The title says it all. Tell me about your week - TGIF and all. I've been away for a bit so let's catch up!
I knew Monday that this was going to be a bad week. It was. Keep in mind this is in the context of a transitional house for the homeless, and that I live here with them as the day/night manager and cannot escape. Bed bugs returned to one of my clients rooms. Last week we had them "taken care of" and then we found 3 more. When you find just one of them, it's all over. Launder everything in high heat water and dryer. Let furniture bake in the sun. Wrap box springs and mattresses in plastic, or get rid of them altogether. Since we had found them a second time, it was time to rip out the carpet and have it replaced. My CEO does not like spending any money. So she had her meth head son do it. This is the result: Yes, that's 3 inches of uncovered glue. A built in bug trap, I guess. We don't have the money to get it fixed or replace the base board (apparently), so along with that and a perpetually sticky floor from gaps between the seams elsewhere... job well done! Then a bunch of alcohol issues. Was about to take a client to put in an application for an apartment (the fifth one I've found for him) before his Section 8 voucher expires, come to find out... he went and bought a small bottle of vodka an hour prior and was drinking. Some other issues. Now there's a massive water leak coming through the ceiling of one of the bathrooms, which started last night at 9pm. It should be fixed in about 6 hours, but no hot water until then, which means a lot of people bitching to me about how much this place sucks. I don't disagree. The CEO of my current non-profit told my friend and I that "[she's] going to shit all over our idea", our idea being the non-profit we're forming ourselves. She's done very petty things like send porn stars to our dentists office this week telling them that we're doing free dental care, and is trying to cockblock us with the American Legion and with the VA. Luckily she's burned a lot of bridges, and it's not working well. To that end, we have several fundraisers scheduled now and I'm building our website. And that was my week, in a nut shell. Feels good to get it out. /blog
I'll definitely update on our progress when I have stuff to update on. We've made some big strides these past 2 weeks in partnering with the American Legion and starting talks of having the nearest VA Hospital outsource us for dental care. We're trying to provide free dental care for veterans. It's strange that the CEO of my day-job non-profit is so combative about it because it's entirely unrelated to what she does, which is housing, employment, and benefit services. We're barely into formation and already dealing with politics; we're assuming that it's because the idea is good. I have unbelievable stories about my CEO, like how she recently had a district attorney prosecute an innocent guy (who happens to be her nieces husband) for embezzlement to cover up her financial mismanagement which led to 3 federal agencies auditing us. But even posting this is dangerous because I'm not entirely anonymous here.
There's always going to be something in your way like that, remember she's just an obstacle not an unmovable limitation you have to live with; please don't let it discourage you. I've been fighting the administration at my school with a thousand and one projects-- anywhere from starting a JROTC program to fixing the school's water foutnains-- where I'd show up with full plans and all steps taken care of, 400 signatures and even the funding and they'd shit on me because it's too inconvenient for them to sign some documents. I took that shit cause after some time I felt that I had no choice; you're moving forward with a really good thing despite a thousand times that same resistance, so you better keep us posted until your non-profit becomes the biggest in the U.S. (edit - didn't mean that as a pep talk more of a desperate plea in search of good people actually being successful)
Agree 100%. If anything it motivates us even more; nothing like adversity to make convictions stronger. It's a shame that your school shits on your ideas, but I hope they have reasons beyond the inconvenience of signing stuff. JROTC does require financial maintenance, though; if you want to keep pushing it hit up your local American Legion post and explain the situation to them. They'd be more than happy to approach your school about it and could probably find support, volunteers, and funding beyond your reach. The fountain though... no excuse for them. Awesome that you're proactive about that kind of stuff, though. Hopefully!she's just an obstacle not an unmovable limitation you have to live with
until your non-profit becomes the biggest in the U.S.
