moxy

woot

2009-03-30T18:49:48Z

leaving now to pick up joe-

so, i thought his plane came in at 7 pm, but it's really 1 pm, way off!

at least the airport's wicked close

p.p.s, i should hear about grad school and my third interview today :D !!!

logic

2009-03-25T19:25:53Z

my buddy ryan was moved to another applebees because his performance in davis was so good and was determined to be a factor that kept the store alive this long.
therefore, he was moved to another store, much farther away from where he lives. i see, that makes sense. davis is on the brink, and what a crappy reward to give someone who did a good job.

'A+ dude, now here's an hour commute to your shitty job'

laaame.

i have one less comrade at work now, which is a bummer. also, the replacement manager asked me how to close one of the stations last night. not a good sign.
like in high school at papa's, when we got that new manager who didn't wear socks to work, and didn't know how to count out a cash drawer.

ah, and UConn is battling Berkeley, which i find amusing.

and I drove Joe to the airport at 4 am this morning so he can visit home and defend his thesis. He's got it in the bag, but it'll still be nice when it's finally over

and i got my tax return, huzzah! ooo, aaaand i got that second interview scheduled for friday. so, i really might get health insurance soon. i would love to see the dentist.

and i had this weird vertigo thing the past few days. it sometimes messes with my vision too, but only when i work out. blerg.

durpadurp

2009-03-23T21:38:03Z

i had zombie dreams again. they chased me a lot and i hid in a tree, then swam to mexico where i had to try not to get snagged on coral reefs. i spoke spanish in my sleep to dream mexicans and i kept accidentally saying italian words.

in real life, i was busy sleeping through my alarm while mentally dodging zombies
it was a busy morning
but i made it to work on time

picked up some fun california trivia at work, :D i'll tell you guys later.

oakland

2009-03-22T18:40:55Z

oh man, did you guys read about the policemen who got shot in oakland last night? pretty horrible

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11967257

the killer had an assault weapon. seriously now.. i believe in the constitution, but there's no reason for citizens to own assault weapons.

anit @ 2009-03-21T11:49:00

2009-03-21T18:55:04Z

i want to keep half my brain in a jar at home when i go to work, so maybe it can do something productive, like read the paper, when the rest of me is bussing tables.

not to complain, but the imagery made me laugh a little, so i thought i'd share.

time to go :(

happy st paddy's day :D

2009-03-17T17:52:48Z

oh man, i am totally jumping the gun, but i got a request for a second interview for a job i'd actually care about-

similar to moore center, but no transporting, local, and immediate health coverage.

yes, this might be a mirage, but i can't help getting excited. eeee :D

can it be? my dream of going to the dentist again might finally come true!

and really, i'd much rather do something like this than retail, or restaurants, or answering phones and generally being an office peon.

and yes. this is the job i'd interviewed for before in january, and the person i was to replace decided not to quit. so, fingers crossed that she actually sticks to it this time.

bloggy blog blog

2009-03-16T18:39:24Z

my brain is dying a slow death at work

working abroad is getting increasingly more appealing every time i clock in

joe has a female-friend in New York City with several degrees- including passing the bar in NY which is notoriously difficult. and she can't get work. I am nowhere near that impressive on my resume
but no employer seems to want to bother with entry-level bums such as my entire demographic.

i will not work in crappy family restaurants until grad school finally excepts me 6 months or 2 years down the road. if i don't get in this coming year, i will probably leave again. which is just fine, i will only see friends and immediate family about once a year as it is; so i could do the same thing from japan or korea while making enough yen to pay the bills.

and that's the thing, i'm not trying to get rich, i'm just trying not to default on loans. seriously now

also, it'd be exciting to travel again. the rub is that i'd have to sell my car, store my stuff somewhere...and afford the move. hmm.

2nd amendment

2009-03-13T23:51:54Z

my friend at work was present for a drive-by yesterday

he was at his cousin's house in sacramento when -

'some kids drove by and started shouting shit at my cousin, so he yelled back...a few minutes later they drove round again and started poppin caps'

jaime said him and his uncle ducked behind the truck, and his cousin was shot in the leg

Now, jaime is a normal kid, he's not some nutty drug dealer or anything. i don't know anything about his cousin, but still. he seemed relieved to be ok, but not very surprised by the whole chain of events.

everyone else in the kitchen listening to his story just kind of nodded and said 'ah, glad you're ok man.' my reactions was more 'holy crap you got shot at?!'

it's just not that unusual? i don't know. I didn't think this area was that bad.

ah well, this is America, and we're entitled to buy semiautomatic concealable weapons for personal use.

anyway. haven't heard back from school yet. or interview guy. but, i picked up some beers and ice cream to celebrate the lovely weather and the free friday night with manfriend.

why the happy?

