Playing Solitaire at Work

Playing solitaire at work is like the most frantic thing I do at work. Its super fast clicking with the back up plan of pulling up windows pretend like I am working everytime I hear footsteps coming up behind me. My desk, being in the front of the office, is wide open for anyone to see what I am doing, so you have got to be CAREFUL!

My tips for solitaire playing at work:

1. REMEMBER, people may be able to see your face, so you have to look like you are doing something more serious than a game of solitaire.

2. Have a window that is work related easily accesible so you can click over to that window quickly if you hear or see someone approaching.

3. NEVER get too committed to a game, because with all this fast clicking around, you may very easily exit your game or click re deal.

4. When taking a break to text, remember, minize the solitaire window, getting caught texting and playing solitaire is never going to look good.


Happy Solitaire playing!

Laziness and Loneliess (not as pathetic as it seems)

I have learned a lot about myself this past weekend. I had the house to myself as well as having to look after another person's house and I realized what levels my laziness and loneliness can reach. The problem is I hate being alone and I am completely unable to function well as a human being when I am completely alone. My laziness, already a strong force, tends to take over all control.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting on my bed, catching up on the Tudors, dreading having to drive the two minute drive to the house I am watching in order to water their plants and generally watch over the house. First of all, I was already getting into this paranoid crazy state of mind because when I had gone the other day, someone had taken in their trash barrells, so I knew that someone else was keeping on eye on their house.

So as I sat on my bed, stuffing my face with Cheerios, I started coming up with these insane ways to make it seem like I was doing a great job housesitting without having to actually go spend all my time there. I began to make plans to go in the afternoon to water, and then, on my way home from babysitting, stop off at the house to check on it, but not actually stay and come home and sleep in my own bed. I realized that I was coming up with this overly complicated plan in order to come off as responsible to some unknown person who may or may not be watching the house, and in fact, going and staying there would be simpler and actually doing my job.

Interestingly enough, even after realizing that my plan was completely crazy, I ultimately decided to just make one stop there and sleep in my own bed...laziness prevails again.

Past month

I have been home a month now and this is the first weekend that I actually have multiple things to do. I am FREAKIN OUT!

But seriously, I have found myself with a house sitting job for family friends as well as having to watch my own house and the zoo of animals that lives in it this weekend. That means feeding three cats and taking care of two dogs. This all would not be that big a deal if I wasn't having to also sleep at the family friends house beginning at about the same time. So, starting tonight I have to sleep away from home. My family will be taking off Friday morning, and I will then be in charge of my own house as well.

This seems simple enough but for some reason my social life has decided to make a brief cameo this weekend as well. I am heading out to a friends apartment somewhere in LA for her birthday which will take up Friday evening, and I am assuming most of the morning as well. That means, good luck lil doggies, you will be going to bed vurrrry early and sleeping in vurrry late. I also will already be neglecting my first paying job of house sitting on the second day of the job.

Sadly, Saturday is not going to be any simpler. I am babysitting from 6:30 until probably around 11PM, so that will be another early night for the dogs. And poor lil baby Kingsley is going to be totally neglected and starving for attention by the time the weekend is out.

BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING. Despite this being a hectic weekend I will finally be making some money which is a huge relief and probably the first productive thing I will have done in the past month.

Since being home I have mastered the art of chilling (as if I hadn't already mastered it, but somehow you always reach new levels you didn't know you could get to). Each night, I go to sleep thinking that the next day is going to be the day that I am productive, and it is amazing how you can repeat that same thought process for about a month now.

