Posts Tagged ‘gettin’ yer doll on’

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One step forward, severe danger of cargasm, & thank the gods for 24 hour tea.

August 23rd, 2010, posted in LA Livin', girl valet, money, work

One more off the list…
One of my fellow dolls got a gig up at Big Sur doing an internship in her actual field of expertise. In true Doll fashion, we all wished her well on an escape from LA that didn’t require Kurt Russel or large explosions and then took a look around to see which of her shifts could be picked up to fill in our own gaps.

You see, D pretty much had a lock on this little place called LPC for lunch shifts five days a week. Restaurants are great things for us because they have a much higher cash yield, so those shifts are in heavy demand. With my schedule, I was able to call dibs on Wed & Fri lunch shifts, thus leaving me free to still pick up shifts for other parties in the evenings if I was so inclined.

Wed went fine – LPC is a small place with a tiny parking lot, so it’s not so much a difficult gig as one where you just have to hustle when you’re the only one there. The result being that when I counted out the cash yield for Wed afternoon, the result was exactly the amount needed to finish paying off the 2nd of my three tickets. (I’d had the cash about two weeks ago, but then I had to dip into it to pay for things like, gas and food and… life.)
However, when I counted up, did the addition, & realized I’d ended up with precisely $122 in the Orange Clutch Purse o’ Doom, I figured that was a sign from the cosmos that it was time to ante up & get that out of the way, so one visit to an actual Bank of America teller, 2 hours to let the deposit process & a virtual pit stop at the City of West Hollywood’s website later, I am now two tickets down, one to go. :fist of triumph!:

Really, my only issue with working LPC shifts is the uniform – black pants, white shirt, black vest. This doesn’t sound so bad until you figure in that it’s from 11 – 2:30pm, during the hottest part of the day and it’s in the high nineties in the friggin’ valley. Ugh. First thing I had to do was go home & shower. That right there? Prime example of why I don’t live in the Valley — the temperature dropped ten degrees just in driving home to WeHo.

SwissOutpost and Swiss Knife Depot

Alert! Possible cargasm!
Here’s the thing – when you work for three different valet companies, after a while you can get a little… jaded. In my case, this often means that I simply leave my uniform in the car for a day or two at a shot, change into it when I get onsite, and usually tend not to look up where I’m going until that day without verifying anything beyond the address, never mind the site for the event. Last week, I moseyed off to an address in Bev Hills about two miles from my place for a three-hour shift which as I mentioned to Chalecki made me feel like I was off to see Gilligan.
I did not, in fact, find Gilligan. Intead I discovered I was working an event at the McLaren dealership, which is just… I’m not gonna lie, it was hot. They were unveiling the new model, so as you might guess, the cars of the attendees were also just so sick, I can’t even tell you.

Now, I’ve been a valet on & off for about six years now, and I’ve driven a lot of cars – Hell, I’ve driven a Bugatti. (Sadly, McLaren is one of the few that are still on the “not tried yet” list, along with a Shelby Cobra.) But with the cars that pulled up that night, even I was like, “Oh holy Jesus, look at this hardware…” Multiple Ferraris, a Lamborghini, three Rolls Royces that I saw… it was rockin’.
The problem for a valet company in this situation being… having valets with the experience to actually drive cars of that caliber.

Illustration of this being when one of the guys got into a Lotus & could not start it. Ya know what? We don’t have time for that. I realize that Prem!Co doesn’t do as much high-end or celebrity stuff as I do with the Dolls, but sitting out front of the McLaren dealership with two Porsches behind you & the dealers standing next to the Lotus telling you, “If you can’t drive it, find someone that can” — that is not the time to try your hand at a car like that. The guy was just sitting there & wouldn’t give up on not being able to drive & the dealers were all, “Does anyone here know how to drive this car properly?” So I went, “um, I do.” So they kicked my fellow valet out of the car, instructed him not to go near anything more than a BMW for the rest of the night, & handed it over to me.
(Yes, this event was so up there that a BMW was the common car for the night.)

And for the rest of the night, that’s the way it went – something tricky & high-end came up, & they held it for me to take, which was kind of funny for the event attendees, as I heard several of them remark on the fact that the girl was getting all the expensive stuff. After I parked the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4, one of the guys Sean looked over & informed me “:sigh: You’re my new enemy.”
I laughed & asked, “Is it because they’re giving me all the good cars?”
“Dude – you just got the Lamborghini & I’m parking a friggin’ Prius!”

