Like a Dark Portent

So I haven't adjusted to my new shifts yet (cause I've only had two) and I forgot to take a nap before I went in yesterday. I didn't think it would be that hard to adjust cause it's a five hour shift but I still wake up early naturally, an hour or so later now having not gone to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. So having been up since about 8 yesterday morning around the second hour of my shift (11:30 PM) I started thinking how great it would be to take a nap in the pile of denim I had been working on.

I didn't.

But I still think it would have been great.

In other news, the kitchen sink that I've been bitching about for a few weeks now that refuses to drain? I didn't use it all yesterday, cause I was going to wait till we bought some drain cleaner before doing the dishes so it wouldn't fill up and take two hours to drain, as is its wont. Last night the neighbor decided to do dishes. And we discovered something fun: there's a massive block of some kind in the plumbing and her water ran down, and then back up, into our sink. It was black, and gurgling, and it smelled like liquid death. So our sink doesn't drain right cause the block is directly beneath us. Her sink drains because it just comes back up into ours. So I get to interact with the landlord again and try to convince him in the nicest way possible that he isn't actually a plumber and that he should call one. Cause this cast-iron plumbing is for crap.

Portal to Christmas

So I guess it's National Blog Post Month, and by the 7th of this month, this is my first post. On the one hand, since we're coming up on Christmas and I work in retail I don't imagine there will be very many more posts until at least December 26th. On the other hand, last year around this time I had plenty of idiot shopper stories to share (I just didn't because I'm a lazy blogger sometimes.) so who knows, maybe this will be a productive 4th quarter. 4th quarter. Look at me with my retail jargon.

While perusing Google trying to learn what NaBloPoMo meant (national blog post month) I found someone's blog describing November as the portal month to Christmas. Which I thought was funny because we started holiday stuff in at work around late September, and just this past week we put up ornament shaped things. As in, Christmas decorations. It made me sad.

For the upcoming season, because of my sweet new promotion, I will now be working overnights. Strictly. Through December. This should be sweet.

I love The Vampire Diaries, and finally be able to watch a new episode, more than three days after it's originally aired, makes me really miss having cable, or a dish, and makes me regret wanting to feel morally superior in some way by not illegally downloading things anymore. It's not even that good of a TV show, and I know this, but I still really like it. I feel like the writers are actually trying for good story lines, sometimes the dialogue is crap, or the acting feels cardboard-y or stale, but the storyline itself is clearly a well thought out concept, and I appreciate that.

On that note, Season of the Witch (with the timely Nicolas Cage) is like the exact opposite. No, if it were exact it would have good acting and dialogue. It does not. Watch it with friends for a good laugh. Cause it feels like a Sci-Fi Original, if you know what I'm saying.

As it turns out, this movie wasn't a Sci-Fi Channel original as I previously thought, but that's where I saw it first and I've measured everything since against it's truly awesome-ness.

Whoo

I got a promotion, and a raise, at work about a week ago. I also found out Cambodia is in Asia. I honestly didn't know. And no one at work knew either. So that was a fun time.
I ordered my costume and got a sweet deal with some coupon codes and it was on sale so that I ended up paying less than the original price even with shipping. Best part of that story: when I tried it on and I thought I looked completely ridiculous and then took a picture and thought I actually looked hot. Like, legit attractive. It was awesome. Now I just need boots.
I surprisingly have no complaints about work, except to say that I have been waking up at either 4 or 5 in the morning every day since last Tuesday. And it has been sucking. But I'm off tomorrow and I very much plan on sleeping in till like, at least 7. It's going to be amazing.

Highlights of the past weekend

Hung out with my brother and his awesome wife.
Went to a new (to me) Renaissance fair.
Spent too much money on bath salts.
Bought a toy gun.
Had the most amazing hot dogs I've ever tasted in my life.
Finally got to see an episode of Dexter when it originally aired.
Because the belt broke on my Jeep while we were heading home Sunday night and we had to stay another night at my brother's.
Paid an astronomical (to me) fee to have the belt replaced, and the water pump.
Lost the driver side paneling on my Jeep at some point while it was being towed.
Was reminded countless times why I call my brother one of my best friends.
Had Sonic. Finally. They offer tater tots as a side. No one told me this. Why did no one tell me this?
Gained about 6 pounds. (I'm pretty sure.)

Things in Our Apartment...

... that keep not working and/or are killing us:


The wiring.