However, I have had my brief moments of productivity. I have made TWO dresses. Real dresses, that people would wear out in public. I even wore one of them out in public. Unfortunately I misjudged the crowd. It is a bright flowery dress and I found myself at some weird Goth club with girl dressed in pajamas wearing antlers dancing on stage. I still wore my dress proudly, although the attention I recieved was less than satisfactory. I did manage to find myself stuck in a lovely conversation with a guy named "Mo" telling me about how crazy girls are when they PMS, that guy really knew how to win over a lady.
The dress is still waiting for its day in the spotlight where it can truly be appreciated.

this is the one I wore out

This is what it looks like on

I have also made some jewelry. My friend, Ereeni, has been making earrings so we all decided to try and make jewerly. I pulled out all of the beads and crafty things I had piling up from my childhood and I managed to make a somewhat decent looking bracelet and barret clip.

Other than that, I spend a lot of time sitting on bed where I can pretty much do anything I would ever need to do: sleep, computer, eat. tv etc. If you look closely below you can see the breakfast drink, lunch drink and dinner drink all sitting together on my shelf.

Wine glass, mug and diet coke can

procrASStination

I am going to keep writing in this blog, I am going to keep writing in this blog, I am going to keep writing in this blog.

But seriously. I am. I have just moved home and I am finding my groove and as a result I am feeling uncreative, not witty and especially lazy. But it will happen. After I unpack all of the stuff (cat included) that I had to send back to the west coast:

Random thoughts (because I can't be bothered to tie any of what I am thinking together)

I had breakfast this morning...strange things are happening! I was also really excited to go to work because I had TWO new shows to watch, Big Brother (best ever) and Rescue Me. However, I am a stoop and Big Brother is on tonight. It was definitely a tragic moment when I realized I had already seen the episode. Now I have to wait until 8 PM tonight...I don't know if I can make it!!!

One thing that annoys me is, now not only are internet ads just overtaking your screen, but when you click for them to close, they take their sweet fucking time doing it. I want you to close right when I click the little X!!! Not in a nice calm fading out way, I am already pissed that you are blocking what I am trying to look at, bitch.

I have somehow also managed to develop a nasty addiction to Law & Order SVU. I can watch it all day long. After each episode I say its my last, but then I just click to the next one. Sometimes I will even finish the episodes when I go home. People sometimes wonder if I am getting a lot out of my free time at work, for instance learning something new etc. But rather I am rotting my brain out with a steady flow of SVU episodes to the face and I LOVE IT. Althoughhhh, I have learned some important things from SVU:
1. Being a detective might be pretty sweet, but the hours would be oh so shitty. Benson and Stabler have no personal lives!
2. Maybe being a rapist would have better hours, but unless you have tons of money, its not really going to work out too well in the end ESPECIALLY if Benson and Stabler are on your case. So then I might consider crimes of a non-sexual nature. But I would definitely have to do my research with Law & Order CI, and that shit is just boring.

An important lesson that I learned last night and I am suffering the consequences of today: don't play with knives when you are having an argument with someone, it can only end in tragedy...my tragedy fortunately or unfortunately. Fortunately for the person I was arguing with, unfortunately for my hand.

luckily it was just a baby, I know you can barely see it, but I can feel it for sure! Its there! LOOK CLOSELY

GROMIT!

I am feeling down in the dumps, its like a case of the Mondays, but in my case, a case of the mornings. SO I decided I would write a post about how AWESOME my dog is. Because he is a pretty effing sweet dog.




We got Gromit shortly after my dog Mister died, because we wanted to have another dog for our second dog Zoe, who was left sad and lonely. My dad was really attached to our old dog, Mister, and really didn't want to be a part of getting a new dog.

'sup

So my sister, mom and I headed off to the Humane Society to start to look around for another dog.


We snapped some photos to show to my dad (quickly before we were caught and scolded by the workers).


He came right up to the bars and gave us this chill look like "what up, please adopt me, this place is shit"
It was impossible to ignore his airplane hears and casual pose on the door of his kennel. We knew this dog had to be ours. When we showed my dad this picture he was immediately won over.







After a lot of deliberation, we named him Gromit. He attracts all sorts of attention because he is so odd looking. Everyone thinks he looks like a dingo or some wild African dog. We have even been sent pictures of different animals that he resembles.

