Recap for the last week or so.

House Guests

After my dad left, we had one day without guests, then Armondo's dad Popeye arrived. He was here during that awesome seafood dinner we had. In fact, he purchased the majority of the seafood. I worked most of the days that he was here, which was a good thing, 'cause although that guy is really nice and funny, it's sort of like hanging out with a 15 year old in a 55 year old's body.
I'll have to tell you a little more about that guy someday.

***More about babies.

There's a new guy at the hardware store. He's my age and has a fiancee who is 20, and they have month and a half old twins. Boy and a girl. I'm so jealous. I want twins so bad!

***
A New Obsession.

We just finished watching the first season of Twin Peaks on DVD and "Fire Walk With Me" which is the movie that is the prequel to the first season.

The prequel basically told us who murdered Laura, but still left a lot of mysteries. The last episode of the first season shows Cooper, the FBI agent getting shot, so I guess that starts a new mystery for the second season, which we may or may not be able to obtain from local video stores. ANYWAY, I recommend watching the series if you haven't already. It's pretty cool. And I swear I have a lot of the craziness figured out, such as all the weird people in the dream sequences. I think Laura has multiple personalities, and, although it might just be a Hollywood thing, it seems that whenever the personalities come together and meet eachother, things seem to get nuts, which I think is what was happening to Laura in Twin Peaks. I think the multiple personalities were brought on due to the extreme sexual abuse she suffered from her father. And her father had a split personality too, and Laura caught on to this, seeing "Bob" instead of her father when she was getting abused.

***American Idol.

I love Katharine McPhee. I don't think anyone else is even slightly as good as her! In the early days of this season of Idol, I thought that there were a lot of good singers, but as we get down to the crunch, it's seems obvious that Katharine is going to be the winner. I think her voice is as good as Xtina's, but she's so much more wholesome, making her much more lovable!

I was a little surprised that Paris was voted off tonight though. That girl's got some awesome pipes! I think that she'll be getting a recording contract for sure!

***More Problems with THE server.

The past couple of weeks I was having problems with Lisa from the restaurant again. Alana, another server at the restaurant was taking some time off last week and hadn't got people to cover all of her shifts yet. I went to John, our boss, and told him I'd take the Tuesday shift after I checked with Alana if she had promised it to anyone else. Alana had told me that she had asked several servers, including Lisa, but no-one said they could take it, and Lisa said that she wanted it, but couldn't commit because she wasn't sure if she'd get the new job she had just had an interview for.

Not wanting to step on anyone's toes, and not wanting anyone to get really pissed off, (servers are so cut-throat about shifts sometimes) I went to Lisa to double check if she had wanted the shift. Her response?

"Tell you what, I'LL take the shift, but IF I get the other job and need to work that night, then YOU can take it."

I tell her that, no, that wasn't going to work, because I had to arrange my schedule at my other job, so it had to be a "yes" or "no" with me, no "maybe"s.

She told me how much she needed the money because she had car payments, and was in debt from her trip to Alberta, and such.

"Well I need the money to support my FAMILY. But that's fine, you take it. I can commit and you can't, but that's fine, YOU take it." And I walked away.

Later, she called me over and told me that I could take the shift.

On Monday she phoned me to "confirm" that I was taking the shift. grrrrrrr....

***Some People have all the Luck.

On Wednesday, Lisa and I worked a shift together, and Lisa got this totally crazy guy. He flipped at her for lighting his candle, swore at her for bringing him garlic bread, and totally lost it when she brought the hot butter (butter sitting atop a lit candle), and demanded she take his food away and put it in a to go container. I think he was off his meds. He kept on shoving $20's at her and begging her not to call the cops. His bill was $82, the tip was $80. I suggested she try to give some of the money back to him, and the guy refused. I then suggested that she give some of the money to charity. I doubt she did.

When I got home and told Armondo about the whole thing, he's like "Why HER?!? Why couldn't YOU have gotten that table?!?"

I don't have an answer for that. I mean, I had MY crazies last week.

***

Some Work Plans.

I'm going to cut back my shifts. I want three shifts at the hardware store, and one at the restaurant if possible. (Or two at each, but I doubt I can get a second regular shift at the restaurant.) If it does work out that I get 3/1 then, it means I work three and a half days, and get three and a half days off a week, which would be AWESOME! With the raise I recently got, I can justify not working quite as much now too. It's not a HUGE raise, but it sure seemed to make a difference this last paycheque!

I'd like to have more time for the family, more time for the yard, and more time for the blog. It seems like I never see Cherry anymore. Just half an hour before work, and half an hour after. And she's always grumpy just when I get home!

And I want to start drawing again, which I've been threatening for awhile, but haven't actually done. I'm also trying to hang out with my friends more often these days too.

***

Time with Friends.

