A Cartoonish Life

I would cross-post this over to customers_suck, but I don't think this is really suitable for over there, because what I have to rant about could possibly considered wanking.

I didn't really have any problem customers tonight, but the one that sticks out in my mind is the one who had a problem with us being open on Sunday. The customer comes to the service desk, and she asks who owns our company. I guess she had a right mind to complain to the owners (or whoever she had to lodge her complaint to) because we are open on Easter Sunday. She claimed, "I just don't get it, aren't your owners Christians? Because Easter is the most sacred of the holidays!"

I understand where this customer is coming from, especially given that St. John is a quite a religious community. (Nearly all of the kids in town attend the St. John the Evangelist school, for crying out loud.) And up until last year, I guess all of the SVT stores were closed on Easter Sunday. Last year was the first year they stopped doing that. (At least we close early.)

Reasons to be open on Easter Sunday?:

A) You can't automatically assume that everyone in this town is a Christian. I'm fairly certain there are a few Jewish families in town, and there may very well be some agnostics and atheists as well.

B) I'm sure we would get more complaints if we weren't open because customers need last-minute stuff to either take to a family gathering, or you ran out of butter/gravy/mashed potatoes/rolls/pop/etc.

C) The sad fact of the matter is that the way retail business/the economy looks right now, we can't afford to be closed on Easter Sunday.


So this customer can send an email to J. Str*ck if she so chooses to complain about our stores being open on Easter Sunday; I don't think there's much he'll do about it.

What's she going to do next? Cross the street to Blockbuster and bitch to them about why they're open on Easter Sunday?

Another acne attack, on my right cheek today. It looks like a cluster of tiny pimples and bigger zits. What's weird is that they're in this odd curved-pattern.

I can't afford to go a dermatologist for this, and my insurance won't cover a trip to see one either. But I've tried every treatment known to man, short of actually resorting to Accutane (and I'm really sketchy about Accutane; I've done my research). It's driving me insane, and it makes my self-esteem go down and I don't feel presentable at all. I'm about ready to turn into a recluse and start sporting one of these babies:



So I ask you.....

[Poll #1331628]

"'Forensics'. S-U-C-K M-Y A-S-S, 'Forensics.'"

Spelling "truely atrosious," says academic
By Luke Baker Thu Aug 7, 11:29 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Embaressed by yor spelling? Never you mind.

Fed up with his students' complete inability to spell common English correctly, a British academic has suggested it may be time to accept "variant spellings" as legitimate.

Rather than grammarians getting in a huff about "argument" being spelled "arguement" or "opportunity" as "opertunity," why not accept anything that's phonetically (fonetickly anyone?) correct as long as it can be understood?

"Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea," Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, wrote in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

"University teachers should simply accept as variant spelling those words our students most commonly misspell."

To kickstart his proposal, Smith suggested 10 common misspellings that should immediately be accepted into the pantheon of variants, including "ignor," "occured," "thier," "truely," "speach" and "twelth" (it should be "twelfth").

Then of course there are words like "misspelt" (often spelled "mispelt"), not to mention "varient," a commonly used variant of "variant."

And that doesn't even begin to delve into all the problems English people have with words that use the letters "i" and "e" together, like weird, seize, leisure, foreign and neighbor.

The rhyme "i before e except after c" may be on the lips of every schoolchild in Britain, but that doesn't mean they remember the rule by the time they get to university.

Of course, such proposals have been made in the past. The advent of text messaging turned many students into spelling neanderthals as phrases such as "wot r u doin 2nite?" became socially, if not academically, acceptable.

Despite Smith's suggestion, language mavens are unconvinced. John Simpson, the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, says rules are rules and they are there for good reason.

"There are enormous advantages in having a coherent system of spelling," he told the Times newspaper.

"It makes it easier to communicate. Maybe during a learning phase there is some scope for error, but I would hope that by the time people get to university they have learnt to spell."

Yet even some of Britain's greatest wordsmiths have acknowledged it's a language with irritating quirkiness.

Playwright George Bernard Shaw was fond of pointing out that the word "ghoti" could just as well be pronounced "fish" if you followed common pronunciation: 'gh' as in "tough," 'o' as in "women" and 'ti' as in "nation."

And he was a playright.

