All Hollow's Eve

So this is my first attempt at blogging from my phone. I am literally sitting in a chair, in a doorway, waiting for the chiblins to come a callin'. I opened up my last blog post because I didn't finish it last time and I realized that nothing would have made any sense. My apologies for the abruptness.

Since that post I have successfully watched an entire movie without konking out. This is a moment for the record books, people. It was, in fact, a Quentin Tarentino film [like Reservoir Dogs] but this time I figured out what to do: sit straight up and don't lean!!! No leaning back, forward, or to either side.

The movie was Pulp Fiction and it was absolutely amazing. If played in order instead of how it is laid out, it wouldn't have been as good. Fun to figure out how everything went.

...Now I'm typing from my laptop and it's November 1st. I can't seem to finish a blog for the life of me! I can't do ANYTHING anymore! I can't clean, cook, blog, keep in touch with people... it's nonsense! I have been working nonstop and have been so tired because of it. Next Tuesday will be the beginning of three days off in a row, so I guess we'll see how that goes. I'll most likely continue the trend of not being able to do anything but sleep. Goodness!!

Last night [Halloween] was a blast! Andrew stood by the bushes in the front in his outfit and people couldn't tell if he was real or fake. Some of the kids wouldn't come up the driveway [haha!] and some of the teenagers are going to have nightmares because he scared them so bad. He got my mom pretty good too when they stopped by to say hello.

Murphy snuck out when I opened the door for a trick-or-treater and took off down the road. I finally caught up with him and put him in time-out big time!

I am so tired and I have so much to say. Maybe I'll go into detail in the next blog but A.) today was the start of the new schedule, B.) I alphabetized the pastries so they are super easy to find, and C.) I broke the fridge door simply by opening it; it flew off like it was nothing. I'm working 4-10am, 4-10pm, and then 4-10am again. I'm going to take a nap now.

Sorry I'm so lame at blogging lately.

Why is it that my body goes into hibernate mode 15-20 minutes into a movie? I swear! I haven't seen a movie all the way through in maybe... a week and a half?? Last night was Reservoir Dogs. I started watching it last night with Andrew and ended up falling asleep at the same part I must have fallen asleep to wayyy back whenever I attempted to watch it before. The night before was Crank. Yes, that one may have been because Jason Statham is in it; I cannot STAND that man! I don't know why! He just annoys me with his scraggly voice and that "accent" that he is attempting to pass off is almost as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard [*cringes*]. I only made it five minutes into Crank, and although this "actor" is the lead role, it looked like a pretty dang good movie.

Jason Statham: Just another stupid ol' nincumpoop! Stupid, terrible, and that he acts makesmesick!

And I'm done. My point being that I my ability to not watch an entire movie all the way through is driving me nuts because I am truly missing out. Now I have to wait until I'm fully awake to watch the movie and FORCE myself to stay awake. It might be because I'm working every day and am tired afterward because my job is super strenuous.

...SUUUUUUPER strenuous. [*Cough, cough*].

I think the most strenuous thing I've done at BigFoot Java was probably today when I lifted three boxes of cups up a ladder. I know, right? I should be getting paid what some consider a "labourous wage."

Whatev, I'll just keep my fingers crossed for the Lead Barista position; Shelley and I turned in our letters very early after the meeting and Jeena has until the 5th to turn hers in. After this, Honora [manager] will do phone interviews, decide who to promote, and have all the new Lead Baristas go down South to one of the other stands and have a full-board training day with instructions how to order everything, fix every machine, yada yada fun fun! I really really really hope that I'm one of the Leads at the stand. If Jeena turns in her letter, I'll be the newest employee of the three being considered. But then again, I have managerial experience and have proved that I can BUST ASS at work and that I care.

Just trying not to get my hopes up, which is hard.

Today at work, Shelley and I were helping customers, chit-chatting, and all of a sudde, I looked at my watch and I had ten minutes until I was supposed to be off. How crazy is that?!

Let's Make This Together

First off, I have to let loose about the events from yesterday mid-afternoon. A woman pulls up to the stand [yes, I am still working the million days in a row and I'm totally cool with it] and asks if we can make her an Eggnog Latte, but "extra hot." I tell her that we can't steam the milk hotter than 130° or else it gets ruined and she gets pissed. "The other stand will do it for me!" she claims. So I suggest cutting it with milk [this doesn't really make sense now but it did then haha!] and me steaming the milk hotter and mixing it so that the drink would be hotter and she starts to get really upset. Shelley comes over to see what this woman's deal is and the woman tells her that the other stand will heat it up extra hot for her. Shelley says, "Well, I'll heat it up extra hot for you, but the taste changes and it's not recommended." The lady huffs and puffs and says she's going to the OTHER stand that will do it for her.

So, our curious minds decide to see what actually happens if you steam eggnog over 130°. Turns out, it smells like nasty-poo and it starts to curdle, leaving chunks floating around inside the sick sewage waste. I'm glad that's what that woman likes to ingest.

While we are doing our little "experiment," a regular pulls up and wants a blended chai with a little bit of eggnog. No big deal, except I was starting to clean the counter by the register, had things all over in the way, and I ended up knocking over the blender before I had a chance to finish the drink:


Gross! So I had to clean up EVERYTHING including taking all the ice out of the bin, scrubbing down everything inside, and filling the ice back up, mopping everything, making sure there wasn't vomit everywhere... Gross.

I just thought that was kind of funny. An Eggnog Massacre in the span of five minutes.

After work I went grocery shopping with money I don't have to make rollups that I've never made before. My first attempt was with Salmon Appetizers. And by the way, their little "Ready in 15 min" thing is NOT true! Let me explain why...

Well, Step 1: Combine everything in a small mixing bowl. I softened the 8oz. package of cream cheese and put the parsley on top.


I then realized that this bowl is going to be too small, transferred to another bowl, and started with the salmon bit. "Remove any bones." Here's why it took forever! Do you KNOW how many bones are in a can of salmon?? I had no idea!! There were bones that looked like slivers, some that looked like eyeballs... it was sick! So I finally finished.


The de-boned salmon...


...and the bones!!
Yuk! So I then added my delicious salsa! [No big deal, I probably added a bit too much because me likey!! Yum!!].


I then stirred and stirred!! Oh, and I didn't put cilantro or cumin in because the only cilantro I could find in a little spice jar was almost $8.00! No THANKS! I'm sure it makes it that much more delicious, but until I have all the money in the world to blow on spices, NEXT!


Step 2: Spread it all out! This picture shows my fourth tortilla getting spread [don't flag this post!], and the three already rolled and plastic-wrapped [new verb?].






My finished tower [I ended up using all ten tortillas; probably because I added more salsa haha!]:


And hardly anything left over to go to waste:


I then put everything in the fridge and made something I could snack on right away!




Delicious! The carrots in there actually weren't too bad! I then slept a good sleep, woke up, sliced five of my tortillas for an at-work snack, and I'm pretty sure next time I'll try to roll NICE AND TIGHT! Some of the pieces were a little open but that's okay; I'm still going to devour them!


Th-th-th-that's all folks!

The US Flag is Going to HECK!!

Good LORD what a day at work! I laid out my outfit last night so I could justify sleeping in an extra 15 minutes. I was up at 3:15, dressed, dogs out and in, bagel toasted and cream-cheesed [new verb?], and out at my frozen car at 3:40. Wearing three sweatshirts over my double-layered top with a magnificent scarf and super cozy wool glove/mittens was a good idea; why does it have to be so cold out?? Don't worry, I warmed up at work and my rolled up pants and sock-less flats equalized my body temperature.

