...So where is my figgy pudding?

I just re-read my last post. I meant college and not high school, in case you all didn't guess. My brain hasn't been working for several years now. Anyway, I'm just getting ready to take off and go to the Watchnight service at church and thought I would say Happy New Year!!!! to all and sundry. This last year has been much more eventful than I ever would have wanted to anticipated and in directions I never dreamed. I mean, first there was the mono, then the bookkeeping job, the apartment with Moo, the bucket garden (oh hey!! I just got my first seed catalog of the year!!)... the list goes on and on. And I know there have been plenty of things going on in your lives as well, but so far we have survived. Hugs to all and hopefully I'll see everyone at some point in 2007! (*swallows loudly* I cannot believe it's already 2007. I mean, I was supposed to be queen of the Universe by now... or at least have traveled a few more places... Ack! I will not get all pessimistic!!) Good night, guys! Take care and have fun!!

It's clear in the mountains...

...but down here in the valley, it didn't get above freezing today and the fog froze and pretended to be snow. Dad said it was gorgeous and clear up at the old homestead today. I do have to admit, the fogsnow was pretty. Thank you, Ms. Poppins, for the understanding. *laughs* I'm going to not whine this post, which is why I just deleted a sentence.

Christmas just snuck up on me out of nowhere this year and I barely got my Christmas cards out in anything resembling a timely manner. *looks ashamed* I'm afraid that I'm also doing some last-minute, not-quite-thoughtless shopping, but now I'm remembering all these other people I should be buying for. *rolls eyes* Can any of the adults out there tell me how you do it?? I can't even imagine trying to do this and have kids at the same time... which is probably why every time I even contemplate the possibility of children I see myself as a content housewife. *pauses* Okay, mostly content with a dash of insane.

Anyway, since I will not see the majority of you all,Merry Christmas!!!! Thank you for sticking with me, even though I haven't been around as much as I was in high school. I'll try to become entertaining and sarcastic again in the near future, so you won't get too bored. *grins* God bless all of you if I don't post again before New Year's!!!

No, I'm not a ghost

I'm sure some of you will be thrilled to discover that, yes, I'm still alive. I didn't want to bore you guys with the highs and (more often) lows of my post-Joel life and be one of those blogs of misery and woe. I will definitely never underestimate how much a person may be hurting ever again, that's for sure. None of you warned me this was going to hurt so bad!! *flings hands into the air* Oh well, I'm kidding, I hope you all know. Thank you for the love and prayers. I'm doing okay, although I'm certainly not over him by any stretch of the imagination. *sighs* At least I've lost a few pounds through this whole thing. *grins* It's really ironic, the women in my family have always eaten their way through trouble and worry, and here I am with my broken heart, unable to eat chocolate.... It's so unfair!!! Otherwise, life has been busy. I'm still working for the temp agency (did I blog about that?? I'll have to check.) and things are going well. I'm so busy that I feel like I don't have time for anything else except church. I'm hoping to start playing music with my friend Karen here soon, since I'm sadly out of practice and need something to do besides sleep. Ah well, I'm sure you're not all that interested in my life. Oh, oh, oh!!! The weather is clear and frigid. Just thought you would want to know. And we got the deposit back on the apartment.

Quick note...

I just want to let you guys know that Joel and I are no longer together. We're still friends and I don't hate him (I don't want anyone else to hate him either), we're just not together. At this point, I'm not looking for anyone to "take his place," "fill the gap in my life," or be my "other fish in the sea," so please don't try to set me up with anyone. I also don't really want to talk about the reasons at this point (sorry, guys!), it was just.... something that happened I guess, albeit very unexpectedly. Anyway, we would both appreciate your prayers during what is obviously a very difficult time. Thanks for you love and support, and I'll try to make my next post more cheerful.

It's orange! It's yellow!!

It's not a forest fire!! Well, I mean, there is one out there somewhere, but I am referring to the trees. Yes, gentle readers, fall is here and that means I am beginning to enjoy the weather again. The clouds are moving in and Joel reports rain in the Central Valley area, so I won't be surprised to see it here as well soon. Some of the trees are starting to turn gorgeous shades of red and yellow, especially in this mobile home park down the highway from my old place. They have these amazing trees that all turn fiery at the exact same time and it's really spectacular.

