movie reviews-there may be possible spoilers

Princess and the Frog

Disney didn't manage to go to back to the glory days of things like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin, but they've done pretty well here. It's so cute and enjoyable and it's a lot of fun. If you watch closely there is a bit of racism, but I doubt Disney was intentionally putting it in there. The whole frog catcher bit-with the backwards hicks, I think that was more of a they needed the classic dumb three villains (see the hyenas in Lion King) over portraying bayou people in that light. Plus if you think about it, it's a little off that the white girl is rich and gets everything she wants while the main black character has to work her ass off. But it's DISNEY. You don't go see a Disney movie to think very hard and it's fun and lovely and I would add it to my movie collection in a heartbeat. It's nice to see another Princess with a little ethnicity.


The Lovely Bones

I can't remember much about it from when I read the book. I remember she was raped and murdered and she lived in limbo with her friend for a long time and then he dies by way of icicle. That's literally all I remember from the book but I did remember enjoying it for the most part. The movie is cinematographically beautiful. There are all these really neat images, and the limbo land is a great mesh of the living world and the heavenly afterlife. And yet you can tell it's not heaven, that there is something better. I was glad they didn't make the rape something graphic. The murder isn't even graphic. It was handled really well. There is some blood though. And what the murderer has done with her body is obvious after a while. I really liked this movie though. Saorise Roaon (may be misspelling her name) is a wonderful actress and very real. I wished they had left off the one bit that took the movie out of the real world for a moment. There is all this nice stuff about her family and the world moving on even though she is dead and having her come into another's body for a bit made the movie more fantastical then I would have liked. I know it's in the book-I was told, but it didn't fit with them movie I felt. Also I wish they developed the icicle more. They talk about it in limbo for so long about it being the perfect weapon so it feels like a nice sort of karmatic vengence when he is killed by one and it just seemed silly in the movie.


Nine

Let me start by saying that this is one of my favorite musicals and I know it really well. I've also seen it live. I know it inside and out and there is a way I expect it to be done. Someone who does not know the musical as well as I have may watch it and feel completely differently about the movie.
Overall, I was disappointed. It is not the Nine I know. I feel as if the director thought, well this worked on Chicago so it will work on Nine. But Chicago and Nine are VERY different kind of musicals and while that approach would work on a few of the songs in Nine-and was quite successful in a few of them it didn't work overall. I'm just going to take this song by song. It will probably cover all the issues I had.
Overture: This bit worked quite nicely. The women are a big problem in Guido's life so having them all come in like that was beautiful and set up storylines quite nicely.

Not Since Charlie Chaplin: Omitted

Guido's Song: For the most part this worked. The reporters are causing him great stress and anxiety since he doesn't have a script or anything yet. But they should have kept him nearing forty rather than fifty, since forty is the "over the hill" age and the actor doesn't look fifty.

My Husband Makes Movies: Moved until later in the movie. I almost thought they left it out and was mentally screaming. This was one of the most successful of the pull backs, make the song into the characters thoughts cinematographic bits. That's what the song is, her thoughts about her marriage and it was lovely to see it portrayed in that way. This was gorgeous and Marion Cotillard is an AMAZING actress. I wish they kept the bridge in though, Guido Contini-Luisa defono actress with dreams and a life of her own. The original lyrics were better in the areas they changed as well.

A Call From the Vatican: This was also a great moment of that because it is phone sex so having Penelope Cruz dolled up and being sexy worked wonders. It's better when Luisa is in the room with him though, far more awkward for Guido.

Only With You: Omitted. I wish they would have left this in because it shows how messed up Guido is. He is promising to love only his wife and then professing his love to his mistress and then telling Claudia she is the only one. It sets up the problems later on so much better then words can and I feel like you missed out on the nuances in his marriage. Luisa knows he is having an affair and she KNOWS he is in love with Claudia and she's putting up with it because at the end of the day, it's her. And I didn't get that until MUCH MUCH later.

Folies Bergeres: Number one, Lillian Le Fluer is supposed to be his producer not his costumer and I was so disappointed to see they took away the fact she is a strong professional woman and replaced her role with a man. It's more meaningful when she's an annoyed producer promised a musical rather than she's randomly designing a folies costume. It didn't really make sense in that context and it took away the character that was replaced by Kate Hudson's Stephanie, which REALLY didn't make sense. In the musical, there is a girl that Lillian has brought in that doesn't like Guido at all. Her job is to make him more appealing to the public since his last films have flopped and she seems to be a rabid feminist lesbian and it's hysterical. They replaced her with a character in love with Guido, almost sleeps with him that has a pointless useless song praising him? It takes away from the dynamic. Would have made this number better.

Nine: Omitted in favor of a lullaby. Sophia Loren was awesome to have for the mother, but I really liked the song Nine and it plays in to how Guido is feeling and how he wishes he could go back to when life was simpler, when he was nine. And it was a much better set up for the next song then. I thought the idea was nice, an Italian Lullaby, but it wasn't executed well and I felt like I was missing something in the long run.

Te Voglio Bene/Be Italian: LISTEN UP ROB MARSHALL, YOU IDIOT, THIS SONG IS NOT CELL BLOCK TANGO. He literally tried to remake cell block tango with this song with a bunch of scantily dressed women singing and dancing. Guess what? It didn't work, it didn't make sense and it pulled you out of the story for a good five minutes. The flashback idea was PERFECT. Should have stuck with that and kept it like that rather to the bizarre cuts over to the line of girls dancing on chairs. The whole song is about this prostitute teaching these boys about sex at an early age. You took all that out of the final cut, leaving us with random ass shit. I hate you. Needless to say I was not pleased.

Bells of St. Sebastien: Not really there. SHould have been kept in it's entirety. I understand why it was cut as it's hard to make sense of in the musical but the whole flashback would have worked better with it. And given you a chance to do the whole- this is inside his mind thing.

Unusual Way: OMG OMG OMG YOU FUCK UP. This is one of the most gorgeous songs in the musical. It's one of the most well developed and by throwing it away like that you made the whole Claudia bit not even make sense. Plus then she left now rather than leaving later which also made no sense. It was like the director was all, this song is pretty but what do I do with it. And why did you take it down 18000 octaves? It was thrown away and it's so much character development. But then most of the stuff that had great character development and helped the arch of the story as thrown out the window...

The Grand Canal medley: Omitted. Okay this would have made the most sense in the world to keep rather than that silly screen test. The screen test didn't make sense. The moment between Luisa and Guido leading up to it didn't build into her song. This medley is Guido romanticizing his life while the girls involved see themselves as he sees them. It's crucial. WHHYYYYYYY is it missing. WHYYYYYYYY?

Simple: Omitted. Again, this is a great character arc/development song. It shows how far the two women in his life who he thought he loved but he doesn't really love have come. Both Claudia and Carla give him up in this song and it makes Guido so alone which builds to the moment when he loses Luisa and is REALLY alone. You never took everything from him. Having Carla take pills was stupid and melodramatic. Better to have her see that Guido sees her as silly in the above song and have her get up the gumption to say, I'm done Ciao. grrrr.

Be On Your Own: Omitted, replaced with a song that was burlesque. I understand that women dressed in their underwear sells but Be On Your Own strips Guido. It strips Luisa bare, as she leaves him and it strips Guido. Luisa has been his rock and she finally says NO MORE. You take me for granted no more. She sees herself in the Grand Canal Medley and leaves and then comes back with this tour de force. He needs her because the other two have left him but it is too little to late. The other song didn't have all those layers and it was that stupid -inside your head- crap. This needed to be sung right at Guido. He needs to know. SHE IS DONE.

I Can't Make This Movie: I honestly can't remember if they kept it in it's entirety or if it was omitted for something very similar or shortened. There is the type of moment in there that is this but THIS is much more poignant. In the stage version I saw he almost killed himself. It's rock bottom for him and I never felt he hit rock bottom.

Growing Tall: Understandably Omitted because it's child guido singing to adult guido but hinted at with the child in the last bit. This would have been a great -inside your head- moment of Guido looking back and little Guido giving him strength. I did like the little Guido in the end so it would have also tied in nicely with that. Little Guido gives him strength to continue after he loses it all and he is a changed, more honest man.

Finale: I would have liked to see him know Luisa returned to him. Rather then her in the back.

The movie was a rather mediocre version of the musical despite it's cast of very talented stars. There were amazing moments but it wasn't cohesive. I think too much altering of the original plot. Or not enough directorial understanding of it. But then, I KNOW the musical really well. Someone who has no knowledge of it, or considerably less then me wouldn't know all this going in. I tried to distance myself the way I normally do in movies but it kept being WRONG.


Sherlock Holmes

Fun action movie, bears little to no resemblance to any Holmes you might think of. Would have been disappointed if I had paid for it. There is a lot of things blowing up, it's a lot of action. Hard to figure out Holmes train of thought, he pulls it out of thin air more than I cared for. It's set up for a sequel and looks like it has done well enough in the box office in order to get one.


Up In The Air

This was good. This was very good. It's thoughtful, imaginative, real. It gets at you. And there is a bit of a surprise at the end. If you haven't seen it yet, I don't want to spoil because it was far better then I thought it would be. It's a little slow at times. It sort of has an Independent movie feel to it, but it's got big stars. It makes you think. I'm still thinking about it.


