Drama, drama, drama

Hey, Fish, I've interviewed two of your ex-co-workers in the last two weeks! One of them was named Katheryn and was the center director.... and I'm afraid I've forgotten the other lady's name. Katheryn says hello. As for me moving to Portland.... well.... we'll have to see what happens, but as you know, it's not in my immediate plans. Even for you, my handsome, dashing, and debonair dear friend!! All those people!!! Ack! Oh, and please accept my public apology for not calling you back when you were in town. My only feeble excuse is that I had houseguests and forgot until Sunday night. Forgive me?

Moo has given me a slight reprieve ("They said it wouldn't be for a while..." Can I get a date, please??) and our household is still intact. Well, Moo is in Visalia (oh yeah, the PIQ actually isn't in PA, but I trust my brother to remember what good friends they used to be) and we have the addition of Chels (Nan's sister) and we had Melodie all week and are about to get Jake and Laura for a night.... but otherwise the household is the same as always!! We now have three, no, four, houseplants. I bought a lovely outside salad mix, but apparently someone else thinks it's tasty, too, and tossed a few leaves around on the patio. Mum says it's probably cats. I say Matt needed a midnight snack.

Lest we think that my life has calmed down since the last major incident, I bring you news of yet another potential change. I may be looking for a new job soon. I have come to the realization that I am not particularly brilliant at my job, and while in other positions this may not be a huge problem, in this one, I can do great things like lose accounts. Now, what this means is, I feel horrifically guilty about the fact that I'm not producing the results that my company needs, and I'm sure my company isn't too thrilled about it either. I also really dislike the fact that I don't feel competent at what I'm doing. It's not like I can study more and get better at this... well, in a way, I guess I can, but I can't change the essential fact that I don't have the drive they really need. I also don't feel like taking on the weight of the responsibilities I would have come the summer. Like being on call 24/6. I would also like to be able to plan things like vacations during the summer; even taking a half-day isn't really feasible in the position I'm currently in. Does this mean I'm lazy? It does, doesn't it...... great, now I'm going to go feel bad about myself... at least until Jake and Laura call and I go get pizza for dinner. So, yeah, I realize this is rambling and incoherent, but ARGH!!! I don't want this to turn into another whinefest and woe is I! Me. I never did figure out which was right. Anyway, I will cease and desist before this becomes even more ridiculous. Good night all, and may you all have a glorious weekend!!

As the world turns....

Ahhhh, the many changes of life. The weather here has been just great, with days of warm sunshine punctuated with gloriously glowering rain. Brinicio and I went to the Grange Co-op and bought some plants; she bought chives, cilantro and mint, and I got a salad mix and some pansies. My boss went and bought a hothouse last week, so I'm thinking I might go get me some of them there seeds and sneak some starts of something in.... not that I really have anywhere to plant them. I have to admit that I'm planning my future house-that-I-own and mostly the trees and plants around it. There's a book called Tasha Tudor's Garden that absolutely captivates me specifically because of the gardens that surround the house.

So, the first line of my post refers to the fact that my brother, dear sweet Moo, has been promoted to manager-in-training with Winco! Kudos to Moo!! Unfortunately, this means that my darling co-lease-signing brother is moving to Portland about five months before our leases actually run out. I think he gets to call our landlord on this one. I have no idea who on earth we're going to get to move in with us, but I know we're going to have to find someone fairly soon!! This does, however, leave the master bedroom open. *strokes chin hairs*

It also refers to the fact that we've hired a new recruiting manager at my office. He's 24, tall, blond, and a salesman. "Whoo hoo, Mindy!" you may be thinking, but there is a caveat. I seem to have a bit of a gift for parts of my job. One aspect is that I can sense salesmen. How, you may wonder? They annoy me, I tell you. And I was told to specifically look for a saleman kind of attitude for this position. *sighs* I'm hoping that it'll all be okay, and I'm sure it will be, but it's just kind of funny that my "gift" has the potential for such internal ookiness. Don't get me wrong, I have some friends who are salesmen, but when I'm in a business situation with one, well, they can't help it, the poor dears, they ooooooze that let-me-help-you-ma'am-I'm-sure-we-can-make-a-deal grease. Hmmm, I hope no one from work ever figures out who this is.....

Oh, and in the "Great Ironies of Life" category, Moo, in keeping with his status as Excellent Winco Employee, is being sent to help open one of the newest stores next weekend. All travel and lodging expenses paid for eight days. Sounds all legit and everything, right? No irony anywhere, right? Just the reward of the hardworking and well-deserving, right? He's going to Visalia, California, zip code 93291, the place where yours truly was attempting to move exactly a year ago. Ohhhhhhh, the irony of it all!!!!!!! *laughs* Matt has been throwing around threats ever since he found out he was going, but it looks like The Person In Question will be in Pennsylvania, so Moo will have to content himself with breathing angry murmurings under his breath.

Lessee, I think that's all my fun, fascinating, and entertaining news for the day. Who knows, if you're all reaaaaally lucky, maybe someday I'll start blogging about the stuff that happens at work. *rolls eyes* Or not. I wouldn't want to make you too cynical about humanity.