I have the day off today and have been running errands and hauling some stuff to the new house. One of my errands was to turn in my practice room key at the university and get back my $10 deposit, but it seems some malodorous, moronic miscreant decided to abscond with the deposity money last year, leaving the department unable to give me back my deposit. People like that tick me off, by the way. Ripping off your fellow students just to... buy booze? pay rent (right)? impress somebody?

Oh, hey, opinion check. Does getting the master bedroom, complete with attached bathroom, mean that you should have to shoulder some additional responsibilities, like more rent?

Winds of Change

Things are just crazy around here, let me tell you. I got a phone call last week inviting me to interview for a Human Services position with the State in Ashland and spent all weekend freaking out about whether I should stay in my current job, which I really enjoy, even when it's insanely busy. I spoke to my boss about possibly going to the interview (yes, I thought it was better to be honest, thank you) and wound up talking for two hours about not just the jobs, but my negative self-image and all sorts of fun stuff. So, I've decided to stay with my current job, as I think I'm not very likely to find abother work environment quite as nice (we have good people and no internal politics that I've noticed... possibly because everyone is too busy *grin*)and because I think having the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of HR with be good for me.

ALSO, we are moving. Over the weekend we found a three bedroom, two bathroom HOUSE with sewer, water, and garbage PAID for $925, and we jumped on it. I'm reflecting on this with especial sweetness right now because my neighbors have their music so loud that I can hear the words and feel the wall shaking. Anyway, the only complication is that we can't get out of the 30-day-notice clause at the apartment and the new landlord needs us to move in by October 1st, which means we're going to be paying rent on both places, plus all the move-in fees on the other place. Things are going to be tight. But this is life, I guess. Alright, I'm going to leave you guys alone and go draft my 30-day notice letter. Tomorrow I get to call and ask that they pro-rate our rent and save us maybe $60... that would be nice...

Back to you, Stan!

Well, I am back to having a job now! I went in to my temp agencies last week to reactivate my account and on Wednesday I got a call from one of them asking me to come in for an interview for an internal position, and that afternoon, I was employed!! I'm the new staffing coordinator, which means I have to start dressing like a professional, makeup, suits (when I can't avoid it), and all. It's really scary because I've never been in anything like this before, having always been the office girl, but there is literally never any down time minus my lunch hour and breaks, so I don't get bored and into mischief. I'm making $5 an hour less, but I'm getting training and experience that is going to make me much more employable in the future... if I want to be. I think what I really need to do is go and make a small fortune and be independently wealthy. What do you guys think? At least I'm working with an office-full of people this time and I don't have to worry as much about what happened before. Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing well and enjoying the advent of autumn, one of my favorite times of year. Break out the scarves and hats!!

PS Melina, I tried to post to your blog, but I couldn't for some reason. I'm sorry!! I'll see if I can't figure it out.

Garden

I just realized that I never told you guys about my backyard and the Lost Paradise thing! Wow, where has my brain been?! So, I went to dig up the beautiful soil of my little backyard so I could add enriching compost and gently plant my various seedlings and watch them grow to full, glorious adulthood. Behold, I raiséd my shovel, thonkéd it into the living soil and hittethed a rock. But, behold, I despairéd not, movéd rock and thonkéd mine shovel againeth into the groundeth. Only to discover that in the building of my apartment complex they (THEY!! such a beautifully undescriptive word) had laid down a layer of rock and then hidden it under a five-inch layer of dirt that was tantalizingly deep enough to grow grass and weeds, but not anything resembling a garden. However, I prevailed and spent money and now have a container garden made up of fiber pots and sawn-off five gallon buckets. Contents thereof: one eggplant, one zucchini, one crookneck squash, one summer squash, four pepper plants, one lemon cucmber (was four but Campmeeting happened), one pumpkin (which is currently waging war on the air conditioning unit. I don't have the heart to cut it back.), two sickly tomatoes (another one died. I'm not quite sure why I'm growing them since I don't like tomatoes very much.), and a bunch of flowers and stuff.

New paragraph to spare your eyes. My yard is also home to a voracious population of snails and in earlier summer suffered an invasion of earwigs. We survived and now I have fresh vegetables constantly waiting to be eaten. Anyway, I'm hungry and it's that time of day in which one should have tea, so I'm off.

PS I see that my non-posting time seems to have cost me some readers. Sorry guys!!

Why do people live in the Central Valley?

