The Adventures of Being Me

Merry Christmas Everybody. Faramir and Eowyn tried to capture Santa, but Precious sprung the trap when he drank the milk. And then, Santa walked in the door to tell Faramir he heard what he did to the Easter Bunny so he was lucky to get a present. (The ferrets set a trap for the Easter Bunny and while Faramir was negotiating for more chocolate eggs, Eowyn hid the Bunny's eggs in the closet) So now the cats and ferrets can rest in excitement because I won't let them open their Santa gifts until I wake up tomorrow morning. I got a call from a temp agency about a job possibility and the company will select the people they want next week. I hope I get picked. Crossing fingers. Well, Have a great Christmas. I will be celebrating with my Mom, Aunt, and sister's family.

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends. Another year of college studies and hopefully be done next spring, my brain is exhausted. Slept in on New Year’s Day since my only job was my work study for an economics professor and no school for a couple more weeks. Went to the family Christmas at Mom’s retirement home banquet room. Did my civic jury duty for a civil lawsuit (yawn). Then back to work and taking 5 accounting classes, I want to graduate as quickly as possible. Then, took Mom to a lunch at a restaurant where my Dad’s cousins were getting together. Had a lovely chat with relatives I never see anymore, thank goodness for social websites. This year we celebrated ferrets Faramir’s and Eowyn’s 2nd birthdays and cats Precious’s and Frodo’s 9th birthdays with cake and canned tuna (ferrets love frosting, cats love tuna). Lost a lady fish Canace after a few months. Lost an old man fish Apollo after 5 years, my first baby fish. Lost another male fish Dionysis I had a year....

Had a fun filled weekend. Went to the Science Center for Family Night that celebrated Star Wars with R2-D2 and a guy dressed as an Episode 7 villain. He came around without the costume and took our photos with a plastic stick in front of the camera to make it look like our light saber was lit up. They had contests and drawings. I won a Star Wars poster. Niece whined she wanted it, but I said no. It's going on my door when I take the scarecrow down. Niece and I dressed up as Jedi while nephew refused to wear his Darth Maul costume he wore a couple Halloweens ago. Weird kids eagerly dress up for Halloween a couple weeks ago and don't want to dress up for Star Wars. Next, my niece celebrated her 12th birthday at the Cheesecake Factory. She loved her gifts and we had chocolate cake. Got to announce my temp job is ending and the day before Thanksgiving, I will unemployed again. Not too concentrated on job hunting until after finals in a few weeks. Been sending out the occasional ...

Spending my Halloween at home doing homework and watching Halloween specials. Hocus Pocus, It's the Great Pumpkin, and Ghost Adventures tonight. Last night I watched History Channel Monsters series and History of Halloween. Niece and nephew went out with their Mom while their father is running the NYC marathon. Kids thought my Mom or I should come to their new apartment and hand out candy. Had trouble explaining apartments don't have trick or treaters. I heard kids returning in the hallway, but nobody ever knocked on my door. I do have candy since it's a good time to get it (coupons and sales). Next week will change rooms at work. Some group needs out training so moving to another building. Some will go to home office and work. Still working on invoices and figuring out where to send them when they lack information. Yep, that is what I do all day for 8 hours, 5 days a week, Stare at invoices. For the money, I don't complain how boring it is. Other coworkers have left fo...

Called Mom for my monthly begging for money that has been going on for the past five years. I hate asking for money so much that often I will take a cash advance from a credit card in the middle of the month just to avoid asking more than once a month. But rent is due so have to bite the bullet. She asked how my college classes were going and I neglected telling her that I was close to flunking them. Been doing badly since my migraines increased in frequency causing fuzzy brain. For the past 4 weeks, I have at least one (sometimes 3) each day. Went to doctor to get a med that was too strong and triggered my asthma so had to stop taking it. Found a homeopathic med online that helps with symptoms so getting better. Migraines just won't end for some reason. So explained to Mom that I dropped a class. Didn't want to and cried myself to sleep feeling like a total failure, but now I can focus more on the other 3 classes. I'm working 40 hours a week invoice verifying so don...

