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THURSDAY - May
1, 2008 12:32a – I am watching another episode of "Charmed". Trying not to think about work tomorrow. But... it comes to mind anyway.... 1:47a – I ate some supper, but I was still hungry. I have cooked more. A bit of hamburger & rice. I need to go to bed. And not dread work too much if I can help it. 2:11a – I am off to bed. I got up before noon. I got to work *just* on time. Did floor support, tech support (and simultaneous floor support), and then spent about 4 hours in the general Comcast queue. I am over halfway through the third Pellucidar e-book. The front storm door latch broke a couple of days ago. Now the door will not shut. It is just flopping in the breeze. Blake REALLY needs to start taking care of his property.
FRIDAY - May
2, 2008 4:28a – Wow! I am amazed, but I got my $600 tax boost rebate suck-up-from-Bush check in my account today! Maybe I can get some bills paid. I won't be spending the money of "purchasing" in any way. I will just pay bills and try to keep my life situation under control! 5:42a – Way late... off to bed. I wanted to get to bed early tonight, but I guess that is out. 3:34p – I slept in pretty late today. Until about 12:30p I think. I still needed more sleep though. I got the bills caught up with the $600. I just hope I have enough money left for gas. I also realize I did not pay the trash pick-up bill.
9:46p – I am fixing supper. Meatloaf, peas & carrots in what sauce, and some Jasmine rice. I tripped over Skip's Carboy in the living room a bit ago, and fell to the floor (spilling my beer). He just laughed at me. I was a bit pissed off, of course. 10:24p – Skip has eaten and is on his way to bed. I woke up this morning with an odd pain in the left side of my abdomen. It has been coming and going all day. I seems to be a dull, burning ache. Nothing extreme or intense, but ... very noticeable. I hope it is not a tumor or something. I hate to think so morbidly, but you never know. 11:08p – I am trying to get some domestic things taken care of. I have de-seeded all my jalapeños and minced them up, and also minced up my garlic with the parley I had left over. I also minced up the jalapeño seeds. I will use them too. Next, I have set out 10 pounds of chicken legs quarters to cut up and store away. 11:40p – I got all the chicken leg quarters bagged and stored in the freezer. I still have a pork tenderloin to cut up and store away. For now, however, I think I will go start up another episode of "Charmed" fix my supper...
SATURDAY - May
3, 2008 12:56a – I am headed off to bed now. The pain in my left lower abdomen has still been plaguing me. It's not extreme, but it's worrisome. Partly due to that, I went in late today. I have not been late to work in a while. I am trying to reduce my tardies (and increase my income!). Skip did a lot of work in the back yard. I heard him mowing. Work was fairly light today. I managed to finish off e-book #3, "Tanar of Pellucidar" today. I started e-book #4, with Tarzan in Pellucidar.
SUNDAY - May
4, 2008 2:39a – I've been on my email ever since getting home from work tonight. Mostly spent responding to an email from Scott. Helen has kicked him out of the house. I seem to be caught in the middle the entire affair, but all I've done has been to be open, honest and truthful. When will I learn? 4:34a – I am getting to bed a bit late... but not too bad. I can't believe the temperature. It's May and the temperature is currently 39°f. We have had the heat on this morning, and this evening. (I just turned it off again). 11:28a – Once again, I woke up at precisely 11:00a, but I did not get up until 11:20a. I slept more solidly last night. I looked at the back yard. Skip has done a good job getting it cleaned up. There is still a lot to do, but it looks a lot better. Maybe we can fire up the grill this weekend.
MONDAY - May
5, 2008 3:06a – I am home. Email caught up. Created a couple of new signature tags. Watched another episode of Charmed (with baby "Matthew"). Dreading work tomorrow since I have no floor support all day and Mondays (and Tuesdays) are almost always horrible. I forgot to to fill the tank AGAIN on the way home. 5:11a – Off to bed! 12:00p – I woke at PRECISELY twelve noon again today. This is getting freaky. I had no floor support time scheduled for today, but I covered Jennifer's time slot from 5:00p to 10:45p (since she is now a Team Lead over in the Home Depot section). It was slow and busy, off and on. During the slow spells, I managed to read through about the halfway point of the "Tarzan in Pellucidar" book.
TUESDAY - May
6, 2008
4:17a – I am still trying to get something cooked for 3rd meal and "lunch" tomorrow. I started early, but it is taking too long. I *finally* remembered and succeeded in stopping for gas on the way home tonight. Gas in Illinois is now going for an outrageous $3.739/gal ... and in Missouri it is at $3.539/gal. Twenty cents cheaper!
Myanmar (more recently known as "Burma"), was hit by a severe cyclone and there are up to 10,000 dead reported! What a horrible tragedy. 5:31a – Jeez! I am so late getting to bed. Dawn is upon me! 12:21p – I sat up in bed with the intention of getting up at 11:59a today. Just slightly off the precise noon hour. Work dragged on forever it seemed, but (as it always does) the work day reached it's conclusion. One good thing about hating my job so much is, when I have days off, I get very excited about them! (Even if I am not going to be doing anything).
