I think I can, I think I can

You know, an hour ago I was in a great mood. There are lots of retail jobs and restaurant jobs up at the Forum (Norcross) and as big of a pain in the but as it might be, Emily's out there so I can make it an excuse to see her since I seem to not have any friends in Decatur anymore. I was going to go vote, take my mom her lunch, apply for some jobs, get my brother (yay for the last trip to Smyrna!), and get home and wait excitedly for Jeremy.

I pulled out of the driveway and my front right tire went flat.

Is there any particular reason that God, fate, karma, whoever's on duty today seems to hate me? Do they not pass memos around letting each other know that they've already screwed me the day before? I think they need to have that tube system checked out.

It's getting a lot harder to stay positive and I know I have to, so just say a little prayer and send happy thoughts to me... I could use them right now.

Since I am trying to make myself feel better, I bring you Bruno (Joanna's Bunny) and the Pumpkin Pi.

Happy Halloween!

It's my favorite holiday (next to New Years) today! It's also my little brother's birthday... it's scary, I remember going to the hospital hours after he was born and holding him and now he's 18! Yikes!

My family has always been in to Halloween; when my parents lived at the Highland Bakeries, they used to have huge costume parties that people got completely decked out for. My mom would stand at the door with baby Meg and greet people, and I would ask them to show me their belly button (as I had apparently just discovered mine). I'm fairly certain I was some form of kitty for the first few years of my life, then I was a witch, a gogo dancer, a 50's prom queen, a 20's lady (not a flapper), and various other things. Thankfully it seems as though I've grown out of my laryngitis on Halloween habit, that was rough to go trick-or-treating with. Who doesn't love a spooky holiday where you get to be so creative!

I've been really bored lately, but with only a few books to read it hasn't gotten better. I watch new shows on Netflix, and keep up with Valerie's blog (still want to steal Ana to come play with me!), but I'd really like to do some more scrapbooking. Sad thing is, it's all in Memphis! I'm hoping I caught Jeremy in time before he left and he can bring my drawers with him, because there's so much stuff in my scrapbooking bin that I need to get started and do maybe a page a day or something. I also need to get more card stock, just plain white, so that I can work on my AOII pledge scrapbook in what used to be my pledge binder.

Anyway, that's about all that's going on here, nothing entirely interesting. Jeremy's on his way down for the night, then we're off to Daytona Beach in the morning to get him moved in and clear out a space for the bike when Marc and Jan get there tomorrow afternoon. It's really exciting, but nerve wracking, too!

Off to Norcross (where the rich people still have money) to apply for jobs! Oh, and hopefully to vote!

Oh, and in the spirit of Halloween, I leave you Gwennie (Krystal's daughter) the Bumblebee!
All the way from Hiroshima, Japan!

Drove the Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry

I just realized half of these have had song titles, I just happen to always have a song stuck in my head.

Applied at 5th Earl Market today for a counter position-- not much, but still a job! Turns out that vindictive (insert your favorite derogatory terms or curses here) who was my manager at VS said that I was fired, even though I quit because they didn't want to let me take a break after I passed out on the sales floor with a 101 fever and then scheduled me for a day I told them I couldn't work to begin with.

Yeah, that's the story in a nutshell.

It means she flagged me as ineligible for rehire and that I can't get the job at BBW with Em. Otherwise known as the only job I could find. I'm kind of stuck in the doldrums (yeah, 5th grade throwbacks), I know I need to keep applying for jobs and keep on truckin' but it's just so hard when I've applied for over 75 jobs and there's no response to speak of.

Needless to say, today was exhausting mentally, so now I'm sitting here watching (more) HGTV and eating some ramen because I can't bring myself to actually cook. I'll have to get on it tomorrow, though, before some of it goes bad.