This one is some sort of wild african dog that I took a picture of in the Amsterdam zoo

Although, I think he looks more like these cute lil hyenas:

oh hey

Anyways, Gromit has just turned out to be the coolest dog. He has so much personality. He loves playing soccer.

I like to think he is the perfect gentleman. In this picture I imagine I asked him to close his eyes while I change, and he gratefully obliged.

"Don't worry Julia, I'm not looking"

Here are just some more pictures of Gromit that I think are great for your viewing pleas (PLEGshh)

Groms giving his new girlfrand a little kiss

happy dog

This was on a hike, I am not sure what he was doing. I think he was very curious about the water because he kept biting it and sticking his whole face in. Its not like there were any fish...

wrestlin with the new kitten, Hermione

great picture my sister took of him

This is one is one of my favorite pictures of Gromit. My sister and her friends were taking pictures in the park and I guess they were trying to take jumping pictures. But you can see to the right that Gromit is all excited and joining in the fun and jumping with everyone else. Gromit: "Woo! Ladies! This is great!"

Rough Life Decisions

These past few weeks, and even past few months have been tumultuous to say the least. I moved to Boston four years ago to go to school with the idea that I needed a change and wanted to get away from my life from high school and start anew. I definitely did start anew, and I know that I am a completely different person from the one who first arrived in Boston.

I have now found myself as a completely different person, with a new niche in Boston and not very much of one back home since I have been away for so long. Since graduation in May, I have been faced with the decision of what to do next. Should I stay in Boston where I know the city very well, know some people, and am growing to really like? Or should I leave the people and place that I know to return home where my family is? This decision has been weighing on me pretty much since I started my senior year this fall.

As it turned out, my senior year was great. I lived off campus with all of my close friends that I had known from sophomore year. We tore it up and really made the best of our last year in college. The apartment we lived in turned out to be a place that we all lived in for the longest since moving away from home to college. We even got a cat that we all grew to love and adore. Boston really started to feel like home, and I found a lot of comfort in the neighborhood that I lived in. I recognized people in the area, I spent a lot of time in the nearby park and I had a lot of friends in very close proximity. It was clear to me after my first semester that I wanted to stick around in Boston for as long as I could.

My connection and attachment to Boston increased when I met someone in one of my classes. I was taking Anthropology Food and Culture and we had to go on trips to different parts of Boston to learn about food and culture around Boston. It was on the trip to Chinatown that I met him as we were assigned to work in a group. We got along immediately and ended up seeing each other nearly every day and have continued to see each other and be together throughout this summer. Needless to say, he was another important reason for my attachment to Boston.

Slowly throughout the summer people began to move out of Boston to go on to bigger and better things. Some moved home, some went abroad and some moved to go away to grad school. The Boston I knew was slowly crumbling in my hands. I felt confident and committed to making it my home. I told myself that I would find a job and I would move into an apartment and meet a whole new set up people and, in a way, re-integrate myself into the city.

I hit a series of road bumps, that in the bigger picture, are probably just the normal occurences of life after graduation. I found a temp job, but it was not something that challenged me mentally, distracted me, or even allowed me to have any co-workers. I was turned down for a few jobs that I got really excited about having despite not really knowing what I ultimately wanted to do professionally. My close friends began to move away, either out of the city or further away from the neighborhood. My social network in Boston was disentegrating and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay upbeat and positive about commiting to stay living in Boston. I kept wondering if I was making the right decision. It was becoming increasingly clear that my network of people I could count on and have as support was not quite as reliable as I would have hoped.

After a crazy and emotional day filled with lots of discussion with many different people, I believe I have ultimately decided to go back home. My best friend in the world is returning home for a couple of months and I know that it is important that we spend this time together since we have not had a lot of chances to live in the same place since we both went away to school. I have been too stressed out trying to decide what I want to do with myself professionally and I think I need some time to take a step back and think and do something else for a while.