WEDNESDAY - May
7, 2008 12:12p – I seem to have broken the string of "precision" wake-up times, but even still I hit a double number when I got up this morning at "12:12" ... One of my dreams last night was really freakish and I can remember it exceptionally well. It was also very colorful. MAD ELEPHANT DREAM
7:22p – The expected disaster has finally struck. I went to pick Skip up from the train. Arrived at 4:17p and he arrived shortly thereafter. It was pouring rain. I hit a lot of pot holes which I could not see as they were filled with water. We stopped at Schnuck's and picked up some groceries, but when I started to pull out from the park lot, there was a grinding sound coming from beneath the car. I got out and looked, but could see nothing. We drove the car very slowly across the street with a steady, grinding, thunking noise coming from the front right axle area. I pulled into the Q-Mart parking lot for Skip to run in and buy cigarettes. However, when I tried to pull out it was worse. Apparently the spring completely snapped. We found a piece of it on the ground. The whole front of the car is riding on the tire/wheel itself. At this time, and young man on a bicycle came up and joined us. Skip was outside of the car, looking at the collapsed suspension. (It was still drizzling rain, incidentally). The young man seemed to know what the problem was right away, and I asked him if he knew of a mechanic in the area. He smiled and proclaimed himself to be a mechanic! He had apparently worked on four cars just today. I had Skip get his phone number. His name is Travis. So far we had 3 major strokes of good fortune in this disaster. (1) I have today and tomorrow off from work. (2) We had a mechanic come up to us at the very moment we broke down. (3) And we were within walking distance of the house and not flying down the highway when this happened. Blesséd be! Unfortunately, we've had one serious setback. Skip's phone did not retain the phone number and we do not know how to contact Travis now. I've called AutoZone and Advance Auto and got some prices. It's not too bad, but we need someone who knows how to do the actual work. I know that Travis lives on Leonard street, but we don't know where. I tried to call Tad to see if he knows him, but Tad's number is out of service. 8:06p – I just got a lecture from Skip about getting motivated and finding a good job. I cannot seem to make him understand that even though I may have good job skills and should be able to make more money than I am at this horrible job... I can't FORCE anyone to interview me (much less hire me). I am reaching a point of just not caring anymore. I can understand how some people no longer fear death, but look forward to it. I wouldn't say I am suicidal, but I am understanding of the condition.
THURSDAY - May
8, 2008 12:01p – I was pretty depressed last night. I am a bit refreshed and despite the rain, I have a better attitude this morning. Actually, I think the rain has quit (or paused, at least). It's probably trying to lure me out so it can pour down on me. But, that's okay. I have to go out anyway. Somehow, I have to get the car fixed by tomorrow. I don't know how I am going to manage that.
6:23p – Today did not go well. Skip took the day off, and he worked very hard to help get the car fixed. He paid over $170 for the quick-strut. I bought a new 2-ton jack. We managed to get all but one bolt loose attempting to remove the old strut, but after ruining 3 ratchets and at least one socket, we finally conceded that we were not going to be able to get it loose. This is going to take tools we don't have. So, I called work and spoke to Josh and arranged for a day of UTO. That will cost me another $104.40 in pay, but it can't be helped. I am going to have to have the car towed, which will be another $50 at least. And then there will be labor costs of who knows how much. I am going to try to find some small shop that can do this and try to avoid taking it to Dobb's (they will be too expensive).
FRIDAY - May
9, 2008 2:27p – The car is towed and in the shop. First I called Floyd's Towing. They wanted $55 to tow and it was going to be a while. I waited for them to call me back, but it was taking too long. So then, I contacted "Russ" at CarQuest. Skip had spoken to him yesterday. Russ had me call his son-in-law's towing company, Town-N-Country, and I spoke with Jody. They only charged $50 and sent Larry to pick up the car. Getting the car up on the flatbed was a hassle since the fender was resting on the on the wheel. In the process we nearly tore the front fender off.
I rode with Larry and we took the car to Tim at Huelsman Automotive, on Cooper Street. I had called Tim earlier and he was ready for me. We got the car into the garage and off the truck much more easily than when we loaded it. Larry then gave me a ride home. Tim called me around 4:00p and was considerate enough to send a driver to pick me up. (An older gentleman whose name I did not get). They had told me it should be under $100 ... but it turned out to be exactly $100. The bad new is, that the wheel bearings are the actual problem. All this other stuff was not really even related! And now I can hear the bearings grinding. This has got to be fixed soon before the wheel locks up. So, after getting home I called Skip and he was on the bus headed home. I did not even go in the house, I just got back in the car and drove down to Falling Springs and waited for him. The bus dropped him off about 3 minutes after I arrived. I updated him on the way home, and we stopped at CarQuest and he put another $49.52 on his credit card. That's a total of $259.52 that he has put on this card that I owe him. 11:46p – Time to go to bed. I think I can sleep in tomorrow ... "for real!"
