Lost, sleepy, fricks.
I went hunting for a Starbucks today. Specifically this Starbucks. Don’t bother trying to find it via the map. Its not where it says it is, but its close. Its just one of those dealies where the road changes name midstream, but there is another road with the same name right near it. (Whoever said urban planners had no sense of humor never drove anywhere in the midwest.)
I spent about 45 minutes aimlessly driving around and turning around way too much, and even waiting in a Burger King drive thru for a bit too long. (They would’ve failed if I was timing them. (Yeah I worked at this McDonald’s too long…))
Okay but back to the place that doesn’t make my stomach churn, Stabucks. I actually had almost given up on finding the dang store, and was gonna get on 471 to get back home via Ohio (yeah I like being suspended over lots of water in a heavy chunk moving of metal) and I thought “hmm, let me check the other side of this road..” Low and behold behind a Graeter’s Ice Cream there was a little Starbucks tucked in a plaza. From the outside the place looks like a dump. (well a dump for a Starbucks) But I walked in and I knew right away this was my Starbucks. (For the Starbucks uninitiated, addicts like me find a store that they like, and always go to it; there is something special about the store that draws us to em.) My first “my Starbucks” was the Mad River location in Dayton, Ohio. I’ve actually driven from West Chester, Ohio (a 30 minute drive!) just because I wanted to go there. When I was in Atlanta “my Starbucks” was the Little Five Points location. (Which was really convenient because it was on the way between home and work.) I really like the Newport/Fort Thomas location because, well it pulls off that architectural trick I love so well, taking the old and making it new again without destroying it. It preserves some history instead of just bulldozing over it, and re-papering the walls so you can’t see the the history. My kudos to the design team!
Hmm in other news I’ve been getting unpacked. I plan to die in this apartment, I’m just gonna live here till I’m 185 because I’m so freaking sick of moving. If I don’t live to be 185, I’m gonna sue someone, who and how I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.
In other news, I’m amazed how fricking irresponsible people are. I went on a date a week or two ago. Cathy, my coworker, has taken to calling him the drunk. Thats how good the date went. He couldn’t even wait till he got out of the car to start drinking a beer. But what amazed me is that he actually got himself into enough financial trouble to file bankruptcy, but didn’t actually show up at the courthouse to finalize it. Now you see if a day goes by where I don’t talk to someone who is filing bankruptcy, its a rare day. Usually when I talk to someone who has recently filed, they sound really relieved. They’re happy that they are going to be done with the matter once and for all. I also get pissed at people who complain about random fees on their account when they’re five months past due. Crike, pay you bill and then don’t worry about the fees silly!
Okay but almost enough about my job, one more thing. I really like it. Its a great place to work I’ve found and hell its a great boost of schadenfreude.
Okay. Its sleepy time. And I am going to try to be more regular with making entries…
G’night!
Family
I wandered through Wright State‘s website today.
I took a quick peek at the new and the old members of the student government. I only know one of them, and I only know him by name.
Its shocking that so many faces have changed. I used to be at one point extremely connected into Wright State’s student politics. Now, well I could give a rats ass about half of it.
I also had to check in on Lambda Union, my former baby. I’m encouraged and discouraged at the same time. Discouraged because that asshole jeremy wright is president again. I will refrain from going any farther into the matter.
I’m encouraged because Christy Dyer seems to be doing an excellent job and it looks like they’ve got some great activities planned.
In some way I miss WSU. No, let me rephrased that, I miss Lambda Union. I worked so fucking hard at that organization and I loved every minute of it. (Okay, thats a little exaggeration, but not much.) I miss the family that I had both in Lambda Union and the Theatre Department. (Although I was the estranged black sheep in the Theatre Department, and the somewhat neurotic mother in Lambda Union.)
I’m just a little lonely right now, I don’t quite feel part of the Citifamily, I’m not yet at NKU. I’m far enough from Dayton that it makes getting together with my actual family quite hard, and well we’re all in our own worlds now a adays.
