Family Tree

So I haven't been around the blogosphereterweb much lately on account of some fevered activity on one of my many hobbies.

Let me back this story up to the beginning.

I love my grandparents (these would be my dad's parents). My grandfather is a total pack rat and my grandmother is not, so we all rib my grandpa about his stuff. However, I'm totally on to my grandmother's little secret. She's a pack rat too, but by proxy. They both go to garage sales, yard sales, flea markets, thrift shops, etc. My grandfather keeps what he buys, but my grandmother passes her ill gotten gains on to the rest of us. At every family gathering she has something for somebody. I think it's pretty funny actually.

For example, this Thanksgiving I was informed by two or three people that there was a bag of stuff for me by the door before I had my shoes off. When I got home later that evening I investigated. There were some table clothes, hot pot holders, a spice rack, and a file folder of papers that I assumed was the usual pile of newspaper clippings, inspirational hoohah, coupons, whatnot that my grandmother thinks will be of interest to the receiving party. What I got instead was a folder that said "Family History" and contained pages and pages of information on, what else, my family's history.

Score! I'm very excited. For a long time I've had absolutely no information on my father's family. I realized I know very little about even where his parents were born, grew up etc. Almost all the information is about my grandmother's family, but hey, it's a start. I now know for instance that my great-great-great grandfather, and his brothers, fought in the Civil War. (For the North, since that's the first thing everybody has asked me). A lot of work has already been put into the stuff she gave me. I was totally blown away. It's also given me a lot to work on, sorting and adding facts to my notes. Buys, busy, busy.

Thanks Grandma, You Rock!

Coming Down

It is a gloomy, gloomy November day, and the rain is coming down.

Which is exactly as it ought to be.

A funny thing happened

I needed to go to work today (on my day off *sigh*) to finish up the employees' schedule and print it out. They get cranky if they don't know what they're working next week, and believe me I understand. I felt the same way as crew, but with all the drama involved in writing the schedule I never get it all done on Tuesday. I meant to get there earlier, but with one thing and then another it was after 10pm by the time I left home. I don't like going in that late because the dining room is closed, although the pick up window stays open later.

I drove all the way to work before I realized I had left all the papers I needed at home. I went back and rounded up all my stuff. On the way back I decided to cut down a back road instead of taking the main road like I had on my first trip. As I pulled up to the stop light by work I noticed a guy loitering around and watching me approach. When I stopped the guy came over and tried to open my car door. *!!!* I yelled "What are you doing?" and the guy looked into my window. He was a young guy, but had a creepy spaced out stare. He stepped away from my car and turned his back to me and lifted up his shirt a bit. And I'm not a panic-mongerer, but it crossed my mind that he might be pulling a gun on me.

The light turned and I sped off. Well, my work is just across the road from where I had been stopped at the light. By the time I pulled into the lot this guy had crossed the street. He was knocking on the window of a customer's car and trying to get into the building. I had to walk up the same door. I asked if he needed something and he mumbled something along the lines of needing a phone. I told him he couldn't come in and to go to Walmart because they were open. He said, "I see a phone in there. Just let me in for a minute." I told him no and that he needed to leave and not bother people. He didn't seem like he was going to leave, so I let myself in and told the manager on duty we needed to call the police (he had seen the guy outside knocking on cars as well).

I was really impressed with their response. A minute or two later a cruiser pulled up to our building. I was standing outside talking to the officer when we noticed a figure walking across the street. The officer spun around and took off at a sprint, running across Main street without hesitating, it was pretty bad ass. He must have been calling on the radio because three or four other cops appeared out of no where and closed in on the guy. They brought the guy back over, patting him down, and asked me if it was the same guy. It was, and I said so. Then they arrested him. The dude said he was seventeen, but turns out he was nineteen, and wasted. The cops told me they could smell the alcohol on him when they were walking him over. The whole time this guy just kept staring at me all totally creepy.

I don't know if it was a slow night or what, but there were three cop cars and four or five guys. They were all super nice and friendly. I had to give a written statement and everything. They told me they were charging the guy with underage under the influence and inciting a panic. Which it wasn't like we were panicking, but the one cop said, "If some guy came up and tried to get in my car I'd be freaked out." Good point. When I thanked them for coming and responding so quickly they told me this is the kind of thing they take real seriously. Told me I did the right thing, etc.

One of my employees, M, told me she was glad I was there and I had been the one to deal with it because she knew I wouldn't freak out like "some college girl who would just start screaming." The other manager (a guy) said, "Yeah I totally would have started freaking out and yelling, they he'd be stabbing me or something." C'mon guys, sure the guy was super creepy and obviously on something, but it wasn't like he was beating people with rabid gophers or something.

Out of Context*

"I find your knowledge of slimes and molds quite attractive."

"I really don't like having to carve up my friends with a hatchet."



*Things I've actually said aloud recently, whose explanations are long and not that interesting.

Things

::::I'm engaged in some Fall cleaning. The usual domestic chores, of course. However, I'm also clearing out closets and trying to sort through some of my never ending clutter. I'm taking a crack at my CD's, movies and books as well. I feel like I need to trim everything down. Make it nice and neat, you know. Maybe the blog will get some sprucing up as well.

