Beaten Up

"N" and I have a running joke between the two of us that if all this studying doesn't pay off, he'll go to the teacher and pull a "Sonny Corinthos" on the guy.

General Hospital...really guys, try to keep up.

Unfortunately for "N" someone already beat him to it on test night. A guy, lucky if he was in his early twenties, clearly not in our class, barged into the room looking as if he had lost his way. I think navigating around the square room was difficult for the kid at this point.

Mr. Seth Green was leaning back in his chair with his hands propped behind his head, and his foot on the table when he noticed said person. He leaned forward, allowing the chair to drop quietly to the floor as he listened to the crazed student in his room.

"Are you Adam?"

He simply nodded his head, and agreed to be escorted into the hallway to talk. Before the door slammed closed, we managed to hear as much as "I'm so-and-so's boyfriend" and nothing else.

Fortunately for Adam, no altercation went down. No punches were thrown, and Adam returned to the classroom without so much as a scratch.

Man enough to own up to it, Adam kept his flushed face downward as he was like "Well there for a second, I thought I was going to be beat up,"

Unfortunately for the class, when we tried to explain how fried our brains were after dumping all that material into one test, and some people asked to play a game his reply was, "Okay, we'll play a game. It's called 'Watch Adam Lecture' and it's really fun,"

We totally should've let that guy beat him up.

Here's to Hoping...

Tonight I felt like the little kid that has to sit somewhere and draw big, black pictures to express emotions.

We were all fried, we had spent the first few classes studying- and hard- to hopefully obtain a good grade on the first test.

The first test is as nerve wracking as the first day of class- you never know what to expect, what to study.

Thankfully for me, and all my studying, it tended to pay off, and any questions I missed will hopefully fall in the 10% range leaving me with a solid "A".

Unfortunately due to the class's high standards the teacher (no doubt a Seth Green look-alike) was persuaded to keep us in class till normal time, provided no handouts (imagine having to take your own notes!), and made me feel as if throwing something at him was the only escape from the room.

Really dude, it's a power point presentation, just read off the slide.

Here's to hoping the need for a good grade outweighed my better judgement of ditching class in favor of a Phillies game.

Class, your vocabulary list

Not that you guys care, but this post #100 officially so I wanted to save it and make it special.

"N" texted me from work to inform that he had another encounter with another group of students, and their "out of the mouths of babes" attitudes.

Apparently "N" was talking to another teacher he knew from school and they overheard a conversation which involved the word "fiancee".

When "N" reentered the room, one of the students raised their hands and said,

"What's a fiancee?"

"Well it's when two people intend to get married, but they haven't yet," "N" explained.

"Oh," said the child, processing the information. "So it's like a baby momma?"

"Not yet, not exactly,"

"Are you her baby daddy?"

I'm fairly certain he gave up at that point. :)

De Ja Vu

Today, "N" informed me that he had a dream about me last night. Nothing unusual (the dreaming part), but what was unusual was he dreamed we had twins. A boy and a girl.

Normally this would strike me as hilarious, you know the equivalent of former assholes saying they're college graduates and want kids, (If "take it before I break it" is any indication...), not to mention the dreams he's had of us getting married on a boat, amongst others.

The weird part is, and I've never told anyone this, is my mom had a similar dream a few years back. Her exact words to me were "when you have your first child, it's going to be twins, a boy and a girl."

If that's not enough to freak anyone out, I don't know what is! Well except the dream where I gave birth and freaky indy promoters stole my kid....

Casualties

Currently I feel as thought I'm part of some bad scare tactic where bugs randomly attach themselves to every viable surface. If only Alfred Hitchcock could see me now...

Currently we are "under attack" by these Asian bugs that somehow managed to attach themselves to cargo crates from Asia. I don't think there is any doubt how I'm feeling about Asia's bugs right about now.

Quick! Someone call the president. I mean, after all, he has publicly stated we're at war with fish, what's a few bugs?

P.S. Currently the casualty count is 700-Bugs 0-People

Mouths of Babes...

