. I'm saving on gas and my personal loss of body heat. Which reminds me, I need to make some phone calls to see how much it'll cost Sam to get some heat in his system even though I'm pretending winter will be over next week.

Anyway, there's a meeting I won't be attending--not in person anyway. I'll listen over the phone and eventually get back to work attacking my files while everyone at the office enjoys what's called a pot luck. I'm fully aware of the joys a pot luck lunch brings, I just wish it had a different name. It makes me think of leprechauns with black pots of gold. Not that a name like that will keep me from eating. Hmm... now I want me Lucky Charms. But does it seem odd I'm passing up free food? Maybe to some. But the catch is we are supposed to bring food with us, so the others will be like "I'm sure lucky I came" or "They are lucky they got here to get some of my three-alarm rice!" My mother is grudgingly bringing meatballs. I'd like to go a little crazy on them if I made them, slathering them in BBQ sauce or something. Had I done that, none of my co-workers would get one. Tough luck, no pot luck.

The other great thing about today, I know exactly how many more files I need so I could "slack off" tomorrow. That is, I need to destroy as many files as I can today: at least 20 to make my 55 quota. And hey! If I do more I can count it as overtime! And Lord knows I need some OT pay. Sammy needs a new heating system... among other things.

why i don't miss driver's ed class (a true story)

Yesterday I took my dreaded driver re-training class brought to you by CT DMV. Actually, A Better Connecticut Driver, but who's really keeping track of names? It's still a 4 hour class that's pretty much a refresh of something I learned 6 years ago. People who get caught speeding, running lights, stops signs, etc. have to take this class or get their license suspended. What I learned is that there are all kinds of people out there offending the traffic laws. Besides me, 25 multi-colored-personalities of fun! Fortunately for me, I got to sit at the same table with the chief offender. But we'll get to that in a bit.

This class took place at a local hotel (which actually was a nice blessing since some students had driven a considerable distance whereas I only took about 5-10 minutes). We were all packed into one of the smaller banquet rooms with tiny 3 people-per-table settings. I got there early due to the lady on the phone telling me the doors would be closed and locked had I gotten there a minute past the start time (she told me 5:45 sharp, in actuality it started at 6pm, and I just made it by 5:30... but at least I got a good seat).

OH!! Before we get to the hotel, let me tell you about before I got there. Per the lady on the phone, I had to pay with a money order of $60. (Which brings my total speeding offense to about $360.) So I went to the local money order place I knew of, a 24 hour store down the street from my house that I normally got money orders from. I rarely buy them, and I rarely use checks. So this is somewhat of a hassle for me, but I deal with it. It's about 5pm and the dude says the machine that does money orders is only on in the morning. I'm thinking... WHAT THE STANK?! I don't say it, but I want to. And I feel anger and frustration but I'm too much in a hurry to demand explanations.

I drive down to the grocery store thinking they might have my needs and call my mom on the way, looking for other options. She suggests a pawn shop the opposite way. I love my mom. She was correct. I get there and tell the dude I need a money order and begin to pull out the plastic. He stops me before I go any further to alert me its a cash only deal. It didn't dawn on me at the time. I mean c'mon, it's a pawn shop. He suggests the 24 hour store down the street has an ATM. The same one that turned off their money order machine. Big sigh.

I'm back at the 24 hour store and head straight to the ATM. I pay me stupid $2 to get $80, then grab a Pepsi to break one of the $20s so I have change to buy the money order. (Silly me, before leaving the house I could've grabbed $.60 to avoid this transaction, but the Pepsi comes in handy later.)

I'm back at the pawn shop, I get my money order, and I travel to the hotel. Had I not gone back and forth, I would've been there much earlier. But early birds get the better seats, once you find the room anyway. I helped an older gentleman find the same room too.

Walking in those rooms at evening hours gave me unsettling memories of when I was swindled out out $500 for a pyramid scheme. I don't wanna talk about it.

There's only 3 people in the room when I get there. Three older guys. In my head, being a young guy, I was hoping for some hot girls that happened to be bad drivers. Hey, I can dream. As the time got closer to 6, the room filled up with mostly older men. And what women that did come in, weren't really in my league. One such dude gave me hope when he came in, telling me the last time he had to come to such a class, it was full of girls. He knew me from high school, and he did look familiar, but still after he told me his name, I was drawing a blank. Alas, that night it was the opposite of hot girls.