::::Historic accomplishments are afoot. I have so far completed about 60% of my xmas shopping. Normally I'm quite last minute. Instead, this year I've planned ahead, and have done some serious online shopping. Huzzah for teh interwebs. My new approach to xmas presents has made this year a lot easier. I've decided to dispense with the whole trying-to-figure-out-what-people-want/like-and-get-them-exactly-that mentality. I figure it's a present, I can get them whatever I damn well feel like. Screw material gratification. I've found shit that I think is cool and I'm sharing.

::::Oh yeah, I'm close to finishing writing out the notes for the outline I wrote for this story that the Story Gods crapped into my skull one unsuspecting evening. Once I'm happy that I've put down all my important ideas (so I don't for get them because I'm kind of an idiot like that, I mean, I've already read a couple of my notes in the outline and been like "wtf does that mean?")...what was I saying? Oh yeah, ideas...so once they're all down hopefully I can start the actual writing of the story.

::::P.S. It's Saturday night. Do you know where your bros are?

Stuff

::::A couple weeks ago my mom emailed me about doing a "girls night out" with me and my two sisters. "I feel like we've lost something really special that we used to have," she said. Um, wtf is she talking about? Is she talking about me trying not to stab myself in the head with a pen? Anyway, she suggested going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as one thing we could do. Sure, that would be great, but with xmas coming and all, I don't really have fifty bucks for a concert ticket. I told her as much on the phone yesterday. "Oh, no, I'm buying the tickets," she said. Well, that makes it a bit different, twist my arm. I can handle an evening with my mom, and sisters (I get on pretty well with the youngest, but the middle and I have always been at odds).

::::Hey! The temperature finally dropped down to normal this week. And it snowed! Okay, it was just flurries, but still. Awesome! *goes off and does an obscenely dorky happy dance* I even conceded and turned on the heat.

::::A while back I discovered this awesome website, BookMooch . The whole idea is that it allows the people on the site to trade books. You list the books you have (you get 1/10 pt. ea.) and then you can request books that other people have. All you have to do is pay the postage on the books you send out. You get a point for each book you send and each book you request is a point (unless you mooch outside your country). Oh and you get 1/10 point for leaving feedback when you receive your book. It's a pretty sweet idea, you can trade books you don't want anymore for new ones. I've sent and received about 10 books each. Sure you get the occasional annoying person who will send you a reminder less than a week after they request a book, but most of the people are really cool.

No way to live

For only the third time in as many months I have met a guy I find attractive. Of course, he was a customer, bringing a matter that needed handling to my attention, and it wasn't the sort of thing you could build a conversation off of. I certainly hope that he didn't think I was blowing him off, or laughing at him, or not taking him seriously. I took care of the problem personally. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I started getting a dorky grin on my face while he was talking to me. Most of my brain was listening and figuring out how I was going to deal with the problem, but a small part was like, "Hey, there's totally a cute guy talking to me right now. And he's not an idiot. And he doesn't seem like a T or D bag. And hey, he's totally talking to me. And he's rather attractive. ... Shit."

I need to find a way of meeting guys when the odds aren't stacked completely against me.

A Letter to the Kids Acrross the Hall

Dear Bros who live across from me,

Hello, douchebags.

I respect your right to party, you need not fight for it. I have no problems with loud, raucous fun on Friday or Saturday night. I don't even care about the heaps of party trash outside your door. (So long as you take it to the dumpster first thing in the A.M. Maybe you missed the note from the landlord earlier this week on this exact subject. Really, you people are disgusting leaving you trash in the hall for days on end.)

However, you guys sound like a herd of eight-year-olds hopped up on mountain dew, snorting lines of pixie sticks with all your running around and hollering for hours on end. (And what is the stupid shit you're playing on the radio?)

I have two requests. First, do you think you could start winding down by four or four-thirty? Hell, I don't get home from work until two some nights, but even I think you guys need to wrap it up. Second, keep your shenanigans in your apartment. I don't need to hear boyfriend/girlfriend fights, two girls threatening to beat some skinny guy's ass, or the occasional random comment "OH, I shouldn't have taken my medication today" (wtf? "If it wasn't for my horse...") at volumes normally reserved for rock concerts.

Thanks and Happy Hangovers.

Things I've learned this week

::::Small children love to have their faces painted regardless of your painting skill level.

::::I own a shitload of candles.

::::I forgot all of the rules to keep in mind when choosing/making a Halloween costume that I'm going to wear out to the bars (no carried accessories, no sticking out bits, no capes [okay no super long capes]).

::::Walking a mile to and from the bars while carrying a heavy shield when you've been up since before 6am on three hours of sleep is not on the Universe's Top 500 Awesome Ideas list.

::::In spite of my lack of enthusiasm for their single "Welcome to the Black Parade" (and a good chunk of their fans) My Chemical Romance has grown on me.

::::Chile is 2700 miles long but never more than 150 miles wide (Check out Three Bits o Trivia. Who doesn't heart random facts?)

::::The weather has finally decided to get around to being too cold to wear shorts and sandals.

::::I shouldn't load a bunch of stuff into the cargo pockets of my shorts if they are too big.

::::Some of my pants/shorts are too big.

::::I need to buy new work pants.