In demand.

You know when you were a kiddo, and your mom said "I've had it to HERE with that..." and you knew she was serious about 'knocking it off'. Well, yah, that's where I'm at with the OG. Ms. Artsy and I jokingly say that most of the people around here are aliens because there's no way their actions or thought processes are normal and/or rational.

Anyway, there are some client projects at the CC that may come to fruition which would make it possible for me to be full time there. A few really cool, career enhancing projects to boot.

Also, as I'm sure I've said something about before... The agency we work with on the website for OG has also offered me an account management position there.

Today, I received an email from a restaurant chain with an "are you interested" and a job description attached. It'd be working directly under the Director of Marketing and sounds like it would be right up my alley. I'm going to talk to her just to see what it's about and to keep my options open. Again, it looks like I'm still "in demand" which is great news.

Now, the only hard part would be leaving Ms. Artsy behind. Oh how I love our walks to get good coffee and her insight to life in general.

I'm just over it with the OG. I might choose to keep my silence about the daily bullshit from this place, or I might choose to open up about it. We'll see. I feel like they hire people (not referring to me) to do specific, specialized things for them yet don't trust what they do. It's really fucked up.

That's my beef for today... bittersweet, for sure.

Karina-like decisions

Ah, this semester has begun... I can feel it in the air. "syllabus day" is out of the way and real content starts next week. It's going to be hell, I can already tell. I've got a decision to make, though.

First off, Karina is this chica... and she's gone through this recently so I'm sure she can sympathize!!

When I left my company a few months back with hopes of finishing my bachelor's degree quickly, I left a lot of opportunity behind - only to gain even greater opportunities, in my opinion. That point was validated time and time again each time I received a job offer... all six of them. Three of them were full time positions which, as any idiot could tell, I wasn't going to take because I wanted to finish school. Three, however, were part time freelance opportunities concerning branding, promotional items, and project management. All three very distinct opportunities, but ones I'd already had a lot of experience in and loved doing.

So, I chose the branding one to start with and have been making some pretty decent money for the amount of work required to put in. $350 bucks a week for 8-10 hours of work suits me just fine. ;) I've enjoyed working for them, but the project has slowed and I'm ready to move to a fuller part time position now that my classes are evenly spread out and Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday DAYS are open for me.

Here's the dilemma.

The promotional products job is strictly (albeit damn good) commission. A close friend of mine (through this trade, actually) is the owner and I've worked with him for several years - just as his client instead. I've started work on the side for him just a little bit (through the first freelance branding project) and have talked about making it into a more permanent thing.

Pros: I like the people I work with and can wear jeans and a tank top if I feel like it. There's a lot of money to be made. It's close to my house. I can choose my own hours.

Cons: It takes a LOT of work to build up clientele for this sort of thing. It's strictly commission.

The project management job is an hourly job at a sister company of the company I just left. They want to hire me for about $20 an hour - contractor status, so I'll take home about $15 an hour. (not too bad for part time EASY work) It's one of those jobs that will build my career further because I will be able to explore their marketing world (nonexistent at this point) because they're such a new company. They have SOME branding/standards in place but not much, and I feel like it's something I can do on a full time basis later. It's also something that I can convince them of hiring me for several other projects because they lack the manpower.

Pros: The pay is standard and pretty good. I'd work with people I already know. It's easy work. I can find many other projects after this project is done. This will further my career and put some good stuff on my resume.

Cons: It's the sister company to the company I just left, so all the weirdos I left behind might show up in my life again.

I'm REALLY leaning towards the 2nd job just because it's a lot better environment than the promotional products job is. I don't like not knowing where my next rent payment is coming from. I like to have that sort of stuff figured out months in advance! haha! Either way, I've got to talk to both of them tomorrow... The saddest part would be breaking the news to my friend. I've worked with him forever and it'll be sad not to see him all the time.

Hrmph. Any thoughts?

