I should be sleeping

Why am I not tired? It is 8:50am. I stayed up until 3am watching the entire first season of "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica". Should I be ashamed that I just said that? It's one of those train-wreck kind of shows. Like Anna Nicole Smith. I have just read so much about how stupid she is. I just had to see it for myself. It's official. She is. And she can try to play it off anyway she likes. The fact is - she's dumb as a stump. I did enjoy the episode where they visited Cincinnati for Nick's grandmother's wedding. (Nick Lachey is from here originally) They went to Kings Island and stayed in one of his childhood friend's ghetto looking house. Very nice of them to slum it for a few days.

A potential problem has arisen. I think I may have swimmer's ear. Not water in my ear...but swimmer's ear. An infection in the outer canal. My ear is red and swollen. Only painful if you touch it, but I don't have any inner ear disturbances. (Thank god) So I guess I have to go to the doctor today or tomorrow. Oh how I hate doctors. I also hate anything having to do with ears. Now the big question will be...what caused this infection. I have a feeling it is from sweating and wearing the hood and mask at fear fest. All hot and damp in there - perfect breeding ground for bacteria. This could have a good ending though. I can tell Mike to give me a different part for the last 2 weeks.

Ok...so I just called the doctor that Matthew went to. They said because I am a new patient, it would probably be 2 weeks before I could get in!! I told them about my ear and I cannot wait that long. She said maybe a week. Damn! What do they expect me to do in the meantime? Let my ear swell completely shut? She took my information and then all of a sudden said, "I can get you in at 10am tomorrow". WTF??? Whatever.

More later...

Too much work

Wednesday morning at 10am I had an interview with the Assistant Store Manager. By 10:15 I was scheduled for orientation. It wasn't much of an interview really. She asked what "Online Customer Support" was at Delta and asked if I was flexible with my hours. (I said "I am if you are") That was it. I do not start until Nov 3, which means my discount won't start until Dec 3. But that's ok. Just in time for Christmas shopping.

The cool thing is....I used to work at this store back in 1991 when it was called McAlpins. I worked in the customer service area, which means I helped people with credit accounts, answered the phones, helped out in gift wrap, gave change to sales people for their registers etc. I also worked 2 days a week as a "cashier", which is sort of an accounting job. You have to get the bank deposits (checks and cash) added up, balanced and ready for the Brinks driver to pick up. So guess what position they gave me today? Customer Service Desk and she said I will probably work a couple days as a "cashier" as well. I really enjoyed that job. I don't like working out on the floor because I don't like sales.

So I am happy about this. It is just part time , 20-25 hours a week. Which is fine for me because I don't really like working anyway.

I worked 2 of my 3 volunteer shifts at TallStacks on Wednesday and Thursday. It was ok. I like being outside and by the (toxic) water. But Thursday ended on a bad note. I was working the River Taxi which shuttles people back and forth between Ohio and Kentucky. Well they only had 1 boat running. One boat holds about 230-240 people. At any one time, we had close to 400 people in line! Plus it was taking him over 1 hour to make a round trip! So the people who didn't get on the first boat ended up waiting over 2 hours! People were pissed. Old ladies were yelling at me and telling me to do something about it. HEY - I am only here to take your ticket and make sure your old ass doesn't fall in the drink. Oh and let me tell you how unsafe the loading was! There was a rather steep hill of loose gravel that the gangplank from the ferry would sit on. The river current was strong, the boat kept drifting and then gunning the engines to correct itself. So the gangplank kinda slides back and forth - while 90 year old ladies are tying to walk down the 60 degree slope. Oh and did I mention it is slippery when it gets wet?? SO- I decided not to go back on Friday.

I spent Friday working on my "Interrogatories". I have 6 done. I am hoping the attorney will answer the other 3 because I have no clue. So all I have left to do is make copies of my "evidence". Which I will do on Monday.

18 more days until Matthew comes home. It seems like an eternity. I am tired of being alone all the time. This month has been horrible. It is usually our favourite month, but it has been very depressing.

Another 11 hour shift at FearFest today. I am getting a little burned out on that. But I need the money. It's not much money...but it's something. 6 days and counting....