Yesterday afternoon much to my delight, and my surprise I got an e-mail mid-morning from "N" describing the weird day's events.

Being that "N" is a teacher, and there had been a problem with a Teabag impersonator prior to this incident, I imagined that's what he was talking about. As I read on I found out differently.

Apparently in this particular clasroom where he has subbed often, one of his students walked up to his desk and asked him "Why he had been so happy lately,"

In a classic "N" way, and never to show you his full set of cards he replied, "I'm just in a good mood,"

Not to be outsmarted by someone older, and with a high education level the fourth-grader asked him "Are you sure it isn't because you've met a woman?"

"Well what did you say to that?" I inquired

"I explained that I had met a very special woman," he said speaking of me. But then he continued...

"Another student asked me, waving his hand about, 'So do you love her or are you just playing games with her?'"

In nothing but classic "N" fashion he replied "Student's name, I assure you, I'm not playing games with anyone."

Out of the mouths of babes.

Word of the day

The word(s) of today are:

1. Merchandise

2. Beverage

3. Bloody

4. Purchase

Go ahead, use them in a sentence.

The rules are:

1. Merchandise needs to be used in a form not related to wrestling, to include wrestling memorabilia

2. Bloody is not applicable where it seems appropriate such as "Bloody Mary" or as an adjective for a crime scene.

3. Purchase needs to be pronounced as perchase. Like Per Chase, blah blah blah, only run per and chase into one word.

4. It's all in good fun. :)

Pictures in the basement

Right now Nicholas is standing in the office of some sort of knockoff of Greyhound buses demanding to speak to the owner.

I'm not sure exactly how long he's been standing there, but I do know he was making calls to this office at dinnertime only to be met with resistance.

Apparently Velma, as he has affectionately named her, after the Scooby Doo character was unable to find her glasses, unable to schedule a bus trip, and most certainly "unable to take a message".

The plan was for him to head down to the office to meet up with Chartreuze after he got back from his "lunch break" that is now going on 4.5 hours long.

Never to admit defeat, Nicholas is texting me updates and so far he has demanded to see the owner, which I hope for his sake is not some wrestling promoter look-alike who will attempt to solicit him by asking him to "come see the pictures in the basement."

Getting things done...

Apparently before "N" and I knew each other, he had e-mailed me before.....

He informed me of this yesterday while we were busily gabbing on the phone about our variously exciting events of the day.

"When I logged onto your MySpace I saw that first picture, and I realized it looked familiar to me," he said. "And then I remembered an old Love @ AOL ad I responded to. I logged on to find out if you had written me back, and when I checked the status it said IGNORED."

I don't even remember there being an ignore button, nor is it my style to ignore something I didn't read. I have no problems being completely honest in general, let alone to drop a note to say "I'm not interested, but thanks!" you know, unless you count the first CL ad I replied to....

"Do you realize though," he continued "that all of this time and aggravation could've been avoided? There would've been no "J", no other unnecessary drama,"

It seems to appear that Cupid is just as stubbourn as me when it comes to getting things done.

Playlist

The other day I was walking up the steps to my boss's car when I heard music that caught my attention...

"Here Comes The Bride" was blaring loudly from an upstairs unit at the condo complex I *used* to work for.

I stopped and listened, thinking perhaps it reminded me of that particular song, but all crazy issues were thrown out the window when the music continued.

I shook my head and kept on walking. All things considered from the last couple of days, I'm hesitant to dismiss anything from being a "sign".

Assuming though that it was just a case of musical chairs, someone has quite the interesting playlist!

Wedding Talk...

Recently Anil and I were talking about the two-month salary rule of engagments.

"Where did that rule come from anyway?"

"I don't know, I guess it came from the whole cost of the wedding. You know for 150 people the food alone cost $11,000. And since you're only responsible for the honeymoon, rehearsal dinner, dressing yourself and your wedding party (assuming they don't pay for their own), and their gifts um that's a little hefty something to bring to the wedding."