Book of Eli

If I hadn't seen it for free I would have asked for my money back. It was not good. Fifteen minutes into the movie I stopped identifying with the main character and the twist at the end never made up for it. I couldn't care about his struggles or his journey because I no longer liked him. I don't need to like all characters, generally I don't like villains. But Denzel Washington's character is supposed to be chosen by God. God has protected him all this way and knowing that made me dislike him when he didn't stop to help a man and woman who suffered at the hands of these men. It was set up so you could tell the woman was going to be raped and he walked away and at that moment I lost all respect for his character and I couldn't care about it. At the end it reveals that he is blind, the bible he is carrying is in braille, but I didn't care. He had shown himself to be able to defend himself against multiple attackers with the help of god and he could have saved that woman from harm and he chose not to. I was unimpressed. Personally I'd like to think if there is only one copy of the bible on earth and it's being carried to a place where it can be duplicated, god would bother to leave it in the hands of a good man. Not someone like that.


Wolfman

Kinda a funny story about this. I went to take my sister to Avatar and the show was sold out. The only thing playing on Valentine's day at the time we needed to see it was Wolfman. So we saw it. LOL.
It wasn't very good. It wasn't very bad either. It was a mediocre movie and it was really gruesome. Far too gruesome I think. Lots of blood and decapitation of people's heads and limbs and things in general. The twist was good but I saw it coming and I'm a girl who tries to not see it coming, so I think it ends up being painfully obvious to some. If you don't like blood and guts don't bother to see it ever. It's also fairly long.


When In Rome

I know a lot of people who weren't particularly impressed with it but I found it fun. It's not the best plot in the entire world and it's a little over the top at times. But if you are looking for lighthearted entertainment that doesn't take itself very seriously, this is it. Kristen Bell is cute and funny, the situations he gets herself into is pretty implausible but it makes for a good time and makes for some good laughs. It's not too gross or immature, there isn't a bunch of potty humor. There are a few things that wouldn't be appropriate for young children but mostly I bet it will go over their heads. I saw it twice. It was enjoyable both times. That's what I go to the movies for, for entertainment and it entertained me. I was satisfied. But it's not any great movie for the ages.


Avatar

It's Long. That's my biggest and probably my only complaint. It's fucking LONG. Cameron needs to learn to cut down on some stuff. I'm sure there were probably a few things he could have found to cut and gotten the movie closer to 2 hours. But the movie is epic. Seriously Epic. Pandora is beautiful and I would live there if I could. I felt like it wasn't just a sci fi movie. It's sci fi-fantasy which opens it up to so many more people. But I loved it. I sat through it three times. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but it's amazing. It's more than just sci fi. It's go romance and social commentary and it's gorgeous. GORGEOUS. I would move to Pandora in a heartbeat even if everything there can eat me. I like Pochanatas Stories and most plots are recycled anyway. At least the epic ones and this is epic. It's going to be a cultural phenon, so if you haven't seen it suck it up and do so. And see it in 3D, because it was created for that. But generally I have no complaints about it. I'd see it again. It was well thought through and the world was created nicely, things have similar looks and it's all interconnected. They did a really good job of putting it all together and the storyline is meaningful. It's not typical sci fi though and I don't really think it should be billed as such. It's really only sci fi in the manner that it's taking place in the future on a different planet and he's been in a cyrogenic state for years? (I kinda miss the beginning) in order to be like this. But it's NOT REALLY a sci fi movie. It has some roots there but I wouldn't classify it as that.


Dear John

One of those epic romances that Nicholas Sparks writes. It's moving, it will make you cry. And for those of us who were old enough to REALLY feel the impact of the twin towers falling...it emphasizes how much a life can change. I can't believe that this year will be the ninth anniversary of that. There are children who don't remember it, who have never seen the new york skyline with those towers. Digressing...
If you don't like romance don't see it, because that's what it's about and it's not easy clean romance. It's gritty, it's messy. It's how real romance and love is. But it isn't all about that either. It's about father son relationships and what's it like to be different, and sacrifice. It's really moving. I was expecting a slightly different ending but it kept you on your toes and kept you guessing. It's not exactly a feel good movie, it's much like The Notebook in that way.It will show you love but it won't gloss over things and you won't come out of it feeling like a million dollars.


The Crazies

I was frankly expecting this to suck hardcore. I only went to see it because my sister showed up to the movie theatre too late to see Valentine's Day. Judging from the previews I thought it would be about some neighbors who decide they want revenge on their community and they aren't quite right in the head or something but it's SO NOT. It's far more terrifying then that for good reason. I didn't walk out of it feeling scared and I managed to not scream and make the entire theatre nervous. There are a few good startle spots but generally it's not that kind of movie. There isn't too much blood and gore either. It's scary in a different way and since it just opened it I won't be giving away plot points. It didn't suck hardcore though. I'm quite glad I saw it.

movies

I really should do a post in which I review the movies I've seen recently. Because I would have a lot of fodder.

Let's see, what movies have I seen since I started working a the theatre.
Maybe I should work backwards...or thereabouts. Probably I'll just name them as I think of them.

1. the crazies-saw this today
2. Dear John
3. Avatar
4. When in Rome
5. Wolfman
6. Book of Eli
7. Up In the Air
8. Sherlock Holmes
9. Nine (Oh, look what I did there)
10. The Lovely Bones
11. The Princess and The Frog

That's not really that many, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any others. But I guess in not yet 3 months that's almost one a week. And I did see Avatar three times. And when in Rome twice.

waking up in the morning

I'm terrible at it. My sleeping habits are so fucked up right now. I'm supposed to be at work at 9 tomorrow and I'm terrified I won't wake up in time. So worried about it. I'm debating staying up but I'm so tired. I want to sleep.

Let's hope I wake up in a sensible fashion. Cross all fingers and toes.

I have decided to quit my job (tues. 23)

...at the florist

It's too stressful. I cannot work under this manager. It will be detrimental to my health.

She's constantly switching prices and procedure. I'm a fast learner and I have excellent memory and without the changes being posted somewhere I can refer to there is no way for me to stay on top of them. It's completely impossible. She doesn't post all the changes though. She then blames us. Or at least she blames me.

I don't think she likes me much. I never get frazzled while she's losing her head. Talking to customers appears easier for me. I suspect I'm generally a person more comfortable with myself then she is. I watch her get frazzled dealing with upset customers and she takes it personally. She's a few years younger than me and it's important to her that people like her.

At least this is my assessment and I could be bias because I'm not fond of her.

I think she really started disliking me when I quested something she said. We make confirmation calls if we have left the arrangement on the porch. I call back someone who is a pickup and redelivery. The woman picks up and says it was indeed redelivered. I ask the obvious question of is the arrangement more satisfactory-since I figure that is the goal with a pickup and redelivery. When the woman answers no, my immediate reaction is damage control. What can we do to make it better?

I know people are more likely to spread bad news about a business then good and we lose a potential customer if I don't make it right. Not to mention she is most likely going to complain to the person who bought it.

Please note that I have no idea what the arrangement is, what it is supposed to look like or what the arrangement that went out looked like. I have not memorized all the arrangements-there are hundreds and I'm flying by the seat of my pants to make sure we don't lose a potential customer, since she things the arrangement is hideous.

I finish talking to the woman on the phone and go to update the order on the computer.

Manager girl comes storming out of the office where she has been making corsages off the clock (WHYYYYYY?!?!!!... oh and teaching her friend how to make them instead of teaching me who has never made an orchid corsage and letting her friend waste company money when she messes up) basically yelling that I can't do what I just did. I'm annoyed that she's yelling when there is no reason to. Her points are valid but it in no way constitutes yelling. I understand that if we have to take the arrangement out there three times that means more work and less money for us, and that she isn't the person who ordered the arrangement... There is something that I don't understand and I attempted to ask a clarifying question. I am annoyed with her and my tone may have crossed into that realm but asking-so it doesn't matter what the recipient thinks about the flowers?- seemed reasonable to me.

I figured we have two customers really, the person who placed the order and the person who receives the order. If they are both happy, they use us again. I wasn't trained to believe differently. If I should be thinking differently, the I need clarification. Does this mean we never care about what the recipient thinks, or we only care if the person who placed the order compains, or do we not care on this order because we don't pick up and redeliver more than once, or because this order is under a certain amount?

I do have to interrupt her a little in order to ask the questions because she is continuing to yell and repeating things and it's too close to closing for me to listen to her go on and on about the same thing when all I need is a clarification. It's useless the way she repeats things anyway. It's never any different, it's like the exact same words over and over which isn't a good way to reinforce information. Instead of answering my question, she's all-"are you giving me attitude?"

Gag me. If she had been paying attention...

She never answered my question. I answered no and repeated my question and she stormed back into the office saying..well you've already TOLD the customer that. Completely unhelpful. Is it any wonder I never ask her any questions when an order is unusual. I prefer to call the other store with my questions.

I'm pretty sure she started disliking me then and now she's just being ridiculous.

As soon as I get in-she's telling me she needs to talk to me. About three things that were stupid. Nitpicky. If she ran the store better, maybe she wouldn't need to mention anything...

1. She's telling me for anything put in a vase I have to charge a fill price.

I actually know this already even though she never trained me as such. I read shit on the wall and found out from another co-worker. Manager however has said that when people buy so much flowers the vase in included in the price. Without any "and I'm the manager so I have authority to do this," behind it. I'll admit I didn't charge the guy an extra $25 on his arrangement for fill because I thought it wouldn't be necessary. After all we sell arrangements in the cooler for less then cost of flowers + fill worth. Easy assumption. I work single shifts. I have to make judgement calls when I'm the only one on shift. I'm not going to call her every single order (see above) Maybe we should be trained more throughly. Or maybe we shouldn't work single shifts. Or both. Besides no customer wants me to need to call the manager on every single detail.