This new girl [Caitlin(?)] is amazing! She picked up incredibly fast and was making hot, iced, and blended drinks YESTERDAY! It was super helpful having her make the drinks; it was semi-busy yesterday and I didn't get stressed out. So I got to work at 3:48 or so, bagel devoured, set my stuff down, clocked in, got my tea in my mug, and was ready for my day. Jenelle [graveyard that I let off] stayed late unintentionally and was there until the new girl came in at 5:00. Jenelle told me that one of the machines had funky shots that were taking forever to fill, so I decided we wouldn't use that one for the rest of the day. The last few Sundays weren't super busy, so why should this Sunday, right?

...Right?

Jeena slept in and got there around 7:00 [an hour late], which was okay because we were super slow. At this point I had horrible heartburn [like I did all day at work yesterday!] and it was to the level of making me sit down and try to think about anything but vomiting. I did some research [no, not at the Kortlever-Thompson-Brandrup Research Center, but on my T-Mobile G1 I have named Gerta] on "heartburn causes" and look was at the top of the list at this About.com page:

Coffee, tea, and other drinks that contain caffeine

Good LORD! I have just been fueling the fire... LITERALLY!! I bet God is just laughing at me thinking, "You thought you were doing your body good by drinking all that tea; little did you know..." I told Caitlin that my insides felt like a bong, my esophagus being the neck of the bong, flowing fire and scorching water up and down, to and from my stomach, the bubbling and gurgling round part ...and my belly button is where the stem is. So I dumped out the little bit of tea I had left and filled it with... wait... don't panic:

WATER.
Don't worry, I only drank half of it before I dumped it and had the new girl "practice" making a hot liquid chai cut with milk and no hotter than 120° and "accidentally" pour it into my mug.

Jeena got there around 7:00, like I said, and it was super duper slow, We literally were up on the counter moving all the syrup bottles, straw boxes, Jet Teas, soy boxes, etc. and cleaning the shelves underneath [ga-ross!!].


Once we got both shelves done it was clear that we wouldn't be doing any cleaning for a while: the rush came. We used both machines for steaming, register #2's machine for the shots, and as soon as we were done with the shots we moved to the other counter to make room for other people making drinks. It got to a point where Caitlin and Jeena were making the drinks and I was cleaning up after them, wiping the counter messes, washing all the pitchers and blenders, keeping everything stocked, etc. It wasn't stressful at all and it was nice to just "pick up" after people instead of stressing about how fast you are making the drink or whatnot.

I heard a woman rattling off an order to the new girl and I came over to help.

Customer: "Can I get three Lil' Foot hot chocolates but NOT in the Lil' Foot cups, a 20oz. French Vanilla Latte, and I have another complicated drink so I'll just wait until you're done."

The Lil' Foot cups are there for a reason: for the Lil' Foot drinks! All kids drinks are super cheap because they have to have the other cup. The drinks are 12oz. So this woman is trying to get away with having the cheaper price for three 12oz. "warm" chocolates. Rude.

So I came over to help with the complicated drink.

Customer: "Can I get a 20oz. hot chocolate with some Vanilla in it, but can you use HALF-N-HALF instead of MILK, and can you add three shots of espresso to that?"

"20oz. Vanilla Mocha Breve" would have been sufficient, but once again, she is trying to get the hot chocolate price for the more expensive drink. Whatever; bottom line, she sucks.

Later on after the new girl went home, Jeena was helping a customer and I asked if I could make anything. She said that they ordered three Lil' Foot Strawberry Sasquatches ["strawberry smoothie"], so I made them. I reached for the Lil' Foot cups and Jeena says, "They have to be in the normal cups."

My eyes got wide and I looked from her, to the car, and back to her. This woman has returned in a different vehicle with her husband or what-have-you driving. Fine, whatever, have your clear cups, butthole. I ask if there is "Ha-whippin' Cream" and I heard the lady say, and Jeena immediately repeat to me, "Yes but one has to be on top of a flat lid." So I do this and hand Jeena the drinks. The mom then says, "The whip cream has to be UNDER the flat lid!!!" Good LORD! So Jeena takes it back and I look at her with the "I'm-not-dealing-with-this-woman-any-longer" eyes and she offers to finish. Handing the drink to them, the woman requests, "Can you cut the straw?"

I'm done with this family.

After they leave, I have a customer order a drink:

Customer: "Can I have a DOUBLE 16oz. Iced Latte with a little bit of chocolate, but can you put it in a 20oz. cup and fill it with a lot of ice but not too much?"

..."20oz. Iced Mocha with only Two Shots." If you are reading this and don't know how to order your drink without spattering out a bunch of nonsense, just ask your barista what it would be called and NEVER say anything BUT that AGAIN!! It's just embarrassing to yourself.

2:00 rolls around, my relief is late [which is fine; I don't have plans after work, like usual], and the phone rings. I thought I might get a break from dealing with odd people for the rest of the day, but I suppose I was wrong.

Customer on Phone: "Hi. My name is Tom. I'm a retired Navy Veteran who went to Vietnam FOUR times! I drive by almost every day."
Me: "What can I help you with?"
Customer: "Well, like I said, I come by almost every day..."

I was anticipating a bad drink was made and he wanted a free one or something... I was not anticipating what actually happened:

Customer: "...and your flag is tattered. Your United States flag is going to HECK!"
Me: *Silent* "Well, I can let my manager know and she can make it a priority to get that fixed."
Customer: "I'll be driving by and monitoring to see when it updates."

Good LORD! I'm going to heat up some pizza and try my hardest NOT to think about stupid people.

Sex and the City: The Movie: The Review

So basically I've seen every episode of Sex and the City multiple times. I don't think I'd call myself a "die hard fan," but I thoroughly enjoy the show. I didn't watch it when it was on air on HBO [should have forked up the coin for it; HBO has some pretty dang good shows!], but I do own the whole series [collector's edition, thank you!] and have at times watched more than one season in a single sitting. You couldn't help yourself either if there was a television series that was actually fun to watch and one of the main characters had YOUR NAME!

I've been with the girls through their ups and downs and their men and women, and I was looking forward to seeing the movie! I was supposed to see it with Carrie but she went on a girls' night Cocktail Pre-Movie date with her other girlfriends instead. I was then supposed to see it with my sister, Kels, but that fell through too. Either I'm a drag to be around or fate wanted it to be like it's been all along: comfy, cozy, snack, blanket, big-screen.

The movie came and went in theatres and released on DVD when I was in California. At the same time in California, my folks' MVP account at Hollywood Video ended, providing a rent-less existence. I started up Netflix and put the movie on the list, moving it to the top after I finished watching the series just one more time. Finished the series Monday, got the movie Wednesday, just watched it this afternoon [Friday], and my verdict:

Didn't expect much else.
Would a fan really and truly say that they didn't expect much? Traitor!! ...right? No way!! When has a television show actually unveiled an after-series big-screen movie that actually hit?? Especially one that is released many years after the end of the series! The X-Files Movie wasn't that great and in that case, I can consider myself a "die hard fan." With the x-Files movie being a dull addition to the saga, I expected the SATC movie to be the same and I was right.

So we've got Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda picking up "right where they left off... 4 years later." Bullshit! I've read a bunch of movie reviews and one of them literally hits it square on the nose:

...At the end of the series, Miranda had mellowed out substantially and learned to enjoy a quieter family life. From the moment the movie begins, she is back where she was at the beginning of the series - anal, overworked, and impossible to satisfy. Then, in the middle of the movie, she's running around with the girls...

...and making fun of her life with Steve. The comment she made about going to the aquarium with her husband and son, really annoyed me. Like that was all so lame and childish, and spending your time at Fashion Week is much more important. Samantha's situation was even more frustrating to me. The character is 50. In real life, the woman portrayed in this movie would be a joke: an ageing, loudmouthed, overeating, Botoxing, spoiled brat with a little dog in tow. I always loved that at the end of the series she finally made such a big step with Smith and let her emotions flow with him. It seemed that after going through cancer and connecting with this man, she had finally stopped being the self-centered, wacky Samantha, and matured a little. In the movie, that all just goes out the window. ..."