I do believe this is one of the hardest or at least saddest decisions I have had to make for as long as I can remember. I am leaving behind a life that I have had for four years for an unknown amount of time. I am leaving behind people that I have grown extremely close to and it is heartbreaking to me to be leaving them to move back across the country. The thought of not having some of these people in my life or not being a part of their life (for the time being or longer) is devastating to me. The most important thing to me in the world are the people in my life.

Jaycation

I am writing this post in hopes that it is not a complete mistake and waste of time. I have just returned to work after two days off and with the intention of leaving early today for an interview for another job. I also have this little note off in the corner of my vision that indicates to me that I might actually have work to do today. Which is only unfortunate since I dedicated this shift to preparing for an interview I haven't given a single thought to, and of course writing about myself! But I am going to go ahead and rely on the fact that I never run out of time at this job and I am pretty good at getting my shit together, so why not today, right?

THE reason I have not given my interview, for a job that I would really love to have, a single thought is because I have been out of society for a while.

As you may have noticed from my previous posts, I felt as if I was beginning to lose my mind a bit at work, and I definitely was in need of a mental break (despite my job demanding no mental work from me it is surprisingly mentally exhausting). I was happily taken four hours out of Boston into the woods in Jay, Vermont. Some people who live out there, own a lot of land where they ski and snowboard in the winter and just about everything else the rest of the year. I was given no information about what and where I was going to except that it was some festival in Vermont at this place in Jay.

SIDE NOTE: I just took a massive break. As it turns out, I can't write this post with things hanging over my head. However, ANOTHER thing to say in the interview, I get ma shit done. Whew, I feel good.

ANYWAYS, we had to spread people out among a couple of cars in order to drive up the unpaved roads without bottoming out the car or something. So it was very much in the middle of no where. Once I arrived I felt like I was in a mix of a festival I went to with my family when I was young, Live Oak Festival and camping at Big Sur.















Except this place was much less structured and a lot more ragey. Unfortunately I only managed to capture about four pictures (none of which are above, they are still on the camera. The pictures above are Live Oak and Big Sur so you can TRY and imagine a ragey fusion of the two). But, from what I have pieced together, my picture taking in Jay probably went like this:

"Ah, this place is so awesome, fuck it, I have to take pictures" (start just snapping photos from exactly where I am sitting in the car without rolling down the windows or bothering to wait for something to actually photograph)
"Oh shit, my memory card is full! Guys, my memory card is full! This is weird, I haven't emptied this memory card like since before London, that's practically a year and a half. I have NEVER deleted a picture" (I then started deleting pictures from the beginning of the card, which is where I suppose I left off because the next time I opened my camera it was in the beginning of my trip to London, with a few scenery shots beforehand.)

We started drinking shortly after arriving (which might explain the shitty pictures, and when I say might, I am just being modest, it most definitely is. I also have this weird awkwardness about taking pictures. I never want to be that freak who is out photographing everything instead of enjoying it. This is especially unfortunate because I ALWAYS wish I had pictures to look at since one of my fave activities is reminiscing, and reminiscing is infinitely better with pictures).

Here is a picture I just found on my phone:


BUT back to my point, after setting up camp, we then headed to this awesome place to swim. It was on a river with a waterfall that was about 15 feet high that poured into a pool of water probably about ten feet deep at least. There were rocks and cliffs all around so you could jump into the pool from anywhere from 10 feet to 30 feet. It was an amazing place. There was also underwater tunnels in this little watering hole. Despite the freezing water I was surprised to find myself jumping in and going through the tunnels (despite being terrified and confident that I was going to drown and get stuck under the tunnel. I ended up with someone leading and someone following, ha).

That night they had, I think, about four DJs that were just blasting their music because there was no one around to be bothered by the sound. There were fires going everywhere and you could hear the music from just about everywhere on the property. It was sick, the music was sick, and I wish that everyone I know and love could have been there to enjoy it. It was a weekend that was definitely necessary to my mental health.