2. We can't give away free bears or anything.

Um What the FUCK. I never have. She's referring to a miscommunication (I'm being nice) over Valentines day. Someone called in and wanted two bears, two arrangements and two balloons. I'm pricing for her over the phone and taking her order. The woman prefers pink bears which I don't think we have. Manager girl, in typical micromanage form (which is idiotic the friday before valentines when we are SWAMPED), says we do have pink bears and then says oh, but they have baby girl written on them. The woman decides against those.
I'm being nice and calling chalking the rest of it up to miscommunication. She probably didn't hear that the woman didn't want the pink bears. Manager girl quotes me 14.99 per bear. I had already priced them at 19.99 because that's the medium sized regular teddy. But I change the price accordingly since the manager said so. I don't know all the new Valentine's merchandise by heart, we did get new bears in and it's possible they are 14.99.
She's trying to place the blame on ME! even though SHE was the one with the wrong information. She refuses to let me tag the order, even though the person is coming in in half an hour and she's already behind on tagging. She won't teach anyone else how to tag for some reason. (Because she's an idiot micromanager). Many of the order she is tagging could have been done earlier in the week...
She yelled at me about the price and then was going to give the customer the cheaper 9.99 bears until I pointed out that she quoted me the wrong price. I know in the world of the florist that the total amount of the customer's order isn't a whole lot but shouldn't we be striving for customer loyalty? (She then left the balloon off their arrangement and I had to grab one for the customer later-I'm pretty sure this was her trying to regain the money.... so unimpressed, it was TEN bucks. And she quoted it.)
Anyhow, I don't want to hear about this crap from her, it was as much her fault as it was mine. If she hadn't been trying to interfere or micromanage, they would have been priced at 19.99.


3. Don't accept orders not in our delivery zone.

This literally came out of nowhere. I have saved some orders for Long Beach for us. Some of them the owner printed rather than wiring out because of the money. And everything else has been approved by the owner. Including the order that should have gone to the newport store because it was their delivery zone. But the customer had picked out all the flowers at the irvine store and left a card there. I called the other store and asked what would be easier for them-to pick up the flowers/card from our store or if we should make up and deliver the arrangement. She said she thought that it would be easier for us to deliver but she checked with the owner. He agreed. I still have no idea what the fuck she was talking about. If everything is owner approved...he is kind of higher up then she is.

She managed to put me i such a bad mood within ten minutes of getting on shift.

I've decided to stick it out through march because of spring break while I hunt for a job. But my last day will be the last day of march. I'll ask the scheduling manager at the theatre to ensure me five days if I open my availability and I think he would. So even if I don't have a second job I'd be alright.

And then, I file a complaint with the labor board about their labor code violations. Yes, I'm going to be a bitch about it. Their own damn fault.

ugh-from monday 22

So my computer failed today. Well, actually the computer is fine. Hard drive still excellent. I haven't had battery life in months but as long as it's plugged in, it's been fine. Recently though, it hasn't been recognizing the power cord well and I've often needed to fiddle around with it

I knew I needed a new power cord and a new battery so I priced them about a week ago. Way WAY more expensive then I thought it would be. Coming in somewhere between 250 and 300 dollars even if I was mooching the student discount. My next action was to price a new computer. $800. Had the battery/power cord been under 100 I would have gone out the next day but with it being more than a fourth of the price I started to think maybe the better idea would be to get a new computer since mine is almost six years old. That's six years of using it every day. It's pretty boss.

Since I'm going home to visit my parents soon I figured I'd broach the matter then. I can't afford a new mac on my own and I won't buy a PC. I've been a macintosh girl since I was about six. We used to have one of those old old old green screen macs. We might still have it in the attic.

Since I was planning on convincing them to at least go in with me on a new computer I was planning on backing up my files before I went home

Guess who's computer turned itself off today and won't turn back on.

If you guessed mine you'd be right. Bonus points if you figured out my files haven't been backed up yet.

Triple word score if you guess that I can't fucking remember when I backed up.

Fuck.

Good news? My parents cleared me to get a new computer tomorrow. Maybe a mac genius will save my life. My world is on that computer and I'm praying they can do something that won't cost me a lot. I'm hoping they can make it turn on long enough for me to grab everything. And that the next post will be me cheering how awesome they are.

In other news that goes under the ugh heading, we had a new girl at work. She's a transfer from another theatre. At first she seemed fine but no one I was going to really have an opinion on either way. She was just going to be another co-worker.

By the end of the night tonight I knew I wasn't going to like her. She's young-only 18. Generally I don't like the younger ones. There is just something superficial about them. They haven't really come into their identities. yet and I don't play high school games. I'm not going to lie about being a bit agist. But there is a lot of posturing. I don't need my co-workers to think I'm cool. I want them to think of me as a team player, someone who does a good job and is generally fun to work with. I keep my opinions of my co-workers mostly to myself and don't cause drama.

This girl is going to cause drama. After feeling the waters she started posturing shit and she cocky and immature. She may have worked a year at another theatre but she's new here and has made no effort to become a team player, grousing how she has already paid her dues so she isn't going to pay them here. Her tone of voice is apparently naturally argumentative, she's a know it all and she craves for positive attention.

I gave her a test. I offered to mop the back which surface area wise is bigger and I knew she wasn't going to mop behind the poppers or the drain areas even though we are supposed to. (at two in the morning no one wants to be there longer). But my test was to see how far she would come into the back and mop.

She didn't at all. The other closer was so unimpressed he grabbed a mop to help finish. She didn't even mop all the way to the door.

She failed and I doubt she'll redeem herself.

You always have to pay dues when you are new, even if you are only new to that place.

new computer

I HAVE A NEW COMPUTER.

Two days ago mine was like oh hai, oh no, I'm not going to turn on. Have fun. So I called my dad and was like...erm....new computer s'il vous plait and convinced him that this was a need. IT IS! I pay bills online. I use my computer every single day. But I was told I could get one so I moseyed over to the store and was like macbook please. And then I was like..now how do we move all my files and they were like...we can charge you a fee and then we will move it all for you. And I was like hmmmm, I could buy a new power cable and a flash drive or I can pay for them to move my files (which will be the same cost).

So I gave them both computers and they were like, you can pick it up in 24-48 hours. I was like /catch breath. FORTY EIGHT HOURS?

Luckily they got it back to me within 24 because I would have been climbing the walls before 48 was up. My computer is my life. Seriously.

But now I am on a pretty pretty new Macbook with spiffy features. I still need to figure out how to get my printer to connect but except for that it's literally my old computer but newer and more awesome. Everything I had on my old computer is on this computer. It's awesommeeeee. I'm so enthralled!

And since I wrote out the posts of the last two days longhand-I'll get those up tomorrow.

idolization

Since I've been about fourteen I've idolized Bernadette Peters. For years, I even sent her a birthday card. I've seen her live on stage multiple times, once in Gypsy, a concert in San Francisco, and twice at the Cerritos Center. I have multiple autographs of hers. I own her performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London and I could spend HOURS listening to her Sondheim Etc. HOURS. I used to clean my room to it and I would just keep it on repeat. I lent it out once and someone left a fingerprint on it and it started skipping (my CD, because this was before I had an ipod or even itunes) and I cried until I figured out it wasn't a scratch and could be wiped off and the CD back to new.

I feel like I've been unfaithful to her. She was always first in my acting idolization. There were always others but she was paramount. If she plays and I can go see her, I do. I've never been to a typical concert, a rock band or a pop concert. But I've seen her three times. Once my family accompanied me, once a friend came along. And once, I bought a nose bleed ticket and sat all the way up in the back all by myself but it didn't matter.

But lately, another actress, who isn't even a theatre actress has hypnotized me. She was always on my list of actresses I admired. I tend to like quirky vulnerable people and she is that. I can't say that any of my top six are particularly famous (and these are people who are currently alive, because if I include the Hepburns well, most people know them). They are quirky. Vulnerable. Spunky. But they are not super well known names, with the exception of Idina Menzel but she's not Hollywood famous.

Bernadette Peters. Two time Tony winner and several time nominee.
Kristin Chenoweth Tony Award Winner. I've seen her live too, but she didn't give autographs.
Idina Menzel. Tony Awad Winner and probably the most famous out of them although Chenoweth is well known. But Rent...
Carrie Fisher. Yes, of Star Wars fame.
Karen Allen. Indiana Jone's Marion Ravenwood, and awesome knitress. Seriously. Google her and you will find her knitting page.

And my latest obsession. The one who has replaced Bernadette for the time being. Helena Bonham Carter. Who has never won an academy award. (Shame on the academy I say.) She's the epitome of what I want to be in an actress. She's quirky. Vulnerable, oh so very vulnerable. She just opens her eyes really wide and I want to cry. Spunky. She plays a wide variety of roles. People thought she was going to be typecast as a corset queen and how wrong she proved them. I love period pieces and she's gotten to do many of those. But she's also got the commercial thing going-Harry Potter series anyone? Or Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland to open March 5th. And she's got a cult favorite under her belt-Fight Club. She's done everything. Kids movies, to super risque, her Wings of a Dove love scene was considered the most controversial of an Oscar nominated film ever at the time I believe. She's comfortable with her life and in her skin and in her acting. Or at least she appears to be.

I think the biggest reason she has stolen my heart from Bernadette (not that I'll ever stop loving Bernadette) is that she looks a bit like me. I don't look anything like Bernadette Peters. My hair is wavy at best, and it will never be that kind of ringlet curly. And I'm not a redhead. Not even close. I'm a brunette, similarly colored to Helena's hair. I'm not pale and they both are, but my facial shape resembles Helena's more closely then it does Bernadette's. They are both about my height. But it's the hair that really does it. If my hair is at all curly, it's curly in the way that Helena's is, the sort of kinky waves and body that resembles sex hair, or not brushing it properly. It makes me feel like I'm connected.

