uberreiniger: (Fallen)
It's time to stop procrastinating and blog. As you've probably heard by now, Missouri and Kansas are in the grasp of a tremendous snow storm that has dumped at least a foot of snow on us so far. Just about everything is shut down and most of the city where I live are hunkered down in their homes, myself included.

So a few weeks ago we had car trouble that prevented me from getting to work, followed a week later by a serious bout with stomach flu that made me miss work again. As a result I got a talking to about missing work. I really, really did not want to call in today but as it stands there was literally no physical way I could get there. Even if I could have reached them, both the interstates I could have used for my commute were shut down with cars literally stranded upon them. I told my manager that if the higher-ups wanted to fire me on account of this I would laugh in their faces. May not have been the most politic way of going about it, but I'm not going to be bullied into risking my safety in dangerous weather. Especially when my workplace is known to have two standards of behavior toward associate call-ins, i.e., if you're a good worker they'll ride your ass for missing a day, but the crummy ones they'll let slide figuring they're eventually going to quit anyway. So no, I'm not playing that game anymore. I bust my ass and do my job and they know it. I refuse to take shit over a blizzard that has stranded 90% of the city in their homes.

Wow, I really didn't intend for this post to be about this. Guess I needed to talk about it more than I thought. It was actually a really nice day at home with M. We don't get many of those anymore so it was an unexpected treat. Overall I've felt positive about many things. Songwriting is going great. I'm writing a D&D game to play with some friends soon. Perhaps best of all, a few days ago on Facebook some friends from my hometown and I inadvertently got into a conversation about bullying that revealed a lot of things that we never knew were happening to each other. The long and short of it is that it was a healing conversation for all of us involved. I know it was for me. I've actually been struggling with a lot of issues these last few years relating to bullying I endured as a child. I'd even been considering therapy, even though it's just wishful thinking since I can't afford it. But the talk with my friends... I think it helped me a lot. I can't say I'll never feel bad about what happened again, but I feel a lot more validated about my feelings than I have in... well, I guess ever.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant and safe winter.
uberreiniger: (Default)
My last entry was over a month ago. Oy. I apologize for its cryptic, hostile tone. What precipitated it was a run-in with my ex-bandmates: the ones who kicked me out of their band because they found out I was planning to vote for Obama in this year's election. They picked September 11th to start harassing me, spamming my Facebook with their mindless rage and incoherent conspiracy theory ranting about September 11th, and Obama, and a whole bunch of other ugly crap. It left me pretty pissed off and I guess in not much of a talkative mood. On the upside, it gave me the opportunity to confront them over snubbing me at the Iced Earth concert earlier this year. Like the cowards they are, they tried to deny it. Anyway, they're blocked and hopefully out of my life for good.

Over the last several weeks I have worked incredibly hard, both at my day job in the pharmacy and with freelance work when I got home. The result of it was that I was able to purchase something I have been trying to purchase for several years now:



If you're on Facebook you've already seen it, but this is my new B.C. Rich Beast guitar. It replaces the Beast I foolishly and rashly sold several years ago, and which I have regretted selling ever since. This model isn't made anymore so it's meant years of combing E-bay for just the right one to appear at just the right price. It finally did and I couldn't be happier. I need two guitars so I can easily write songs in different tunings so this isn't just a toy. It actually gets me one step closer to fulfilling my musical ambitions. I feel like they are actually happening now and that's a tremendous feeling. Even with all the work I've done, purchasing this instrument actually crunched us up quite a bit financially, but in the long run I think it will have been worth it.

My wife has also started a new job during the time I've been away from LJ, and it stands to be a really good one. Keep us on your thoughts and prayers, that the positive career developments that have befallen both of us this past week will lead us closer to the big things we are both planning for our future.

There's actually a great deal more I could say about this past month, but I think I've touched on the key things enough. To anyone who's still left out there in LJ-land, I have not forgotten you.
uberreiniger: (Default)
I am still "in training" in my new job, but I finally got out onto the floor, (or I should say, into the box since it's a pharmacy,) this past Thursday. I'm enjoying it out there but it is all very new and overwhelming. I have very supportive, friendly, and helpful co-workers and that makes a huge difference. Whatever else happens, I can certainly say that I am liking this a lot better than I ever liked my previous position, even if there is a lot of repetetiveness in the duties.