************************
I hate this. There are so many reasons why this outrages me, I can't even think about it. It just makes me think that teachers don't even want to teach their students how to spell properly anymore. It also makes me think that colleges--who should be holding high academic standards--just don't care. And I blame text messaging and Internet speak for how lousy our spelling and communications standards have gotten in the last ten years.

Well, last night Mom told me someone named Jessica called me a couple of days ago.

I asked, "Jessica who?" The only Jessica I know is Jessica who I used to work with at Blockbuster. But I don't know of any reason she'd be calling me about anything.

Then I started thinking of who it could've been.

That could've been someone from the bank. In that case, I had news for them: fuck off, my account is in order, it's been in order for the last two weeks.

That could've been someone from Ford Credit. In THAT case, I would've let them have it. I got my payment off and taken care of. There should be no reason why they would be hassling me anymore.

That could've been someone from Purdue Calumet about my admissions.

That could've been someone regarding A NEW JOB. Which I have been putting in applications and resumés left and right for. Mom knows how hard I've been searching and working to get a new job.

Mom didn't take a message for me or get a phone number.

GODDAMMIT, what the hell is her problem?! She knows how hard I've been working on looking for a new job! She knows I've been bitching and complaining about it since Patti got transferred! She knows how I've been talking about transferring to Purdue Cal to pick up some classes I need or hell, just to START OVER. Is it possible that the MS has messed around with her head to the point where she just lacks common sense?!

I'm just going to start giving out my cell phone number instead of my home number. God knows if anyone calls this number, they won't get very far.

I stayed up all night last night working on my midterm paper for my Shakespeare class. I got done with it around 1 PM today. This is what happens when I:
A) work too many hours at work, and
B) put it off until the last possible moment

And I better get a decent grade on this motherfucker.

I also have a response paper due tomorrow for my Victorian Lit class, and I have a test to study for and a research paper due for my Ethics class. Oh yeah, did I mention that Scott put me on a 9 to 5 shift tomorrow?!

I got pretty ticked off yesterday at work. (What else is new? Follow the el-jay "Holly Hates Work! cut:)
( Read more... )

Because everyone over at OhNoTheyDidn't is going nuts over the Britney Spears/Kevin Federline divorce, they're messing up LiveJournal and making the server go super-busy.

Yeah, thanks, Britney. Thanks a whole lot.

My opinion? Sheesh, who didn't see that one coming from ten miles away? I thought they'd stick together for a while like Whitney and Bobby did.
A--Kudos to Britney for getting rid of that loser.
B--Even though she helped create that monster.
C--I hope he gets what he can from that cash cow.
D--And I hope K-Fed pens a tell-all book about Britney and gets a fat load of cash from it. Because you just know people will eat that shit with whipped cream on top and ask for seconds.
E--I want a "Team K-Fed" shirt. NOW!!

Okay...onto how my day went. First of all, I went to vote. Whoopie-doo.

Then I went to go pick up "Guitar Hero 2" for Hunter from Best Buy. Best Buy was selling just the game without the guitar controller for $49.99 and you could get a free DVD of Wayne's World with it. I got up there at 10 AM (because I had a feeling it will sell out quickly). In the game department, all I saw are the package sets with the guitar controller. I asked one of the sales people on the floor where I could find the "Guitar Hero 2" games without the guitar. This lady told me that Sony wasn't planning on selling "Guitar Hero 2" without the guitar controller and that they didn't have any. I whipped out the salespaper from Sunday and showed her the advertisement that you could get either "Guitar Hero 2" with or without the guitar controller and get a free copy of Wayne's World with it. She repeated that they didn't have any and that Sony wasn't going to sell it like that. I got pretty angry with her, and I told her that if Sony wasn't planning on selling it like that, then why the hell was it advertised in the Sunday salespapers? I told her it was a bunch of bullshit and that this was a bunch of false advertising. THEN she started telling me to calm down and I read the ad wrong (I didn't--I know what I was reading, I'm not stupid), but I was on a roll. I took her name and went to customer service. At customer service, I explained to the girl working that if they weren't planning on selling the game without the guitar, then they shouldn't have advertised it, and that their employees over in the game department really need to be up on their shit. All the girl could do was apologize profusely and asked if there was anything they could do. I told her, "Well, you could sell me the version with the guitar for $49.99, which really isn't what I wanted seeing as how I already have the guitar and don't need the newer one." She said they couldn't do that. THEN I got MAD. I told them if they were going to deceive the customer and not give them the service they deserved, then they deserved to lose sales. And I made a scene! I was loud! I was obnoxious! I wanted other people to know so they wouldn't be tricked, either.