I feel almost guilty because Bernadette was my favorite for so long and it's wrong to throw her aside like this when she is the Broadway actress. She has DONE what I want to do and Helena has never done a live musical. Also in terms of singing voices, while Helena's is passable-she did sing in Sweeney Todd and Sondheim approved her for the role of Lovett so all you critics can shut it (if it's good enough for Sondheim it's good enough for me, he wrote the musical), Bernadette is... well she's BERNADETTE PETERS. She's fantastic. Utterly amazing.

Maybe my subconscious is telling me I should try movies.

I feel like I need to reconnect with my love of Bernadette. There is room in my admiration for them both.

side stand of doom

There are three concession stands at my theatre. There is the big one in the middle that has 12 registers. It's huge. It's like the size of the floral shop I work at (if you include the back portion). But then, on the weekends when we are busier, we open the small ones that each have four registers and are down each hallway. One of the registers on the main stand we never use for customers-it's used for employees because we get discounted food on our breaks. There is also the pretzel display right there on the counter space so it makes sense we don't open it.

So today we had all 11 of the main stand registers open. We always have all of them open and since I was coming in on a late shift because I work at the florist on Saturday, I figured I'd have a main stand register. I'd take a 12-8 when they left or they'd have me on food prep until 10 and stick me on one then.

BUT NO.

No, they had stuck me over on South stand. I was like WTF? Not only did they stick me over at South. They stuck me over there BY MYSELF. Which means, you can't leave if there are people walking around, the hall has to be empty or you have to be closed to do things like run to the bathroom or the water fountain. If you are by yourself it is a bitch if you run out of anything because you basically have to pray someone from main stand will come and check and see if you are stocked.

Someone came over like fifteen minutes into my shift, but didn't stock anything which pissed me off because I was half empty on water bottles. So I made up a list of everything I needed and luckily someone came over pretty soon and then started the process of getting me everything I needed.

I resigned myself to side stand, even though I HATE working side stand. I HATE IT. It's typically boring and you have less things than main stand. Today it was even worse. If I had one customer-I had twenty customers, a line that stretched all the way across the hallway to the opposite wall. At one point, I had this line and I could SEE the lines at main stand were shorter. When I mentioned it, did anyone move? No, of course not even though main stand has at least three registers open at any given moment (even if people are on break) and I was all by myself.

Then south stand has the demented cheese. Someone at some point broke the cheese dispenser and so you have to unscrew it and carefully pour the cheese instead of pressing a button. This means that the cheese attempts to spill everywhere. Including on you, and it's HOT. And people kept buying nachos and in my head I'm like fuck you alllllllll. I'm usually so happy to give people what they want, but not when I have broken equipment. And I keep having to run to main stand (through the giant line of people who are like what the fuck is she leaving for?) for one thing or another and I would use these runs to attempt to stock up but I have no idea what the fuck I need to be grabbing and dragging back because I can't anticipate what the people want.

My entire line is getting frustrated with me (even though I TOLD them to go to main stand where the lines were shorter) and I keep running out of this and that. NO ONE from main stand has been over to see if I need jack shit. Some lady yells at me because there is no butter (all our butter is self serve) so I say I'll get someone on that, but there is butter over on the other table she could use. She does one of those -roll eyes, why isn't this girl helping me- even though I'm in the middle of running and getting something for a customer in my line of doom. And some man comes up to the side of the counter to ask for a box.

OKAY, short tangent. IF YOU DO NOT GET A BOX WHEN YOU ARE BUYING YOUR FOOD, DON'T FUCKING INTERRUPT ME AND THE CUSTOMER I'M CURRENTLY HELPING BECAUSE YOU DECIDE NOW YOU NEED A BOX. I HATE YOU IDIOTS. I HATE EVERYONE WHO CUTS THE LINE FOR A BOX OR FOR A REFILL. YOU ARE TAKING MY TIME, THE TIME I'M SUPPOSED TO BE USING FOR THE PERSON WHO WAITED. I think we should have boxes on the ends of the counters, but every time they do they go really fast, but that is no excuse. Anticipate your needs better. If you have three people and you are planning on sharing and I ask you if you need a box and you say no, I am not going to drop everything to give you a box. It wouldn't be such a problem if we had the boxes that popped up or we had a stock of them. But they come flat, and we have to assemble them and while we can do it in thirty seconds or so, I hate ignoring the customer standing at my counter because idiothead came up the side and is now like EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME, CAN I HAVE A BOX.

No you may not, go get in the fucking line again. Too bad.

But anyhow, so it's like two hours of hell over at my stand and it's CLEAR main stand forgot about me and I'm wondering when the fuck I get to close and am I getting a break? Eventually I decide that it looks like they aren't going to give me a break. Which sucks because I had planned on one, but getting off at one is fine as well. But could someone please come and stock me over here? No, of course not.

Serves them right I had extra hot dogs. I HAD TO GRAB some and it's not my fault I inaccurately guessed how many I would sell. I had a line to the wall, and if I had been able to actually think about it, probably I wouldn't have grabbed four at that time.

And the General Manager didn't even speak condescendingly at me when he stopped by. I was impressed. Usually his tone is condescending. But maybe my eyes of doom told him that I was taking a moment of breathing instead of our always be cleaning shit. Which I don't mind, I like keeping my area clean, but after a line of doom, I need a minute or so to re-evaluate what needs to be done ASAP. Something GM doesn't think about I'm pretty sure. But he just mentioned how it would be pretty slow on my side and I responded that I expected them to close me out soon. (Not soon enough, I might mention.)

Anyways, so finally the manager comes over to close me out HALLELUJAH! At this point there is no way in hell that I'm going to tell them they forgot to send me on break. It's 11:15. I hate late breaks. If you don't send me on one so I'm back before 11, I'm going to purposefully not tell you about your mistake. The only time I've taken a break that late was when I took a second break at like 3am because we were allowed to be getting overtime since the regional manager was coming in to check our cleanliness or something so we were madly detailing. And that was sort of a special case because it involved overtime. But seriously, if I'm not out on break by 10:20, I "forget" to remind you.

I get to work closing the side stand, which means now when everyone comes up I get to be all "No, I'm closed, but main stand can help you." And they HAVE to go along with it. MUAHAHA. Even when the woman comes up and is all, you can't even give me my free popcorn (from the rewards card thingy) and I'm like no, no I can't. Sorry. -smile- When secretly I'm like HAHA LADY, GO WALK BACK TO MAIN STANDDDDD. I was feeling particularly vicious today after the nine thousandth customer who tried to talk to me when my back was turn (please learn, I can't fucking hear you, speak to my face, not my ponytail).

So the shift lead comes to help me out and finish the stand and I'm all...still not going to mention it, because there is still a chance they will send me on break and that would be suck. I finish side stand with him and I was going to mop it but then co-worker obviously needs help taking out the trash. We have four carts full so I help him and shift lead has gotten someone else to mop. And so I get started on the counters, and it's like 12:50 and I'm like...five more minutes and I tell the shift lead. So I pretend to see that he added me to mopping and was like...question, is it going to be a problem if I was never sent on break?

Moment of panic sets in, because if I had been called in at 6, they would be on serious break violation. But then he remembers I came in at 8. So he runs and goes to ask a manager. I know there is no way they will send me on break this late, because by the time I came back, they'd be done. So it would be stupid. He comes back, and yes, indeed I get sent home early. WHOOT. Apparently I was supposed to be sent on break at 10 and they forgot! Which is the only good thing that came out of working side stand.

serious things

We got to talking about relationships at work. We talk about a lot of things at work because when there aren't customers and things are stocked and pretty reasonable in the clean wise (at least our counters that we are serving off of-most of the other stuff we leave for closing no sense in cleaning it over and over and over) there isn't anything other to do. Most of us carry our cell phones around for texting when we are out of view of the camera's and the GM. The mangers don't seem to care, but the GM does.

One of the managers was taking inventory over at side stand where I was (we've got three concession stands, one big one and then on the two sides-smaller ones because on weekends we get a LOT of business) and apparently an ex of hers is cheating on his current girlfriend who she knows and she knows he's cheating and who he is cheating with and what he is doing but she can't convince the girl. And the guy has cheated on everyone he's dated.

I made a harmless comment along the lines of "sounds like an asshole like my ex" and thought that was it. About fifteen minutes later, one of my co-workers asked about my ex, after the manager had left. I guess it's a pretty common question when you say someone is an asshole. Most people's curiosity leads them to want to know about the asshole things people do.

I've been asked before and usually my first comments are blow off things, to see how far they will question. My co-workers pressed. And it doesn't take me much to admit exactly what he was. He was abusive. I'm not going to lie about it and lie for him. I don't like to talk about details-exactly what he did to me I don't tell hardly anyone. It's one thing to say I was in an abusive relationship and quite another to start listing out the exacts.

I don't really mind saying I was in one. It's been years now since the relationship ended and I've come to terms with the fact that I was in one. I cannot go back in time and not date him. It's left lasting problems, which there is a possibility I'll talk about here and it's part of the reason I'm not currently looking for any sort of relationship or dating or anything. I want to make sure I'm in a place where I don't give up my identity and dignity when I enter into a relationship with someone.

I could see the news floored both my co-workers. It floors a lot of people, after they've met me. I'm not a victim. I don't act like a victim. Very rarely does something trigger me to the point where I feel flight or fight. There are some things. Usually it's someone who looks a lot like my ex, dressing like him etc, who gives off a vibe that I feel threatened by. If I smell his cologne, that's a big one, I can feel everything prickle. But it's not like all blonde men. It's a very particular look. But if you met me, most people have no idea. It usually comes to them as a shock when, very matter-of-factly, I mention that I was in an abusive relationship.