SATURDAY - May
10, 2008 I was a bit more industrious than usual this morning and did some gardening work. I got my one little "yellow watermelon" planted in the ground. I also emptied/filled various planters and got them ready for planting. I filled one of them with the poppy and fennel sprouts (which were a lark in the firs place). 2:25p – We are getting ready to drive to Collinsville. I am so worried about the bearing going out on the car. I hope it hold up. I have a new set of bearings to fix it with, but I can get them installed for at least a few days yet. There is a Powwow at the mounds today. I had nearly forgotten until Jeff reminded me in an email. Maybe we can stop by if the car seems to be doing okay. 8:04p – The car seemed to do okay, though I sure do not want to push it. We went directly to Ramon's and expediently had our usual of a Mr. Pibb and a Mexican Plate. I had wanted to have a memorial meal for Mom since today is her birthday, and tomorrow is Mother's Day, but the situation was not conducive to this. Maybe tomorrow on Mother's Day? We will see. Jeff called me while we were eating. We left Ramon's and went to Home Depot in Collinsville. We had never been in this store. Skip spent quite a while here searching for materials for his next "project" ... which is making cheese. He is making his own cheese press. My hip and back were in agony, so I went out and sat on a palette of plywood for a while, then finally went back in and found him (playing in the power tools section... of course). Jeff called me again. He was at the powwow and said it seemed to be busy. Once I got him out of Home Depot, we went across the street to Wal-Mart. I spent just over $50, but the GOOD news is, I managed to spent the $50 from the rebate card Skip gave me. The trick was to use it as a CREDIT card... even though it said DEBIT on the front! So, my purchase (in cash) was just over $8.00. Next, we went to Star Bucks so Skip could get a caffeine fix. I waited in the car. It was starting to rain, and I was worried about how the powwow was going. We spent so much time at Home Depot and then Wal-Mart while it was NOT raining, and now it looks like my one out-door activity is going to be blighted. I drove to the the Cahokia Mounds next. We were not far away. I tried to call Jeff, but I got his home phone. I did not want to try again while driving in the rain, with a wheel problem, and try to find the right number. So I waited until we pulled into the parking lot of the Powwow grounds. The rain was coming down fairly serious. I called Jeff and reached him. He was on his way home. The had stopped the dances and were closing up the Powwow. I was very disappointed, of course. But, I decided it was not worth risking getting my camera wet or ruined, and since Jeff did not see the ᎤᎦᏓᎵ ᎠᎨᏯ ("feather lady") there, I decided to just go ahead an leave at that point. I was a bit depressed about that. I don't think they are going to be there tomorrow. So, home we went, with a stop for Skip at Q-Mart. (I hardly ever patronize them any more as their prices, which were once the most reasonable in the area, have become too high for me). 8:32p – It's still raining, and I hear the rumble of distant thunder 10:51p – I have been cleaning the kitchen. Long needed cleaning. My back is killing me, but the kitchen is looking better. At least, the dirty dishes are. 11:59p – I just finished fixing food for us. Some chicken & pork with bean thread; smothered in a gravy of mashed potatoes & vegetables. I was just trying to explain this to Skip, but he is all wrapped up in his movie (The Perfect Storm). Oh well... it's edible, if he hears my explanation or not.
SUNDAY - May
11, 2008 12:06a – I am about to go eat, and put on another episode of Charmed. Assuming Skip goes to bed. I am not sure where the tornadoes hit. I have not even heard the news. But it stormed all night and most of the morning. It was hard to sleep. Then I went out to the car this morning and disaster had struck I could not believe my eyes!
As you can see, the car was brutally bombarded by countless leaves. Not just dead leaves, but living young leaves, ripped by the storm from their spring branches and ruthlessly slammed against my car. Oh ... the travesty. But... we will survive and the car has nearly recovered already. Okay ... so the storm was not so bad here. It was still annoying... and my bedroom leaks... lol... 1:03a – Whatever else misfortune I may be having, hunger is not one of them. I just fixed a huge meal and I am bloated. Ugh! 9:05p – I tried to sleep in late. I needed more sleep. I slept okay until about 6:00a when I got up for a bathroom break. I did not really get back to sleep again until around 9:00a. I had some chaotic dreams and fitful sleep, while a series of thunderstorms raged on out side. I was wondering how my planter with poppies and fennel was doing. Probably soaked. I got up around 11:30a and fixed a pot of Earl Grey and watched the remainder of last night's episode of "Charmed" ... where the Avatars seem to have been defeated and the world returned to "normalcy." Skip wanted to go somewhere nearby and have a quick, simple, cheap meal for brunch. We headed out and ended up almost lost. We drove for miles and could not find a decent place to eat. It was totally insane! lol! We finally ended up driving to Columbia and eating at Tequila's. Then we walked over to The Market Place and attempted to shop.
MONDAY - May
12, 2008 1:04a – I am full, sleepy, and off to bed. Work looms before me tomorrow, but I will deal with it when I must. 11:15a – I did not want to get up (as usual) but here I am. It looks like we finally have a nice, beautiful day. I've been off work for the last 5 days, and it has been cold, overcast, rainy and there have even been tornados. Today I go back to work, and the sun comes out. Typical. I took only one call, then went on floor support. Steve was not there, so I had to cover for him. Mi komencis legi e-libro "Cxe la Koro del la Tero" tute en Esperanto cxi nokte. Mi legis la unua du cxapitroj. On the way home from work, I heard that China suffered an huge earthquake, possibly killing 10,000 people or more. And of course, the fiasco with Myanmar continues as their military government remains resistant to allowing aid to be brought in to their country. What a mess.
TUESDAY - May
13, 2008 4:14a – I had a good supper and made lunch for tomorrow. Off to bed now. 11:10a – I am sleepy. I has been storming all morning, but seems to have abated now. Cxe 8:33a mi vekis kaj auxdis eksplodoj de tundro, kaj la sono de la venta kiel gxi blovegis la pluvo kontraux mia fenestro. Mi esperas ke miaj plantoj travivis la tempesto. 11:20a – Eble me eraris! Mi jxus auxdis du lauxtan ekspodojn de tundro! Sed, ne pluvas.
WEDNESDAY - May 14, 2008 8:43p – I tried to get up early today so I could call the repair shop about getting the wheel bearing installed on the car. I got up at 11:01 and managed to call them and to my amazement, I got an appointment at 1:30p to bring the car in. I got my money moved over from savings to checking, and I moved all my fund from PayPal over to my checking also. I should now have just a little over $300 to work with. I got out of here on time and pulled in to Huelsman Automotive promptly at 1:30 on the dot (per my car clock). However, plans rarely go the way I want them to, and Tim was very apologetic when he told me that he had forgotten that he was going to have to "press" the set of bearings (whatever that is, I am not sure) and that he could not do it today. I rescheduled for Friday. I came home with the intention of mowing the lawn right away. I parked the car further back from the gate and over to the right side of the driveway with that intention. However, I got caught up with gardening stuff. I moved some peat pots around, planted some Mung beans in both peat pots and in the garden, planted a potato, and I carefully opened one of my 3 remaining Sacred Tobacco seed pods and planted seeds in about 5 peat pots.