"Well first I believe that the couple should pay for the wedding, but 2 months salary? I'd rather put that into my 401K!"

So being the smart ass that I am I posted a Myspace blog about how I came to research the two-month salary rule for the ring, and how it came about. And you know the comment that I got?

"All a girl needs is a cereal box ring"

To that I say "if you took the time to dig that ring out of the box- fighting off neighbors and siblings, and you looked at that ring and saw it as the most beautiful thing you ever saw and thought of me, then I'd accept it"...maybe. My ring is the only materialistic thing I want.

All this wedding talk makes me want to send some brides down the isle. TLC, here I come!

El Alfabeto

Right now I'm training my replacement (and consequently one of my best friends) to take over my job as Admin.

Who'd have guessed that an alphabetized drawer of folders would cause such a reaction...

"A, B, C, D......"

"Are you seriously singing the ABC's?"

"....."

"God forbid anyone shows this woman alphabet soup. It'd be the end of the world as we know it..."

Promises, Promises

Last night was a really long night, and it's contributing highly to my mood today. A bit of time ago I was inspired to visit Craigslist and check out the personal ads. I didn't know what I was looking for, and ultimately I ended up replying to three ads.

The first guy was dorky and was immediately eliminated, based upon looks alone. I'm superficial, so sue me. The second guy turned out to be more like "J" than I could have ever imagined. He openly admitted to being a cheater, a liar, and vain. The thought I could save this guy ran through my head, but after my last challenge, I'm a little down and out in that department.

The third guy was interesting, he wrote me long e-mails, but I didn't begin to think of him romantically until he found out I gave my notice only to find that my new job renigged. This only happens to me, I swear. He was highly supportive, and event sent me an ecard of a rose that said "After everything you've been through the last few days, I figured you might need a little something to make you smile. Hope this does the trick. :)" I smiled like an idiot, and had I been wearing a dress the movement would've been consistent that that of the spin cycle on the washing machine.

Things only continued to get better. To this day, I will become an obsessed e-mail checker until I get my first e-mail of the day from him. "It's like the curse, that is the cure." Yeah he's a regular jolt of caffeine. ;)

As Kenny Chesney once said "Well me an my lady had our first big fight," but what he failed to mention is these two people are highly similar with unique differences. And I'm stubbourn as hell "Don't you dare hang up until we work through this." Granted it involved a lot of tears, and talking through things. And wanting to throw things because the damn past won't stay that way.

And not making sense in sentences, obviously.

He knows about my past, he knows "of" "J" without my help and he still wants to be with me anyway. He patiently listens to my rants, and laughs at my jokes. And he tells me how important I am every chance he gets.

What can I say? It's very hard to schmooze someone who's better at the game than you. ;)

I promise a more coherent blog in the next few days...

Experienced

I had a love-hate relationships with puzzles when I was a kid. My grandmother still has loads of puzzles in her basement. My nature is though, to always have to be good at everything right away, so puzzles ended up not being for me, but I often remember getting frustrated at the little millions of pieces that were supposed to fit together according to the box.

As I got older, I started moving more and more into the puzzles of life, otherwise known as dating. Often the men in my life were less than stellar, and their short track-records only proved as much. Most of the time, I was no exception to the rule.

Finally I experienced the greatest loss of my life- with what I thought was my first real love. If one of my former flames was right, and if truly loving someone means how you've felt when you walked away from that person, then I've loved a lot of people to different degrees prior to this person.

Per my well-meaning friend's advice, I decided to go on hiatus. But patience is a virtue that I never inherited. I've always been the doer as opposed to the dreamer. Because let's face it, one can never predict the circumstances in anything I prefer to jump in, and deal with things as they come.

I have once again, taken a leap of faith, and am hoping there's a soft cushion to land on when I do eventually land. I will say that I went with my gut, and feel really good about this decision. Should there be concrete at the bottom, well I'm highly experienced in that area too. :)

Cutting Down...

Someone really needs to tell my mother to lay off the Court TV, the news, and probably television in general.

