i tried to be like grace kelly

There has been some drama at work. One of the guys in my department walked out today after our managers went to talk to him after a customer said that the guy allegedly hit him with a ladder. It was super-intense and kind of uncomfortable. I was hoping it wasn't that one particular guy, even though he is occasionally prone to reacting to customers who are kind of irritating in a bad way.

Yeah. So that happened.

I'm still looking for jobs, reworking my resume and cover letters, and also trying to take it easy. I went over to Cedar Hill yesterday only to discover that the little macaroni and cheese place at the shopping center over there had closed! I'm super-sad about that. Now where will I get my mac and cheese with ham and jalapenos? I ended up going to the craft stores for some stuff, and at Barnes and Noble I got the copy of Total Film with the feature on The Winter Soldier. Mmm, yes. Speaking of: AMC theaters are doing a double feature of The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier. The first movie starts at 5:30, and the sequel starts at 8. I'm so getting my tickets tomorrow. Or should I just get the midnight show ticket? I don't know. I just want it to be April already. And I'm pissed about Austin getting the early show.

What else... well. I have been watching this show on the Travel Channel all evening about unusual pieces in museums. Kind of fascinating.

It has been a while, but I have a story! I mentioned this on Twitter, but I have to elaborate on it.

Around the eighth, I was working a midshift and I was helping this one guy over in men's running. I came back to him after a few minutes, and he pointed at a display shoe and said, "Uh, I think there's something in there that you should see."

He then proceeded to pull a small, thin sausage link out of the shoe, which has got to be the strangest thing that I've encountered in my (far too long) tenure at The Store.

Later, when I circled around to ask him if he still needed help, he said, "Well, I'm looking to see if I can find a cupcake or two in this one," and pointed at another display.

Customers, man. People are weird.

You know what's great? That first day in September when you know that fall is coming--and in Texas, I've come to realize that it's the first day that the temperature stays in the low-to-mid 80s and there's a breeze. It was pretty much overcast all day, and I walked Pepper twice, and now she's sleeping at the foot of my bed with her Lambchop toy near her back legs.

Speaking of Pepper: I'm really glad that she seems to like the new dog food I bought her today. We've been feeding her Purina Healthy Weight ever since she got off their puppy chow, but she's gotten so chunky lately that my mom kept pestering me about getting her new food. I went to Petsmart today in search of a new brand, and the kind I ended up getting seems pretty satisfactory. One of their reps was there, and she gave me a $2 coupon for it. I only bought a small bag because I wasn't sure how Pepper would like it, but, well, I think we're good. I might go get some more of it tomorrow.

I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but: I GOT A NEW CELL PHONE LAST MONTH. My first brand-new phone since the first cell that I ever got!

( This is a big deal for me. )

In other news: I have bought so much craft stuff lately that it's ridiculous. The fact that Michaels has this whole section dedicated to washi tape is not helping. And that totally reminds me: I (mostly) finished that Smash book that was in progress during the summer. I swear that it has to weigh at LEAST three pounds now. It's so bulky and full that it's ridiculous.

I'm seriously going to start looking for another job soon. I've been at The Job for six years, and right now I am the one in my department who's been there the longest, and it's just really starting to wear on me. I'm starting to dread the days when I have to go in, especially now that school's back in and my schedule is so wonky that I close like, pretty much all the time, even on weekends, when my availability's pretty much wide open. And I really, really hate that we no longer get new work polos once a year, because all of mine are worn out and getting a little too snug. I want a job that's not so stressful, and/or one that's remotely related to what I'm studying right now. If I could get paid for spending hours dicking around in Premiere Pro right now, I would so take that offer.

And I keep getting JC Penney flyers and marveling at how cute their most recent lines have been. I still haven't worn the bird print Peter Pan collar blouse I got from them during tax free weekend. It's been too hot. Also, I just really need new clothes, so I am going to try to get some ASAP.

I was at work yesterday when the severe weather started. Our power flickered out for a minute around 1:20, so they started handing out flashlights just in case. I have one on my key ring, so I went back to the break room to get it out of my locker. Someone had turned the TV on to Fox, and they were saying that there was a tornado warning, and one of the women from apparel said that there had been a tornado sighting a few miles west of The Store.

I've been scared of tornadoes for my whole life (so much so that when my dad first told us we were moving to Texas, all I could think about besides Why Texas?! was OH GREAT, WE ARE MOVING TO WHERE THERE ARE TORNADOES), but for some reason I didn't panic. We didn't shut down, for reasons that I do not understand, but we did let a family come in to the break room so that they could watch the news. One of the boys was looking kind of terrified, though. His mom pretty much had to tell him to sit down, which made me feel completely awful. I sent my mom a text to let her know that I was there and that I'd call her if things got worse/when I went on break.