I finally fixed a bite to eat. I did not eat last night. I made some rice and some pork (with onion, black rice, cashews and seasonings). By this time, I did not feel like mowing the lawn! Skip called. He found a place (over on Gravois in St. Louis) which would install the wheel bearings for $188.00! (a flat rate). Much better. I called Dobb's and they want $388.00. Very confusing. I think I will cancel the Friday appointment until I figure out more. I picked Skip up at Q-Mart around 4:30p. We came home and I got industrious and DID get the front lawn mowed. I had to drive over to BP and get some gas for the mower... and some for the car. The prices are up to $3.899 now! This is totally absurd. After mowing, I also got a few of the "tree-weeds" removed from the yard. That's all I can do today. I am tired, shaking and in pain from doing all that, but I feel good that I got it done. 9:09p – What a stressful event I just went through. I tried to connect my FTP service to my hosting service to upload my daily journal information... as I do everyday. I got an error message saying there was a "possible security breach." I called technical support. I was on hold for a long time, and finally got an agent with a comprehensible Indian accent. However, she could not answer my questions and seemed not to even comprehend my issue. I was trying to explain it, slowly, in detail, when the phone died (since I was on HOLD FOR SO LONG!!! HELLO!?). So, I just went ahead and connected and to Hell with the consequences. I tried to tell Skip about this, but he gave a long, dramatic sigh, obviously exasperated that I was interrupting him watching his movie (which I paid for... "Donny Darko"). The moment I heard that sigh, I told him, "never mind." Anyway, hopefully my journal is uploading to my site. If anyone else is getting it, I don't know why they would even care! lol! 10:51p – I have not heard from RD much in the last month or two. I hope I did not do something to offend her. I have been keeping quiet, knowing that she was going through some personal family problems, but ... I am starting to really worry that there is something worse than I realized going on, or I have made some major blunder in our shared, on-line life. I can only hope all is well with her (and us) ...
THURSDAY - May 15, 2008 11:37a – I slept very soundly last night and did not want to wake up at all this morning. It was cold in the house. The front window and the back door were both open. I shut everything and turned on the heat to take the chill off. (And this is the middle of May!). It was 65°f in the house and 56°f outside. I've made some Earl Gray and am trying to wake up. I had (as usual) some strange dreams last night. In one of them, I entered this room and the door was shut behind me. It was a large, metal vault and I was sealed in alone. Oddly, I was not disturbed by this at all. In fact, I seemed to find it amusing. Then the entire vault was laid on its side. Not violently, but I had been standing, and I was now laying on my left side. Some time passed, I don't know how long. Minutes, hours... I could not tell. The vault door opened and I climbed out. Looking around, I found myself in an old building. It seemed abandoned. There were broken windows, no furniture and everything was coated in dust. I appeared to be about noon, as the sun was shining brightly outside. Somehow I knew that this entire situation had been staged. I am not sure if my dream character knew it or not, but I knew that someone had set this entire town up to seem like it was 1975. The people in this town were all trained actors pretending to be in 1975. The newspapers, and television broadcasts were all tailored to be from that same time. Even the commercials. All this I knew in a flash. The dream blurs and I found myself in some kind of auditorium or conference hall. I think there was more to the dream than this, but I can't remember any of it except for one detail. I remembered a telephone number which was 789-3865. That number stuck with me and now I know what it is. That was my phone number back in Deltona for 12 years. I thought I had forgotten that number. I took one phone call before going on floor support today. It took about 15-20 minutes, and I couldn't even document it since I was never able to find the customer's account. I spent most of the day doing floor support until about 11:30p when I went back on phones. Meanwhile, in China, they have about reached the end of the time they can expect to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings. And in Myanmar, the efforts continue to get aid to the victims of the cyclone.
FRIDAY - May 16, 2008 2:37a – I need to cancel the appointment with Huelsman Auto. I was supposed to take the car in tomorrow morning at 8:30a and pay $300 to have the wheel bearings installed. But Skip called a Ford Dealer and they quoted him a flat rate of $180 to do the same job! So, I will not be taking the car in tomorrow morning. 3:02a – I tried calling Huelsman Auto, hoping they had voice mail, but they did not. I let the phone ring about 7-8 times. I will have to call in the morning, and I am not sure I will be up in time. 10:48p – I was relatively busy today. I got more seeds planted. I got a CD scare crow system hung over the garden. I picked up Skip, and we met up with "Travis" ... the Utky' young man who proclaims to be a mechanic. 11:20p – I never did call "Tim" at Huelsman Auto today. However, I did set up an appointment for getting the new wheel bearing installed for under $155 today. However, I have to wait until Wednesday. I hope the car will hold out. 11:24p – Off to bed now...
SATURDAY - May 17, 2008 1:17p – Off to work again. Beginning day 1 of 4.
I filled the gas tank on the way home. The price in Missouri was $3.659/gal. In Illinois it is $3.899/gal. I put in $49.00. This is very damaging on my meager income. Totally sucks.