I got off work early yesterday, and as promised I stopped by Josh's for a bit. Being that my job is really just self multilation, I went home and went to bed to recoup, probably around 8 p.m.

Around 2:30 a.m. my phone rang frantically off the hook. It was my mother and the inevitable debate of whether to answer or....ran through my mind. I immediately called her back to assure her that it was not me on Roosevelt Boulevard, that I was home, safe, and unfortunately awake.

I watched some television on her million channel tv that you don't get even 1/2 of the channels without paying for, replied to some e-mails, and finally headed back home where I managed to grab a few more hours of sleep.

Need it be said how glad I will be when this is finally over on Tuesday?

Leather Glove

Someone let the Nazi that is my grandmother loose in the house today and she demonstrated her gratitude with her natural Nazi ways.

She and I have never really seen eye-to-eye. I mean she's my grandmother, and she's always reluctantly been there for me, but given the choice I'd put up with my callous of a grandfather any day.

She regularly enjoys organizing everything imagineable. The computer was the greatest enemy to me in regards to this woman. When I was a kid, every time I went to the doctor's a description went into a Word Document. You know, even for a COLD! I can understand being neurotic about surgery, or allergies or hospitalizations, medications, and serious medical conditions. You know because if your doctor doesn't know you could seriously end up with the doctor who diagnoses Oatmeal. Don't laugh, I just saw it on t.v.

After all, I'm only 22 and while I can tell you every, single surgery I've had (a lot for my age), I couldn't tell you dates to save my life.

Today though the Nazi really came out when she decided to ORGANIZE the pest killing, under-the-sink, no one sees it cans of spray. I mean really, who needs to organize that stuff? No one goes around looking in cabinets going "uh huh she organized this."

Of course this is the woman who used to scrub walls, and wipe OUT cabinet interiors for family picnics. As if anyone cares...

But her insanity was made visible to me when she was discussing a rubber ducky in the kitchen. Loe and behold sitting on the Lazy Susan was the Rubber Ducky in question....

What's weirder is I've seen him there 100 times over, and yet I've paid him no mind. Go ahead Ducky, guard the plastic cups. You know cause if they're stolen like I'm not going to improvise and use glass or you know, a leather glove.

Tim Burton

I am definitely going to hell in a handbasket. You know like that terrible movie, "Basketcase", only you know, I have limbs.

In the past two days I have managed to convince KB to give me the codes to create an evil demise that is now his MySpace page.

I've posted the trailer of "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days" which is hilarious. You know, even if he rolls his eyes and doesn't think so.

And I've managed to post his ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE: The one I asked him if it was okay to see when people invited themselves on an otherwise dirty dating adventure to the movies.

He was hating life the entire time during this movie: Premonition. He still violently shakes and shivers every time we see previews for the DVD.

Now the only way the torture can get better is Christmas...

"Here Comes Santa Clause...."

The Nightmare Before Christmas has NOTHING on me. So take THAT Tim Burton.

Idiots...

I just got off the phone with Bally's. Yes, I said I'd never cancel it on him- nor could I- without a utility bill of his. If you know anyone who's good at forgery, let me know.

I only intended to change the member from him to me. You know since I'm now jobless on Tuesday with the only prospects in sight, not very good (but potentially sufficient). So since the first thing that is getting cut down will be gas, my workout are the first things to go out the window. Of course I won't be driving much of anywhere besides school, and it may end up working out. (No pun intended).

This being said when I actually drive somewhere with the intent of working out, I should indeed workout. Instead of getting annoyed and just leaving.

But there's a Bally's in King Of Prussia which is considerably closer to me than Ozz's in Boyertown.

Well all plans failed when they informed me that it was $100 to change members. And that I could change it to the new member's credit card...except the new member is me! Nor at this point do I have the financial means to shell out $100 for something so stupid. So I'm sucking it up and running outside.

