First day of school. Pretty jumpy today. When I have something new looming in front of me, I get anxious waiting for it to start. I almost wish that I had morning classes just so I could get going with it. Of course, I wouldn't wish that for a second once I'm used to things.

But until 2.30pm rolls around (or 1pm, as that's when I'll really start to fidget), I have my online courses to absorb my attention. I just logged on to the distance learning server to check it out. I haven't gotten any further than my welcome page, though. I just had to share:



And I said I missed this?

Yeah, alright, I did miss this. But I just wouldn't be me without a comment or two.

Listening To:Underground - David Bowie

Looking Forward To:My first quiz! No, wait ...

Good lord, I can be naive sometimes. I never actually go back and read my old Daily entries. Maybe now and again I'll click on one randomly, but once they're written, that's pretty much it. However I did just stumble on this one entry, dated 24 October 2001. The part that amused me most was this line:

I'm trying to look on the bright side of that one, though. Since they're working to conform us to the company's rules and regulations, I think they're looking at picking us up.

Oh you poor, naive fool. Up until the day they closed the doors on us, I believed we would be picked up.

Heaven forbid I ever actually TRUST someone in power.

71° outside, according to Weatherbug. I think we can officially say that winter is over. All of a sudden, too; three or four days ago, the high was 50°. The fact that it's gotten not-cold so quickly leaves me dreading summer. Particularly now that I'm not working. That means a large portion of my time will be spent indoors ... with no a/c. That's the only thing I really dislike about my apartment, the lack of air conditioning. I conceed that it isn't necessary but for month or so out of the year, but I don't tolerate heat well.

So, of course, it makes sense that today I attempt to make chili. Timing is everything. I've never made chili before, and I'm not altogether confident, but I've spent the money on the ingredients and just about burned out my retinas chopping an onion, so I'm bloody well going to taste it. At least it's in a crock pot, so I'd have to try REALLY REALLY hard to burn it or set the house on fire. Not that I couldn't accomplish this feat, but I'm not particularly inclined to try today.

Mum flies back to London to visit Grandad for two weeks today. She's currently sitting in the Baton Rouge airport. I'm certain she's having a grand ol' time of it. At least she's finally going to read the Harry Potter books that I bought her months ago. She'll have to. Entertainment is severely limited on an 8-hour trans-Atlantic flight.

Mike and I rented Dynasty Warriors 4 yesterday. No movie -- everything out sucks arse at the moment. The game's not bad, although it would be infinitely improved with the original Japanese voice overs, ala DW3. What possessed them to waste time and money by re-recording a perfectly good vocal track is beyond me.

Listening To:Loud cars outside. Not that they're more loud than usual, but we're back to opening windows.

Looking Forward To:School tomorrow. :) :)

There is something inherantly, disturbingly addictive about cleaning.

Don't get me wrong. I hate cleaning as much as the next person. Perhaps moreso. But sometimes, it's like a switch gets thrown in my brain, and then nothing else matters but tidying things up and making an area spotless.

Around 9.30 or 10 this morning, I turned myself AFK on Trillian (which I just installed last night and am adoring thus far. It's actually making me want to use online chat programs at home again) with the declaration that I was hungry and needed to get breakfast.

I went afk and then my eye focused on the disaray around my computer. Now it's not like this just happened between mouse clicks; my desk has been rather cluttered for several weeks now. Between fiddling with my DVD Burner, registering for class and studying for the tests, it was just easier to stack one project on top of another. This morning, however, it seems my subconscious had enough and it flipped the switch to "Cleaning Frenzy."

My desk is now neat and organized. Stuff that has been lying around for months waiting to be thrown away is now in the trash. CDs are back in their proper place, and I actually can see my desk's surface again. Pleased with the results, I went downstairs to replace the items that had made their way into the computer room.

Only ... There wasn't anywhere to put them except on top of more stuff. Deciding immediately that this would never do, I sorted through the mound of junk on the counter. Hey, you know where some of this stuff should really go? A nearby kitchen drawer. Hooray! Now it can be conveniently out of sight!