SUNDAY - May 18, 2008 3:32a – I just finished watching Mary Jane Smith and Dr. Who. I need to be off to bed soon. I slept in until nearly noon I think. I got up and went straight to a shower. I had more weird dreams last night. I had an odd dream where me and my sister Calisa had to sleep in our parents bed together. We both felt a bit awkward sleeping in the same bed, but it was matter of necessity, so we made do. This dream ended, I awoke, went back to bed and had more dreams. In one of those dreams, I had wings. Huge, wings with indigo feathers. I was flying over a sunny green landscape and it was wonderful! I love flying dreams, but I don't think I have ever had a dream in which I actually had wings. This was new. I could feel the wind and air under my vast blue wings and the feeling of power and flight were awesome. Then, several dream segments later, my dreams revert back to me and 'lisa sleeping in the same bed. Our Grandmother, Néhna is now in the dream and she is very shocked and dismayed by our "perversity." I want to assure her that we were just sleeping in the bed together because we had to sleep somewhere. But Néhna seemed to think there was some sort of perverse incestual activity going on. I was exasperated. How could I convince her it was totally innocent? She is my SISTER! Eeewww! But Néhna was convinced we had committed some foul sin. Then she brought out her coup de gras. A bottle of lotion she had confiscated from the bedroom. The bottle of lotion advertised on it's label that it now contained "Viagra!" Calisa was mortified by the entire affair, and both of us were intimidated by our formidable, ranting, grandmother. However, Calisa (in my dream) had no clue what Viagra was. She looked at me, mystified. She asked Néhna what that meant? Néhna would not stoop to explaining something like that of course. I was starting to snicker and tried to hide my amusement. Meanwhile, 'lisa was completely lost. So, I switched to Ashoke to explain it to her. I said, "Ce S'Atw' ey' Anm' Uzyeze nw' Ih' Antsw' Ute t'ge C'Apye." I was not sure if she would understand my short explanation, but the look of shock and embarrassment on her face told me that she comprehended. I could not help but to laugh and my "fear of Néhna" fell to the wayside as I laughed and laughed at the silly misunderstanding and awful mistake. I woke up grinning and all but chuckling... 1:16p – I am leaving a bit early for work so I can stop and get some food on the way.
MONDAY - May 19, 2008 3:32a – Wow... this is exactly the same time I made an entry 24 hours ago. I have some food cooking. I need to get to bed, but I need to fix food for tomorrow and my "supper". I have black rice cooking and some chicken & pork in a skillet on the stove. Everything smells great. I have loaded Yodm on my computer tonight. There seem to be a few problems... but I think I have them worked out and under control. 12:23p – I was up at 11:35a. I have first meal simmering on the stove. My shower is done. My clothes are ready. And now I am going to check email. I didn't even check email after work last night. That is very unlike me.
TUESDAY - May 20, 2008 12:15p – Day 4 of 4, here at last. I am so tired. 11:40a – I see the squirrels have dug up some of Skip's carrots. I have to rush off to work, or I would try to save & fix some of hem. Damn yard rats... Today I had one of my worst calls ever. Some woman by the name of Jane F. call in. (I will keep the surname private, but it's my Dad's first name... ). Right away I knew she was going to be a problem when I asked for her name and she stipulated that she would be "Mrs. F." with me (rather than a familiar "Jane") since I was addressing her in a professional capacity. Okay ... anal retentive bitch on the phone... no problem. Then I tried to extract the nature of the problem she might be having from her. I don't think I ever got the REAL problem, but we 'started off with' the problem that she had been a Comcast customer 3-4 years ago. She moved, according the her story, to "escape" from Comcast. She became a Patriot Media customer. But, Patriot 'went under' and was bought out by Comcast. (Personally, this bothers me, but it is not in my control). It seems that she continued to use her Comcast email address long after she left Comcast. Like 3-4 years after. Eventually, the email account was closed and "recycled." Another Comcast customer claimed the UID. My customer was furious about this. She could not comprehend that she had been using a "free" email address for years and that she was not entitle to such free service. Of course, the fact that she had this email address was simple clerical/administrative error on the part of Comcast, which provided her with at least 3 years of free service. However, the customer did not see it this way. She only saw that her email had suddenly been disrupted. She "despised" Comcast and expressed this fact to me in no uncertain terms repeatedly. Worse yet, her email ID had been taken on by another customer. Now she was REALLY upset. She was (rightfully) concerned that her private emails containing such personal information as banking data, and such, would be sent to this person. Yeah... it is quite likely! I tried to explain to the customer that if you move, you need to end your email link to that email address. She was of the mind, however, that we should delete the email addresses and that no one should ever be able to use them again. (Kind of like moving from your home and instead of having your mail forwarded, you have the house torn down! lol!). She went on an began to rant at me in a very abuse way. She referred to me/us as small-minded little people; the "minions" of Comcast. (or something to that effect). She went on at length and I was parroting her every word to Jay and/or other cohorts in my vicinity. Finally she stopped her rant at me. I did not know quite what to say, but the first words from my were.... "Okay... do you feel better now?" In retrospect, I realize that was probably not the best thing I could have said, but after her tirade... well, allowances should be made! Nevertheless, she really blew up after that. She proceeded to say, such things as, "You can go fuck yourself and suck your own dick while your at it!!" ... and then she got nasty. At that point I told her I was going to disconnect the call. I heard a "F..." as I hit the release button. Later, I heard of other agents who spoke with this sick person. Including Jasmine, who was told by Jane to perform certain perverse and incestuous acts upon her father. And to think, our base pay for his abuse is only $9/hr. How horribly sad. Anyway, Jane left me very upset and shaking. My adrenaline gets to flowing so bad after those kinds of calls and I am not taking my BP meds. This could kill me! It's almost funny in one sense, until I realize it is jeopardizing my life. Not funny now... okay?