I don't really like talking about people since I never know who might read this, but one such person who sat at my table... Let me put it like this, I'd never attack a woman. But this woman I think I wanted to duct tape her entire face. I'd leave holes to breathe through and maybe one eye hole, but deep inside, I didn't care much for her. (I wouldn't really do it. Just the sound of the duct tape would make me happy.) If the reason isn't clear, it's because she kept talking. Even before the class started, she was on her cell phone talking to whoever about who knows what. Wasn't really considerate to the others around her even though class didn't start. But while the teacher talked, she had comments. Not helpful or insightful. More along the lines of trying to be humorous. It came off as annoying. Perhaps it was thinking out loud. And when we did the tests? Between reading out loud and pointing out typos, I longed for escape. (I'll throw in the fact she felt like she wasn't supposed to be in this class due to her getting a ticket and it not being her fault. I lost so much interest that I don't remember the specific details of her offense.)

I'm missing a point here. I was at one end of the table, she was at the other. A kind lady sat between us. Like I said, it was cramped as it is. I don't think the lady at the end of the table would've lived very long if the class was 5 or 6 hours. And think, all I wanted to do was duct tape her. I could see the stress and frustration the lady next to me was feeling. She did the best she could to keep it inside, but she was also good with the sarcasm or gestures of "I really hate you right now, please don't speak to me" while smiling or brushing her off completely. At one point she turned to her and said she was giving a little too much class participation when the lady commented on why she doesn't like seat belts. (The lady was a rather large lady, especially in the chest area, and complained TO THE CLASS about having to get out of the seatbelt should there be an accident due to her, um, largeness.)

What made it worse was the dude who knew me (and sat in front of me) was part of the problem, kind of talking or commenting to her or her comments. He was actually making comments all all night to everyone and the teacher and even started a conversation with the teacher about being a teacher. This caused an unseen man in the back to blurt out "Get on with it!" Ironically enough, we just covered road rage.

The other pain we all endured was a man who didn't seem like he followed the whole program. That wasn't the problem I, or others, had with him. It was the coughing. Perhaps it was a smokers cough. I'm not sure. But it was a cough that sounded worse each time he did it. And by worse, I mean it was longer, louder and... uh... moister. I don't want to get too graphic. It just got unpleasant. I wouldn't have been surprised if he coughed up a shoe. In fact, I hoped he would so that way maybe we'd know and be aware "Okay, this guy had a shoe in his lung. Now he'll be quiet and okay the rest of the night."

The whole night could've been a lot worse. I don't want to imagine how. But at least now I'm done with the cops, the DMV and their fees for everything. I will do the best I can to avoid speeding, mostly so I can avoid sitting through another class, and spending hours with people I probably won't ever meet again. God forbid, but how ironic would it be if any of us got into an accident with each other?

write about now

Lately I'm finding more time to myself now that I'm getting other... I don't know... I guess you can call them distractions... but they are getting out of the way. One of the bigger issues was getting Sam back, which I have done. It's not completely taken care of yet since I still owe some $$$ on the repair job. At least it's inspired me of yet another project to work on tentively titled "Adventures in Having a Car." It will showcase the "joys" of operating a motor vehicle. A big segment will be devoted to "The Law" and all the fun you can have going to court for various reasons like driving and talking on you cell phone (which is illegal in Connecticut), driving an unregistered and/or uninsured car, and my latest offense--speeding. In one episode, we'll talk about why and how you can benefit fighting a ticket and what happens if you don't. Then we'll shed some light on yet another reason I might want to leave Sam and CT for the subway and cab-filled city of New York.

To shed some light on where this idea came from, I got a notice from the lovely DMV telling me I need to take a course in driving safety or else my license will be suspended. This is due to me just paying my speeding ticket thinking that it will be over and done with. I was mistaken. Sigh.

But back to the writing--I sit at my console (I love saying that) and I look through my list of projects to work on and never actually get around to working on any of them. I get distracted by other things I have on my table (which is usually half of my bed) which consists of unwatched movies and unread books. Wednesday I got a good 2 hours of harp learning and practice in. Saturday and Sunday I did some Spanish exercises. You can expect me to throw in some Spanish from time to time here. Furthermore, Saturday night I finally watched The Forbidden Kingdom which has been sitting on my bed for the past two weeks. I still need to finish watching Freaks and Geeks so I can return those to Netflix and get more DVDs to sit on my bed unwatched for weeks at a time.

Speaking of my room, I was terrified of a freakishly large spider hanging out on my jeans yesterday. I wasn't wearing them yet, and at first glance thought it was a ball of string. My God I was wrong. I'm not a girl. I don't scream. I voiced a very manly "WHOA!" and tossed them in the middle of the room, watching them cautiously lay there being passively occupied by an intruder with 6 extra legs. I grabbed one of four shoes I found and pounded around looking for this quarter-sized pants-stealer. I found him/her eventually and committed spidercide, then vacuumed the body, put on my pants, and went to church. No forgiveness was asked. I think there's a rule somewhere for spiders thou shalt not touch another man's garments or something.

