Oh, I also forgot to mention: the coworker who thinks I'm funny, somehow we got onto the fact that I used to be a photographer at WEEK. When I told her, she got this look on her face like, "Um, what are you doing in this dump if you used to be a photographer?"

I do kind of miss the glamour of being a photographer, the way people'd react when I said that's what I did. But that was about all WEEK has over working retail for me. I mean, I did want to have a creative job, but I spent far more time in traffic than doing anything creative. And office jobs--not what they're cracked up to be. Like I said, crush-guy hates his job. And I had another coworker I was talking to who's been in the retail game forever who said she had had an office job before and totally hated it.

Anyway, whenever I get some totally pain-in-the-ass assignment to do at my job now, I think back and am like, "This is still TEN times better than my best day at WEEK." So... I don't regret the change.

What a great day I had at work today.

First off, this one guy I knew from a couple of my film classes came in the store today, and not only recognized me, but talked to me for a really long time, which was awesome. We bonded over old scholastic bowl stories (yeah... I'm such a nerd for bringing it up, but then it turned out he was in scholastic bowl too.... score!) and how we have sell-out jobs now (he works this office job that he hates but makes good money at but might be getting into corporate video soon which makes me happy for him, I know how frustrating it is to want to get into something creative and be thwarted). It was a good conversation, which makes me feel horrible because I can't remember his name for the life of me.

But it's not like I totally forgot him, and then pretended to know him, I remember other things about him. Like, in school, I used to ALWAYS wear headphones no matter where I was walking to on campus, every day, constantly, and I think I began to get known for it. Anyways, I left it at class one day and was like, beating myself up over it and miserable, but it turned out the next day that he had noticed I left it and brought it back to me, which was so nice. AND he complimented the CD I had left in it. The only other time I ever really remember us interacting was not that long after that. I had this coat with crappy pockets that if I tried to put more than one glove in, they'd fall out so I kept one in each. And we happened to be sitting together that day and I put one glove on (the place we had our screenings was freezing) and hadn't gotten the other out and he made some Michael Jackson one glove joke. Oh, and I think he's one of the many people who've made some comment about my weird drawings over the years.



Also, my one friend I still have in this town visited me, and I thought that was nice. I couldn't really talk to her long, as right when she came up (unlike when the guy came up and I had nothing I had to do) I had a manager around, the one manager who seems the most strict, so I kind of didn't want to linger talking.

And I got another visit from this professor I still talk to and have dinner with from time to time, the guy who was professor for the 3 week course I took abroad. He's really cool for a professor, so we still keep in touch and I had e-mailed him about where I work now. I couldn't talk to him hugely long either, but he made a joke about stealing books which made me feel a little bad, because I don't mind joking about stealing books other times, but actually at the store I don't want someone overhearing it and taking it seriously.

Then, after close when we'd finished everything we had to do for the day, we had some time to kill so the manager told us to go and look at the promotional stuff to keep occupied. The promotional stuff is free copies of books and CD's we get to look through and keep. The bad part of that, though, is most (if not all) of the stuff is crappy. Anyway, we were talking while we did it and I love my one coworker now because she told me she thought I was really hilarious, and was actually telling someone else from work that the other day and they agreed too. Anyway, I picked up a ton of stuff on the theory that at least one of them HAS to not suck, right?

And a couple of things on the theory that they were so horrible they had to be funny, including a cd of gospel songs covered reggae style and a book that was like, "how sistas should act" or something else to do with sistas. My coworker who thinks I'm hilarious picked up this one book that everyone in the store makes fun of constantly but that is actually a bestseller (only book in the lot we'd heard of; the only band anyone's heard of in the CD's was Lonestar) and a book with a cool looking cover.

Also, I had strawberries and meatloaf for dinner.

JHJKLKKGJMJHKJHHTFYFTFYGTUOILK&U:?LOPOYUTYTFD FYTRRFYTFHTIY TRYUIHBJYJIKYYHGIIG UHVVJHIUJIUHGHIFUY TGUGYLOIKUJIKU JOIHLLKOIJGYHYUFF YUDYTRRETD^YIKYUYUT&UIU YIYUYKUTF IIFKRTYU!!!!!!!!!!

That was me mashing my fingers into the keyboard because I'm so pissed off.

Anyway, have you ever known someone who you're always having fights with and none of these fights are actually about the thing you're ostensibly fighting about? Just, out of the blue they pick a fight with you about something you do all the time and they've never been pissed at you about before because something else is bothering them?

Yeah, welcome to my world. My mom just went off on me tonight. See, we have a huge dinner table. Six spots. Only three people eating at it. And yet... we have a space problem. First off, my mom has a TV on the table. Which I've said before: I really hate. She's like a zombie. She can't be without TV a single minute, even for dinner. EVEN when there's nothing on anyway that she wants to see. But anyway, the TV takes up space.

Then, my dad has a whole bunch of crap on one side of the table. And then my mom has even more crap on her side of the table. I mean, I'm talking a lot of crap. Our table is COVERED in junk.

So lately, I've started my own little pile, because it's nice when I have an early work day to have everything I need right there to go in the morning without having to think about it or search for it. But unlike their piles, mine is actually AT my spot. Of course, there's no other place to put it, what with all their crap. Anyway, I have to move it every time we have dinner together. Most of the time I just move half of it and make the rest of the pile just as small as possible.

Well mom just WENT OFF on me about that pile of stuff, she said I didn't move enough of it, she wanted to put the tuna cassarole right there and I had my own place setting and there was a couple other bowls of stuff, and it all has to go in my spot because EVERYWHERE ELSE ON THE TABLE IS FULL OF THEIR CRAP AND/OR A TV. And I of course pointed out (after she had gone to def con 3 screaming her lungs out at me) that they have way more junk on the table. And I get, "Well we live here and pay for things so we get all the table space we need."

WHAT??? I mean... WHAT THE HELL? I just... I can't get over that she said that to me. Since I got my job (and even before) I've asked BOTH of them a THOUSAND times if they wanted me to carry more of my financial weight around here or move out, and they always say it's okay, I can stay with them as long as I want, I don't have to pay for food or rent or anything. Secondly, my mom hasn't had a job since the 70's. She's living off Dad's retirement money just as much as I am. She doesn't contribute a dime and everything she's ever done in terms of taking care of me and my sister is obviously not being contributed anymore either. Furthermore, she does NO housework and even gets pissed if my dad or I try to do it ourselves because we don't do it right in her eyes because we don't do it the exact fucking way that she wants. On top of this, she spends Dad's money like a drunken sailor on leave. So I am NOT the parasite here.

Instead of telling her this, I point out that I've been doing this exact same thing (the pile) for almost two months now, and she's never been pissed before, so why the hell did she just EXPLODE on me out of nowhere? She says it's like a fungus. That I pile things everywhere and it just spreads and spreads. Okay, I admit to this: I DO pile a lot of things around. I'm just not a neat person, and if I use something a lot in a certain place I just never bother putting it away, I leave it around there. Her and I have had many fights from minor tiffs to major ones over the years about how much crap I leave around. BUT: I do clean most of it up periodically when she asks, or even sometimes out of the blue just to be nice. And this PARTICULAR pile wasn't a pile of new stuff that I had not had lying around the house before, more I moved it from a place where she hated it even more than it being on the table. So I don't think of that as a spread so much as a translocation.

Anyway, what pissed me off 100X more than the fungus remark, which like I said at least had some basis (though again, I still wonder why this ongoing thing about my sloppiness got such a violent response out of NOWHERE), is that I start explaining to her my translocation defense and she just starts talking to dad about something, totally ignoring me. This is the first time I can even recall she's done this to me during a fight, and I have to say I hope it doesn't become a trend, because I saw red. I really couldn't take it. She just picks this fight with me and starts ignoring me when I try to defend myself? I yelled at her that I didn't appreciate being ignored, and she yelled back that she was ignoring me because I was yelling at her and not showing her the respect due to her as my mother, and I yelled back that she was the one who just started yelling like a banshee at me out of nowhere and then she starts ignoring me again and I wanted to punch her in her fat stupid face, but I just shut up. It's not worth it. The second I have enough money I'm just going to get the fuck out of here and whenever she gives me crap I can tell her to suck my balls because I'm not dependent on her anymore.

Today was buuuusy. We had a ton of merch to put on display and of course there's all these elaborate rules to it. And also a customer always hijacks you when you're in the middle of something.