WEDNESDAY
- May 21, 2008 10:26p – This has been a busy and depressing day. I am going to find it hard to put all this in my journal, since I feel more like go to bed, curling up, and just staying there. But I will try, so here goes...
I walked all the way down to the center of Belleville, to the "round-about" ... the circular drive in the center of Belleville which is reminiscent of those European round-abouts I have seen photos of.
I stopped along the way and sat in the small, and peaceful park in front of the Belleville Courthouse. I love their fountains, and I have taken pictures of them in the past.
The day was beautiful. Sunny, with a gentle and cool breeze, around 76°f. I sat on a bench the the Courthouse park for a while. I called Cheryl Jost and chatted with her for a while. She has finished he book which is a kind of medical-biography about "Ullrich-Turner syndrome" ... a condition afflicting her adopted daughter, Radina.
From there, I walked on to down town Belleville. It is a very nice town. I could live there and do so with pride I think. They have an old fashioned movie theater down town, and "Iron Man" was playing. I really want to see this movie. None were playing at the time. I wandered into a camera shop (with MY camera in hand). They have some interesting stuff. I may go back one day in the far flung imaginary future when I have money. I found Quiznos and stopped in for a small "Rib Ranchero" sub. It was very good. Skip called me (while I was in the restroom!), but I missed his call and had to call him back. Shortly thereafter, the Ford dealership called me and indicated there were "worse" problems and I was needed there to make a decision. I finished up my sandwich and headed back to the Ford dealership. The walk back was faster, but arduous. My hips and back just cannot take such long spells of staying upright. I was in pain, but ... I was dealing with it adequately. Once back to Auffenberg Ford, I learned that the axel would need to be replaced, since the boot was ruptured. There were many and varied problems. I was not (am not) in a position to fix all these things, so I told them to just install the bearings and give me a list of all the "other" issues. I was getting a bit depressed at this point, of course. I went to the customer lounge and watched Oprah for a while.
Terry dropped me off at the Swansea MetroLink station. I bought a ticket (picture above) and caught the train to 5th&Mo. I finally got home around 7:00p. 11:59p – I should have know better than to expect any moral support from Skip on this. I have been going through a bit of Hell today. I did not expect nor ask for him to be supportive, positive... whatever. I really did not even want to THINK about this day except to let him know what was up and try to plan for tomorrow. However, he has been on my case all evening about how I manage my finances, and even called me "arrogant." I just don't know what to say. I am ready to pull a sheet over my head and just give up. I can do a lot with a little support, but once that support becomes an attack... I really don't do to well.
I also have another batch of "tsola" (sacred tobacco) growing.
THURSDAY - May 22, 2008 2:09a – I have eaten, and now I am off bed. Tomorrow will see me spending LOTS of money which I simply do not have! 2:13a – I am off to bed. PLEASANT DREAMS! Everyone!!! 1:04p – I slept badly with lots of unpleasant dreams. I realized this morning that even when I have bad dreams, I would rather stay in bed than get up and face reality. 5:19p – I caught the 1:40p bus to the MetroLink. Scott had left a message for me on my voice mail, so I called him back. He is going to be in town and wanted stop for dinner. I am not sure what we are doing at this point, I am so tired. I got on the wrong train and had to get off and catch the one going the other direction. I couldn't believe I did something so ignorant. I got to the Belleville station a little after 3:00p. I took the #16 bus, which pulled out at 3:29p to the downtown area. I walked from there to Auffenberg Ford. Amazingly, I was there by about 3:50p. The repairs cost me $342.54, leaving me only a couple of dollars left in checking and I think I have $20 in my savings. I stopped at Hardee's and had one of their burgers and a "bacon cheddar fry." I spoke to Skip while I was there. I was supposed to be picking him up, but plans changed and he is getting a ride home with Greg. I came home, and then left again to go to Q-Mart. The car is driving much better and the brakes feel much tighter now. There is still a little noise coming from the axle. That will need to be fixed still, but I am out of money. I came back home and planted about 4 of my corn sprouts. The squirrels will probably destroy them, but maybe some will make it. I still don't know what is going on with Scott, but I am really tired. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything at this point. Scott called. I had to cancel ... I was just too tired, and I did not want to drive the car unnecessarily since, despite all the repairs, it still has serious issues. Not to mention "wear & tear" and the price of gas. 10:34p – I just got caught up on my "Cherokee word graphics." What an ordeal that can be! I have been so behind due to work and car issues, but ... it's current as of now. I still need to get the Cherokee Arts site updated. I need to send out challenges for April and May still.
FRIDAY - May 23, 2008 12:59a – My supper consisted of rice, with a pork & chicken gravy. Very good. Off to bed now though... 1:28p – I slept in kind of late. Skip actually woke me up. He needed me to check my email to get some information from Calisa. I am headed off to work in a few minutes. Work was just another day of work. I had a final call that took quite a while, so I did not get out of the office until late. I stopped for gas on the way home and did not get home until about 2:00a.
SATURDAY - May 24, 2008 12:45p – I am up, though still groggy from sleep. It's raining lightly out. We are going to go to Fairview Heights and see if we can find their Wal-Mart Super Center, and maybe have lunch at Olive Garden. 5:29p – I am pooped. We ate at Taco Bell, and that was not a very good experience. The place was dirty, and their food is just not what it used to be. Especially since the quit service onions in their food. I got some more planters and am going to plant some gourds. 6:14p – I got about 46 gourd seeds in peat-pots and skip planted 3 different kinds of watermelon.