I'll leave you on a high note and a recipe for an amazing potato and leek soup! (original recipe, Emeril Lagasse, modified by me)

1lb russett potatoes (about four or five) diced
1lb leeks (about three decent sized leeks) sliced longways, rinsed, and then cut crosswise
1tbsp minced or dried garlic
2 pieces bacon (pref with black peppercorns on, if not, 1 tbsp rough ground black pepper)
2tbsp butter
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream

in a large stock pot, melt down butter and put in chopped bacon. heat over low flame until the fat in the bacon has rendered. drop in chopped leeks and cook for about 5 minutes, until the leeks have wilted. pour in chicken stock, tomatoes, and garlic and let cook for about thirty minutes, or until potatoes are soft to fork. pour soup in portions in to a blender and blend to a slightly chunky consistency, then add in heavy cream to taste per portion. you can mix it all together again, and reheat easily.

Weekend Update

But not the funny SNL kind-- though I have to give Will Ferrell props for being the best George W. Bush impersonator ever; I don't care who you voted for it's true.

Jeremy came in Thursday night, stayed through this morning, which was really great. I'm sad I won't really see him much over the next nine months, but since the mechanic's school thing was in part my doing... I can't be too upset about it. We were hoping that I could stable pony him down to Daytona from Atlanta since he didn't have anyone to ride with, that way we could get some things straightened up and ready for his parents to bring some more stuff down, then I'd ride back up with them through Atlanta (as it's the best way to go between Memphis and Daytona Beach). Now, however, it looks like they're thinking about doing it all in two days (down one day, back the next) to be back for something on Sunday and I'm not sure I can handle that travel schedule! Jan and Marc amaze me with their marathon driving schedules sometimes, I'm not sure I could keep up!

As much as I'd love to go down and see the place, I'll probably be up the weekend before Thanksgiving so I guess that's not too much longer to wait. Hopefully (everyone cross their fingers, rub lucky rabbit feet, all that jazz) I'll land a job at Bath and Body Works with Emily, and work like every shift Kendra needs covered between now and whenever-- she said if HR approves it (long story involving my previous employment under a lying, cheating manager at Victoria's Secret) and I'll work Thanksgiving and Christmas week then I'm hired. That would be... so very nice. I'm going to hold off on calling back on the GA Dems job (which apparently would alienate me distinctly from some people...), because even though I'd be driving to Gwinett, I'd probably end up making more money. And if there are two long days in a row, I can just stay with Emily.

Anyway, again, it was great having Jeremy here. We went to Sage on Friday for dinner and it was AMAZING, and then to Emily's on Saturday for the Grand Illumination. It wasn't extremely grand, but it was a nice time and we got to watch Silver Bullet and Van Helsing. Everyone loves a good cheesy Halloween movie. We went out for several walks, since Decatur is walk-friendly, and hit up Dairy Queen a few times. Also got to finish out Burn Notice, Season 1, which is awesome.

Not sure what else to say, just hanging out watching Heroes now, and I'm ridiculously excited about Halloween Office on Thursday.

Ciao for now!

Oh, oh, I- I can't wait to see you again

That's right, I'm goin' Miley Cyrus on you. What then?

Yesterday ended up ok-- got all my books out of the car and my wicker toiletries drawers, so hopefully now nothing will get hot and explode in my car since it's mostly empty!

Tomorrow/today will be full, but more relaxed since I don't have to go to Smyrna and dodge the 18 wheelers on 285 (THE worst part about Atlanta driving!), I just have to try and get things a little organized so that we can squeeze Jeremy in, hopefully tonight when he gets in on the 9p!

I'm going to also need to make a birthday card for Melissa, my Indiana Rose Buddy, and send my little her surprise package. I keep getting confused on Facebook because one of our new girls has the exact same name as Jeremy's sister (well, her maiden name, actually), so even though I know Valerie Clark isn't Jeremy's sister it still makes me do a double take. Speaking of which, Analia is starting to take steps on her own now! She was such a sweet baby, and continues to be it seems, and Jeremy and I can't wait to see her again. She thinks he's the best thing since a fresh bottle, so I think maybe I'll get dad to take a picture of us to send to her and I'll take a super goofy one of him since that's what she likes most. I'll just have to preoccupy myself with Ana, 'cause I don't need one for a while yet...

Oh, and cooking. Definitely cooking. The fall social last night definitely re-energized me a bit, so now I think I can pick myself up and do what I oughtta. We have butternut squash, chicken, and potatoes and leeks that need something done with, so I'll be cleaning out the fridge and freezer and digging in.

Tomorrow, tomorrow!

