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I leave for Dublin tomorrow night! I can't wait. This vacation could not have come at a better time; I feel so stressed out-I can feel it all in my back. Perhaps I'll find a leprechaun to give me a back rub once in Ireland. 03*26*07 I forgot to mention Brook told me that she's now in charge of doing Morrissey's press at work. Since I'm the biggest Morrissey fan she knows, she said she'd get me a free backstage pass to his show here in June. I wasn't going to go otherwise, but free AND backstage!? How could I not go? 03*26*07 Ugh I don't have to be up for another 35 minutes, but I woke up for no reason almost 50 minutes ago and if I haven't fallen back asleep by now, I don't think I'm going to. I think I have too much on my mind with the trip and my mom's troubles and my eBay sales (which, by the way, left me with over $60 in sales). This weekend was emotionally exhausting because Patrick and I fought vie telephone Friday and Saturday night. It was the worst fight we've ever had and I'm sure my neighbors could hear me screeching throughout the building. We basically talked in circles and neither of us saw the other's viewpoint until quite a while into our conversation on Saturday. I ended up going over Patrick's that night after we made up and everything seems ok now. So while I'm relieved at the outcome, the fight is still swirling in my head a bit...at least enough to keep me up at 5:30 in the morning in combination with other thoughts. Anyway, I guess I'll go eat breakfast and get ready for work. Today's going to suck if I have a donor when I'm this tired already. 03*21*07 So now that I have a glass of wine in hand and a slight desire to update this, I will do so. I've been a bit stressed as of late because Patrick is having trouble getting his passport. The whole procedure was complicated because he doesn't have a driver's license; he has a non-driver state-issued ID, but that wasn't good enough. In addition to that and his birth certificate, he had to bring in a signed ID card (e.g. social security card) and someone who had known him for 5 years (they had to fill out an application as well). So he did all that and then Monday he received a letter stating that what he provided wasn't enough and he had to submit 5 more pieces of identification from a list of about 20 specific things (including a photocopy of the page he's on in his high school year book!). It didn't help matters that he only applied for the passport a little over two weeks ago and we leave in a week and a half. Anyway, this caused needless stress for both of us which led to a fight last night. I guess we're both still mad because we're both still not really talking. I've been hating work lately and started looking for another job on Craigslist today. Although, some of the issues I had were resolved at a meeting we had this afternoon, so maybe I'll stick around a bit longer after all. I visited my mom in NJ Saturday night, and we stayed up until midnight drinking and talking about random things. I left the next morning, but I think (or at least hope) my visit cheered her up a bit. Hopefully it gets warmer soon so more people start getting pedicures and her business picks up! I decided to go back to my less environmental-friendly energy supplier after getting my first bill using green power. Their website advertised a $.01 increase per kilowatt over my normal costs, which they said amounted to about a $3.50 overall increase to the total bill. Instead, the increase turned out to be $.20 per kilowatt and it doubled my bill. When I called them to ask what the hell was going on, they said the average increase they projected on their site applied to someone who used about 350 kW per month; since I used only 78 kW they charged me MORE. Doesn't make sense? Yeah, I know. Screw them. Anyway, I have to list the last of some items I'm selling on eBay now. Buy stuff from me, won't you? 03*20*07 Blah blah blah, I just don't felt like writing. Shitty week already. 03*12*07 I mentioned a few weeks ago how my mom had gone on vacation and when she got back three of the girls that worked for her had quit. Well, things have gone from bad to worse. First of all, it was four girls that quit (only five total worked for her), and they all did it just a few weeks after my mom had opened the new salon that she had been working on for over a year. She put everything into that new place; she took out two mortgages just to finish it and it looked gorgeous. She really had high hopes for the place and I think it would have succeeded had these four women not up and left. Not only that, but being the cowards they are, they all lied about why they were leaving and where they were going. In reality they all went down the street to another salon where the owner had promised them better money, a 401K, etc. I know that that's how things work in business, but these women had a close relationship with my mom. Not only had they worked for her for years, but they were friends. My mom was at their weddings and was there for them in whatever life crises they had. She always referred to them as "her girls" and meant it affectionately. They almost had a mother-daughter type relationship rather than boss-employee. So it's astounding to me that they would do this to her--all at once--while she was on vacation. It's so vindictive and my mom absolutely did not deserve it. And now finding new nail technicians isn't even the problem because she has given plenty of interviews. The problem is that those bitches took a huge chunk of her clientele with them to the new place. I spoke with her today and she said if business doesn't pick up she's going to have to sell the place so they don't foreclose