Thursday, February 26, 2009

Catch up = 3.75 hours

This is a bit of a rambling post, but to sum up:

Morganne's application was denied so she's not able to be my roommate. Quite a bummer since i think she and i would get along really well. I'm back to the drawing board...again.

I have been very very sick since about Saturday midday. Starting out as a headache that would just NOT go away, soon i was barely able to get off the couch to open the door. My fever of about 103, (i'm guessing because i don't have a thermometer or a mother's calibrated hand, but i had some minor hallucinations) finally broke Monday morning, only to be replaced with another one Monday night. My mom showed up to just drop off soup and proceeded to force feed it me and make me drink about a gallon of water. And i slept soundly all day and all night long. I pulled a half day on Monday, another half day Wednesday, and finally made it into work for a mostly full day thus far. And for the week, i managed to catch up in about 3.75 hours. And now i'm sitting waiting for the axe to fall.
I also completely lost my voice on tuesday, which was quite a pickle since i really needed to talk to Katherine. As it turns out, typing 70wpm has some uses, like dictating my response to her. We think we've worked out a plan for how to deal with the living situation and it's current status of unaceptable. While i don't believe her financial status is any of my business, when it affects me, i don't tolerate being lied to very well. I was told "i can't afford to pay march". Now i hear "it would be a bummer but we could pay through the end of the lease". I was less than calm to hear that, since our lease is up in august. But never fear,

The art of negotiation is letting everyone else have your way

Friday, February 20, 2009

Adventures in Roommate Searching

A situation that pretty much everyone can relate to from some point in their lives: Finding a roommate.
The only people I believe that are spared from this..."adventure"... are those who are financially able to live on their own right away after leaving their parent's keep (koodos), or those who never leave their parent's keep.
I was careful enough with my money when i was younger in order to fit into the former, and my parents made sure i would never, ever want to live with them for the rest of my life. So as i realized my college era was ending, i found a roommate and moved out. It was a pleasant six months, with an underlying stress that steadily grew until it exploded and I was forced to look for another roommate.
I put up an ad on craigslist and roommates.com and considering my complex is amazing, queries started pouring in. I forced myself to meet with anyone who fit my three main criteria: Female, Non smoker, financially able to afford the place.
So far i have been able to classify them into four categories:

1) The students: these are the ones who are pulling part time jobs and taking classes or are running solely on student loans and somehow have deluded themselves that they can afford to live with me.

These include:
The 19 year old who didn't know what utilities were much less that they were extra over rent,
The one who showed up 3 hours late and expected me to say yes because she was so awesome,
The ones who asked me if i was 420 friendly (i adamantly am not and turned their names over to the police department),
And the one who brought her bum ass boyfriend with her asking if he could essentially live with us (overnight guests are one thing, this was another)

2) The Not Impressed: The ones who walk through the door and you can visibly watch their faces fall, then they sit and half heartedly get to know you for some odd reason. Then they get up and leave and don't have the decency to tell you they're not interested.

These include:
the 28 year old who decided that she would rather live on her own
the snob...there's no other way to describe her manerisms
and the one who told me yes and then the next day told me about a much better apartment she found for 100$ more

3) The Robots: The ones who come and are as stiff as a board acting like they are in a job interview with donald trump, sit precariously on the edge of the couch and deliver pre-memorized, full fledged, complete sentence, answers to something as simple as "what are your hobbies". They are unable to carry a conversation unless it is a question - answer form.

These include:
the 'afraid to sit on anything' girl
the 'terrified 18 year old'
the 'all but silent' one who stared at me waiting for the next question.
and 'one who couldn't STOP selling herself' to me about why this appartment would be perfect for her.

4) The Potentials: These are the ones whom after speaking with them, I wanted them to move in. However in 3 out of 4 instances, they ended up saying no to me for various reasons:

one got a surprise engagement
one's boyfriend put an offer on a house and she figured she would be living with him more than at the apartment
the one whom i can only describe as fung shui, incense burning, mandala fan whom i later found out was a smoker and then said no to
and the most recent who has a very well behaved dog and i get along great with.