I wrote an article years ago for my high school news paper about my friend Billy, who was a spider living in my room. He stayed by the ceiling, and we had an agreement that he would never cross the line, and I won't kill him. Unfortunately, my mom told me she killed him and didn't tell me, and an imposter Billy came about, but failed to recognize the treaty. I do believe I killed that one once I learned of Billy's fate. But I find it humorous thinking "what if..." What if who I killed Sunday was actually Billy? Or maybe Billy's offspring seeking revenge? I didn't see a resemblance. Billy was much smaller than this beast. I don't think they were remotely related.

I digress. Severely. I really wanna write a script or something but have a hard time choosing from projects I've started. But I think I'm going to set a goal for myself this week to work on some of the serial works I have. Like the Fickette McSavvy cartoon. At least I can have a pilot episode written. At least. Or maybe my Noah Madison stories. Something. I need the juices to pump and flow. I need the euphoria of accomplishment. Hmmm... I like that. Plus you just don't know how long I've been waiting to throw a word like "euphoria" out and have it actually mean something. I decree that will be the middle name of a future child! Do you hear that future wife and mother to that child(ren)? ______ Euphoria Watson. Heck! It even works as a first name. And it is written. Other names I like to throw in the ring: Jade, Phoenix, Nefertiti... I can't think of the others right now.

I'm not sure when the writing will occur. Possibly tomorrow evening after work and before Fringe. Maybe late on Thursday night. Sometime during Friday or Saturday? Who really knows? Plus I have a number of books to complete/study/skim. So I must make time for that also. Stay in school, kids.

guess who's (what's) back?

SAM'S BACK!!! Finally, after about two months, Sam finally comes home from the hospital and sounds better than ever. It better, costing me about 2Gs. I only paid half because that's all I can afford right now. The longer the doctor made me wait, the more the money burned in my pocket. And it wasn't really me that wanted to spend it... It was the bills that took it.

Fortunately, I negotiated to have my car loan extended, and my car insurance payments dropped. That allowed me to pay off other things like my speeding ticket, AAA membership (I'm now a Plus member, yes yes yall!) and my Espanol classes.

What's left on my tab is paying off Purchase loans and Middlesex loans. My wallet won't ever stop crying. Middlesex first, so I can go back to higher education in January. That's the plan anyway. If I can't make it--prostitution. I JEST! I jest. Drugs. Definitely drugs. Again, jokes. I may just take another adult education class, possibly Spanish Dos, or something else like "How to get published"... I think that's what I saw in the catalogue. But that will be a fun class for me. Then I could put some of my typing energy to use, other than entertain the thousands that read my blog.

I wrote another post earlier today which I don't think I'm going to post, or maybe I'll post it later. It was more of a rant on the bipolar disorder, and how it possibly may be linking it to creative people, like myself. I stopped everything to read it, then I responded via my blog in a much longer entry than I usually write. Like I said, it was a rant. To make a long story short, people have suggested I'm bipolar because of the way I am, how I act, and how I feel which changes on a daily basis. A lot of those traits I have are symptoms of bipolarism. I don't think that's a word, but go with it. According to what I read on CNN.com, those same symptoms can be applied to just being human. A crazy human, but a human nonetheless. I go into more about the crazy part, but I'll save it for later.

I had a long meeting today. It was more of a training class. But it was kinda long. Learning a new process to process our files. It's not important. But I love not having to go to the office for these things and practically everyone is on the phone. Unfortunately, people still don't know how to use the MUTE button. Sigh. Moving on...

I also wrote about some redecorating in my office, but I'll save that for later too. I want to try to take pictures and post them at the same time for once. I was going to take a picture of my car, but I had to get back to work and didn't have time. Plus right now, it's not that deep.

What I really want to do is go to sleep. But I want to watch the debate (on CNN). Then tomorrow, I need to make sure I'm registered to vote. I don't think I am. Before I hear gasps across the nation, let me explain--I am registered to vote, I just need to make sure I'm registered in Connecticut. The last time I voted, I was in New York schooling at Purchase. See? Fortunately, CT laws say I have until the day before Election day. Again, don't worry, I'm not going to wait that long. I'll do it a week before.

