Why I've Been M.I.A. For A Few Days...

Know what's fun? Going home for Thanksgiving.

What's not fun? Coming back with food poisoning...

B of A Somewhat Redeemed.

I figured out the secret to bypassing B of A's customer service hell: Call on the weekends.

I was trying to sort out some new account/old account mayhem and I immediately got a couple of the nicest customer service people I've ever spoken to on the line. Like, people I wouldn't mind hanging out with kind of nice.

I'm not saying that they've been fully forgiven for the previous incident, but I feel a bit better about them now.

Ugh... I Think I'm Getting Too Old For This...

Work was pretty fun today, despite waking up late and only having five minutes to get out the door. It ended up being a "half" day today, but I still feel like I went a full 12 hours of real work.

My plan for the rest of the night: watch TV and eat ice cream. Yum.

(Oh, and we stayed indoors for the better part of day, but the air didn't seem that bad anyway.)

Sucky Air, Sucky Weekend.

I'm going a bit stir crazy right now. I haven't left my apartment all weekend except to go get the mail yesterday. Because of the poor air quality from the fires, everyone has been advised to stay indoors.

I've got a shoot to go to tomorrow though, and it's out in Santa Monica where the air is supposedly even worse. Hopefully it won't be so bad.

Baking GALS - Food For Thought

As my team host/manager can probably verify, I had a ton of questions about sending a care package to our soldier. I've never sent anything to an APO address before, or out of the country, so I had a million questions floating around in my head. How much would it cost? Is there a weight limit? Do I have to package it in a certain way? How long would it take to get there?

So I packed up Amie's cookies, cookies, and more cookies, along with some Lemon Heads, Blow Pops (I figured they might've missed Halloween), packs of gum, and some Lipton Green Tea On The Go. The package, with all it's sugar coma inducing glory, weighed a little over four pounds!

Luckily, after waiting in line for what seemed like forever (I usually don't do post office lines. I'm APC proficient!), I found myself being helped by a kind, older gentleman who I soon learned had been working there since at least 1996. Unlike his co-worker beside him, he always had a smile on his face and took the time to answer all of my questions. The whold thing ended up costing me about $11 to send via parcel post ($17 for Priority. Next time, I think I'll consider using a flat rate box!).

As he was pushing some buttons on his computer and making markings on the box, the teller, glancing at the name, asked me if she was coming home for Christmas. I told him I didn't know her and explained the Baking GALS project, and he seemed impressed.

But after our transaction was finished and I headed back to my car, enjoying warm sunshine and crisp autumn air, his question hit me like a ton of bricks. Does she get to come home for Christmas? And if not, when does she get to come home? Does she have a family waiting for her? How long has she been gone? How old is she?

When I signed onto a baking team, I felt like it was the right thing to do. I had the time, energy, and the means to participate, and I knew it'd make some people, who are working very hard for this country, our country, very happy. I knew there was a person I'd be sending things too, and as I put together her package, my mind was filled with thoughts of what else she might like. Doing all this made me feel good inside. But for some reason, she didn't seem all that real to me. I've been treating her like a friend who had just gone off to college. I made her cookies and sent her reminders of "home". But you know what? She's not my friend. I don't know anything about her. And she didn't just go off to college. She went off to serve our country. To fight in a war. Thousands of miles from wherever she considers home. Who knows when she'll be coming back? And how many Halloweens, Thanksgivings, Christmases and birthdays will she (and has she) miss?

I suddenly find myself wishing I could've done more. Maybe signed onto multple teams. Perhaps load the box up more with more thoughtful items. Or perhaps instead of treating this whole thing like a project to feel better about myself, actually stop and think about those on the recieving end of these packages.

All this from one simple question asked by a USPS employee.

Rewrites.

Amendment to previous list of goals:

I'll clean one "problem" area of my apartment a day, unless I'm working. There's simply no way I can fit both in if I'm going to take either job seriously. Plus, otherwise it means that my new resolutions didn't even make it through two days. =Þ

Confessions of a Shopaholic

So I've gotten about halfway through the book, and OMG, this girl is stupid.

Maybe it's all this financial stuff that's going on in the world lately that's taking the fun out of this book, but seriously, what else are you supposed to think about a girl who actually ends up spending more money when she's trying to scrimp and save?

Either you're supposed to find her antics "hilarious" (I fail to see what's funny about pretending to never get those collection notices) or you're supposed to empathize with her situation (the need to cut back on spending is understandable. The way she does it, is not.). If the latter's true, then I'm starting to understand how the world got into this financial mess to begin with.

It's because I'm surrounded by idiots.

And PS: I can't stop picturing the main character as Isla Fisher.

And So It Begins...

It's been a few days since my End Of October Manifesto, and I'm happy to say that I've kept it up... Sort of.

My kitchen table is now usable and so is my desk thanks to some quick de-cluttering, which is a small step, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. As much as I would've liked to tackle bigger "problem areas" of my apartment, I just haven't really had the time or energy over the last couple of days.

But I am proud to report that the work related goal is getting some good attention. I landed a gig for this weekend and gained a new piece of equipment for my arsenal that I've wanted for a really long time but haven't been able to afford. Luckily, I was able to buy one (barely) used for a pretty good price, and I brought it home last night. Yay! And it's awesome timing too since I can test it out at work this weekend and see if it needs any adjustments or something. I can breathe a little easier now. =)

And tonight, since there's nothing really on TV that I feel like watching and my ass is going to be numb if I spend another minute in this computer chair, I'm going to spend the evening reading a book. I haven't done that in what feels like ages. And to start with, I'll be reading Confessions of a Shopaholic. Chick lit, I know, but it should be a fun read. Things are a bit too depressing right now to read anything serious anyway.