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Jan. 24th, 2010 04:29 pmWow, I've been MIA for a long time. Hi! How are you? Remember me?
Quick overview of the last month:
aaaaaand, we're caught up. So, how's everyone been? Did I miss anything important? Post links here if there's anything you'd particularly like me to read!
Quick overview of the last month:
- I started work the week before Christmas. Basically, I watch dogs all day and clean up after them. It's okay, nothing stellar.
- Christmas was MUCH better this year, though I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas. We spent Christmas with Dan's family, then headed up north and spent the weekend with mine. No/very limited annoying politics talk this year! That alone made the visit more enjoyable.
- I got a boatload of gifts, most of which were completely awesome. Being poor, I wasn't able to gift much, but I think what I was able to get for others was nice, given my budget.
- Dan saw Sherlocke Holmes WITHOUT ME while I was at work on Christmas. He made it up to me by taking me to see in on New Year's Eve. We got lost on the way home from the mall and ended up on some dark, twisty road in the middle of a forest that we had no idea was there. IT WAS CREEPY. Like, a guy on the side of the road with a bloody axe wouldn't have been out of place. Turns out we made one wrong turn trying to get home. Huh.
- Bright points to getting lost: a) it was hilarious, b) we found a neighborhood that went completely all-out on their Christmas decorations. Literally every house on the block had tons of awesome decorations, and they all had signs out front with The Night Before Christmas captions. Just. Wow. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera, but we're going to try to find it again next year!
- Dan got a new board game from my parents for Christmas. Anyone ever heard of Settlers of Catan? It's essentially a board game version of Age of Empires, minus the armies. It's a ton of fun, but it seems like one person always gets crushed an unreasonable amount. The last game we played, I wasn't able to do anything. It got to the point where I either had to storm out of the room in a huff, or laugh at my misfortune. I laughed so hard that I cried. Didn't change the game, but I felt better.
- Work has been fine. We use "Cesar Millan's" ("The Dog Whisperer's") methods, otherwise called Dominance Training, to keep the dogs from going too wild. The problem is, I've done some research, and this is an antiquated technique based on a flawed premise and is associated with an increase in canine aggression. I'm trying to find another method that can be used as "crowd control," but so far I haven't come across any real potential alternatives. Any ideas?
- Also, I haven't been getting enough hours. I'm getting 25 hours a week on average, which is barely enough to pay my bills. I'm sending in forms to defer payment on my school loans. I'd rather not, but I would also rather not have only two cents to spare every month. It's just too stressful.
- So, starting on Tuesday, I'm starting the search for another job. I need either a second job that will work with my current job to fill out my schedule more, or one that will give me full-time status (and benefits, pretty please?). It would be really nice if I could find one that paid more than $8 an hour, too. I mean, come on. Hopefully I'll find one where I'm not essentially a janitor. I'm a college graduate with a bachelor's degree, not a high school student. I could have done this job in my sleep as a freshman in high school. I need something more challenging! Or less boring, at the very least.
- Christmas was MUCH better this year, though I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas. We spent Christmas with Dan's family, then headed up north and spent the weekend with mine. No/very limited annoying politics talk this year! That alone made the visit more enjoyable.
- I got a boatload of gifts, most of which were completely awesome. Being poor, I wasn't able to gift much, but I think what I was able to get for others was nice, given my budget.
- Dan saw Sherlocke Holmes WITHOUT ME while I was at work on Christmas. He made it up to me by taking me to see in on New Year's Eve. We got lost on the way home from the mall and ended up on some dark, twisty road in the middle of a forest that we had no idea was there. IT WAS CREEPY. Like, a guy on the side of the road with a bloody axe wouldn't have been out of place. Turns out we made one wrong turn trying to get home. Huh.
- Bright points to getting lost: a) it was hilarious, b) we found a neighborhood that went completely all-out on their Christmas decorations. Literally every house on the block had tons of awesome decorations, and they all had signs out front with The Night Before Christmas captions. Just. Wow. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera, but we're going to try to find it again next year!
- Dan got a new board game from my parents for Christmas. Anyone ever heard of Settlers of Catan? It's essentially a board game version of Age of Empires, minus the armies. It's a ton of fun, but it seems like one person always gets crushed an unreasonable amount. The last game we played, I wasn't able to do anything. It got to the point where I either had to storm out of the room in a huff, or laugh at my misfortune. I laughed so hard that I cried. Didn't change the game, but I felt better.
- Work has been fine. We use "Cesar Millan's" ("The Dog Whisperer's") methods, otherwise called Dominance Training, to keep the dogs from going too wild. The problem is, I've done some research, and this is an antiquated technique based on a flawed premise and is associated with an increase in canine aggression. I'm trying to find another method that can be used as "crowd control," but so far I haven't come across any real potential alternatives. Any ideas?
- Also, I haven't been getting enough hours. I'm getting 25 hours a week on average, which is barely enough to pay my bills. I'm sending in forms to defer payment on my school loans. I'd rather not, but I would also rather not have only two cents to spare every month. It's just too stressful.
- So, starting on Tuesday, I'm starting the search for another job. I need either a second job that will work with my current job to fill out my schedule more, or one that will give me full-time status (and benefits, pretty please?). It would be really nice if I could find one that paid more than $8 an hour, too. I mean, come on. Hopefully I'll find one where I'm not essentially a janitor. I'm a college graduate with a bachelor's degree, not a high school student. I could have done this job in my sleep as a freshman in high school. I need something more challenging! Or less boring, at the very least.
aaaaaand, we're caught up. So, how's everyone been? Did I miss anything important? Post links here if there's anything you'd particularly like me to read!