But the best part was when she tried to sell me on paying off the entire balance early. I informed her, well I've just found myself unemployed, yet she wanted me to pay it off using a credit card! ARE YOU SERIOUS? I explained to her that I may be calling them in a relatively short amount of time to explain I can no longer afford to pay this debt until I'm reemployed. And furthmore interest rates would exceed the 35% I'd save. So no, I'll stick to my $40 payments tyvm. I continued "Nor would it be financially wise or responsible to do so!"

But you'd have more time to pay it off..."Yes with a bill I can't afford!"

In the end I promised to send the late fee ($2- the way she said it, it sounded like $200, and I flipped shit as to why I wasn't notified in writing) with my next payment. Geez, in a year I forget one (1) payment, and you get it a day late and it's a big deal. Idiots.

"Classically Nate"

Last night I was watching my favorite movie, okay maybe not my favorite, lord knows there's probably a thousand other DVD's that have made me laugh just as hard or harder. But it does inspire thoughts of how to post a video on KB's page about our "love fern" (whereas in our case it was a love map that he ripped and lost, lmao), and suddenly I'm in tears pulling out old wrestling videos of Nate.

I know I've been "off" lately, and I knew extricating myself from this was going to take time. I had no idea I'd have to deal with unresolved issues surrounding how "J" and I managed to get connected.

It's sad, I can still see the last day I ever saw, or talked to Nate. We were at a show, we went over to check out the DVD's and he physically reached out to me. I paid him no mind, as he had paid me no mind at the previous encounter when he promised to return only...not to. He was considerably more successful with former trainwreck friend.

Later I felt terrible about the way I had acted, and I walked up the empty bleachers he was standing behind and gave him a hug when I whispered "I thought you didn't want to be friends anymore". When I pulled away, he grabbed my hand and we locked eyes for a minute. I tilted my head to the side in an attempt to understand that look. You know, in such a way that even now I can't fully understand the implications in that look.

And then I walked away and never looked back....

He's gone on to do bigger, and better things, but I have never, ever forgotten him. Nor have I gotten rid of the videos of him wrestling, nor the other embarassing memorabilia I've collected.

But one thing is for sure, if I ever get the chance to see him again (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed he wrestles and IWA Midsouth Show and I get to see my team's hometown), first thing I'm going to do is give him a big hug. And then I'm going to try not to cry when I apologize. But if seeing him again in person is anything like the tape, he'll having me laugh again in no time in a classically Nate kind of way. :)

Take Your Memories, I Don't Need 'Em"

I know I'm always cross-referencing my MySpace Account. But I've posted a song I recently heard on country radio- by a semi-retired artist whom I haven't really witnessed a bad song from.

It's called "More Than Just a Memory", and it talks of how one attempts to deal with getting over another person. Like dialing all but one number only to hang up the phone, and going for a drive but ending up by that person's place, and reaching out to friends for comfort at the strangest times of night.

At first the song reminded me of KB's situation, but then as I listened to the whole song I realized I could empathize. It's never easy to be the one who's leaving, as you have the option to turn around and go back at any point. People downplay willpower a lot, not that I'm saying it's any easier to be left.

When a former involvement used to leave I'd cry for at least a day in horrific amounts of pain to where even opening the refrigerator would emit tears. So I'm empathetic!

I think it's also appropriate to post that I went incognito to pay the Blockbuster bill at a godawful time of night. You know, time usually reserved for SLEEPING. And I didn't so much as drive by his house. But I could have.

I think it's also necessary to comment that other than my family and close, close friends no one knows about what went down. I haven't blackballed your name at all, even though you deserve it. I blame myself for being delusional about who you really were, and thinking loving you would be enough to make you act appropriately. So no blame is lost in the shuffle. However, I have not had contact with, nor has family members of mine had contact with former, and/or current employees of your company. If I were to explain to a current/former employee he is of his own sound mind and capable of forming his own decisions. I can say with a completely clear conscience that I played no role in his decision to leave your company.

I also want to comment that I think it's F'ed up that you choose to hold a tribute for someone who's funeral you didn't even have the decency to make an appearance at. I know this for a fact, as I was there. And let's wait two years after the person died to do it. But I guess it's better late than never with you.