Had a lovely summer working 6 days a week and reporting my lack of progress of finding a new job to the intern professor. Had my resume reviewed by a career councilor and the professor to get complaints how I'm not fabulous. Sorry I didn't graduate Harvard with honors, never held a management job to showcase results of my skills, and worked retail instead of an office. All temp agencies offer is customer service jobs so we no longer speak to each other. I'm trying to leave customer service. Was told by 2 temp agencies they have don't have positions for me now nor in the future. Very hard to explain to people why I'm not good enough for any job, not even entry level office jobs because I don't have 3 years experience. Had a coworker look at my resume who used to work human resources. I'm too old to work (ok, then what should I do for the next 20 years when I can collect Social Security) and my temporary jobs make me look flaky to not be able to hold on to a j...

So now there is a movement to remove all signs of the Confederacy from parts of the country that celebrate it as its heritage. Excuse me, what would that accomplish? The Confederacy did exist, its descendants celebrate their heroics, and lives on in museums. I actually love looking at the beauty of old plantation houses and the portraits of the owners who built them. Did the Confederacy represent racism and keeping slavery legal? I have no idea since my ancestors fought on the Union side from Iowa and Kentucky regiments. The South is not my heritage and will leave that answer to the Southern people. But to the question of "Was slavery the cause of the Civil War?" I would say no. I have a Bachelor of Science in History to receive more information than the watered down version taught in high school history class. My professors with PhDs telling us exactly what they thought and encouraged us in our research to understand multiple points of view. British think American Revolu...

Sorry for not posting for months, I've been busy. Homework, Homework, Exams, and spend time with the family. Sister was happy I had weekends off, but never found time to spend with me. Easter was my apartment since my sister didn't want to clean her house. Whatever. Had Easter egg hunt ready and niece doesn't want to do it because she is too old. Yes, let's ignore the fact that she has been pestering my sister for weeks about it. Sister recommended movies as prizes and gave me the money for it. Nephew won the contest gathering the most eggs and ready to pick one of my Rated R movies. Ah, excuse me, I presented the 2 movies my sister said to get to them and he was so excited over Transformers. Now he wants Troy or 300 or Gladiator. No and if he doesn't want it I will send it back. Sister suggests borrowing Happy Potter movies as a reward to him reading the books. I can live with that and he accepts his Transformer movie. Niece doesn't want her movie either caus...

Doing taxes for the public again (did this a few years ago) and have to rant for a moment. The tax clients I despise: The ones who keep no records and get mad I can't make up deductions. There is a thing called an audit and I refuse to go to jail for 5 years for a fraudulent return just because you are a cheap bastard. The ones who get mad their college expenses are not deductible. I'm sorry, but a dependent client cannot deduct college credits and I don't care if your friend told you otherwise. College expenses are deductible for independent people and lowers their taxes owed, they do NOT receive any extra refund. You must earn at least $26,500 Single or Married Filing Separately, $27,800 Head of Household, or $29,550 Married Filing Jointly, to receive full benefit of college credits. People who have not filed for years decide to suddenly file this year. Excuse me, why are you here if the IRS is not breathing down your neck for not filing for years. When I send this in...

Had a ice storm last night. I go out thinking everything is fine because the ice is clear and can't tell the difference between wet and dry sidewalks. It is all ice as I discover slipping onto my elbows and knees to watch my books fly down the icy sidewalk. No salt anywhere to be seen. Skated to the car and removed wet ice easily. After nearly falling down again and grabbing the car, I decided to stay home. Saw cars go by on the street, but scared of icy driving in the parking lot. Emailed my professors. Spent most of the day sleeping and doing homework. Leg killing me all day and have to tell the cats to get off it when they want attention. Updates: Spent January attending the extended family Christmas where hardly anybody talked to me. I think I'm still ostracized from the family even though they beg me to attend family events just to ignore me. Then when my time at the mall train ended early, I signed up for unemployment. Was denied unemployment since I didn't earn eno...

Finally got my 1st jury summons. Ugh. Last thing I want to do is sit through a boring trial. Got a delay because I'm a student. So go in and selected for a civil case. Ok, don't have to decide if someone goes to jail. I can live with that. So go through the jury selection and too high on the list to be excused without question. Dammit, dammit, dammit. I tried everything I found on the internet to avoid getting picked and I get picked. The only question I got into was if I was in a civil suit before. I said I had a worker's compensation case. Lawyer said that's not a civil case, that's a worker's compensation case. Ok, so I'm not a lawyer. So receive pens and paper to take notes. My pen doesn't work so grab one out of my purse when opening statements are done. Lunch is coming so hurry and write what I remember to ignore judge speech before leaving. Return and Plaintiff witnesses are questioned. Worst witness testimony I ever heard. Sympathy card of fall...