Archives—November 2008

November 10—An Update, at Last—and a New Section!!!

I feel so traitorous for not having updated at least the political blog in the last couple of weeks (OBAMA FTW! HELL YEAH!—You probably don't have to guess that I voted early, straight ticket Democrat. So did my dad, for which I credit myself.), but 1.) I've been working too much to get near the computer, and 2.) My Internet connection has been down the last couple of days anyway.

As mentioned above, my hours have been fairly long lately. I've worked a couple of shows at the Erwin Center in addition to my part time jobs at LNT and Borders. I've taken advantage of the paychecks to get some new glasses (the prescription hasn't changed, but the old glasses were a bit beat up), a printing calculator (handy for reconciling the accounts), a few new articles of clothing (well, new to me, anyway), and an iPod nano. That last was quite imprudent, but no matter. The temptation of listening to my tunes in the car without fucking around with a dinky tape deck was not to be resisted. It's not as awesome as a classic iPod would be, but affordability makes it awesome enough. Anyway, it's nice: It's sleek and black and fits more music than my dinky shuffle and has a little screen. I don't know how literate it is, though—I'm not much of a Metallica fan these days, but since when was Garage Inc. an "unknown album"? Oh well.

By the way, speaking of Linens 'N Things, I believe I mentioned last time that we expect to be closed by Christmas. Everything in the store is now at least twenty per cent off. They've relaxed the dress code a bit—We still have to wear black or khaki slacks, but we're allowed to wear colored shirts now (before it was just white). I told them I was going to wear all black every day there from now until we close. I was half kidding, but the first time I wore solid black there, there was such a noticeable change in the way the customers treated me (I got four "yes ma'am"s spoken in total seriousness) that I decided to keep wearing black. That and my brusque demeanor have reduced the instances of attempted shoplifting or sassing back from idiot customers.

I've begun a new knitting project even though I already have at least three projects on the needles and three more I'd really like to complete this winter. I've begun making a blanket for my friend Dom, who crashed on the couch at my old roommate's place a lot. I realize a blanket's a bit much for someone I don't know well, but Dom was always kind to me, which is possibly ironic given his reputation. Funny how people can be so easily misinterpreted. Anyway, I noticed that he never had a blanket when he crashed on the couch, so I will try to finish it before it gets really cold. This won't be easy since blankets aren't exactly portable knitting and my time at home is rather limited these days, but then again, it is a relatively quick knit. It's 117 stitches across, knit with two strands of bulky weight yarn together on size 19 needles.

Anyway, it should go without saying that I've updated the political blog. I decided against doing a bunch of retroactive updates. It's all old news now, plus it's not exactly fresh in my memory.

And. I've started the long (long, long, long)-awaited section, Klutzy Incidents! No promises on how often I'll actually update, but today alone should be good for the next week.

November 18—Klutzy Incidents Updated!

I've decided to leave Linens 'N Things before it actually closes. This has less to do with a desire for a job that's not doomed and more to do with hating the epic organizational issues. The other day, three or four managers all gave me conflicting instructions for how they wanted the candles room done, and then they all alternately yelled at each other and at me. I got mad, left to go to my other job, and promptly informed said other job that I'd opted to leave LNT and could now pick up some more hours, at least until I got a different job going.

In the meantime, I've used the extra time to get a lot done around the house. There's still sheet music, yarn, and paint supplies everywhere, of course, but at least it's all in some semblance of order now. Kind of. Anyway, I've of course also worked on the site a bit. I posted some more entries in the klutzy incidents section, and I've updated the political blog. I'm also working on some new stuff for the knitting section, but real knitting is preventing me from doing much there.

Speaking of knitting, I've temporarily abandoned my Obama sweater (gasp!) to work some more on the blanket I started recently. It's already three feet long; it's a fairly quick knit. Sadly, last night's work was mostly retrograde since I had to rip out two rows to fix two stitches (argh!), but upon patching that up, I expect to have it done before long. I'd like to have it finished and ready to ship out by December, preferably sooner. I obviously want the recipient to have it before it gets really cold. I should probably be working on it right now instead of doing this—haha.

November 24—Some Changes

I would like to use this space (I almost put "abuse this space" until I remembered it's my own damn site and I can do whatever I want with it) to express a deep and bitter loathing for the crass commercialism of Christmas. Ironic from an atheist, perhaps, but honestly, do you people realize how appallingly hypocritical you're being? Ignoring the fact that Christmas originally had nothing to do with Jesus, the whole point of all that religious crap is to be humble and not materialistic and shallow and shit. Now, because of this sickening perversion of the holiday, I have to be at work in the mall all day on Black Friday. Fuck you.

Now. I have updated klutzy incidents and the political blog, and I'm working on some new recipes—not just new to the site, but new as in, I invented them. So far all I have posted is tarragon chicken, which is hardly ambitious. I also posted a page of cooking tips.

I've also made a few changes to the theatre and audio sections.

I have a lot of new pictures I want to post in knitting and of the cats, but my stupid computer will not recognize my camera. I will have to try reinstalling it again. Either way, it's pissed me off to the extent that I am now hell bent on getting a Mac laptop, even if it means working eighty hours a week in the fast food industry. Having said that, I am going to a job fair tomorrow morning (after two hours of sleep . . . ) to try to obtain a seasonal job at the UT Co-Op (I've worked there before, but I may not be eligible for rehire), and after that, yes, I will be calling Wendy's. And then I'm going to the dentist. Fun.

Now. Off for a nap.