All right, boys and girls. Time for another update on the life and times, as it were.
When we last left our heroine.... Ahem... Right. Anyway.
I'll write the mundane-ish stuff first. And since I neither know where said heroine was last left, nor do I care to read back and find out, I'll just start wherever I like. :)
BlckwngdOrcl got a job at a kennel-ish place. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that in my last post, 'cause I vaguely recall making a hyperlink out of it. Anyway, early this week, he got laid off. They simply didn't have enough hours for him. They said they decided to lay him off vs. one of the other new people, because, after much consideration, they decided he had the best chance of finding a new job. That may be true, and if it is (and we really have no reason to believe it's not), then I give them credit for taking such a thing into consideration.
BlckwngdOrcl also noted, however, that it's also likely he made more money than the other new guy, since he had experience in the job. We figure this might have also played a part, but who knows? Anyway, he's looking again. Actually, that was on the agenda today, but it kinda got eclipsed with my job hunt (details next paragraphs) and he didn't feel well after breakfast, so I dropped him off at home while I ran a bunch of errands.
So... Sometime last week, I think, I get called into work at the detox center to talk to the manager. I'm assuming this has to do with the IRS trying to garnish my wages again, and wasn't too horribly concerned. I mean, it's not like I don't owe them the money (note to self - never work 1099 EVER AGAIN), and if they aren't willing to accept my idea to pay them back, then, fine, garnish and get it over with. But, as it turns out, they called me in to fire me. What. The. Fuck. Apparently, I'd said something that offended another staff member. Said staff member never confronted me about it, so I don't know what horrible thing I said, or even to whom I allegedly said it. Management, of course, wouldn't tell me, since it would compromise that person's anonymity. OK, fair enough, but damn. "Sexual harassment"? Really?
Really? Believe me, I'd remember if I propositioned anyone, and if anyone would have said that they thought I'd gone over some line that made them uncomfortable, that would have been the end of it. In the end, what I'm most upset about is that they never confronted me at the time. I'm pretty approachable, and extremely willing to work around people's limitations in a setting I don't control (which includes things like work, but does not include things like what I post to my own updates on any social networking site, as came up recently on Facebook); if I had been approached, I would have acted accordingly. But, I wasn't, and it was unnecessarily (in my opinion) escalated, and I lost my job.
I was totally bummed about this for about a day, and waited a few days to tell the Beastie, 'cause he was way sick, and I figured I'd at least wait till he was well. They had given me very few shifts to begin with this month, so not really a huge loss, other than to my ego. In the meantime, I've gotten pretty philosophical about it.
Of course, the funny thing is, I'm reminded of a phrase that
EvoMethod,
GeekHound, and
Profundis used to employ when someone accused them of something they didn't do, but were perfectly capable of doing - "Would you like me to show you the difference?" Heh. Poor things wouldn't know what hit them if I *meant* to offend someone's tender sexual sensibilities.
But I digress.
Anyway, I'm a firm believer in variations on the "When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window" theme. And, this proved true yet again. I managed to get up early enough on Sunday (when Silver did his usual 5am-ish didyounoticeourfoodbowlisemptykthxbai thing) to get our paper before the neighbors stole it (they only take the Sunday paper, interestingly enough), and did the classifieds search, followed by an online application, followed by a visit to the office today, and to make a not-so-long story even shorter, I start on Friday. But not JUST that. I start on Friday for a home healthcare job. Did I mention this is my absolute favorite type of work? AND that it'll be full-time hours? AND that it'll be midnights, so there'll be no problem whatsoever with me starting back to school? AND that I'll have benefits, for the first time in just about as long as I can remember???? Fucking. A. AWESOME. I'm totally thrilled with this.
In the meantime, I still have my job with Reliance, to pick up extra hours on the side.