Of course there's a lot more outside of my control, I'm just being pissy. Best of luck to the both of us then :D
Shit, let me tell you about my year. I moved out of my parents' house and arrived in Denver with $2,000. Had some excellent luck finding an apartment right away with no job or parental support. The only job I could get was canvassing - I worked for school board campaigns I didn't care about, signed people up for healthcare as an on street canvasser (that job was the pits) and then ended up working as a delivery driver. What a slimy job it was. I was 'on contract' meaning I wasn't being paid by the hour. Only tips and delivery fees. The money was good at first - it was winter, after all - but then I came to realize... my taxes are going to be 30%. The restaurant started to slow down. Half of my check was going to rent. I was totally unstable. My income would fluctuate anywhere between $200 - 600 per week because of holidays and city events. After three months of driving I started looking elsewhere, and ways of saving money while still driving. Jose, one of my co-workers, came to me with a 'business deal'. His housemate wanted to trade his car for a truck so he could do some lawn aeration. He knew I was looking around for car that would get better mileage than my 96 Ford, so I bit. As soon as I made the trade I found out that the odometer had been turned back - so I was stuck with an old Jetta with 200,000+ miles on it. Needless to say I was rageful about it, and it only got worse when the starter burned out one day when I was working. I spent Easter fixing that god damn car. So I threatened to sue. We ended up trading back in exchange for some money since he had done some repairs on my truck. There went my savings. But I managed to get my truck - and thus my job- back. It was about that time that I was put in contact with a guy who owns an audiobooks studio. He wanted to bring me on the team to do research - basically making sure that place names and proper nouns were being pronounced correctly in their recordings. It was THE job, the ONLY job that my degree is perfectly tailored for (Linguistics). I've always wanted to be a voice actor so it was a natural fit. Then the lady who was supposed to train me, who worked their for 26 YEARS quit without notice and I was let go after half a week's work. Kicked in the dirt, I almost just gave up. So I was back to doing delivery - this time part time. My finances were running thin. I was looking desperately for work and found some through a friend. While I wasn't delivering food I would sit at the coffee shop next door and work on this project. I made a game for a robotics company that sold for a few thousand. I think if it wasn't for that project and that coffee shop I'd be elsewhere. I've started a business out of it and have some more freelance projects to do. But the last thing I wanted to do was deliver food. It doesn't pay well and sometimes I'll lose money on a day. Today for example, I've been waiting around for 4 hours and have had two deliveries - four hours for $10. I've been interviewing for months and finally someone is willing to give me a chance. And I'm starting a new job on MONDAY working at a small company that makes toys. TOYS :)
I finally made the plunge and changed my number to a 303. Going hiking tomorrow, hopefully here. I suppose I'll be here for a while!
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY THIS SUNDAY AND I'M SO HYPED. I think my sister is getting me this Metal Gear Solid bag: and some fangamer.net t-shirts. If she does this she will hit maximum love points. And that doesn't include the family time and awesome food like the 2AM IHOP run we'll be doing and the Village Inn Pie that we'll be having afterwards. So yeah, I'm excited, haha.
Nice, my birthday's Monday, but I'm a couple hundred miles away from family. Does that make you a Cancer still? Or.. Leo? What's next? How's it feel to be a cusp baby?
In the last few weeks, I've been in the best place mentally and emotionally that I've been in in a couple years. Reconnecting with old friends and forcing myself to loosen up a bit is doing amazing things. Also, a few hours after interviewing for an assistant cross country coaching position yesterday, I got a call with an offer for the job. I'm still trying to figure out if I can make it work with my full-time job, but damn does that feel good.
i got my license-type-thing but my mom needs to be in the car and she basically just starts screaming over 20mph so i dont drive anymore/ever again. edit: longstocking I wanna know what's poppin in your microwave too
Oh right, I guess I should say something huh? It's not been a very good week for me. I have to move back into my mom's house today. She doesn't like animals, so I needed to find somewhere for my cat Luna to stay for an indeterminate period of time. Coming to terms with that earlier this week hit me pretty hard. I'm losing my baby. I cried with her for a good amount of time before giving up on being productive that day and just sleeping from that afternoon to the next morning. Luckily, she is with someone who will take great care of her and I am not worried at all - she is in the best hands I could ask for. I'm feeling a lot better about it now. As for me, I just need to find the motivation to get myself on my feet again. It's going to be pretty hard for a while. Zero dollars and no transportation. There's no way I'm going to be able to afford four (a number increasing all the time, it seems) separate, hundred-dollar medications, therapy sessions, much needed endocrinology, dermatology, and podiatry appointments... let alone "normal" things like GP and dentist visits that I've been neglecting for close to a decade now. How am I going to do anything else with my life if I can't even afford take care of myself? That's not a good train of thought to go down. We go forward. I'll figure it out. The alternative is leaving Luna by herself, and that's not going to happen.