Eventful Day

This morning I continued working on our upcoming vacation. I am only 3 days into the trip and trying to find an affordable hotel room in Prague with secure parking. While searching the Web for hotels I tried to pull my chair closer to the desk and - don't ask how this happened - I Slammed my foot into the bottom shelf of the desk. I have a huge bruise on the top of my foot. I think I broke it. It really hurts when I try to move my toes.

Around 10am, I decided to take a shower. About 5 minutes after I got out, someone was buzzing my front door. (which sends the dog into a frenzy) It was the mailman who had a certified letter for me. I have learned recently that nothing good ever comes out of a certified letter. They are usually from lawyers and usually contain bad news. My first thought was "What is this damn condo association fining me for now". Last night I took the dog out and she pooped. It was dark and try as I might, I could not find the poop to pick it up. So I thought this was a notice about that. Damn that was fast! But no..this was from the Homeowner's Association in Georgia. A violation notice for the grass not being cut! Great! Now I know when we lived there, the association was a bit antsy about sending out letters. If your grass was 1 cm higher than they thought it should be, they would send a letter. But since I live in another state, I cannot do sneaky drive bys of the property to see what condition it is in. So I freaked out and called the Rental Agency we are using to manage it. I could not get ahold of Rita so I left a message.

While I was freaked out, I decided to shoot Cory an e-mail and ask "what up dawg?" Why haven't I heard from you? I haven't talked to you in months and it has been almost 1 year since your employer agreed to represent me.

I then left for my 12pm appointment at Dillards for my twice a month eyebrow waxing appointment. I had a nice conversation with my hair stylist and told her about my adventures at FearFest. She asked if I ever thought about working at Dillards. I told her my friend Dan just started working there last week. She kept telling me to fill out an application, at least just for Christmas money. So what the hell - I did. I wrote on the application that I used to work at that very store in 1991 when it was still McAlpin's. I worked in the cash office and helped out at the customer service desk. (back then it was called the Credit Desk) There was another girl there filling out an application and when she turned it in, the HR person said all the department managers were in meetings, but she would forward it to them. When I turned mine in, she noticed what I wrote about working at McAlpins in the cash office and said "I will give this to the Assistant Store Manager." Notice the difference? I left there at 1:30 with an intense craving for Greek food. It was not to be though. When I got to the Greek place a sign said "On vacation until October 18". They have some nerve those Greeks.

Did I mention it was pissing rain with 40 mph wind gusts?

When I got home and got the mail, I noticed a large manila envelope (don't you hate when people say Vanilla envelope) from Betts & Katz LLP. Holy Mary Mother of God. Could it be? Wow. I just sent that e-mail a couple hours ago! Enclosed were 2 packets. One was "Defendant's First Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff" and the other was "Defendant's First Request for Production of Documents". And also a nice letter from Cory explaining all of it. But get this - the envelope was sent to my address in Georgia! D'oh! I called Cory and amazingly got to speak with him right away. He asked when I moved. Uhhhh...in May. I told him I had given my new address to him many times. He apologized but really had no excuse for that.

After I got off the phone with Cory I started reading these forms. My God! They want to know every doctor I have gone to since January 1990. I don't think I even have records of that. Maybe a few. They also want to know every job I have held since January 1990. Names, address, phone numbers, position held and salary. The research I am gonna have to do! Cory said not to worry about the deadline of Oct 17 since I just got it today, if I could get it back to him by the end of next week will be ok.

Around 2:15 Rita called back. I told her about the notice I received about the grass. She said my property was scheduled for an inspection in November, but she will move it up to next week. Just to make sure every thing is ok. She also informed me that my tenants have not paid their October rent. Oh shit. I wondered why the money wasn't in my account yet. I blamed the holiday. She said they sent her $500 and a 2 page letter of their Hard Luck Story. The $500 was paid by their church! Apparently they both lost their jobs. Hey! So did I! But I managed to pay my rent! Dammit. Rita suggested we give them until the end of the month to pay this month, plus the late fees and Novembers rent. She said if they do not pay all of that by November 5 we will file for an Eviction. I told her I am not a trusting person, nor some bleeding heart. I ain't down wid OPP. BUT - I need my mortgage payments on the Georgia property to be made. I needs da money! So I will work with them a bit. If they want to pay twice a month, once a week, or whatever. I don't care. Just pay the rent! I cannot afford that stress in my life right now.