Miranda has always been the one to voice her opinion. Sure, she's the one that kind of lets loose with the whole "You're crazy to get married!" comment, but it's also not like her to hold in her opinions elsewhere. She doesn't say anything when Samantha shows up "fat" [aka "not bulimic." How the HELL does SJP get that fricken SKINNY! It's skinnier than bones!] and with Steve, she calmly just flows away.

Charlotte hasn't really changed, but you don't really see her being that super mom that she was supposed to be. Miranda seems more like a super mom than Charlotte, and that's saying something. She doesn't really do or say much in the movie really, but she's there to be there I suppose.

And Carrie. Good LORD! Something happened to her face to make it lonnnngggggerrrrr [didn't think it was possible but I guess I was wrong]. Anyway, I suppose she was a lot like she normally was but whatever.

It just seemed very "fake" to me. Fake acting, fake jokes, and dumbed down for a newer audience. And like the same review says later on:

...I hated the Steve storyline. The Steve from the series would not have done that to her. It was just a way to play out the Carrie/Big storyline, which I hated. Sorry to say there is little I did not hate about this film. It was so empty and useless, and so superficial. ...

Steve really WOULDN'T have done something like that to Miranda, despite how "rude" she treated him. At the end of the series, she was literally giving sponge baths to his mom. It was just weird to see such a switch and imagine Steve doing what he "did."

And kind of off topic but still same, how is forgiving someone for cheating the same as forgiving someone for being rude to them? Miranda has to let go of the fact that she can't trust him not to cheat again, and Steve has to let go of the fact that Miranda might not "love him for better or worse." It doesn't really seem the same. I know I couldn't forgive someone for cheating. I just couldn't. ESPECIALLY if it was sex. The fact that the other person heard the voices in their head, knew what would happen, and do it anyway... it's just throwing everything away. Knowing that my hypothetical boyfriend willingly stuck his penis inside someone else and yet he claims that he still loves me and he's "sorry" and I should forgive him? ...if that EVER happened, I would NOT forgive because I could NOT forget.

I think that's my biggest fear.

Not with Andrew or anything, but just a straight up betrayal. A friend doing something to you, family member taking advantage of you, co-worker, whomever it may be. That just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about.

Anyway, it was fun watching an addition to the show I have come to love and thoroughly enjoy watching, even though it was a watered-down version of what was "expected" by "die hard fans."

...Now to work on formatting more of my sister's pictures. Ah! Get me my tea pitcher, a back massager, slippers, and some good easy-listening music, please.

The Senior and the G1

I'm sitting at the Kortlever-Thompson-Brandrup research center with my tea and some Pizza Rolls ready to pour it all out. Yesterday we moved our wall-side bar to the living room and put our computers and speakers on it creating the aforementioned research center. No, not much "research" will actually be conducted at said center, but more MySpacing, Craigslisting, and Photoshopping, as well as a hopeful increase in blogging. I don't know why I haven't lately; it's just a rut, I suppose.

Something else new besides the research center is my phone! I got it a day early in the mail and my sister brought it to me at work! I took lots of pee breaks [not too out of the ordinary with my continued tea drinking... I even joined a MySpace group called "Tea Drinkers"!] and messed around with it. It's basically the coolest thing ever! I'm not sure if it's that 3G network thing that was rumored to be super great or what, but I can get on the Internet and check my MySpace, e-mail, Blogger... I can do anything! The slide of a finger opens up a Google Search bar for easy information retrieval. My messaging is like any newer Qwerty phone, I'm sure, but it is like a conversation and is super easy to keep track of what you are talking about. I haven't played much with the camera, but it is 3x the quality that my old phones were, although I suppose it doesn't have video recording quality, which is okay I suppose; I have my digital camera with me at all times anyway and it can do that. I can't explain it, but it is the absolute coolest phone I have ever seen!! I'm sitting here at the research center with my laptop, subwoofer surround system, Canon Digital Rebel XSi, and T-Mobile G1.

I'm officially a tech-nerd.

So anyway, I am still drinking the tea. It's hard going from delicious green tea at work to the basic Lipton at home. I enjoy the green so much more than the basic and it takes a lot of determination to keep downing the non-green. I should just start using the green tea bags I bought; I just would rather have the open basic tea bags be used up than have two open boxes. But if I'm not going to enjoy the basic and I WILL enjoy the green, why not?? The whole point is to drink green tea anyway [even though all tea is extremely good for you, I suppose]. I have been leaving my tea pitcher at work so that I have it available and ready when I get there, but on days like today when I get off early and am going to want more throughout the day, I'll drive home with the huge pitcher between my legs so I can have it when I want it.

I have been working a lot lately which is good for the paycheck but not so good for the blogging and cleaning. Our house is super messy with piles of just "stuff" everywhere, and a lot of it isn't trash! Just stuff that we are too lazy to do anything with. This research center freed up a bit of that space with our computers and all. I can't get over how cool it is being here and typing away. I've got Norah Jones playing in the background, what else could I want??

What I was trying to say was that Kailey [co-worker] went on vacation and I'm taking basically all of her shifts; too bad her shifts are during the slowest part of the day where tips are lacking and there isn't much to do. On a good day I'll make $20, and I remember when that was a BAD day! I dream of the days when I would make almost $80. *Sigh*. It's been fun working a lot, but I hope I don't get used to it. My hours are still going down to 24 a week and I have yet to hear about the promotion decision. The new girls that the manager hired are being trained right now and one of them was told she would get full time hours. I really hope it's not true [no offense to the new ones] because I've been dying for EXTRA hours, my hours get CUT, and the new girls get FULL-TIME?? Doesn't sound right, considering I'm working my ass off to prove that I care about my job and would jump at any opportunity for more hours and more responsibility. If they get full-time and I'm still stuck with 24 hours, I'm getting a second job. That's all there is to it. I can't AFFORD not getting one if that happens.

Come see me and tip me please. I would really appreciate it. So would my bank account, whose savings is dwindling down to nothingness.

I just looked at my hair and guess what? I have split ends. AH! This means I need a haircut, which I obviously can't afford. I'm still keeping it long, but it's hard to deal with sometimes. Straightening it accentuates my chunky side "bang" layer, and my straightener is one of those Target/WalMart ones and it doesn't straighten all that well. Using mousse is only good for one day [extremely good though! If I could have my hair like that all the time, that would be perfection!] and then it NEEDS a good washing, leaving it back to normal and back to bleh. If I could have Sarah Jessica Parker wild and curly locks, that would be amazing. And I'm not dying my hair anymore; simply going back to basics.

The day I got my new phone was the same day I went to Bellingham and took my sister Kelsey's senior pictures. We left town around 5:30 in the afternoon and the sun was starting to set. With the lessened light, I didn't know how it would turn out. But the coloring ended up being spectacular! Here are a few of the ones that turned out really good:












































She chose THIS one for her yearbook selection:


I think it turned out really good!!

But I'm tired from working the early shift, I need to format her pictures onto a CD so she has them available, and I need to watch Sex and the City: The Movie while I have it. Ta-ta!

Feelin Low? No Mo'!