I need to sleep. Wish I had some “family” here with me right now.. ;-)
Moving Blues
What a gigantomundo pain in the ass.
Uhaul started this fest off by delaying and essentially canceling the truck I reserved.
Budget came to the rescue.
Hauling shit up two flights of 100 year old stairs sucks.
100 year old apartments are pretty cool.
Cats meowing in discontent while riding in the car sucks.
A shower after a long day of moving and one missed shower is wonderful.
Sleep is even better.
Goodnight!
A whole lot of nothing…
I’ve been saying I should write a PEIDM entry for quite a while.
I just don’t know what to write one on.
I usually write these things when I’m pissed, or meditating some decision, or I’ve come to some semi-profound conclusion that I want to solidify so it cannot morph itself into something else without a record, or some commentary on something weird, or a funny take on my life.
I’ve had those little bits, but they seem to fizzle by the time I get near paper or the computer.
In someways its a good thing I’ven’t needed to write anything here. If you look at the January 2003-Mayish 2003 entries in my eJournal (as it was known in those days), you’ll note that in some ways this was a therapy method I used to ensure my sanity.
Also I’ven’t been reading as much as I would like. I did finish Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson. It didn’t spark any amazing insight. I mean I know that there are separate tools that people develop and we’re not using them all at once; that there are chemicals that affect our brain as well as different brain structures; that people who are good at specific tasks because they can get in specific brain patterns when the need arises; that we have primal systems that learn and don’t always work with us. It could be that I was a bit spoiled by reading the excepts of the book. Sometimes once you get the key ideas that the book is built around the filling is well, boring. Its similar to Dr. Irvine‘s next book. In some ways I am looking forward to it to see how it came out (and possibly if my name made it into it somewhere.), but in many ways I’m not looking forward to it because I am not really sure how much new information will be in it.
An Amusing snippet from my conversation with Phil.
Me: oh, did I tell you Cincinnati Bell is trying to kill me?
Phil: nope, but I believe it.
Me: lol, you’re too easy
Phil: i know
Me: I’m disturbed, you don’t even ask for an explanation.. perhaps I should be worried that CinBell has had enough contracts on other people’s lives that its common practice in Kentucky…
Phil: shhh. you’re not supposed to know. sigh. *finds tire iron*
Hmm other news. I’m moving to Covington, Kentucky. I’ve gotten all the obligatory state paperwork done, although I’ven’t gotten my plates taken care of completely. (I’m actually being very Kentuckian about the matter right now, I have my Ohio plate, which is stuck on the rear plate mount, and I have my Kentucky plate in the window. I figure if push comes to shove, I can argue that “I’m following the law to the best of my ability I just couldn’t get the Ohio plate off to put the Kentucky plate on”)
Felines, they’re all well. The boys are cute as ever, and the female.. Well shes a bitch and shes unhappy because she got cut up the other day. (Gotta follow Barker’s advice)
Hmm.. What else. Oh I’m frustrated with Phil’s take on Movable Type. Come on, its a blog engine that is so flexible that people can and have contorted it to do things that no one even imagined it could do. Yeah the commenting sucks, and I think the Net wide comment registration thing is a great idea, better than captchas, blacklisting, or single site registration.
Really for a majority of the blogging community MT or something similar works. Most of us don’t add a huge number of entries, (My database has 544 entries, plus comments in it right now) and even if we do we don’t rebuild all that often.
I guess I must say I do get around a lot of the complaints by using Server Side Includes gratuitously, to the point that I’ve turned it into a programming language in its own right. (The page you are currently viewing is composed of no less that five separate files on my web server.)
I could go on and on and on, but I’m more of the opinion that it works, most people can get it to do what they want it to without too many headaches.
Hmm.. what else should I rant about?
Unfortunately no one has added themselves to my PEIDM mailing list, although this could be because it is only on one page. (Guess I got side tracked somewhere down the line when I was adding it.)