I may have another post before the night is through, dealing with books. Why the stank would I have a post about books? Well, it interested me when I read it and I want people to know I read more than just Entertainment Weekly. But don't hold your breath... it's not much of a reading list, but possibly insightful nonetheless. (That's twice I used that word today.) Plus it's me we're talking about, of course you'll be interested in what I do when I'm not writing, watching movies or stuffing my face with nutrients. Cinnabon, anyone? (I wish.)

the nice-ities in life

Ya know what I like? A glass of ice, cracking open a can of Sprite, and pouring my beverage into the glass from a ridicuously high point just to watch it streamline and crash and slash onto the ice below. And of course to witness the bubbles and foaming. I think that's part of the soda expereince. I'm sure there are quality control department personel devoted to this part in the enjoyment process, with clip boards in hand and little rulers measuring the fizz level, timers to see how long it stays bubbly, and microphones tune to hear the crackling and popping. I'm sure of it. They do that for Starbucks coffee. Apparently I watch too much History Channel.

So I got a promotion today. I think I keep saying this... but a lot has happened in the past year. I held 2 jobs for about 4 months, I was in a play on TOP of those 2 jobs. I had went from being a temp to being hired full time with a raise and benefits. I transitioned to a new department. Then I transitioned to work at home. Then I wrote a script in a month! (Thanks Jaden) Then I baked some cookeis and ordered pizzas. Then I saved a bunch of money by switching my car insurance POLICY. (Same company, and it helps to talk to these people instead of ignoring their calls. And no, I'm not with Geico. Or AIG.) Then I ordered my new iPod. I made it back to gym finally, again. Then I got a thngy in the mail for attending a meeting that I didn't attend. (There will be a seperate post about that later.) Then I got promoted with a raise. Then my friend will take me out to lunch to celebrate even though she doesn't know yet. But she's offering to pay, and she's got a strong craving for the buffet with incredibly lower prices than if we went there for dinner. She's a crazy person. In a good way, of course.

Tonight will be some fine entertainment. Biden vs. Palin. I'm starting to think The Office won't be on. But that's okay... there are so many ways to catch TV shows you missed, I love technology. Speaking of shows, I have pretty much every night planned at 9PM. Wanna know my TV schedule aka when-not-to-bother-me-unless-you-are-watching-the-same-thing?

Monday: Heroes.
Tuesday: Fringe. (If I can help it, I'll catch House, although How I Met Your Mother is a pretty funny show.)
Wednesday: Ghost Hunters & Destination Truth.
Thursday: 30 Rock & The Office.
Friday: (I think) Hole in the Wall... until Psych comes back on in January. But that's at 10. So I'd watch Monk just because.
Now some of these times or shows are subject to change, and I'm not always home at 8PM to watch whatever may be on at that time. And Fridays are always gambles because I like to remind myself I have friends or a life outside of my house. Or movies.

Well I need to get back to work before it's lunch time. I'm not where I want to be with my quota just yet. I must make sure I stay worthy of my promotion, ya know? I better get more Spite.

good mornin' update

Silly me, I forgot to post my 9/11 entry... until just a few minutes ago. But now that I'm sitting here writing something brand new... I can't think of what I would've said yesterday, Sunday, Saturday and Friday. Sigh...

I'm glad to be awake at the before-crack-of-dawn time. AND I'm awake AFTER sleeping for over 8 hours! Hey, this is rare. I'm usually asleep for about 5 hours, more or less. And sometimes those hours aren't all at once. This is what leads to random naps throughout the day. Unfortunately, I took said random nap last week which screwed up the rest of my work day. Napping on the job when you work at home isn't a good thing for a guy like me. I'll stretch a 5 minute nap to about 2 hours if I'm not pressured. I'll also stretch out on the couch completely since Jake is a bit too.... um... chairy? Heh... cherry... Awesome.

I read that it's good to eat to keep yourself awake. But I don't want to be fat. I like my size and I don't want to buy more pants! I keep saying it, but I really need to get back to the gym. I'm waiting for Sam to come back first. And no, I still don't have Sam back yet. It'd be perfect if I got it this weekend. I miss Sam. Sigh...

Well, 'tis the 6 o'clock hour so I must go down to my office and get to work. But first I'll get dressed and wear clothes that don't match at all. This is a benefit of working at home. HOWEVER, this makes me want to dress a bit better even the more when 4pm rolls around because by that time, I'm ready to get out of the house. Plus my hair is out and looking insane. Actually, I look like a black Eraserhead. Fortunately, you don't need to see the movie to get that reference, just look at the box cover. And no, I haven't seen the movie. I heard about a disgustingly weird baby and I'm not sure I need my dreams scarred for life. Or at least for a night. This is why I avoid horror movies--I love sleeping without waking up in a sweat or out of breath or completely terrified. That's like waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Or on the floor. Sometimes you don't wake up from those falling dreams until after you land.

installation and destruction day

Today was installation day. My mom and I got our phone lines and modems and yesterday our routers came in. Awesomeness all around. Except for the part that everybody was home... Meaning my dad and grandmother. When she teams up with him, the landscape begins to change. By landscape, I mean my yard. This isn't a problem until they recruit me to help. What did I have to help them with today? Making our yard look like a post-hurricane site. My dad rented an extended saw thingy that cut down branches up high. Sadly, some of these branches needed help coming down, or needed guidence so they won't, like, crash into the windows... like mine.