Email

I refrained from the subject before as to not call someone out on the situation. I don't think it is appropriate to put someone in their place (so to speak) in public, just as I would hope my friends have the respect of not doing the same for me.

But.

I got an email this morning. From M Moon's boyfriend.

A little background for you:

M Moon and I were friends for about a year and a half. We lived together. We did everything together. We were best friends. In fact, we had a "team" name and everything. Silly, I know, but that was that.

I went to San Diego with Carrie to meet up with her for my birthday and we made a trip to Vegas during my stay. Shit hit the fan while we were there and Carrie and I ended up having to bolt early because of what went down. It wasn't pleasant. It wasn't what I wanted to happen. It just happened. M Moon changed into a whole different person that I wasn't sure I liked anymore. I felt (and Carrie thought so too) that she was under the control of her boyfriend and not the same person we knew before.

Back to the email.

It was something to the effect of: "I apologize for whatever it was that came between you two that you're not friends anymore. I don't know what I'm apologizing for but I apologize for whatever you think I should apologize for. I don't think you need to apologize to her and I know she's not going to apologize to you." etc. etc. then "If she extended the offer of forgetting about the situation and just being friends with you again, would you accept it? She misses you."

My thoughts.

1. If she misses me and wants to talk to me, she can send me an email or pick up the phone and do the dirty work herself. I don't see Michael ever calling her and doing the same that her boyfriend has done.
2. If she's not going to apologize to me after I left the table open and airy with my "let's just agree to disagree and be done with it" then what's the point anyway?
3. She's a COMPLETELY different person than when we were friends before. Completely. I'm not even sure I want to be friends with the new her.
4. Did her boyfriend really just apologize for 'whatever I need to apologize for'?? Who does that?!

Your thoughts??

Focus.

Or a lack thereof.

I'm trying really hard. I really am. This semester has kicked my ass from here to there and back again. For one, things with Michael are going extremely well and all I want to do is spend all of my time with him. His son is in town until the 26th and we've been doing all kinds of cool things around the city. For two, I took WAAAAaaaay too many classes this summer. I have group projects in three of my four classes. I am a shitty test-taker and always have been. For three, I have no motivation right now whatsoever. None to focus with. None to actually buckle down and do what I need to do to succeed. My mind goes blank at precisely the wrong time all the time.

And that's not like me. Not one bit.

So... for the next two weeks until this hellacious semester is over... I won't be back. I'll still check up on your blogs - cause I've got a blackberry now and can do that on the train, but I won't be writing here until then. It sucks because this is my outlet for funny things and rants and raves and opinions, but I've got to do something to keep my ass from having to re-take a class or two.

C'est la vie.

See ya in two weeks!

Girls Nights

I'm independent. I know what I want and I usually get it - because I make it happen. I know who I am. I know what I stand for. I'm very well put-together (so to speak). So I pretty much demand girl friends to be at least on some sort of the same level as I am. The guys, eh, boys will be boys so we'll just forget about them, shall we?

I appreciate those nights when Michael has his "guys nights" with his friends where they act all retarded and watch fights and go out in the yard to wrestle afterwards. I think it's extremely important for each person in the relationship to not shove themselves off of the 'love cliff' and submerse themselves in each other only to find a year or more down the road that they have no friends. I get that. I believe in it. And I practice it.

However, it's somewhat more difficult for me.

I didn't tell you about the situation with M. Moon because I didn't feel it appropriate for public airwaves. She and I strongly disagree about things that went down in Vegas and since we can't just agree to disagree... we're no longer friends. [I SO want to just blurt out all the bullshit to get it out of my system but it would be completely disrespectful... so I shall refrain. Unfortunately]

M. Moon moved to San Diego last September to be with a boy. She was my absolute best friend and partner in crime. With her gone, I had to seek out more girls to hang with. (you can't pick up guys at a bar if you're there with a guy and he's not gay... I'm just sayin...) Carrie, as you know, bounces all around the place and is currently in Hawaii with her marine husband. Oh how I would love if he would just ship her here instead. These two, they were my very best friends in the entire universe.

