A Safe Space for Moogles

One of Mom and Dad's old friends has come over for dinner and presumably a round of cow racing on the Wii. I'm currently hiding out in the basement trying to be forgotten about. I'm sure she's perfectly nice, but I don't fancy sitting around smiling uncomfortably while the grownups talk around me all evening. Call me crazy.

There's a job fair in Crystal City (45 minutes away) next Monday that I'm determined to go to. Well, they do say it's better to hand out your resume in person... Admittedly, the only reason I feel anywhere near comfortable going is that I've been to that city (possibly to the same hotel) for Katsucon one year. Ah, memories. ...Now I'm trying to decide whether I should go home after work and change clothes first, or just change in the bathroom in the kennel. If I go home, I'll be able to take a sink bath and make myself a sammich, but on the other hand, if I go home I'll inevitably find an excuse to dawdle. The job fair's only 'til 3, you know. ;P

The dogs were sooooo sweet today, omg. Kisses and waggy tails all over the place, and they were very polite on the leash for me. ^_^

PUPPIES

A WHOLE LAUNDRY BASKET FULL OF GERMAN SHEPHERD MIX PUPPIES

ONLY TEN DAYS OLD THEIR EYES AND EARS WEREN'T EVEN OPEN YET THEY WERE JUST NUZZLY WARM LITTLE FUZZBALLS WITH TEENY PAWS AND TAILS

ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG DO WANT

...ahem. Have I mentioned I love my job? ^_^

Anyhoo, enough of this mushy stuff. I have another set of five questions! :D These are from the lovely and talented (lj)vani_nessa.

( Answer me these questions five... )

Only a couple inches before it turned into hail/sleet/freezing rain/assorted Yuck, but all morning we got Real Fluffy Snow and it was really pretty. ...A little precarious when I was out walking the dogs, though - it's hard to keep from slipping when one of the big dogs smells something Interesting and goes *yank!* XD Anyway, I guess the roads were bad enough that the hospital closed down early. And one of the clients had given us a Bertucci's gift card, so we got to have a pizza party before we went home. Dude, I totally got paid to sit around and eat fried mozzarella. I love my job. ^_^

...And then I came home around two and went straight to bed. I kept waking up last night and I was soooo tired. *floppymoogle*

What else... let's see. Well, I tried to pay my student loan online, but couldn't because - funny story - they have my birthdate completely wrong in their database out in Colorado somewhere, and you need that to log into your account, so I called them up for Halp and the lady on the other end said "just send us a certified copy of your birth certificate and we'll fix that right up for you! :D" so I go to my mom and I say "hey, mom, the Loan People need a certified copy of my birth certificate and this is why," and Mom goes "okay, I'll take care of it." *deeeeep breath* And I asked her about it today and she's like, "oh, I forgot, and then when I remembered I didn't do it because I thought 'what do they need her birth certificate for anyway?' " and I'm like, "Mom, I'm home all the time, you could have asked me."

*pant pant*

So, I'm gonna have to send them a check tomorrow or Thursday, I guess. And get on Mom's butt a little about getting my records fixed.

On the up side, I sent in my application for the Vanna's Choice crochet contest. I just hope they appreciate the beauty of my corset and ignore the ugly dumpling wearing it.

Thanks, everyone, for your kind words yesterday. I feel a bit better now. ...Well. More able to deal with this, at least, which is not exactly the same thing.

Good things about today:
- My boss pulled me aside and told me that I was doing a good job. I managed to hold in my squee until I was alone... except for the cats, and they probably think I'm nuts now. XD So, nothing new there.
- I got Inspired for a short comic, which I've been wanting to do for a while. Details forthcoming, maybe.
- I ordered a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies. ^_^
- Leg warmers, omg. Why did they ever go out of style? They are LOVE. *toasty calves and ankles right now, yaaaay!*
- President Obama (*brief squee break*) is already getting the ball rolling on shutting down Gitmo and setting ethics standards. Jolly jumping Primus, the man does not waste time.
- This meme:

The first five people (edit: or more, if I feel like it) to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a poem, or something else written. I might sew, color, or take a specific picture. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! Also, not me!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Keep in mind that I have an LJ too, so if you're the fifth person to comment here, you still might not be the Fifth Person. ...Though you still might get a Something. On that note, once I'm done with said Something, I'll want to let you know via email, so drop your email addy here if I don't already have it. (If we don't email regularly, assume I don't. *is disorganized*)

So, as threatened, I stayed up as long as it took last night to do my mom's blanket.* I got about two hours' sleep before I had to get up and go to work, all told. But I knew that was going to happen going in, so off I go like a trooper moogle and arrive at the Dog Place promptly at eight. ...Half an hour later I gave up and went home, very confused. I hadn't seen another soul and the building was locked up tight, so unless they were playing an elaborate prank on me... Maybe I was supposed to come in in the afternoon, I thought. So I opened presents with my parents, took a nap (homg needed that so much), and returned at 2:30 for what I thought would be the afternoon shift.