This was apparently the logic I had previously used on everything else that wasn't visible in the kitchen, ranging from cooking utensils to batteries to a bizarre assortment of Baskin Robbins napkins. You know, the kind that are too big to just discard off-hand but too small to really do anything practical with. Where else would they go but in the Drawer of Infinite Holding. I pulled everything out, threw most stuff away, and then put it back (along with the stuff I wanted to add) in a neat and orderly arrangement.

Satisfied, I returned to the counter and prepared to replace the surviving items. It was then that I observed just how dirty and dusty it was. Having now noticed it -- REALLY noticed it through my delirious haze -- I concluded that it would be absolutely impossible to tidy the counter without cleaning. This task finally completed (Lysol All-Pupose Cleaner, you are a true friend), I breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that I looked at the next counter section. It was even worse than the first one.

What's the point of having just one clean counter section? I asked myself. Receiving no reply (assuring me that I had not yet gone completely insane), I got to work, already understanding on some subconscious level that the third and final counter section must join its brethren in cleanliness. I moved the various containers and appliances, and sprayed, scrubbed and wiped until I was satisfied. I picked up the can opener and went to replace it.

I think that can openers are, ultimately, the most filthy of appliances. Their very design provides dozens of little nooks and crannies for stuff to coagulate, and those nooks and crannies are viciously protected by blades and flesh-eating gears. I have come to the conclusion that you must have telekenisis to prevent juice, broth, or any other tinned, liquidy substance from splooshing out upon use of an electric can opener (in which case, you probably don't need one). Viewing it in my present search-and-destroy mode ... Well, you can guess the results.

And, of course, having cleaned one appliance meant that each and every one of them required the same treatment. While we're at it, let's clean the containers too. The stove, of course, needs to be completely recleaned, and then there's the microwave. Oh, the microwave.

The storm having momentarily subsided, I rearranged a few things to give us some more counter room and grabbed the pop cans to put them with the other recycling on the balcony.

Did you know that birds are phenominally messy eaters? I was, in fact, aware of this, but was unprepared for what my eyes perceived as being knee-deep in discarded seed. (This would have been quite an achievement as a full bag of seed spread out on the balcony would not have even reached my ankles, but perception is everything.) I threw the cans in recycling trash can and raced back inside for the broom. The seed was swept to the ground below, and I breathed a sigh of relief ... Then noticing just how truly dirty the balcony was.

A few minutes of furious sweeping later, and I was satisfied that the outdoors were now slightly less filthy. I deliberately avoided looking at the chairs and table we keep out there.

I was then reminded by a rather angry growl from my stomach that I had originally meant to get breakfast. That was only ... three and a half hours ago. Lunch, anyone?

I'm not sure if the need to clean has been satiated yet or not. But let's hope. I'm terrified to go into the bathroom, and it's only a matter of time .....

Listening To:Twist and Shout - The Beatles

Looking Forward To:Going to see a movie tomorrow. Probably. Maybe.

I think my problem ... Okay, one of my problems ... Is that I tend to have very poor timing. I've been obsessed these past few nights with tinkering on my computer. This usually entails downloading dozens of tweaks, utilities and assorted applications, and trying them all out. Not necessarily a bad thing, but some judgement should probably be exercised when it's almost 3am. Oh, but no. I just HAD to try the latest version of AdAware. Not just a quick scan either. Nope, I had to go and tell it to examine each and every file on my PC in excruciating detail. Including all archive files.

Thirty minutes later, I'm nodding off in my chair and the program is still running. I don't want to leave the computer on all night just for this scan which will probably finish as soon as I leave the room, but I don't want to stop it either because then I've wasted the half-hour I sat here.

My life amuses me sometimes.

I received my parking permit and a fee bill for PCC today. I feel so very student-like.

My body is reacting somewhat to the pending returning to school. It's doing this by making me feel ill. It's a thing with me. Anticipatory stress, both positive and negative, tend to affect me most via either the head or the stomach. I get migraines, or I feel nauseous. For days. Luckily it's chosen to affect my stomach instead of my head, but it's unsettling, no pun intended.

I reflect back to when I was in the equivilent of kindergarten, I believe it was. Our class was planning a trip to the circus. I was excited, I'd never been to the circus before. So excited, in fact, that I made myself sick and couldn't go. I still have a circus-shaped void in my life. But that's probably for the best, as I hate clowns. But I digress.

Normalcy should return to my digestive system by this time next week, I predict. Until then, food is a luxury.

