Random Ramblings

This month has been really good. Rosa, the new girl in my department, is working out really well. She has caught on to everything and she is a really hard worker. We also get along great, which I am very happy about!

I went to the George Michael concert last week. It was amazing! He sang all of his big songs that I love, and his voice still sounds great! We had awesome floor seats, so we had a great view of him.

My birthday is one month from today, which means I get my inheritance in one month! I called my aunt this past week, since she is the executer of the estate. I found out exactly how much money I have and what I have to do to get it. Seems like it will be a very simple process. I was afraid it would take awhile and that it would be a hassle, but all I need to do is go to the bank and sign a paper :)

I just got off the phone with a lender, and I found out that my credit is way better than I thought it was, and that on my own, without a co-signer and using my income only, I qualify for a lot more that I thought I would. I am meeting with him after work on Monday to go over more details and options.

Things are looking up!

What lesson did your father teach you that still helps you in life?

My dad has taught me how to be independent and financially responsible. He also told me never to use Arco gas, and to this day, I still haven't.

If you had to go on a two-week vacation with any celebrity, who would you pick as your traveling companion and where would you go?

Christopher Walken and I would go to Vegas.

Look at the first post you ever wrote on Vox. What important developments or changes have occurred in your life since then?
Submitted by Alexandra.

This is awesome. My first post was just over a year ago.

I still never have the place to myself, I am rarely ever home alone. I am still friends with the person I was complaining about.

I am still habitually late to work, and I still don't like getting up.

Over the past year, I was happy with my job for awhile, but I am again back to being frustrated all the time, even though I got another promotion and raise.

Hopefully in another year from now, things will be better :)

In the past year, my department has gone from a six person department to a two person department. The remaining two people were me and Stacey. It was busy, it was hectic at times, but we made it work.

Stacey put in her two weeks notice about three weeks ago. I interviewed five people. I really liked one guy that I interviewed, but I ended up going with a girl who claimed she had four years experience doing exactly what the job called for.

She started Wednesday the 21st. Stacey's last day was Tuesday the 27th. We had Monday off for Memorial Day, so that gave the new girl only four days to train with Stacey. She seemed very confused and just didn't seem to catch on to anything at all. I knew four days wasn't a fair chance, so I stuck it out with her.

After Stacey left on Tuesday, I worked with her closely on Wednesday. She just didn't understand anything. I was frustrated. I was trying really hard to dumb everything down for her, but honestly, I just don't have time to babysit a co-worker.

I was going to give her until the end of the week to say anything to my boss about her, but by Thursday morning it was clear to me that she was not going to catch on, ever. So, I had to let her go. I was better off alone than taking extra time to help her and fix all her mistakes.

I tried calling the other guy that I wanted to hire, but both of his numbers were disconnected. I emailed him, and I didn't hear back. I worked my ass off yesterday. I'm surprised that I got as much done as I did. But, if I don't get help soon, I will quickly get very behind and then I will be screwed. I didn't take a lunch all week, and I am going into work today to play catch up. I don't want to do this every week.

Luckily, there is a girl in another department who is going to transfer into accounting on Monday. I met with her yesterday. She has no experience, but she seems smart and really nice, so I am going to give her a shot.

I REALLY hope she works out.

I had enough of my long hair.

DSCN0183

Today is Mother's Day. This day is normally hard for me. My mom passed away 18 years ago. My dad remarried the year after she passed. It took me a good five years or so to warm up to my step-mom. By the time I was in high school, I considered her my mom. These days though, I feel like I am growing apart from her. I don't have that bond with her anymore. Sometimes I just wish my dad would divorce her. She is always causing drama and making life difficult.

My parents were in Tahiti the past two weeks, and they returned this afternoon. So, we didn't have any Mother's Day plans, and I was fine with that. My step-brother called me yesterday so we could plan to do something with his mom next weekend. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I just don't care. I agreed to go to dinner with the next Sunday.

Kevin was having dinner with his family tonight. I didn't go. I had planned to go to the cemetery today, to visit my mom, and my grandma, who passed away three years ago. My grandma was my mom's mother, and she meant the world to me. She really took the place of my mom after she passed. I have never been to the cemetery alone. I have wanted to go, but I just can't do it. I have only been there probably 10 times since my mom passed away. I feel like a shitty daughter cause I don't go.

But at the same time, I think there is no need to go. I think about her all the time. I cry sometimes. I miss her. I don't know why I need to go there, she doesn't know the difference. Do people just go to cemeteries to make themselves feel better? It doesn't make me feel better, it just upsets me.

