January 3, 2005
I can hardly believe it�s already another year. It doesn�t seem like that long ago I was looking at 2004 and wondering how I could make my life more interesting. It�s gotten more interesting but not in the ways I thought it would. I sure wouldn�t have expected that I would move to Longmont to live with family this year or that I would have had such a traumatic work experience. I guess it just goes to show that you can�t predict the future. You can plan but there are no guarantees that things are going to be what you plan for.
The biggest thing going on in my life is that I am going to go to Oregon next Saturday to visit my sister and get a puppy. I think a puppy will help fill some of the void in my life. If nothing else it will give me someone to talk to when I�m here in my little trailer alone and something to cuddle and take for walks. It�s now been over 11 years since Killer, my little toy poodle/cocker dog died at the age of 16 � years. The situation hasn�t been right for me to have a dog since most of the time since then I�ve lived in places where I couldn�t have a dog and anyway I had to work full time and wouldn�t have been able to give it the attention it deserved. When I agreed to move here being able to get a dog was one of the conditions. I don�t think it will be much impact on the family since she�ll be here in my trailer most of the time. Yes, I really would prefer a girl dog. I�ve been going on line and reading the Oregonian dog ads but most of them are quite pricey. I think since it costs extra to have an online ad there will be more in the actual paper when I get there. I�ll get there Saturday evening then we can go through the Sunday paper and find what we want. I can�t believe she�s buying me a puppy. She loves hers so much now she understands why I want one so much. A little mix of poodle, Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Pekinese sort of dogs would be perfect. I�d much rather have a mixed breed than a pure breed. My experience is that when there�s a mix, the best of both come out and the weaker traits aren�t as prominent. I don�t think my daughter-in-law is particularly enthusiastic about the idea but OldestSon knows how it was with Killer and me and understands completely.
The goldfish are great but they just don�t work for that emotional/physical connection. They aren�t very cuddly. Last night Junior got a rock stuck in his mouth, just like his father Chauncy did a couple years ago but this time I was able to get a tiny screw driver in there and pop it out. He was really traumatized and floated around like he was dying for a while. Chauncy was so concerned he stayed with Junior and kept nudging him and circling around his baby boy. What a trip. Anyone who thinks fish don�t have personalities hasn�t lived with big goldies. Finally Junior recovered and started swimming upright and stopped freaking me out. This morning he was tired but okay and by this afternoon he was back to his usual self, begging for food and swimming around with Captain Gorton, his best buddy.
I�ve been having the weirdest dreams lately. Last night I had one that woke me up then another along the same lines when I went back to sleep. Both were about authority figures and standing up to them. I�m not sure what it all means. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I don�t feel in as much control of my life as I would like to. A part time job or a winning lottery ticket, either of those would solve just about all my present difficulties.
New Years Eve OldestSon and I got rip roaring drunk. I was so hung over the next day I spent much of it in bed nursing myself with tea and Tylenol. OldestDaughter called and we talked for more than an hour and a half. Finally the battery on my phone ran down. In the previous nights revelry I�d neglected to put it into the charger. What a talker that girl is. She always has been. I felt ever so much better after our chat. Later in the day YoungerDaughter called from Bakersfield. It�s always more strained with her. She�s never been as big a talker as her sister and she�s still somewhat resentful that I�ve moved here with her brother. She�s always been the jealous one.
This Thursday I have another day of work with the City of Boulder. They called the agency and said I�d done a great job, blah, blah, blah� I said to the woman at the agency, �That�s how it works, you send me out and I make money for both of us�. As flaky as a lot of temps are, they should be glad to get me and keep me as busy as I need to be.
I sent my resume to the HR woman at Wells Fargo that MissM said I should send it to. The HR woman sent it to a couple other people and BCC�d MissM. She included in the email that I came very highly recommended. It would be a hoot if we ended up working for the same company again. She hired me for my last permanent corporate amerika job. I suspect the entwining of our lives may not be over. Four hours a day, Four days a week for $14 would net me about $650 a month, more than enough to finance my current minimalist lifestyle, and support a dog too. Shucks, I�d even be willing to work evenings or weekends even for the right money and hours. Too bad Ticketmaster moved their operation to somewhere in the south where labor is cheaper. That worked fairly well before as a second job when I did it to so I could have more money for YoungestDaughter before she got hooked up with that guy she�s married to now.