Now there's just Carrie.

I've grown closer to Amber but we don't hang much... mostly just chat and get/give advice to one another. It's a great relationship but there's not much face timee.

Rae and I are becoming better friends (we used to be roommates back in the day) and are soon to be living together as well... so that's great.

But other than that, there are no friends here. None that I can hang with. I suppose there are a few I could count on one hand that I could invite out - but none that i'm seriously excited about seeing.

I've even included Michael's best friend's girlfriends. And that's turned out to be a disaster. I can TOTALLY sympathize with Karina on this one... I try to be nice but get kicked down in return.

So Friday night might just turn out to be a friend from work and Rae perhaps... but who knows. I'll start school in a matter of weeks and should meet some nice girls there. Let's just hope they're not all 20 years old and immature as fuck.

Until then, I'll go have my fun with the girls I know and hopefully fill my time with good people. I've done a great job thus far weeding out the self-absorbed assholes in my life so why stop now?! Haha.

Eh... C'est la vie. Women ARE bitches and I just want to befriend the chill ones I can shop and talk about The Hills with. That too much to ask for?!

[my 'e' key is somewhat out of commission... so if you see an 'e' missing... or one too many, it's not cause i'm an idiot... it just means I'm a fast typer and the damn 'e' key hates me today :) ]

If only there was another way...

My wit has subsided. My life is upside down from all of these life-changing events I'm putting myself through. Do I feel like writing in this blog? Not so much. Do I have things I want to say? Absolutely. But I feel like they should be kept private for the moment... just until I figure everything else out.

Life will be great once again, I just know it will. I am desperate for this change to go ahead and happen... because I feel like May 2008 is going to be a waiting game.

I wish Carrie were here and not in Hawaii with her husband. She and I have so much fun together. I also wish all of these hard decisions I had to make weren't so hard and that I didn't have to forfeit some happiness to make them happen. If only there was another way...

Returned Check

AH... gotta love coming back from vacation... snuggling the cat, all the laundry there is to do, checking the mail...

I stopped by the mailbox on my way in and grabbed all the mail. Bills... junk mail... a letter from Wachovia... Hrm... a letter from Wachovia? What could that be?

None other than a returned check from the lovely ex-roommate... from February's bills. So not only does he owe me the money he wasn't going to give me, the fucker drained his checking account and didn't have enough to cover the $150 he wrote for February.

NOW he owes me the $150 from Feb, the $30 returned check fee, AND the money from March. He's going to be much farther in from court fees if he keeps this up. We're now up to over $300.

Asshole.

It's Comcastic!

Yes, it is. Let me tell you of my troubles with this freakin company.

It all started when I received a bill in January for $100. Cable and internet? A hundred bucks? NO WAY. I called and had them fix it back to the $66 that I was paying. February rolls around... another bill for a hundred bucks. Oh hell no! I call them and they say there's nothing they can do.

Really? Nothing they can do? I've been paying the $66 a month for the past three years and all of a sudden they jack their prices up? And there's nothing they can do?

So I cancel my service and ask them to come pick up the box and modem. Simple as that.

I got a phone call on Tuesday asking me to set up an appointment for someone to come by and get the equipment. I set it up for Thursday between 6 pm and 8 pm.

Yesterday, I receive a phone call around 5:30 or 6 from a random number. I missed the call so it went to voicemail. It was a guy telling me that he was going to be running a few minutes later than 8pm but that he was still coming. No biggie.

8:15 rolls around... I get another phone call from the same number but was on the phone. The message he left said "Shut the fuck up." Well then. And i'm not joking when I say that's exactly what he said. Hrm.

It's now 9 pm and there's a man pounding on my front door. It's dark outside. I'm there by myself. There's no way in hell i'm going to open that door. He was there for a good 10 minutes knocking on the door... he went around to the back and knocked on that door, too.