My side of town (home, plus the area around the mall and The Store) was fine. It was just an absurdly long day, even though we were slow the whole time. I more or less came straight home, took a shower, and watched stuff on Netflix until I went to sleep. I'm starting to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender again. I'd only seen about two or three episodes before, and now I'm up to 7 or 8. It's good! And funny! (How'd I forget that it was funny?)

Finally: thanks for all the movie suggestions! Even if I don't use them all for the paper, it'll give me more than enough to watch later on.

I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, because I need that extra kick to finish Old Fashioned Words, and because I'm crazy.

You know what sucks about titles? When you change the title of one thing to the title of something new because it fits better. Old Fashioned Words was originally the title of my NaNo from last year, now I've retitled that to Be That Brave... which works, and keeps with the using parts of song lyrics for titles theme.

Work story of the day: saw a lady changing her baby on one of the benches in the department. All I could do was walk over to her and whisper, "Ma'am? Next time--I just thought you should know, we do have changing tables in the restrooms." Her: "Oh!" And earlier last week, I suspect that someone else did the same thing, as we found a diaper in one of the trash cans. Ew.

I'm going through my folder of stuff I've written, just surveying it all (and missing the box of diskettes that has been lost for a few years now and contains a lot of my writing from late middle school and early high school that isn't notebook bound), and I came across this snippet of something I was planning on incorporating in the Silly Teen Romance:

For all of their tip-giving and advice offered in Technicolor letters across their glossy covers, teen magazines don't give the proper protocol for how to react when your best friend-slash-guy you had kind of had an ongoing thing for all but dumps you. Maybe it's just because of the very nature of that sort of relationship. You're not official, so there is no need to mourn and cry, and it's not totally unrequited so you need not feel like you have to suffer in some sort of noble silence. And because no one tells you how to feel during a situation like this, your options are severely limited and mostly socially unacceptable, and they include wanting to:

1. Shove Best Friend-Slash-Guy You Kind of Had an Ongoing Thing For off of a very tall building,


2. Eviscerate the girl that he has picked over you,


3. Run to your dorm room, lock the door, scream, and generally attempt to rid your personal space of anything that remotely reminds you of that rat bastard,


4. Do all of the above in no particular order.

I could not do any of those things, as it would make me look like I was on the brink of a major meltdown.

I've changed the work a lot since I wrote that. The last edit I did on that document was in like, March and since then, I've changed the tense of the story and changed character names and other stuff. Similarly, a few days ago I was reading this Google Docs file I had done about characters in the Boarding School Epic of Doom, and I forgot that I ended up scrapping this one character who was part of this subplot for another one, and there that character was, right in my notes.

In non-writing things: the Dallas Mavericks won the Finals, and that means MORE WORK HOURS THIS WEEK. Well, not in my department; I've been a cashier. I worked 12 to 6 yesterday and I'm going in 1 to 7 tomorrow. I stayed after on Sunday when we reopened to sell the championship shirts, and I had a customer whistle and shriek "GO MAVS!" very loudly in my ear and one who got mad because someone forgot to take down the signs about all Mavs gear being 25% off (that deal had ended Saturday).

I love how I will off-handedly mention weird things on Twitter and then I get followed by people who promote those things. I jokingly said I wanted an electric car a few days ago and I get two new followers who post stuff about electric cars.

Oh, and I finally posted my mix for My Most Excellent Year!

I am now hooked on Misfits; I have half of the last episode of the first series to finish and then all of series two. WHY ARE BRITISH SHOWS SEASONS SO SHORT, I WANT MOOOOOORE.

I am starting to worry that I am allergic to my job, or the dust situation has gotten 110% out of control. I keep sneezing every night, and I am one of those people who sneezes loud enough for anyone within a thirty foot radius (maybe greater) to hear. It's embarrassing.

On the other hand: TWO MORE NIGHTS OF CLOSING UNTIL THE GREAT CHRISTMAS EVE SHOPPING BINGE AND THEN ONE MORE AFTER THAT AND MY DAD IS HOME AND WE CAN OPEN PRESENTS AND STUFF!!! However, I am still a little mad that my brother/mom spoiled my present.

Just got off work. I stayed later because we reopened when the Rangers won and we were selling championship merch. Craziness.

( I think I have a new favorite cat macro. )

August is all about anniversaries of sorts. Tomorrow I'll have been on LJ for NINE YEARS, and later this month will mark a year since I got my glasses. And I think that it was officially ten years ago around this time that I started high school, uuuuugh. I saw a girl shopping with her mom yesterday and she had her school ID on a lanyard dangling out of her bag and I could see "2014" stamped on it. I had to fight the urge to make the D: face.

And on the random front: I'm going to give running an RP another shot versus just being in one. Fingers = crossed.

Cool Thing of the Day: I helped Santa Claus find some red baseball socks, and he gave me a wooden nickel and now I am an official Helper of Santa.

Seriously.

Sometimes I really do kind of like working at The Store.