Olive Garden Soup

It's just so yummy! It's become a new tradition on Sunday evenings for us olderyoung singles to go get a $4.75 bowl of soup and eat breadsticks, and I have to say, it's a lot of fun. Tonight I really needed the support (Jim and Flora, I sorry!!!! I really did mean to come home and do my laundry!!!!! But I'll be coming over tomorrow, I promise.) and the great Brinicio came with us and it was a lot of fun. The Zuppa Toscana is just that perfect blend of spicy and pseudo-healthy.

As some of you will have maybe noticed, I've changed some of my previous entries. I was informed that pasting my emotions all over the front of my online persona was probably a bad idea. And I agree. So, the particular subject which was addressed in the changed entries isn't going to be using up my blog space anymore except in passing. Life is too short for me to let anything like that rule me. So, Pheath, Fish, CrazyLady, everyone else, if you really want to know what's up with that, drop me a line. Pheath, we need to get together and catch up as it is. I've totally lost contact with almost everyone and I feel terrible about it.

Okay, so, what is up with this weather?? The snow on the valley floor? Brinicio says that the snow one day followed by sun, then sleet, then rain, then sun again... well, basically, she just can't handle it. I must say, I am a little peeved since this weather never happened when I was still in school, or even living at my parents' house, and able to have a snow day!!! All the beautiful little bulbs are beginning to poke out their little heads those. Except for here, at our house, where we never got around to planting any. We have grass. Barren grass. Dying grass actually, although I'm not sure why. Well, maybe it's drowning, which would make sense. Brin says it was distinctly soggy when she stepped on the lawn the other day. I have great plans for summer plantings, however. Please, stay tuned to this site for further fascinating updates!

Repeat after me...

Hey gang! It's finally raining here again, thank the clouds above. Don't get me wrong, the sunny days were gorgeous, but it gets cold when it's clear at night. And there's nothing to compare with brooding in a chair in front of a window that looks out onto, well, okay, onto a fence, but it has sky above that and the skeletal limbs of several trees, their nakedness reminding me of the scarred, barren land that is my heart. *giggles* Yeah, I thought that was pretty melodramatic myself. But really, a semi-comfy chair, Jane Eyre/Jane Austen/Lord of the Rings, and tea.... what more can I ask? Except Firefly on a large-screen TV, which I now have!

There used to be something else here. Again, I'm hoping the wrong people/person didn't read it before it was changed today, 2/25.

Bed? Why would I be in bed?

So, I was kinda just cruising through my old blog entries (this really is just as much for me as for other people) and I went back to a year ago.
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Just wow. Okay, okay, I know, I know, I waxed nostalgic earlier this year already, but really, come on now. I hadn't even gone through *shudders* mono, yet. I still don't feel like an adult. I mean, we were discussing the rules for the new church youth center and how there needed to be adult supervision and, you guessed it, I am considered adult supervision. Me. *would sit down heavily but is already seated* I certainly don't feel like an adult. I can tell I'm not quite a kid because I want to throttle teenagers with an alarming frequency, but I don't feel ... I don't know, adult-like, like I'm grownup enough to be responsible for things. Ya know what I mean, Vern? Stars and stripes forever, all this emotional trauma has turned me into a brooding, introspective, maudlin sentimentalist. On to greater things.

I got a new bed! The ex-boss had given me a daybed, but it doesn't fit in my decidedly-smaller-than-my-room-in-the-apartment room, and so I've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It was kind of funny, someone came over one day and got the tour and they were like "why do you all sleep on the floor?" We had never thought about it, but we all sleep (or slept, hehe heh) on the floor. But, Joel's little sister (who lives up here now) just got a new bed and so I inherited her old one. Thick mattress. With boxsprings. And a hollywood frame. And suddenly my room is actually a bedroom. *sighs* I can even store things under it. Speaking of, I need to get up in time to pick up said younger sister for Sunday School tomorrow and I'd like to get a real breakfast (the donut episode last week was a definite learning experience), so I'll release you all from the grip of my inane babbling.

A Quote From Gwendolen

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~Herm Albright

Thank you guys so much for being my friends. (Cheese!!! Ack Ack!!!!!! Too much cheese!!) But really, I mean it. Fish, Pheath, wow guys, who would have thought that over ten years later we'd still be hear and you guys would still be listening to my growing pains. And everyone else who reads and talks to me later or even just prays for me, I appreciate you all so very, very much.

I'm shifting through my angry stage, remembering all the really good times Joel and I had together, trying not to depress his little sister who probably still harbors dreams of us getting back together. It's been a process. *breaks into cheesy song* "The long and winding road" *bum bumk* "something, sooomething....." Okay, that's it, I'm leaving now before things get entirely out of hand. Beware the potstickers and razzleberry pie, beware!!! *sighs* And the worst part is that while you guys might think, "wow, her moods are doing really weird things," after a moment you'll smile and say "nahhh, that's just Mindy!"

Our next stage of grief...

2/25: Yeah, meant to get this changed sooner. Hopefully the wrong people didn't already read it! Anyway, to summarize, this post used to be angry. It's not anymore. I saved the original to Brinicio's computer though. *laughs* We've decided I need to start posting funny things again. Maybe I'll go read a gardening catalogue...