I really like being able to call myself a pharmacy technician. I try not to over-identify too much with my "day job" because that's still all it is as far as I'm concerned. But I'm beginning to understand what a difference having a day job you can be proud of makes.

I have been finding guitar and bass practice less enjoyable these last few days. I now have two complete songs written and I'm working on getting as good as I can at playing them before I begin more writing, but I'm finding a big part of playing heavy metal guitar and bass is physical endurance and that's just not something I have enough of. I mess up frequently while playing, not because I don't know what I'm doing or don't have the skill, but because my wrists and fingers start getting tired and can't manage the resistance of the strings. I do not have weak hands or wrists or anything, but playing like this means getting those parts of your body into shape just like anything else does and it can be slow getting there.

For me, if I skip more than one day practicing all my physical endurance just goes out the window. What I lose in two days can take a week or more to build back up. Of course, with my schedule as it is sometimes I just have to miss more than one day and there's little I can do about it.

I'm happy with where I'm at skill-wise and more than happy writing-wise, but I want more; I want to be better, and I'd feel happier if I was better now, even though I know there's no fast path to get there.

I have some friends going through hard things right now. Everything from painful break-ups to DUI's and it's hard to watch. Next Sunday is the Kreator/Accept concert and I had friends I was looking forward to seeing there whom I now won't be due to stuff that's happened to them the last couple of days. I'm really looking forward to the show, but I'll be there alone, and knowing that people I like aren't there because their lives have gone to hell.

Then again, that might put me in just the mood for the aggressive metal music that will be on display that night.
uberreiniger: (hanging masks)
My first week in training as a pharmacy tech left something to be desired. The gist of it is that all the things they needed to send me for (drug test, background check,) they didn't send me for. Although frankly I think it's some serious bullshit that I need a drug test or background check for a company that I already work for, but that's another conversation entirely. Anyway, they sent me for that and it didn't all come back until Thursday. The first four days of last week were me piddling around, doing whatever odd jobs I could find. Thursday the pharmacy manager finally said to hell with it and brought me into the pharmacy to learn the fill station. I feel like I got the hang of it pretty fast. It's fast-pace and exciting and keeps my mind stimulated. This is a good thing because when I'm bored at work my mind wanders, usually into places of depression and anger. The only way to avoid it at work is to stay constantly engaged.

This week my training modules should finally be ready and I can set to training for all the other areas of the pharmacy. It's all still quite new and scary but I feel up to the challenge overall.

A nice perk of all this is the new hours. It meant having Labor Day weekend off, which is something I've rarely gotten to enjoy in my working life. To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever had a three-day weekend on Labor Day while in the state of being gainfully employed. Saturday was mostly spent on the road. I drove down to Wichita, KS to take part in the troupe's performance at an SCA event, then drove back on the same night. Had a minor side adventure blundering into the 'hood in Wichita at night while trying to find a gas station. I eventually got gas at a place that was pretty much held together by duct tape and had enough bulletproof glass in front of the cashier to stop a mortar shell. But after that I got home safely. It was a great day spent with my friends in the troupe even if it was way too hot for my liking out there, especially after being in KC where it had been cool and rainy since Friday.

On Sunday M. and I discovered a great movie theatre only a few blocks from our house. Way cheaper than the one we've been going to, and about five minutes away instead of thirty. We ate lunch at a nearby Chinese buffet that had great sushi and crab legs, then went and saw The Apparition. It was pretty "meh" as far as horrof films go, but I enjoyed it. Plus Tom Felton is entertaining no matter what he does. That night we amused ourselves by solo'ing Karazhan in WoW.

I spent today finishing freelance work. M. thought she had to work but then didn't, so we got an extra day together, which was nice. We tried to finish the Karazhan run but got bogged down on the chess event. Phooey. I was neglectful of practicing this weekend but finally got caught up tonight. It amazes me how sloppy my playing becomes if I skip even just two days. My physical stamina for playing falls right down too. People don't understand how athletic music actually is.

I should already be in bed. If those modules are ready tomorrow I'm going to be falling asleep in them. But it was a good weekend and I figured if I didn't talk about it now I probably never would.
uberreiniger: (Default)
Stuff keeps piling up and I just keep not updating about it. Time to change that!

I did wind up going to the Skid Row concert and I am very, very glad that we did. I had no idea what to expect from some bar I'd never heard of called Knuckleheads, but it turned out to be one helacious place and one of the best live concert venues I've ever been in. It's a biker bar down by the railroad tracks, but it is also one kickass place. Their concert area is outside, with a large stage and extra seating built over the roof of the main building, creating the feeling of being in a much larger concert space than you actually are. It's amazing and the beer was pretty damn good.