Listening To:Radio Head - Talking Heads

Looking Forward To:Getting my books on Saturday.

I told Jett this morning that due to the large amount of food she consumes, I was cutting her back to one half-meal every night. If she was good.

She licked my nose. I fed her anyway. Damn that dog is cunning!

Listening To:She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby (in my head though, which is more irritating)

Looking Forward To:
Getting further in Wind Waker today.

I shamelessly ripped off the "Current Desktop" thing from Beans. I'm sure she'll forgive me, though. She'll kinda have to if she ever wants to get her Hand Maid May DVD back ...

I had a weird experience this evening. We were half-heartedly watching television; Mike had to go to bed within about half an hour, so we didn't have the time to make it through yet another episode of Law & Order that TiVo is obsessed with recording for us (I swear, TNT must show nothing but Law & Order in the afternoons), and we were both too stuffed with Tillamook Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream to do anything more strenuous than channel surf. I finally landed on the last 10 minutes of an old Twilight Zone episode (the one where Mickey Rooney wishes he were a big man). After the show ended, the commercials ran. This included one for the Travelodge chain of hotels.

I don't remember the commercial itself, which was largely unimpressive. However the logo at the end caught my eye. A droopy-eyed bear peeks over the top the hotel sign with a nightcap on his head. I was instantly struck with a flashback.

Waaay back when, my family used to drive to lots of places that were far, far away. It certainly seemed that way to me anyway, stuck in the backseat at a time long before the Game Boy. We may very well have been driving no more than five miles, but when you're a young child, this can be an eternity.

I have no idea how young I was, nor do I know where we were going or where we were coming from, however I do recall my mother keeping my spirits up, as she was often want to do, by latching on to something silly and making me laugh. The case in point for this road trip was the Travelodge Bear.

I've been unable thus far to locate a picture of the logo circa this story, however it was fairly unimaginative. It was still the bear in the nightcap, but rendered in silhouette. In orange silhouette. The fact that it was indeed orange, and on a brown backdrop if memory serves, makes me think that this must have been in the 70s. Few other decades afforded companies the luxury of experimenting with such winning colour combinations.

This orange silhouetted bear became a familiar friend on the road, and I'm guessing I became rather taken with it as my mother latched on to the thing. Only it wasn't "the Travelodge bear," or it's apparent true name of "Sleepy Bear", or even "tacky orange bear-shadow". Oh no. It became "little peeing bear."

Yes, that's right. "Little peeing bear." As in, "small urinating ursus."

"We could stop there for the night," my mother said to very young (and admittedly unsophisticated) me who was giggling insanely in anticipation. "Only we'd have to watch out. The little peeing bear might sneak in and go 'pee pee pee!'" I'd delightedly squeal in response, and then we probably stayed at a Holiday Inn.

Where did this come from? Gods only know. I'd forgotten all about it until tonight. But I'll tell you this much -- the idea of the little peeing bear STILL makes me giggle. In a world as messed up as ours, it's great to have something silly to think of that is practically guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Thanks, Mum.

Listening To:"Pee pee pee!" in my head. I give it another 20 minutes before I declare myself insane.

Looking Forward To:TiVo starting to record X-Men: Evolution. Reruns are airing on a channel I get! Yay!

The saga continues. A new section! New art! Ooo!

Listening To:Summer Nights - Grease! (New Broadway Cast recording)

Looking Forward To:Sleeping in tomorrow.

I'm pleasantly surprised -- Wind Waker (not Walker as I keep wanting to call it) is pretty good. I'm not sure exactly how long my interest will hold. Remember, I've only finished maybe 10 games in my life. But for the moment, I'm enjoying it. Now I'll have to find a new wallpaper to reflect my current gaming choice.

Yup, I forsee the rest of this week being pretty darned lazy, just in time to kick it up a notch for school.

Listening To:Birds. We're getting more and more of them at the feeder.

Looking Forward To:Going back downstairs and resuming my game.

I aced my placement tests! Well, as much as one can ace an exam that doesn't really grade you. I tested into my goals, let's rephrase it that way.

I just finished registering for classes. Considering that they start in a week, I think I got pretty lucky in snagging most of what I wanted. All of the English classes were filled up (well, all of the ones at reasonable hours, anyway), so I'm going to put that off until next semester. I only have a couple of those that I have to take anyway.