It's sad that people can be so down on life sometimes. I am constantly hearing or reading about people who are so confused about life and how everything gets them down. I get it; I've been there with the "horrible job," the "boy troubles," and whatever else is a downer [I think everyone has at least once in his or her life]. But the only thing I really have to say about it is:

GET OVER IT!
My questionnaire and advice on what to do if you are constantly feeling low about things:

1.) "I hate my job." Get a new one! Honestly! I hated, HATED working at PacSun. It stressed me out constantly, I dreaded going in to work, I felt like I was taking on more responsibility than I should because it felt like no one else gave a crap about what was going on at all, and I would literally cry over being the only one who could go in. As far as that last statement goes, being the only one who "could" go in is NOT how it actually was; it was being the only one "willing" to go in. Andrew really opened my eyes to the fact that it was not always my responsibility to take over when everyone else is too lazy to go to work when they are supposed to. It was not always my responsibility to make sure everything was perfect because nothing is perfect and stressing about it only leads to disaster. I quit PS before I even had another job. I went two weeks before securing my job at BigFoot and even though I was stressing out about money and all, it was the less stressed I had been in a long long while. Moral of the story: if you hate your job, quit and get a new one! If you can't afford to quit before you get a new one, be active and find one first! You don't have to put in a notice at your current job no matter where you work because it's not your responsibility to fix everything and make life less stressful for everyone else because you are quitting. If you can't afford to quit PERIOD and for some incredibly odd reason HAVE to work at your current job [for example, you live in BFE and there is one job in the entire town and you have it and if you quit, you die], find a way to make it less stressful. Don't take on more responsibility than you have to. If some other employee decided to party the night before and can't open in the morning, it is not YOUR responsibility to get it covered! It is THEIR responsibility to think about the consequences of what they do BEFORE they do it! There are other people that can cover the shift and if push comes to shove, the absolute highest manager HAS to come in and cover because it IS their responsibility to make sure that it is covered. Ignore a phone call or text, don't reply to any messages until the shift in question is over. Be an "asshole" or a "bitch" if you need to be, but you will feel amazing for leaving the problem and the stress to someone else.

2.) "Why doesn't anyone like me?" No one likes you because YOU don't like you. If you are worried more about what people think about you and being accepted than being who you are and being true to yourself, no one will ever like you. You will simply be the whiner who stands alone at a party--that you didn't even get invited to but tagged along with someone who felt sorry for you and that someone isn't a whiner--thinking about all the fun that people are having and wishing that it was you, when it COULD be you if you opened up to YOURSELF! Sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper [with me it would be a laptop and a Notepad document] and make a list of the things that you like about yourself and enjoy doing as well as a list of things that you wish were different about yourself. I'm sure the second list is going to be longer, but take the first list and accentuate it! If you like the fact that you have a loving family and enjoy spending time together, continue to do so! If on your second list was something about spending MORE time together as a family, make it happen! Anything on your second list is changeable. Do whatever it takes to take that item from the second list and put it on the first. You think you have an unattractive body? Work out! Even if it is just fast walking around the block while you listen to your favourite music on your mp3 player a couple times a week and it only takes ten minutes, so be it! That small amount of exercise will become enjoyable [believe it or not!] and you will want to put it to a jog, to a run, to a couple blocks, to the five mile trail by the bay. So once you like yourself and kind of get over worrying about people liking you, it'll kind of switch and you'll be good.

3.) "My Boyfriend/Girlfriend isn't very nice." Dump them! If there are issues that can't be resolved easily, get rid of them and get over them! Be aware of the fact that there really ARE more fish in the sea. Here are the rules:

A.) No name-calling.
B.) No cheating of any kind. No kissing, petting, sexing, NOTHING with anyone else!
C.) You must talk about anything that bothers you immediately.
D.) Compromise is everything, but not compromising your beliefs, ethics, or feelings. Be reasonable about everything and able to meet in the middle [no stubborn-ness!]
E.) NO SECRETS!!
F.) Make each other happy.

If for some reason you are no longer happy and dread seeing boyfriend/girlfriend, call it quits. There is no reason that you shouldn't be happy. I'm sick of hearing complaints about significant others. Fix it or ditch it! And follow the rules.

Well, that's all I can really think of that will totally fix your "depression." And if you're depressed, just fix it. Just... just do it.

Health Foods and Some News

I haven't blogged in quite a while. I have a whole bunch of stuff to go over. Before I sat down to blog, I got myself a glass of iced tea and a snack of cucumbers and ranch. I guess this could be a good place to start off at.

Working at a coffee stand with an unlimited selection of drinks to choose from, create, and devour. Having this privilege comes with a warning: "Be sparing with your caffeinated sugar intake. A moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips." With the customer traffic slowing down lately, all there really is to do is clean, re-organize, and consume drinks and snacks. When I am at work for six to eight hours and have run out of things to clean, a couple different smoothies, mocha shakes, chais, or Italian cream sodas sound good to make and drink. But if I want to lose the little bit of tummy I have acquired recently and keep it off, drinking these devilishly delicious drinks as frequently as desired is not the way to do it.

I was e-mailing my grandma and she mentioned drinking green tea and how good it is for you. At work the next day, I made some iced green tea with some raw sugar and honey [I can't go from sugary sugar drinks to plain tea overnight! No way!] and it wasn't that bad.

The first day I drank two 16oz cups [one quart!] and then made myself a blended chai as my "reward." The second day, my goal was to drink six of those cups. I made it to five [2.5 quarts!] and had to stop. I didn't have anything else to drink because my thirst was actually quenched. The third day, I went in and made a 32oz cup and drank three of those. The fourth day I was at home and made a two-quart pitcher of my own iced tea and drank about half [one quart] and drank another 32oz cup later on [two!]. Yesterday I drank about another quart of tea [16oz at home and 16oz at work] and today I'm working on my second 16oz cup. It's basically ALL I'm drinking! I made myself a blended white coffee on white chocolate mocha two days ago and one taste was all it took to make me give up anything but tea.

With the tea keeping my body super hydrated [yay for water! ...which I hate drinking on its own] and flushing all the toxins out of my body [no yays for peeing so much! I feel like I'm out-peeing a pregnant woman!], I feel like a reborn woman.

Along with this tea consumption comes a craving for fruits and veggies! I have been snacking on cucumbers, carrots, apples, and Nutri Grain bars at work instead of going to Jack-in-the-Box and getting greasy burgers [which are delicious] and spending money that I don't have to. Eating more salads at home and continuing to snack on fruits and veggies has made me feel like a super healthy person! Kailey [co-worker] and I decided that on the days that she and I work together, we will bring healthy snacks to share to keep up on the diet [and by "diet" I don't mean "starvation guidelines"; I mean "total food and beverage consumption"]!

This "diet" isn't giving me more energy, though. I have been going to bed early basically every night, sleeping in until about 10:30 on average, and taking naps during the day. I feel like an old woman in bed listening to Andrew and Sam have fun out in the living room. Ah!

Last night's early night was mostly because of a headache I had acquired. I was wearing my hair up in a clip [like normal] with a headband to keep my fly-aways down [not normal]. I'm pretty sure the headband, accompanied by a crained neck, caused said headache. I haven't had headaches in a while [knock on wood!] but this one was definitely not a welcomed stranger. No fun at all! I had a crained neck because we had a meeting at work and we all crammed in the tiny office to talk. Leaning up against a wall for about an hour isn't super fun. Ah!

But the meeting went well. The new manager said that it wasn't just a "new manager getting to know her employees" meeting, but it was a once-a-month meeting that she will do from now on, like she does at her other stands. It was pretty informative and went over a lot of the rules that I didn't know! We now have the option of having a weekly theme day like "green day" or "crazy hat day," as long as it's appropriate. We also got employee mugs that we are required to drink out of [well, a mug that we can drink out of, but we need to be drinking out of mugs and not customer cups anymore, which makes sense]. We can decorate them however we want to [I'm most likely just going to write my name fancily on it] and have to have a mug when we get our discount off the clock. Interesting, but understandable!

The manager also said that two lead positions would be opening.

I about squealed with delight over the possibility of getting more responsibility. She said to write her a letter and that was the very first thing I did when I got home [even with the headache]. Shelley is basically hands-down going to get one of the positions because she represents everything that BigFoot Java is and everyone said her name when the position was mentioned. I just hope that I have a chance at the second one. I know a few other people are interested in it [and I'm at the bottom of the seniority right now] so I'm not getting my hopes up.