As I mentioned before, I had already taken two days off of work for a camping trip that was originally going to overlap this Vermont trip until I decided to go on the Vermont trip and do the camping trip after. However, Jay VT kicked my butt and I needed Monday and Tuesday as comedown days. I chilled all day Monday and got my shit back together for a real day of real life today (interviewin' AND grocery shoppin', doesn't get too much more responsible than that!)

Camping, Crying and New Job Prospects

I haven't really known what to write here in the past couple of days. I have had lots to complain about or at least stress about since I am in the process of making some serious life decisions, but I have been hesitant to air out all my dirty laundry on a blog (that so far I think I am the only one who reads). But the end result is that I am not writing in it at all, and that is defeating the purpose of even writing a blog.

I also feel like if I have a story that has no pictures, it is going to be far less interesting to read. You gotta have the picsies to keep it interesting!

Anyways, my days so far have been made up of work, tv, weed, tv, internet, tv, stressing out about anything and everything, crying, and pure contentment and a little bit of painting (speaking of which, I could post pictures of my paintings! Great idea Julia). I wrote a post about how evil my hormones are, and I think that maybe I should publish it because it would enlighten a lot of whats on my list of recent activities.

I am still at this job where all I do is answer the phone. I counted the other day...12 rings, in 8 1/2 hours! TWELVE! I kept getting confused when the phone rang because I forgot that I was at work and not just sitting at home fucking around on my computer as usual.

I am in the process of applying for a job position with a national non-profit. I am very excited about this job prospect because I would be getting to work in an office doing something that I really do give a shit about. It would also be a lot more responsibility which is something I am craving after working this job of zero responsibility. Although, I have to take time off for the interview. This would not be such a big deal if I hadn't just taken two days off for a camping trip that may or may not happen.

This camping trip has been another point of unnecessary drama in my life. I love camping. This guy and I who have been seeing each other since March have been talking about going camping this summer all summer long. We have talked and talked and talked, but never actually made any plans. As my job began to run me into the ground I decided to take some initiative and get the ball rolling on the camping plans. As it turns out, trying to get this guy to make a decision is like trying to walk a cat. At least trying to walk my cat. You simply put a leash on Kingsley and he is on the ground refusing to move. It looks a little like this:

So after a lot of PAINFUL deliberation:
boy: okay I found open campsites, we could go this weekend thursday, friday, saturday. Or we could get next week from Sunday to Tuesday
Me: Whatever, I am free either time
Boy: Well these campsites aren't going anywhere, I'll decide tomorrow, I don't even know what I am doing those weekends (because for some reason the stars must be aligned for a decision to be made.....of course, I'm so ignant)

Days later after a weekend has been chosen:
Me: So, Sunday Monday Tuesday, correct?
Boy: Oh, I forgot to tell you, I have to go away this weekend, so we might have to push it back

NEEDLESS to say, this process has been long, it has been stressful, and because of my hormonal, transitional crazy state, it has involved a lot of tears. I am really starting to convince myself that I am crazy. I feel crazy. One moment things are fine and dandy and the next I am crying over nothing. Actually nothing, I could not explain what I am crying about at any one point.

Anyways, the conclusion to this crazy, unfocused post is this: I got a second interview for this new job prospect, which is really exciting and I am going away this weekend. I am a little apprehensive about the latter, but camping is camping and it is hard for it not to be great.

SIDE NOTE:
It was suggested that my craziness was coming from reading too much Hyperbole and a Half, pshhh, I mean, I guess food for thought, but, I have always been crazy. And any crazy that comes from Allie Brosh I am willing to take because that chick is great.
Also, I will update with my painting pictures, I like to share them with the world!

A full time job of maintaining my sanity

Some days I feel like I can handle my job and other days I feel like it just defeats me. However, I emphasize the phrase "feel like I can handle my job". It does make a huge difference. My job is manageable and I can handle it, but mentally conquering a day full of nothing and no one is a job in and of itself.