I'm registered for Introductory Algebra (don't laugh, I need to relean that stuff from the ground up and get it right this time), Introduction to UNIX, Exploring Computer Science and Software Design. Mmm, computers. 16 credit hours total. The UNIX and Software courses are both online, so I'll actually only need to go to campus from 2:30pm to 6:50pm Monday and Wednesday.

Mike's coming with me on Saturday to find my classes and get my books.

<does the happy dance>

Listening To:The sound of cheering Head Elves.

Looking Forward To:Playing Wind Walker -- thank the gods for pre-orders.

Placement tests today. I admit to being a wee bit nervous. I haven't taken a test since ... well, a long time ago. A very long time ago. The test isn't pass/fail, but I could do without the inevitable blow to my ego by getting placed in "Kindergarten Math For Old People Who Should So Totally Know More Than That".

I'm excited, though. I can't believe that after [many] years of kicking myself over my previous college effort and being largely convinced that I would never get the chance to do it right, I'm going back.

Big yays.

Listening To:Jett grumble for breakfast.

Looking Forward To:School!

For those who may have missed it, I have a new section that you may want to check out. Bare bones at the moment, but that should change over the next few weeks.

I go sleep now.

Another hilarious report overheard on CNN today. Just after the person or persons threw grenades at some soldiers, the reporters were referring to the attackers as "terrorists". Hey guys, just a quick newsflash in case you weren't aware: WE'RE AT WAR. The enemy pre-emptively attacking the leadership of a military unit is a strategy, not a terrorist attack. I mean, that must be true because we just did the exact same thing a few nights ago.

I find this very interesting, incidentally. The defintion of terrorism is: The systematic use of violence as a means to intimidate or coerce socieities or governments. I won't take that thought any further. I don't think I need to.

Mike and I went to H&R Block today in the vain hope that they would fill in a missing piece or two on our taxes. We left with downed spirits (and even less money). Even after taking over 25% of everything we earned last year, we still owe the government. We're not taking just a few hundred either, we're talking $2100. The feds are raping us for $1700 of that. Golly, I'm just feeling so warm and fuzzy about our government right about now.

Still, we persevere. I remain upbeat about my return to school. I spent a large portion of Friday working out projected schedules for the Spring term and studying for the placement tests. I think I'm actually going to go back as a full-time student. More on the schedule once all my classes are registered. In the meantime, I'm working through some math stuff. I'm taken aback by how much math I've forgotten. It was never my strongest subject, although I'll be the first to admit that I pretty much never, ever studied math a day in my life. The sheer volume of stuff that slipped from my mind is impressive nevertheless. Although now that I've refreshed my memory on the Pythagorean Theorem, I doubt I'll forget it again any time soon.

More studying is on the agenda for tomorrow, as well as, I hope, writing my new rant and perhaps launching a new and hopefully interesting section of my site ...

Listening To:Nothing much. It's a quiet night.

Looking Forward To:More laughable new reporting.

My first day of renewed liberation begins. I spent it well. I took Mike to work, cleaned the house, did some laundry, did some job hunting and résumé submitting, and then went to talk to an advisor at PCC, the college where I'll be restarting my academic adventures. I plan to go there until I earn enough credits to transfer to PSU, where I will seek my BS in Computer Science. The theory being that: a) I'm adept at dealing with computers; b) computers, by their very nature, aren't people; c) jobs are fairly plentiful, won't be going away anytime soon and pay very well; and d) by having a job that pays well that I don't loathe, I'll remain upbeat enough to actually write in my off-time and continue to pursue that career.

So, anyway, I went to PCC today to get the paperwork started for the fall, possibly summer semester. Lo and behold, I learned that I can actually still get into the spring semester. After some thought, I've decided to go for it, though not full time. I've been out of school for a looong time now, and I don't want to swamp myself all at once. So I'm going to start out with two or three courses and build up from there. Another two or three in the summer, and then full-time in the fall.

I'm really stoked about this. I pissed around and screwed myself big time when I first did the whole college thing, and it's something that I've come to regret. Thanks to the (generous) support of my family, I have a second chance, and I'm embracing it wholeheartedly.