Okay, I know the answer, really. In the spring it's absolutely beautiful here, the mountains, when you can see them, are amazing, and the soil is fabulous for agriculture... unless it's been over-fertilized resulting in salinization or had the top soil raked off to make way for suburban sprawl. However, fresh oranges and warm winters are nice. Unfortunately, the summer heat is a little difficult to take at times. I'm sitting in College of the Sequoias computer lab goofing off until Joel gets out of class and then he's taking me to the airport. In the meantime, I have some minutes to kill and thought I'd update stuff.

I'm alive and doing much better than I was four days ago. It's amazing what getting away from my problems can do...okay, I didn't get away from them, but I haven't had to think about them, and the J***** household is a very nice place to just hang out and relax. I still haven't found another job and we're still house-hunting, but I did buy Mom's car, so I don't have to worry about that for another month and if worse comes to worse, I can always work fast food, right? Wrong, yeah, I know, I wouldn't be pulling in enough money to cover my bills, but you get the idea. Oh yeah, anecdote time, the other morning I heard the sprinklers go on and thought I would go check the spray pattern so I could move any plants that needed more or less agua. I pulled aside the shades and beheld a 15-foot geyser erupting from the ground. Seems a little piece had come loose and wasn't breaking up the water stream into spray. I was a little perturbed as I don't exactly want my apartment manager nosing around and finding out that Bri is still in the house, but it was a pretty geyser and it watered fairly well when the breeze was in the right direction. Anyway, after the water shut off I went and checked it out, found the little piece and all was well. Wow, what a boring post. Oh well, at least you know I'm alive, right?!

Partial retraction

Okay, I have been chastised by Joel for lambasting my boss and I feel he is at least partly right, if not entirely, blast it. My boss can be a very nice lady and is very generous when she likes you. That being said, losing her trust is like buying a one way ticket out of Cushyville, which I inadvertently did. I AM going to miss my job and my boss, but not the stress. I'm sure my boss felt she had perfectly legitimate reasons for her behavior, as did I, so I can't sit and fling stones... unfortunately. Hey, has anyone seen my Joeliddy Cricket recently?

Unemployment

...is a many-splendoured thing!! Last Saturday, I thought the worst thing in my life was that I had put Joel on the Greyhound back to Visalia after two month's worth of visiting. Tuesday afternoon, I discovered just how wrong I was. Apparently, my boss, for whom I have been working six months, randomly informed me (over the phone)that I was not quite meeting her needs in terms of support, not surprising considering she'd never really explained what those needs were. She went on to express that she understood that I missed Joel (!!!!! What kind of an employee does THAT make me if I moon around so much about missing him, which I wasn't doing?! I was no worse than any other time I haven't gotten enough sleep, am stressed out by my boss, and feeling cranky!!) and thought that perhaps I ought to take the rest of the day off to evaluate my priorities. Um, hello? Two days of grouchy productivity suddenly signal that my priorities are... what, out of line? To whom? Unfortunately, this was not the end of the lecture and I got to hear all about my failures, even after I had asked not to discuss it just then, as I was preparing to explode all over the office and dismember, well, not the dogs-I like the dogs-but perhaps a filing cabinet. I managed to hold my tongue... at least until she'd hung up and I'd called Mom. Then, the dogs left the office in a bit of a hurry when I began screaming. Loudly. Luckily for me, my mother understands and didn't take it personally.
New paragraph. I called several people, most of whom encouraged me to vamoose. I thought I could stick it out, until Thursday, when her behavior more than clearly communicated her loss of trust in me (for what, the money I hadn't stolen? Perhaps the books I'd been balancing with little or no training from her? Or maybe because... because... oh, for crying out loud, I don't know, it just made me stinking mad). I'm not going to work for someone who doesn't trust me, and so yesterday, I gave notice. I cannot tell you how unbelievably relieved I feel. I'm more relaxed than I've been for six months. A good sign? I believe so. Did I mention that my car blew up on Wednesday? And that apparently my apartment complex won't let my cousin, who is already living here, well, live here? And believe me, Wednesday and Thursday were not good days. At all. Not even a litte. Ask Joel. But Friday and today (my birthday, by the way), ah, words cannot express. Melodie made me crumpets for breakfast and between her, me, and Bri, we consumed nearly a dozen. My mom is getting a new car and selling me her old one... which means I need a new job. Soon.
In closing, I'm really, really, really sorry that nothing else has been posted in so long. Don't worry, my garden is doing well, excessively well in the case of the pumpkin. Oh wait, you guys haven't heard... ahhhh, well, that's another post. I leave you with this chorus (courtesy of Mel... a friend):
Unemployed, how I love to proclaim it
Unemployed as effective Friday
Unemployed I am free now from *boss's name*
I can dance and fling flowers all day!
Unemployed
Unemployed
No more screaming boss to ignore
Unemplooooooo-ooooooyed
Unemploooooooooooooooooooooo-oooooooooooooooyed
And yes it's effective Friday!!!!!