Long story short, every hour or so, I (and sometimes my mom) had been called to help bring down a rather large limb. I finally got wise and got gloves to pull on the rope (for what I was called for) so I could use what mere strength I have to help guide the huge nature pieces down.

I'll post some pictures later. Meanwhile, tomorrow could almost possibly be my 2nd to last day at the office. Maybe not. I don't know.

I just know right now, I'm hungry. I'm feeling a little moody because of a slight headache which might be due to my non-food intake. Why don't I eat something already? I'm still saving money to get my car back, which hopefully is this Friday. I'd almost kill for a pizza. Maybe I'll make a sandwich. I really need a pick-me-up.

I also really need to get cracking on that script. I ordered Our Uncle Sam but I don't think I can wait for it or read all of it in time to finish writing and be ready by the end of the month and most importantly, by the time I meet Uncle Jazzy. I keep repeating myself about this, and I hate doing it so maybe once I get some work on it done, I'd feel better. But now? I need nurishing nutrients.

new countdown

I don't remember if I discussed this already, but I need to set a new countdown due to the fact that my "last day" (according to my original countdown starting point) would be on a Saturday. I think today would be day #19... So let's recalculate, shall we? Give me a moment as I compute the numbers.

...computing...

Alrighty then... I have decided to restart the countdown with today being day #17, and my last say being the 21st. Of course this is still just a guess, I don't have a definite date as to when I'm going home, but I need something to look forward to until that time. So idealistically, this means 3 weeks. Woot! I seriously can't wait. I think I may take some PTO tomorrow to rest and relax due to my not sleeping most of last night. Why? Laundry. The same laundry I was supposed to do Thursday night, or Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday... which actually I couldn't due on Saturday since my mom was doing laundry that day. Every hour-2 hours, I'd wander down the many steps to the basement to find that the dryer didn't do the one job it's supposed to do.

I had to wear the tight jeans today. Okay, okay... they don't look that tight... but you aren't wearing them, are you? No. You can't feel my restriction. Yes I'm a skinny thin dude. But these jeans were built for people with waists/hips thinner than mine. Probably by like 2 inches or something. I don't know. But when I'm sitting, these jeans give me the muffin top look. Not cute. Not cool.

And I'm on a no-spend restriction until Sam is back in my driveway... or back on the road rather. Hopefully this is the week. I miss my car dearly. The alst few times I've been it, it smelled a little funny. I have a couple reasons why that mgiht be. At least it's not the angry pizza boxes I left in there. I took those out before I dropped the car off. Why would they be angry? Because I left angry uneaten pizza in there. For a little over a week or so. Maybe longer. I can't remember. Not important since they are gone now. Sam also needs a bath too when I get it back. We'll have a night on the town afterwards. Maybe a trip to Springfield to find that cheaper gas. Maybe.

Wow I wanna go home so bad. I need to sleep for a good 10 hours. Mmmmm... Pillows... I know the sleep was getting good because I felt certain muscles in my body getting angry because they just started relaxing and restoring themselves. Sort've like after working out, going to bed, and that feeling you get the morning after a tough workout. It's hard to get out of bed.

I also need to get out of these pants! 6 hours?! Dear GOD!

i just can't win

What my faith teaches me is that this life is a spiritual battle, and will remain that way as long as we are alive. Which explains why some things happen to good people. When good things happen, of course we'll be happy and joyous. Or perhaps we just did something for someone else that made them feel great, and so we feel great for helping.

The evil powers that be see this joy and decide they want to steal that joy and break you down. So perhaps they'll throw crazy expensive bills or car troubles or even sickness to you or a loved one to throw you off.

Besides what evil may throw at you, I've learned that God won't put more on you that you can bare. It's yet another test to see how grounded in my faith I am. So I must remain steadfast and keep my faith that everything will work out somehow, someway.

Meanwhile, in more happy times, yesterday was a great day. There are pictures on the church website that I maintain. http://gracemercyministries.com Check out the photo section and look at the Friends and Family Day part... Perhaps I'll see if I can copy/paste the thumbnails on here later. We'll see.