At 3:00 I was just about to give up again when my boss shows up. He winds up telling me that the Christmas Day dogwalking shift starts at six. Six. You'd think someone would mention this to the new girl. *headdesk* Anyway, he assured me it wasn't my fault, and I got to walk dogs with him, which gives me my holiday pay. So, all's well that ends well. ...I'm never going to hear the end of this when I come in to work tomorrow, am I?

Other than that, my Christmas is going just fine. It's really nice and warm outside, my parents are cooking dinner upstairs, and I have books and shiny things to keep me occupied. ^_^ ...but, uh, definitely going to bed early tonight.



*I was really expecting this to be a pain in the butt, but there's something oddly restful and cozy about crocheting a big fluffy blanket for someone you care about. I sat there in front of the computer and read old RP logs and the time and the yarn just flew. ...Don't think I'll be doing it that often though. *winces and flexes fingers*

Stayed up 'til 2 AM to do it, but my last Xmas presents are shipped out. And then I got up five hours later and kicked some ass at work. So! Day 8: Nap makes me happy. Because nap owns.

....

*thud*

Day 4: Today I made a new friend - an absolutely beautiful cat named Zen. She's smaller and more finely-built than most cats, with beautiful dark brown stripes on pale tan fur. I'd let Mom borrow my camera, otherwise I would've tried to sneak a picture of her... anyway, she's a total and utter sweetheart and I was upstairs loving on her every chance I got. ^_^;;; I'll be sad when she leaves tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time to get one last cuddle in.

You know, having this job has really driven home how much more comfortable with animals I am than with people. I can rattle off the names, breeds, health issues, likes and dislikes of every animal I take care of, but I still barely remember the receptionists' names. They're all perfectly nice people and have been nothing but friendly to me, but I just... haven't connected with them, I guess. Of course, I never really figured out the secret to making human friends. Animals are less complicated. And less likely to shred your self-esteem for their own amusement, but that's neither here nor there.

In other news, I'm linking this for my own reference, because it makes me feel like writing again.

Today two of the techs carried a dead dog in a plastic bag past me on a stretcher.

*deep breaths* It's still better than retail. It's still better than retail. It's still better than retail.

*...crawls back to bed*

There's a song on Overclocked Remix's FF7 album Voices of the Lifestream that reminds me, worryingly enough, of the romantic music from Princess Bride. Which is giving me some weird-ass mental images, let me tell you. Of course, it's a nice break from the unrelenting waves of angst the FFVII crowd has been beating me with lately. Hello. My name is Cloud Strife. You killed a metric buttload of people. Prepare to die.

*ahem*

So work today was... well. First, the water heater had broken last night, so the building resembled a kicked anthill while everybody dealt with the floodwaters. Meanwhile, there were still animals to be seen to, so there was me wrestling a half-dozen FRIGGIN HUGE DOGS in and out of their runs all by my onesie (seriously, guys, there was this one dog who outweighed me by about fifty pounds and he absolutely refused to go back inside. It took me fifteen minutes just to get him through the door, no exaggeration.). And let us not even mention the massive cat in whose Cheerios somebody evidently pissed, the massive fragrant piles of poo, and ah yes, the puddles everywhere. And did I mention we had no hot water? Yeah, the water heater had asploded, so.

Suffice to say it was not one of those days where I was done by ten and could sit around reading trashy paranormal romance novels the rest of the time.

Luckily, I have the day off tomorrow, so I can catch up on my writing! :D *peeks at next kinkfest prompt* ...oh god, motorcycle porn. Iiiii... think I'll start on that tomorrow. XD

(Srsly, we've got two dogs and two cats to look after. When it gets busy, it'll be a relief.)

Okay. Virginia? Don't get me wrong, that was some very impressive flurry action on the drive home and I gotta give you props for not making the roadways all messy, but, really, snow? Now? It's not even Thanksgiving yet. ...This better mean we get a white Christmas.