I then went to Toys 'R Us to try my luck there. I asked the worker in the game department to confirm it first, since "I had a feeling Best Buy was just jerking me around." The worker at Toys 'R Us said that yes, Sony was indeed selling just the game. I asked if it was too late for me to buy one (since Toys 'R Us opens at 9 AM and Best Buy opens at 10 AM). The worker at TRU said that all they had gotten in shipment was....yes, the package with the guitar. I asked if they were going to get any in at all. He said they were, but they wouldn't be in until Thursday.

I then went across the street to the mall, and I headed straight for EB Games. I asked the workers there...and joy of joys, they just got their Guitar Hero 2 shipment in!!! SCORE! Out comes my cash, and out comes my complaints about the jackasses at Best Buy and how I will only get games from EB Games from now on.

I had a big gap until my earth science lab, so I just farted around the mall for a couple of hours. Browsed Victoria's Secret and tried the new Dream Angels perfume (I LOVE IT!), and longed for some new bras and undies. Browsed the new Borders that opened up. Got me a huge slice of sausage pizza and some baked ziti at Sbarro. Overate. Felt it. Went to the restroom. UGH. But it was goooood pizza and ziti.

Went back to school, did my lab stuff. Ended up getting a C+ on my midterm in there, but I expected it since I'm no good at doing graphs. But I'm getting a B in the class, which is good.

....Shit, listening to Hunter play "Guitar Hero 2." I'll have to give it a stab. GOOD SONG SELECTIONS!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060620/hl_nm/parental_smoking_dc

Parental smoking still a threat to kids' lungs
By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new international study of more than 20,000 children confirms that exposure to cigarette smoke before and after birth impairs their lung function, and that parental smoking remains a serious public health issue.

The effects of smoking during pregnancy last up to age 12, while exposure to cigarette smoking after birth further worsens lung function, Dr. Manfred A. Neuberger of the Medical University in Vienna, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health.

It is difficult to tell, Neuberger noted, whether the impairment of lung function resulting from prenatal and early life exposure is permanent, given that many individuals with parents and siblings who smoke will have started smoking themselves by their teen years.

The researchers analyzed results from a subset of children who had participated in the Pollution and the Young Study, including a total of 22,712 children from eight countries. The findings appear in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were 31 percent to 40 percent more likely to have poor lung function than children born to non-smokers, the researchers found. Early-life exposure independently increased risk of poor lung function to a lesser degree, by 24 percent to 27 percent.

Sixty percent of the children in the study had been exposed to cigarette smoke before birth or in early life, the researchers found. "Considering the high number of exposed children, this indicates that both environmental tobacco smoke exposure and smoking during pregnancy remain a severe public health problem," Neuberger and his team conclude.

The findings are a "stark reminder" that legal efforts to reduce exposure to cigarette smoke in workplaces aren't protecting the group of people at greatest risk from passive smoking, young children, Drs. Mark D. Eisner of the University of California, San Francisco and Francesco Forastiere of the Rome E Health Authority in Italy write in an editorial accompanying the study.

"Children are primarily exposed to tobacco smoke in the home, where legal restrictions do not apply," they note.

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, June 2006.

This is why I'm heavily against smoking, & am firmly against smoking in public venues. Neither one of my parents considered quitting after my lung surgery, & Aunt Pam didn't quit after all of the shit she had to deal with JR & his cystic fibrosis. WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU?!!!

This whole fucking house smells like stale smoke. I HATE IT.

http://www.nicolescherzinger.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1145309651&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&



When Robin Antin, a Los Angeles choreographer, decided 11 years ago to assemble a burlesque-inspired nightclub revue, she called it the Pussycat Dolls as a nod to her vision of "making everyone look like a real, living doll."

Interscope Records is taking her words literally.

The record company, which along with Ms. Antin revamped the act as an R&B-influenced pop group and released its first CD last year, has struck a deal with Hasbro, the toy maker, to create a line of fashion dolls modeled on its six members. The toy line — which aims to mimic the act's playfully risqué style — is expected to be on sale by this year's holiday season. Hasbro executives estimate the dolls, intended for children aged 6 to 9, will be priced around $15, with the label receiving a royalty on sales.
The deal is just one example of how record companies are seeking revenue-sharing arrangements that encompass far more than CD's. With sales on the decline, record label executives are pressing for a cut of artists' concert earnings, merchandise sales and advertising fees. Last year, for example, EMI agreed to pay about $25 million to buy an estimated 30 percent stake in the business generated by Korn, an established rock band.