Oh while I’m mentioning it features that I want to add to my website:
- The subscribe box on all the PEIDM pages, as well as a page explaining the PEDIM mailing list
- Search (I’ve got the CGI sitting installed I just need to do it.)
- I’ve got a whole section of my site of my school papers that is in the process of being prepared for prime time, that well has been forgotten about.
- Plus just some general updating here and there
Okay so hows that for having nothing to say?
Fucking Kitty
Fucking Kitty.
I’ve got this thing where my cats are my kids. They probably think I’m nuts but I take the approach that they are my kids.
You see the problem is I’ve got this stray and I want her to have a good place and home but she is currently a big pain.
She got on my nerves this morning and currently she is spending the day on the patio. I’m just frustrated that I can’t help her permanently and right now she is a big pain in the ass.
Its not for lack of trying…
Okay, problem solved. I spay her and a coworker will take her. so the kitty has a home!
Quick round up
I have lots of stuff to get through quickly, cuz I need to sleep..
- I have a kitty for adoption. She’s definitely got a strong personality and is a fighter. She needs to go to the vet first though (thats happening on Friday.) She is adoptable at no cost, you just need to provide a good home and cover the vet costs.
- I registered for the March of Dimes. My employer Citicards is matching every donation, so its a great way to make that $10 donation be worth $20.. I also need to get my coworker Cathy to register too, as she is procrastinating on the matter. Leave your comments with suggestions on how to get her to register. Oh and I have a personal donation page at the March of Dimes where you can pledge a donation. I suggest that you mail me a check, just so i make sure it can get matched, by Citicards..
- Cincinnati traffic sucks.
- Oh, Cincinnati traffic sucks.
- Okay thats it. No more. Oh but Cincinnati traffic sucks.
Civil Limbo
I’ve been wandering around Barnes&Noble.
I’m currently sitting in limbo about equidistant between the Gay and Lesbian section and the Religious Fiction section. (Yes I realize the latter title is redundant, but I didn’t make it up)
Between the dichotomy of these two sections and the scattering of political hack jobs masquerading as books, I’m disturbed by the divisiveness in today’s culture.
There was a prevailing theme of unity after 2001. “Lets be united, lets be strong, stand together in solidarity.” (Why does this sound slightly like communism?)
Instead its as if we got together and took a good look at our brothers from the north and from the south and ran, disturbed with what we saw. We’ve taken to hacking at each other, attempting to win a silent battle.
Unfortunately this is not the most disturbing thing I’ve seen recently.
On the day George Bush stated he would support a constitutional amendment to enshrine the religious standard of marriage as being between one man and one woman, I got a telephone call from my older sister, Randi, upset and frustrated by his hateful stance. I had simply labeled it as the words of a bigot and felt secure that history would run its course and GWB would look like the ignorant prick that he is.
What is disturbing to me is I went to my Dad’s house the other day and he had “signed” pictures from GWB’s campaign. (Its possible these were for donating to the RNC, as I’ven’t found his donation on GWB’s website.)
My dad was the parent who took my coming out the best. So I’m frustrated when my dad supports a man who has placed himself directly blocking the path of his son’s future happiness.
I’m in limbo as to what to do. I want to scold my Dad for his position. But, at the same time he has been kicked enough as is.
So, walking around Barnes&Noble seeing this war unfold around me has crystalized the limbic middle ground on which I’m standing on.
My father is unexplainably with the south and I’m with the north.
I don’t want to see this battle…
Bastard Bard
I’ve been in a bit of a quandary lately. Besides trying to figure out why my kitties are shedding so much, and if I should just give them a fur cut and get it over with, I’ve also been debating that evil matter of what to major in.
I spoke with Maribeth at Northern Kentucky University on Tuesday. I mentioned Organizational Systems Technology as a major. Armed with knowledge gleamed from my transcript she brought up theatre.
I’ve got some type of aversion to being a theatre major again. I’m reminded of the song The More You Ruv Someone from Avenue Q. One of the main characters professes that “sometimes love right where you hating most Kate monster.”