I'm scheduled to take placement tests on Monday at 1.45pm. I've spent most of tonight working through practice tests. It's really quite sad how much math I've forgotten, but bit by bit, it's coming back to me.

It's such a pleasant change to be really excited about something again. Last time I was this pumped up, I was leaving Louisiana. I can't wait to register for classes.

Quitting that job yesterday was one of the best things I've ever done.

Listening To:CNN. May as well sober up my good mood with a heaping dose of reality.

Looking Forward To:Taking more practice tests and relearning.

I just heard the most hilarious news report on this farcical war. By now everyone knows that we sent something like 40 missles into Baghdad last night. But those bastards had the nerve to FIRE BACK. So this CNN reporter who has entrenched himself with some tank guys in Kuwait says that those soldiers are "angry" that Iraq fired at them.

Wug?

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but there are a few simple facts to consider here.

1. You're soldiers. Getting shot at is your job.
   
2. We're invading them. We attacked them first. At this point, in my opinion, anything Iraq does is in self-defense.
   
3. It's a freaking war. You're stationed on the border of the country, poised to leap into bloody action. What the hell right do you have to be angry and indignant that the country is trying to take you out before you can do any damage to them? Isn't that what our own government did a few hours ago?

Bad enough that this war is being fought for all the wrong reasons and has likely done irreparable damage to the world community and the United State's position in it, but now it's just getting stupid.

Listening To:Birdies chirping outside. They're still eating at the feeder. :)

Looking Forward To:Seeing what my options are.

Hey, guess what? I quit my job today. I just couldn't take any more. I went to lunch and didn't come back. I'll be making that appointment with an advisor at college sooner than I thought.

What are my plans now? Well, it all depends on whether or not I'm looking at starting school in the summer. I'm not too sure otherwise, but I'll tell you this much: I may not have as much money, but I sure as hell won't be as miserable. Good riddance, I say.

Listening To:Anti-aircraft fire? No wait, wrong country.

Looking Forward To:Actually having things to look forward to again.

I'm starting to feel tired and I have a headache, so I think I'm going to head to bed. At 9pm. Sure, that's going to help my sleep schedule.

Work tomorrow. It makes me want to cry.

I even did a Daredevil review. I'm a little rusty, but I'll get back into the swing of things. I'll probably have to start doing DVDs next, as the theater is just so expensive.

Wow. New review, clean inbox. Go me.

Two hours later, and my inbox is clean. Yay!

My sleep cycle is so fux0red. It doesn't seem to matter when I go to sleep, I can't remain in bed longer than about 8am. I suppose that could work too, though. In bed by about midnight or 1am, up at 8am ... That's still seven or eight hours sleep, and I can function well enough on six or so. That'll give me two and a half hours before work, and two when I get home. Not a hell of a lot of time, but that extra day off every week has to come from somewhere.

Not surprisingly, I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I've been searching on Monster and Oregon Jobs though, and tossed my résumé into a few potentials. I'm not sure what my plan is actually going to be come the end of April, but if it involves continuing to work then I'd rather it not be there.

So we watched Bush's speech last night. It actually made me laugh in more than a few places. One of my favourites being his first plea to the Iraqi people: "Don't burn oil fields!!" I won't dwell too much on this topic, as I'm hoping to turn it into my next rant, but it's not really satisfying to know that I was right about this administration. Back when Bush got into office, I said that we'd be lucky to get out of his term without a war. I guess luck isn't with us this time around. The best thing that I can hope for here is that he's screwing things up so badly that he won't be back for round two. That assumes there's anything left of the world to govern at that point, of course. Which I'm not 100% certain about. But anyway -- rant material. Provided we all live long enough for me to write it.

Listening To:Nothing yet. My head's still groggy from sleep.

Looking Forward To:Getting things accomplished today.

<twitch, twitch> Now they're releasing the second season of Xena on DVD. Intimate Stranger, Destiny and The Quest, A Day in the Life ... ARG. Why do I check these things? Oh yeah, because I'm a masochist at heart. I forgot.

My masochistic tendencies are supported by the fact that I've actually had CNN on for a portion of the day. I may even watch Bush's address tonight. For kicks, don't you know. I may have to alter my rant topic after this one.

