Turtleena

Well gang, the new job is going swell so far. Not used to sitting so much, but at least I'm kept fairly busy. I don't deal with very many people, which has been an awesome change for me--and has been keeping me from feeling venomous when around people in general. The only bummer is the commute...though after tonight's near hit a mile from my house I'm starting to think the highway might be safer. I thought for sure my new escape and I were going to be plowed into head-on by a big yellow truck that was paying attention to where they were driving...

In other news, band has started up and we have our first gig on Thurs. The pool will be opening soon, too. With all the changes, it's going to be one very busy summer.

Well, it's finally happened ...after 5 wretched years of waiting and several attempts at leaving my current place of employment, I'm finally landing a new job! Finally, the weekends will be all mine again! After this coming week, no more 3 am wake up on Sundays, no more register, or so many other things that make my current job miserable. I do feel sorry for whatever poor soul takes over because of the lack of training they will have, and my helper is also moving onto a new job as well. The new job will be quite a welcome change. The only real downer to it is that it'll be twice the travel time--an hour away from home. So I'll be working on who I'll be able to carpool with as soon as I find out where my placement is. In the meantime, I'll be doing some vehicle shopping. My '93 ranger just won't be able to withstand that kind of commuting anymore, and I want to keep it in working condition as long as possible.

Hard to believe it's May already. So many things are starting up within the next few weeks. I'll be volunteering some time at my college station on Friday nights. Band will start up in a few weeks, too.

Hi everyone. Well, I made it through a job interview today... now I can breathe and relax. Now, I just got to cross my fingers and pray everything works out over the next couple of weeks until the final pick is made.

Well, if I was in need of a lesson in humility, I got a good dose today. Work went fairly well today all things considered. Sure I wound up on register, but it didn't irritate me near as much as usual since my department's work schedule has recently been altered, and my helper is on night shift for the trucks. So, basically I have breathing room again. Picked up the mail, went out to church to tidy up and do a little cleaning. Head home and that's when the fun starts. Now for those of you who don't know my driveway is off a hill road, where it then dips down before flattening out then going into a gentle incline that's shaped like a big 'S'. Usually when I come home from work I'm coming at it from below, and having just gotten the mail down around the corner I'm pretty much at a crawl when I get onto the driveway. However, since I went out to the church, I was coming down off the hill. Not realizing just how much the driveway is iced over (to look at it from a distance you would think it's just snow), I come down onto the driveway, start to slide sideways, and till all said and done I wind up down over the side of the driveway. Kick it into 4 wheel. Manage to move forward a tiny bit. Can't move back. Get out and survey the situation.

At this point I'm glad I left my boots in my truck from a week or so ago figuring they'd be better suited for the trek up the driveway. Plus by this point my sneakers are already pretty snowy. Only while walking up the driveway do I realize that actually the whole thing is nothing but a sheet of ice, and only by keeping to the edge where I can get some traction in the snow do I keep from falling. Grab a shovel out of the garage and head back down. Thought about grabbing the big tub of cinders, too, but knew there was no way to get it down there without sliding down the whole way on my backside. Several minutes later, mom comes home and sees me trying to shovel myself out. She gives me the good shovel out of the back of her van, and heads up to try and contact one of my cousins to come help me out. In the meantime, some neighbors show up to help me out. Some progress is made, but we still can't get the poor thing to move very far. Mom arrives with her bus to go on her afternoon run and drops off the tub of cinders. Said neighbors leave having done all they can. I spread cinders on the end of the driveway, while attempting not to fall on my duff. Not too long after other locals show up with chains to haul my little ranger out. Success!  I thank them and let my truck drift down a few feet to the flat of the driveway so it's easier to collect the 2 shovels and the cinder tub and put in my truck.

Now you'd think by this point I would have the knowledge of how dang slippy the driveway is in the forefront of my mind. So what happens? I get 1 foot on the ground and start putting weight on it only for that foot to go sliding, winding up flat on my back for a moment, nearly winding up under my truck. Luckily I had a good 1 handed grip on the steering wheel to slow my descent. Now, if only no one had seen that. So all is well...my arms are a bit sore, but my little truck is safely nested back in it's garage space. Now if only I could hide the evidence of my blunder that lies at the bottom of the driveway. Course that wouldn't do much good considering a few of my aunts passed by on the way to their afternoon bus runs during this whole endeavor. Which in turn means about a third of the family knows about it by now... Yep, I'm not gonna live this one down for a while...

Anyway, today I definitely thank God for good neighbors.

Ever had one of those days where from the moment the alarm went off nothing went right? Today has been one of those days for me. Seriously, this is one of those days I wish I could erase from existence...I just want to lock myself away in solitary with a giant bowl of ice cream, and not see or deal with any more people for a while. Unfortunately, the day is not over yet...