I immediately got on the phone with Comcast and explained to them how unacceptable it is for some grown man to leave messages on my phone like that and then come AFTER DARK banging on my door to pick up some equipment. What if something had happened to me?

This morning, I got another phone call from that number. I'm assuming he was pissed off because they probably fired him. I didn't answer, of course.

Ridiculous.

Bitterness must be in the air

Odette seems to be having a rough time... and so does she... well, spread it around, cause here's my drama.

I really don't think I've met a more explosive individual than my old roommate. See here, here, and oh yah - HERE. I thought I was completely done with him and his stupid antics but oh no, not yet.

Mr. Tucker (yep, that's his real name) decided on Feb. 7 that he would move out. In this state, the law is that you have to give 30 days notice to vacate a place... so March 7th is when it was all set for. It ended up that whatever place he was moving to was ready on the 1st, so he left early. This does not remove his obligation financially to pay for the week of the 1st through the 7th. (about $175 bucks)

SO. He moves out, I really didn't talk to him much because of his asshole-ness but whatever. He said he "mailed" me a check but we all know what that means. It's now the 19th and I still haven't seen a dime.

But yesterday... a little something came in the mail for him... a rebate check from HP (I'm assuming he got a new computer or something) so I sent him a text telling him I had it.

Oh you better believe he jumped at the chance. "Hey, did you ever get my check? If not, I'll bring it to you and pick up my other check. Just leave it in the mailbox." Right. I'm no idiot. He'll take his check and run and that'll be the end of that. This transaction needs to happen in person.

I get this nasty text this morning from him saying that I didn't follow through so now I'm not getting my check. Au contraire bitches. I will most certainly get that - and whatever court fees I have to pay to get it back. Petty? I think not. He's an asshole.

So I keep getting these texts from him - he's threatening me, telling me to mail his check and telling me that I'm not going to get mine. That's not the way you get people to give you what you want. Being nice, I offered to drive to where he is (so he doesn't have to drive again) and he's still being quite the asshole. He won't pick up the phone either.

Hrm. Let's review. He can't get/keep a girlfriend (or wife, for that matter) because of what? Oh yes... his explosive attitude and disregard for others around him. HE is going to screw ME? Nope. Not whatsoever. I mean, I could live without the $175, I really could. It's only money... but the MORAL thing to do... and the RIGHT thing to do... is to give it to me. Because he owes it to me.

So either we meet up and he gives me my check and I give him his check... OR we go to court (which is going to be much more expensive for him in the long run cause he'll have to pay all of the court fees). He should think hard about this one. Cause I know i'm right.

What an asshole.

Life is going to change...

This morning I woke up. Made some surprise pancakes for Michael (which he enjoyed very much so). And then rushed off to an 8AM meeting halfway across the city.

In my rush from his house to my house to get ready and then off to my meeting, I had an epiphany of sorts.

Brief history of my life:

Graduated High School and went to State. Stayed there for a year and a half then transfered to a 2 yr school. Got my degree. All the while nannying and connecting myself to the corporate world (I've always had a job and I've always gone to school). I started working at my company 3 years ago and moved quickly into the Marketing department. Yes, without the proper degree. I have a Business Associate's degree. I've been working on my Marketing Bachelor's back at State but stopped this semester.

Ok. You're up to speed.

This question has been looming in my head since I opted out of school in December. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. I was miserable... working 40 plus hours a week... going to school... managing a long distance relationship (which failed, by the way)... it just wasn't working. Anywho... That's where this idea came from.

Well. Here's the reality. I have two little sisters that are extremely precious and only 7 and 8 years old. I wouldn't be able to leave them here if I tried. I have Michael here. I most definitely couldn't leave him. I have roots here. I have connections here. I'd be an idiot to leave and think I'd be able to come back just as easily. So, for now, I'll kiss my dreams of living in Paris buh-bye... I'll go one day. You just wait!