So please stop invading my thoughts and my dreams. Take you, your stuff, and your memories with you when you go.

Un-Love You

Right now Anil is torturing me with thoughts of cleaning the house in the cutest little maid's outfit you've ever seen. (He sent me the link: http://www.scavengeinc.com/super-sexy-maid-costume-p-4735.html).

Who would've thought Halloween could be so bad?

A bit of a side note** I've just had the best ahem conversation ever. A two-hour one to boot!

The funny part is this is a guy I've talked to about 100 times over. We live in the same town and have never intentionally met. (i.e. we probably crossed paths at some point and missed one another). The second funny part is, while we've flirted before it's never been a sexual thing. (We're both looking for more). And third I've gotten two (2) IM's from "J" tonight which only managed to leave me shaky, and confused.

The first message said "ummm why am I not blocked?" Um why am I on your buddylist idiot?

The second message said, "I figured after the way you betrayed me, you wouldn't want to see my name on your buddylist."

Who said anything about you being on my buddylist?

And if I could un-love you, I totally would.

Kickoff to...football season!

I started liking the Indianapolis Colts about 3 1/2 years ago when I met Nate, a wrestler from Indianapolis. (The story of our meeting must be saved for another time). He invited me down to the local bar to hang out and watch the game, to which I excitedly agreed. At this point I knew nothing more than what a "touchdown" was from my cheerleading days. I tried to watch the ball. That was it.

Then as the season progressed with him being a good 9 hours away a month at a time watching the game was a way of having something to talk about when he was around. By the time we fell out (my doing- I went to chase "J"), I was completely infatuated with this team.

So is it any wonder that Thursday night after I had "the encounter" I went home to yell at the tv from half-time to the win for the Colts? I'm so doing a dorky dance right now. How's that for a kickoff to the football season?!

And while I'm smiling, I know KB will officially be rooting on his team, and not speaking to me during football season, lol :(

Just how far I haven't come...

Last night was the first night of class, and unlike Tuesday when I showed up two days too early, people were actually in the classroom. I know I need two (2) lab-science classes for my degree. So here is class one.

Yes the instructor is young, dorky, married, kind of long hair for a guy, and a red-head. And I'm in the same class as a friend from high school's cousin. Weird.

But that's not the most interesting part. One of the guys I used to recognize from wrestling shows was sitting in the lounge of MY SCHOOL. I didn't pay much mind to it figuring that it was a weird coincidence....until I went to walk to the lab with the rest of my class and found his class (as in he's a TEACHER) to be slightly down the hall.

Just what I needed when I'm unemployed...to add to the misery with the rememberence of "J".

Don't worry honey, I see you everytime I look in the mirror in the pink and permanent form.

It gives new meaning to "Around every bend I only see just how far I haven't come"

KO

Today I got a call from my boss, Jen, of the nanny position I picked up. I figured she was calling to ask me to pick-up more hours.

"I have some interesting news," she said, "and it probably won't be good for you."

I had been preparing myself for some kind of news since last night when she asked me if I'd rather take care of her son part-time and work another job part-time. I answered honestly, "No."

But despite my honesty, I knew that cutting my pay literally almost in half was not going to cut it in the bills department and I'd need a 2nd job to supplement income and make my work a FT ordeal. So I made the necessary e-mails to people, and off it went.

So I was quite surprised today when Jen called to tell me her idiot soon-to-be ex-husband called at 11:30 p.m. last night to "ask what she was doing." He explained that he knew he was an idiot, he had been wrong, and had contacted a priest at their church for counseling. He had spoken with his family, and was willing to do ANYTHING to make their marriage work.

And he was going to stay home with Ethan, and my services would no longer be needed, which is why she called me in the first place.

But I think the one thing that really got me going was when she asked him what she was supposed to tell me, and he said "well she'll find another job." My answer to that was classically me, "Says the guy who works at Pep Boys."

So as of 12:30 this afternoon I found myself without job in a little more than a week. Like a week and 3 days.