I have two more people to meet with tomorrow. I've had a stressful February and I'm done. I fully intend to make a decision by Sunday and be done with it all. I'm ready to know the answer to what will happen as of March 1 and just get it over with.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dear Soon to be Ex-Roommate

This is a vent or perhaps a guide for when leaving an apartment, All things included in here are what I believe to be common sense when exiting an apartment and not unreasonable expectations especially considering that someone will be continuing to live in that area after you leave. I hope you will read through this and realize how frustrating some of your behaviors have been to me and that we can come to a mutually agreable solution. This is also known as not being an oblivious blockhead. I have detailed some of your more grevious infractions below.



1) Stop with the Katherine Pitty Parties. I don't buy into them anymore. I know perfectly well that you were still sound asleep most days out of a week at noon when i came home for lunch. I also know that when i got home at 5, you were watching tv untill 2 or so in the morning. You could have gotten A JOB, ANY JOB to pay your bills. Instead, for 6 months, you decided to sit around like a lump and go to a couple interviews for the one KIND of job you felt like. By the end of the second month, you should have gotten some kind of minimum wage job, as a grocery store clerk, or waiting tables or something instead of letting mommy and daddy pay for you for six months. I have never in my life met a more overly indulged, 25 year old coward (yes, you heard me. That BS about texting that you're moving out while I was at work and couldn't respond was undoutably cowardly) that is so out of touch with reality yet claims to be very mature for their age.


2) Do NOT do all of your packing and shuffling and sorting RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER ROOMMATE"S DOOR TO THEIR ROOM and BATHROOM!!!!! Especially not when A) the coffee table is bigger, B) closer to the door and C) It's not in someone else's way!


3) Holes that I can stick my pinky through ARE NOT OK TO LEAVE! Are you kidding me? What on earth did you have hanging there? A full size GONG?!

4) Don't leave random magnets attached to the fridge because they're too sticky to get off. Get a putty knife, some kind of Goo remover and take the hour to get them off. Oh yeah, then wash up the residual! And no, you're not getting them back now. I put in the effort, they're mine and if i want to throw them out, I will. (except some of them are kind of cool)

5) When you tell your roommate who's staying "I'll be there before noon to pick up those plants that are in your way"....at least call and let her know that you won't bother to show up until after 4pm, wasting her time and effort to move them out of my way as I cleaned yet another mess caused by you. This will be detailed in number 5.
Thanks for vacuuming up after taking all the plants: Except you missed everywhere but the main pathway. Don't bother next time if you're not gonna do a halfway decent job. If you'd missed the corners, then whatever. But doing a once over in a straight line? Just don't fricken bother.

6) I couldn't believe that we were unable to use our deck for much more than walking out one step and turning around in a circle. That is a completely rediculous amount of plants you posess and guess what? HALF OF THEM ARE DEAD! This issue coupled with the clean off of the roof which dripped onto our deck left the deck smelling like old rotten seagull poop! Thanks for leaving that for me to clean cause i know there is no way in hell you would have bothered doing more than sweep as shown since they cleaned the roofs in October. It was dark green when it should have been lite tan! That is gross. At least now it's possible to walk more than one step outside.

7) I don't want your crap! If i say "No, I don't want that after you're gone." Then don't leave it in a pile on top of the dining room table. For that matter, don't leave the rest of the crap you are taking scattered around the living area and not show up for 4 days. Again, someone else is living there.

8) Even if you're just cleaning out one drawer....Show up once in a while, get some small thing done. You don't need one of your parents or your brother to escort you to pick up half a dozen small things. You have two hands, use them. It won't be so overwhelming if you chip away at it slowly. Or here's a thought...ask for help. If you asked me to patch holes, i wouldn't mind, it's just leaving them thinking they're ok, that bothers me.