AND, I had finally gotten around to calling the University to ask about modeling for the art students, and they were happy to have me. Apparently, they don't get many plus-size models, and they hadn't had any in quite a while. I have 4 "shifts" of that through March. Hell, I even found out they actually pay for that. I was just doing it for fun, but total bonus on the little bit o' cash that goes along with it. It's about $150 combined for all those shifts, but still. Also, while I was filling out the paperwork, she said I should contact Parkland and see if they were interested in my modeling for their art students. They are, and schedules are pending, and she wants me to start next week; no word on how often - it wouldn't be every week, but a decent amount, it would seem. No word on the pay, but again, I'd do it for free, so any pay is just gravy. Plus, since I was told I needed a robe for the between-times when I wasn't on "display", I decided my hole-y pink fleece one wasn't exactly what I wanted for that purpose, so I went online, with the idea of getting some great little silky kimono-thing... about halfway through the process of looking, I was suddenly inspired to get a cloak instead. A sweet purple velvet (satin-lined) number is in the mail as we speak. w00t. I rule. :)
All of the good stuff - getting the job at
Alpha-Care, getting my hours for UofI modeling, and getting the go ahead for Parkland modeling, all happened today. In addition, we went out for breakfast (mostly because our electricity went out in the middle of my cooking this morning), got some
good coffee, wandered
Jane Addams Book Shop, and after I dropped the Beastie off, I went to the library, stopped at the co-op, and took back everything I needed to take back post-Christmas (not necessarily in that order). I've been ever-so-productive today... and now I'm even making an LJ entry! Wonders may never cease! ;)
Can you tell I'm in a good mood?
In other Chambana news, I'm still absolutely loving being here. The cold and snow still haven't gotten old, although I'm less inclined to walk anywhere when I have a perfectly good heated car. But since I combine pretty much all my trips in one day, I don't feel so bad about driving somewhere I could walk to, when I'm also driving 10 other places I can't. We still haven't tried out the bus service, which I hear is very good, and remember as being pretty good from my student days... we do intend to get annual passes though, and look into using that for some things. I don't like carrying a lot of packages on buses, but there are lots of places that would be just fine for that.
We found a gaming store, which I can't remember the name of, so no link. They have a cat, which is, of course, a bonus. The cat's name is Jitters, and she's a pretty little long-haired tortoiseshell. (Of course I remember the cat's name more than the store name. No one is surprised at this.) There's also a comic-book store in the same building, same name, but it was closed at the time, so we haven't scoped that out. Hopefully
BlckwngdOrcl can find a gaming group and get out of the house every once in a while. :)
In the realm of finding groups and getting out of the house every once in a while, we've hooked up with some local pagans and have joined a group that's incorporated lots of different traditions into something that's somewhat akin to Golden Dawn, but also not. Hard to describe, really, but definitely ceremonial magick-based. Since neither of us have any real background in this, and we both have some interest, and we really liked the people (well, mostly person) we'd met so far, we joined up. The first meeting was last night, and it was interesting. Already learned some stuff I wasn't familiar with before. Very cool. It's kinda funny (and intimidating)... in Atlanta, we were affiliated in one way or another with the groups who knew the most "off-brand" paganism, and were probably among the most well-versed pagans in the area when it came to that sort of thing. Here, though, the people we're talking to have an even greater knowledge-base, and a much more scholarly approach. I can think of several Atlanta pagans and/or burners I'd like to lock in a room with these guys and let the intellectual discussions run wild. In the meantime, I'm learning a lot, and meeting people that, so far, I seem to fit well with. It's early, of course, but all things point to positive.
Oh - speaking of Atlanta pagans I used to hang out with (on my extremely rare nights off, that is), I should mention that the Borders bookstore here is on Town Center Drive. This amuses me no end, and often makes me nostalgic.
Other forms of nostalgia include drinking coffee from our mugs that we had everyone sign. I love drinking locally-roasted coffee out of mugs covered in love. If
Dr. Emoto can be believed, we are blessed every time we drink it. I also enjoy drinking tea from my
awesome cup from Harrod's in Britain, that Kathleen bought me when she was there. The Beastie has his own favorite tea cup, of course, but mine is way more awesome, 'cause it has kittens on it. ;)
I absolutely have the best of both worlds here. :)
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