The opening band was a local act called Federation Of Horsepower. I'd never heard of them but apparently they've got quite the following. I believe their Facebook page describes their sound as something like Molly Hatchet meets Motorhead and I'd say that's pretty accurate. I really liked what I heard and hope to see them again. The second act was an all-female punk band called 11After. They played a very energetic and incredibly raunchy show. Let's just say the lead singer was willing to be affectionate toward any audience member who wandered too close. But above all, they were fun and very, very talented. We bought one of their CD's and I hope we're lucky enough to have them come through KC again someday.

Finally, there was Skid Row... And let me tell you, this is no 80's band just barely hanging on, well past their prime. No, these men are in their prime right now. I see a lot of great bands, but these guys just tore the stage to hell and back with their energy and passion. M. and I were fortunate enough to be down in front of the stage, literally at the feet of guitarist Scotti Hill. Hill really likes to interract with the audience, getting down to mug for the cell phone cameras whenever he can. This in no way diminished his ability to perform ripping solos, I must add.

In case anyone didn't know, original vocalist Sebastian Bach is no longer in the band and hasn't been for over a decade. In my opinion, however, current vocalist Johnny Solinger blows Bach away. The band mostly played material from their first two albums and I thought Solinger outclassed Bach's recorded versions in every way. Between songs, Solinger and other band members would stop to express their heartfelt thanks to fans for sticking with the band throughout all the years. By the time the concert ended I really did feel like I had spent an evening with old, cherished friends. I've waited 23 years to see Skid Row live and it was well worth the wait.

The next big bit of business in my life actually sees me cutting this entry short and getting ready for bed. If you missed the announcement on Facebook, I am moving out of my department at work and becoming a pharmacy technician. This means a decent raise and the opportunity to learn a whole new skill set; one that could open doors for me. This opportunity came upon me quite out of the blue, with the pharmacy manager basically walking up to me and interviewing me on the spot. Perhaps the lack of prep time worked in my favor because I aced the interview. Next thing I know I'm signing paperwork and going off to get fingerprinted.

Tomorrow will be my first day in my new role. It will all be training but I'm very excited about this whole situation. To put it simply, I have desperately needed to find some way to broaden my future prospects and have been at a complete loss how to go about doing it. This promotion isn't going to solve all of my problems, but it is a serious start.
uberreiniger: (good/evil)
After the week it's been at work I fear to see what the weekend will bring.

In my last entry I talked about Mr. Conceal & Carry, the Neo-Nazi, and the false alarm child abduction. Last night I saw a customer lose his shit at the lady in sporting goods because she was following store policy and insisting that he pay for an expensive item that's kept locked up at the sporting goods counter because that's how we do it. He was already mad because she was "rude" to him but not dropping what she was doing with the customers she was already helping to go and help him when he and his brood showed up. How bad did he lose his shit? Put it to you this way, the customers she was already helping insisted on staying around until the manager showed up to make sure he didn't try anything and I was standing around the corner in the tool aisle where he couldn't see me with a hammer in my hand, ready to go.

But that's not the mother load, oh no. Today, today was the mother load because we had a fucking BOMB THREAT. And not just us. One other store in Kansas City and three other stores around Missouri all got bomb threats at the same time. I spent the last hour of my shift standing around outside, which honestly wasn't bad getting paid to sit in the shade and all. But... we were not prepared.

Most of us left through the back door. By then word was already going around that it was a bomb threat. So what does the ENTIRE staff do? They stand in the alley directly behind the building. I pointed out in a loud voice that if the place was going to blow then I was going to stand slightly farther away from it. It was like you could see the light bulbs come on over peoples' heads and the began to file away with me. Then one of the managers told us to move toward the parking lot of the store next door. I didn't fuck around, I got in my car and drove it to that parking lot. Good thing too because about five minutes later everyone who didn't was fucked in terms of leaving. The police came and barricaded all the parking lot entrances which meant no one was getting in their car and leaving.

Then there were the people who left their phones and keys and everything inside the building. I'm sorry, but I don't understand why you would not carry these articles on your person at all times. In this day and age there is no good reason not to. I got to go home when my shift would have normally ended and I was the only one that I know of who could. Everyone else getting off at that time had keys they couldn't get to in order to operate cars that couldn't leave.