Here’s the thing – and this is what I explained to Sean on the walk back to the staging area – yeah, I got the “better” cars, but that also means that it’s my ass on the line if something goes wrong. The garage we were using by the WGA theatre is not big, the driveways are narrow & twisty, and there’s not a lot of wiggle room. So if when I’m going around the turn between the metal railing and the cement wall with that Rolls Royce whose hood appears to reach out Buzz Lightyear style and something scrapes… I’m the one that’s eff’d. Financially, the company will pay for things, but to appease that owner, I’d probably be fired. That’s the risk you take every time you get into a car like that – there is no room for error. Period.

One of the guys found that out when I was off on another run & he decided to go & pick up one of the Rolls Royces even though it was marked as one of the ones that only I was allowed to get. He made it out & delivered the car okay, but afterward he said, “I thought it’d be fun, but holy sh*t, I got in & realized how much that thing was worth & I’ve never been so scared in my life as when I drove that car.” There was really nothing I could say except, “Well, yah. Welcome to my world.”

Will say though – the downshift on the paddle control for the Ferrari transmission is way smoother than the Lamborghini – one of the guys waiting for his car seemed rather proud of me when he asked how I was liking the automotive selection & that was my answer — seems that Ferrari’s been working on that aspect for a bit now, so congrats guys, job well done.

Meanwhile, I still have not driven a damn McLaren. :sigh:

playing at McLaren

my night in a photo - I parked the Rolls next to the Ferrari after I brought the Audi R8 back to its owner.

Nothing says awesome like 24 hour tea.
Finally, the freelancer’s dream has opened in my neighborhood – a 24 hour coffee shop. The Coffee T Bar is totally my new favorite thing. It’s there! Whenever I am! I less-than-three it!

I’d been up during the day already just to make sure I knew where to park, etc. Then after I got out of the McLaren gig, I tried out the 24-hour aspect of it & found that on a Thursday night, it was awesomely chill, which may have to do with the fact that it’s also a hookah bar. Thankfully the space is in what looks like a converted Pinkberry, so there’s a huge long outdoor area, thus making it possible for me to work & not have to smell the smoke from someone else’s Raspberry Dream.

Between the free parking just south of Sunset, comfy couches, protected outdoor space with copious electrical outlets, and unlimited internet access, I think I’ve found the answer to my quandry of attempting to cram design work in while everyone else is sleeping versus the tempting haven of napping that is my bed when I work at home. Add in the fact that the switch from techno to Bon Jovi’s greatest hits would indicate that the playlist is employee-controlled, and I think we have a winner.

Plus on the way out they gave me free cookies. I don’t know which one of you miscreants told them that I’m easily bribed by free food, but hey – it’s workin’ just fine.

Music: Everywhere I Go – Lissie (Why You Runnin’ – EP)Why


Dog Days of Summer Sale - Up to 50% off

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parking cars, building walls, and creating structure: oh yeah, I’m livin’ the dream.

August 4th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', girl valet, money, rowing, screw you cosmic muffin, semantics, work

Friday
I keep thinking I need to get one of those Nike watches so that I can clock how far I actually run/walk/traverse in a weekend. Not that it’ll affect anything, just out of curiosity.

HCR is a studio lot – we don’t really valet people’s cars here so much as direct traffic and shfit things around when it gets full enough that parking becomes double-stacked & others are blocked in. Honestly, it’s one of the easier sites I’ve ever worked – I did my first shift yesterday because they needed help this week, & I signed up for another shift next week. Non-tip means that you automatically get $3 more an hour, and the fact that once the call times have passed you’re basically watching a dead parking lot means that I can bring my computer & possibly get some coding done. Add in that it’s only about 1.5 miles from my apartment, and I think I’ve found my new favorite shift.

Friday’s offline project is starting to code the redesign of my portfolio site. it took a while to get something that I didn’t hate, and this I think I can live with for a bit. My present site is woefully behind both in style and in the work that I’ve done since then, so ya know. It’s time.

Best Reason Heard Today of why to let someone park in a spot that lets them keep their keys:
“I’ve got a gun in the car.”

:hands up: Hey, man, park away and keep your keys. No worries.

Friday night:
Shifting Spiffys – I have to say that I’m awfully disappointed in SpiffV!Hotel. When they first offered me a hotel gig, I was like, “rawk! \m/“. After all, in my time at Spiffy!Hotel, I would pull in $70/night in tips & up — not bad for a valet gig in a town where msot of the server gigs are taken because everyone wants to be in the movies.
SpiffV!Hotel, however, is consistently yielding about $25 as a good tip on Friday and Saturday nights, and honestly I just need to make more than that — I know enough about how this sh*t works to know I should be making more than that. So, on Monday i will be going over to Spiffy!Hotel to see if they have any openings on Friday & Saturday night. Luckily for me, they actually have two locations – West LA & Hollywood, so I’m hoping they’ll have work for me at either one. We’ll see.

