A Cartoonish Life

Well, it's finally come to this. St. John Video is going out of business. There's a sad, pathetic "Store Closing" sign in front of the store facing US 41 with little balloons on the side. Because a store closing is cause for WOOHOO! BALLOONS!

There's a tiny part of me that's sad because it was a mom-and-pop video rental store (even if it was run by a guy who was gunning for me to get fired anyway). I mean, hell. I was upset when Custom Top and Video in Cedar Lake went out of business. But then that sad part gets cancelled out by the thoughts of, "HELL NO! They dug their own fucking grave! They went belly-up when they were still Blockbuster, and now it's done! I'm glad I quit before that ship sunk the first time!"

Wonder what Scott's doing for money these days. Wonder if he's still in the closet.

Funny story. About a year ago, our director of operations who was in charge of our franchise sent me a friend request on Facebook. HA. Good one. I denied him. That would just be weird.

And for as much as I dislike the grocery store, it ain't the video store. I'd much rather be working for SVT than there.

Kevin and I went to see Bridesmaids the other night. FUCKING HILARIOUS. Men, don't be scared into thinking it's a "chick flick." I mean, it is. Kinda. It's one of those raunchy, wild chick flicks.

We also went to Red Lobster, and he got me a bunny Pillow Pet. I didn't ask for any of these. I was just responsible for the movie choice.

*tangent* I've had a lot of weird dreams lately. The other night, I had one where I was back to working at Blockbuster, but the systems were all changed and I had no idea how to operate any of it. Crystal was still working there, and she wouldn't tell me how to operate it, and I had to learn on my own, and customers were getting pissed. What the hell, man?! What's this mean?!

( Cut because I use a mildly offensive word. Not like I'd ever censor myself, but it involves the C-word. )

*tangent* Bowling for work this Tuesday. hottoddy, IT'S ON!!!

*tangent* I've lost seven pounds in the last two weeks! Yes, I am made of awesome. I aim to fit in that itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini by the end of June.

*tangent* We're getting a new stove! We don't have to gas ourselves to death anymore!

*tangent* Since "Weird Al" Yankovic has a new album coming out in a month (*SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!*), here's a link to an animated bit to his song "Abuquerque" (one of my favorite songs of his):
http://www.wappincomics.com/albuquerque.html

Christmas was okay. Nothing spectacular this year, really. And yet, it was the second year in a row we celebrated at Gramma Julie's without Mom and Dad. Mom claimed she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to make the trip to Gramma's. Right around the corner and down the road. Hunter was pissed at Mom. Gramma was slightly disappointed. Me? I wasn't surprised. Frankly, I don't blame Mom. Because of the MS, she gets drained of her energy over the tiniest things. And considering how much it snowed for the holidays....you think a woman of her condition is going to want to leave the house to deal with the snow and relatives who are letting her down left and right?

Oh, that last part?! HOO boy, let me tell you about that.

Well...we let TJ (my 18-year-old cousin) have the '91 Explorer for free for his 18th birthday back in October. FOR FREE. Because he and my "Aunt" Diane do nothing but bicker, and Mom said she wanted him to have the car so when he turned 18, he could just take off and Diane couldn't do shit about it because he had a car of his own. (Yeah, we don't care for Diane that much. The word "divorce" keeps getting thrown around whenever we talk to Troy about it.) We heard last week that he pretty much totaled the car by sliding off into a ditch on some black ice. The story he told us on Christmas Day--with no Mom around--was that he totaled it on purpose so he could trade it in.

Mom heard about that from me and Hunter, and BOY, IS SHE PISSED. And I don't blame her. She said she could've sold that car and taken the money from that as a down-payment for a NEW car for Hunter after his car accident last year so he doesn't have to drive around in Grandma Cozie's Freestyle anymore. (The ABS on that is pretty much shot after Hunter went off in the ditch on the 12th coming home from work. That day we got the messload of snow when I called off.)

Oh, and Sandy and her BF never showed up. Turned out they were stuck in Indy an hour later than expected, so they were just going to bypass Gramma Julie's. GOOD. We all know how I felt about the whole Sandy situation. More food for us this year. Hunter pigged out on the shrimp cocktail and spinach-artichoke dip to compensate.

Diane didn't show up. Typical. Now Troy is telling us she's moving to Arizona for a month to collect unemployment while he'll be moving out. For GOOD, we hope. Either shit or get off the pot. Why is Diane moving to Arizona? For a month? Arizona is allegedly where her new lover lives. For a month? Well, I can't explain that.

But other than that, Christmas wasn't that bad. I just wasn't really looking forward to it that much this year. My haul was decent, considering I didn't ask for much.