I don't know what time it all ended but I do know it went on for several hours. If only there had been one determined citizen in the store with a conceal & carry permit. They might have been able to stop it.    
uberreiniger: (Default)
My vacation is over. Today I go back to work. I must say I am not thrilled but hopefully it has bought me some time and I can work for a while longer while I start searching for a new job.

As you know, this week began with me getting catastrophically, epically sick. This ruined my camping at Lilies War plans but perhaps it is for the best since I really couldn't afford to camp anyway. I had actually been stressing a great deal about camping and how I was going to pay for it for a long time. I think all that stress combined with working very hard finally got to be too much for me and my body just gave out. In the 72 hours from Saturday through Monday I think I slept for about 60 of it. I'm not kidding.

Monday was the troupe's Hamlet show at Lilies War and as I think I said earlier, it went really well. By Tuesday I was fully recovered so I drove up again for dinner and rehearsal with the cast. Wednesday was the adult show and it was an amazing success for the cast and a delight for the audience. I am happy to report that the sketch I wrote and directed got riotous laughs and applause. My case made me very proud.

The best was yet to come, however. Thursday I rode with M. to a job interview that led to her being hired on the spot at what's going to be a really nice massage clinic that pays well and is run by a pair of warm, sincere, and quite visionary people. Their suite is still being renovated and the interview literally took place in a construction site. She won't start work until late July but she has the job and that's going to make a great difference for us, I think. We celebrated with some good food and by seeing The Avengers for a second time.

We've mostly just relaxed for the past two days. I've worked a lot on music, played some WoW, and just hung out for the rest of my vacation. It's been nice and, I suppose, just what I've needed. Now I need to get back to my usual pace. I vowed I would get a new job after Lilies ended. It's time to make good on that promise.
uberreiniger: (hanging masks)
I've decided I'm just not up to reviewing all those horror films we watched the other day in depth. So here's just a quick blurb about each of them.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - Big-budget remake of an obscure TV movie about a lonely little girl sent to live with her father and his girlfriend who are restoring the house of a famous 19th century illustrator who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Then she starts hearing noises from the basement... Written and produced by Guilermo Del Toro and as good as you'd expect based on that.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil - Hilarious deconstruction of films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, etc. Tucker and Dale are two likeable, good-natured hicks trying to relax at their new vacation home. But a series of misunderstandings and gruesome accidents cause them to be mistaken for backwoods serial killers! Horror comedy is a tricky proposition but this film does it right.

The Caller - Tense, grueling thriller about a woman already fleeing from her violent ex-husband when she begins receiving phone calls from a disturbed woman who becomes obsessed with her. The twist? The calls seem to be coming from the year 1979! Stars Rachelle Lafevre and Stephen Moyer who prove they are entertaining to watch even when not moving at super vampire speed.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon - Another deconstructing horror comedy. This one is set in a world where Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and every other horror film slasher you ever heard of are real people terrorizing small towns. Leslie Vernon is out to join their ranks and hires a documentary film crew to chronicle his first killing spree. If you've ever watched a slasher movie and wondered how the bad guy did something this film will explain it. Horror fans will appreciate seeing Kane Hodder in a cameo and Robert Englund in a supporting role... and they're not playing Jason and Freddy despite the fact that they exist!

The Eclipse - Netflix classifies this movie as a supernatural thriller but it's not. It's a mopey, maudlin love story that just happens to have a handful of jump-scares. A widower who works for an Irish literary festival gets stuck acting as a chauffeur for a soft-spoken Englishwoman who writes horror novels and a drunken, narcissistic American literary novelist. It's fun watching Aidan Quinn do his Ernest Hemmingway impression but otherwise it's just a slow, boring film about people so wrapped up in their own problems that supernatural events barely even faze them.

Dreams In The Witch House - Made-for-cable adaptation of one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft short stories. A physics student moves into a crumbling tenement and discovers his oddly-shaped room might form an intersection between dimensions. Despite some truly awful special effects, the absence of Nyarlathotep, and the addition of a shocking and gratuitous sex scene it actually does a good job of maintaining the original story's atmosphere and remains otherwise true to the plot. Honestly though, in the 40 minutes it takes to watch it you could just read the original story and have a better experience.