I love theatre. I also hate it with a passion. There have been far too many times when I’ve wanted to take preening teenage actors and beat the shit out them, just to break them down. Yes, theatre is work, its not some fun fucking game we just do because we’re bored. In college we’re learning to make it a living, stop pretending like this is high school.
I’m half tempted to continue my leaps into the unknown that have been really good to me this year. I just don’t know when my luck is going to run out. I need to do this more intelligently this time, but I also realize i only get so many choices. (Filling out beneficiaries for the new life insurance policy with the new job will do that to you.)
Theatre or not to theatre. That is the question.
Alan
Listen to the voice PEIDM Entry.
C S T, Sesame Life
Today’s PEIDM is brought to you by the theme control, the emotion frustration, and the physical state tired.
Its been an odd day overall, but the thing that set me off was a discussion regarding my job. You see I’m a bill collector, if you don’t pay any one of seven different accounts and you’re more than three months past due I call you. I do my best to be nice, but dammit I want money.
One of the things that I’ve been grappling with is the ethics of being a bill collector and in general the ethics of credit cards.
Are credit cards inherently evil? While I can understand the argument that credit cards are evil and I even used to subscribe to it, its like saying every blade is evil, because knives can stab people and as a result can kill people. Scalpels are a blade, but no one would ever think of banning them from the operating room. Likewise knives are a essential item in kitchens. Like words credit cards are only tools, in and of themselves there is nothing inherently good or evil about them. It what people do with them thats evil.
What is frustrating about my job, is people use credit cards to delay making those hard choices. By the time they get to me, the problems have just been compounded and compounded. Instead of trying to clean up just the original problem the credit card account holder and I have at least four if not twelve months of problems to attempt to tackle in one phone call about 20 minutes long, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. But the hardest part about it is dragging their head out of the sand, because they’ll tell you everything they can to keep their head in the sand, so what you’ve gotta do is drag it out of the sand.
Okay but backing up a step. The whole thing that got me started on this is I got well verbally chastised in class for stating “I’m not gonna take food off the table.” Honestly not in a bad way, but at the time I wasn’t a happy camper. I’m sort of learning one of the major things about debt collection is pulling a customer’s head forcibly up out of the sand that its lodged in, because it ain’t gonna get out without any help. You’ve gotta take control of the situation because they’re not going to.
In other news I had to cut Jake lose. Its not something I’m thrilled about doing, but a relationship has to be give and take on both sides.
I honestly feel that I just was giving and giving and giving. Well I got tired of it and I just got exhausted always feeling that his problems were my problems to solve as well. If someone is just going to always put their tail between their legs and run, there isn’t anything I can do about it. I can try, but I can’t always be the one to whip it out from under them and stop them and make them face the problem. I just got so frustrated being the one in the relationship to tell him to grab the bull by the horns. If someone is on a bicycle eventually you have to stop running behind them and just let them ride on their own, even if they’re going to go through a thorn bush. (Trust me, i know, my mom pushed me off when I was bike riding for the first time and I went right into a thorn bush. I’m not doing that again.)
A related entry is Bullfighting Life.
I’m also amazed at how many people will make bad financial decisions.
Honestly this isn’t that hard, you have to bring in more money than you spend. If you spend more that you bring in, then you need to either make more or spend less. Its okay to spend more than you bring in a month or two, but beyond that take care of it.
Another thing that amazes me is people who go for larger payments on essential items even though they’re already having problems with their bills. An example, a friend of mine, who I shall call V, traded in his vehicle that he was paying $152 a month on for a more expensive vehicle that he is paying $350 a month for. Now if he got a raise or something that would be good, but instead he was having issues getting bills to meet before, the extra $200 car payment isn’t going to help anything. Stupid decision, plain and simple, there is no non-emotional way to argue that it was a good decision.
Finally. I’m ready to get going.. I’m a tug boat lashed to shore. I’m waiting to get out there on the open sea and get going again, perhaps I’ll find Jim somewhere…