I get questions. The first always being. "Did he hit you?"

No, no, he never did. Once he shook me, but physically that was the extent of it. It was verbally, emotionally, and sexually. For a long time I didn't include the last one there. It was too embarrassing for me. I've only been admitting that for the past half a year or so. I almost didn't say it tonight. There was a pause and then it was like...no, this happened. It's better when I tell the truth. For me at least. I'm sure other survivors don't want to go that far even. As long as no one presses for details, it's not so bad.

Neither of them pressed today. I would have told them I didn't want to press it. Mostly they wanted to know how I got out. Which is an easy answer, he broke up with me. That also surprised them. But it's the truth. I wouldn't have been able to break up with him, I had wrapped my entire self up in him. My happiness was dependent on him. My identity was as his girlfriend. I needed his approval and affection more than anyone's else. Him breaking up with me was a blessing in disguise. I just didn't know it at the time.

Then people want to know how long I was with him (almost two years). And when it was (high school, my junior and senior years). Nothing that is too difficult to answer. People usually then tell me they are sorry I had to go through that. I nod, understanding that it's difficult for them to know someone who went through that. But I'm not really sorry. Was it awful? Yes. It is probably the hardest thing I've gotten through in my life. But I really know myself now. My identity is much stronger than it ever was before. It has roots. And no one is going to pull the wool over my eyes again. The rose colored glasses of love will not throw off my intuition.

There are negative side effects, for sure. But I feel that for the most part, I have worked through them. A few of them will need to be worked through when I get back into dating but judging by my personal thoughts, it should go smoothly. The majority of things-like no longer having an identity and not drawing to much attention to my own needs and wants, those have already been dealt with. I still have to re-evaluate sometimes. Sometimes I fall into a place where I need to build myself back again. That's what I worry about for relationships, which is why I don't currently have any interest to date. I don't want to end up with someone who would take advantage of those times. I'm being overly cautious but I feel it's a reasonable thing. The time between these incidents are few and far between now.

I also usually get asked if he ever contacted me after that. Which he did. For the next three years. Trying to get back together with me. Eventually I cut off communication and told him I couldn't be his friend (which I don't believe he ever wanted anyhow) and he was never to contact me again. Since then I've had one text, maybe two. I didn't read them. I know his phone number. I delete. He asks about me sometimes and then mutual friends have told me he was asking about me. I usually tell them I'm not interested.

My male co-worker said something weird, about how he thought he was abusive. I brushed it off a bit. Because I think that if you can ask that question, you aren't. If you ask that question you aren't abusive because you are paying attention to your behavior. Maybe I should have directed him to a website that states types of abuse and examples so he could have found out. But I do believe that if he was asking he probably isn't.

Abusers might not consciously call it abuse, but I don't think they question their actions. It seems natural to them. I prefer to think my ex didn't mean to abuse me. It's easier for me to deal with it in that way. But he didn't question his actions. They were natural. I brought it up to him once. After we have broken up, in that period where I was so close to being convinced to getting back together with him. SO. CLOSE. I'm amazed I didn't make a bad decision then. I mentioned my theories of abuse and he jumped to a conclusion I hadn't jumped to yet. So honestly, I think he was more aware then I'd like to think, or at least in the aftermath he has thought about it, but I still prefer to believe he didn't try to do it.

I'm glad I don't fit the preconception. Whatever these two thought a girl who had been in an abusive relationship was like. I'm not that. Which means I've come a long way. Because there was a time where I think that information would have cleared up a lot rather then seeming out of the blue. I'm quite glad to have moved into the latter. Extraordinarily happy.

men's figure skating.

It's no secret I love the Olympics. And I get very emotional over the Olympics. I can't watch any of the events without crying at some point or another.

Note: I'm probably going to butcher a few last names as I'm not bothering to look them up at the moment.

I had seen Evan Lyseack skate the short program a couple of days ago and it was so moving I had tears running down my face before he had finished. I love stories like that and he looked so happy when he finished. So jubilant. He knew he had skated his best and he had given it his all and no matter what the outcome was, he had nothing to be but proud of himself.

Petrchanco also skated a beautiful program but he looked stoic. There was not the same type of joy on his face that there was on Evan's even though he was also working towards a very interesting goal.

It was the same for the free skate tonight. Lyseack skated a program full of joy, it was light and easy. Experience showed off and it was easy for him. It didn't seem like a struggle. It looked how it was supposed to look, dancing on ice. Petrachanco doesn't have the style I like. He's an amazing skater and I loved it when them compared him to a cat, because he was landing jumps that I, who knows nothing about figure skating, thought were going to be near impossible to land.

I actually thought Evan had the better skate time. First would be a blessing. All the things the commentators were saying about what made it negative seemed to me perfect for Evan. There isn't any time to think about it, no chance to compare yourself to the competitors most likely to be up against you in medal position. You only have a moment or so to re-evaluate from your warm up. Basically just enough time to decide that there isn't anything you can do but trust yourself. Which seems perfect for someone who has that sort of experience under his belt.

But looking at Petchanco's face on the medal podium made me wish they could have both gotten gold meals. He hadn't shown much emotion throughout the competition but when they did a close up on his face you could see the longing in his eyes. Lyceack looked young and happy and Petchanco's face looked a bit sad. He had lost the gold medal.

It wasn't the face of someone who had messed up and lost. It was the face of someone who had skated well and hadn't managed to get it and it was moving. I wish he had shown more of that emotion during his program. But he should be proud. He is a three time gold medaler. Although he might want to think twice about making comments about the quad he does. Obviously it didn't win him a gold medal.

more time!

So I'm going to the Harry Potter convention in July. Yes, I am that big of a nerd. But it will be so much fun. I was thinking about submitting a proposal for programming. Basically, I would put together a half hour program on something in the Harry Potter books. And I really wanted to do it, but life caught up with me and I missed the Feb 12 deadline.

BUT! The have now extended the deadline! To February 28th! So now I can come up with something to talk about. I'd probably want to do a roundtable and put my thoughts together and then have people talk about them. I really want to so something on the Black Family, who are my most favorite characters. I like the pureblood bigots. For some reason. I like the bad characters mostly. It's not that I don't like the good characters, but they are so good. I like the misguided. Those who have such conviction but are wrong. I've always liked the romance of the confederacy as well. Despite the fact that they were supporting a cause that was completely and most certainly wrong. There is something just so fascinating about those people. It's easy when you read a book or look back over history, to be able to point out right and wrong. But I'm always curious as to what the people who were/are wrong, what they were thinking at the time. That's always been more interesting then people with the "right" viewpoints. That isn't as interesting.

So I'm hoping that now I can get something together on the Blacks, probably most likely the Black sisters, before the 28th. Wish me luck!

Dear Olympic Commentators,

SHUT THE FUCK UP.



This has always been my complaint about NBC's Olympic Coverage. Do i know anything about most of the sports in either Winter or Summer Olympics? No. Not at all. Do I care? No, not at all. I don't mind between programs or between races if they give me athlete information or explain bits of the sport but in the middle of the program or race please turn your microphone off because I hate you.

I don't want your exclamations when someone takes a fall. I don't want to hear about how devastating this moment is for the athlete or how they are so much better.

THEY ARE AT THE FUCKING OLYMPICS. Whether they win gold or come in dead last, THEY QUALIFIED FOR THE OLYMPICS.

These athletes are some of the best in the world. Sure, I want them to all do their absolute best because it's more interesting for me, but the falls and the mistakes are part of the games. You can't be perfect every time. No matter how much you have practiced. Things happen. Judges don't score in your favor. The snow is slushy. Someone drops a baton. Another athletes knocks you out of the race. Someone else has an unbelievably and unexpected moment of brilliance. These things are all part of the sports.

Each athlete has the pressure of their entire country. The media scrutinizes. They replay mistakes made four years ago if the athlete is a returner. Or they say the athlete is nervous and maybe they aren't prepared for this level. They are prepared! They go to nationals. They go to worlds. The Olympics are something else entirely. Do you watch figure skating world championships every year? Not likely, probably you only watch the Olympics. They've risen to the occasion by showing up.

So NBC commentators. Shut up and let me enjoy the races. Stop criticizing. You aren't competing, you aren't dealing with all the variables the athletes are. I want to enjoy it without your negativity. I hated it during the summer Olympics. I hate it during the Winter Olympics. I wish there was a no commentary option. They make me want to sock em in the face.

filler...

I'm tired and everything I want to blog about would take me a long time to blog about.

I have to be at work tomorrow at 9. I picked up a shift. When I get home I'll write something more interesting.

Figure skating is much win. Polar bears are awesome.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Last year on Valentine's day I baked cookies for people, because I like to share baked goods and because I believe this day is not regulated to the love between people in a relationship. We also have relationships with our family and friends and while they may not be our one true love, the love we have for them is no less meaningful. Your valentine is not just the person you might be in love with but also your entire support system. I see no problem in having my sister as my valentine, or my roommate, or the stranger on the street if I so choose. I prefer to see the holiday not as a commercial event like a lot of people, who find it hijacked by Hallmark and florists and chocolate companies demanding they buy gifts and declare their love. I believe it's another day in which we can be reminded to spread love rather than be selfish. To give rather than to just receive.

Last year, as well as spreading the love to my friends the other thing I did was take a sharpie and write on both my wrists the word love. Valentine's day can be a very hard day for those who are lonely and depressed and I believe strongly in the movement of the organization To Write Love On Her Arms. They are a movement and a community dedicated to helping people struggle with life. It started out as a story about addiction and self injury for Renee and the people who got her into rehab. And grew from there.