Which, btw: don't take all the whining I do the wrong way, I really do like my job, but man people are stupid and/or jerks. This one lady comes up to me and is all, "we have that coupon that's not good till the 29th, can we use it today?" Um, lady, didn't you just answer your own question? And when I tell her no, that that date's written on there for a reason she gets all mad like I'm the one who made up the coupon rules.

Oh, and the other prize customer today was this lady who called up and made me look up about a thousand out of print Hardy Boys books. It made me mad because she'd have asked me about 43 and 41 and then go back to 42 and be all surprised when that one's out of print too. And she made me go through about 10 books in about the same section of the Hardy Boys series and I just wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her.

But really, I did have a good day. I worked with some of the funner people today and we had... fun :P

Oh, also, another insight gleaned from my job: how fucking lazy are you if you make the cashier open your CD's for you? Old people with arthritis, I give you a pass on this, but regular people: what the hell??? NO ONE likes opening CD's. It sucks! I don't like it even when it's MY CD, much less doing it for YOUR lazy ass. It's not my job. But I can't say no to you without looking like a jerk, when really, it is you who are the jerk. I mean, okay, it's a pain to me or whatever, but also, what about the people behind you? If I were the customer behind you I would dropkick your ass and make a fieldgoal before waiting while you make the only cashier on duty sit there and pick at your four stupid CD's with much-battered fingernails. But people DO make me do this. Stupid people.

Well, at work I've been keepering (putting anti-theft devices on CD's and DVD's) for a solid day and a half. I used to kind of like keepering, because it's easy and you can kind of let your mind wander, but now I'm thoroughly tired of it. What do you bet I do more tomorrow? The one thing about the job I don't like (well, aside from the erratic sleep schedule) is that anything you get assigned to do one day turns up like a sore thumb. You go off on break, you have a day off, you have a week off.... and still somehow no one's finished whatever it is, and the managers remember that you were working on it a week ago and make you do the rest of it so they don't have to explain anything to a new person.

I have also been watching Home Movies. Home Movies, for those who don't know, is (was?) a cartoon on Adult Swim on cartoon network. I used to be quite enamored of it back when I had cable. Except even when I did have cable I didn't get to see it that much because they had it scheduled fairly randomly. Anyway, I liked it so much that (in case you can't remember) I used to put quotes from it up on here so I wouldn't forget them, only I would jot them down pretty fast and mess them up a little so I would say that they were "hastily paraphrased," which is how I came up for the title of my blog back when I was on googlies.net. But I digress.

What Home Movies is actually about is this 8 year old kid named Brendan Small who fancies himself a director and is always making these short films with his friends Melissa and Jason (Melissa's kind of the straight-man and Jason's kind of the Ralph Wiggam of the group). I think it's on adult swim more because little kids wouldn't get it more than being inapropriate for them. There are a few swears and the soccer coach is kind of a verbally abusive drunk, but I think those could be editted out well enough if the creators wanted to (though Coach McGuirk is actually the most hilarious character--he has a chiquita banana tattoo and a tattoo of a cow logo from some brand of cheese or other, and he likes to trace his varicose veins with highliter). Anyway, I don't know if everybody would like it, it's pretty quirky, and the sort of deadpan delivery is half of what makes it funny to me. Also: the drawing on it is not that great. You know a cartoon is poorly drawn when you look at it and are like, "Hmm, I think I could draw that." And you've SEEN my drawing, folks, so you know that's some poor drawing.

Well, I saw a DVD of the first season at the store. And I told myself not to buy it. I can afford it and everything, but I read all these blogs of people who buy TV shows on DVD and I'm like, "Seriously. How much time do they have that they will pay to own a whole TV series on DVD and watch it enough times that it makes it worth it?" Also, I don't want to throw away money just because I can, if I do that I'll never make it out of my parent's house. But the thing about this job is: it wears you down. You go out shopping somewhere, and see something you want, you can tell yourself no and move on. But if you're at that store ALL THE TIME, and see whatever it is you want ALL THE TIME, it kind of wears you down. And I wanted to see the episodes of Home Movies I never had. And there's no way to rent them. So.... I bought Season 1 and have been watching it. So there you go. I will be living with my parents forever because of Home Movies (okay, not really, it was only 30 bucks).

Today was pretty slow. I have got to stop being so chatty, though. Now that I know more of my coworkers I end up standing around talking with them more than I probably should. The one I ended up spending most of my time with during inventory I hadn't seen in awhile, and she ended up coming in on her off time and I found myself spending like, 20 minutes talking to her while pretending to straighten books, and then go around looking for customers for awhile and doing any other actual work I could find, and then after finding nothing to do going back and talking to her again. I like the fact that I get along well with so many people, though. I'm really friendly with all the people who are fairly new like I am (about four) and fairly friendly with most of the rest of the people, including managers. I'm also glad that none of them have been frightened by my bizarre humor. Especially at night. For some reason after close I just get hyper as hell and these random things just come spouting out of my mouth.

Oh, and no one ever buy Altoids sour cherry chewing gum. I had a lot of garlic at dinner so I went to get some gum to cover it up, and I saw the altoids sour gum and was like, "Well, I like their sour candy." Well: it's even more sour. It made my eyes just stream tears, and I had to decide after that to go around with garlic breath or looking like I was crying. And the sourness never wore off. If you could get that kind of staying power with gum that actually tasted good, I think you'd have a good product on your hands.

So I made another comic in the disturbing search request category, "Dave Grohl Pregnant."

Today was pretty good. Not one, but two separate customers told me I was awesome at finding stuff. Though, to be fair, they both wanted stuff that was fairly easy to find.

Also awesome: for inventory, we're pulling out a bunch of stuff and sending it back to corporate headquarters. That makes it so there's a lot of empty space on the shelves, so they told me to go and make face-outs to fill up the space (turning a DVD or book so that the cover faces out instead of just having the spine showing is a face out, if you don't know or couldn't figure it out). So basically, I put all my favorite movies (or in the music dvd section, bands) out. I mean, I did put some popular choices just so it was balanced and not TOTALLY obvious what I was doing, but hey. So now Ben Folds Five, Coheed & Cambria, the Old 97's, Pleasantville, a ton of Adam Sandler movies, a ton of Hitchcock movies, Fight Club, Donnie Darko, Garden State, Office Space, Indochine (a french movie so horrible that it's good again), and About a Boy have face-outs they might not've otherwise. Also, when I didn't have a particular favorite in a row or something I could pander to the masses with, I'd put something I've known a friend to obsess over, so in that vein I have What About Bob? up there (personally I can't stand it), While You Were Sleeping, and Pi (which I've never seen). So if you walk into a store where Pi has a face out and you get a kick out of it, that's all me, baby.

Which, I think it worked! Someone totally bought Office Space after I did that! And someone else bought Vertigo, though that one sounds more like for a film class than from my doing.

I'm wondering if the people in the store next to me think I'm a serial killer. All the time I'm going in there on my break to get a pop, and then I sit in the parking lot in my car in front of their store eating goldfish crackers and drinking said pop, and then after I'm finished I rock out to whatever music I have with me for the rest of my break, and then drive 5 feet back to being parked in front of my store.

Also: I set my hair on fire last night. Really.

Phoemeister: I myself am partying like it's 1999
Sui: haha
Sui: so you're wearing flanel and listening to offspring?
Sui: and complaining about how much high school sucks?
Phoemeister: LOL
Sui: that party blows
Phoemeister: yeah
Phoemeister: more I'm playing Aqualung and Coheed & Cambria very loudly because my parents are gone
Phoemeister: that's not much of a party either, but I'll take what I can get
Sui: haha

So today I did merch, which is basically stocking things. Tuesday's big for that, that's when all the new releases of everything come out. It was nice, I think merch is one of my favorite things, especially when there's enough room, which there was, because related to inventory the other night, the people who do inventory were taking down old things no one has bought in forever and sending them back to the corporate office.

So if anyone wanted to know: Neil Gaiman's new book, the sequel to American Gods, is out. I'm probably going to wait till it's paperback to read it, though. Also, the new Coheed & Cambria is out, and a soundtrack to The Corpse Bride, and the Rockstar: INXS album. And a new Bob Dylan documentary, and The Longest Yard, and an extended cut of Mallrats. That's about all the stuff I even remember that came out. That's a public service from ME to YOU.

A guy dissed Ben Folds, and I have the ensuing angry rant on KS. Really, he should've gone home and dissed Ben Folds on his blog, like I did with another coworker's love of Lenny Kravitz. Though: actually the Lenny Kravitz guy is pretty nice, and we were talking about Bob Dylan and The Band today, so it's not like Lenny's the only thing he listens to. Also I have thoughts on Rockstar: INXS and Coheed & Cambria. So it's a big post.