P.S. Is this long enough to prove I'm not dead?
*crackle crackle BOOOOOOM*

*furtive glance*

...and so I can't understand why everyone keeps saying it's been so long since I last posted when anyone can see that it's been in the last six months! Sorry guys, I've been moving into an apartment with my brother and getting adjusted to the job and, well, I just haven't had fast enough net access to be honest and I hate waiting for things to load. Don't worry, RatIck (oh, I think I like that one), I've bought some of my plants and now I'm just waiting to get moved in so I can concentrate on the little backyard that will soon be my Garden of Eden. I've decided that I'm going to have a vegetable garden so I can experiment with things like heirloom plants and different planting styles, and I'll just fling flowers around to brighten things up. Okay, I'm really soory, I have plenty of things to blog about, but I have to get back to work. Bye!

Just waiting on that diploma...

...which, apparently, I didn't need to get a good job. My current job was garnered from my secretary skills rather than my college education. A bit of angst before the news: I don't want to be a bookkeeper for the rest of my life... I don't think... I want to use my Spanish and Latin American Studies background and do good and travel and help people and travel and see things!!! Am I going to have a comfortable, mediocre life? Are my professors right and I should go to grad school? Argh!!! Where is my direction?!?!?! (How was that for negative and depressing...)

So, my professor emailed me and I got an A- in that Econ class, by the grace of God. This means I am happy, but will still not graduate with honors because I am .01 points away from a 3.79. .01 points!!!!!! And it's my own fault, too. Should have just taken out loans to begin with and I would have been done before now with a 3.9. Wow, I'm really feeling whiny today or something.

Some of you may have picked up on the vibe that I was/am thinking about moving to California. Well, when I got back last week my boss informed me that she intends to raise my pay to $15 an hour and when we get four more clients, she's going to give me medical insurance. Odds of my finding a job in CA that offers me anything remotely close? HA! So for now it looks like I'll be moving in with my brother and we'll just see how things develop. I wonder if the State Department's Latin American Division needs a secretary or a bookkeeper...

And finally, I have seed catalogs. Yes, you all know what this means. Soon, when I know where I'm going to live and all that, you will be receiving updates on the weather (by the way, it's been freezing cold and snowy here) and the state of my garden. The thrills never stop, I tell you what...

Diseased

For those of you (Mandy!!!!) who have noticed my lack of posting, I have but one word: mononucleosis. That's right, after managing to avoid that dreaded disease in high school when I was supposed to get it, I came down with it two days before that Aforementioned Day and didn't really move that much over the next week and a half... minus the road trip to Visalia that my parents hijacked (thank heavens!!) and which I spent vilely ill. Since the incubation period is 4-6 weeks, it looks like I contracted this lovely little number during my holiday visit in V., and in fact, Joel is supposed to find out today whether or not he has it, since he started having weird symptoms about the same time. *heavy, heavy sigh* Isn't my life supposed to be coming together right now, rather than falling apart?? On the plus side, I started a new job as a bookkeeper's assistant the Tuesday after I got sick, but my boss is being really cool about my hours being short for a bit as I try to avoid a relapse. This is harder than it sounds since I don't feel nearly as sick as I did, and I don't realize I've overdone it until it's too late. Ah well, such is life, I suppose, although I really hope that none of you EVER get this. *sighs again* Good life and good health to you all!

` nhbgmjyutnfryujhmn

The above is the noise my face makes as it hits the keyboard. I have been unbelievably ill for the last three days, with fever, swollen gland, stuffy nose, periods of utter and complete exhaustion, accelerated heart rate, the works. I had a recital for a friend yesterday and started sweating so badly that I thought I might drop my violin, but things turned out well and her mother even commented that on stage I didn't even look sick. Mum always did say I should have been an actress. So, CrazyLady, I'm afraid this is my cheesy apology for not emailing you sooner. I was going to do it this weekend but lacked the energy necessary to press that many keys.