On a different note, I don't know what's worse: the fact that an eight year-old accompanied by his father came up to me at work and asked for Grand Theft Auto IV or that he literally said Grand Theft Auto IV. As in he did not know that "IV" means "4" in Roman numerals. I knew what Roman numerals were at that age, mostly because we had a clock in the living room that used them. So instead of asking what's wrong with the kids these days maybe we should be asking what's wrong with the clocks?
uberreiniger: (Warrior)
I'm not one to obsess over little details I see in blockbuster movies, but I got to thinking about this at work today. It helps that the electronics department is right next to mine and they play the Avengers trailer over and over again so I see it all day and start thinking about the movie all over again.

Why are you clicking? I already said SPOILER WARNING. )

Also seen at work today: tweaker couple buying 72 bottles of Pepsi products. That is not an exaggeration. When I posted about this on Facebook numerous people confirmed for me that yes, 2 liter soda bottles can be used in meth production. I feel like an accessory to a crime.

Bonus also seen at work today: paramedics and police officers swarming all around because a customer passed out on the sales floor. I don't know much more than that because I didn't want to be part of a gawking crowd. It just seemed like one of "those" days all the way around.
uberreiniger: (Wayfarer)
More and more lately I keep finding myself with things to blog about but when I sit down to do it it all goes away.

I got very nauseous on the way to work today. Wound up calling in sick and coming home. I feel bad about doing it but I knew I wasn't going to be able to pull a shift. I slept for most of the day and woke up feeling okay. Maybe it was stress that did it to me, I dunno. Work has been stressing and angering me a lot lately.

I'm really doing well writing music for my future metal band. I'm making a focused effort to write for soprano female vocals and it's actually turning out to be really good for me musically. It's getting me to add an element to my songwriting that I've been trying to find but that just hasn't been there before. After the theatre group does its performances in June I plan to buckle down, get with some musicians, and get to serious work. Exciting yet scary at the same time.

The price for all this musical completeness is that my fiction writing has suffered. I need to get back on that.

Questions of faith keep springing up a lot around me lately and I seem to encounter them even when trying not to seek them out. Maybe someone's trying to tell me something. I know a lot of it is probably being spurred by a book I'm reading called Wanderings by Chaim Potok. I don't read as much non-fiction as I should but I found this book on the clearance rack for one dollar and couldn't pass it up. It's a history of the Jewish people, but also serves as a very comprehensive history of the Middle East both before and during Biblical times. It takes a really interesting and informative approach to both Judaic and pagan beliefs of that time and how they changed and developed. It's really making my mind open to exploring a lot of things and asking a lot of questions. Potok is primarily a fiction writer and I'm curious to check out his novels now based on how unflinchingly he handles non-fiction.

I don't know that I can blame Potok's history book entirely though. I think the questions would keep coming up regardless.
uberreiniger: (Perverts)
...When both members of the couple doing so mutter something about each forgetting their wallets and abruptly leave. It's worth mentioning that the bottles of KY were $2.84 but they had a $3.00 coupon to go with each one. Yes, they were effectively trying to get paid for buying more lube than two people can reasonably be expected to use. Seriously, TEN bottles? Unless you're hosting an orgy or are Audrey Hollander's* personal shopper, I can't see how you could ever need that much all in one go even if you do happen to somehow wind up with ten coupons for it.

And why the copy of The Hunger Games? That's what really made it stand out for me. For all we know they were trying to reinvigorate a stagnate marriage; her by confronting her personal dryness issue, him by fantasizing about Katniss. Perhaps they were assigned to do research for the inevitable spoof porn movie, no doubt to be entitled either The Hung Games or The Humper Games.

Also included in this uncompleted transaction were a box of fruit roll-ups and a package of Angry Birds band-aids. What would MacGuyver do?

*Google her if you're curious. Just don't be at work when you do.
uberreiniger: (good/evil)
I am writing this down here because writing something makes it more real. Hopefully by writing it down I will stick to it.

In June is Lilies War where my troupe and I will perform. I am waiting until then so I can use my hard-earned vacation time for that purpose. As soon as Lilies is over I am getting out of my current job. Obviously there is no future in it, but I am sick of the way I am treated there. Also, my only co-worker whom I consider a friend had to quit yesterday due to outside circumstances. I have been mulling this over for a few days but my friend leaving was confirmation that this is indeed the right thing to do.