I got 4 more white-eagle corn plants in the ground in a little plot that Skip made for me along the fence line.
11:46p – I have been cleaning in the kitchen and cooking some sweet black rice and some special patties. I made a mixture of sweet-potato and regular Idaho potato, along with some seasonings. I mixed in an egg and some flour (and baking soda, and baking powder). I made patties of the mixture, floured them and fried them. I put all the utensils in the mixing bowl and filled it with water to soak before cleaning. So, after fixing the rice dish, and then peeling, chopping and mixing up the potato patties, Skip went on a rampage about my leaving the kitchen in a mess. What?! I was still in the process of working in the kitchen! I had just cleaned most of the dishes, wiped down the counters, scrubbed down the stove and had my current dishes in the sink soaking, and ready to wash.
(I have since washed them). I am starting to get worried about his rampages. I pointed out to him the disaster area we call the living room, which I have cleaned up so many times, and he has not said anything to me since. I don't want to fight. It wears me out and sends me into a spiral of depression...
SUNDAY - May 25, 2008 12:11a – It has been a busy and interesting day. Skip is cooking the fish. I am having perch and he is having cod.
1:10a – Off to bed. Whatever other difficulties we are having, ... I still need to sleep! In my dreams last night, I had one segment with three names: Nieghel, Clivé and Sed. I do not have a clue where these names came from, but I will be alert to them ... 1:03p – I got up around noon. Made tea. We have a squirrel in the cage already. We will have to cart him across the river (to make sure he doesn't find his way back).
9:40p – We released Saloli over in Dupo, several miles from home and hopefully far enough away that he will not return. We then went to find a place to eat, driving down downtown Dupo. We found no place we wanted to hazard a lunch in, so we went in search of Angel's diner off of Hwy 157. It appears to have closed down and is no longer a diner. We ended up going to the Pizza Hut here in Cahokia. Having lived here nearly five years, this was the first time I have been in this establishment! It was not a pleasant dining experience either. Nope. Very ghetto. We went by Schnuck's and I picked up some collard greens. I am craving some greens. They are cooking now with some bacon ends, and a quartered pork steak. Regretfully, I did not get any more plants in the ground today. 10:23p – We have had rain and storms off and on all day. Earlier, on the radio, we had threats of "nickel" size hail stones... then shortly thereafter, "three inch in diameter" hail stones! We just went through a major torrential down pour and I took some shots of the rain and lightning. (So far, no hail). 11:49p – I am trying to create a video showing the storm we had tonight. It is going very slowly though...
MONDAY - May 26, 2008 12:21a – Here we go again. It seems like every night, Skip goes off on a bizarre tangent, slamming me for not cleaning the kitchen, or some other failing. He just went off on me again. Screaming at me about not cleaning up in the kitchen. I try to do my best, but I am currently cooking my own supper at this time, so I may have dishes which need cleaning. Meanwhile, I must point out to him the disastrous state of the living room. I have cleaned it up on multiple occasions (as documented here in my journal). Yet it is once again, as usual, so horrible that neither he nor I would have any company step foot within our home. The kitchen may be a mess, but no one but us needs must go there. The living room is where we should be able to greet our friends/acquaintances, and entertain them. Sadly, we cannot do that. Even Skip will not invite his friend, Brian, into the house. He will only let him into the front yard or the back patio ... at best. I would like to invite a friend over now and then personally; but I can't. I have cleaned the living room more than once, and it ends up a disaster area. I am so tired of even trying, ... and then I get screamed at and put down for leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen. I am not sure what he was talking about, but ... I am still cooking, so I would think I would get a bit of leeway in that regard. Apparently not... and frankly, I do give a shit. 1:32a – I have spent the last hour cleaning up in the living room. I piled his stuff in front of his door, and my few items on my desk. I snipped some roses and decorated the living room. I vacuumed. I did all the things that I have so many times in the past to no avail. I commented to Skip tonight that I have cleaned the living room on numerous occasions and he tried to make it sound like I only did this 2-3 times since we moved here! Well, anyone who follows my journal knows better! I am getting tired of him getting drunk and bitching me out every night. I need to get my sh** together and and just move out. I really do not need this. However, I really do love my brother. I love him very much and I don't want to leave him, but... I can't keep going through this torment every time we have free night. It's just not right... for either of us. 1:45p – Off to work again ... running late. I was a little bit late to work due the clock in the living room being off; and then just before leaving, I discovered two of the planters with seedlings were flooded. I had to drain them off. I spent the whole day in floor support. It was a light day for the most part, except for a spell when we had some massive outage in the Chicago market. The queue went up to over 100 in no time.
TUESDAY
- May 27, 2008 2:36a – Home again. Watched another episode of Charmed. Thawing some chicken for supper ... or breakfast... or whatever. About two nights ago, I had another dream with "names" in writing in the dream. There were 2 names. One I have since forgotten, but the other was "Ranille" ... that name has stuck with me for a couple of days. I don't know why I am dreaming of 'names' here lately, but I am trying to remember them and make note of them. I took phone calls for about 4 hours at work today. Mostly all migration email issues. Then I spent the rest of the "day" in floor support.