While I am on the phone with Rita, call waiting tells me that Dillard's is calling. I rush her off the phone and take the call. I am scheduled for an interview at 10am tomorrow morning with the Assistant Store Manager. Yay. A job.

Dan called me when he got home from work and I told him the news. He works in the men's department and I asked him who he interviewed with. He said it was with the manager of the men's department and the bridal registry department. Since my interview is with the Asst. Store manager rather than a department manager, I am hoping it is for the Customer Service desk job or something better. I really do not want to work on the sales floor. Not at all. I can't stand it. BUT if that is what is offered to me, I will take it for the Christmas season. I want the money and the discount.

I guess that's about it. But damn that's enough. I must go. Law and Order SVU is paused on TiVO.

So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose its old partner, but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da

Pretty average

A recent magazine article gave the following statistics:

$5,321 - Average amount the typical household spent on groceries and eating out in 2001

$1,743 - Average amount spent on clothes and other grooming products


Thanks to the wonders of Quicken, I was able to get our averages:

$4,381 on groceries and eating out

$1,537 on clothing and grooming



It's comforting to know I am so normal. Humdrum. Boring.

It is truly the THOUGHT that counts

Part 1 - Saturday is our anniversary. 14 years of marital bliss. :) Since Matthew is in OKC we are not able to celebrate by going to the Melting Pot or leaving gifts on each other's pillows. So I decided since 14 was not a big milestone like say 1 or 20, we would just let the day pass quietly and be thankful for what we have.

Part 2 - We are trying to access Matthew's Hilton Honors account online to see how many points he has. We want to use them for a Christmas trip to New York. But we did not know the PIN to access the account online so we had to e-mail them to send the PIN to Matthew's e-mail address. I have been checking his e-mail for the past couple of days, waiting for the PIN info. (he has limited computer access)

Part 1 + Part 2 = another surprise ruined.

I think it is just impossible to surprise me. With anything! Good or bad. I have never been surprised. Not once. And I would so LOVE to have a surprise party. But somehow I always find out.

This morning I check his e-mail and I see an e-mail from ProFlowers.com containing "Your Order Information". Yeah. I now know that sometime tomorrow I will be receiving a dozen long stemmed roses. And that he paid $50 for them. Why is my first impulse to be angry? Am I mad at myself? Or him? Part of me is upset that he took the easy way out of a gift. Flowers are such a cop-out. UNLESS, they are sent on a total non-holiday "just because". I don't really like receiving flowers because they are a waste of money. They Die! But given on non-holidays, they are sometimes a nice surprise. And even though I don't like flowers, had they arrived tomorrow and actually surprised me, I would have been touched. But now...I know they are coming, I don't want them, so what emotion am I to feel? How about appreciation that Matthew even made the effort to order them. He is a man after all. They do not know the intricacies of gift giving.

HELLO? He knew I was checking his e-mail for the damn Hilton thing. Reality check - man not know online flower shops send confirmation e-mail. Man not shop online much.

But damn. Why? Just once.

Shut up Zinnia. Thank your goddamn lucky stars that you have a man that loves you unconditionally. That puts up with your shit. Your mood swings. Your overall bitchiness. That still manages to care about your happiness and sends you flowers to try to bring a smile to your face.

Be. Fucking. Thankful.

Work and cookies

I have just now discovered the joy of the refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough. The kind that is flat ya know? You don't have to bake it all at once. You can break off 1 or 2 squares at a time and save the rest. The dough lasts for months! Yes I know I must live in a cave. But I have never noticed this stuff before. It takes about 6 minutes for the oven to preheat and then 11 minutes to make the cookies. So...if you only bake 2 cookies, chances are you will not want to wait another 11 minutes for more. This lowers the chances of a marathon 10 cookie binge. Plus you can enjoy them hot from the oven. Wonderful!