But in establishing a new act, Interscope has been laying plans for a series of ventures that extend well beyond the customary ticket sales and T-shirts. In the Pussycat Dolls' case, the company struck a unique deal with Ms. Antin in 2003 in which the two sides split the profits from all the act's ventures. So far, the Pussycat Dolls' name has landed on a cosmetics line from Stila, until recently a unit of Estée Lauder, and on a nightclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The toy line, however, reflects perhaps the most ambitious effort yet to generate extra revenue since the group achieved mainstream success. Managing to score at toy retailers would also illustrate how elastic the aura of a manufactured pop act can be, as the Pussycat Dolls straddle the image of late-night lounge dancers and child-friendly pop singers at the same time.

In that sense, the group emerged as envisioned by the Interscope chairman, Jimmy Iovine, who saw it as a cross between the film "Moulin Rouge" and the Spice Girls. Mr. Iovine struck the deal with Ms. Antin after seeing the dance troupe perform, at the suggestion of Gwen Stefani, an Interscope artist who periodically performed with the group.

The foray of Interscope, a unit of Vivendi Universal, into the toy market comes as young children are becoming an important audience for the recording industry. Music executives have been eager to appeal to fans who are (they hope) too young to download music illegally, and children are making their presence known on the Billboard sales chart.

The soundtrack to the Disney Channel TV movie "High School Musical" has emerged as bona fide hit, while "Kidz Bop 9," the most recent installment of a sing-along series, recently posted the biggest first-week sales of any album in the franchise.

The Pussycat Dolls did not start with a G-rated image. The group stormed the charts last August with its first big single, "Don't Cha," a steamy tease that included the lyric "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me/ Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?"

But the act's next song, "Stickwitu," was a softer ballad that received airplay on outlets like Radio Disney. Since the group's album, "PCD," hit stores last year, it has sold more than 1.3 million copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.

Ron Fair, the head of Interscope's A&M Records unit and one of the album's main producers, said the act's more mature image was an asset in appealing to a wider audience.

"When you're dealing with children, if you shoot for that mode in the music you create, it's very, very difficult for it to translate up. Once it's branded as a tween thing, it's very hard to flip it up. But what the older sister and older brother like definitely trickles down to the kids. That's what's happening to the Pussycat Dolls."

Hasbro recognized that dynamic from the outset. Sharon John, the company's general manager for marketing, said she first talked with Interscope executives while "Don't Cha" reigned as the act's first hit. Hasbro executives viewed the Pussycat Dolls as a line that could sell to the same young girls who have gobbled up the Bratz, a line of fashion dolls with curvy figures and coy smiles, from a toy rival, MGA Entertainment.

Ms. John conceded the Pussycat Dolls packaging might be a bit racy for Hasbro consumers. "Bratz has pushed the envelope in this area and has been extraordinarily successful," she said. "I don't think we're trying to push the envelope any further, but we're trying to add an aspect of realism. These are people that have real careers."
*************
If Hasbro even considers picking up on these gawd-awful Pussycat Dolls, I will drive out to the headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island myself with protest signs, blaring my "Jem" tapes at full-force and chanting "PUSSYCATS ARE 'HOS! THEY MUST GO! BRING BACK JEM!"

Oh, and Bratz are just plain fuglee.

Okay, let me take you back to last Saturday. I've been trying to renegotiate my car insurance payments with my providers, and they keep sending back the revised bill for my mother's car, delaying me getting mine in on time. I get my deductable raised to $1000 and I get dropped down to just liabililty, thinking it can save me some money. It saves me a whole whopping $35. My parents bitch at me because they think I waste money going to Rocky Horror every weekend in the first place. They believe that it's stupid to go to the same damn thing every weekend. They got pissed that I had to go to the mandatory rehearsal ("You see the same damn movie every weekend, you should have it down by now.") and be out late. And I quote my father word for word on this one, "I know you don't do drugs, and I know you don't sleep around, but if you want to parade around in nothing but your bra, then you could at least go to Deja Vu and get money for doing that sort of thing!" They have given me similar shit about this every weekend before I go out, but they really got mad about it this particular week, what with all of this car insurance stuff and the matter of me being able to afford it.

