V for Vendetta was something else. Something worth thinking about a bit. I like movies like that.
Portman was impressive.
The story paints a future that, as always, mirrors the past – and challenges us to be awake. And unafraid.
I knew nothing about the movie going into it. I’m glad.
I recommend it.
My parents have been EVER so good to me. But I’m still their little girl. Case in point: every night my dad says, “Now don’t stay up too late. Get a full night’s sleep.” EVERY NIGHT! Of course, they can’t understand why anyone would sleep past 7 a.m. And that’s even pushing it. I haven’t a single complaint. The only barriers are simply generational. In many respects, they know me better than anyone. But in others, they can only know and understand me so well. You know?
By the way, the guitar lessons are hard. It takes me longer to get my head wrapped around these new things than a week. And frankly, the stuff he’s teaching me is more than I need to know right now. I need to grasp some stuff in between. You don’t go from reading The Cat and the Hat to War and Peace in 3 weeks. People take YEARS to learn instruments and even though I have been playing this one for nearly 10 years, I am at level three or so. Anywho, I am taking what I can for as long as I can, which might not be long. Hopefully, I will process it later. An investment in myself.
Just watched an amazing episode of Lost. No no, not the new season. Yes I know it is “Lost Wednesday”, but I’m still watching Season 1. Just finished the episode, “Outlaws”, the last show on disc 4. The only other show that I’ve watched all the way through on DVD like this is Alias – all 5 seasons. Love it- having the DVDs. If the show is good, it’s so addictive. You just gotta have it. Fast and hard- bam bam bam- five episodes in a row. Or nice and slow – spreading it out one show at a time. Boy, that’s dirty. I think I’ll leave it. Train of thought kids. It’s late and I’m cranky. Anyway, I’m taking Lost pretty slow and I like it. P.S. I know nothing about what’s going on in the current season, so please don’t share.
Following that request, I will move into extended/stealth entry mode. *Cue spy music* … Um, yeah. The following observation has little to do with the major plot points, but if you are like me and don’t want to know ANYTHING unless you choose to know… then go no further. Shit, I managed to NOT know who died in the Harry Potter book for like a year before I read it.
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I got signed up with Office Team on Valentine’s Day. They are the same temp agency I went through in St. Louis for the one smokey job I held. They made me go through all the tests again, and I scored very high. The girl I spoke to there was very understanding that I only wanted to work temp and thought there was good potential for me to work. Unfortunately though, it seems it’s not as easy to expect the minimum of $10/hr I could ask for in St. Louis. Still, cost of living etc. works itself out.
I explained that I was working part time for my dad and that I needed at least enough money to make it worth not working for him. The first job they called me on was not worth it. I didn’t take it and fretted that they’d hesitate to call again. It did take a couple weeks.
The next job offer required a laborious decision. It wasn’t as much money as I wanted and it was quite a drive. Twenty hours a week, four each morning. This would still allow me to work for my dad. It was to be a month-long stint. I accepted with apprehension. The job sucked. Straight data entry that was mind-numbing and horrible. I looked at the clock every two minutes. No one was mean, but no one was warm. With the low salary, long drive, increasing gas prices and tortuous work, I decided to let the temp agency know the job wasn’t working out for me. It turned out to be a bigger deal than I thought it would be. We got it all worked out, but despite them saying otherwise, I thought it would be a LONG time before they placed me again. I was very upset with myself for the bad decisions I had made.
But it wasn’t so! Before I finished my two days of notice at the job I was quitting, they placed me in a better job. Higher pay, closer, full time and what sounded to be more interesting work. They weren’t entirely sure how long the job would last, but they thought at least a month with the possible opportunity of longer. Still, they assured me all knew it was only a temp thing. So if I hadn’t quit the other job, I wouldn’t have gotten this one. God works in mysterious ways.
Now I am answering phones at RK Dixon. They sell copy machines, faxes, risographs etc. I do basic transferring but also take service calls and orders for toner etc. The accompanying computer program is not hard, but a bit tedious to learn. There are endless situations that people call with so I ask incessant questions. I’m also making calls for meter readings and will begin doing computer filing.
It’s banal. But the people are all very nice and personable and that makes a huge difference. My manager had looked at my resume and was worried whether I would be happy there. “Happy” isn’t something I consider to be connected with working temp. It’s just making money. No, this type of mindless work will not make me happy. But though it is easy to do so, I should not complain.
It’s been difficult getting used to the schedule. I haven’t gotten up early and worked a full day since August. It’s nice to put on dress clothes again. I’m wearing suits and skirts and nylons again! But going to bed earlier and getting up early are killer. Puts a dent in my open mic attendance as well.
My schedule is quite full- comparatively at least. I would still like to get a few hours in a week of marketing research for dad. That will be hard. To come home from work and get on the computer to do that. Monday nights I have rehearsal for the church choir I joined. (It’s a Life Teen group my eldest sister has been in for years. They lost their guitarist recently and I stepped in for now. It’s quite challenging as they definitely do things their own way, AND I’m used to leading.) Tuesday I have another meeting. Wednesday I have guitar lessons. Sunday, of course, I have Mass. There are open mics on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays to choose from. And I have made one girlfriend through open mics that I’ve been hanging out with. So that’s nice.
STILL, I often (very often) wonder what the hell I am still doing in the Quad Cities. I have a place to stay in St. Louis and I miss my friends desperately. I worry about cost of living down there. I worry about getting distracted from the bigger goal of leaving the country. I still have research to do. And I will spend more money down there with my friends around. I’m not sure that’s not a price worth paying though. It might take me a little longer, but I might be happier. I’ve been dramatically wrestling with this decision for months. There are a lot of little questions that come into play. More than I want to get into here, since the purpose of this entry was only to share my temp news anyway.
For now, I will stay at this job and make do with my life here. The passage of time gnaws at me. Literally feels like it’s eating me alive. It depresses me in a way I can’t explain. But I think/hope that time is also healing me. And I have to be patient with it. An exercise I’m failing, but continuing to face.
Surely this is going to come off as a dumb question, but I’m gonna ask it anyway. When I plug myPod into myPuter, it asks me if I want to update my software. I haven’t done it. I can’t help but be nervous when I have thousands and thousands of songs on there. After getting my CDs stolen the summer before last- losing my music like that… well, I’m just a little protective now. I just want someone to assure me that Apple would never ask me to download something onto myPod that would impact my data. Right?
I’ve had another issue lately though. Sometimes my touch wheel doesn’t respond. I’ll be using it and then go to turn up the volume or scroll through songs and it doesn’t work… It doesn’t recognize my bare finger- like when I forget I have gloves on and have to peel them back to use it. It hasn’t happened often, and suddenly it will start working again, then maybe stop. But I’m nervous. I don’t have any idea what the warranty is like or if there is one. Damn expensive piece of electronics to not know that about. Dummy.