My letter was three pages long and was printed on resume paper [how nice!]. Thank GOD the ink didn't run out before it finished. After the meeting and before coming home to get started on my letter, I swung by WalMart to get some things, including a new black ink cartridge for our printer. Go figure the number and brand we needed was the only one out of stock. I picked up some more green tea bags, Ranch dressing, grape juice [for Andrew], and a two-quart pitcher for work so that I can make my iced tea and simply pour it into my mug when I run out, saving me time making it over and over in the 16oz mug. I hope the pitcher won't be a problem.

But anyway, the schedule changed at work as well, per our new manager's wishes, and I'm kind of upset over it. Our weekend shifts are now like the weekday ones [which is understandable], meaning I lost two hours on both Saturday and Sunday. I went from having 28 scheduled hours a week [bare minimum I needed for my bills prior to rent going up, my phone bill going up, and before Netflix was coming out of my account] to 24, and two new people were hired.

A.) I've been asking for more hours and I'm the only person losing hours?

B.) Why would two new people get hired if there are only three shifts opening up [the recently abandoned 6:00am weekend shifts and one weekday 4:00pm shift, I'm pretty sure]?? Now there will be more people to cover shifts and I won't be able to make up my already lacking hours as easily as now!

C.) The shifts that were already covered on the calendar are going to have to be switched around again because instead of me working Saturday through Tuesday I work Friday through Monday [which is fine by me, with the exception of the lost hours] and certain shifts I signed up to cover are now on days I will be scheduled to work conflicting hours. Ah!

D.) The two new people that were hired are going to be trained by us and not the manager, meaning we will still be getting paid minimum wage, having to train someone, and have to basically be surprised when they are coming in because they both have other jobs.

Anyone else thinking, "Ah!!"? Just me? Whatever I guess. I'm not a manager anymore; I don't have the power to make any kind of decisions.

I did help make decisions about our Halloween decorations though.








FYI, I always use GeoCities for my picture uploads because I have run into so many pictures of Photobucket exceeding bandwidth and I didn't want that happening to me. This time, however, I logged into GeoCities and each time I clicked "Login" after typing in my password, it would go back to the homepage and act as if I didn't log in at all. By the way, why are "login" and "logout" both one word? Anyway, I went to Photobucket to make an account and apparently I already had one. I have an account on every website [seriously], and I used the same password. Wow. I had only two photos loaded on it:





Only a few select people will understand these pictures. Haha though!

But yea, that is our spooky Halloween yard.

...done blogging for now.

An Entry in the Miranda Psychology Encyclopedia

It's weird how dreams can be at different levels of intensity. In my Psychology classes, I learned that you dream during a certain cycle of sleep [when your REM cycle is strong or something?], but you go through different cycles and that's why you have different dreams. I've also heard that you are constantly dreaming at night, but simply don't remember them all. Some people don't remember any. I think I remember Andrew recalling about three dreams, and we've been seeing each other for over eight months. How's that for a ratio?

Is it a genetic trait or some kind of brainwave that makes a person more able to remember dreams? I remember my dreams all of the time! For example, four nights ago, Beavis and Butthead Do America played on the living room screen. I fell asleep, of course, but while my mind processed the fact that I was falling asleep, it thought that a dream I started having was, in fact, reality. I had these dreams about a month ago [shortly after I started working at BigFoot] where I would wake up and think I was literally making someone a coffee drink. I'm not sure if I was stirring the air with my finger or anything, but it was so incredibly real.

The "dream" I had that night was that Andrew was making the dogs a Snickers espresso shake. Apparently this is okay in my book, except it is necessary for the peanut butter to be sugar free instead of sugar-riddled. With a slight error of ingredient, he put the sugar-riddled flavour into the blender and I woke up yelling at Andrew asking, "Why isn't it SUGAR FREE?!"

Like I was saying, there are different intensity levels of dreaming and it's strange to experience different ones. In the Miranda Psychology Encyclopedia, the chapter on Dream Intensity Levels is as follows:

1.) The Non-Dream. These dreams are what Andrew [and many other people] experience on a nightly basis. It is a feeling of deep relaxation where the mind is completely blank. This doesn't happen very often to me because I am completely random, possibly have an acute case of ADD, and am always curious about anything and everything. Irrelevant as these facts may be, the Non-Dream is a filler. You wake up the next morning, a few hours later, or whenever you decided to sleep, and you can't remember actually experiencing sleep. It is more of a subconscious time warp than anything.

2.) The Semi-Dream. There is a theory that if you keep a journal ["diary," "log," whatever word you choose] next to your bed [or wherever you decide to sleep] and you reach for it the second you wake up and write down whatever details--big or small--you can remember, the better your dream memory will be. Some people have a horrible dream memory and some people just experience these Semi-Dreams every once in a while, but it goes a little something like this: you wake up in the morning and think, "That was the strangest dream!" You roll out of bed and into your brown fuzzy slippers and matching brown fuzzy robe, let the dogs outside, make a stop in the bathroom for contacts ["All the better to see you with, my dear!"], get dressed and ready for the day with well done hair and make-up. If there is time, you have breakfast. If not, you let the dogs back in and are out the door and off to wherever you are going [for example: work at a coffee stand]. After all this, you recall that you had the strangest dream last night, but can't remember any of the details. You try and try and try but can't seem to recollect any of it. Dropping it as if there was no dream actually dreamt, you go along with your work day as normal. A customer pulls up and asks for a Sugar Free Peppermint Mocha. *GASP!* Something familiar in this situation. You think to yourself, "What could it be... ...oh yes! I had a dream about a sugar free drink." These Semi-Dreams come back only after something triggers an unusual detail. Most often, the dreams are lacking in description but are only a summary of what you actually dreamt.

3.) Basic Dreams. Everyone knows what this is. You wake up and remember everything. You tell all your friends that you dreamt you were naked in church or you found a bag of cash on the ground. Recalling what happened in these dreams brings back the feeling you felt when having them. You think about your dream and you feel embarrassed and confused as to why you were naked, or you feel excited about the cash and then disappointed when you awoke without. No in-depth description needed for these dreams.

4.) Reality Dreams. An example of this would be me waking up and yelling at Andrew for making the drinks wrong, or waking up thinking I was actually making someone a drink. These dreams have such a concentrated intensity that they jump from the sleep-world into the real-world; they are so emotionally powerful that they have no limits as to what they can make you believe is actually happening. The dreams where you wake up in a sweat, panting, and possibly screaming for help as you run away from someone [and of course end up being the snail of all runners] are also Reality Dreams. I also consider Fever Dreams to be in this category. When I was younger and was either sick or had a fever, I would have the same couple dreams over and over. They were basic [I'm an ant in a bird's nest trying to bring a piece of dirt into the middle of the nest, or I'm a tiny sliver of a white line in a grey-slab world and there is a massive black hair cluster after me--both dreams being absolutely silent with the only noises being scratching of people/things moving] but they were so intense that I would wake up in a sweat and hide under my blankets until morning or until someone came in to check on me.

5.) Lucid Dreams. These are my personal favourite. The theory about increasing your dream memory by writing them down as often as you can also states that it can increase your chances of experiencing a lucid dream. Have you ever literally pinched yourself in your dream and realized you were dreaming? ...Or you think, "How did I get here? This doesn't make sense..." and you think back to exactly how you got there and you can't remember so you know that you are dreaming? When you are in a dream and know you're dreaming and you don't wake up right away, you are lucid dreaming. You can literally do whatever you want to in this dream. I have flown, had telekinesis [and used it for hilarious stuff], beat people up that piss me off in real life, and said and did things that I would never do in real life. It's hard to understand what it is until you experience one for yourself. It is quite literally a parallel universe where there are endless possibilities and no limits to what you can do.

