Tuesday, January 23, 2007

There is a Name

There is a name that haunts me.
This name has found its way
into almost every girl
I've ever been seriously involved with
in one form or another.
It's the middle name.
So I don't always know it
when I'm getting into it.
But sooner or later,
I find out.
Ah,
she has that name.
That name that haunts me.
It's so bad,
I've found myself
asking girls
what their middle name is
if I find myself interested.
The name has not been present
for some time.
And...
oddly enough...
I've not been involved
with anyone
in almost a year.
Billie,
Anglee,
Jen,
Pheobe,
Kae.
All these names
stretching back
into my youth.
All these sharing a
common,
hidden
name.
Why do you follow me?
And now,
something blips on the radar.
A distant scent
that piques my interest.
I've met her once
or twice.
I know
a little
about her.
I find out
a little more.
Little things start
to sync,
fall in place.
And what,
praytell,
is her middle name?
Oh haunted name!

Marie.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

I Love to Work at Nothin' All Day

Sorry to be so detached from all you out in intarweebsland, but Burning Crusade came out, so I've been a bit glued to the tube. Not as bad as Jerod, but I've been "stuck" in WoW for most of my spare time. I lucked out, too. One of the perks of working at Best Buy is I was able to set aside a collector's edition of the game for myself. Which was lucky, seeing as how all the rest of the store's copies got gone in a matter of minutes after the store opened. And we ran out of regular copies before too long into the day. It was a little pricey, but it had some neat stuff in it. The art book is fabulous and the soundtrack is awesome.

In other news, work is still work. The diaphonous future looks better for me at Best Buy, but it's as ellusive as ever.

However, the Sultan's Tent stands to prosper very soon. We've put the deposit on the vendor spot at Castle Carnevale and they're excited to have us there. They're actually giving us a little bit more spot than we're paying for, which is doubly awesome. We've got our application for the vendor spot at CRF and Chris is going to turn that in on Monday.

Oh. And I found my phone. Under a pile of laundry. Which is where I thought it was. But I had lost it. And now it's not lost. Exciting.

Man, I don't wanna go in at 8AM tomorrow. Like a whole lot.

and if you ever get annoyed/look at me i'm self-employed

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Long Days of Nothing

It's been a while, longer than it should have been, so here I am to update you all on the fabulous comings and goings of the last week or so. I worked all of two days last week (fun time, fun times), but I did get a good amount of cleaning and such done around my room. Mostly laundry, but I gave the bathroom a much needed rub down. Sadly, very sadly, a lot of my time has been spent on World of Warcraft. Ultimately, it was free time anyway, but it was still a bit much. I didn't get near as much done as I should have, though, really, the main thing not done was attempting to move my bed. Other than that, Chris, Wes, and I have picked up our regular workouts again. Yay that, at least. I've been doing the best I can to eat healthy, but it wasn't easy not having too much money to through around. Things are looking better for work, though. I might just be able to convince my managers to create a full time spot for Car-Fi for me. And it's a warrented event, really. Jimmy would love to have me work full-time. The department, as good as it's been since I got back there again, would be even better. But, even on top of that, there might actually be a chance for upward movement in Car-Fi. I had a one-on-one sit down chat with Jimmy yesterday. And for once, it wasn't a bad one, oddly enough. Just going over the month's goals and plans, and general praise for my performance, sprinkled with a dash of information spreading, given that I had last worked Monday. But I mentioned that we could really use a Senior in the department, which Jimmy said he was trying to work on getting. If I can get the managers to create a full-time spot in Car-Fi and if Jimmy can make a Senior spot, I stand a good chance to get it. But that's a lot of ifs. We'll see. Having a full-time position again would go a loooong way to making me want to stay at Best Buy. As much as I can, and do, complain about working retail, and under a certain manager or two, it's not a bad job, day-to-day. I can think of things I'd rather be doing for money, sure, but all told, it's not the worst job I've had. I do get some recognition for the job I do, even if it's not as much as I'd like. At nearly $11/hr it's not bad pay. And if I were working full-time hours, it would be even better. Also, given the performance of the departments I've worked in for the last year, my next review at the end of February could mean a significant pay increase.

And speaking of better oportunities, the Sultan's Tent stands to do really well this year. We've got a nice vendor spot for the Castle Carnevale at Castle McCulloch, assuming Chris comes through with getting the deposit paid. And that will spell massive sales for us. We're scrambling to gather up an inventory for the show, but there's plenty of time. If our Velvet Glove nights are any indication, we could very well make up the deposit in sit down lounge smokers alone, not including people who buy hookahs from us. Our distributor should have an updated price list to us sometime next week, I hope, so I can finish up the website. It's not much of a site right now, and I don't plan to make it a whole lot. We're not looking for a whole lot more than an online ordering page. Simple paypal business shopping cart interface, all html. Very easy load time, at least.