2009-03-11T19:30:50Z

i'm in a great mood.

i worked all evening yesterday with a migraine- which is pretty difficult. it helped that customers were all weirdly normal and friendly, my manager is a swell guy, and everything went pretty smoothly. i picked up some del taco, maowed a handful of ibeprofin (however you spell that) and hung out with fabulous manfriend.

one of my coworkers is also trying to work at the new thai place in town (which was where my latest interview was). He knows the hiring manager pretty well, and said he thinks i'll probly get the job. i've also got another interview on the 18th; nothing spectacular, but i could use all the jobs i can get. especially if applebees doesn't veer off its course towards destruction.

not sure what will happen in the next few months, but i'm not that worried.

'have you ever been in a turkish prison?'

2009-03-10T19:13:39Z

i keep forgetting to do my taxes. instead i watched 'airplane' this morning, and now i'm heading to the gym. then, tax time.

i had a fabulous interview yesterday, however, i've had many fabulous interviews that amounted to absolutely nothing, so I'll wait to celebrate on that one.

another applebees closed down in yolo county the other day; it's been about one a week for over a month. now, davis is on the bottom of the list for sales. they might get lucky cause davis is a training store and i guess not all of the branches are. i'm not attached to this job at all, but it would suck for everyone involved to show up to work and realize it's closed for good. nobody has gotten any warning thus far.
sometime, i should list all the bankruptcies i've been involved in.. it's adding up

in other news, grandma may's 104th b-day party was fun. joe and i got a little lost in foster city, but we arrived just on time for the festivities. muir woods was also amazing; so was visiting the headlands by the bridge. i'll have to post photos on facebook soon

hey hey hey!

2009-03-06T19:50:42Z

something good is going to happen soon

because i've sent out one million resumes (dr evil style) and i started making all my cover letters incredibly fancy and memorable; because formal and ordinary doesn't cut it.

and i can't stand my job. i mean it makes me sad to be at work. it's worse than other restaurants somehow. i like my coworkers too, and surprisingly, the management as well.

i can't explain it. maybe i just feel far to old to STILL be doing this.

but i applied to some local social work gigs, some other random admin stuff, and work in san francisco. something will change soon!

and oh man. i just had the worst day yesterday. the kind where, if i didn't need the job so much, i would've put my notice in. i am continually surprised at how rotten my own species can be without provocation.

gotta run to work now.

ps, great grandma may's 104th b-day is tomorrow, yikes! i need to get her a present :D

'looking for the right person'

2009-02-28T00:59:01Z

classifieds 'looking for the right person' never get back to me. is the 'right person' overqualified for the usually mindless work that the ad is requesting?

you know, it takes 45 minutes or so to learn how to be a receptionist. you don't need 'a minimum of 5 years' experience to answer phone and wrangle wild fax machines. that's why temping is so popular- you learn many jobs, usually different ones each week, with little to no training.

so this 'right person' crap is just so silly.

i have given up on office work. today i applied to several more Davis establishments just looking for the cash monies while i apply to more serious positions in san francisco. I'm reaaally hoping for the ben and jerry's store. the kid yesterday said 'you ought to hand in a really creative resume- to catch their attention.' so this morning i drew cows and ice cream in colored pastel all over a resume and gave it to the boss. then i bought a strawberry cheesecake shake, and it was amazing.

i have an escape pod. but i don't want to use it unless i can't get a job by May. then it's overseas again.
i'd much rather stay in the bay area and get a job and be not an expatriot.

i miss thunderstorms

deleriously ambiguous

2009-02-25T18:40:49Z

i am very happy and optimistic because i've decided that giving up on Davis is alright.

negative, yet positive. it still might work out here, but i got back from texas to a slew of 'the position had been filled... you do not meet qualifications...the budget for this position has been cut....'

guys, i'm not exaggerating. i spend about 2 hours every day here in davis on the job search. time i could have used to learn spanish or.. basically anything more constructive than throwing effort into the black hole of job applications.

and, it seems that my current job is still on the brink of extinction. i am not complaining though, i just need to sort out what to do next. and that is tricky because i'm in a lease, and joe does have a decent job that he doesn't completely hate.

time for more plotting and stratagem

but, i'm comfortable with the idea of being on the move again.
also, know what's funny? there were 'help wanted' signs all over Austin when i was there this weekend.. i think it's just this hapless valley i live in that's particularly bad.

also also, the family reunion was awesome :D!
i got to surprise my dad and brother- i arrived at my uncles house before they got in from NH, and Carinae had me hide with my little cousins (5 and 3 years old) so she could be all like 'oh, the kids are hiding, go find them' when my family arrived, and so we popped out from behind a couch when they walked into the upstairs living room. yea yea it's cheesy, but i had a great time out there.
austin is the coolest part of texas, check it out someday; it's the live music capital of texas, and it has some of the best mexican EVER >:D wooot

yay

2009-02-19T23:39:30Z

so my bed finally popped for good the other day. the patch kept flying off when we tried re-inflating the mattress, and we spent the night camping on the floor Wednesday. Yesterday i found a 50$ queen mattress & boxspring on craigslist, i called, and we picked it up an hour later...tied to the roof of the hyundai.