I got 2 different compliments on what I was wearing today, which was cool. Rarely do I get clothes compliments, so it made me happy. This was on the turquoise shirt/black pants combo I got at Gordman's not that long ago. It's kind of dressier than I have to wear for the store's dress code, but it's nice to dress up once in awhile, especially since this particular outfit is about as comfortable as my less fancy clothes are anyway.

My parents took me out to dinner tonight, and we went to the new "Noodles," which rocked. Any restaurant that serves mac and cheese not just as a kid's item: A-Okay in my book. I had parmesan and buttered noodles myself, actually. And it was pretty good.

My day didn't start out that great, though. I had a really early shift, but couldn't get to sleep very early. Then, of course, my parents are watching my baby nephew this week. And of course, he's getting his molars in. And of course, in their infinite wisdom, they put him in my sister's old room, separated from mine only by a very thin wall.

Weirdly, though I've spent the last four or five years as a nightowl, I think I am a morning person, because at the end of my shift, even though I didn't get so much sleep, I felt less tired than at the end of most of them. Buuut--maybe that was because I pretty much did merch all day. Being cashier can be tiring.

Also: there's something wrong with my car :/ The day before I was out driving, and this huge storm blew up, the worst that I think I've ever driven in. And then this morning, I get in my car and it sounds like one of those motorcycles some jackass purposefully made so loud it ruptures your eardrums as it goes past. So I'm thinking it's something wrong with my muffler, but my worried mind can't help but worry it's something with my engine or transmission. But my parents are so wrapped up in the 'phew that they aren't really being helpful about it, and I don't know anything about the subject, so I'm kind of waiting on their OK.

I'm also kind of irritated, I finally got my little packet about employee benefits awhile ago, and I want to get it filled out and sent in as soon as possible, but of course when I gave it to my dad to look over it first, he went through half of it with a fine tooth comb and then all progress stopped completely when the 'phew got here. And I really don't want to do anything without his opinion first.

So today was inventory, which apparently the store only does once a year. Which: I'm glad it's only once a year, it's a huge pain. They have in all these people to scan things to count everything, but since they make mistakes they have us count a lot of it too. We worked from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Which... I'm kind of a nightowl, it wouldn't have bothered me that much--if I was still on the schedule I had before I got the job. But now I have become a daylight person, so it did get tiring by the end. But then, of course, I got home and was too wired to sleep, which is why I'm blogging right now.

One nice thing--they got us free pizza and all this pop and candy. And, parts of it weren't that bad. At one point, all a coworker and I were really doing were getting numbers for things that wouldn't scan for the people they bring in, and we had a lot of down time and basically spent it all talking. And we were in that weird mode you get in when you're kind of tired and have had too much sugar/caffiene and everything's just hilarious. And we WERE full of sugar. Our nametags are in these plastic pockets, and frequently we'll carry pieces of paper with things we need to remember and/or pens around in them, and we had the bright idea of carrying around like, a boatload of skittles in them. I particularly had too many, I got to the point where I couldn't eat any more, which, in my case, only happens when I've had, well, at least 3/4 of a jumbo pack, apparently.

I also mentioned my colitis to this coworker and one of the managers, which makes me relieved. I didn't want to say it right before or after I got the job, because who wants to hire someone that's going to spend half their time at work pooping or sick? But I didn't want to like, keep it a secret, in case I ever get really sick, I don't want to have to spring it on someone out of nowhere and have them be like, "Yeah, sure, colitis. How come you never mentioned this before?" Anyway, the coworker and the manager were talking about the manager's wife, and apparently she's a secretary for some digestive specialist, and I asked who, and it didn't happen to be mine, but I said that's why I asked, and of course they asked why I had one, and it was a nice way to get it out there.

Really, I've been doing phenominally good lately. I think maybe it has something to do with physical activity, because my time at WEEK, I also did extremely good. And when I think back on it, whenever I had school break and would do nothing for 3 months I'd get worse a lot of times. So I can only hope my streak continues.

Also, when I was counting the foriegn language reference books, I saw one called "how to make out in chinese." I think that sounds like a great book. I'd think make-out would be an international language, though, so who knows.

Sadly, this isn't even the first conver I've posted on my blog about sex with robots. I believe the other one had something to do with "licking rusty metal asses" and getting strep throat from it. Good times.

Phoemeister: embrace the future
Phoemeister: make love to a robot
Tina: isn't that the same as using a vibrator? :"-p
Phoemeister: I dunno
Phoemeister: I just have that as my wallpaper right now
Phoemeister: with a bunch of real robots
Tina: well that's sorta a robot without an AI
Phoemeister: maybe a robot takes you out to dinner first
Phoemeister: and plys you with compliments and alcohol
Phoemeister: thus making good use of it's AI
Tina: mioght as well date a man if you have to go through all that
Phoemeister: yeah, but what if, like me, no man'll have you?
Phoemeister: also, that is not embracing the future, Tina
Phoemeister: if you continue to your obsolete ways
Phoemeister: the robot overloards will get rid of you
Tina: overlords or overloads? because since your talking about sex with a robot, an overload OR over loading can be bad, real bad
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: I meant overlord
Phoemeister: but overload probably would be bad
Phoemeister: too

I should be asleep. I have to get up early tomorrow. But... it's hard to go right to sleep right after coming home from work.

So I'll tell you about my day:

--I'm getting to know my coworkers better, or at least feel better conversing with them, but when I think about it, they're probably learning a disturbing amount too much about me. For instance, today, I got in a reference to a comic from the online comics "Better Than Cheeses," that compares Robocop to Christ. But to be fair: I'm not the one who brought up Robocop to begin with.

--I had a music conversation. Man, I don't know which blog to blog that on either. I guess it'll be here for now, anyways: they play a lot of different stuff over the overhead to promote it to customers, and right now there's this cover of Wonderwall on, and it reminded me of this Paul Anka CD (which, while I don't have it, I am always tempted) where he covers all these rock tunes but his style. And that made my one coworker be like, "that reminds me of this Ben Folds cover of Bitches Ain't Shit, it's hilarious!" and I was all whiny about how I've never heard it due to Itunes difficulties but I love the hell out of Ben Folds, and I secretly loved her for bringing up Ben Folds, and we got to talking about concerts from there and she told me her thoughts on Motley Crue. It was good times!

--I stickered/unstickered things. Man, I hate that, because I couldn't find half of them and was worried I was doing it wrong. And I did some, and went on break and was like, "I hope someone ends up doing this while I'm on break" and then no one did and I had to continue doing it. It reminds me of this whole thing in the bookmarks which has been a monkey on my back for like a week now, and I wonder why no one else ever gets it done during the days I'm not there.

--My parents came in for a visit. Actually, it's my fault they're even there (not that I mind). There's this e-mail coupon campaign they're running at the store that we've been flogging the hell out of, and I signed my mom up for it, so she came into the store to use her newfound coupons. And it turned out they came right when my break started, so I could hang out with them, and they bought me a snack in the cafe. But I was all weirded out, I need clearer rules on the "when can we use our employee discount?" front. Since they were paying (and I didn't have any money on me anyway), I didn't try and get the discount, but then one of my managers, who was ringing them up, asked me for my number so he could give us the discount, but I don't have it memorized and the paper I have it written on was very far away. Anyway, I was a little surprised by the whole thing, as they were SO "don't give any friends or family your discount!" when they went over it in training.

--There was this guy twigging out on meth or something in the store, I could tell. He made me look up all these albums by mediocre (in my opinion) bands, Nickelback, Trapt, and Staind. But I'd be in the middle of looking up trapt, and he springs nickelback on me, and before I even get to nickelback, he springs staind on me, and it's like, "one thing at a time," and then he didn't even buy any of them, he bought this sushi kit thing that he had put on hold earlier even though we have like a thousand of them and it only costs like 2 bucks because it's a bargain book. Then like, he came in again an hour later and wanted me to look up a movie only he couldn't remember what it was. And as well as the way he talked, the rapid, rapid blinking is what clued me on to the drug use.

Also, New Karaoke Supernova

God, I love the interweb:

Beedogs.com: a website dedicated soley to pictures of dogs in bee costumes.