So I am in Day 2 of my recovery from this past weekend. Opening weekend of Fear Fest. All in all it went pretty well. Saturday was a bit much. I clocked in at 1:30pm and clocked out at 12:40am! What a long ass day. And I wasn't happy for most of it. Mike really needs to figure out how breaks work. We are entitled to have breaks! Especially doing this kind of "work". We opened at 3 and I did not get my first break until my 30 minute dinner break at 7pm. By that time I was miserable. And I had a killer headache. But everything was new...it was our first "real" night. I didn't know alot about how things worked. Anyway, I walked over to Oscar's (the employee cafeteria) and had myself a slice of LaRosa's cheese pizza. I really felt like shit. That damn latex mask was soooooo hot, I was sweating and my hair was falling down in my eyes. Did I mention I had a killer headache? I got another break around 10pm.

Now let me tell you about our breakroom. It is a storage room within the warehouse that holds our maze. It is dark in there. Very dark. The only light we have is green. There is ONE...I repeat ONE chair. We do have a big rubbermaid container full of ice water. And cups. But no garbage can. Mike has promised to get us more chairs and a garbage can. The chair we do have is quite comfy. If you are lucky enough to grab it. On Saturday night, I was not. So I curled up on the wooden stairs going up to the upper storage area. Not comfortable (or quiet) by any standard, but I could have fallen asleep.

After it was over and we were walking back to get out of costume, exhaustion hit me. My entire body ached. After my half hour drive home, I could barely walk when I got out of the car. Am I that fucking old? Sunday morning I awoke to more aches and stiffness. And bruises. My stomach is covered with them from falling down at people from my box. I have bruises on my right forearm, the heel of my left hand and a cut on my right wrist. Good lord. For only $8 an hour. And I thought this would be fun.

Sunday was a bit better. Shorter night. In at 1:30pm and out at 10:40pm. Plus, I bought a headband (the terrycloth, workout kind) to keep my sweaty hair out of my face. I also did not wear the sweaty skeleton gloves. I think I will get some glow-in-the-dark nail polish instead. I had more fun Sunday night. I was more in the groove. I got my lunch break at 5pm and a 15 minute break around 8pm. I asked Mike when my next 15 minute break would be and he said, "You only get one on Sunday cuz it's a short day." Uhhhh....no I don't think so. Let's look up labour laws. An 8 hour day you should have 1 30 and 2 15 minute. And Saturdays are 11 hour days so we should probably have 3 15 minute breaks. I told him I cannot work doubles anymore if I don't get adequate breaks. Saturday night I seriously thought I was going to pass out and/or vomit from being so hot. He said it's no big deal to take quick water and air breaks. Fine. I will. So Sunday was ok.

But man am I glad to have 5 days off now! I am still a bit stiff and sore, but I am loosening up. I think it will get better. I do so enjoy scaring people. My shrink said maybe I should consider a "career change" to something in the entertainment industry since I love performing. Sure. But we live in Cincinnati. Not exactly the Hollywood of the midwest. I enjoy performing, but I also enjoy some behind the scenes stuff. Like make-up. And I am pretty good at make-up. Check out my Halloween costume in 1999 HERE. Nothing spectacular...but not bad. And better than some of the work I have seen done lately at Fear Fest. Oh well.

Friday I filled out an application at Target. I have no idea why. I was there and I thought I wanted a part-time job. But I guess I really don't. Someone called me for an interview. I have not called them back, I don't think I want to work yet. I want the extra money, but I don't want to work.

People

Tuesday:

We had a late call tonight. Didn't have to be there until 7:30pm because tonight was our night to be "victims". 3 houses got to be in costume and the other 3 had to walk through for them to rehearse. I love that I am getting paid to do one of my favourite things!

As we left the theatre and headed for the first maze, it started to rain. Did I mention that 2 of the 3 mazes tonight are outdoor ones? Yeah...and the 3rd one has an outdoor waiting area. It is also about 50 degrees. Cold and wet. Great. The entire cast will probably come down with pneumonia.