--Mom was prepared to cut me a check for my Christmas present, but I told her to hold off on that because my winter boots are supposed to be coming in any day now. I'll consider that my Christmas gift from her and Dad. I don't want them wasting any more money on me that they need to save.
--Hunter got me Family Guy and Philosophy: A Guide for the Petarded. FREAKING SWEEEET.
--Jessica got me a PILLOW PET!! The ladybug! I can't tell you how giddy that makes me feel. And it's cute, too. (It goes with my Pascal plushie so well. :P )
--Gramma Julie gave me $25.
--Nothing from Troy and Diane. (Frankly, I don't care.) Well, the family got these "Yule Logs" that I'm pretty sure was the free gift from their $50+ purchase from the Swiss Colony. You know what these "Yule Logs" are? Glorified Hostess Ho-Hos. Yeah. Pissed Mom off even more.
--From Kevin's mom? Labyrynth on Blu-Ray. AWESOME!!!!!!!! Kathy is great. Love her.
--Kevin got me "Mad Men" season 2, "American Dad" seasons 1 and 2, and.....the Tangled soundtrack. Uh-oh, I got that as soon as it came out. Now I knew I was getting "Mad Men" and "American Dad" because I saw Kevin pick those up when we went shopping at FYE. But dammit, I should've TOLD him I got the Tangled soundtrack the day it came out. He wanted to surprise me!

(See? My BF feeds my obsessions. I'm already fixing to keep growing my hair out next year and dye it blonde and get some green contacts, and he can keep his goatee and ditch his glasses. We're gonna be Rapunzel and Flynn Rider next year for Halloween, YEAH!!!!! And he doesn't even know it yet!)



I took it back to Best Buy and got $13.90 in-store credit for it. I'm going to put it towards Rocky Horror on Blu-Ray when I get my paycheck this week. I at least told Kevin about it, but I feel bad that I ruined that surprise. :(

*tangent*

I have, like, NO CLUE what I'm doing (with Kevin?) for New Year's Eve.

*tangent*

Susan put in her two weeks' notice at work. DAMMIT. She's one of my favorite co-workers. Everyone that was hired around the same time (or prior to me) at that place are LEAVING. I CAN'T stay there much longer, I JUST CAAAAN'T.

People wear these "Life is Good" shirts all the time at work. I want this if it's a t-shirt:



(Cross-posted to grocerygal.)

Me: Hi there, how are you today?
Customer: ...........
Me: Did you find everything you were looking for today?
Customer: No, I couldn't find the winning lottery ticket.
*I ring customer's stuff up. At the end of the order....*
Me: Do you have any coupons?
Customer: No, do you have any for me?

Well, no, asshole, but since you asked, here are some places you can check:

--Try your local Sunday paper. If the ones around here (the Times, the Post Trib) don't have anything, try the Chicago papers.

--Go online!!
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.smartsource.com
http://www.valpak.com
http://www.redplum.com

However, be very careful about coupons that you get online. If the savings looks too good to be true, it could very well be a counterfeit coupon.

--Go to websites of particular brands that you frequently buy, and sign up for their e-newsletters/mailing lists. For example, I signed up with General Mills, and I get emails from them about new products, and they occasionally SEND me coupons in the snail-mail to try new products for FREE.

--If the grocery store randomly issues coupons from their Catalina dispenser, USE THEM!!! Don't freaking throw them away!!

--Housekeeping magazines! I was thumbing through an issue of Better Homes and Gardens at Gramms Julie's this Sunday, and there were quite a few good coupons in there. I was all, "Man, I've had these kinds of magazines pegged all wrong! LOOK AT THIS!!"
***************

Seriously, this is one of my pet peeves about cashiering at a grocery store: when customers go shopping totally unprepared, grab just whatever, complain about prices at the checkout, and then throw it on their credit card. If you really want to save money and get the most bang for your buck, take the time and effort to BE PREPARED before you make such a big purchase.


...I really don't want to go to work today. UGH.

Okay, a proper update post (aka "the randomness of it all!"), which I haven't done in a while.

Saturday night was the Fester Memorial Show at the Art Theater, and I had to go, of course. And I don't know...I mean, I enjoyed myself, but not as much as I would've liked to have. I don't know if it's because of the lack of Fester, if it's just because I'm not used to the new-ish cast members with Help Me Mommy, or....if I'm truly over Rocky Horror. It's kind of sad. I feel like a big chapter of my life is drawing to a close.

But something eventful did happen Saturday night. It was the first time I had exchanged words with Zero since the blowout. And only because he was taking tickets that night.

I don't have Fester to defend me anymore in all of that, but frankly...I don't care. I've come to terms with it. I think I've finally reached the point of forgiveness to him and to be able to let it go. "To err is human, to forgive is divine."



LOL, see?! I'm sure Fester would've appreciated that humor in that!

*tangent* So I don't even know if I'm going with Dish Network. Mainly because when they called up to verify my information and to schedule an installation date, they mentioned something about a $125 installation fee. I flat-out told the guy, "Uh-uh! That wasn't included when I saw my final order on the website! The final bill said the $99 installation fee would be waived as part of the promo."

I really don't know if Dish will be worth the hassle of getting signed up. If it'll be like that, I'll just continue making the payments for DirecTV as it is. Even if $60 a month is kind of high for a loyal customer since 2004. I can afford it. I'll be scrimping and saving, but I can afford it.