Psych is making me happy right now. :o)

more cops and cars

I just can't catch a break this weekend! I drove my dad's pick-up truck to church this morning, and no sooner do I get a few blocks away, I feel what felt like the brakes giving out. Are you kidding me?? Fortunately, my dad had an easy solution, or hopefully. At the end of the day he had me buy brake fluid. Meanwhile, he just told me to drive carefully, which I was going to do anyway since yesterday happened.

Not only that, but my friend was in a car accident yesterday that she felt should've killed her. Since we are all Christians, we felt it was a sign that she needs to get her life in order, like, immediately.

Friday, I found out that there was a buralry down the street from my house. And in broad daylight! Between the hours of 9-11am. Terrible. I thought this was a decent neighborhood!

Batman is doing well though... I heard so far they are breaking records or they're about to break more. I may actually see it a second time it was so good. Maybe I shouldn't... I got that speeding ticket. Eh... we'll see.

I need to pick out what I'm going to wear tomorrow. I need to start a work-at-home (WAH) countdown...

someone call batman

What a weekend it has been so far!

To make a long story short (something that's hard for me to do as well making long stories one of the qualities people like about my stories), I made my first real 9-1-1 call Thursday night. Why did I add the "real" part? A few years ago with one of my older cell phones, I accidentally locked myself out of my phone and couldn't remember the password to unlock it or reset it. But it had some kind of emergency number thingy, and without really thinking about it I called that and annoyed a dispatched or clearly stated that this was a number for emergencies and hung up. I would be upset too if someone called me to complain they locked themselves out of their cell phone.

Anyway some guy was screeching his SUV through my yard Thursday night around 10-10:30 trying to run over some dude. It was amazing they didn't hit anything in the yard since my grandmother has been cutting down our little trees. Anyway the man was doing the best he could to avoid this guy and as my mother, grandmother and I stepped out of the house he pleaded for us to call the cops. Meanwhile the SUV is now trying to back up after going into someone elses yard alarming more neighbors who are also calling the cops. I was already dialing as my mother was telling me to do so and giving out my info, feeling like a active citizen and watching my tax dollars goto work.

With the quickness, I heard sirens and saw flashing lights zooming down the street before I even got off the phone. My guess is they were on pursuit of the SUV whom had since fled the scene. A few minutes later a cop came to our area and talked with the victim who told the cop the guy trying to hit him is drunk, driving an uninsured car, and where the guy lived. Meanwhile, a vehicle approaches from a side street, sort've slowly, then brakes suddenly. Naturally it catches everyone's attention, and once the SUV realizes we're all stand by a police car, it does the best it can to make a U-turn in the tiny street hitting what sounding like a mailbox. The cop makes a K-turn and goes after the SUV.

My mother runs back in the house, I chat briefly with a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in YEARS! We discuss how it's a shame we have to meet under the circumstances, but we're glad to see each other once again.

I run back in the house because it's almost time to get ready to see The Dark Knight which I bought midnight tickets for earlier that day. When I go back out to leave, I see cops posted on the street with lights on and flashing. I don't know if they caught the guy but I'd like to think and hope that they did.

Meanwhile, I saw a real villian on screen that absolutely frightened me as well as cracked me up. I told so many people how awesome this movie is, and for once, this is a movie that lives up to it's hype.

It was a disgustingly long day and night, but I good 24 hours nonetheless. I made my quota by 11 files, and made my own by 1. Technically 56 files altogether. But whatever, it's good to be safe again. Batman had nothing to do with that though. Actually he distracted me. Stupid Batman....

microsoft updates

So the good news is I got my internet working again. Turns out Microsoft's security updates does something horrible to anyone who has ZoneAlarm anti-virus program. Long story short, some kind of coding prevents you from accessing the internet. I was confused by this because I stopped the program from running HOWEVER there is a piece of program, vsmon.exe, that is also connected to the ZoneAlarm system and if that is still active, you can't get online.

I thought by just going into the task manager I could shut it off. Nope. I couldn't even get it to go away in msconfig until I went through the safe mode. Nope. I had to unistall it, which wasn't a big deal because I rarely use it. I have other methods to keep my computer and internet safe.

I do want to thank Cathy from Cox telling me this information. I thought for sure it was a bill problem.

As for the bad news, my car is broken and not for for driving. :o(

another perk to work at home

So I've been looking around for new car insurance because, well... they are about to bump up my premium another $100+... making my payments about $320. I know, it sucks. However, I have some new cards i can play. Since I'll be goign to work at home in August, that changes my answers as to how many days a week I commute to work. ZERO! Woot! And what question goes with that? "How many miles is th--" ZERO! Woot! Woot! Sigh...