Phoemeister: I'm thinking of posting about a band called Crazy Frog and how lame they are, but I'm not sure if I should put it on my music blog or my regular blog, because I already ridiculed Lenny Kravitz on my music blog, and I don't want it to just be a receptacle for mocking people, that's for my regular blog. But you'd think music would go on my music blog. What do you think?
Sui: hmm tough call
Sui: depends how in-depth the mocking is
Phoemeister: Not too in depth. Basically, "how lame are you if your big song is a remix of the beverly hills cop theme song," "your album's called Crazy Hits, but your first (and hopefully only) hit is a remix of the beverly hills cop theme song, thus, by definition, it is not full of crazy hits" and "you're so lame that everyone where I work made fun of you even before we knew your big song was a remix of the beverly hills cop theme song."
Phoemeister: oh, and also, "your band's name is Crazy Frog."

I decided to put it up at both places :P

Wow. I mentioned people I secretly judge, earlier? Then spent some time on AIM making fun of them? Well, I guess that signaled the universe to send me a wellspring of freaks today, including:

a million year old woman who wanted Carmen Electra's "learn how to give lapdances" DVD
a transexual interested in some Dusty Springfield music
and a frat boy who made me giftwrap his copy of playboy

Actually, I only really judged the frat boy, old women who want to lapdance and transexuals are okay with me. I just wanted to illustrate how weird the night was.

Also: I really have to stop being such a phony and starting conversations about things I know a little about but not enough to convince someone I love whatever it is, because people always catch me out on it. Today some guy was getting a Manga called "Battle Royale" and I recognized the title and asked him if it was based on the movie. And he said it was and we had a little conversation and I had to cop to the fact that I've never seen it. All I could really say is, "Oh, err, I had a friend who says its lord of the flys meets exploding collars." Good times.

In other news, (though I mentioned I was going to do this originally on my music blog, not here), I DID bring in the Semisonic CD with "Closing Time," to listen to during closing time. And it DID play. So I got that out of my system. Weirdly, no one knew who Semisonic were when I brought it in. Admittedly, the two people who said that were older, but still. "Closing Time," was huge, man, HUGE. Poor Semisonic. No one remembers one hit wonders.

Also, today I saw a copy of a Dummies book on the Chronicles of Narnia. It made me cry.

Phoemeister: btw: I posted on my blog all the things at the store I've faked liking when people bought it, and all the things I've genuinely liked when I banter with customers, and all the times I secretly judge customers when they buy something creepy
Sui: haha
Sui: "how to bang your wife's sister when she used to be a man" For dummies!
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO
Sui: You should totally be like "yeah this month's playboy is AWESOME"
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO
Phoemeister: I'd like to do that in the loudest possible voice, as well
Phoemeister: I mean, why the hell do people even buy playboys? You can get free porn on the internet in the privacy of your own home without having me secretly judge you.
Phoemeister: I'd think that's a way better deal
Sui: "I Totally got off like 12 times in the back room with that issue"
Phoemeister: LOL
Sui: I bet they would sell like hotcakes
Sui: if you gave a seal of approval like that

In my time at the store, I've done the following things:

Faked enthusiasm/a love for someone's purchase of:

Sudoku (many times)
You: the Owner's Manual (many times)
Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know (many times)
Japanese films
Silent films
Japanese Silent Films (I guess my film studies minor is paying off for being able to discuss obscure movies with people)
The Snowman
Pern (multiple times)
Cookbooks
Nuns Having Fun calendar
Pig calendar
Eldest (many times)
Eredragon (many times)
Harry Potter (many times)
Lemony Snicket (multiple times)
Microsoft Access for Dummies
Foreign Language tools (many times)
Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
The Kingston Trio
Joni Mitchell
He's Just Not Into You
Boris Vallejo (*shudders*)
The Ramones
Guns, Germs, & Steel
Dune


Actually Been Enthusiastic About Someone's Purchase of:

Kurt Vonnegut
Ben Folds
Time Traveler's Daughter
Kevin Smith movies
Death Cab for Cutie
System of a Down
Audioslave
Foo Fighters
Lifehouse
Roald Dahl (multiple times)
Orson Scott Card
Napoleon Dynamite
CCR
The Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Chronicles of Narnia
Arthur C. Clarke

Pretended not to be Judging Someone for Their Purchase (while secretly judging them inside) of:

porno mags
Boris Vallejo

So now you know what your cashier is probably really thinking the next time they banter with you about your purchases. Except, if you're buying something awesome. Then they're genuine about it.

But actually, I really do like my job. Of all the jobs I've ever had, this is the one I complain least about on a day to day basis. And also, I value interaction with people, even when I AM being a complete phony. So there's that.

Man. I really have to watch what slips out of my mouth, I keep almost making jokes at work that probably I shouldn't be. Or actually making jokes that are borderline. For example, people are always paying with gift cards and then having a little left over to pay, and today I was like:

Me: okay, the card covers 20, so you owe us 10 cents
Customer: I have it! *hands me a dime*
Me: Good, I'd hate to have to break someone's fingers over a dime.
Customer: Have you had to do that before?
Me: No. *pause* I'm new here.

The customer actually thought it was funny, but thinking back on it, that's probably not the humor most customers are looking for with their Barry Manilow CD and copy of You: The Owner's Manual.

In other news: I had to do register the whole day. That gets old after awhile. And then I start having brain farts where I don't give people their change, and that's never good.

New Karaoke Supernova

Cool site: http://selltheranch.com

In other news: I should really not be allowed to select my own clothes. Those pants I got yesterday? They go with nothing. I have a lot of brightly colored shirts, but the new pants (and a portion of my old pants) are colored. Adding the two together is like asking for face paint an an instructional course on balloon animals, man.

Actually, though, I do know how to make some balloon animals. My mom was way into that in the 90's, she bought a ton of books on it and those little skinny balloons, and a little of the wisdom rubbed off on me. Man. I love quirky things like that. Don't you? Isn't it nice, after all the complaining I do on the blog about her to read something so whimsical about her as that she knows her balloon animals? Sometimes, I hold in one hand all the psychological damage she's heaped on me over the years, and in the other hand the fact that she knows balloon animals, plays the accordian, and has an irrational love of sno cone machines in the other hand, and they almost cancel each other out, and I can kind of like her again.

Anyway, I typed this all out earlier and it was way better but I was trying to take online quizzes and they crashed everything.

Here's some convers:

Phoemeister: I'm horrible with birthdays, though
Phoemeister: if we still are talking 20 years from now
Phoemeister: I'm going to be like, "When's your birthday?" the 8,000th time
Suim: haha
Phoemeister: and you're going to beat me to death with your cane
Sui: i'll run you down with my walker
Sui: and then forget where I was going
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: I'll just be lying on the floor going, "I can't get up."
Sui: "who are you?!"
Phoemeister: "why aren't I wearing any pants?"
Sui: "why would you want to be carrying ants?!"


Phoemeister: Anyway, I love that song [Pretty Fly for a White Guy]
Phoemeister: no matter what you say
Phoemeister: and if you keep it up, I'm gonna start badmouthing Our Lady Peace
NYC: you can badmouth all you want, like i'm going to take offense to something a fan of "pretty fly...." has to say
Phoemeister: Ouch
Phoemeister: that hurt, man.
NYC: i try
NYC: my smack talk is getting better
Phoemeister: Yeah. Now I'm going to go and cry and listen to Our Lady Peace
Phoemeister: wait, that's you!
NYC: since i am anything but fly for a white guy, i need to work on the smack extra hard
Phoemeister: Yeah, I'm bad at the smack too
Phoemeister: as you no doubt can already tell
NYC: of course
Phoemeister: We should both just dis No Doubt
NYC: more specifically, gwen stefani
Phoemeister: Yeah. Actually I have no quarrel with ND
Phoemeister: but Gwen's solo shit is driving me B-A-N-A-N-A-S
NYC: if you ever spell out bananas again, i will hurt you
Phoemeister: Okay.
NYC: for real
Phoemeister: No, I get it
Phoemeister: I would deserve it too
NYC: damn straight

Phoemeister: I can't believe it though
Phoemeister: I'm totally your bitch
Phoemeister: I'm like, "Okay, I'll get on when it's convenient for you. And let you ignore me when I come on when it's convenient for me" :P
Phoemeister: I miss talking to you, though
Sui: yay my order shipped
Sui: aww, i'm sorry : Phoemeister: an actual order, or were you saying that me as your bitch is your order? :P
Sui: haha an actual order
Phoemeister: ah. Well I thought it was a hilarious joke when you said it
Phoemeister: and then I was like... wait, maybe he had an actual order
Sui: haha
Sui: *does a Mr. Burns 'excellent'*
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: psh, you don't get credit for it
Phoemeister: you copped to it being a real order

New KS. After making like fifty posts on it after saying I'd probably post less now that I have a job, I feel stupid. But I had been going on a musically inspirational dry spell for awhile. And actually do have little to no time to listen to music as it is. The two new albums I got awhile ago, I listen to whenever I can, but still they sound bland to me. Though, maybe they are just bland albums. Who knows.