Light bulbs always seem to be burning out but actually you can just fidget with the bulb in the socket and suddenly the bulb works fine again for weeks. We have a lamp post in our front yard that didn't have a bulb in it when we first moved in. So we put one in and it was awesome. We didn't even need to use the porch lights cause it was so bright. It was like a street lamp, which our street would know nothing about. Then it suddenly shorted. And now no bulb works in there. Sometimes outlet don't work. But for very short periods of time. I'll plug rechargeable batteries in over night and the next morning they won't be charged. But I can take it to a different outlet and plug them in and the light goes green! Which makes perfect sense.

The plumbing.

For god's sake. The plumbing. Right now, the cold water nozzle in the bath is all loosey-goosey and you have to spend two minutes trying to actually turn off the cold water without just spinning it back to on, and you can seriously turn it in either direction to get water. Righty-tighty lefty-loosey is not a term recognized by the appliances in our apartment. Also, the toilet will start running even if no one has flushed it in over three hours, the bathroom sinks takes at least as long to drain, and recently the kitchen sink started backing up. It'll fill up, drain, I'll clean down the residue (horrifying), and then come back later and there will be a new and interesting ring to clean up. As though the dog were using the sink while I was out.

The mold.

We have black mold in the basement. I stay out of there. Also, something terrifying seems to be happening with the shower walls and the caulking, as well as right outside of the shower. The wall has like this swollen look to it, like the plaster got wet but never dried. It's been there since day one, we even took a picture of it. When we move out, I expect our full security deposit. Or I'll burn this mother down.

The windows.

Every single window has a crack in it. Every one of them. We finally stole some storm windows from when the landlord put in brand new windows on the upstairs apartment so we can pretend we're keeping the heat in in the winter, but I think we're going to need some plastic this year.

There's other stuff, (the porch, the garage, the basement stairs) but I'm getting ready for a weekend trip with some crazies (yo, brother and sister-in-law) and I need to get a move on.

Second Verse, Same as the First

I know lately I've been talking about trying to get multiple jobs but I've realized I think I'm actually trying to find another, completely separate job. As in, I would like to get another job, so that I can quit my current job. I have never worked at a place that is so needy and unorganized and unappreciative of their employees. Granted, I've only had four jobs, not counting this one, but three of them were working in fast food (one of the most unappreciative services there is), and none of them were this disgustingly needy. I dread their call like I dread the student loan calls. It seems like every day they're calling me to see if I can come in for a few hours, and half the time, more like 75% of the time, they actually mean just three hours. Some days I think about going in to shop, or just browse the clearance or whatever, and then I absolutely do not because I know the minute I walk in those doors, whether I'm  alone or with someone, someone will see me and they will ask me if I want to work. And yes, I do need the money, but I do actually have things to do. I do laundry on Tuesdays and Fridays so that Jeremy's gi is always clean for karate class. We still don't have our own washer and dryer so I go to my parents house and it is kind of actually an all day thing, especially when mum is already doing laundry, or when she's left laundry overnight or whatever. Today is Friday. (You can see where this is going.) Work called me in today from 11-4. Now you're probably saying, why don't you just go after work Storm? And I'll tell you why: because I actually like spending time with my husband. I work all day tomorrow, and Sunday, and Monday, so if we don't hang out tomorrow for a few hours, I will literally only see him in passing until Tuesday. Which would make sense if I were working an 80 hour a week job or doing some overtime at the office or a traveling salesman, but none of those things are happening. My place of employment is just vindictive. And no, this will not be a sweet paycheck, like everybody keeps telling me. It's going to be a 42 hour pay. And at my wages, after taxes, that doesn't really cover all that much. I know I shouldn't be complaining about having a job where I make a very small wage but when they asked to have me full-time over a month ago I thought they meant 40 hours a week, (and not 5 hours everyday so that I never have a day off and if I do it's somehow my fault, which feels like the game plan) not 40 hours a pay.

Long story short: I hate this place, I want a new job.

Sitting in a Parking Lot

I'm creeping in the parking lot of a truck stop all hopped up on sugar-free Rockstar waiting for my parents to get in. They left their Jeep with me so I could check on the dogs while they were busy getting their redneck on at a NASCAR race in Dover. Classy.
I went over Saturday night to give the one dog her meds. It was horrifying. There was shit everywhere. Someone had diarrhea, twice, and then they seemed to trample through it and track it all over the first floor. I didn't even go upstairs to see if they had destroyed that as well. I called my mum while I was there and gave her the scene and she goes "oh that's terrible, I'm sorry Storm." I was like no no no, that reaction is not acceptable. It is terrifying over here, I think this might be a level of hell, you need to try that again.
I went home and blasted a beer then had a cup of pumpkin flavored coffee with an ice cream sandwich in it.
So that was my weekend.