Let me not get too excited just yet. 'Tis only a quote and I know they will bump up my price a bit more. Oh yeah, my monthly payment would be about $160. The premium itself just under $900 which is sooooo much better than $1900. Can I get an amen? NOW, I need to shop around just to see who else will help me out. I'm takign some advice my dad gave me and forgetting about the accident that I can't remember about. I'm sure that helps bring down the price too. Unfortunately, the company that my job has a discount with, I can't use because I told them my bumper is gone and they can't give me a quote until that's fixed. Had I known this, I would've told them something different and quite possibly had a lowest price... but who knows. I keep forgetting how many auto insurance agencies there are out there and I don't feel like sifting through each and everyone for the best deal. What I'd love is Allstate, but I fear it might be out of my price range. You never know...

In the meantime, I shall do some wrapping up so I can get out of here and enjoy my holiday weekend. Lord knows I didn't have much work to do anyway. My mother can be so trickery in her evil ways asking me if I was going to work KNOWING I didn't have much to do and not many would be in and that I was tired and its a holiday and the fact that she took the day off as well... But I came in anyway. I'm almost done with my warm melted ice coffee too. I got the medium size today so I can enjoy the rest of today until a few hours after nightfall. Plans for today? Gym and maybe a movie. Tomorrow? Supposedly Six Flags, but I don't really wanna go anymore. I know, I'm weird.

weekend productivity

I would go on a day by day of what this weekend entailed, but it's not really that necessary. Instead, a brief summary of the highlights?

Thursday night, I rearranged my room. I do this every 12-18 months. Sometimes you just need a change, right? I'm hoping this is the last time I do this because I hope to move out this year. I don't know how likely that is. But now my laptop and computer is set up so I can't access it as easily with it being right next to my bed. So hopefully, I will sleep better without this major distraction.

Friday I went out to lunch with my friend like I normally do, nowadays. Afterwards, I was going to go car shopping, because I really need to replace Sam. My dad called and needed my help with something, so I never shopped for the car and went home. I continued to do more work on my room. Technically, even right now, it still isn't done. There are little things like organizing my CDs and random things I don't want to throw away. I did throw out 2 full trashbags of stuff. I need to do the same for my clothes. Instead of throwing them away, donating to charity or something? Yeah, that sounds good.

I don't think I did much the rest of Friday... not that I can remember. Saturday I went out car shopping finally. But not after a noon iced latte with my friend... and a random encouter with a drunkard asking for 50 cents. It was rather discomforting, but as long as he didn't mess with my friend, I was alright. I just wanted her away from him, and fortunately he didn't even talk to her. Anyway, we traveled to 2 dealerships, technically 3... but just to look around. I completely forgot all that I learned about how to get a good deal. But fortunately, later that day I re-learned what I needed to know, so I think I'm ready to go back shopping first. But I MUST get a car this weekend. My plan is to visit at least 2 dealerships, but I already saw the car in mind, so I just may go from there and pretend I saw another car with a better deal elsewhere... which is partially true... but if no one comes out to talk to me about your car, why would I come back?

I recommend reading http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html (Edmunds.com's Confessions of a Car Salesman). It's a lot of reading, but it's useful if you are looking to buying a car. Almost makes you mad at car salesmen. But educational, and a bit humorous nonetheless.

Later that night I went to hang with my cousin. She and some friends were celebrating her boyfriend's birthday. We had a good time. I was supposed to go somewhere else, but that ultimately got cancelled. It wasn't too bad. I was just happy to be out. I even played DDR. I didn't want to but they made me. No doubt I need practice.

Needless to say, I watched quite a bit of movies over the weekend. Check the MySpace blog for that.

Now here it is Sunday. My usual churchin' went on. Had a good time. Once I came home, I fell asleep. Longer than expected. But I was pooped.

Now it's time to start the new week. My last week with Sam, hopefully. Am I sad? Not entirely. We had some good times, but it's time to move on. I've got work tomorrow too. WOOT! Now I won't be bored. I'm weird, I know.

i dislike tuesdays

I wrote a poem a few years ago, I think it's corny by the standards I write now, but it was called "Monday" or "Mondays"... I can't remember. But the point of the poem was how much I dislike Mondays and it had a basic rhyming scheme. Well, it was also one of the first poems I started incorporating punch lines, or just a significant ending line to really close out the poem. And the ending (punch)line, rephrased, is that for whatever reason, if I bypassed the trials of whatever usually takes place on Monday, I still have trouble because there's always Tuesday.