Also, body? It's really not necessary to wake me up around two-thirty AM for no particular reason. I need that sleep.

Also also, I picked up FFX for cheap the other day (oh my god, another RPG, why do I do this to myself) and my only salient observation so far is that Tidus is so Cheetor it's not even funny. Other than that, I have no idea what's going on. I figure if I keep playing until something makes sense, I'll have finished the game in a couple of weeks.

I got my first Lecture at work today. What happened was, when you work on Sundays, you just do your thing and get out, rather than staying 'til noon-thirty like most days. I had thought Saturdays were like that too, so I had left before ten-thirty. And, uh, yeah. I got Called To The Office for that one. *facepalm* It's fine, I'm not really upset, just a little chagrined. And really, considering I've been fired for less, I have no room to complain. ;P

So my job is going well enough, all things considered. I even made friends with a cat who only last week wanted to kill me. (There's still that surly Himalayan who hates me, but as he hates everybody I don't take it personally.) I'm just... restless, I suppose. And a little disappointed. I have to admit I thought that all my problems would be over once I graduated, but... it's been over four months now, my student loans are coming due and I haven't even gotten a callback for a job in my field. I've been throwing my resume at every company I could find since I moved here, and not one of them has even given me a second glance. I went ten thousand dollars in debt to get my associate's, and here I am shoveling poo for nine bucks an hour. I'd be better off right now if I'd just stayed a college dropout.

...okay, I really thought typing this out would make me feel better. *groans and headdesks* Right. Shake it off, moogle. You've got Power Rangers mpreg to write.

*proudly shows off shiny 'I Voted' sticker* ^_^ There wasn't even a line when I went, so I got to go home and relax afterwards before going back in to work. And it was my first paper ballot, too! Brings back memories, that does. XD And really, I trust those more than the electronic machines,

And with that, I've done all I can. I'm not even going to watch the coverage - I'll find out tomorrow. I'm too tired to be anxious. *flops* Who knew waiting around for the vets to get done so you could mop could be so exhausting...? But on the other hand, I got to meet a beautiful husky and am apparently now the skritchie servant to at least two cats, one of which is about thirty-five pounds.* But I'm still probably going to start bringing my sketchpad in my purse again, if I have that much downtime when I work evenings.

*It's hard to tell if he's overweight or not 'cause of all the fur, but I don't think that's all of it. This cat is just - plain - huge. I think his mama was a mountain lion or something.

It wasn't too busy, actually. There was just a half-dozen cats and a spastic Yorkie named Armani, of all things. We fed, we walked, we cleaned up poo. There was also some janitorial stuff - emptying trash and all that. The other people seem nice enough, although I'm the only girl in the kennel so we'll see how that goes. XD

...Of course, I can say it's easy now, but they're going to be packed come Thanksgiving. *cowers* Ah well, it's still miles better than working at the mall. Pays better too.

And now, I go to bed early, as I am not used to having to get up at seven. *flop* -_-

JOBJOBJOBJOB.

*bounces around the room*

:D

I had another one of those dreams that might wind up turning into a comic/story of some kind. Halp. XD

( Journey into my subconscious... )

In other news, I got a glimpse of my future today. Yankee Candle salesladies, shoving merchandise in my face with the kind of desperate, brittle-cheery zeal you sometimes get among evangelists who think that if you don't convert, they're going to hell. And they were hiring, along with everyplace else in the mall, meaning that if I don't get this animal hospital job, that's probably where I'm headed. ...Excuse me while I hide under the bed. Do Not Want!

The animal hospital called me back today. I have an interview Friday afternoon.

I know it's not what I was planning, but right now I don't care. Someone is finally giving me a second look and it's about damn time. (Plus, I will gladly take cleaning up dog poo over any sort of retail, any day of the week and twice on Sundays.)

I hope I get to actually meet some of the fluffythings when I interview. ^___^

So there's this concept on customers_suck called Zorro, and it is a thing outlawed by edict of the mod. From the comm's userinfo (because why think up your own definition when there's one readily available?): aka Pwning your customers or pwning someone else’s. You are a professional- rise above the suck folks.

I completely understand why this rule is needed. No one should be proud of being a douchebag, on either side of the counter. And this is a huge, huge community dealing with some incendiary subjects, so the mod has to be strict with the rules lest the entire thing collapse into a giant pile of wank.