This is a project that is near and dear to my heart. Life is hard for many. Even those who seem to have everything are not immune to the hopelessness and helplessness that is depression. Everyone feels alone from time to time, like they are the only person who has ever gone through this and no one will understand so there is no point in opening up. I like that they are working towards a more put together world. Because people need relationships. They need openness and the ability to talk and share and connect with people and in this technological driven world that can often fall by the wayside. Sending an email is not the same type of connectivity that spending time on the phone is, or spending time in person.

I was reminded yesterday about TWLOHA. I often forget about them, or rather, they are not in the forefront of my mind despite how much I respect and honor their work. I was standing in the hallway at work, some of my co-workers next to me as we were waiting to clean one of the theatres. Suddenly I hear a "what's this!" from the girl next to me and out of the corner of my eye I can see her holding the wrist of the other girl. It is upturned and there is clearly a line across it. The girl who's wrist it is claims it's a cat scratch but I know cats don't scratch in that perfect way. Cat scratches that leave that deep a mark tend to be curved. The mark on her wrist is from a razor blade or knife. They talk for a few minutes, the one girl telling the other not to do such things and how she doesn't want to have this conversation with her. The other girl saying how another co-worker had already spoken to her about it. I hear uncertainty in her voice, tension. She doesn't want to talk about it. There is a bit of shame too and I bet she wishes she had hid it better.

The first girl takes a pen and turns the wound into the top of a smiley face. Bright eyes and open mouth and I wonder how this makes the other girl feel. If she feels the move is condescending and making light of her pain or if she appreciates that no one else will know and that the sign of pain has now been turned into a sign of hope. I don't know how she takes it because the moment is over and we have to go sweep. But I am curious.

This reminded me of TWLOHA and how last year I wrote on my arm, as a symbol that if you are a self injurer, you are not alone, whether or not you have an official valentine. I didn't this year. Not because I didn't feel it was any less necessary but because I wasn't sure how my work would take it, and tomorrow I have work at the theatre and tattoos are not allowed and i can't remember how fast sharpie comes off. I'm not even sure if they promoted the movement of doing that like they did last year, they did other things though.

It reminds me to connect with those around me. Because I do not know who is living a life of quiet desperation around me and if making that sort of connection and doing something small to connect the world back together will help bring someone out of the darkness and allow them to go on to do the same to others. Each of us are like a feather alighting on the water of a pond. It's light, and it seems inconsequential but it will still set off the ripples.

...reading the labor code.

So i wrote this last night and then it didn't post. Well, actually my internet decided to act up and was like. BOO, I HATE YOU. So I figured since I wrote it last night, it counts as my blog for yesterday and I'm still on track. WHEE.

So, you know how I've been whining about my manager... Well I've decided to quit there as soon as I can get a new job and I will be job hunting come tomorrow.

But, with my job at the theatre being so stringent about breaks, which I don't get at the florist, I decided to take a look into the labor code for my state.

While I'm not a labor lawyer by any means, from my reading of it, it appears the store (and probably the entire business) is in violation of a few labor laws. Which is curious. And interesting information that I might have to use to my advantage.

I'm asking my lawyer aunt and uncle if they know any labor lawyers I could sit and chat with. So I know for sure if they are in violation or not. But until then, if the manager wants to give me any more grief about stupid things...well, it's nice to know I have bigger information then whether I took the the right min. (which was never posted in the first place so how could anyone know?)

zen

I have decided to be very zen the next two days. I will be zen and I will count to ten and I will not give my two weeks in the middle of the Valentine's rush and walk out of the store because the manager changed procedure or something today and either forgets to tell us or something.

I am very very zen. And I will refuse to talk to her until March. I will not be talking to her tomorrow. This shouldn't be a problem, all she does is sit in the office and do things that the rest of us could do if she bothered to delegate anything, or teach anyone her system so she wasn't stupid stressed and could take a break for a while, while someone else did the same thing.

So I will be very zen.


In other, better news, apparently box is short people because they are all on school break. So I asked one of the managers if someone like me could train and become box as well so when I wasn't needed in concessions, since I don't work five days normally, I could work over at box. She told the manager I was interested in cross training and she was pleased, but the General Manager (who I am not impressed with but he knows what he's doing. It's not the same thing with florist girl) said something how he didn't want people cross training until something. But the managers were sort of like...they might have you do it anyway and just not tell -gen manager's name- That would make me happy. And I've started compiling a list of places I should apply. I have plans.



In not so good news... I may need a new computer. For a while mine has been funky and it's had no battery life so I was planning on buying a new battery, but that's really expensive. Far more expensive then I realized, especially when you add on the fact I need a new power cord. It's about a fourth of the cost of a new computer! So maybe I can convince my parents to help me out a bit and give me some money.

this is probably a good sign

My sister and I went to see Dear John today. And I'm thinking I should start doing movie reviews since I see so many now.

But I had this exchange with one of the managers.

Me: Hey, can I get two for the 4:15 Dear John?
Manager: No.
Me: Are we sold out?
Manager: Yes.
Me: Really?
Manager: Really. I can get you the 5:15.
Me: -looks at sister- Well?
Sister: Um...
Me: What else is playing?
Manager: Well, the 4:15 Dear John...
Me: -smiles- I'll take those.

I think if the manager of the theatre seems to like me enough to joke around with me like that and knows my name and face from a distance (the other day he was halfway down the hall while I was refilling the condiment stand and he said g'night to me) that's a good sign for things like promotions. I haven't been working there THAT long yet.

mr. old and heard of hearing.

I got a call today from this old guy. Well, he didn't sound old. But he informed me he was old. This was our conversation. I admit that I am a bit of a fast speaker, but when I'm on the phone at work, I do talk slower than normal. I run through the welcome greeting because I want to move on to helping people but sometimes people...

Me: Hello, thank you for call [my florist], my name is [my name]. How may I help you?
OLD man: Hello, can you deliver flowers to Connecticut?
Me: To Connecticut?
OLD man: Yes.
Me: Sure, that would be no problem.
OLD man: I need something that will go to Connecticut.
Me: Okay, may I get your phone number?
OLD man: No no, these are going to Connecticut, to Mary Marie.
Me: Yes, I understand. Can I get your phone number first?
OLD man: My what?
Me: -thinking maybe I rushed that last sentence a bit, slow down- Your phone number?
OLD man: I don't understand.
Me: If we have questions about the order we need to be able to get ahold of you. So I need your phone number.
OLD man: See, I'm really OLD and you are talking really fast and I can't understand.
Me: -EVEN slower- Can I get your phone number? (co-worker is giving me a look because I'm talking slower than normal speech now, not just slower than my own speech and I tried to lower my voice a bit because I know my voice can be a bit high pitched and that can be harder for older people to hear)
OLD man: You don't understand. I'm going to order somewhere else.
Me: Okay, have a nice day! (I've moved back to my normal pattern of speech, figuring it won't matter since he refuses to order from us anyhow.)
OLD man: Oh, you have a nice day too. -hangs up-
Me: -thinking- Why could he hear me when I talk my fastest and then ask me to slow down when I was talking at a normal speed?

red roses

I am not a fan of red roses. I used to like them because we always had roses growing in our yard and all the roses you grow in your garden smell good and are pretty. But the roses that come into the florist?

First off, I've never been a huge fan of buds and we only get buds. I never picked buds off the rose bushes we owned. I would only pick roses that had already bloomed a little so it already looked like a pretty flower.

Second, every single person in the world buys red roses for their girlfriend for valentines, anniversary, birthday, anything. I'm not sure if people really WANT red roses or if the people buying roses aren't creative. I'm going to make sure the person I date/marry knows I don't like red roses. Why would anyone want a gift that is the same as everyone else? My mother's favorite flower is a sunflower. My dad gets her sunflowers. Although usually, he just gets flowers out of the yard. They smell.

Which bring me to my third point. The flowers are kinda depressing because they don't smell. They are bred for long life (so we can hold them in the florist for a week if need be and they stay fresh. They still ARE fresh flowers because they've been bred to be. Plus, none of us actually know how long each and every flower has been out on the shelf. We get paid min. wage and only work part time. The policy is everything is fresh, everything in the cooler has been made up today, yesterday at the earliest and everything is guaranteed five days. Most people don't ask about the guarantee though.

Red roses come with baby's breath and if there is anything I don't like more than red roses. It's baby's breath. I'm more picky about flowers then I ever realized.

portion sizes

So I was reading those yahoo blogs/news article things again and there was one about how the FDA is going to make companies change the portion size on things like a bag of chips. They want to do this because the portion size is about an ounce and an ounce is about six chips and who portions out only one ounce, and they want to change it to the portion sizes that most americans eat.

Americans are fat, let's face it. But this is stupid. Maybe instead we should just put on the front how many portions sizes there are in it. Actually I don't know what to do but I will never be able to figure out how many calories I'm eating if they change it to the average American's portion intake. Because I can assure you it's more than I eat. I can figure it out based on the ounce (about six chips). I know I'm going to eat more than six chips and I can easily guesstimate at how many chips I am going to eat because I portion them out into a bowl and don't snack out of the bag.

Maybe instead of worrying so much on putting all this information on food we should teach people how to understand it. Teach in schools healthy eating and portion control and how to read and understand a nutritional label. Because changing it isn't going to help if no one knows how to use it. No one really knows how to use it now. No one is suddenly going to learn how to use it unless they are taught.