*tangent* I've been working nine straight days. Today's my one day off this week. I can't complain too much, considering the last few days I've been pulling expired pasta sauces and pastas from the shelves when business gets slow. Yeah, it seems like I'd be bored to death doing that, but for one thing, it gets me away from the register (and keeps me from going stir-crazy). For another thing, I'm just anal-retentive enough to focus on something like that. And for another thing, at least it gets me more out in the store to help customers find stuff that they can't locate. See? I do like to help people! Just not at the register! Ha-ha!

But to the cranky lady yesterday who was annoyed that we had no more corned beef left? Uhm, you honestly thought we'd have some available when you come in on St. Patrick's Day at 6 PM? People in St. John/Cedar Lake/Lowell LOVE their corned beef, lady. You should've been here the day that sale started.

*semi-tangent* Yesterday, I ran into Mrs. Cole, one of my old kindergarten teachers, while I was at work. Man, she was a little old lady when I was in kindergarten; I can't imagine how old she is now! But she's still active, and it always tickles me that she remembered me before I remembered her. :)

*tangent* Later on today, I went out to crush some aluminum pop cans in the garage. I cut up my right middle finger pretty badly on a flimsy aluminum can, for crying out loud. (Those things are deceptively sharp!) It was bleeding pretty badly, so I had to run from the garage with my right hand held above my head, middle finger up in the air for everyone to see, into the house to fix it up. The Band-Aids I have are these dinky little ones that would barely stick without bandage tape, and I still made a bloody mess out of it. So I had to run back up to Walgreens for the bandages you can put over your fingertip.

I have no idea how long I'll have to keep it bandaged up till it's healed. I'm going to change it before I go to bed tonight, though. But like the subject line says, it's HARD to type with a bandaged-up finger!

First of all, I apologize for not following up on my promise to do the entire 25 Snarks of Christmas. Things got in the way, like work and such. Plus, I've been occasionally getting this tingling feeling in the fingertips of my right hand. It doesn't really bother me all that much, but I'm a little worried that it might be a precursor to something more serious. I'm hoping it's just the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome, though. *note to self: check it out on WebMd*

( In a nutshell, I made my family disappear, slick icy roads suck, I miss my doggy, Hunter hates Dad, and Christmas was crappy, but at least I got the day off. )

And that was the last two weeks! God bless us everyone!

I had a long post all prepared about it earlier when I was test-driving Mom's laptop, but I did something that deleted all of that and I don't know how I did it. (Which is another reason why I'm not too thrilled with laptops...)

( Cut for ranting about work, U-Scan woes, vacation time blues, fights with family, bouts with insomnia, and Hunter's car accident. )

And as a fun follow-up to all of this, I just got my period. Too much information, you say? It was running late and stressing me out even more, so screw you!

As a final note, here's a cute puppy:



It's not Bo, but he's cute.

The only thing that's keeping me sane right now is that ferocious "Bad Romance" video.

You know, when I just want to curl up on my bed and cry for no reason. I don't want to go to work and deal with all of the rude, dumbass customers today. I really don't. I feel this way each and every day I go to work, and I just get this incredible urge to scream and run away from the place upon entering. Or I just take my nametag off mid-order, throw it on the floor, declare "That's it, I quit" and just walk out. I get absolutely no job fulfillment or personal satisfaction waiting on people who are just going to treat me like crap.

Sometimes I wish we really were allowed to say what the hell we want to the customers without having to worry about them complaining to management. It's such a joke. A really bad joke.



I'm sure Eddie Blake would agree with me.

Monday night, Kevin and I went to see Watchmen. Considering I haven't read the graphic novel, I felt this was a good movie. It was entertaining, and it told a good story. The ending was a little lame, though, but that didn't really bother me.


But if you want me to be a smartass about it....it's about a bunch of retired vigilantes/superheroes who are depressed and questioning their lot in life while on the cusp of WWIII in 1985. Hell, Dr. Manhattan just kept going on about "I pretend to care" and "I don't care anymore" and I kept thinking, "He's really given up on life if he can't be bothered to PUT ON SOME FREAKING PANTS!"

( Dr. Manhattan in all his naked glory behind the cut; NSFW )

Too much blue peen for me to handle! I quote Christian Bale: "It's fucking distracting!"


*tangent* And now, an update on the Grandma Cozie situation, since I didn't blog about it sooner. The reason she was severely dehydrated? NOT a cancer flare-up, but a massive kidneystone infection! Why? Because like I said, she drinks nothing but Coca-Cola. According to Dad, the doctors said it was the worst/biggest case they had ever seen. But I guess she's doing okay now (despite the cancer, of course).

*tangent* Work today....UGH. They had opening in the service center today from 7 AM-3 PM. ( Read more... )

Just....ugh, yeah, One of those kind of days.

*tangent* You know it's true love when he says for Halloween, he'll willing to do the purple hair thing and dress up as the Rio to your Jem. And you didn't even really ASK him in the first place. :D :D (Oh Kevin...)