Anyway, my parents keep dragging me places to do stuff when I get time off. My dad made him help cut this plastic thing that's needed for my sister's house. I wanted to be like, "go to hell, if she wants it so bad, she should do it!" but I didn't have the heart. And actually, it didn't take up that much of my time. Actually what did is we went to lunch at the Shoppes I mentioned previously, at this restaurant that just opened that they were very excited about it opening. Then we went to menards to get some floorwash (also for my sister) and pants (for me, though I have a thousand pairs of pants. For some reason, it just makes my mom feel better to buy me pants. This is why I have more pants than any 80 people could ever wear and no place to put any of them, not vanity or a freakish love of pants on my part. I swear!). Then my dad and I saw Transporter II. And I wanted to finish my book. And then Ocean's 11 was on TV. So that's why I have no time to listen to music. I can only hope I get more chances soon.

Oh, and being distracted by movies made me think of one other thing I wanted to say the other day. Yesterday, I didn't listen to music because I was reading, and then my dad and I watched a few of the DVD's we have at home. I was actually floored when he picked About a Boy, because he's all about re watching all of our action movies, but I was listing out what we have and he was like, "I don't think I've ever watched that, let's watch it." Anyway, I was thinking about how much I love About a Boy. Cinematically, maybe it's no big deal, I learned a lot in Film Studies that basically propose you can't analyze movies like you do literature, plot and character and stuff are only secondary to stuff like camera angle, camera movement, editting etc. But if you did analyze it like literature, and/or analyze the book it's based on like literature, I would give it an A+. It has a lot of good themes, I used to identify with it a ton because Will's this guy who has no job and no close loved ones who fills his time up with useless things like... well, too many movies and music. I still identify with it, as the only thing that's changed so far is I have a job. And Will IS such a loveable character, despite if you met someone like that in real life (he's a huge liar, and a womanizer, and too lazy to get a job) you would probably think they were a bastard. But it's so well written that you kind of feel for him and why he does the things he does. And I have my various thoughts on all the other characters and the situation and themes etc. And it's funny! Even my dad, who certainly doesn't spend his time trying to analyze things to death like I do, enjoyed it, I'd hear him snicker at a joke once in awhile. Which was also refreshing, when you've seen a movie a thousand times before, sometimes you forget how funny the funny bits were to you the first time you saw it, until you see it again with someone new to it.

ANYWAY, I didn't mean to go off on a side rant about About a Boy there, it's just one of those movies (like Pleasantville) that I feel the need to get up on my soapbox and pitch to people if the subject comes up. But after that he let me pick the next one, and I felt like another comedy after that, so we watched My Fellow Americans, which if you havent' seen it, is one of the most hilarious movies ever, you should. Anyway, I got to thinking that there were underlying themes there that I'd never noticed, like how it's a funnier, more ridiculous Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in its foul-languaged, Macarena-in-the-background way.

And that day, I'd also came off the high of reading that Nick Hornby book, and had been thinking about books I like all day.

And anyway, the point I'm coming to after all this is basically: you know, I complain a lot about society, and how they only like crappy music and movies, but there are SO many good movies, and so much good music, and so many good books out there. I really feel lucky that there are as many smart, meaningful, witty, solemn, whimsical, hilarious, sad, enjoyable, loveable, profound things out there in the world, and that there are even more somewhere out there waiting for me to discover them.

That's all.

Damn you, Nick Hornby!

I read the book of his I got, Polysyllabic Spree (if I spelt that right). And though I loved it, it vexes me for two reasons:

1) Now I want to read all the books he mentioned. Which is kind of why I picked it, to see if there was anything good in the world of non-fantasy/sci-fi fiction I might like but am currently ignorant of. BUT, I don't know if I can trust his opinion. The man's favorite author is Dickens. Dickens! And as I've mentioned before I loathe everything that Dickens ever wrote except for A Christmas Carol. Nick Hornby can sell Dickens to me until he's blue in the face, but I will never give Great Expectations another shot, let alone give David Copperfield, which is nearly twice as long, a first shot. It's just that simple. I still might give some of his mentions a try, though. One of them had actually been recommended to me before by someone else, and some of the quoted portions of others sound too good to resist.

2) Now I want to make a book blog! I should've realized this from before I cracked open the book, because a terrific book of essays on music he wrote pretty much inspired me to revive Alternatune/Karaoke Supernova. But I know no one wants to read my blatherings on books. I'm not clever about it like Hornby. It'd just be a collection of my tastes, which are probably unique to me and no good to anyone else. Hell, that's already what Karaoke Supernova is. I'm under no illusions that anyone reads that one other as a favor to me. Half my content would be gone if I took out the incoherant babblings about Ben Folds. But... I like doing KS. And I think I'd like doing a book one. Also, it might be nice to have a reserve of books I like and why I like them written down for Staff Picks/Morning Reccomends fodder for work. I'll have to muse on this. But damn. I really shouldn't. Because you KNOW then after that I'm going to start a movie one that would be yet another waste of cyberspace as well.

The Jacob Slichter/Semisonic one's going fairly well, though I'm sad for him because right where I'm at is when Closing Time is big and I know it can only go downhill. But I have to remind myself that obviously he writes now, so he's probably fairly contented and not homeless or anything present day.

Oh also, I had this dream last night I meant to blog that is pretty weird and hilarious. It was one of my new coworkers lived next door. And for some reason he was foriegn and had a glass eye. Seriously man, a glass eye. The sad bit is this isn't even the first dream I've had in the last year that involved a glass eye. Oh, and it was like this really horrible glass eye, like whoever made it wasn't even trying to make it look like a real eye, more like a white ping pong ball with a big black dot on it in his eye socket. Anyway, I went over to his house, and his dad was all, "The house is on fire, go call 911!" but by the time I sprinted over to my house, the firemen had arrived. I was going to get out our fire extinguisher to help (don't know why I was convinced that would do anything aside of what the firemen could do), but I couldn't find it. Which made me think, "Holy geez, I actually DON'T know where our fire extinguisher is." I know we have one, and my parents told me where it is. But I can't remember. I'm dead meat if we ever actually have a fire. Anyway, back to my dream--the coworker was trapped in the house, but he lived fine. He just looked like Wile E. Coyote after one of his disasters, with his hair all singed and the crappy fake eye looking all sad.

Good times.

Well today was a little tedious, basically what I did for the first four hours at work was going through CD's to make sure they all had price stickers on them. And I went through a total BUTTLOAD and only found 3 that didn't, which shows you how lame and useless the whole process is. It's for inventory, which apparently we're gearing up to do, but I don't see how much of a wrench 3 cds that don't have tags can throw into it that takes longer than going through all the merchandise in the store. Still, I guess they must think so.

Then I did all the other stuff I'm always talking about for the rest of the work day. I had my ups and my downs. But the same 2 managers who said I did good before re-iterated their compliments. And a random coworker asked if I'd worked at one of the stores before, because I seem to know what I'm doing. Then a manager and I were discussing staff picks (I picked "A Wind in the Door," which is one of the sequels to "A Wrinkle in Time" which is a book everyone knows, but not necessarily has read any of the other books) and his pick sounded really interesting, and he was telling me the author wrote some other awesome book too. Combine that with all the books reccomended in the Nick Hornby book--and I am going to have to curb my book spending. Though, actually, most of these books sound pretty mainstream so I'll probably be able to get them at the library. Rock on, library! Which, btw, the Nick Hornby book IS quite good. It's like reading the blog of someone who likes books, and happens to be way more witty than I.

After work I also had dinner and a movie with my high school friend. I had potato skins (tres delicieux! I don't even know if that's french for delicious anymore, I'm just going with it) and we saw Constant Gardner. It was good, but I don't really see what all the hoopla and oscar buzz about it is. Also, thanks to the magic of 5,000 previews, I know that Jake Gylenhaal has like 3 movies coming out at the same time soon. Rock on, Jake! Are you going to be the next Jude Law? Only actually that good instead of just horribly overrated? I hope so. And I also hope that we can put that horrible "Day After Tomorrow" business behind us as soon as possible.