[How many times did I say "literally"? NOTE: I put the quotation marks on the inside of the question mark because what was quoted was not part of a question. It drives me INSANE when people put the quotes on the inside for no reason other than the fact that it "looks better." Because most of the time, it doesn't. At least when you've had a few English classes and can easily double check punctuation problems online: Quotation Marks Punctuation Rules].

My main points are: there are a bunch of different dreams with different intensities, I've experienced them all, and they are quite amazing. If you haven't experienced them all, start writing down your dreams right when you wake up so that you possibly can.

Bad-Mood Barista

I was not in the best of moods at work this morning, which was unfortunate because, well, it just was. Last night's shift [the one I mistakenly thought was in the morning] was one of the most overwhelming ones I have had yet! I had absolutely
no idea how busy a Friday night would be. The weekend mornings I work are usually extremely busy and the weekday mornings I work are usually extremely dead. I figured that since it was night time and since it was between 4:00pm and 10:00pm, there wouldn't be as many customers.

As usual, I was wrong.

It's fine if it's a busy day and I'm with someone else to help take the pressure to make drinks faster away from just me. But if I'm all alone, have cars at each window with four drinks each, and a man walking up from a car behind bitching at me to go faster because he'd been waiting "for FIF-TEEN MINUTES!!" it kind of bums me out.

Oh, and when one truck pulls up with a couple drinks and their friends behind them immediately pull up beside them and say, "I don't want to wait anymore. Order our drinks together!" ...and there are two blended coffee drinks, one hot cider, a fruit smoothie, and an iced coffee drink [note: all different types of drinks with all different ways of making them meaning that they will take longer to make] and whilst making them, I hear some girl in the car on the side say, "Well she's taking her sweet ass time in there!" I'd like to see HER make all of these drinks any faster.

Butthole.

So, after this, I get a phone call from the girl who was supposed to relieve me at 10:00 saying that she was taking her son to the hospital and would be a bit late. I have absolutely no problem with staying later or cover shifts when necessary, but I was just overwhelmed with how busy it was. I didn't have a clean pitcher in sight, I had empty milk jugs all over the counters, syrup bottles I didn't have time to put back away, and for about 20 minutes before my relief got to the stand, I didn't have a register. I was giving away free drinks and about to just lose my mind before the other girl got there.

I was tired, overwhelmed, stressed without a register, bummed about the rude and impatient man's attitude and the rude and impatient girl in the car's comment, missing Andrew, and not looking forward to the lack of sleep I was about to get [leaving the stand at 11:30pm and having to be back around 5:00am or so], I slumped into a rut of bad-mood-ism.

I got home and passed OUT! It was the fastest I think I've ever fallen asleep.

I woke up at 4:30 and was out of the door in less than 15 minutes. No make-up, no brushing of hair, just a presentable and acceptable appearance in uniform [guys' jeans, tennies, a sweater, and a sweatshirt because I was super cold at the shift the night before]. Good thing I chose that outfit because it was low 30s out and I was freezin my nose off! I should have worn my sweet "Fargo" hat, a scarf, and my wool mittens. Next time. Tomorrow morning.

I got to work, clocked in, and was not in the mood for a rush all by myself again. Fortunately, it was steady traffic and I wasn't by myself until the next person came in, like I normally am. All in all, with two people and steady customers, my mood finally broke about 10:30am. I think I was just OVER the stupid customers and looking forward to relaxing at home.

1.) Miss Scraggley Walk Up: Kiara is cleaning a window and I am spacing out, trying to psyche myself out of my mood. Neither of us see the woman approach, so she rat-a-tat-TATs on the window [not the walk-up window, but the drive-up. Whatever]. I open it and ask how she's doing. Cutting me off, she orders her drink. [Murphy just farted and it's unbearable]. Anyway, Kiara makes her drink, I ring her up, and she hands me a $20. I give her the change and she suddenly has some coinage that she wants to put toward her total. She was 27¢ away from the nearest dollar so she kept the bills and she handed me a quarter. I got out the coins and she said, "It should be something else." So I look and say that she needs two more cents to reach a dollar. She hands me a bunch of coins and tells me to keep the change. So I take the dollar and extra cents and set it aside. She then yells/grunts at me, "I should have gotten a dollar back!" Well good LORD lady! If you want to make everything complicated by adding the wrong coins at the end and saying, "Keep the change," [which 99% of people saying that mean "Keep the left-overs," and I double-check just to make sure that's what they mean] then by all means, make everything complicated. Just don't get pissed at me when you are a Scraggley Walk Up woman. I don't care if you don't want to tip us all that much; just tell me what you are TRYING to accomplish by digging out some extra coins. Oh, and PS, the very NEXT customer did the same thing with adding coins after the total was rung through with her bills.

2.) Windows are closed for a reason: it's cold out. Freezing. A tit bit nippley. Anyway, when we open the window and go to say something, it's extremely frustrating when someone disregards us as human beings and rattles off their drinks. I'm not a slave; yes, I'm here to serve the customer and make them the product that they want, but at least treat me in a dignified manner. Yea, it's basically bullshit to me right now in my career as a barista to make small talk because A.) I don't know the customers intimately yet, B.) I don't know which people like to talk and which ones don't, and C.) at the moment, I'm more focused on getting the drinks perfect [and in a timely manner]. BUT, if I ask someone how their day is going or whatever version of that I decide to spew out, it's good to reply. It's respectable to reply. It's NICE to reply. Be human for a minute. Please.

3.) I made five hot chocolates for this one car, FIVE hot chocolates: THREE 16oz ones and TWO 20oz ones. I don't think I've made more delicious drinks FASTER in my barista-life. I got everything correct, straws and great customer service... ...and no tip. It's just sad to make so many drinks for one vehicle and not get anything. I don't expect it, but if it's 3+ drinks, c'mon. 50¢ isn't going to kill you, especially because I forgot to ring up the "breve" or the "extra flavour" you so desperately needed.

I'm worn out. I'm trying to stay awake until about 10:00pm or so, go to bed HARD and FAST like last night, and get some good, deep sleep, but my eyes are closing and not just to blink. I wonder if a dog would want to snuggle with me and watch Sex and the City whilst we wait for Andrew to come home from work?

[Update: Murphy's fart is no longer present. Don't sent a search party; thanks].

I'm a Barista Who Can't Make Coffee

Yesterday I decided to bring out the coffee pot from down in the depths of the cupboards. Being a barista and all, I figured that I could make a better cup of coffee than I used to [they were nas-TEE]. I decided to only make two cups instead of the four I used to make because I would fill up the mug [two cups full] and the rest would just get tossed anyway because I wouldn't fully enjoy the first mug I made. So, two cups-worth of coffee grounds in the filter, two cups-worth of water in the "holding tank," one press of the start button, and we were off! I was excited for a fresh look at making my own coffee. I even decided to add a little bit of my Instant Mocha mix to make it have a little more of a taste [the container suggests to add 1-2 scoops per 6oz. of coffee or hot water]. The coffee brewed, I added a little cream and a couple scoops of the powder mix, stirred, and tasted.

Turns out, I figured wrong about being able to make a better cup of coffee; if anything, it was worse than I ever made before! I might be using the wrong kind of coffee [Folgers something; it was on sale whenever I bought it] or it was the fact that the machine hadn't been used in a while. None-the-less, I poured out the mug of bleh, washed it out, and decided to go the safe route and make a frozen mocha with the blender.

We are going to be remodeling the kitchen as soon as we can afford the time and money to spend on it. Until then, the counterspace in our current kitchen setup is lacking. We make do, but my point is that I had to wash out the coffee maker and put it back in the depths of the cupboards in order to make room for the blender, which is also found in the depths.

I rinse out the coffee pot and then open up the lid to the machine to take out the filter. Come to find out, the filter decided to do a little origami whilst brewing my cup-o-bleh and the sides folded inward and over the coffee grounds [might explain the lack of taste].