Sunday MrA came up and we drove to Ft. Collins to go antiquing. We ended up at a place where someone had a fairly large stash of postcards we hadn�t gone through before. We ended up with $58.96 worth of them. Needless to say, I spent a large chunk of my day today scanning them to sell on ebay. I spent some time this evening building a template for a more attractive ad. The boring one I�ve been using, black lettering on white background with a red headline isn�t very interesting. I�m thinking that if I embed the pictures in the html text then I don�t have to pay for the pictures going through the ebay photo deal. If that�s the case, that would save me some serious money since they charge for every picture after the first one. I�ll still have a gallery photo. When dealing with some thing as visual as postcards, it makes a big difference if someone. I�m not sure exactly how it will all work so I�m making one to post to try it out before I commit myself to using this template for all my new ads.
Tomorrow Squid1, the oldest child here starts preschool. He really needs to get out into the world and associate with more kids. I�m sure there will be a period of adjustment since he�s currently unaware that pitching a fit to get his way isn�t going to get him very far outside of the home environment. Getting him there by 9AM may end up being my responsibility when I�m here.
It�s now after 11PM and time for me to cuddle up in my bed nest and watch my recorded EastEnders. I�m getting much better about remembering to record what I miss. Tomorrow I go to Denver to the Library. JG is going to meet me there and we are going to chat about her autobiography project. I�ve needed a sample project for years to market myself as a personal historian and haven�t been able to trap one.
I have some other ideas of ways to market myself if a job doesn�t show up in the near future. Scheming on ebay, as usual. I could no doubt make more money working for myself than �the man� but it requires much more dedication, perseverance and self confidence than I�ve had lately. Having a puppy to spend time with could be a big motivator to make more money when I am working than working at some dumb job for more time than I really want to be away from home. It�ll all work out somehow. Perhaps I�d better be more regular about buying those lottery tickets.
I can hardly believe it�s already another year. It doesn�t seem like that long ago I was looking at 2004 and wondering how I could make my life more interesting. It�s gotten more interesting but not in the ways I thought it would. I sure wouldn�t have expected that I would move to Longmont to live with family this year or that I would have had such a traumatic work experience. I guess it just goes to show that you can�t predict the future. You can plan but there are no guarantees that things are going to be what you plan for.
The biggest thing going on in my life is that I am going to go to Oregon next Saturday to visit my sister and get a puppy. I think a puppy will help fill some of the void in my life. If nothing else it will give me someone to talk to when I�m here in my little trailer alone and something to cuddle and take for walks. It�s now been over 11 years since Killer, my little toy poodle/cocker dog died at the age of 16 � years. The situation hasn�t been right for me to have a dog since most of the time since then I�ve lived in places where I couldn�t have a dog and anyway I had to work full time and wouldn�t have been able to give it the attention it deserved. When I agreed to move here being able to get a dog was one of the conditions. I don�t think it will be much impact on the family since she�ll be here in my trailer most of the time. Yes, I really would prefer a girl dog. I�ve been going on line and reading the Oregonian dog ads but most of them are quite pricey. I think since it costs extra to have an online ad there will be more in the actual paper when I get there. I�ll get there Saturday evening then we can go through the Sunday paper and find what we want. I can�t believe she�s buying me a puppy. She loves hers so much now she understands why I want one so much. A little mix of poodle, Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Pekinese sort of dogs would be perfect. I�d much rather have a mixed breed than a pure breed. My experience is that when there�s a mix, the best of both come out and the weaker traits aren�t as prominent. I don�t think my daughter-in-law is particularly enthusiastic about the idea but OldestSon knows how it was with Killer and me and understands completely.