Well I have a lot of ramblings, half of them should probably go on KS, but I'm too tired to separate stuff. So without further ado, this is stuff that happened today:

1) Man. I knew they had the dummies/idiots books for EVERYTHING, but it made me laugh so hard when I found them in the erotica section I was straightening today. "Pleasing your man--for dummies!" "A complete idiot's guide to the art of seduction." "Amazing sex for dummies!" I can't believe dummies get all the amazing sex. And I think we should leave the art of seduction to someone other than complete idiots, but who knows. I mean, I've always hated the titles of those things. Maybe I can stomach it for the computer books that they originally started as, because computers make most people feel like dummies, but all this other crap is amazing. Like in psychology there's "bipolar disorder for dummies!" and it makes me feel bad for someone who has to buy that. Is it their fault they're bipolar? Don't they have enough problems without being called a dummy as well? So, anyway, that's my take on the dummies books for now. Oh, also, I noticed "Lewis and Clark for dummies." That just seemed SO random. There was no Abe Lincoln for dummies or the battle of 1812 for dummies, just out of nowhere, a dummies book on Lewis and Clark. Also, have you ever noticed they're all the same length book? I bet someone dictates to the authors how long they have to be. Because otherwise there's no way there's enough useful info on Lewis and Clark to make a book equal in length to a book that comprehensively fills you in on the art of seduction, I feel. So... Okay, now THAT was my complete take on dummies/complete idiots.

2) There was a guy who bought Ben Folds Live today. I am such a music snob. I don't really look down on people who like horrible music (okay, I do, but not like some people I know), but I really, really, instantly love people based on music preference. Anyway, it turns out he's hardcore about Ben, he was actually re-buying the album because a friend lost it, and he has all of Ben's albums and back when napster was big, he had the second largest collection of Ben Folds mp3's on napster, and weirdly he actually is roommates now with the guy who had the highest number at one time, and ran the biggest Ben Folds fan website. I was ready to suggest a three way, man, that's how much I loved this guy and his roommate I'd never met. I think working late is when I see more college age people with closer tastes in books and music to me, I managed some banter with a guy who bought the new Death Cab for Cutie album, too. So that was nice. I find it a lot harder in the mornings to muster up enthusiasm for all the sudoku books and copies of "you: the owner's manual" the middle aged women buy.

3) That album full of music about Illinois by Surfjan Stevens I've been thinking of, I'm definately going to have to get (though I'll probably wait and make it a christmas thing). At closing, the one guy I was working with actually had it and played it over the loudspeakers, and it was really good. I don't think I'll ever see him again, though, because apparently tonight was his last day of working there.

4) I finally took atvantage of my employee discount and shopped some over my break today. I can't remember exact titles, but I wanted to go for somewhat "smart people" reading, as I call it, because we're always having to reccomend stuff in the morning and I want to be pretentious about it. Except I'm not going hugely far up the smart scale, getting Dickens or any dry nonfiction, I got one guy's memoirs and a book of essays by Nick Hornby.

On the Nick Hornby book, I really love his stuff and am always meaning to get more of it, but find myself rebelling because most of his stuff is the big expensive paperbacks. But I thought I could take the plunge, since I'm all employee discounting it up nowadays. And on the essay front: essays are horrible when the wrong person writes them. But I find I can enjoy an essay on almost any subject as long as the right person writes them, and Hornby is a right person, I really liked Songbook, another collection of essays he wrote, on music (the one I got tonight was essays on books he likes, which is also good because if I think something he mentions sounds good, I could end up getting that too somewhere along the line.) The other one, I can't remember the author's name, just that he was the drummer from the band Semisonic. Yeah. "Closing Time," Semisonic. And it's basically how the music industry shitted on him, but I'm told he writes it in an amusing and engaging manner, and my interest was piqued, once having been a Semisonic devotee.

I actually got a few comments from coworkers on that one. My one manager, who is actually a pretty cool lady she's been in the peace corps and stuff, and you can really tell she loves what she's doing at the store, she's just so happy and enthusiastic and it rubs off on me--asked me what I bought and when I mentioned why I picked up the Semisonic guy's book, she was like, "You really like music, don't you?" and I think part of that is for reccomendations one day I DID mention Nick Hornby's Songbook and occasionally I'll wax eloquent on an album I like. And I was like "yeah," and kind of happy that such an integral (I feel) part of my personality was noticed. Anyway, we got to talking about learning the piano, and I told her about my travails with my mom, and how Heartland (the community college around here) has piano lessons for pretty cheap, so I might try that sometime (though right now I'm all tired from the job, so maybe I'll wait until I'm used to being tired all the time before adding more to my plate). The other comment I got is from another manager who transfered recently to our store from the one in Champaign, which is a town near here, and apparently she'd actually met Semisonic guy, he was actually from around there and did a signing. So good times.

I think that's all I felt I had to spew my words out about. Though I'm sure I'm forgetting something and think of it in the middle of the night and be all, "doh, I should've blogged that, but I got too bogged down in erotica for dummies and forgot."

How do ALL of my conversations somehow end up about Star Trek? I admit, this is hugely long, and I tried to edit out a little of the fluff, but I would like to show you how any conversation can be forcibly warped into a discussion about Star Trek (at least this is one of the ones that doesn't involve scary speculation on Wesely Crusher's sex life):

Adrienne: In Orgazmo they had a naked mariachi band. That could be the gimmick for Peniz.
Adrienne: Trey Parker wrote it. It's basically about a Jehovah's Witness who ends up in a superhero porn that becomes a surprise mainstream box-office hit.
Phoemeister: I'm up for anything with a Jehovah's Witness
Adrienne: I had the shock of my life a year or so ago when two of them came up to my door and I realized that the guy had been a grade ahead of me in high school.
Phoemeister: eerie
Phoemeister: I guess I'm lucky I live in the middle of nowhere, I don't think I've ever had to deal with one
Adrienne: Also it looked like he was being tested because it was him and a young woman and there were two older men on the sidewalk watching.
Phoemeister: there were these creepy regular christians, though, at ISU who would stand in places you had to pass to get to class and force people to take tiny bibles from them.
Adrienne: My friends got me out of it. One of them came downstairs, kissed me on the cheek, and said dinner was getting cold.
Phoemeister: Wow. I bet they beat him because he couldn't convert you
Phoemeister: You should feel bad for that
Adrienne: Female friend, did I mention?
Phoemeister: lol
Adrienne: Hell no, I don't feel bad for it. It's his own damn fault he got in with those weird no-caffeine no-alcohol walk-all-the-time peoples.
Adrienne: I took some of their literature though. It was really scary.
Phoemeister: I bet. Even Morman literature freaks me out, and they're slightly less freaky than Jehovah's Witnesses.
Adrienne: There was an article about a boy who broke away from the church and had what sounded to me like a normal college experience (dyed his hair blue, played the guitar in a band, went out to bars) but then realized the "error of his ways" and returned.
Adrienne: It actually used the phrase "error of his ways".
Phoemeister: lol
Phoemeister: that's the best
Adrienne: Mormons are not as scary as JWs.
Phoemeister: It all depends on the intensity, for mormons. I've known mormons that are pretty much the same as regular people, and then I've known ones that go on at great length about baptizing corpses after people die because the person refused to get baptized when they were alive :P
Adrienne: ...that's creepy.
Adrienne\: Ooh, that gives me the jibblies.
Phoemeister: yeah. I swear, I had a friend who started going into that stuff at a friend's sleepover for her 16th birthday. Everyone but her and me was like, a regular christian, and I was the only not really anything. And she just got into this whole thing about mormans and how there's levels of heaven, so that technically if hitler repented he could be on the lowest level of heaven, and regular christians would be like in a medium level of heaven, but only mormons got to get into the kickass level of heaven.
Phoemeister: And the corpse baptized people wouldn't get to go to kickass heaven because they weren't good mormons when they were alive, but because a mormon went and got them baptized, at least they wouldn't go to hell :P
Phoemeister: anyways, we were all horrified
Adrienne: I've actually heard that theory. Bunch of hooey, of course, but if it makes them happy...
Adrienne: I think they're all coming back as bees.
Phoemeister: And like, not that long after that she stopped hanging out with us because she spent all her time at a mormon church. But I've known regular people mormons too
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: that would be funny
Phoemeister: bees also try to come to your house uninvited
Adrienne: Exactly.
Adrienne: Not to mention that hive-mind thing that some sects of Christianity seem to have going on.
Phoemeister: oooh
Phoemeister: so that was a very good comparison
Phoemeister: go you
Adrienne: Is it sad that I've thought about that a lot?
Phoemeister: nah
Phoemeister: people MAKE you think about it a lot
Adrienne: That's true.
Phoemeister: if they weren't always hive minding you and trying to give you tiny bibles, you wouldn't think about it that much
Adrienne: I was just thinking about the endless crap that so many of them spew without thinking about it and that made me think of the Borg and hive minds and bees.
Phoemeister: yeah, I have to say, when you said hive mind I instantly went to Borg
Phoemeister: that's just how I roll
Adrienne: What can I say? The Borg are a fantastic idea. Just the number of metaphors that they represent...I don't even like to get into it, because I don't know where to start.
Phoemeister: I bet Jehovah's witnesses hate star trek
Phoemeister: because 1) they hate everything
Phoemeister: but 2) it's this world where most of the time everyone's happy and getting along and yet there's no religion to tell them what to do
Phoemeister: yeah. They are good for that
Adrienne: That's true. At least in Star Wars there's the Force.
Adrienne: I never really thought about how non-religious Star Trek is, actually.
Phoemeister: I bet they think the force is blasphemy, though
Adrienne: They think coffee is blasphemy.
Phoemeister: Well, I hadn't either until we were talking about it. But it really is like "best case scenario" for how our world could turn out like in a lot of ways, i think.
Adrienne: That's true. There are, like, no problems on Earth.
Phoemeister: I mean, ST was launched in the 60's and there's a russian and a black woman and a chinese guy. It's like the most harmonious society.
Adrienne: That's true. Although the aliens were underrepresented.
Phoemeister: yeah. And not really differentiated from normal people very much. I love the DS9 episode where they splice in footage from the original tribble episode, and all the klingons are basically these vaguely arabic looking men, and they look at Worf and are like, "What happened?" and he's like, "We don't like to talk about it."
Adrienne: AAAA, that's like my FAV episode of DS9!
Phoemeister: me too!
Adrienne: :oD
Phoemeister: I like all the lines from it too. "Do they still sing of the great tribble hunts?"
Phoemeister: "Maybe I was meant to be my own grandfather!"
Adrienne: Who was that again?
Phoemeister: the last one? Bashir
Phoemeister: he was all hot for some woman
Phoemeister: and trying to justify hooking up with her to someone
Adrienne: Ahh, that's right.
Phoemeister: Have you ever seen the futurama where it turns out that Fry really IS his own grandfather?
Phoemeister: good stuff :P
Adrienne: "What Klingons?" "Those Klingons over there." "...those are Klingons?" "Okay, I think you've had enough."
Adrienne: Yeah, that was a great episode.
Phoemeister: I actually have a tribble
Phoemeister: not that long after that episode they sold a whole bunch of them in bookstores with this little pamphlet on tribbles
Phoemeister: My tribble has a thing in it so that if you squeeze it it makes a tribble sound
Adrienne: Sweetness!
Phoemeister: I know! and the little pamphlet is cool too, it has all known info on tribbles
Adrienne: I love those kinds of things. Non-Trekkies think we're freaks.
Phoemeister: I do too. I'm not the type to like, learn klingon or anything, but it is fun to know little things like that