I realize that some of you probably thought that this year I wasn't going to do a Valentine's Day tirade because my heart had been tenderly wounded by gentle Love's arrow, to which I reply "HA!" Valentine's Day still stinks and Joel and I have mutually decided not to celebrate it more than his calling me to sing his song "Valentine's Day is a Drag." Oh, I have a card for him and everything, but he's not going to get it until he's not expecting it. Once again, I would rather have my significant other SURPRISE me someday when I'm not expecting it rather than simply because he has to. V-Day should be about showing love to everyone, and not in some commercially-exploited manner either. Oh hey!! Why don't we declare Valentine's Day an official "Go Volunteer" Day?! I'm not hearing a very enthusiastic response out there... Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to bashing the day itself, and conveniently enough, someone else has done that for me here: http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=5861&TrackingID=516311&BannerID=544657&menuid=6?GT1=7778
I totally concur with these points, minus the one about dating around. So there, Hallmark!! Have at thee, oh exploiter of singletons' feelings of loneliness and couples' indoctrination that romance must be scripted on a certain day!! Anyway, I have several other things to rave about and hopefully I won't keep you waiting too long.

PS Can anyone explain how to embed the hyperlink within the text? I tried and failed.

I'm DONE (the second middle)

And yesterday I turned in the final report for my Mexico internship, so, as fas as I know, I am done with my paperwork, minus my exit counseling for my loans. *sighs* And isn't it great having THOSE hanging over my head... Anyway, I think I'll go get myself some lunch. Hope you all have a good weekend!

I'm DONE (the middle)

Just so you all know, the econ stuff is all in. Now I just have to wait and see how awfully I performed on the tests, which does concern me quite a bit. Right now I'm finishing up the last of my final internship report which I'm turning in tomorrow. I'm also looking for work, either here or (fine, I'll admit it in public) in California. Life is just so stinking complicated once you have to start growing up!! I have to pack up all my stuff and I already have a garbage can full to get rid of, not to mention a bag plus of clothes to donate to Goodwill. And I'm barely even started yet. *sighs and covers eyes* You've all survived this, right? Right?!? Okay, enough whining, I need to get going, but thank you all for your support and I tell you that someday I will become interesting again.

Tolu, I PROMISE I will email you and I'm SO sorry I haven't yet. Please, please forgive me!!!

*snuffle*

Ugh. Mornings. I probably wouldn't have made it out of my bed at a semi-reasonable hour today except Joel called and inspired me. So, yeah, today I was supposed to go to work. I got up at 7, made oatmeal for Moo and I (he's baby-sitting me while my parents are off gallivanting away my inheritance), and then took him home before *RING* "This is Karen, just calling to remind you that we have rehearsal at 11 with Galina." AAAAAGGH!!! Why, yes, I had forgotten. I'm playing a violin duet with Karen at her Junior Recital in February and we NEED to rehearse with the pianist. *heavy sigh* So I called Becky, who very sweetly informed me that it was fine, I could go to Ashland for the practice, and, while I was at it, why didn't I GET MY BUTT HOME AND FINISH MY ECON HOMEWORK!!!!! And so I sit in the computer lab, updating my blog, waiting for 11, because of course I didn't bring my books with me. Oh yes, just got a note from my prof and I got an A- on the paper, and she'll probably be grading the test in the next week. So far, so good. I use the word 'so' a lot, don't I?

Weather: It's foggy here in Ashland, which means it's stinking cold. Anyone else ever noticed the peculiar ability of fog to hold in cold? But, it's going to be beautiful out at my house. *happy sigh*

I know, I know...

I left you all hanging for who knows how long. Well, I'm just going to post a little update as my parking time is going to run out soon. The paper is done and got mailed to my prof the 23rd. However, the rest of it isn't done yet (I blame other people) and I haven't heard back from said prof and so I begin to worry that the paper never made it to her, but I'm afraid to get ahold of her without more stuff to turn in.

I haven't been posting because I spent two and a half weeks down in California visiting Joel and then about a week up in Washington with Melodie. It rained in both locations and I had a lot of fun, but now it's back to the grindstone, this time with the added push to find a job and get all my school paperwork done and out of the way. Funny how things just kinda spring up at you that they don't really tell you about. I think they should have to make a checklist of things so we don't feel so lost.

Anyway, I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and I'll try to be better about posting and letting you all know I'm alive!!