So after cleaning out the machine and putting it away, I brought out Mr. Blender and whipped out a delicious frozen "mocha." At least I can make those correctly.

Whilst drinking my concoction, I made a trip to http://www.1001freefonts.com/ and browsed the free fonts...

...for about an hour and a half.

But now if I'm making some kind of custom anything for a web page or an image or just about anything, it won't be the same font that everyone sees every day. It drives me nuts when people use Papyrus for political signs and Tempus Sans ITC for restaurant menus.

After downloading a million of them, I took a ride out to Oak Harbor [the third in less than 24 hours] to accompany Andrew in acquiring the second of his two new vehicle purchases. He got two VW Bugs [one that runs and drives and one that doesn't even roll] for $250. I don't know how he does it, but he'll make that and a whole heck of a ton more re-selling them. So now we have my car, Sam's car, and Andrew's Mustang, lifted Excursion, Kharmann Ghia, boat, tow truck, non-rolling bug, and running/driving bug in the front yard/driveways and Andrew's long trailer with another non-running bug on top, a broken Tercel, a VW Dune Buggy, another VW bug, a broke-down VW bus, a four-wheeler, and Andrew's brother's bug in the back yard, and a sand rail and an extremely lifted Prelude in the shop.

This is why we need some property out in Stanwood.

None-the-less, I smiled at our front lawn "ornaments" on my way out to my car to head to work this morning. As many cars as are listed above, it doesn't look super "white trashy" at all; it's just Andrew's hobby and it's admirable that he's found what he truly enjoys doing.

So me, my one car, and my snacks [an apple, a sliced cucumber, and some Ranch dressing] head to work. I usually don't work on Fridays, but I took someone's shift and got there a little before I was supposed to. I looked on the calendar and instead of it saying "10am-4pm: Miranda " it said "4pm-10pm." I was dyslexic and woke up super early for nothing. Well gosh dang! Made myself a blended chai and headed back home.

I'm pretty sure I blogged about this intersection before, but heading home from work, it's easiest to drive through a parking lot, drive around the Jack-in-the-Box, and take the light onto the main road. When you drive around this JitB, there is a stop sign intersection where three of the four sides stop. I'm coming from the East branch of the four-way, the North branch is the one that doesn't stop, and the South branch's Stop sign isn't there anymore, but the Stop line is. So normally, I'll stop and make sure that the person coming from the South branch either stops or goes flying on through without hitting me. My branch has a speed bump about five feet before the stop line. There was no one at either the South or the North branches, but there were three cars on the West branch, facing me. They were at a complete stop. I approached my speed bump and slowly went over it, coming to a complete stop at my line. The man in the car facing me on the West branch made some kind of arm gesture telling me that it was his turn to go, assuming that me driving over the speed bump meant that I was going to completely disregard my Stop sign and just drive on through.

Jack-ass.

So I'm behind this guy at a red light and I decide that I should take my stupid pill from my doctor. I called on Monday [three days after my appointment, when the doctor said it would only take two for the lab results to come in], left a message with the lab with my name and cell number asking them to call me as soon as the results came in. Why would I pay $43+ for ten pills when if the results came back negative, I would just stop taking them like nothing happened? So I wanted to be 100% sure before I forked out the money for the pills. I didn't get a call back that day.

At work the next day, toward the end of my shift, I missed a call from my mom. Her voice message said that the lab called her back with my results. I really don't care that my mom knows what's going on at the doctor's, but A.) the admitting nurse checked to see if my cell number was correct [which it wasn't and she wrote down the newer one], B.) the doctor who saw me double checked that the cell phone number written down was the fastest and easiest way to get ahold of me, and C.) I left a GOD-DAMN MESSAGE with the lab with MY cell number extremely articulated so that no mistakes would be made... and yet, they call my mom's phone.

Like I said, the medical profession is a crock.

So I forked out those well-earned $43+ tip money from the slowest days of work of my life to a pharmacist who spoke to me like a robot, not checking my I.D. or anything, but simply assuming that I was who I said I was.

Crock.

Communication is Key

It's 5:34am right now and I'm laying in bed next to the most amazing person I will ever know. We spend a whole bunch of time together and yet, I am always excited to see him; whether it'd been four days apart on a mini-vacation to California or four minutes when he's making a sandwich in the kitchen and I'm in the living room. This man is simply amazing. We've been together not even eight months, but it's been the happiest time of my life and I think that I've finally found someone who honestly and truly makes me feel that everything--all of life's ups and tremendous downs--is worth it. And I think the thing that makes it work is simply this:

Communication.

We don't have any secrets, we voice our opinion about stuff when it happens and don't spend time stewing over something and wondering when we should mention it, and we don't hold anything back. We're not afraid to hurt each other's feelings--though oddly enough, it really hasn't happened yet--and we're not afraid to be honest.

I think that's the secret to any relationship and people need to realize that. Whenever I hear people complaining about their "significant other" [whomever it may be to them], I want to just scream, "Then talk to THEM about it!! What good is complaining to me about something when it could all be fixed by having this conversation with them?" No one will know if they are bothering you or doing something to upset you in any way unless you straight up tell them. Body language is basically a foreign language to 99% of the population and chances are, you're not ever going to meet that 1% in your entire life.

Plus, the time you spend not stressing about the "what if"s and the things that drive you nuts is time spent not tearing your body down from the inside. You don't feel guilty for thinking, "God, this person just keeps doing the same shit over and over and not changing! Here we go again with the emotional manipulation. Why am I even with this person?" ...or whatever your case may be. You don't have the fat elephant in the room all the time digging his tusk into your guts every now and then.

And being honest means you don't have to remember any false truths to keep yourself in the clear, which is nice.

So basically, everyone should learn to communicate. Not just with your personal relationships either, but with day-to-day interactions as well. I went to Wal-Mart on Friday to get a prescription filled; sounds like an everyday event, right? Well, apparently not. I have the beginnings of a bladder infection. No big deal; half of women will get one [many get more] in their lifetime. Some are just more susceptible than others. Blah blah blah, I have one. I got one about four years ago and when I took the medication for it, I broke out in hives.

Haha, I know. Gross.

...finding out that I'm allergic to the stuff to fix it. We went a round-about way with another drug and it worked fine. This time, they started me out with a different drug because I'm allergic to the main one to fix it, and apparently this drug is super out-of-the-ordinary because no pharmacy in Burlington or Mount Vernon had it in stock. I didn't find this out until waiting two HOURS at Wal-Mart, them telling me it wasn't there, going to Rite-Aid, waiting another half hour, them calling all the pharmacies, and then telling me they had to order it and it would take two days for it to even arrive.

Well, great; two days--that I could have been correcting my little problem--down the drain, pun intended. Oh, and to top off the lack of communication WASTING my day, my insurance decided to make a mockery of the situation and only pay for a smidge of the cost, so I have to pay a "co-pay" of forty some-odd dollars, when normally it's $6 or $10.

The medical profession is a crock. That's my opinion, I'm voicing it, and keeping the lines of communication present.

Oh, and you know what lines of communication I would have loved to have been present? Those about a family get-together that went down yesterday. It was my grandparents' anniversary and the whole family was getting together in Bellingham at a park to celebrate. My mom suggested I request the day off so that I could go, take candid pictures, and have a good time [with the family that I see maybe twice a year?], so I did. I ended up only switching shifts going from the 4:00am-noon [where last week I made $76 in tips] to the 2:00pm-10:00pm [where I ended up making a SURPRISING $42]. The family get-together was supposed to be at 10:00am and last until 1:00, leaving me plenty of time to get home and get to work on time.