The goldfish are great but they just don�t work for that emotional/physical connection. They aren�t very cuddly. Last night Junior got a rock stuck in his mouth, just like his father Chauncy did a couple years ago but this time I was able to get a tiny screw driver in there and pop it out. He was really traumatized and floated around like he was dying for a while. Chauncy was so concerned he stayed with Junior and kept nudging him and circling around his baby boy. What a trip. Anyone who thinks fish don�t have personalities hasn�t lived with big goldies. Finally Junior recovered and started swimming upright and stopped freaking me out. This morning he was tired but okay and by this afternoon he was back to his usual self, begging for food and swimming around with Captain Gorton, his best buddy.
I�ve been having the weirdest dreams lately. Last night I had one that woke me up then another along the same lines when I went back to sleep. Both were about authority figures and standing up to them. I�m not sure what it all means. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I don�t feel in as much control of my life as I would like to. A part time job or a winning lottery ticket, either of those would solve just about all my present difficulties.
New Years Eve OldestSon and I got rip roaring drunk. I was so hung over the next day I spent much of it in bed nursing myself with tea and Tylenol. OldestDaughter called and we talked for more than an hour and a half. Finally the battery on my phone ran down. In the previous nights revelry I�d neglected to put it into the charger. What a talker that girl is. She always has been. I felt ever so much better after our chat. Later in the day YoungerDaughter called from Bakersfield. It�s always more strained with her. She�s never been as big a talker as her sister and she�s still somewhat resentful that I�ve moved here with her brother. She�s always been the jealous one.
This Thursday I have another day of work with the City of Boulder. They called the agency and said I�d done a great job, blah, blah, blah� I said to the woman at the agency, �That�s how it works, you send me out and I make money for both of us�. As flaky as a lot of temps are, they should be glad to get me and keep me as busy as I need to be.
I sent my resume to the HR woman at Wells Fargo that MissM said I should send it to. The HR woman sent it to a couple other people and BCC�d MissM. She included in the email that I came very highly recommended. It would be a hoot if we ended up working for the same company again. She hired me for my last permanent corporate amerika job. I suspect the entwining of our lives may not be over. Four hours a day, Four days a week for $14 would net me about $650 a month, more than enough to finance my current minimalist lifestyle, and support a dog too. Shucks, I�d even be willing to work evenings or weekends even for the right money and hours. Too bad Ticketmaster moved their operation to somewhere in the south where labor is cheaper. That worked fairly well before as a second job when I did it to so I could have more money for YoungestDaughter before she got hooked up with that guy she�s married to now.
Sunday MrA came up and we drove to Ft. Collins to go antiquing. We ended up at a place where someone had a fairly large stash of postcards we hadn�t gone through before. We ended up with $58.96 worth of them. Needless to say, I spent a large chunk of my day today scanning them to sell on ebay. I spent some time this evening building a template for a more attractive ad. The boring one I�ve been using, black lettering on white background with a red headline isn�t very interesting. I�m thinking that if I embed the pictures in the html text then I don�t have to pay for the pictures going through the ebay photo deal. If that�s the case, that would save me some serious money since they charge for every picture after the first one. I�ll still have a gallery photo. When dealing with some thing as visual as postcards, it makes a big difference if someone. I�m not sure exactly how it will all work so I�m making one to post to try it out before I commit myself to using this template for all my new ads.
Tomorrow Squid1, the oldest child here starts preschool. He really needs to get out into the world and associate with more kids. I�m sure there will be a period of adjustment since he�s currently unaware that pitching a fit to get his way isn�t going to get him very far outside of the home environment. Getting him there by 9AM may end up being my responsibility when I�m here.
It�s now after 11PM and time for me to cuddle up in my bed nest and watch my recorded EastEnders. I�m getting much better about remembering to record what I miss. Tomorrow I go to Denver to the Library. JG is going to meet me there and we are going to chat about her autobiography project. I�ve needed a sample project for years to market myself as a personal historian and haven�t been able to trap one.
I have some other ideas of ways to market myself if a job doesn�t show up in the near future. Scheming on ebay, as usual. I could no doubt make more money working for myself than �the man� but it requires much more dedication, perseverance and self confidence than I�ve had lately. Having a puppy to spend time with could be a big motivator to make more money when I am working than working at some dumb job for more time than I really want to be away from home. It�ll all work out somehow. Perhaps I�d better be more regular about buying those lottery tickets.
.
