Current mood: frustrated
Category: Life
This one is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG... I have a lot to vent today...
First, I wish to apologize to all my friends, especially those who commented my page and didn't get a comment in return. To all of you, rest assured I haven't forgotten you, been ignoring or avoiding any of you, or anything of that sort. I have been frustrated, irritated and scrambling lately to accomplish all that I should in my daily life that I either have been too tired, or had no time, or had no desire whatsoever to spend time surfing the Internet.
Frustration primarily came from the holidays, although there have been other sources. There was the Christmas tree. We have three already, but laziness and disinterest has created a perceived need to buy another one. One with all the lights already in place. (I did mention this quest was born out of sloth?) I went to 2 stores the first week after Black Friday (so-called because the Christmas shoping the day after Thanksgiving puts retailers back in the black. I have my OWN reason for the moniker... ) I finally found the one my mom and I liked. Now, thankfully, this was right after work, and the majority of shopping this year began around 6:00 PM during the week. The shoppers weren't as bad as they could have been. But insensitivity and selfishness never seem to come out until Christmas - the time of the year when we should all be smiling and singing joyously. After nearly being flattened by shopping cart and car drivers innumerable times, I finally found the one my mom and I liked and got it home. Then we had to decorate it. Culling through the decarations to decide which ones to use was more tedious than putting them opn the tree - we literally have enough for 3 or 4 trees.
I have a relatively small list of relatives and friends for whom to buy Christmas presents - my 13-year-old nephew, sister, mother, and my friend Jone in Iowa whom I've known since I was 19. She still comes to visit in November. She still hasn't gotten last year's present, so I was racking my brains (what's left of them) to come up with a new idea. Fortunately, my mother and sister bought a bunch of stuff for him and I just picked. My sister and I looked for stuff for my mother - she's usually easy to buy for, as she gives a short but simple wish list. However, my wonderful but oddball sister decided that she didn't have as many presents as Michael (my nephew) or myself, so we had to look elsewhere. I was ready to give EVERYONE Visa gift cards for a substantial amount, but that's not good enough...
My sister was the easiest - but not at all the cheapest. She insisted that we needed a new digital camera. Now, we have a Sony Mavica that's about 8 years old and stores pictores on floppy disks, still takes great pictures, and shows no signs whatsoever of wearing out. But there are some inherent diasadvantages to it - can't take multiple images, flash is yellowing, no time to move pics off discs... SO we got a new $600 Sony reflex-action digital camera which can rapid-fire shoot up to 10 images. But it only has about 20 pics worth of memory built in (using the size and quality setting we prefer, anyway), which means we have to go buy a larger memory stick. And of course it's the only thing she really wanted, and she wanted it for Christmas pictures... She threw in a few other things, but we (read she) decided it should be a "family" present and not be wrapped. And that we needed to get a memory stick now, because 20 pictures is about half what she'll want to take. (I'm not much better, I will admit... but I was happy with what we had. Oh well...) While my nephew and I were out hunting for memory sticks for this new toy, he spied replica light sabres in the styles of Darth Maul (which could be connected to make the dual-ended "staff" he used) and Darth Vader, and someone else. I do remember who offhand... Then I get to the checkout line at Fry's to purchase my memory stick and discover that it's NOT the one I requested, and costs about $40 more than the one I did request. I didn't have time to exchange it, because I had to get Michael home to get ready for Boy Scouts. I had a few choice words for them by the time I got home, and was going to return it the next day, but Mom and Shelley convinced me to keep it and just write a letter to them. Which I did, and e-mailed it to the only e-mail address I found for such matters on their website.