I recall getting some e-mails from my aunt about the event but because I hardly ever talk to this woman, I didn't have her in my address book, resulting in the messages going to my Junk Mail folder and getting deleted [P.S. why is it that when you delete a message in Hotmail that it doesn't go to the trash can anymore? It is quite literally disintegrated into the depths of cyberspace, unable to re-appear even when the Back button makes the message and subject re-appear in the list, seeming able to open]. I asked my sister if she had gotten anything and she said, "Nope." So I assumed it wasn't important.

Sister and I were going to take her senior pictures before the get-together and planned on leaving at 7:00am to allow for enough time to get some different locations and outfits. She cancelled at the last minute [which is totally fine; sleeping in is a privilege that many aren't able to appreciate] so I planned on leaving at 9:30am. I texted my mom to make sure it was still at 10:00 and didn't hear back. Around 9:20, I called. My youngest sister answered and through bouncing conversation between me, her, and my dad, I learned that those "Junk" e-mails ended up notifying people that the time was changed from 10:00-1:00 to 1:00-4:00. My senior-picture sister found out only the night before.

Thanks everyone for making sure that people actually knew. Not everyone checks Junk Mail messages from awlkejrpoi1324@aol.com [not really the e-mail address, but basically with all the letters and numbers].

So great. A.) I could have worked my original shift, making more tips and being able to go to the whole thing, B.) I could have been done with work at noon, and C.) AHHH! Why don't people know how to properly communicate?

I guess it was a good thing I didn't go because I was expecting this big ol' potluck deal with lots of finger foods and pasta salads when it was actually just cookies and cake [yuk probably]. AND my senior-picture sister texted me when she got there saying my aunts were setting everything up and were snobby and rude. Looks like I reallllyyyyy missed out on a fun time.

I didn't, actually, because even though I missed my amazing morning shift, I got to sleep in with my amazing boyfriend, have delicious lemon poppyseed muffins for breakfast that we baked the night before, sneak a chopped up cucumber with ranch into a matinee showing of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and have time to relax and watch some South Park before going to work.

[Longest sentence ever].

By the way, N&N'sIP wasn't as good as expected, although it didn't have that smash hit appeal that some movies do [like I'm feeling that Zack and Miri Make a Porno has, but that might just be that Seth Rogan is in it--but almost at the bottom of the cast list? All movies on this website should have the cast in order of role relevance, not alphabetical! That's horse shit. Oh, and this thread on IMDb.com about the movie is pretty funny]. It had Michael Cera playing the trademark nerdy teenager, which was as good as to be expected, and Kat Dennings [the rich, spoiled little brat from an episode of Sex and the City] who ended up being okay. But the girl they chose for the ex-girlfriend, Alexis Dziena, no offense, has the face of a botox-gone-wrong accident to the extreme. She is supposed to be the beautiful and popular girl, but she's just an every day "butterface" as they are called, and it was a horrendous time when she was on screen. I cringed a lot.

Oh, and there was an "orgasm" that happened in literally five seconds with a hand-down-the-pants move. Tell me how that is humanly possible, please.

I'm also surprised that it was humanly possible that the 2:00-10:00 shift wasn't that bad yesterday. It was super slow for a while and then we would get six or seven steady cars and then it was super slow again. I literally cleaned every syrup pump above one of the counters, inside and out, with a bristle wire. They looked marvelous. But yesterday was officially the day not to tip. Our drinks were amazingly delicious, but apparently there was a memo sent out [that didn't go into the Junk Mail folder] telling people to order a lot of drinks and not tip. I got three cents from a lady though, and she looked like she expected it to brighten my day.

Just keep the fricken three cents. I'll be flicking them at your car later.

I don't mean to sound bitter or unappreciative, but when someone orders a lot of drinks and doesn't tip, it is kind of a slap in the face. I mean, yea, it's not required or anything, but we are taking the time to make sure that it has the right amount of ingredients to taste delicious and be worth the money that you pay. Yes, our prices went up. Yes, the economy is down. But that doesn't mean that our drinks have lost any of their quality. If anything, they're getting better with me working more and getting into my groove, which I have, if I do say so myself. I'm not sure if I wrote this in a previous blog [don't think I did] but I arranged the syrup bottles so that I, miss shortie-short, can reach them without using the step stool.

Big deal.

So your order will be taken without having to write it down, made as fast as possible without losing sight of the perfect amount--and the specific type--of ingredients, and will be delivered with a smile and a conversation, if the noise level and customer traffic permits. I'm here to listen to whatever problems you have going on in your life with no judgment, I'm here to give advice when asked, and basically here to just let you vent if needed [and sometimes it's extremely helpful to just LET IT OUT to someone].

I'm your barista therapist, and it only costs you the price of your drink and the optional-but-very-much-appreciated tip.

One lady did tip us $4 for two blended drinks. And when I was alone, one couple tipped me almost $4 for two hot drinks and told me to be safe, and another couple [who talked to me about my dogs--Murphy most because they were interested in getting a Corgi] tipped me $3. I'm pretty sure there's at least one karma camera of the 14 that we have at the stand, and these nice people are going to get what they deserve, which is a big ol' pile of good things to come.

Before I left for work, I went to the Torani website and the DaVinci website [most of our syrups are from these two companies] and found some pretty cool recipes to try. I printed the DaVinci's Seasonal Recipe Calendar and brought it to work. Andrew stopped by on his way home from work and I used one of the recipes to make him a new flavour of Italian Cream Soda [who wouldn't have the cream inside? It's amazing]: Cherry Lime-illa. I tasted it and it was actually pretty amazing. A regular customer came through around 10:00 [when my relief got there] and ordered an I.C.S. He didn't know what flavour and I recommended that he try the new one from the recipe calendar. He said he would and he said it was pretty dang good as well.

I love making new things!

And SPEAKING of new things, I have AMAZING news: I found my drink. The drink. I'm not sure what to call it yet, but it'll have a name soon. I've only tried it blended, but I have a strong feeling it'll be good any way we can make it. It's a basic Pumpkin Pie Latte [oh my; something is wrong with my "M" key. Soon I'm going to find out just how often I use it] with an extra half-pump or so of flavouring, a dash of spiced chai powder [depends on the size; probably 1/8 of a teaspoon for a 12oz], and half-way between Ristretto and normal shots. I love coffee; I just would rather have more flavouring than the actual coffee flavouring, but still be able to tell it's there. If I had my drink hot, I would add a bit of whipping cream and a dash of cinnamon on the top, otherwise I skip that part and just add the lid. Oh my! It's just a little bit of a spicier version of the Pumpkin Pie but it just so happens to be perfect.

I was talking to a customer about it. He ordered a 16oz Americano with "Five raw sugars and extra cream." How did he come to find that five was the perfect amount of raw sugars for a 16oz? It's also odd to have the orders like, "Triple grande sugar-free vanilla soy latte with the vanilla syrup AND the vanilla soy, 130°, no whip, no straws, no accessories." How LONG did it take for you to perfect that? You even know the degree in which you want it to end up being at. I know I can't have my hot drinks super hot or else my tongue and palate become in a dismal state and I know that I like my hot drinks no hotter than 120°, but that's because I know what I'm heating the milk up to and I can figure with the espresso and flavours and all what it'll end up being. Did these customers at one time make coffee? Did these customers at one time sit down with their barista and say, "Make a drink at this temperature and this temperature and this temperature and let me try all three. I'll decide from there what to do." It always fascinates me to hear what people's signature drinks are. This one guy gets a white on white with macadamia nut; I assume he likes cookies. Another guy gets a Kahlua latte; I assume he's a recovering alcoholic. I'm sure I'm not 100% correct, but I'm still curious.

This "M" key thing is bothering me. I'm going to wrap it up, I suppose. Almost two hours of blogging and I've got a little over one more until my alarm is supposed to go off. It's getting light outside, my tummy is rumbling, and my hair is parted way too far to the right.

Looks like it's going to be an okay day.