This has happened before when I got another job, I showed up for the first day of work, and spoke to my REPLACEMENT, whom they didn't feel it was necessary to call, or write to say 'hey we found someone else!'

So I'm getting paid for the two days I worked plus gas, plus my background check ( a whole whopping $10).

We really should be able to sue people for being assholes. Oh yeah Mike? That MMA fighting you want to do? Allow me to be the first one to knock you the hell out.

Doesn't play well with others...

Friday I had to work, but I had made plans for Friday evening to meet up with the girls for dinner at Fridays in Exton. The "girls" turned out to be myself, my cousin, Tonya, and her two friends who's names I can't remember.

The one girl was supertiny, but she and I had the most in common. She works in a veterinary office for a doctor I know of, she has many guy friends, she's more of a tom-boy, and she's respectfully, yet equally distanced and opinionated.

The other woman was a bit more heavyset, married, and had a story for everything. Oh yeah and she was highly opinionated. At first I didn't mind her incessant stories, or her need to be the center of attention. Luckily I was able to steal my cousin for a bit to discuss work. But since I still work there, I'm not allowed to disclose any of that conversation just yet.

The heavyset woman only had one cat, and no children. She was interested in working-out and being right about everything. Is it mean to say if this woman can find someone then I know I will...eventually?

It was Casper this, and Casper that. And Casper is the reason this, and Casper is the reason that.

Then we got talking about the guy who hasn't been sentenced in the dog-fighting. Apparently Tonya's boyfriend Tom compared it to horseracing. Okay you emotionally dead person. The two are in no way the same thing.

"Well Tom says they're making the horses run, but then if they break their leg they shoot them,"

"Yes, but the horses like to run, they do their career, are TRAINED for it (like a person), and then they retire. And they don't fight each other, they just run. Furthermore putting them down is the most humane thing to do when the animal doesn't have a quality of life left"

"Well and people don't abuse horses," said the heavyset woman.

Do you watch Animal Planet? Live in a box? Like what?

We ended the night talking more about Tom. Apparently he is out with one of his friends from Texas that day. They went to the amusement park. But what got me, and everyone else at the table was that the girl had the audacity to say to Tonya, "Well you know, I knew Tom had a girlfriend, but I knew nothing more about you."

Strange given that he wants her to move in? Marry her?

His answer? "He's just a private person,"

Which would be fine except this is the second time it's happened inside of two years. And he goes into locked chatrooms with these women to talk.

But the best part was when his friend said, "No he's NOT that private of a person."

I personally would've dumped the idiot when he refused to play volleyball at a family picnic because "he was in a league". Um if he can't be social, why would you take him anywhere?

1st of many interviews

All week I was on pins and needles. I had managed to obtain an interview from a law firm in Norristown, aka a ticket out of my nowheresville job. My stomach churns just thinking about having to go back to work Tuesday.

I left work Thursday at approximately 2 p.m. I ran home to change clothes, throwing on and off different outfits until I found one suitable. Despite what the pros say it is just too hot to wear a jacket.

I was well on my way, directions in hand, but 2:30 p.m. for the 3:00 p.m. interview. My application was neatly filled out, probably the best I've ever done. I had copies of my resume and my questions to ask all in a neat yellow folder. If we'd had an orange folder it would be in that one. Orange makes people happy. Yellow was the next best thing.

The interview was to be for an entry-level paralegal job for a law firm specializing in uncollected property taxes. I was excited, although Criminal Law is more up my alley.

The directions told me to turn right onto Walnut Street, which turned out to be a one-way street not allowing me to make a right. Not to be outdone, I went down to the next street and flipped around coming up Walnut Street. The Sandy Drive was nowhere to be found, but I did find Walnut Street was intersected by another road and continued on thereafter. Following the car in front of me, I managed the continuation no problem. It turned out that going up Norristown didn't feel the need to write the street names. I turned around in complete dismay ready to head home when I found the road I needed.