My current job is as a receptionist at an old snooty law firm in downtown Boston. My one and only job duty (dooooodie) is to answer the phone. Furthermore, all I have to do from there is ask who is calling and then alert the lawyer and hang up. So I probably have approximately 30 minutes of my 8 hour day taken up by my work. It takes all of 5-10 seconds to answer and transfer a call.

With that in mind, finding things to do to entertain myself is my actual full time job and it is rough and occasionally emotionally traumatizing! I am, thankfully, allowed to bring my computer to work because the only other electronics at my desk are the phone and the type writer (which I do have to use to make labels....absurd. They created courier as a font for a reason.)

On good days, I come in motivated to do something productive. I'll think, "Woooo! I am going to apply to jobs today!" or "I think I will manage my finances!" (which, btw, does not take too long either, there is not much to manage) or, more importantly, "I think I will write a blog where I can just talk about my self all day long". Occasionally I attempt to be really productive and do work on this website I Stumbled Upon called Amazon Mechanical Turk: www.mturk.com. On this website you do menial little tasks that a computer could not do and they will pay you anywhere from $.01 to $.50!!!! I keep thinking to myself, "this is definitely going to pay off soon. I am going to be so pleased because I am making money while making money and now I can justify all of the things I spend money on that I absolutely shouldn't.".................The reality of the situation is, the tasks are painfully dull and usually freak my computer out, and after doing 13 different tasks, I am only at $1.46. BUT THATS NOT IMPORTANT, what's important is that I am being productive.

There are other days, and by other days I mean most other days, I'd say 3 out of 5, where getting through the day seems impossible. I will have tragically made it into work 10 minutes early and feel as if I have been sitting at my desk for at least an hour and I check the clock and it is only 8:59, not even the start time of my shift. I freak out a little, and desperately try and think of something FUN and PRODUCTIVE in an attempt to keep my mind from completely over analyzing every detail in my life until I drive myself absolutely mad and I am convinced that I am wasting away my life and I never can or will be happy, then I'll cry at lunch, come back to my desk and watch SVU. . . . . . . . . . okay, well I guess that is a little dramatic, but I am also not saying it has never happened.

In conclusion, I need a new job, and I would like a new brain. One that preferably has an off switch. If I can't get either of those I would like some good suggestions of what to do for 8 hours every day sitting alone at my desk. I need some new shows because I have blasted through a lot already, I am up to date on the currently running seasons and I am still holding out on not watching True Blood.

Hotter than God

I came up with a new phrase. I didn't come up with it so much as it came to me as if it already existed or in a dream. It was organic. It was the only way I could have described the situation.

Living in Boston during the summer has been pretty rough. I am from California, so I am no stranger to heat, but HUMID heat!??! It is horrible. My apartment heats up and I wake up sweating and go to bed sweating. The only way I could describe the heat that I was enduring was to say that it is "hotter than God". Not hotter than hell, or satan, or the devil, which may seem to make more sense. I, myself, was confused when the phrase first came to me as well, I thought to myself, "hotter than God?? What the fuck? Well I guess God is pretty hot, I don't know a single person who hasn't heard of God."

And its true. God is pretty hot, he's a hot topic, his book is a hot seller, one cannot deny that God is hot. So in conclusion, I'd say that describing something as hotter than God means its pretty effing hot.

MBTA

Every day I have to ride the T to work for about an hour each way. Slowly, the MBTA is eating away at my soul. It is very clear that the word "try" is not in the MBTA's manifesto.

To start with, one would think that the T could have its shit together in the morning during normal work commuting hours. I do not understand how somedays are horrible and other days things run smoothly (for the T at least). Last week I arrived at the T stop right as a T was sitting there. The T was PACKED and not everyone at the stop could board the train. So we all waited behind for the next train to come. 30 MINUTES LATER a train rolls up equally as packed as the first. This is not surprising because I am sure everyone at all the previous stops had to wait half an hour for a train that should be there at least every ten minutes or so. I manage to shove myself on and I am placed awkwardly between armpits of people taller than me reaching up to hold on. To add a little extra fun to the situation, the T was not well air conditioned and it was sweltering hot even at 8 AM in the morning.