WEDNESDAY - May 28, 2008 4:34a – I am catching up my journal. Skip just stumbled groggily into the bathroom and will be head back to bed in a moment I suspect. I have some food cooking and the house smells like bacon. y'ustj' Atg' ey' iyelm' Amfre rd. Ce AzIm' upyetse. ISe S'upyetse Twe Im' IbAske y'Atk' ey' erskwelre Anj' etle C'Usle. y'idinC' urthe Ce. Y'idinC' Itre C'Adbe. IS' ustj' uzdAtn' unyerdAndste. As usual, I slept fitfully. I finally got up around noon. Before I had a the sleep out of my eyes, I went out to check the plants. Everything was status-quo, except for the gourds & melons we planted a few days ago. The entire tray of peat-pots was standing in water from the rain storms. I removed all of the peat-pots and dumped the water from the tray, then tediously replaced each peat-pot in place. I thought my back was going to go nuclear, but I got it done. I did not accomplish much today, but I did get all my word graphics caught up-to-date. I also down loaded Jalbum 8.0 and am trying to make use of it to update the Cherokee Words site. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some bubble envelopes for mailing CD's. Then I went next door to Schnuck's where I met Skip and (his boss) Gregg. I picked up another sliced pork butt (on special) and a 30-pack of large eggs (for $3.65). When parking at Schnuck's, I pulled into a parking spot and some black guy in a pick-up pulled into the spot in front of me. I had the right-of-way, but he wanted that spot and "pointed" to it... indicating to me that he was parking there. I almost lost it and was about to start a scene, but I just did not have the time nor inclination. I just slammed the car in reverse, back out, and parked in another spot. I made it a point NOT to even look at the ass-hole driving that pick-up so I would not be pissed off again if I saw him in the store. Some people... they are just so crass, so base, so low class. I have spent much of the evening chopping up all my pork, marinating it, and putting most of it away in the freezer. I also slice my beef up into steaks and froze them. The butt end of the beef I mixed with some of the pork and will use it for several meals (including tonight). I am not sure what I am going to cook for supper (and tomorrow's lunch). I have beef & port, plus onion, celery, carrot, potato, ... and more. I am sure I will figure something out.
THURSDAY - May 29, 2008 12:55a – I have diced beef & port cooking with onion, celery and carrots. And various seasonings, of course. Plus (as usual) I have a pot of Jasmine rice cooking. 2:09a – I hear Comcast was hacked tonight. Off to bed now. I am wondering how this "hack" will affect me at work tomorrow? We will see. 10:35a – I had a dream this morning. I would have been right around 10:30a. I was going through some park-like area and suddenly there was an explosion of money raining down on us. Paper money. Many $1 bills, but there were other denominations also, including some $100 bills. I was trying to pick some of them up, but I was feeling guilty. I tried to "sneak" them up, but that was silly. I was feeling guilty, yet I was concerned others would get all the money before I could get it. It was a real "guilt & greed" oriented dream. There was another person in the dream running around scooping up all the cash they could with no qualms. I seemed to be the only person who felt I might be doing something wrong, but I was trying to convince myself it was not my fault nor my problem.
y'Atke 2 erskwelzre 'izT' ornmeingne. y'ond' on' Atwe y'Ib ogeingy' Ut' Ude Twe emTe.
FRIDAY - May 30, 2008 y'emk' om' Ut' aitne Anj' IT' erskwelzr' erw' Ange. skip aitm' Av' etl' emT' oge. y'ond' on' eCe. y'Av' Ut' ASk' im' Utarmore. 4:17a – I came home, watched the tail end of an episode of Charmed, and did my Cherokee Word Graphic for today. I just can't seem to keep caught up with everything though. 4:53a – Skip just left for work. I guess he has some early function. I am just going to bed. Our schedules are so weird. 1:41p – It's supposed to rain today, but so far it has remained sunny, breezy ... and hot. It is now 85°f. I am thinking about going to Soulard Market for some vegetables. Especially garlic and jalapeños. 3:42p – I just got back. I went by Wal-Mart first and got some oil for the car. The oil leak is (of course) continuing to get worse, and I fear I am going to have a car fire soon if I do not manage to get it fixed. How, I don't know. The temperature says it is 88°f at the moment, but the car thermometer had it in the 90's and just after leaving Soulard Market going down I-70 it read 101°f. I don't think it was really that hot, but this is the hottest day we've had so far this year. I have turned on the AC. (Here goes the electric bill again!). At Soulard, I got a couple of flats of garlic ($2), a box of jalapeños ($1), 3 bunches of broccoli ($3), and 6 pounds of onions ($2). I stopped back by Schnuck's for beer. It's cheaper there now than it is at Q-Mart, and they wonder why I don't shop there much. I used to shop there because it was cheaper, but now they are more expensive than Schnuck's or Quick Trip. Well, we've abandoned the idea of trapping and relocating the squirrels. It seemed like a good idea at first, but besides the unnecessary trauma to the squirrels, who are only guilty of being squirrels, it's an exercise in futility.
The results of my hair coloring are debatable. It's a good concept, but I probably had a few too many beers to be doing something requiring this much finesse. I looks okay of you don't look too close ... at least from the front. But in the back I missed a lot of the gray hair, and my primary intent was to get that gray. Skip just ordered a very serious BB gun. I've done what I could to be "nice" to the squirrels, but he has his own plans. He better be using this for target practice. I don't want our backyard to become a killing ground. I am so tired. I am making a beef steak on the Foreman grill, with a broccoli side-dish, and a baked potato with yogurt (instead of sour cream).
SATURDAY - May 31, 2008 12:57a – I am off to bed now. I got to work about 15 or 20 minutes late today. I was just running behind. It's hard to get motivated on a beautiful Saturday morning to go off to work. I do not have my June page created yet, I just realized.
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