Anyway, I also told the ladies what else happened and why it took an hour to get 1 thing at Fry's (I couldn't get my nephew, Darth Dork, to put the damned thing back down!)... Guess what Bibi and Mommy found at Sam's Club while looking for other gifts... And guess who got one... (To be fair, they got me one too... and when noone else is around, I find myself taking it down and brandishing it! "Take that, Vader!") Of course we couldn't get just ANY light sabre - Nooooooo! They HAD to get the Darth Maul versions. And yes, I have been plotting to comandeer Michael's saber to link the two. *begins humming "The Saga Begins" by Weird All Yankovic*
Additionally, right before Christmas, our warehouse manager/delivery man at work was let go because he had cost the company a good bit of money (more than he made in 4 paychecks, as I understand), so the president (also my cousin, you may remember) decided he had to go. So I stepped in temporarily until we could find someone else. Unfortunately we couldn't get anyone who was insurable under our automobile policy, so I got the job right before New Year's weekend. Then we found a delivery driver, so all is well. NOT! I have been trying to inventory all our stock items (because I couldn't find the inventory list previously made - it was all aon paper and is hiding somewhere in my new office), and stage material for installation jobs, as well as continue my previous duties of financial assistant (prepare monthly sales tax statements, enter employee time sheets, track overtime, vacation and sick time hours, collections...) all at the same time. I have accounted for about 10% of our stock in 3 weeks... On top of THAT, whenever a delivery arrives, it's MY job to sign for, count and receive said deliveries in the accounting system. Eventually, I will manage to keep all of this handled, I'm sure. It's just going to take some practice and planning.
I mentioned, too, that my nephew has ADHD, with the prescriptions and everything. I have been battling similar problems that he is now experiencing since I was pubescent, and due to my personal experience my sister asked me to help him out. Now, I was told, honestly, I believe, that it was a favor, not a requirement. But given how I felt in school (needing to belong and never quite managing it), having a limited attantion span, short-term memory issues... all of it - and given that I wouldn't wish that on anyone to deal with alone, I accepted. Freely, selflessly, unwittingly accepted. Michael has had since I said "yes" had uncontrollably bouts of histrionics, both at school and home, an almost total lack of interest in aiding him with his problems from the school or the school district, and 8 weeks of "corrective and assisting" programs which were NOT working, we concluded one of his meds was not working and the other not well enough. So we changed his meds and his school. And the doctor prescribing the meds changed them back. So we're starting to have the screaming fits again. This time, however, we think that it was a defensive action more than the meds, as we haven't seen it at home since before. I am inclined to believe it is time now to get the prescription for one of them changed back.
Hoiw many of you have heard of the "mother's curse"? Where she says while she's furious at you, "I hope that, when you're my age, you have children who act exactly as you are now!" My mother said this repeatedly to my sister and me. I believe I made it happen. He is as smart-alecky and stubborn as I am, and has less restraint than I do. (Not to say that I have a lot...) He is as willful as his mother. In short, he is becoming a teenager. With ADHD. And an IQ at least as high as my own. (Mine was last tested formally as 143, but those "check-your-own-IQ" books place me as a top-MENSA candidate) . And what patience I have developed over the years is beginning to wear very thin. And he's not even my child.
He also got his first major project of the year - to build a model of the Alamo. The chapel (which is about all that remains), the outer walls, the barracks, all of the original compound. And HE'S building it. We're advising, and helping when he's over his head, and learning we're all stupid, all at the same time. We have a college fund set up for him. He may not make it to 8th grade.
To top all of this off, winter finally arrived in North Texas. We had freezing weather and rain/sleet , and all the typically poor drivers here made things far worse by trying to drive like nothing was different. The better drivers, of course, are suffering because of the dummies, in the form of SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW driving. And I had to deal with my sister acting like a 5th grader watching the news shows to see if the roads were bad enough to call in absent at work. Of course, they are open, as is our work. My nephew is out of school today because of Martin Luther King Day, so I had planned to stay home anyway and help him finish the Alamo.
To reflect on the positive things that have happened, I have been entrusted with all the material our company orders and uses in its jobs. I got a Nintendo DS and 4 games for it (which comes in handy while waiting for oil changes and such). I got some new DVDs. And I have a place to live A loving family. And a lot of friends, many of whom I have never met. And Michael is doing much better in his new school. And he seems better adjusted, at least compared to where he was. My sister is doing quite well at her job as inside sales rep... in just 4 months, her sales have increased to over $100 grand. (Although the majority of that is from my company, where she used to work...)
Our company showed a larger gross than last year - by over $1,000,000. Our net was up, but seems exceedingly dismal by comparison. My cousin was happy with it, however... fewer taxes to pay to Uncle Sam! I seem busier than before - job security. And one of Shelley's coworkers gave her tickets to see the Stars play LA today! Michael and I are planning to go, as long as the roads clear up enough to get there safely... So I guess things haven't been all bad. But I have felt more like attacking people with my light sabre now than I ever did... Instead, I'll just bash creatures in Diablo 2... "Take that, Joe! That'll teach you, Nikki!"
Rock on!
Durham