I tend to stick around at jobs forever until something forces me to go. It's easier for me to stay in a job I dislike than it is to do the hard thing and find something better. But I'm not doing that anymore. So yeah, after I use my vacation the rest is just borrowed time. I don't know what I'll do yet but I feel great just setting a date on finding out what it is.

Iced Earth

Feb. 26th, 2012 03:10 pm
uberreiniger: (Default)
This is who I'll be seeing tonight along with a few other exciting bands.


Tomorrow, by contrast, will suck. I have to get up early in the morning to go do five hours of standardized patient work at KU Med Center immediately followed by an eight hour shift at my regular job :/
uberreiniger: (Default)
Pretty much everything in the last three weeks comes down to I'm working all the time and I am tired a lot. It's a good kind of tired because I like being productive, not a soul-crushing despair-laden tired. I have basically worked three jobs in 48 hours. Wednesday I spent all day finishing a freelance project. This morning I had to go to KU Med Center for a standardized patient meeting, then I went to my day job for an eight hour shift. I feel tired but not as tired as I probably should.

I didn't really get to talk much about it but the Children of Bodom/Eluveitie show a few weeks ago was awesome. It actually gave me a new appreciation for Children of Bodom. I bought their cd Follow The Reaper many years ago when I was making a conscious effort to get into newer metal bands, listened to it a few times, decided I couldn't get into it, and rarely listened to it after that. I went to the concert mostly to see Eluveitie. CoB were the headliners and wow, they really do put on a great show! It's made me go back and re-evaluate their music and I'm finding that I really like it.

There was an opening band before Eluveitie though, called Revocation. Wow, that was one terrible band. They had a huge, spiky death metal logo, stage banners depicting dragons and demons, and pointy, evil-looking guitars. I should have loved everything about them but there was nothing to love about them. When you have to spend two minutes explaining how an instrumental song is supposed to make you imagine storming a castle and conjuring demons and drinking from magical chalices... maybe you should just go ahead and write lyrics that say that? Musically they were boring as hell and I wasn't the only one who thought so. I have never seen a metal crowd react with more indifference to a band. It would have been better for them had the crowd hated them. At least hate is a strong emotional reaction. But indifference to your music? That's the worst thing that can happen to a musician. In other words, I was never more ready for Eluveitie and Children of Bodom when they took the stage that night.

This Sunday night is Iced Earth. I can't help but wonder if my ex-bandmates will be there since they are both obsessed with Iced Earth. Even if they are it's unlikely I'll see them, but still I wonder.

Back to work...
uberreiniger: (Default)
I stayed home from work sick today. I've been feeling like I'm trying to get sick off and on for a few days now. I thought I was past it but this morning I got up for work and went from feeling fine to throwing up in the span of a few seconds. Not to be all TMI, but it was some of the most prolonged and horrible vomiting I've done in years.

After calling in sick I crawled back into bed and slept until around 12:30. Since then I've mostly felt fine although it wasn't until the evening that I felt comfortable with trying to eat again. Haven't gotten sick since but I still feel sort of fatigued and run down.

Haven't really wanted to do much of anything besides zone out and play WoW. I just finished applying to several contract jobs. I guess if I'm not going to work at one job I may as well find another.
uberreiniger: (Judgement)
I spoke about it briefly on Facebook but I am still very mad about it so here's the full story.

Last night I got called to ring up a customer who in the middle of the transaction blurts out "Are you a Christian?" I wasn't sure I'd even heard him right because even customers in the past who start talking about their faith have never been that direct and confrontational. I ask what he said and he replies "Are you a Christian by faith?"

At this point I was too stunned to make a coherent reply. Dealing with the public takes a lot out of me and I tend to be very non-confrontational at work just so I can function. I manage to tell him that I don't talk about that. His reply was "Well I'M going to talk about it!" And he proceeds too, going off about how he's been "reading about Catholicism and boy it's interesting. It's interesting... Like, is FAITH enough or do you have to DO THINGS to be saved."

I've heard all this before, my whole life. In case you don't know there's a huge prejudice among non-Catholic Christians that Catholics aren't really Christian because they believe good works are an important part of salvation. It's a thing I was raised in and I don't want to hear about it at work.

Then this asshole starts talking about this girl that he's dating and how she's Catholic and how he has "tried to talk about it with her." It's hard to convey, but there was an implication in his speech that he is with this woman so he can convert her.