Yesterday I saw a bird eating out of our bird feeder. The first one, despite the fact that the feeder has been up for months now. I'm all excited now and obsessively looking out of the window. This action is likely going to scare them away and they'll never return, but heaven forbid that logic enter into the equation. I want to see birds, dammit.

Listening To:Cars outside. And hey, look at that! The sky's blue. Go figure.

Looking Forward To:Still one more day left!

Day One of my four day, pre-schedule weekend. Have I mentioned before how much I love being able to do whatever I want to?

Today I played SimCity 4 and Age of Mythology, watched some TV, played with Jett and read some more of my current book. Why oh why can't I receive wages for such things?

Before I return to work I'm hoping to write a new rant and finish and post my Daredevil review. Goals are nice.

Listening To:International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones

Looking Forward To:It not being Wednesday yet.

Just when I thought it wasn't possible to get up any earlier ...

For the remainder of this week, until my "real" schedule kicks in, I'm getting up extra early to take Mike to work. He'll be working from 7am until 4pm Monday through Friday. Myself, I'll be working from 11:30am until 10pm Wednesday through Saturday. As you can see, these schedules are quite condusive to seeing each other. Still, I'll only be at my place for a few more months tops, so we can deal.

I'm still not feeling completely well, but at least I'm no longer falling down when I get up from being so dizzy. I can't breathe, though. Breathing appears to be a luxury.

I can tell that today is going to be torturous on some level. For no reason at all and completely unbidden, the "Tiki" song from Disneyland is stuck in my head. On endless repeat, it would appear. Why do the gods punish me so?

Listening To:"In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room ..." ARG!!!!

Looking Forward To:My approaching four-day weekend.

It's been a few days. I'll just hit the high points -- I have an appointment to keep with my comfy bed.

1. I finally figured out how to use my DVD Burner.
   
2. Sick sick sick. My workplace is going to kill me one way or the other.
   
3. Mike got a job. Yay!
   
4. I finished watching the first season of 24. I didn't think they'd be able to do it, but they surprised me. Go them.

I crash now.

I can't believe it. My paycheck was actually deposited into my account today. After a mere seven weeks and lost paperwork, they finally did something right.

Now if only they'd have the decency to tell me what my schedule is going to be.

Listening To:The buzzing in my head. These 6am mornings are killing me.

Looking Forward To:Going out tonight. See? I can be social sometimes too.

There's nothing quite like mothers and husbands for those special, "if I don't vent I'm going to hurt someone" times.

A relatively sedate day. Not that this is necessarily bad considering the deluge of information I was pelted with yesterday. I have come to the conclusion, however, that the guy I'm sitting next to in training is a kindred spirit. He has a very similar world view to myself, and he has the added advantage of experience to back up his distaste for the workplace. He's making the training almost bearable. Almost.

You know, the training reminds me very much of an American football game. A few brief moments of flurried action followed by a 15 minute lull. I can't quite figure out why it's so difficult for some of these people to keep up with the system we're learning. It's about as difficult as delving into the wonders of Notepad. You really have to try to not follow along. What was that I said yesterday about these guys being the most skilled? Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

I was e-mailed a job opening at Nike today. I went ahead and applied. I don't think it would pay as much as I'm currently making, but Nike is just around the corner from my apartment. Considering the astronomical gasoline prices and the almost 40 mile commute I'm making each day, in relatively heavy traffic, it's not unreasonable to say that I could actually get to keep more money by taking a closer, lesser-paid position. I'm not holding my breath on this one, but I continue to look. There has to be some sort of happy employment medium out there for me ... Right?

Listening To:Shout - Tears for Fears

Looking Forward To:Attempting to finish Catch-22 tonight.

Today. Ahhh, today. The training I'm currently embroiled in is quite different from the previous one. Not only is the class bigger (by about 20 people), but rather than three newly hired supervisors, the majority of the class is made up of the "Resource Team". For my old DTVBB rejects, they're this company's SMEs. (Note: That's a SME, not a Mentor.) For the rest of you, they're folks in a position which constantly puts them in the unenviable position of taking escalated calls for no official title and no increased pay. In fact, these folks tend to be paid worse than the reps that they're helping, because they don't have a tiered wage structure nor any bonuses. But they're the most capable and skilled folks.

Can you say "bitter"? Sure, I knew you could.