Jeremy's coming tomorrow! This makes me extremely happy. I don't know what the next 9 months will be like... it's only been a couple weeks and I miss him a lot. Though, if I can't find a job here, I may move down before tourist season and get a job there.

The Artemis Fall Social is tonight, so I need to figure out what I'm going to wear-- it's chilly enough now I have to wear stockings which is a little irritating, if you ask me, but whatev. The endless Sweetwater/brats/pretzels is going to be delish, but I'm most excited about the IMAX. Volcanoes and 3D... does it get much better?

Today is bookshelf day. I have a small bookshelf that I dragged out of my car and need to drag the oooooodles of books out to cram on it until we get to the new place. I'm happy I get to keep my books, but they are SUCH a pain to move! We went and looked at a place last night, but the landlord never showed up, so who knows. There's a larger house that we're looking at, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, which is a lot closer to MARTA than this one, but is more expensive and may be more to rent. The smaller one is still bigger than the place we have now, and while the neighborhood is nice, the houses immediately around and across from it are empty which is a little creepy. If I could find a job, then I would put in the extra $100 a month to get the one close to MARTA just because it would be so much more cost effective for me to take the bus to work and back than have to drive, and the same for mom. We're also pretty sure that by the time we move, Casey will be out of Ridgeview so there will be no driving to Smyrna!

Speaking of Smyrna, I should go get those books out of my car. It's killing my gas mileage to drive around with all of them in my trunk!

Workin' my way back to you, babe

I play 50's music in my head. No, really, on my way back from Memphis the radio didn't work, so I ended up singing "Don't Stop Believin", "Jesse's Girl", and various oldies including "Fill Me Up (Buttercup)" and "Stop (In The Name of Love)". It would appear that the oldies have a corner on the parenthetical song titles.

Today was low-key enough. Accidentally overslept; I'm still not used to having to wake up without light queues, so Jeremy's going to give me a wakeup call tomorrow since he gets up at 8a which is 9a my time. I got some stuff over to the storage unit today, but not nearly enough, and it's almost all the way full so we're gonna go over tomorrow and re-organize some things, and I'm going to ask her if she wants me to maybe get things set up for a yard sale this weekend and put up an ad on Craigslist to try and kick out as much crap as possible. She says she can donate it, but it'd be really nice if we could make a few dollars, especially since I can't find a job to save my life and we're trying to find a new place to live. I'm putting in more applications tomorrow, some for seasonal work, some for temp work, some for part time work. I really hope I get something. At this point, even $50 a week would at least help me pay down my phone bill and send a few bucks to the GI and Rhodes.

As for the future, Jeremy said that WyoTech indicated they would start trying to place them about three months prior to graduation, which means I'll have more than a few days of scrambling to find a job and find us a place to live. I'm really glad he's doing this, he sounds excited, and his roommate found them a 2 BR apartment close to campus that is totally reasonable, so maybe he'll be able to sleep at night now. If you have any suggestions on fairly temperate climates where people might be inclined to ride bikes year round, let me know-- we're starting our list of possible places so that both of us have a better chance of getting a job. I think we're aiming towards Austin or Atlanta areas, still, but you gotta go where the jobs are, right?

Keep your fingers crossed for me over the next few days-- I'm putting in at PierOne, Starbucks, Best Buy, several restaurants, Grassroots Campaigns (I applied for a job with them in Austin, but couldn't accept for financial reasons), and a couple of box office positions with theatres in Atlanta. I guess I should also get mom to print off a bagful of my resume; could get pricey since I'm so desperate I'm handing out the whole CV!

For now, though, I'll be thankful to be back in the real South. Inside the Perimeter, the real Atlanta, life is calm and happy. People might be in a bit of a hurry, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful day, walking to work, or honking and waving to someone you know on the street. The weather is beautiful, and the people are nice-- if I get too bored, right up the street is the square with trees, picnic tables, and people I know. I know I sound a little bit like the Cheers theme song, but it's true. Big city feel, small town heart. It would be really nice if Jeremy could find a job around here-- I think he likes Decatur a lot, and since everything's pretty accessible through MARTA, he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.

Here's to home, the place where you feel comfortable enough to take your shoes off and stay a while.