Talking to this man left me feeling dirty, like being covered with the proverbial slick of oil. I wish I hadn't been so disoriented by him. I wish I would have just told him to stop and that I couldn't discuss this, because really I can't at work. I just wish I reacted more quickly with people and could get my mind around standing up to them.
uberreiniger: (Default)
When I actually have things to update about that's when I don't get any time to update. I waited too long to get started on my freelance assignment for the week which left me in a rush to finish it over the course of my two days off. I would have finished it sooner then but I did take a lot of breaks to do things like play WoW and practice on my guitars. I don't regret that at all because it's my days off and I should be able to do something for me, but it did make for a long couple of days.

Now I need spend a fraction of the time on this entry that I wanted to or I'll be let for my day job!

On Saturday our friends Ed and Angie were in town and we got to see them for a few hours. Wound up spending all evening in a Chinese restaurant talking about spirituality. Then we showed them our new house. We don't see them often enough and it was wonderful to do so, really a high point of the last month or so.

I've been writing a lot lately too but that's a whole 'nother topic.

I'd say I'll update more about it all later, but people say that all the time and then they never do it and I don't want to be that person. I do need to finish off the thirty day meme though. I haven't forgotten about that.
uberreiniger: (Default)
I have been non-existent online the last few days because I have undertaken freelance data entry work for extra money. It's a great opportunity for me and I'm really stoked about it but in my eagerness I sort of bit off more than I could chew. So in between my full-time job I've had to bust ass every night to get my allotment of work done by today's deadline but get it done I did. Boy, what a load off. However, they'll probably have a new batch of work for me to complete by next Monday but that's perfectly fine. I'll take the money what with the holidays and all.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
uberreiniger: (Mask)
The subject line is something I would LOVE to be able to say to nosy customers who walk up to me wanting to know how to pronounce my name/what it means/where it comes from as if the fact I'm wearing it on a tag gives them some sort of right to. I LIKE my name. I DO NOT like being a captive audience to curious strangers who want to interrogate me about it.

Today however one these gawkers-at-the-zoo who came through my line turned out to be very funny in hindsight. I don't think she was on anything, I think she was just naturally spacy. REALLY space. She talked like a New Age crystal hippie although she didn't really look like one. Here's a dramatization of our conversation.

HER: Are you from Kentucky? I know a Tyree and he's from Kentucky.
ME: (makes a non-committal noise as I go about ringing up her purchase.)
HER: Are you from Kentucky?
ME: No. I'm from around here. (I'm actually not but just wanted not to be the subject of discussion anymore.
HER: Are you a Pisces? I'll bet you're a Pisces!
ME: ...No.
HER: You're not a PISCES! What are you?
ME: A Leo.
HER: You're a LEO? And your name is TYREE? I was sure you were a Pisces!
ME: Sorry. (I may not have actually said sorry. It many have just been an inarticulate noise: the verbal equivalent of a shrug.
HER: But you're so CALM! Not like my daughter! She's wild, and flirty, and acts like she's fifteen! She's so wild! My daughter is so wild! And you're so CALM! You're like the opposite of her! She's so wild... So wild...

Variations of this statement went on for the rest of the transaction but I think you get the idea. Did anyone else know that my name is a Kentucky phrase for "I'm a Pisces and I give two shits about your crazy ass daughter?" Because I sure didn't.

Good news

Oct. 25th, 2011 02:58 am
uberreiniger: (Alec Mercer)
Something wonderful happened to me today. I finally got made full time at my work. This couldn't come at a better time since I'm going to be driving farther to get to work now. This will at least pay for gas getting me there and back. I'm still trying to get a part-time job for my days off. Mind you, an adult in their thirties in America should not have to do this. American dream my privileged white ass. But this is the way things have to be until I can find my way to make them better and I truly am grateful to have more hours. It should lessen the stress I've been having about the move just a little bit.

Listening to Alestorm has gotten me on a pirate kick lately. Maybe I'll dig out my old 7th Sea icons and use them to replace my draenei ones since I'm not currently playing World of Warcraft. Interestingly, I got home from work last night to find Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End playing on TV. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theatre. The Pirates movies make a lot more sense on subsequent viewings. I couldn't understand what was going on the first time I saw the sequels and that detracted from my enjoyment. Too bad I haven't heard a single good thing about the fourth one because the series was quite good for the first three films and that's a rare thing.

Tomorrow's the last day at work before my days off, a.k.a. Moving Day parts 1 & 2. Looking so forward to having the move done.

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