I saw a very large highrise tower which I assumed to be office buildings. It looked expensive. Given the neighborhood though, it was quite out of place. I pulled into the parking lot and made my way around to where I found "Guest Parking" -nowhere near the front of the building. That says a lot about a company. It says we don't welcome guests, nor do we appreciate the long haul they have to their car to potentially get attacked by the weirdos and freaks that frequent Norristown. If I had actually found the company within those highrise buildings I would've questioned whether I wanted to work for a company so inconsiderate.

I stopped the minute I reached people, one was a young girl, a bit aggressive when I asked if there was a law firm within the buildings, and an older woman. They informed me that the buildings were all apartments. I left my thanks and headed back to my car where I continued on. After all, the directions said Sandy Drive would become Sandy Hill Drive, so maybe I needed to continue down further.

The moment I saw the "No Outlet Sign" I knew something was wrong. But I turned around in the little cul-de-sac.

Fighting what's meant to be...or rather not at this point, I dialed 411 and spoke to an operator whole told me she had no record of a Portnoff Law Associates. What kind of law firm isn't listed? Then it clicked, the man had called me from an Unavailable phone number, and left a cell phone number for my return call. The company probably didn't exist! And if they DID exist, did I really want to work for someone who was so difficult to find?

It took me a few days to generate the following e-mail to the gentleman who had "found my resume":

Nick: <~~ A slap in the face being that I called him Mr. Last Name the entire time.

Per your instruction I used the internet as a form of obtaining directions to your office. Granted, Mapquest did not know that Walnut Street was a one way but I managed to find my way nonetheless. Much to my disappointment Sandy Drive never turned into Sandy Hill Drive, but I did get a nice view of the cul-de-sac. I stopped at the only building that remotely looked like an office building where I found...apartments.

Not to be outdone I dialed 411 and asked for PortNoff Law Associates to which I found no listing. How odd...a Law Office with no listing? No physical address or phone number on their application?

Call me crazy, but I'm not a detective. And if I was I'd highly be interested in investigating you for whether you exist at all. I just wanted to be clear why I didn't show up.

Thank you for your time and I sincerely hope someone isn't using my resume to benefit their own career. But then again it may work better for them, than me.

Signed,

My name...

Small

Today I got a pretty little bill in the mail. You know the kind from Blockbuster saying we called you, and you didn't return the movies so now you pay the fees. The $23.00 in fees for movies you didn't rent.

Initially I was PISSED. Clearly this is a big FUCK YOU from "J"- nevermind that he promised if I returned the money rightfully owed to him (which I did without incident because above all else, I'm honest), he would return the DVD's to Blockbuster.

I grudgingly wrote out the check for $23 and some odd change and went to mail the check when much to my SURPRISE! I find out I have to drive all the way to North East Philly. Pissed doesn't begin to describe it.

But I guess in the end I don't need the last laugh. I don't need to be angry, or vindictive. Because I've got someone who loves me, and treatas me the way I need to be treated. And when you've got love it makes everything else seem so damn small.

All ya need...

Working out is pretty boring. It usually consists of me running, Ozz pretending to run in place (assuming that's possible), and me giving him the finger. In short: torture. Long gone are the days of papercuts and throw you in salt water, or put some lemon juice on you. Just make me run.

But the best part is consequently the before and after. The drive to and from is just enough to allow me to enjoy a good CD or the radio and work things out in my head. Or out loud if need be.

Naturally, I always pass the same houses on my way to Ozz's and the way home. But there is one particular house that caught my interest. An old man lives there, and he's not terribly old, perhaps not even as old as my grandfather, but it's safe to say he probably has grandchildren keeping him young. I've never seen anyone other than him, sitting shirtless on his front porch.

Maybe it's because he reminds me so much of my grandfather, the tough old bat that he is (no pun intended), or maybe it was just nice to see a familiar face, the all of twice that I saw him.

For a while I wondered if something happened to him, now as the days seem to be getting shorter and shorter, there is a soft light reflected from the inside of his house.

I doubt we would've ever grown to know each other more than a nod and a smile as I drove by to and from working-out each day, but sometimes that's all you need.