9) There is such a thing as before 2pm. It's when most of the rest of the world is trying to get shit done. You should try it sometime!

10) This is more of a observation of your so called social life; Maybe you should try meeting more people than the 4 whom i saw or heard about in the entire 6 months i lived with you. It's a great thing to be friends with your parents and your brother and a neighbor. But when those are the ONLY people you hang out with and you NEVER agree to try and meet other people? No wonder you're depressed. You have a great personality and would do just fine in the real world. But you're hindering yourself! I invited you out constantly, but always recieved the response No. Try Yes once in a while. You'd be amazed at the experiances.

I realize that I have not voiced a single one of these complaints to you. Mostly out of the knowledge that it infuriates me to no end and i would rather avoid an enormous blowup from compliled issues. I have sat here for the last 6 months quietly biding my time and severly biting my tongue. I knew this would happen, and yet i let you convince yourself that you had it under control.
I hope this has been an educational experiance for you in Common Decency and Common Sense. While living with you was quite a pleasant experiance, your financial situation aside, I was shocked to see your behavior rapidly deteriorate.
To put my feelings about this simply: Grow up. You're not the saddest case in the world. And YES, i 100% fully believe you brought this on yourself and could have nipped it in the butt a LONG time ago.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Walk a mile in her shoes

Having a conversation with my sister yesterday led me to think about a few things. I've complained alot over the last week about my current situation, especially about the roommate deal.
I am utterly thankful that i have a job right now, one that is solid and that i don't dispise going to every day.
I'm lucky that i'm not chin deep in debt and that i know my paycheck will come through.
I am grateful for my family (bet a few of you never thought you'd hear me say that). In my moderate crisis, they have been willing to voluenteer advice, help, and a shoulder to lean on. And when they say that they'll help, i know i can count on them.
I dont' know what i did to deserve such great friends, who care so much about me that they're willing to listen to me when i vent or complain and invite me over even if it's just to watch tv and have some honest laughs.

It seems humbling when you look at it that way.
I know that i don't have the foritude to stand through every storm on my own. But when i'm supported by friends and family, i know i can make it through anything.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Way too much going on!

My days have been full of one moderate crisis after another for the last week.

I've foolishly let myself get my hopes up over three different potentail roommates only to have them say no when it comes down to it for reasons that have nothing to do with me or the apartment. There isn't much i can do there.

I've been dealing with the main office at my complex telling me one thing, then going back and changing their story. It got to one point where the only person i will deal with now is the assistant manager. And if she's not there, i'll find out when she will be and leave. Don't get me wrong, they're all very nice, but i wish they would learn the phrase "I don't know" instead of feeding me some "sort of right" answer that drastically changes the issue, and i have to scramble. Then after all the scramble is done, i find out that i didn't have to scramble at all.

Turns out i'm going to have to move after all, so now i have to pack up all my things and move them. Did i mention i'm on doctor's orders to not exercise specifically lifting things?!

I've decided i really want a top floor apartment for three main reasons: 1) No body peeking in or lights shining in at all hours of the night 2) second floor would be harder to break into and 3) No one above me in the middle of the night walking around or, good grief, a rhythmic squeak of a bed.

For those who haven't been able to see my Facebook status this week: Katherine is moving out. As in, according to her latest reports, she'll be moving her bed and personal stuff back to her parents house today. I expect most of her things to be gone by Friday.
On the bright side of this:
I get to live solo for 2 weeks!
I can do anything i want like run around dressed (or not) however i want!
I don't have to worry about being quiet in the morning because she'll be asleep till noon and crabby if i make noise.
I control the tv and the DVR
No more negitive energy! No more moping about, no more lumps on the couch (she has some of my sympathy, but when that's all you do all day long instead of being proactive, i don't have very much for you)
And i won't have to worry about her room being messy to show!

On the tarnished side of this:
I get lonely, and i wont' even have a cat to talk to.
.........yeah that's about it....and i have friends nearby....and a phone.