Yeah. Screw them, though. We're having more fun.
Adrienne: Exactly. I have a Klingon dictionary, but I don't speak it. It's just for reference.
Phoemeister: lol
Phoemeister: that's great

New KS

Well today I mostly did cash register. That's okay a little at a time, but it can get old if you're doing it all day. I did get a thing to do while I was doing it, though, which made it less boring when there weren't any customers, only it was kind of pain in the ass-y, looking up these numbers and then writing them on a sticker on these little tiny things they sell in the stationary part of the store. But hey, something is something.

For the time I didn't do cash register I got to unpack the new calendars we've been getting and then I helped alphabetize the occult section. And let me tell you--it was messed up. Those goth kids must not know anything about the alphabet.

Ha ha, just kidding, goth kids. I love you guys.

Phoemeister: today I learned we carry softcore porn
Phoemeister: true story
Sarcasmyst: LOL
Sarcasmyst: softcore porn? Seroiusly?
Sarcasmyst: that's funny
Phoemeister: Yeah. I laughed.
Phoemeister: I had to ask a coworker where "Bikini Beach Babes III" went
Phoemeister: because our porn section is very small compared to our entire DVD selection
Sarcasmyst: lol
Sarcasmyst: wow
Sarcasmyst: what other weird subcategories are there?
Phoemeister: well, there's a theatre category, and then there's a musical category. And there's a category for classical music performances (I can only assume it's a bunch of DVD's of orchestras playing?), and there's a category for westerns, and a category for general fitness but also a category just for Yoga, and there's a sports category, and an educational category that has like 5 DVDs in it, and there's a TV category but then there's a british TV category
Sarcasmyst: ooh, british TV
Phoemeister: yeah. I would buy up that whole category if I could afford it but I can't :P
Phoemeister: TV series on DVD are mad expensive
Sarcasmyst: awww
Phoemeister: yeah
Phoemeister: Someday, though
Phoemeister: someday my pretties
Phoemeister: and by pretties I mean dvd's of british television series
Sarcasmyst: *laghs*
Phoemeister: especially if any have Hugh Laurie. Rawr!
Sarcasmyst: Yay Hugh Laurie!
Phoemeister: hooray for stubble!
Sarcasmyst: heehee
Sarcasmyst: though he doesn't have stubble in anything else
Phoemeister: d'oh
Phoemeister: I shall just have to imagine the stubble while I'm watching
Phoemeister: or petition the british government to have it digitally put in
Sarcasmyst: lol
Phoemeister: That's what the british governement is there for, right?
Sarcasmyst: *laughs* I do not know.
Phoemeister: Maybe that's what the Queen is there for
Phoemeister: what else does she have to do all day?
Sarcasmyst: true, true
Phoemeister: "Dear Queen--no, not the band. Please give Hugh Laurie stubble in all shows he's ever been in, and then give me the resulting DVD's for free because I only make 7 bucks an hour. Thanks."
Sarcasmyst: *laughs* Yay!
Sarcasmyst: Rule Britannia!
Phoemeister: damn straight
Phoemeister: I wish things worked that way
Phoemeister: I'd get a lot more done
Sarcasmyst: *laugh* Jah

Today was pretty good. This probably sounds horrible, but I almost like coming in early (my last two shifts have been 6 a.m.-3 p.m.) because then I can stock stuff and not have to worry about customers. It's not so much that I don't like dealing with them, it's just that I feel bad if I can't find what they want and/or don't make a sale. I don't work on commission or anything, but I kind of feel loyal.

My feet hurt, but since I had the day before off, it wasn't like, mad hurt. Which no doubt it will be by my next day off, Saturday. Which, then I'll have a three day weekend, they gave me the two days from next week on Sunday and Monday.

I also think I'm making tentative friends with some of my coworkers, which is always good.

I must be a glutton for feet-punishment on my day off, because today was my second one and again, I went out walking around with my family. We went to the Shoppes at College Hills, which is this mall that they recently tore down and then rebuilt as an outdoor mall. That seems kind of dumb to me, I don't see how being outside will all the sudden turn a profit (the mall was failing pretty bad before they tore it down), especially since the weather here is horribly hot in the summer and horribly cold in the winter, and rainy in spring. Who's going to want to wander around an outdoor mall then?

Anyway, it has a ton of different shops from when it was a regular mall, and this was the first chance for us all to go and see it. On the whole: I think the pretentious "shoppes" name fits, because a ton of it was these stores that I couldn't afford and even if I could I wouldn't want to waste that much money on clothes. About the only good new store was Gordman's, which I'd never heard of before we got it, but is apparently a department store. I actually got a ton of stuff there. Not only was it cheaper, but my mom was nice and paid for it on the grounds that back when my sister started working in corporate America, my mom bought her some work clothes. So actually, she's getting a deal since I don't have to dress up that much at work.

I got two pairs of pants, one is kind of dark green and velvety and the other is black with white pinstripes and this aqua sash-thing. Yeah, the description makes it sound horrible, but they're two very nice pairs of pants. Except I don't need pants, I have a buttload of ones of my own plus some my sister got too skinny for and gave me. But I really liked them, and my mom didn't mind buying them, so I guess it's okay.

I got an aqua shirt to go with the sash on the one pair of pants, two sweatery shirts with collars that fake the two shirts look, and three zip up sweaters to wear when it gets colder out over stuff instead of my beat-up hoodies which until now I'd wear everywhere over everything in the winter.

Then we went to Target which is one of the few remaining stores from the old mall. I got a couple CD's (Keane--Hopes and Fears and Aqualung--Strange and Beautiful). Honestly, Target might not have the best selection but they've always had very good prices on music. And though the store I work at has a very good selection of CD's, they are SO expensive that it comes out to the same price as Target with my employee discount. So I figured I might as well buy them at Target, though I felt a little disloyal.