2nd hand mattress sounds like the grossest thing ever, but it looked like it was in fantastic condition, and what a great price.. just because the kid had to move out the next morning and he was desperate to get rid of it.

i haven't slept on a mattress since November. Christmas break was spent on a coach, so this is a much appreciated change

other than that, joe fiiinally got his japan wages from Nova- something we thought might not happen at this point. I also practiced my zen attitude in the face of ridiculous management at my job. he was rude and petty, but i was so nice and ambivalent that he started being nice too.

sounds dumb, but i was proud of myself for solving a conflict that could have dragged on and on. i am in no position to quit now anyway.

i am leaving on a jetplane tomorrow, 5 day vacation, woot

it hurts my feelings when...

2009-02-17T19:12:21Z

jobs don't want to talk to me.

not really, i mean, it only slightly bums me out.

i get cheered up by:
-watching 'they might be giants' videos on the internet
-listening to 'sigor ros'
-reading my super cool book about brains and memory.
-calling my pals back home, of course most of them aren't 'home' per se...

still don't have close friends here. i have pals, but no one i want to bother with my worries. i dreamed that i went back to Maui last night to visit my friends. i wasn't there for very long, but i met some really cool kids

in the local paper, it said that hundreds of people lined up around the mall last weekend in nearby Woodland to compete for a job at the Burlington coat factory. seriously, i know it's bad everywhere, but California is particularly horrible.

the bigger picture.. was grad school, but now i don't know about loans.
we'll see

captain host needs a fancy hat

2009-02-16T19:34:53Z

i got to be captain host at my job, which was pretty fun. it made things a little more organized when we were able to delegate who would bus tables, who would seat, do rotation, etc. i know this is wicked boring, but i like doing a good job, even if i don't particularly like the job.

did you know, californians replace 'wicked' with 'hella.' the first time i heard 'hella' was on Strongbad's 'Teen Girl Squad,' so it makes me laugh.

valentine's day was pretty fun. work wasn't that bad, and Joe made me a fancy dinner- soba noodle salad and salmon & veggie tempura. gotta be honest, i was pretty impressed. he spent 4 hours shopping for supplies and cooking... very very sweet.

we incidentally rented the saddest episode of House that night, so that part wasn't festive; but overall- good day.
today our hike to muir woods (coastal redwood forest) was rained out. so we're thinking we might get some thai food and relax together.. maybe job search for positions in the city.

texas this friday :D yay

woa

2009-02-14T01:58:08Z

manfriend finished his theses :D this is good news

he'll be defending it sometime in March, but I won't be able to fly home with him. that's ok, i'm leaving him for Texas next weekend, so we'll be even.

i might move to San Francisco

braaains

2009-02-12T19:51:40Z

why is livejournal in zombie mode? something to do with v-day. hmmm

also, did i mention my work faces bankruptcy? this has been a trend in my adult life... i must have offended the fcc gods or something. or, we're just in a recession.

i am sick of this game though

time to work at my crappy job now, while i still can :D woot

lightweight

2009-02-08T21:07:56Z

ok so

haven't done the beer pong thing since senior year...and i had a tiny bit of a party last night with new found davis friends
super fun time, but ruthless house rules

anyway, i didn't get sick or even sloppy, but this morning
oh man
i felt like i had eaten pounds of sand instead of bud light. my head was fine, but the rest of me was in wtf mode

i no longer have cheap beer antibodies in my system apparently

ah well, you know what was awesome? smash brothers 64 tournament

these kids had the fancy new playstation and wii, and 64 hooked up in the living room. and a ball python named Crinkle. she was friendly
..i just classified snake in 'awesome toy' category. i was the only female there who'd touch her. it's strange.. there's nothing scary about a snake that you know can't hurt you. they're not slimey or stinky. not sure what the problem is

pshh

2009-02-06T18:33:32Z

2 hours before my interview, pants store guy said we all ought to show up wearing our favorite jeans. I have piles of professional attire from my days as a sensei, but i have 2 pairs of jeans; neither of which are particularly fancy. i do not spend lots of money on clothing, seeing as how rent, food, and loans come first. the jeans i do have are from the sales rack at kohls. i feel like i might get judged out of the job

c'mon now. it's always something... i might lose out because i don't have the right fancy pants. on the plus side, this is so stupid that it makes me laugh and paradoxically cheers me up

i'm showing up in my suit anyway.