But I learned today that they're not just bitter over their job, although that's undeniably a large reason for the bitterness. Today our trainer insisted in starting out with an icebreaker. We each had to go around the room and say at least three things about ourselves that was not common knowledge. Work appropriate, of course.

Now I don't know about anybody else, but if I had something truly horrible and very personal that happened to me either recently or in the past, I would keep it to myself. My pain is ultimately nobody else's business. These people, however ... Well, they clearly didn't feel that way. But you're in luck. I wrote the best ones down.

• One guy stood up and said "If you're all wondering why I've been so depressed lately [which I wasn't, by the way, and it didn't appear that the though had crossed anybody else's mind either], it's because my wife left me two weeks ago and my cat just died."
  
  
• In a rather offhand way, one guy told us how his daughter had just run away and had been missing for a week.
  
  
• "As of January 14 I have been divorced from my wife of over eight years." This one was really all about the delivery. It was loaded with so much bitter cynicism that it even did me proud.
  
  
• Yet another runaway daughter. What is it with these people?
  
  
• This one is almost indescribable. The story, which was far longer than what I have here, was told in approximately two breaths and was one of three overly-lengthy tales of torment and woe. Paraphrased for your reading pleasure: "My mother's boyfriend hates cats and last week he grabbed my cat and pulled its leg out of the socket. So that's why I've been working so much overtime lately, because I'm saving up to have the cat's leg fixed and it's like $600 or something. I'll be soooo glad once its leg is fixed, because I, like, I love it, right? But it's a siamese and has just the biggest set of lungs ever! It swear I'm going to drown it in the toilet and then just have it stuffed so I can keep it around. It keeps yowling because its leg hurts or something, and IT JUST WON'T SHUT UP. I keep it locked in the bathroom at night and I can STILL hear it! I'm not sleeping at ALL, and it if doesn't shut up soon I'm going to kill it, I swear."
  
  
• But my favourite of the morning was this: "I have a cat, I have a kid, and I'm hungry." It was so welcome after all the stinky drama that got spilled all over my nice clean shirt.

Whaddafug? There's nothing like working in a low-class barrel-scraping job like this to remind me that there is no place in America truly free from white trash.

Listening To:Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police

Looking Forward To:The weekend again. Is it really only Tuesday? <sigh>

Mike has an interview today. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for him.

Wow, I just love fighting with my scanner just before bed. It's keen!

Two things happened on the way home from work this afternoon. One, I had an idea for a new short story, which inadvertantly reminded me of a series idea that I had a few years ago but never did anything with (surprise surprise). I'll get around to doing something with these ideas one of these days. Yeah.

Second, I was stuck in traffic behind an Anheuser-Busch van. The back had a sticker which was intended to promote safe drinking. I admire this public service, however I query the motivation. It read, in similar font style: "THINK before you DRINK." So rather than a clear and concise message which attempts to disuade offenders from drinking and driving, this sticker came across a tad convoluted. Hell, I was 100% sober, and I thought the van was telling me to think about alcohol consumption (an easy thing to do right after work, but anyway). When you consider the target audience is somebody who's already on the road after having a few, and I think you can agree that the message should be as confusion-free as possible. I'm left to conclude that the true meaning was "Think about drinking some more! And make it a Bud Light!"

I adjorn to bed for the evening. My fingers are crossed that I am permitted to sleep for longer than 30 minute intervals.

Listening To:(Keep Feeling) Fascination - Human League

Looking Forward To:Watching more of my 24 DVD collection. Keifer is yummy.

Another damned time warp. I think it ate my entire weekend. I am so not ready to go back to work tomorrow. I have to be up at 6am. That's ungodly.

I would go on and on about the workplace and my lack of desire to revisit it, but that's hardly productive. Instead I'll say that I had a pretty good weekend overall. We did indeed go to the movies, but instead of Gods and Generals we went to Daredevil instead. I was planning to write a review, before Sunday was over in the blink of an eye. I'll see about doing so this week instead. I still want to see the other movie, but it's apparently so long, they have an intermission in it. A bloody intermission. I may just wait until it's out on DVD. Then I can just pause the darned thing when I need a bathroom break.

Listening To:The clock ticking away.

Looking Forward To:The day when I can quit.