I had to call Shawn a little while back to tell him about my situation, and to tell him that I'm not trying to pull any shit, because I'm not. (Although other people think I am, and are getting pissed off about it for no real good reason other than they don't understand what I've been having to deal with in the last couple of weeks.) Amazingly, he let me tell him what was up and tried helping me come up with some sort of solution (although he couldn't do much for that--most of that, I am on my own with). The best thing I can do is this: I just tell my parents that I'm being bumped down to crew if the issue is me not being able to come every week, but I still show up on the nights that I have to perform. Basically, lying to my parents. Not like I've done this before, but I still need to find a full-time job just to appease them and support myself, which I'm working on. Sent off a dozen resumés on hotjobs. com earlier today (ask Booj--he looked with me), and I plan on hitting the streets next week in aggressive job-hunting fashion.

I just don't like it when my parents lay the line like that. It scares me shitless sometimes.

I think the best I can do is just what Shawn said: tell them I'm just in cast. And that I get paid gas money or something to help me out. And if the insurance is a problem, then maybe I can set up paying my mom at the first of the month to help out with the insurance. (Since I'm on full coverage, it's about $107 a month.) I figure I can give her $214 for the first two months and that way, I can still be working for money for the next payment, and I'm going to be getting a new job by then. And once I get that new job, I'm quitting Spencer's. I don't get enough hours there, I've been there 3 1/2 years, I'm underpaid and underemployed, and for as many times as I've asked for it I still receive no promotion (although I keep getting told I'm up for one in February, but fat chance on that).

But since I've been chatting with Amanda, Boojie and Rachel about it, you guys know what's up. You guys have at least been keeping up with me in the last week or so to see how that situation's been going. Thanks for your support. It means a lot. And even though he doesn't read my LJ...thank you, Dan. You are a true friend, and that's taking me a LOT to admit. All I want to do is smooth everything over so things work out somehow. If all goes well, I won't be able to show up this weekend, that's for damn sure, but since I have to be there next weekend anyway....well, keep your fingers crossed.

In other news, I got my W-2s from Spencer's and Indiana University (for the work I did on the paper). Right now, all I need are the W-2s from B&BW and WiseWay. Then I can get my taxes filed. Then I can fill out the FAFSA for this fall semster. Then hopefully I can get some form of financial assistance so I can go back to school and get it all over with. *oy!*

Oh, go check out Toxic Side Effects. This latest one was inspired by something I was watching on the soap operas with my mom while waiting at the insurance place today.

I talked to Mike tonight. Yay, it's been the week where Holly catches up with friends she hasn't heard from in ages. He asked if I was going to come to Paul and Hilary's wedding. I explained that a reason why was because...well, I don't think my car will survive a drive all that way down to southern Indiana, for one thing. But I had to be honest with him, that I had a feeling Dan would be bringing Becky with, and while I'm trying to suck it up and not be such a shit about meeting her...I just don't want to deal with the two of them at a WEDDING, of all places. It'd be good to see them all again (Mike and Tiff and Brandon and Paul and Hilary), but at the risk of hurting myself inside just to see my EX-BOYFRIEND getting all intimate with his new girlfriend? At a wedding?! FUCK NO.

You know, Tiffany inadvertently asking Dan how his sex life with Becky was going right in front of me was one thing. This would be like rubbing salt in the would: "I have a better sex life and a better sense of closeness and intimacy than I ever did with you, and I'm going to be with this girl forever and ever because she's anxious to get married and start a family someday, but you're still special to me." Fine then. Get hitched, start a family, and move to split-level-home suburbia with your mini-van. Let your wife try to juggle her wifely duties with being a doting mother AND holding down a job that she spent good college years. You will neglect your kids in the process and spoil them nuts trying to compensate for it as they get older. Not like I care one goddamned bit. You're only doing all of this with the man that I actually, for the first time in my life, opened up my heart to only to discover that he'd trample all over it.

How the hell do I get myself into these situations?

STOP RIGHT THERE!!! No wallowing in misery over stupid ex boyfriend. Healing period is over. Time to start mackin' on the guys again and be happy with my single-and-fabulous self. *hugs self* I LOVE ME!!