It's law now to have the calorie count provided at food places. So we have it on our menu board. No one is like...oh hmmm, let me think about it. They all just groan and say, I don't want to know, why is it there. But it's law, as I keep telling people. And it's good for you to have some idea of how many calories you are putting in your body. That's how American's got fat, or at least in my opinion, not paying attention to what they were eating and stuffing their faces full of everything.

I like the law. I rarely go out to eat, so when I do, it's alright for me to splurge a little. Anything that is way too much calories I ask about the portion size. If it's huge and I know I'm only going to eat half of it, then that's alright. If we are going to change calorie counts on bags of chips they should just put the calorie count for the entire bag somewhere. THAT would be easily understood by all. Put it on the front too. That wouldn't be confusing. I can divide in order to find out what my portion is. I can guesstimate how much of the bag I'm eating. The stupid people would know as well.

Superbowl

I'm not a football fan. I've never watched the Superbowl, not even for the ads. Usually, I forget about it.

This year was a little different. I had a friend who was really excited about the super bowl and since I have family in Louisiana, I decided to root for the Saints. I also have family in Indiana, but I found out the Colts were playing after I found out the Saints were playing and so they lost out.

I had to work, so I still didn't watch the superbowl. But I got text updates from my friend in Louisiana. After I remembered that today was superbowl sunday and she'd be watching and I kinda wanted to know what was going on.

This was probably the most fun Superbowl I have ever had. A couple of the guys at work bet on the game. One of them doesn't really care about football (or about the two teams playing, I forget which is was) and he bet on the Colts because the other guy was a Saints fan. So he was super happy for most of the game and one of the managers and me were getting to hear all about it (although we were both rooting for the Saints and being sad the Colts were ahead). I'm getting updates from my friend in LA, ever since I texted her and I texted her right before the Saints started earning back points. It was when the Colts were ahead by 7. So I was like...plenty of comeback time. And it was at that point that the Saints started making all their points back.

WHICH WAS SO EXCITING. Everytime someone scored I got a text and I'd get the update and it felt like my rooting for them had an impact even though I'm in California and wasn't even watching the game. It was awesome. And I will be happy to see the Saints fan of the two betting boys get to rub it in the other guy's face a bit.

So I'm thinking sometime I'm going to have to do the actual Superbowl thing sometime. Watch it on the TV and whatnot. Maybe one day I'll try to actually go to the game. Maybe when one of my hometown teams are playing. Although I don't think they've made the play offs in years. I'm not sure. I'm not really a football fan. I'm not really much of a sports girl. But I get into games when someone else is watching and I have a half decent understanding of what is going on.

Minus the Olympics. I'll watch all Olympic sports and be super excited. I have a cheering order down. United States, home country, Italy and France, and then random underdogs from random countries. I'm SO excited for the Olympics. Friday.

13 Things Your Florist Won't Tell You.

So I saw this on Yahoo today and I was like...OH I work at a florist, let's see if they are on the money or if I have no idea what they are talking about, faulty information.


1. If you want more flowers for your money, find a florist in your recipient's town and call him directly. But it's harder than you think: some florists in the yellow pages and at the top of your Google search are national businesses masquerading as local ones. They even buy local phone numbers. So make sure you look for a physical address in town.

This is true. It's better to call the florist it's going to. If you call me and you want the flowers to go somewhere that isn't our delivery zone, we have to wire the flowers out to someone else. There is a minimum you must meet, plus delivery and really we only get the tax (or the delivery-I don't remember the exact details). We have to pay that florist at a later date. They might make you a smaller arrangement because they aren't getting the full amount you pay us since we are being a middleman for you. But, if you are getting a fairly large arrangement anyhow, it isn't going to make that much difference and if you trust your local florist, and want to be loyal, they will appreciate that.
And they are right about being careful, it's not so bad with the national businesses, if they own a local florist in the area. But there are companies that aren't really florists masquerading as such. They are middle men and you pay them and they take a cut and then send the order to a florist. WE HATE GETTING ORDERS FROM THEM. (Not 1-800 flowers, or FTD, or Teleflora, because those are large well reputed companies and they pay us well.) But some of these other middle men companies take forever to pay the local florist and we have to bug them and bug them for our money.


2. Our smartest customers ask for a bunch of those packets. Most of us will gladly give you extras.

They are totally free. We don't care how many you take if you are buying flowers from us. Most people don't take any.


3. Put away those scissors, which can crush the stem. Instead, use a sharp, non-serrated knife to cut a quarter of an inch off the bottom of stems, at an angle. While you're at it, cut off those leaves below the water line. They breed bacteria.

At my florist if you are buying cut flowers, we will cut the stems for you and unless the flowers are out of water for a long time, you won't need to recut them. But yes, a knife works better than scissors, but if you have gardening shears those are even better. 45 degree angle. If you are getting a vase full of treated water from us, there is less worry about the bacteria, but if you are just bringing home flowers, you should make sure the leaves aren't under the water.


4. Looking for a way to jazz up your red roses? Try pairing them with purple statice or heather. Or ask us: "What can you put in that will really make her roses stand out?"

If you don't want the baby's breath, please do not ask me to pick some other filler unless you know which one you want or you are going to trust my judgement and aren't going to waver about it. At my store, baby's breath is the only one that we are supposed to wrap with. If it's requested we can wrap with something else but we don't offer because those are more expensive then the baby's breath and the filler comes free with your flowers. But if you are going to put something other than baby's breath I think waxflower looks really pretty.


5. Believe it or not, weddings are not that profitable for most of us, mainly because of labor costs. But we're banking on your future business. Once we do a wedding for you and do it right, you're a customer for life.

It rather depends on what you want and how big a discount we are giving you for ordering a lot of flowers. But we do hope you'll come back.


6. Thanks for continuing to buy flowers, even in this economy. We really do understand why you're choosing floating bowls instead of $50 centerpieces for your wedding. And why you're sending your wife a mixed bouquet every week instead of the $50 roses. But that's part of the reason our business is down by 8 or 9 percent.

We do appreciate the business. But because we are a business we can't upgrade anything unless you pay, especially when our business is down because of the economy. Please don't ask the shopgirl, I plan on keeping my job. My job is worth more than adding a couple roses to your arrangement for free.


7. What's trendy? Tropical flowers in a geometric vase without a lot of greenery, mounded arrangements of just one type of flower, and woody branches with fruit or berries.

Tropical arrangements without greenery look stupid. Mixed bouquets look better and if I wanted a tree branch I'd go to the forest. Stick to what the person likes, don't go with the trends.


8. Speaking of Valentine's Day, how about thinking outside the box? Lots of women would love a vase filled with red tulips still in the bulb.

We don't do tulips in the bulb. That would be a special order so you can't get those unless you pre order them a few days in advance. But outside the box of 1 dozen red roses would be awesome. Not all women are enamored with red roses (I'm not.) Plus you look more thoughtful and creative when you don't get what EVERY OTHER PERSON is getting, and for Valentines day, that's red roses.


9. A box of dead flowers for your friend's 40th birthday – ha! – that's funny. But you'll have to look somewhere else. Come on, my name goes on that.

Don't even ask us questions like that.


10. Do you like cold baths? Neither do flowers.

I have no idea what the hell they are talking about. We don't give flowers baths. And flowers are fine in coolers in cold water (we do keep out arrangements in a COOLER after all.) However, if you want your flowers to open up, warm water will help speed the process along. You won't get to enjoy the arrangement as long then. That's why you sometimes get arrangements and the flowers look weird. We prefer to not give you the most open flowers. Your arrangement will last longer if we give you the ones that or half or less bloomed.


11. Do us a favor and choose your bridesmaids' dresses before you come to us about your wedding. But after spending an hour with you picking flowers, it's a bit of a drag to do it again six months later because you ended up picking different color dresses.

We don't like it when you change your mind. Period. Especially if it is near the time of the wedding. For that matter, don't leave your flowers until the last minute. You won't have as many options.


12. Don't buy your wedding flowers at Costco then ask me to design them for you. Would you buy your steaks there, then bring them to the caterer to prepare?

Yes, the flowers at Albertson's and Costco are cheaper. There is a reason for that. If you aren't buying the flowers from us we aren't going to design them for you. This goes for everyday things as well as weddings. Also, don't try to get the designer's number so you can deal with him and not go through the store. We are unimpressed.


13. Call to complain because your flowers died after just three days, and we know you probably didn't even add water to the vase.

My florist guarantees everything out of our cooler for at least 5 days. If it died sooner than that, I'm betting it's the water. Or you didn't give it the free flower food we offer. And I've gotten a call from a person who never put water in a vase. Those flowers died fast. Needless to say, they received no refund.


Sure, you can order flowers at 3 a.m. from 1-800-Flowers, FTD, or Teleflora. But they'll charge you $15 and then just call us.

Yes. They do. In the morning our computer is filled with orders people placed online from those three places. But they don't really charge you more. At least not at my florist. They take part of the cut, but the arrangement wouldn't have been cheaper usually if you ordered straight from us. Most of us salespeople take the pricing right off those websites, since we are affiliated. Also the flower prices on our website is the prices that those places give. At least for the ones that say "delivered by a local florist." We don't ship things in gift boxes. If you are getting 2 dozen roses for a ridiculously cheap price because it's being shipped in a gift box, we don't match those prices. Actually, we don't have any price matching.


Most flower shops restock on Monday mornings, so that's the time to place an order. Fridays and Saturdays are good days to ask what's on special.