I'm about to leave the best job in the world to go to school full time for 2 1/2 semesters to get my degree. I know, I know, I'm going to rack up about $30K in debt... as well as take a risk I need to be willing to take. But I'm up for the challenge. Not having the degree is holding me back more than you can imagine. Granted, I have a freaking amazing job at a fabulous company and make more money than most people my age do... but I'm not going to continue to be miserable trying to get this degree.

If I were to continue doing what I'm doing... the degree will be finished in 2011 and would have spent $18K on something that could cost me $7K. Ya see? So I'll start this summer... and go through next spring... and hopefully be done with it.

I'll be able to go wherever I want with my experience and my degree. And be happy :) Hooray!

Michael is going back to school as well. He's going online though. But I definitely need him for support. I told him tonight that he can quiz me before my tests and reward me with smooches when I get the answers right. Sounds good to me!!

So that's what's going to change. No more frivilous spending... and trips out of town whenever I want. I'm selling my car... :( :( :( and driving the old one. I'm just going to have to suck it up for 9 months until I can get what I want.

And then I can do whatever I want! Hooray!

School is not fun, but necessary.
L'école n'est pas amusement, mais nécessaire.

Update: Rude words that caused a dilemma

Just to update you guys on the situation with Rocky.

Rocky's new owner sent Michael an email last week telling him of the myspace page (up until this point, I was the only one who was supposed to know the info, but come on!!) along with another note saying that Rocky is doing alright.

Michael took this opportunity to set the record straight (that he wasn't in there for 14 hours a day) and tell him how grateful he was that he could give Rocky a great new home. He didn't ask him to change it - he just mentioned something in his really nice email.

He handled the situation so well... it was nice! So they exchanged a few emails and Rocky's page no longer says anything to that effect. All is well!

Rude words that caused a dilemma

Michael had a dog and couldn't keep it. There's more to the story, but that's the jist. He just couldn't take care of him any more. He felt bad that he couldn't spend as much time with him as he wanted to... so I found a place for him to give him away. He took care of him, he really did, it was just time. It was a sad day, because Michael really cared about him but knew what was right for him.

So I got with one of my coworkers and made it happen. She had a friend who wanted the dog (he's already got 4 dogs, 3 cats) and we arranged to meet at her house to pass him along. Keep in mind, Michael paid lots of money for this dog... and didn't ask for a penny in exchange.

We met the guy and he seemed really nice, really good with Rocky (the dog), and owned a tattoo shop nearby. They exchanged email addresses and the guy said he'd put up a myspace page or something soon so he could check on his progress or something. As you can imagine, it felt really good knowing that Rocky was going to a caring home like that.

Until the myspace page was created.

Here's the excerpt that is quite rude.

I am a puggle---part pug and part beagle and I am a year and a half old. I was adopted by a nice family with a house and a yard to play in----no more spending 14 hours in a stupid crate! Yay! My parents are named [edited for privacy] and they are very sweet to me---my daddy bought me treats, new toys and a fancy collar with skulls on it! It has a tag with my name on it---ROCKY!

This story is SO embellished and exaggerated it's ridiculous. Rocky never spent 14 hours in a crate! He was only crated while Michael was at work (MAYBE 8 hours) and that's completely normal and non-cruel. He has had treats... toys (that he destroys, by the way)... and a collar with his name on it!! But he makes it sound SO bad... like he "rescued" this dog from Michael Vick or something.

It's just unnecessary and rude is all. And Michael is pretty upset about it. It left a very bad taste in his mouth, and that's not the way it should be. I feel so bad for him.

Now here's the dilemma. Should we say something to him about it? Or should we just let it go? I know the guy just wants to look cool in front of all of his friends but Michael wanted to show HIS friends the myspace page because they all loved Rocky. Now he can't do that because it makes him look like an asshole - that he wasn't.

Oh, what to do, what to do?

Que faisons-nous?
What do we do?