I got through today just fine, though. This was the first year I didn't cry. I'm glad for that. Maybe one of these days I will make it to the cemetery alone, but I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

I love gardening. When I lived at home in high school, my dad gave me the whole right side of the house to do whatever I wanted with. I went crazy. I planted tons of herbs, vegetables, flowers and vines. Some I bought already potted and I would plant them in the ground, some of them I started with just the seeds. I decorated the garden with statues, art work, signs, etc. I bought concrete stepping stones and painted different things on each of them, and they went all the way down the garden. My dad and I built a picket fence that I painted purple to close my garden off from the rest of the yard, and to prevent my dog from going in and eating everything.

I had that garden for years. After I moved out when I was 18, my dad let it all die, and he eventually ripped everything out. Now the side of their yard is just dirt. My first apartment had dirt in on the patio, so I started a mini garden. I love to cook, so I always grow my own herbs. I had a small herb garden at that apartment, and also some random flowers. After I moved out of there, I rented a house that had a concrete backyard, so I was forced to garden in pots, since I couldn't plant in the ground. Gardening in pots just isn't the same to me, so I was always having to buy new plants to replace the ones that I died cause I wasn't taking care of them.

I have been living in an apartment complex in Placentia for almost two years now, and these apartments are also concrete patios. It sucks. But, I finally have it all fixed up, and I think it looks good. I cannot wait until I buy my house later this year. One of the things I am most excited about it having dirt in the ground that I can plant things in. Until then, I suppose I will just have to deal with my terra cotta garden.

What was your first car?

1995 VW Jetta, named "Petrie" by my nine year old niece. It was black with a little oxidation on the hood. It was an automatic but it drove like a manual, always getting stuck in a gear, wouldn't accelerate when I tried to get on the freeway. I was always the person entering at 40 MPH, and I would put the pedal to the floor, then the RPM would fly up into the red zone and then the car would snap into gear. That was always exciting. The air conditioner made the car shake. The sun roof often got stuck and I couldn't close it. I also had major problems with overheating.

The oxidation eventually spread all over the car, so I had it painted black again. Then everything else went downhill. The speedometer gauge stopped working, so I was always going 0 MPH, That was okay though, because I stopped putting miles on my car :) If I went through the car wash, water would come through the sun roof, and through the windows. There were many other problems with that car, but the last straw was when the driver side door stopped closing, and I had to drive really slow, holding it closed with all my strength. I had to deal with that about 3 days, and then I went and bought my Honda.

Today is Thursday, which is Kevin's poker night. I normally make dinner plans with a friend, but I didn't this week. So, I was home alone, and decided to watch one of my Netflix, a show called 30 Days. I have never seen this show on TV, but I really liked the movie Super Size Me, and it's that guy's (Morgan Spurlock) show, so I rented it.

I only have Disc 1 right now, which is three episodes. The first was was Morgan and his fiancee living on minimum wage for 30 days. It was so sad. Both of them worked full time, he even worked some 18 hour days. They rented a shitty, run down apartment in Ohio, walked to work, and ate rice and beans, and they still couldn't make it. They didn't have health insurance, and they each had to go to the emergency room, her for a UTI and him because he screwed his wrist up at work. Their hospital bills came at the end of the episode, and they owed over $900.

Towards the end of the episode, it was his fiancee's birthday, and he wanted to take her out for the day, and to dinner. He took her to an arboretum but it was $6.50 admission for adults, and they couldn't afford it if they wanted to go out to dinner, so instead they spent the day at a park :(

I just can't imagine living like that. Yet, there are so many people that do live like that, and it sucks.

The second episode was very interesting. It was about a guy who experimented with anti-aging crap, like supplements and shots, and what they did to his body in less than a month. While he did lose over 20 pounds in three weeks (he quit before the month was up), he also started to experience liver failure and his sperm count went from 80 million to under 1 million, and almost all of those million sperm were dead.

The third episode was a Christian man living the life of a Muslim American for 30 days. That one was really good. The man started off being pretty judgmental and closed-minded about the Muslim religion. In the beginning he really didn't seem open to learning anything, which was totally annoying. He came off as totally ignorant and immature, but eventually, he started opening up and actually learning. By the end, he was actually defending Muslims to other ignorant people, and he had changed a lot.

I'm really happy I found this show and I can't wait to get my second disc!