My thanks go out to Kenny, who has let me come and invade his place to stay away from my roommate. I think i make up for some of it for my sheer entertainment value, but it's nice to enjoy myself after a long day, not feel like I'm in someone's way all the time no matter where i am (even my own room).

And lets just avoid the subject of work and leave it at; I took friday off for my own personal sanity and the safety of everyone in my office.

On the plus side of my life right now:
I'm forcing myself to eat breakfast, odd when i haven't done so since junior high. And i must say, eating oatmeal every day for breakfast has had three major positive effects:
I don't feel hungry until right at lunchtime, I'm not muching, and i've lost over ten pounds since january first (i know i said i wasn't going to pick a number, but common, you start to notice after the first 10)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Pranks that deserve admiration

Normally, i'm not one that condones lawless behaviour. And since my dad and people like him rely on roadway signs to protect them from clueless drivers, i understand how troublesome a breech like this is and what kind of dangers it presents to road crews and motorists alike.
But I must admit, whoever came up with this multi-state prank deserves some applause before they get fined.
Photobucket
In three states, Washington, Illinois, and Texas, roadsigns were hacked to display messages such as above. Some of the better ones were: "Caution zombies ahead", and "Daily lane closeures due to zombies". Although it looks like one county didn't quite understand the whole message because they put "Raptors" instead.

Natrually, my overly active imagination took this prompt and ran rampant with it.
What if these signs were common place in our lives, general warning for zombie swarms? That would be interesting!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Feeling like a cartoon ostritch

Hitting the ground running is an expression that pales in comparason of how my morning actually went.
Between having to fix a drastic mistake i made last night before leaving work(that was totally my bad and stupid fat fingers!), and running around because it was already late and getting yelled at for something that wasn't my fault, as well as doing things i have no idea of how to do and one of the most rude displays by a co-worker i've ever seen here. I was ready to go home and stick my head in the sand at about 10am. Or at least under my pillow.
Now the last two hours have been going by "like molassas in wintertime". If i wernt' meeting potential roommates tonight, i'd probably pour myself "something tall and strong" and pass out by 8.
On the plus side, I somehow managed to miss two new books out by one of my all time favorite authors! and i got them both for 17$ including shipping! I love amazon!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Getting by unscathed...by way of laughter

It seems like my life hits a lot of lows all at once. It likes giving me the finger like that.
No roommate for me yet. She backed out of the deal last minute (decided to try living on her own instead, so i can't blame her too much). And i'm back to the drawing board.
The worst part is: it's not even literal. I've been running around like crazy. Now I remember why i don't have time to draw like i used to. I'm too busy being an adult!
I believe in the philosophy that you get old because you stop laughing. Well, i guess it's true.
With all the stress i've been hit with the last few weeks, having a genuine chuckle at anything has been quite an ordeal.
This morning however, my own clumsiness finally caught up with me. By the time I was able to take a drink of my coffee, it had cooled to perfectly my body's temperature. I didn't feel it spill over the sides of my mouth and down into my shirt until the air had cooled at long about the time it hit my leg. Meanwhile i was concentrating on reading something and had zoned out so completely, that it took me a second to register back into the real world. At that point; half my coffee was down my shirt and in my lap.
My one stroke of luck though, was that i was wearing black. I couldn't help myself. I started cracking up. Co-workers called over the partitions and made sure i was ok. And soon i realized my shirt must have been protected with scotch guard or something cause it rolled right off and into my lap, the shirt barely gathering a dampness. Except now my cleavage smells like coffee. >.>
Ironically, it put me in the best mood i had been in all month. Having been bitten by a girly cootie yesterday, i went out and bought a purse (much needed considering my old one was 2 years and several re-stitchings old). And in said good mood, I went around to all the girly girls at my work and proptly shoved it at them (at a distance, not like it was touching their noses) proclaiming it to be pretty! My quirky happieness seemed to amuse them and they gave the pretty purse it's much needed appreciation. (You must appreciate the pretty red purse!!)