crapplebees

2009-02-04T23:10:53Z

so, i have the retail attitude down. i can be pleasant in the face of even the most irrational douchebaggery, but not today..

maybe it was the glass lamp falling on my head. or the 3 dollar tip share... or the other new hire--who is in no way my superior--- calling the applebees phone from his cell so he could critique the way i sounded; but oh man.

i didn't go nuts. i told new hire that he 'was being ridiculous'

and i decided not to feel any regrets about quitting this job the moment something better comes along.
and
if you're unfamiliar with hosting- a 3 dollar tip share is horribly bad. outback was something like 30-60 on any given day.

but, it is better than nothing...

a passion for pants

2009-02-03T17:13:47Z

I wrote a ridiculous cover letter for a job on craigslist. it was for a pants store in davis, decent money and very conveniently located. i've been writing professional cover letters for months online, but this is my first response.

i think i said that i was 'fanatically obsessed' with good customer service.. maybe some other choice phrasing like that.

anyway, my interview is friday

neato

2009-01-27T22:41:07Z

i was having lunch with a coworker today after my shift, and we discovered that we were both from Merrimack.

now, this is in Davis, CA- so that's pretty weird. kids at UConn were unfamiliar with New Hampshire in any capacity, so I was surprised

Her name is Ji, she was a year under me in school, and she left town around 8th grade for Irvine. We knew some of the same people- mostly from track and whatever, but it was cool.

she knew laura p, but now i can't find laura to tell her :(

also, you can't call ahead at an applebees and book a table for 100. it's just an applebees, guys. and.. i think our capacity is 98 not including staff and the bar counter

will work for money

2009-01-27T01:30:50Z

so that awesome job i had.. the woman i was replacing decided not to quit. i would've started this wednesday with immediate benefits.

i'm so fucked. there's nothing else. there is a series of minimum wage shit that people are lining up for. the university is 'hiring' while concurrently threatening further layoffs.. so, whatever that means.

oh man. i'm not sure how else to look. i have another restaurant that might work out, just so i have more than 15 hours a week. but 'might' and 'maybe' are dirty words

i'm so so sick of this

on the plus side, i'm making nachos tonight

and my manfriend is amazing. that is a fantastic plus

ahoy presi-matey

2009-01-21T20:06:17Z

sugoi, yesterday was pretty exciting- and busy

I had interview #8 at a job I would not hate (Moore Center-esque) with no transporting, average pay- but immediate & excellent benefits (medical, dental, vision and.. acupuncture?)

my interview was across the street from the capitol building in sacramento; a part of the city i hadn't seen yet. It was a pretty cool neighborhood, although i initially cursed it for its evil and expensive parking schemes, I was glad to check it out.

i rode the elevator to my interview with a city mailman; a 60-something black dude who couldn't stop smiling, "did you watch your president this morning?" he asked me
'of course I did' I replied, and we talked for a bit about the crowds in washington, american pride...etc. riding the elevator was probably my favorite part of the interview experience.

although the rest went well. I mean, i've done this exact job before, so, i'm relatively qualified. the job site would be at the university in davis- more awesome! and it would begin a week from today. (they called me 4 hours later to schedule a second interview for monday)

i also had my dumb restaurant job orientation at applebees yesterday. it was oozing with coorporate hubris. sayings that didn't really make sense, but spelled out adorable things as acronyms...asinine rules like - no eating at the tall tables even on your days off- (what??)
I'm never allowed to park in front or order a beer- on my days off either. i spent a little while last night correcting all the grammatical mistakes in my employee handbook.. it's just so silly.
tomorrow i begin training as an 'applebuddy.' i laughed out loud when the manager told me my temporary title. i pictured the hains underwear applepeople.

but, it will be good for the extra cash. the staff seem chill, customers are generally UC students, parents, and regulars, and the management seems alright with working around my schedule if i get this other job. so, i am an applebuddy.

can i also mention that my bed's deflating? we used to pump it up every 3 weeks (which is normal) but now it's every night, and i don't even have a spare in the trunk.

if my bed breaks down, all i have is a twin-sized egg-crate. i never thought i'd have to worry about my bed popping.
i guess i could fill it up with jello. does jello go bad? eh, it's probably against my leasing contract anyway, i know they don't allow water beds.

enough rambling? yes. time to play in the gym.