On Monday, I went out for a bit with my friend C. and her little eight week old daughter. It was a nice afternoon, with lunch and window shopping. I'm worried about C., as when she was screened for post partum depression, she was considered borderline. I know she didn't actually want a second child, and she often talks about how the arrival of her child has messed up all her plans, so I'm worried, to say the least. I wish I could spend more time with her and her family, but I have my own family to worry about. (Her son is the boy in this post.)

Tomorrow night, I have a possible date with my friend L.B. I hope it works out, I miss her!

Last Friday, I went to a friend's house where she held a cosmetic party. The brand was called Arbonne. I wasn't overly impressed, and I didn't buy anything. We started the party off by going into the bathroom and having our hands scrubbed by some product that ACTUALLY hurt my hands. And then it left this really oily residue on my hands. We were then wisked into the living room, and were given little tubs full of hot water, marbles, and oil to put our feet into. My tub was too hot. And the smell of the stuff in it plugged me up right away! Watery eyes, runny nose, tight throat. It was gross. (I also had a cold, so this irritated the cold more than anything.)

Then the rep gave her speech, trying to tell us that a) anything our skin touches gets absorbed into the bloodstream in 26 seconds. b) And that petroleum jelly and baby oil can kill us by not letting our skin breath. c) that bat faeces go into some mascaras. d) that rendered animal fat from euthanized animals and road kill goes into making lipstick and mascara. e) the average woman eats six pounds of lipstick in her life.

My responses? (I didn't say any of this at the party, 'cause I wouldn't be this rude, but HERE, I can say ANYTHING!)

a) If this were true, then we would never have to drink water. We would absorb enough water from washing our hands, bathing, and swimming.
b) *ahem.. bullsh*t*
c) So? It's "natural"!
d) Is this really all that bad? I thought recycling was a good thing! And besides, haven't you seen "Fight Club"?
e) I have only worn lipstick MAYBE 25 times in my life. And I used that particular number because I know I've worn it once a year for the past few years on hallowe'en, and I wore it for prom. And there were a few times when I was a kid that I wore it too.

Needless to say, I didn't buy anything. Some of the girls there were totally sold on this stuff though, and a few of them had already been to SEVERAL of the parties, and had bought the $35 "discount" card.

***

Dreams.

Being pregnant has brought back the weird dreams again. I've had a couple lately. In one, this 20 something guy was destroying some of the ornamental trees on the road side, and I beat him up, kicked him to the curb and left him within an inch of his life.

In another dream, Armondo and I broke up, (but we were only dating in the dream), and I was so upset that he wasn't phoning me to work things out, then Bruce (his friend) calls me up to talk to me about the whole thing, and it's so obvious that Armondo's sitting next to him, coaching the conversation, that I just freak out and tell him to tell Armondo to call me himself.

***

More about work. I know, it's my whole life. I'm trying to change that.

I had a rude customer today. I got a little snippy. I told Jack about it. I think he's worried that he's going to have to fire me. (Only half joking here).

Jack paid me a pretty nice compliment today. He told me that I'd be a really good (personnel) manager. He said I have a lot of patience with the two new people and that I handle them well. I asked him if he was going to promote me, and he told me he didn't like me THAT much.

***

Yet another obsession.

I'm getting sort of hooked on Su Doku. I've been ripping pages out of a coworker's book at work and trying my best. I have yet to finish one without screwing up. I got SO close today!

***
What's the WORST thing a customer has done to you?

I was remembering today the time I had a customer at the hardware store in the town I lived in a few years back who just got plain violent with me.

She was returning a furnace filter that was the wrong size and needed one that was the right size. She didn't have her receipt with her for the return, so as I was on a ladder, reaching above my head to try to find the right size for her, I was telling her that I couldn't authorize the return without a receipt, and that I would have to get a manager to approve it (which wouldn't have been a problem, really). She started arguing with me about how it still had the sticker on it, and it was obvious she had bought it there etc. I basically told her that was all fine, but I still needed to get a manager, which wasn't a big deal. She continued to argue with me about it, even though she had nothing to argue ABOUT, because her return was going to be approved ANYWAY, when she finally yelled at me saying "I don't like your attitude!" and she THREW her furnace filter at me and stomped out of the store.

She made me cry. I felt like *I* had done something wrong. I was only a kid.

Recently Kathy, a coworker at the hardware store I work at now, had a rude customer. As she was finishing up his sale, she said "Thank you, have a good evening." And he replied YELLING "You are very RUDE! When I worked retail, we always said 'thank you for your business, please come again!' " and he stormed out of the store, still yelling various things, leaving Kathy angry and crying with fury.

People suck! Again, I ask, what's your worst experience with the "public"?

***

Whew, I'm tired, and I'm sure you're bored by now, so I'll ttyl!

~CeCe