After that, I had another migraine again and laid around listening to my new CD's. Until now. So there you go.

Also: new karaoke supernova.

Also: I finally moved Alternatune/Karaoke Supernova to http://karaokenova.blogspot.com so update your bookmarks.

Psh. Like you people had it bookmarked.

And actually, I don't know how often I'm going to be posting anymore. Now that I have the full time job, it's just so time consuming that I dont' have the time to muse and/or listen to music as much, which would affect the volume of my musings dramatically, I would expect.

Regarding the orthopedic shoes:

Meh. I had thought they were working this morning cause I was less sore, but then as the afternoon wore on it got really bad again, so I'm thinking the betterness this morning was probably just from having a day off yesterday.

Regarding the colitis:

Of course, after saying it was good, it WOULD turn out to be horribly bad today. Well... okay, moderately bad.

I made small talk today with a really cute guy customer. I hope he comes back again. Rawr!

Okay, I originally wrote this post yesterday, but I got d/ced and then couldn't reconnect, so here it is:

Oi. It's been so long since I've had a full-time job I forgot how tiring it was. And hell, even back then it was Capacity, which I've mentioned before, I didn't do anything all day there. Though it actually did get tiring anyway, the boringness kind of tapped my mental energy.

Anyway, today was my first day off. It was my mom's birthday, and she's been dying to take the 'phew to the zoo, so we did that. It kind of sucked, in the middle of the day none of the animals do anything. Plus, I had a really awful headache, and my feet are so tired from work now that even just walking around the zoo for an hour makes them hurt.

Speaking of which, we also went to get me some orthopedic shoes. Technically they're called something else, and they don't look it, but they're meant to be orthopedic. But honestly, I wore them to the zoo and it didn't really help all that much. They might just be regular shoes that the store just wants you to think are orthopedic or something. And they also suck because I think they might pinch my toes a bit and rub my heels and they don't breathe so my feet are all hot and sweaty and uncomfortable in them. I fucking hate my feet. There are very few shoes that won't rub my heels raw. And of them, very few don't pinch my toes. I have wide feet and high arches, so I have to wear shoes way too big for me, and that's why they rub my heels, I think. And on top of that, I obviously have feet that are extra sensitive to standing around all day. If there is a god, though, these orthopedic shoes WILL fit me and WILL do orthopedic magic and the worst I'll have to deal with is the hot sweaty grossness. Because I really am in bad pain lately, and I don't want to have it getting even worse and worse. Like I said, I could barely handle the zoo today and that wasn't that much standing, really.

Also, all the bright sun outside gave me a migraine, like I mentioned, so after we got home I had to lie down in the dark. I still felt horrible by the time dinner rolled around, so I didn't go out to the birthday dinner. It annoys me that I spent my time going to the boring, hurtful part of the birthday celebration, but it made me feel too crappy to enjoy the actual good part.

So then, my entire day off was over and I have to go to work tomorrow at 6 a.m. Serioiusly, people with full time jobs, how do you do it? I feel like I have no me time whatsoever anymore. And I'm tired as hell in the time I do get off. And I've only been at it for a week.

Weirdly, having a job makes me cheap. When I had not a ton of money, but what I got was from my parents, I would spend it at a moderate rate. But now that I have a job, I'm absolutely tightfisted. Everything I look at the price tag on, I mentally calculate how long it would take me to earn it, and I'm like, "Yeah, that's not worth it." Also, I kind of want to eventually make it on my own, and I don't know how much I'll have to save to do that. I also feel bad, I was really excited when I found out I was making 7 bucks an hour, because that's a full dollar over our minimum wage, and it was the first time I'd ever made above minimum wage. But I was talking to a friend in connecticut, and the minimum wage there is already over 7, and they're thinking of kicking it up even more. I dunno. He pointed out cost of living is probably different, but it still has me bummed.

I was also thinking of (once I get it) blowing my entire first paycheck on something big just to celebrate, but I can't really think of anything moderately expensive that I want very badly.

The high point of things lately: I don't know if actually getting up and being active is it, or that I was just miserable from having nothing to do every day, but the colitis has been VERY good and well behaved since I got the job. Which is SO yay!

Phoemeister: but anyway, that brings me to: what's your favorite sports movie?
NYC: there are so many
NYC: major league would have to be near the top
NYC: with field of dreams
NYC: jerry maguire
NYC: some consider finding forrester a kind of sports movie
Phoemeister: ha, my brother in law and I were talking about major league yesterday
Phoemeister: FF is good, but I don't know if I'd call it sports
Phoemeister: I've never seen it, and he was telling me how funny it was. I think we got onto it because we were talking about caddy shack
NYC: major league is fantastic
Phoemeister: because the Kenny Loggins song from the beginning of caddy shack came in over the piped in music at bennigans while we were eating there
NYC: that's funny
Phoemeister: yeah. The best part was he started doing the same dance as the gopher. And we were eating with my sister and my parents, and I was the only one who got what he was doing, they were all, "what the hell?"
NYC: haha
NYC: and i wonder why they thought that

Oh, also: I'm beginning to get my self esteem back after being turned down so many times for jobs. I swear, a ton of people come in wanting to apply to work at the store every day, I almost help out more of those people than customers! And they hired me!

Also, SINCE I got the job, 3 different places I've previously applied for just out of nowhere called me up and wanted an interview, maybe they were just slow? Who knows.

So... I'm still a little overwhelmed, but doing alright. The trainer lady thinks I'm doing pretty well so far, and said so. And I ordered some obscure CD in for a guy, and he told me I rock. It's nice to be told I rock.

I feel bad in that I'm a seller, but I'm not very good at selling people stuff. I can't really reccomend much because what I mostly know is fiction, and people mostly need help when they're looking for nonfiction, and are mostly browsing and all, "leave me alone!" when they're in fiction. And even then, I have a fairly limited knowledge when it comes to non-genre titles.

OH, and music--everyone buys obscure jazz cd's. I know a lot of crap about music, even music I don't personally listen to.... except for stupid obscure jazz! Damn you, obscure jazz!

My feet are insanely sore still. I guess I need to find me some fancy orthopedic shoes or something. I think maybe even aside from my shoe choice, I'm more predisposed to sore feet/legs than most people. Because I had that problem a lot when I was in England, but no one else in my group really did. Boo.

I guess that's all I have to say today.

3rd day of work today. I had a little more training, but basically did a whole lot of stuff by myself.

It was hard. I forgot to take the plastic thing people can't open off someone's CD. I left someone on hold too long, and they hung up. This one African guy (he had an accent) is all convinced the store is racist because I couldn't find some book about how America is racist for him. And a ton of other times I dropped the ball and/or had to find someone to help me.

But... I did have some things go fairly well, so... And they kept telling me I was doing alright, except for maybe the incident where I forgot the plastic thing off the CD. "Hire for attitude, train for skill." So... yeah. Here's hoping.

Legs still sore. And I have to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do over my lunch hour. I'm like, legally obligated to take off the entire hour. But I bolt my food down in two minutes. So what I've been doing is (I've been bringing my lunch) eating my lunch in my car in a parking lot somewhere and then sitting around there afterwards like a serial killer. But I don't want to get up and hang around any of the other stores nearby because my legs are so tired and they need all the rest they can get.

But my other options....

1) Break room. I would hate to sit around afterwards. I get twitchy when I'm sitting around with nothing to do, and if anyone's around, I don't want them seeing me be all twitchy, and also from what I can see, not a lot of people ARE around, so if I got over that, I'd still have nothing to do.

2) Cafe. The store has a section that's a little coffee shop/cafe. And I do get an employee discount. But I would still think it's a bit expensive for me. I mean, I only make 7 bucks an hour, I don't want like, an hour each day dedicated just to make back the money I spend on lunch there. And again I'd still have to sit around afterwards. And both of these options, I can't bring in a book or a cd to entertain myself in the remaining time because there's this whole process that I can see why they do it, but is a huge pain where if you bring in anything the store sells (magazine, book, cd) you have to get it registered so that they know when you take it back home you're not stealing anything.

3) Going somewhere else to eat. There are a couple of fast-ish restaurants in the immediate area, but no fast food. So I'd be worried that somehow I'd go over time. Also, they'd be even more expensive than the cafe at the store.

I dunno. I think I'll probably break down and bring in a book or something and/or go to the cafe eventually. But right now I don't have any books I want to read. And I have this bag of fish crackers I got awhile ago that I'm using for my lunches (I know, I have a horrible nutritional intake) that I want to use up.