Simply a delayed T would not normally be enough to set me off. It was the combination of sweltering heat on the train and then the train continued to stop at the billions of stops along the way.

Each time we stopped the T driver would yell at everyone,

"PLEASE move to the back of the train, Let people off before you get on the train"

Its like, LADY, NO ONE is getting off at this stop and NO ONE can move back because we are all packed in like sardines, so all the people trying to get on are shit out of luck. But this never seems to be a concern to the T drivers. There have been times, when I guess either angry and bitter T drivers or simply just stupid, will sit at a stop waiting for people to move back into the train so that new people can board. The T driver will just sit there facing forward and yelling

"I'm not leaving until everyone is off the steps and into the train. Please move into the train"

At this point I am sure my blood is boiling not only from the heat (because any measly amount of air conditioning is now escaping through the doors that are remaining open) but from the frustration of the T's inability to get anyone anywhere efficiently. Meanwhile, all the trains that were behind my train are finally catching up, so all the T trains can be together keeping each other company I guess. I keep thinking to myself, they have no choice, this train has to go express. Suddenly, I hear the driver over the loud speaker announcing that the train is going express....for TWO STOPS, that is approximately 400 yards since each stop is obnoxiously close to the other.It would be so much easier to keep my cool during this frustrating time if the drivers bothered to give a shit about their driving. Each stop is painfully long and everyone is slowly thrown back until the driver comes to an abrupt halt at which point everyone is lurched forward. Even sitting on the T is a struggle to stay upright.

Unfortunately, experiences like this have become more common than I would desire and I am forced to come up with ways to cope with this nonsense:

1. My main way of coping was my I-pod. But unfortunately, I am a moron and I left it on the plane (despite not even listening to it on the

plane) so now I am ipod-less on the T for an hour, and I am left to only my own thoughts for entertainment. I am far too poor to buy another ipod.

2. My other ways of coping has been becoming very particular over the way I ride the T. Each T train has two cars in the morning and I refuse to ride in one of them. The set up is absurd, there are very few seats, the train is not all the same level and the seats face in so you are always going to be sitting with your face in a stran

ger's crouch. Here is a picture of the unfortunately positioned seats (did I mention that if you are short your feet will dangle?)

This usually means I have to wait somewhere in the middle of the stop so I can be ready to run to the better car. There is also specific places I will stand in the station to optimize the amount of breeze I get from the industrial sized fans and at the same time be as far from the hoards of tourists that use the same station. I then run onto the T to find a forward facing seat by the window. Sometimes I fear that this particularity is going to turn me into an old lady who can't handle change, but you've gotta do what you gotta do to survive the T.

There are days when I consider taking the bus, but then I recall the attitude of the bus drivers. First of all, the 57 buses all have separation anxiety and like to travel together. If you see one 57 there is definitely another one very close by. Secondly, the drivers are SCARY. There was this one time I was riding the bus and the bus is at a stop, the driver failed to open the back door, so a fellow bus rider calls up for the back door to be open. The lady bus driver starts YELLING about how she's not a mind reader and you have to ring the bell for you stops so she knows. When we reached my stop I realized I had failed to ring the bell (despite the bus making the stop anyways) and out of fear of being yelled at by the bus driver, I just rode it to the next stop to avoid her wrath. I also happened to be on the phone with my sister at the time, who was under the impression that a disaster was happening as she overheard the bus drivers crazy rants at every passenger that got in her way.