First stop was Route 666. (I am just waiting for some fanatical Christians to come in and demand we change the name) Anyway...this is the antique car ride in normal times. The maze has potential...unfortunately Paramount cannot live up to it. They needed more people and more for them to do. Nothing in this maze even startled me. The times when something should have.....nothing did. Like driving through a fog shrouded covered bridge. There was nothing in there! Part of the path was lined with corn stalks. Now normally corn TERRIFIES me. Between crop circles and Isaac and Malachi and He Who Walks Behind the Rows......uhhh no. I try to avoid cornfields. But again...nothing.

Next was the Psycho Path. But before I go there, I have to tell you about the "ladies" I have been hanging with during rehearsals. First is Betty. She is pretty funny and cool to hang out with. She is in her mid 50s, and to her credit she left the cornfields (ahhhhhhh!) of rural Ohio in 1968 and ended up in Haight-Asbury. She has lots of great stories. She's a funky dresser and nothing bothers her. Then there are Cathy and Lonna. They are PROFESSIONAL actors. Lonna more than Cathy. Lonna talks all the time about her agent, the commercials she has done, the films she is auditioning for (including the new Tom Cruise movie coming here soon). She is sooooooo full of herself. My god. It is unreal. And she is also in her mid-50's with frizzy hair, an unfortunate face and a good 50 pounds overweight. So yeah...I'm sure she will be Tom's leading lady. Cathy is not without her annoying points though. She is very "mother henish" and bossy. The only reason I have aligned myself with these people is because the 17-20 year olds tend to get on my nerves. There is nobody in between.

OK...on to Psycho Path. This maze could be VERY good. It goes back through the woods and is quite long. But again...not enough people. But the atmosphere was excellent. I missed most of it though. Cathy, Lonna and even Betty, talked throughout the whole thing! Pointing out the fire extinguishers. (we had just had a fire safety meeting) Criticising the actor's performance. Making stupid comments. I finally broke away from them and walked ahead. Before we started walking through other mazes we were told to react normally, don't talk, be respectful. I guess they felt that did not apply to them.

By the time we get out of there, it is raining pretty good. We have been out in the rain for over an hour now. Next is the Maze of Madness. On the way there, I made some comments about the way they acted. Nothing directly hostile....but passively so. When we got to the Maze of Madness, I purposely mixed in with another group to walk through.

On the way back to the theatre a couple people were complaining about this guy named Dan acting up in the mazes. (Dan reminds me of the guy in Sixteen Candles...the one who is John Cusack's character's brother. I don't know if he has a name. "Take those ridiculous things off")

Wednesday:

We had a 6pm call because it was our turn to be in costume. I pick up my costume and they did not give me a mask. Last week, the wardrobe manager walked through and told me I needed to have a Grim Reaper mask. I asked Mike about it, and he just kind of blew me off. Whatever dude. I will look stupid and totally out of place in my hall. I will have to ask the costume people about it Thursday or screw it...I will just bring my own Grim Reaper mask.

After everybody settled down with their costumes, Mike said he had to talk to us about something. He started with "I just want you all to know I am very pissed right now". Uh oh. He received several complaints about people being rude and disrespectful when walking through the mazes Tuesday night. Lonna shot me a look. Maybe she thought I complained. I didn't.

Cathy came in late and said "I heard we got in trouble". I repeated what Mike said. She said "Ohhhh..I bet it was because of Dan!". I said "Oh d'ya think?" [sarcasm] She said "Yeah. Why? Was somebody else acting up?" Ummmm...yeah. She asked who and I just said "I don't really want to get into it again."

After our dress rehearsal we had another meeting to go over how things went. It didn't happen to me, but there were complaints about the way people acted coming through our house. Lonna said people from the Trail (Psycho Path) were laughing at her and making stupid comments and she didn't appreciate it. Especially after we got in trouble for it. I said "Karma's a bitch ain't it." ha ha ha. So now Lonna and Cathy pretty much ignore me. That's fine with me. Rehearsals are over. There is not as much down time to just hang around and talk to people. I don't talk to people if I can help it.

So....tonight. Dry Run. I wonder if anybody got my tickets. Who knows. It's only for 2 hours. But it should be fun. I work double shifts this weekend. That means, Saturday I work 1:30pm to 1am. And Sunday I work 1:30pm to 11pm. Will be totally exhausting. But the money will be nice.

Leaves are falling all around. It's time I was on my way.