It sounds like you aren't in the best place right now, I'm sorry to read that. However, you are self-aware enough to at least recognize your challenges and once you've recognized them, you can attempt to absolve them. I don't know enough about your situation to suggest anything, but I can wish you well and say, "good luck!" One bit of advice for anyone with struggles, and this is going to sound trite, but... make a list. Make a list of the things you want to accomplish each day and then enjoy the satisfaction of crossing each thing off. edit: In rereading my comment, I realize that my suggestion may seem to diminish the scope of your problems. This is not my intent. It sounds like you have some major struggles. My suggestion stems from a time last year when I too was having some struggles that were outside of my control. All I could do to make my way through them was to make a list of the things I could control and accomplish those things. Also, I'm sorry to hear that you had to give up your cat. That's rough, hopefully you can visit it regularly. Again, all my best.
Been a while since I posted, but I'll bite. Summer's closing up and I've spent the time sailing and saving up for a vehicle after an accident in my first car (poor baby). It's an older community here away from university, so it's tough finding friends my age. Nothing wrong with older folks, but explaining my headphones, longboard, and college plans repetitively is getting boring. Thankfully, I'm building some friendships online and in person and having some good conversations that are interesting and pertinent to what I'm dealing with personally. It's a nice time, so far. Recently found out my financial aid is coming back, which is great because that's been a huge concern all summer. I'm college bound for the third year! I'll be heading off and leaving this quaint little coastal town in a week to visit friends and bum enough rides to get back to school. I'm content with life right now. I can still feel the salt on my face from sailing this morning, I'm covered financially for school, working hard this summer has given me a comfortable bank balance, and I see my girlfriend on my way back to school. It'll be the first time seeing her since the beginning of summer. A week with her in her new apartment is just what I need to finished this relaxed season up. When I get back to school, I'll be a senior member of the ultimate frisbee club, hold an RA position, finish up my first major and start work on my second, and generally get back into the flow I'm comfortable with. I feel pretty optimistic right now, which is a welcome change. This was a good little evaluation for me today, gave me something to be thankful for :)
Frustrated because I'm having trouble learning a guitar solo but it's getting there I guess. Outside of that, surprisingly good. Starting to get back into the groove for college and working on radio station and record label projects, learning some new things like databending and how to play keyboard since I found a couple Casio's laying around, and making plans with people for once we're all back at college. Starting to get very excited about life again, for the first time in a few months.
One of my test scorers got everyone on the project sick. Fortunately, I am getting over it. On the plus side, I am getting lots of sleep. On the negative side, being sick fucks with my immune system and now I think I have an infection in my leg again (awesome).
Taking my $500 carbon fiber skimboard to the beach with 4 of my best friends from high school. It can barely float me (it's almost like a hydrofoil...), but I'll still be trying to paddle-in on this laughable Texas surf. I see a bruised chin in my future, from this thing smacking me in the face before I try standing up. How do I know this? Experience. Anyway, this will be a weekend to remember. :) Edit/update: never stood up before the wave had passed me by, but landed a new trick on flatland at least. My hip adductors hurt so good today.
I started a new job on Monday, it's been okay actually. The pay is terrible but it's nice to have a job again. I've seen two great movies, The Fault In Our Stars and Boyhood. I would highly recommend both of them. My mood goes up and down a fair amount, sometimes I feel very sad. My self esteem has seen better days.
It's been up and down. On the plus side, my ulnar nerve is doing much better so I've been slowly getting back to practicing, which is SO good for my depression. On the downside my dysphoria is real bad right now. Trying not to hate myself and my body.