No Words

So, I was just sitting at my desk, mindlessly switching between facebook, stressing about my negative money situation and at the same time attempting to secretively watch Entourage, when the phone rang. The phone ringing is not something unusual since my one and only duty at this job is to answer the phone. So I paused Entourage, and answered the phone:

Me: "Thank you for calling ______"

Caller: Hi, how are you today?

Me: I am good, how are you?

Caller: I'm good, may I ask who I am speaking to

(this normally irritates the shit out of me since all I do is answer and transfer calls, it really does not matter that you are speaking to me, I should be asking you that question. But, because I am such a professional, I respond:)

Me: This is Julia

Caller: Hi Julia, this is Evan.

Me: Hello...

Evan: I came in last week and saw you working. You were busy talking on the phone at the time. But you looked so nice and professional.

Me: (starting to shake and freak out a little because this man sounds anything but young) Oh, well unfortunately I don't really remember you...

Evan: Well you were busy at the time, but I was just wondering if you wanted to go to coffee with me sometime.

Me: Ohhh, well I am flattered but actually. . . .

Evan: . . . You don't sound flattered (what the fuck?!)

Me: I am flattered but this just seems completely inappropriate since I am at work right now (and, not to mention, tying up the phone lines which interferes with my sole responsibility of answering the phones)

Evan: Well can I call you on your cell phone?

Me: I'm sorry, this just doesnt seem....

And then he just hangs up on me!

WTF

So many things are wrong with this. While part of me thinks, "oooo how flattering, some dude wanted to ask me out purely by my professional demeanor at work and lovely looks." But then I am also forced to think that he is simply mistaking me for the temp that covered for me on Wednesday after I drunkenly slept through my alarm and then drunkenly called in sick (a whole other story).

Then I have to ask myself why am I even wasting time being flattered or stressing about if he's got the right girl since he is OBVIOUSLY a weirdo, who definitely sounded old. My only grasp at normalcy for this situation is that perhaps he was a courier, and if he was, then I made a mistake in saying No, because I am weirdly attracted to all of the weird ass couriers who come in.

I guess now I have something to talk about after work other than the usual, hyperbole and a half is a HIGH-larious blog and I have blasted through every single episode of Rescue Me, United States of Tara and any other show I have latched onto.

First Post, woo!

So, I created this blog weeks ago but for some reason have been unable to get my ass motivated enough to start writing in it. I am unsure as to what I should write and I am concerned that all that I will end up saying will be a big rant and bitch session about the things going on in my life. I don't know if anything I have to say is interesting, but I have to say it none the less. My dad is always telling me "You need to write this down, blah blah blah". So here goes nothing.

Right now I am sitting here at my desk at the law firm that I am a receptionist for. My delicious half full iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts is sitting sadly in front of me because if I drink it I fear I will never be warm again. While it is BOILING HOT outside, for some reason, the building I work in is unable to properly control the temperature. No matter what temp the staff sets the thermostat for it is always frigid. What is bizarre is that outside the door, by the elevators, it is a perfectly comfortable temperature. I am starting to find myself planning out times when I can escape to the bathroom to thaw out and maybe run my hands under hot water in an attempt to warm myself. The temperature in this office gets so cold, that the lawyers have started just using their space heaters...space heaters, in the middle of July, and no one seems to acknowledge the absurdity. It is about 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside and humid, and people are sitting in this office while the AC blasts us and the space heaters warm their toes...what a spectacular waste of energy. WHY ISN"T THERE A BETTER SOLUTION?!? I am sure this building is full of intelligent, motivated people who could somehow remedy this situation. (For some reason I am deciding to exempt myself from people who can solve this problem since I am just a temp. But perhaps this is just part of the cycle of nothing being done about the horrible temperature regulation.)

Okay, so that was more of a rant than I would have liked, but my freezing toes are preventing me from having any sort of pleasant tone. To distract myself I am going to go watch the new episode of Entourage online. One of the benefits of having a job thats only requirement is to answer the phone, I have decided to push the envelope and start watching TV online. I would feel guilty but it just makes the work days INFINITELY better.