Next to penultimately, I've quadruple checked my enrollment in online W2 delivery. Last year I got mine around the 23rd. I certainly wouldn't mind getting it a little earlier. This year's return should be both timely and significant. I also might have a buyer for the Monte Carlo, and someone I trust to do right by it. And Doug's started making payments on my old laptop. So, if only for the time being, things are looking up a little bit.

Speaking of Penultimates, Bryan, the man friend of Alene (ThatWeirdGirl) has been hoisted off to play in the sandbox for a few months, so keep him, and all of our boys, girls, men, women, and others over there in your thoughts and prayers. They're doing good stuff over there. Really. Wrong reasons or not, we needed to be there. It would have been nicer if it had be handled right, but regardless, there's democracy there. There's not dictatorship. And the removal of tyrants...that's Godly work.

Lastly, if you tell someone (me) that you'll be free on a certain night (Friday) so I can come out and do you (Anglee [save your hisses and your comments until I'm done]) a favor by selling you a sound card and installing it for you (see? business) do have the decency to keep your appointment. If you can't, then at least have the kindness to call or message in one of the myriad means of communication we have at our disposal. It makes for much better planning of weekend nights. It really does. Ultimately, though, I spent my time with much nicer, and prettier company, and comfortably cuddled on the loveseat to boot, than Anglee anyway, so I think it worked out in the end. But still. Call? Email? IM? MySpace Message?! SOMETHING?!?! I mean really.

Sooooooo...yeah.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

The New Year

So far: Same old stuff.

Ah, New Year's. A time of new beginnings. Or, y'know, a lot of the same old stuff. Although I had a pretty good weekend, all told, things are going back to their usual uncomfortable normal. Phil's party was good, though a little lower key than most "Phil" brand parties. I had a date, of sorts, but I'll get to that when I list some of my resolutions for the year. Low key as it was, I had a really good time. Some of our up and coming next generation rennies made an appearance and I have hope for next season. And nothing beats philosophical discussions until dawn. We all got up around 1 or 2 the next afternoon and cooked up a delightful breakfast, with more general hanging out until it was time for us to head north a bit for Hugh's eventual party. We ended up milling about (Ha!) Concord Mills for a few hours before making it to my mom's place for a little bit and eventually to the Fisher's. I got to (finally) meet Hugh's "girlfriend" (I kid.) and it was really great to see Mike and Beth. She's about 12 weeks along, and doing well. Mike is not nervous, yet, but predicts full on freak out in about 4-6 months. Food, fireworks, yay. But really? Just not all that moving. Probably just me.


Resolutions! Everyone's making them. And I'm breaking from tradition. I resolved around 6 years ago to stop making resolutions, but it was time to bring them back.

1. Get all my legal crap sorted out by my 25th birthday (May 15). You don't have to know what it is. I'm getting it fixed.

2. Lose two inches off my waist by my 25th birthday. Aim for a further two more by the end of the year. Ultimately, I'll be fine in a 34 inch waist as long as my middle is slimmed down, but if I can do a 32, I'll take it!

3. Never bring a date to New Year's at Phil's. I always get ignored by them. But at least this year my "date" wasn't making out with someone else. I know how to pick 'em, I tell ya.

4. Have the apartment ready my living by May. This is when Chris and Lani expect to move
out around April or May, and I'll need to get stuff to replace the stuff they'll be taking with them, etc. etc.

5. Get a good job. Not just a better job, a good one. One that has shift work. That way I can get in a routine again. And one that will pay enough so that maybe I won't need to find a third roommate come May.

6. Start going back to school. Though, ultimately, this is contingent on number 5. Without a better paying, better scheduled job, it'll be damn hard to go back for anything other than a class a semester, and I can and will do better than that. I don't know what in, mind you, but I do need to go back and finish what I started.

Runner-up: Find a girlfriend. I do not mention this as a full-on resolution, because to do so would appear desperate. Which I am not. Wouldn't mind not being single, but, really, I'll be much better boyfriend material if I can take care of some or all of those resolutions first. Granted, I won't say no if a girl wants to get in on the ground floor before all the awesome renovations and growth take place, but I know my...self. I've got a lot of potential, but I've got a lot I need to work on.

Other Runner-up: Post more again, for real, again. I signed up for this thing for a reason, right?


I hope everyone had a good weekend. I wish that everyone's 2007 shows improvement over 2006. If you did shitty, then this year is your year to do not quite so shitty. If you had a superfantabulously awesome year of multiple lotto winnings, then, by all means, I hope you top that this year! As for me? I'm going to plug myself into my new Bose (yes, that Bose) headphones and do some crossword puzzles until I fall asleep.

Mighty Lord, preserve us from jeopardy.
Take Thee now our faith and love, thine inheritance.
Grant thee victory o'er our treacherous and cruel enemies
And to our land bring peace.
O mighty Lord hear our lowly prayer,
And by Thy shining holy light.
Grant us, O Lord, peace again.
O mighty Lord hear our prayer
and save our people
Forever, forever!