I hated this one. We restock when we need flowers, there is no hard and fast rule. Today, Saturday, we got a bunch of flowers in, because we needed them. We don't do specials on Fridays or Saturdays. The only special we have is half off cut flowers on Sundays, but the choice is limited. Normally we don't get flowers in on Sat or Sunday so there will be less in the store. But throughout the week, we normally get flowers every day. Sometimes though we'll hve lots of flowers to chose from on Sunday afternoons because of delivery orders that required certain flowers. If you order a few days in advance we want you to get what you ordered and we will get the right flowers in from our distributer. Unlike when you order same day and you are stuck with what is in the store. Sometimes this means we'll have lots of extra flowers in the cut flower section because we only needed a few for the design but we get them in bulk.


Out of preservative? Try this: one fourth 7Up, three fourths water, and two or three drops of bleach.

True! I've never used 7UP though. I use a bit of bleach when I don't have treated water though. It's especially useful for carnations because it keeps away the bacteria that tends to grow on them. I knew this before I worked at a florist. My dad does it for the flowers from our backyard.


Ask for a discount. We give one to senior citizens, professional groups, and customers we like.

We don't do discounts for senior citizens of professional groups unless you set up a specific kind of account with us. However, if we like you, the salesgirl might find a way to shave some dollars off your order. Don't ASK. If we like you, we'll do it for you. We'll help you out in the limited ways that we can. Asking usually makes it look like you are looking for handouts. After all, I'm not authorized to give a discount. The owner is, and the manager is. But I'm not. And I won't risk my job for it. If I think that handing you a coupon to use right now is going to make you a loyal customer, then I will do it. Especially if you have a big order. I can justify that with my boss later should they ask. I won't bother if you are asking for something I can't give. Don't ask for anything major. I'm not going to add half a dozen roses to your bouquet free of charge. EVER.


The trick to making flowers last: Cut the stems at an angle and change the water at least every other day. And use the floral preservative we give you, not copper pennies.

I talked a bit about this. Cut the stems at an angle for sure, although we will do it for you. If you are getting something that already has treated water you won't need to change it for a few days. And yes, the flower food we give you is better than copper pennies. Who started that rumor?


Don't forget to wash the vase with soap when you change the water. Otherwise, the bacteria clinging to the sides will contaminate your new water.

If you are changing the water every other day and using a bit of bleach in it, you'll probably be alright. You don't want to have to redesign your flowers every couple of days anyhow. What would be the point in that.


How fresh is your rose? Look closely at the bottom of the blossom and see how many outside petals have been removed. The more ripped petals you see, the older it is.

We do rip petals off your roses. We have to clean them. They get bruised and ripped in transport. And while I think the little petals on the outside give the flower a cool antique look, most people don't like uncleaned flowers. They look dirtier and older. But they are still fresh. Sometimes we'll have to rip more petals off. But usually we do it so you can't tell we've been ripping petals off. Most people then need us to explain and not everyone understands. The best way to tell if your rose is good is to touch it near the base. If it's firm, it's going to last. If it's not firm, your florist shouldn't have it out still. It should be used for petals.


That cheap glass vase that came with your bouquet? Most of us will gladly recycle it if you return it.

We've never had anyone return a vase. But I'm sure we would. It would save us a few pennies, and the owner of my shop believes in saving pennies.


Fruit is the enemy. It emits ethylene gas, so even in a separate bowl a few inches away, it's a surefire flower killer.

Fruit and flower baskets? Why? Just Why? This is true. It's a pain because we have to wrap up all the fruit we buy for fruit and flower baskets in extra secure manner in order to not effect the flowers. Don't feel flowers in your kitchen near your fruit bowl.


Yes, your flowers look beautiful in the window, but the heat from direct sunlight will kill them in a day or two.

The flowers are really bred to stand in direct sunlight. They aren't exactly like the flowers we grow outside in nature. When they stop being growing plants, it changes their approach to sunlight.


You can buy the cheaper Valentine's Day roses at the gas station. But they may droop or lose petals the next day. They were probably cut weeks ago and put in cold storage.

So true. Florists get better quality of roses. We get the long stemmed types, which actually has nothing to do with the length of the stem. Gas stations and most grocery stores don't get this type of rose because they are more expensive. They last longer though. Long stemmed roses is a term for the best quality. So even if their stems aren't super duper long, if they are of good quality they are along stemmed. We do not carry short stemmed roses. It's a quality thing.


It's not your nose. Many flowers today don't have much scent, because growers are breeding for long stems and a lengthy vase life instead.

Sad, isn't it. We do still get fragrant flowers in. Most of our roses have some sort of scent after they've been out of the cooler for a few hours. Stock is fragrant. So are stargazers and casablanca lilies. Even some carnations are. Most likely though, your arrangement won't be all that scented.


We didn't choose February. If it were up to us, Valentine's Day would be in the summer, when roses are actually in season.

There is a reason roses are expensive this time of year. High demand and they aren't in season. We get them all year round. It would be a lot easier if it was in season, I can only assume we are getting them in from where they are in season. Probably Chile, like where our fruit comes from this time of year.

staying on track

I really don't have anything to say today. I had so much stuff I wanted to do today but it rained and I got hardly anything done. But I'm staying on target and blogging today anyway.

Saw When In Rome for the second time. Kristen Bell is adorable. It's a cute entertaining movie and i don't care what the critics or reviewers say. I was entertained. Therefore, happy. Of course, all movies are better when free. I can only imagine how much MORE I would have hated Book of Eli had I had to pay for it. I would have probably asked for my money back.

I work all day tomorrow. Joy.

...

I hate the manager at one of my jobs.

At one job I have a lot of managers and they are all cool. If they have to write us up for something it's because it's policy, not because they are really that annoyed. They are nice people for the most part it seems but if they need to get all manager-like it's not really a personal thing. And they were totally trained to be managers, so they know how to talk to people.

At my other job, I have one manager. She's "new to being a manager" but she's been a manager for almost six months now and in my opinion by that time you should know what you are doing. I learned both my jobs in a week or less, and while I appreciate there might be a steeper learning curve for running an entire store by herself, I'm not impressed. We are constantly out of something or another because she isn't on top of stuff. She leaves long ass to do lists for one person to do (because we have single person shifts) and if we don't get it done she leaves us passive aggressive notes on our punch in boxes about how she "specifically asked us to do such and such."

I got one of these today and I wanted to punch her in the face. On tuesday she asked me to do several things, including cleaning the designer area and sweeping the bathroom. This is all ON TOP of my normal daily duties and dealing with all the new plants that came into the store that day. 25 different plants that all needed to be priced and found a spot. Which takes time.

So I did my daily duties because those are most important and i put away the plants because I couldn't have them sitting in the middle of the store on the floor. And I managed to get most of the stuff done on the list. Minus the designer area and the bathroom. With the customers that came into the store (and note it IS the week before Valentines day and there is a Winter Formal this saturday AND next saturday so we have a bunch of corsage orders), and the fact that I had to EAT at some point in order to not starve, I didn't get around to them before it was time to close. I didn't purposefully blow them off, but by the time I had time to do them it was closing time and I wasn't going to stick around for another hour in order to finish the list. I'm not even ALLOWED to do that.

Of course, it never crossed her mind that I ran out of time because I am one person and I had a lot of stuff to do that day. Oh no. No, I'm blatantly disrespecting her authority. Pisses me off. I'm a very good employee. And she is like la la la...pay no attention to my record, no I must be trying to annoy her.

Also with this passive aggressive note (which she COULD have told me in person-except she can't do confrontation even with customers-because she has all the shifts before mine except on weekends) she reminded me that plants were 34.99 NOT 29.99 and that I should be taping the 16" vases with GREEN tape not CLEAR. I'll fully own up to the fact I priced them at 29.99, but in my defense, 6" plants are listed on our pricing sheet as 29.99. I CHECKED. Because I couldn't remember. Because I haven't memorized EVERY item in store. If she'd update these things once in a while, maybe when someone forgot it would still end up getting priced right. And as for the vases. I taped three boxes of 16" vases with GREEN tape before I ran out, at which point I stopped because she had given me a huge to do list.

I pointed that out to her. It's one thing to call me out on something I do wrong (even if it's an honest mistake) and it's quite another to be blaming shit on me that I didn't do. So I called her out on it, because I'm tired of taking shit from her for no good reason. I told her that I didn't tape anything with clear tape.
She told me she saw me. Number one, she couldn't have because I didn't DO it. I know how to fucking tape vases thank you very much. Second, if she saw me taping with clear tape then she would have and should have told me to stop. I taped some bubble bowls with clear tape (like they are supposed to be) and everything else with green. Until I ran out.

I'm tired of getting this sort of shit from her. If I was a bad employee I would understand. But I'm not. She KNOWS I'm not because she gave me a glowing review for my other job when I was applying. So she needs to shut up and let me do my job without pissing me off because sooner rather than later, if this continues I'm getting the hell out. The minute I can get a job to replace it I'm giving my two weeks. Technically I could give it now because I work at the theatre and I could beg more hours there. But I want the extra money. I don't really want to look for a different job but she's SO obnoxious. I can't stand it.

To finish my rant. I'm also tired of her making inappropriate comments while at work. She's actually younger than me (yes, this bothers me a little bit) and she can be very immature at times. Work isn't really a place for "that's what she said." You can't really be friends with a manager unless they know when it's being a friend and being a manager and how to distinguish. She can't and yet she tries to be all our friends. She makes the schedule and only pays attention to her wants and needs. She takes my shifts when she needs to have 4 a week and someone else is getting a morning shift for whatever reason. But I AM SUPPORTING MYSELF. I need the fucking money. Also, in this next week, Valentines week, she managed to give herself over 10 hours of overtime and me none. (We get overtime if we work more than 40 hours a week and she's at 51 for next week and I'm at 38.) I am unimpressed. I rearranged my schedule AT HER REQUEST and I'm not even getting an HOUR of overtime. Are you fucking kidding me? -.-