Took me a while to make the point, I apologize... But the latest not so great news is once again concerning Sam the car, when a supposedly off-duty cop on a motorcycle pulled up next to me around the corner from my house and told me that my brake lights aren't working, save for the one in the middle. I saw he was off duty because he had the uniform, but his bike seemed, ya know, not police standard. No lights or symbols. Anyway, I was waiting for a ticket or something, but no... Just a precaution and "You should get that check out." Dread sets in.

Earlier today, at work and not working, I looked into whole sale Nissan parts. I now understand why it'll cost $1600 to get my car fixed. The fuel injector is $120. And I need four of them. The head gasket, if I'm reading it correctly, and I'd like to think that I am, is only about $20. And from what I saw, it didn't look anything like what I thought a gasket was. To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen a gasket before. So if I saw it laying in front of me right now... nothing. Sort've like the drive shaft that fell off of the pick-up truck I was driving years ago. I had no idea what it was. Just a long pole looking thing that shouldn't be detached from where it was.

My other woes were just frustrated people on the phone making me a little frustrated. There's no point in explaining what was wrong, let's just say I worked in the shoe department, and she needed the clothes department. However, (and I don't really care) I may some how been able to help had I known more about serious fashion styles and the inner workings of things... but all I need to know and worry about is shoes.

Meanwhile, my co-workers had little issues here and there, but I only help when I'm asked. I feel like i'm butting in, unless of course they are openly talking about the issue at hand. But something a little irritating is when someone asks me a question, then I answer, then they ask someone else as if my answer wasn't good enough. If you don't want my help, don't ask! Sigh. Let me calm down. I need to make some phone calls and get my parents a little getaway that I know I'll be needing soon.

By the way, anyone have like $1000 to just GIVE me? It's not for my car. It's for everything else that has an extended hand waiting to go fishing around in my pockets.

vroom vroom goes the cars

I brought Sam to the doctor today. The doctor, like many doctors I hear about often do, told me bad news. Fortunately, they kept me up to date throughout the day so they didn't have to lay it on me all at once. They also needed to do that so they knew what to take apart, what to fix, all that stuff.



Anyway, my grand total came to $430. Another fortunate thing is that I didn't have to pay for the major recall that was on my car, so that saved me over $1,000. I can't really be sure because they actually found 2 recalls with my car and fixed both per recall agreement. However, what they did find that unfortunately wasn't recalled and I hoping was, was the issue with my check engine light, which has been on probably half the time I had the car now.

CYL 1 MISFIRE, ENGINE OVER TEMP. BAD FUEL INJECTOR, NOW ON #2 CYLINDER. BAD HEAD GASKET, COOLANT LOW, CO2 TEST FAILED. RECOMMEND HEAD GASKET AND FUEL INJECTOR. EST $1606.00 +TAX. CUST DECLINED REPAIR AT THIS TIME.

I feel great about that. Apparently, this is a serious problem, because the two things wrong could spell certain inevitable doom to poor Sam. One is more serious than the other, and if one goes, the other is sure to follow. Sorta like the Twin Towers or a married couple that's been together forever.



But that will be a repair for another day. For the time being, I have a plan to look into these parts needed, try to find them for cheaper, then goto my pal down the street OR call on my best friend to see if they could save me some money. These are some big IFs though... Because I need to find the parts first. And right now, I don't have a clue of where to start. Well, other than Amazon.com which is where I find a lot of the things I have now that I found savings on. And at this point, shipping & handling is the same as if bought gas and I drove out to the store to get whatever I was looking for.



In other news, I saw a really awesome movie today since I was home and immobile. Normally I save the reviews for MySpace, but this one really got me since I'm developing a road trip themed series of short films. The scary part is the main character, whom is played by James Marsden(aka X-Men's Cyclops), is a college grad on a road trip to search for meaning while also avoiding following his father's footsteps. Fortunately, this movie makes a lot of different turns which made me enjoy the movie a lot. In fact, I may recommend this movie to a lot of people because it's so different and entertaining than a lot of road trip movies I've seen. Well at least I think so. Takes a lot of htose elements of inquisitive college kids, fairy tales, "the road less travelled", romance, comedy... I don't know, it's just great.

And should you get to see this movie and wonder why it might make you think of Back to the Future besides cameos by Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the guy who wrote and directed this movie, co-wrote and co-prodced the trilogy. I didn't look into the movie's score, but it also sounds similar. Plus, it's another car movie! C'mon!

Well, 'tis time for me to go a-churchin' once again. Then when I get home, I begin a-bakin'. More on that later. I'm about to be left.