on her. If that's what she ends up doing, she said she's just going to take the money and move to Florida because she can't deal with this stress anymore. My mom has had this business for over two decades. She started it from scratch as a single mother with no help from anybody. It put a roof over our heads and food on the table for years. After I went to college, she started using a new product which finally made her go from just making ends meet to turning a decent profit. She had everything on her side for this new place to work. And in one fell swoop the greed and deceit of four selfish people has destroyed it all. I feel so awful for my mom. The whole thing really breaks my heart and I know she is so devastated. I just hope that everyone gets what they deserve in the end. People can't just do awful things to other people and not have it catch up with the somewhere down the line. I hope so anyway. In the meantime, I just hope my mom's business picks up. 03*11*07 Awww Jack was just giving Milo a tongue bath. So cute. The ceiling in my bathroom is leaking. It's a reoccurring problem I've been having for about 3 weeks or so. It hasn't been that severe until tonight. My landlord said he'd fix it last week, but of course he didn't. I guess he's waiting for the whole thing to cave in first. I had a good weekend. I spent most of it with Patrick which was especially nice since we hadn't seen each other since last Saturday. He's been busy with school and work and trying find a new place. Anyway, we went to a friend's party on Friday night and got pretty drunk. Saturday we walked around Williamsburg and took in the nice weather. We pretty much did the same thing this morning, although it was a bit chillier. I had a lot of trouble sleeping this weekend because I'm getting super excited about our trip. I don't think I've ever been so excited about a vacation. I don't know if it's because of where we're going, or because I'm going with Patrick, or that I'm just in desperate need of a vacation. Either one--I can't wait! At the party Friday night, Brook and I discussed going to Paris together in September. I had been thinking of going back alone, but Brook speaks better French than me anyway. Plus now that I don't have therapy anymore, saving up the money shouldn't be too problematic. Besides, September is a while away. I'd like to aim on two vacations a year as long as I have the extra money. Screw that pesky student loan debt! 03*04*07 I feel very accomplished at the moment. I just booked the last hotel for the trip to Ireland and it was only $72 a night. I also just finished a flyer I was asked to design for work a few weeks ago and I think it looks pretty good. I went grocery shopping and did laundry today, and also did a semi-cleaning of my apartment Friday night. Plus I got rid of a bunch of clothes I don't wear anymore so I have more room in my closet. I am on fire! I didn't do much in the way of anything social this weekend, however. Friday night Brook came over and we got drunk and then very tired. I was asleep by 12:30; I feel like an old woman. Saturday I researched what sights to see in Ireland via car, and then went to an early dinner with Patrick. We only hung out for a few hours because he's been busy with school the past week. Looks like this week won't be much different. We are going to a party on Friday night though, so I'm looking forward to that. Otherwise I've been a hermit this weekend, but since I got so much accomplished, I don't feel too badly about it. I am really looking forward to this trip now that I got the details worked out. Good times. 03*01*07 Check out this dirty intersection in Manhattan. My coworker Aisela was looking for apartments on Craigslist and came across one at that intersection; we had a good laugh over it. Patrick also just began looking for a new place to live a few days ago. His place now is located in a pretty decent spot in Williamsburg, but the apartment itself is not that great and his roommate is less than ideal. I'm convinced the only ideal roommate is someone who pays half your rent but doesn't live there. Otherwise I don't care how nice the person is--eventually you're going to want to kill each other. I sorta started panicking the past few days over the fact that Patrick and I are going away in a month and I haven't booked a single hotel room or our flight to London. But as of tonight I have a hotel in London and Dublin booked, as well as the plane to and from London. I've given up hope of finding a decent place to stay for under $70. The Euro's value over the Dollar has made that somewhat of an impossibility. So I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with paying under $100 per night. So here's what I've been planning for the vacation: We arrive in Dublin on a Saturday morning and stay in Dublin until Monday morning. Then we take a plane over to London for a day and a half of sight-seeing. We fly back to Dublin Tuesday night and pick up our rental car at the airport. After I hyperventilate about driving on the opposite side of the road, we head to a nearby town (possibly Trim) and stay the night. Wednesday we drive to Galway and do some sight-seeing around that side of the country probably until Sunday morning, at which point we drive back to Dublin to catch our plane home that evening. Obviously had I thought things through more, I'd have flown into London initially and then gone to Dublin after a few days and left from there. I'd have saved a plane trip and some money. But what's done is done, so just drop it. Anyway, as soon as I figure out where else we're staying and reserve the car, I think then I'll finally be more excited than I am panicked.
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