But... I've been thinking a lot about the concept of Zorro (in between angsting over the job thing, obv.), and I've been reading Not Always Right which often has the kinds of stories that wouldn't be allowed on c_s, and I've been thinking - maybe a Zorro's not necessarily a bad thing.

There's a line, obviously. There's no call for violence or verbal abuse or anything like that. But there's a tendency in this country (don't know about any others) to regard people in the service industries as objects: people mistreat them with no more thought than they would give to kicking a chair. This isn't helped by the fact that most companies, especially the big chains that employ lots of part-time minimum-wage folks, have a 'bend over and take it' policy as regards to these things. They don't back up their employees when they're being abused, they'll willingly lose money to keep a customer from making a scene, and they'll even fire an employee at the whim of some guy who's having a bad day. People learn that they can get anything they want by throwing a tantrum, and they can swear at and hurt the people who sell them coffee or something without consequences. Imagine being so powerless, so without value to the people you serve and the people who employ you. No wonder retail is so soul-crushing.

That's why I'm in favor of the Zorro. Or something like it, anyway. I think (hope) that a bit of snark, or even something as simple as 'Ma'am/sir, you're behaving like a five-year-old,' might go a long way toward shocking the consumers of our society into remembering that the people they are dealing with are, above all, human, and deserve a certain level of respect. It would also help the employees themselves retain their humanity, and not lose all sense of their self-worth just because they presently scan groceries for a living.

This, of course, would all depend on the employers' tolerance for such shenanigans: a tech support monkey who isn't sure that her supervisor has her back is less likely to respond to abuse with "No, my lack of a penis doesn't prevent me from knowing my way around computers. I'll give you a second to get over the shock." And, well, corporations tend to be pretty spineless entities, so figure the odds.

Still. It'd be nice. Healing the world with snark, or something.

*cue the John Lennon music*

So CareerBuilder just threw a job at me that makes my fingers twitch. It's a two-month long gig (so I won't feel guilty leaving in July) doing photo retouch, and it doesn't require a bachelor's degree. I could do this. I could do this.

Now I just have to decide whether I can juggle a job and my last, hardest quarter of school without going completely insane.

And just to add insult to injury, springkink's starting up again too. AAAAAGH.

I've misplaced my muse, so these are going to be a series of disjointed paragraphs.

So, I just applied to the volunteer program at the local animal shelter. Apparently they need people to Design Stuff too, so we'll see how that goes. ...It probably defeats the purpose of the whole thing (from my parents' POV) if I deliberately requested jobs that don't deal excessively with the Public. Ah well - you can take the hermit out of the cave, but you can't take the cave out of the hermit. Especially if the cave has Internet access.

School so far is pretty much more of the same. I've got Production I (the art of Printing Shit), Production II (package design - we played with templates and markers today, and I made a little box shaped like a Triadhouse*), and 3D modeling, which would be cool if the prof-what-I'm-not-too-fond-of would shut up and let me play. I'm told there will be more playing tomorrow. We're to make a cartoon head. I'll probably end up doing Ravage or something like that. (Speaking of which, no, self, you are not allowed to crochet a Ravage for display at Botcon. You have too much else to do and you'd be devastated** if you didn't get it done in time. Besides, you already promised Poptart you'd do a bomb.)


ALSO. Apparently "Ghost Hunters" is coming to the base to do a series on a couple of Allegedly Haunted places. My question is, isn't that something that we, as people who live here, should have been told when we moved in!? I mean, there's got to be some sort of full-disclosure clause when it comes to the restless dead. (I know they're probably harmless, but I just don't do well with ghosts. It's a weakness.)

Today my mom took me through the process of making french toast, presumably so I won't starve when I move out and can't afford Chinese. It turned out pretty good, so yay me.

In completely unrelated news, does anyone else remember David the Gnome? I used to watch this all the time as a kid, but people I described it to looked at me like I was nuts. I was starting to think I'd made it up.

Now that the non-fandom stuff's out of the way, I really need to work faster on my springkink prompts, but I've got a touch of the writer's block: namely, Rude and Tifa just refuse to get laid. *grumble*



*One of the girls got a bit huffy about the whole thing - said something about paying thousands of dollars to go to college just to play with markers and glue. "I must be lucky," I said, "to be six years old on the inside." 'Cause seriously, that was just fun. And to think I was sure I'd hate this class.

**Ha ha.