I realized on my way over that I forgot to leave my white longsleeve in the car, which means I’ll spend the night reminding myself that cold is good for speeding up the metabolism…

—————
Saturday:
You know what car I’m totally digging right now? The BMW 128i. They’ve started showing up more & more the last month or so, and I have to say, if I was going to get a Beemer, I wouldn’t mind one of them. I would pick a BMW over a Benz anyway, just because to me it always feels like the BMW has more heft to it and Mercedes just don’t seem all that stable, but I do like this leetle sporty thing in particular. Nice play, BMW. Nice play.

Malibu
Arrived late to wedding shower because the 101N was s-l-o-w… I’ve got about 2.5, 3 hrs of sleep in me, which has, it would seem, turned me into Britney from Glee. At one point I actually just stopped & went, “Okay, I need to go to my car and get my longsleeve because it breezy and I’m cold so now I’m whiney.” Luckily, the nice thing about working with Dolls is that it’s kind of like our very own little car-parking sorority, so the other three girls I was working with just laughed and told me to shut up. Ah, love – that’s what keeps me coming back here doncha know.

The party that was supposed to get out at 4:30 now wants us to stay until 5:30, thus negating any time I’d have inbetween to get an hour of work in before having to go to my Sat night shift at SpiffV!Hotel. :sigh: LH has to jet, the party that the other girls are going to a mile away as their next shift is starting & she’s got to supervise, so there’s three of us at the end – the Sup, the shuttle, & me as valet to fetch cars. Time to hop to it…

… because we actually didn’t get out until 6pm. The contract had been filled out & signed for 5:30, which means that the company technically gave the client a half an hour of work for free. While I’ll get paid for the half hour I worked, I already know that’s gonna go over great. We finally had to just hand them keys, tell the client the cars were parked nearby & head out – they were an hour & a half over their contract, & we all had other jobs to work. Next time, plan your event better!

Santa Monica
After a slightly frantic dash down PCH, I managed to get to work exaaaactly on time, thank goodness. Unfortunately, tonight was even slower than last night – someone had reserved the pool area for a wedding reception, effectively killing what bar traffic we normally get. Add in that I’m already tired as all hell, & any time I sit for more than five minutes, my head starts to nod. Not. Good.

Thankfully, when J asked if I wanted the choice between taking a lunch or going home early, I was awake enough to call dibs on going home early, and I jetted out around midnight instead of 2am. No additional shift on Sunday meant I pretty much just crashed out & slept after rowing, so I woke up around 5pm, which is… awesomely unproductive.


My big problem right now is just focus. I feel like I can’t keep my brain on any task for longer than ten minutes. Part of it is stuff that’s going on in my life – I had some sh*t go down on Monday morning that made me upset for the rest of the day, and that pretty much shot my productivity. I called a timeout on that aspect of my life, which unfortunately required using official channels to put up a 60-day barrier against someone. And while I know it hurt them, their damage was hurting me and I don’t have a support structure to take care of me, so after almost a year & a half of trying to be kind about their emotional issues, I drew a boundary to ensure I would be insulated from being used as someone’s designated punching bag.
Granted, this morning it seemed to have gained me a 6’7″ thundercloud shadow who’s trying to figure out how to get around the restrictions I put up & fix things so he doesn’t have to answer questions later, but at least it was something I could row away from for a while, and I didn’t go home in tears, which is progress from my state on Monday so in terms of me paying my rent… well I got more work done Tuesday than I did the day before.

I’m looking into BlankSpaces. While I don’t particularly like the idea of heading into KTown to work every day, the truth of the matter is that home is too conducive to taking a nap, and coffee shops are too distracting. While I don’t want to work for a company, the truth is that I need at least the semblance of office structure to feel motivated to get things done. They have a free day this coming Tuesday, and I signed up for free week trial, so we’ll see – if I’m lucky, I can get enough done in my free unlimited week to justify paying the $200 for 3 mos use of the place. My real worry is parking costs – Hopefully they have either free parking or a reasonable setup with a place that doesn’t cost more than $5/day. We’ll see. It can’t hurt.

Pandora.com helps alot, I will say that. Also, I need to not let the TV run while working – I get a little too involved in how Michael & Fiona are blowing things up instead of concentrating on the structure of my css.

As usual, no matter how hard I try, I seem to be far more productive after the 9 o’clock hour, which is good in what gets done (like this blog entry) but bad in terms of me getting sleep before my workout each morning – especially when Ian’s structuring everything within heart rate zones, so whether or not I get rest has an affect on how fast I’m allowed to row. ;)

There’s a balance here. I know there is. I just need to find it. Hell, I can sit at the catch in a single with oars off the water, you gotta figure eventually I’ll be able to manage this. I hope.

What made me laugh out loud today:

Oregon Trail – the MOVIE!

Music: Look After You – The Fray Look

Wavee US, LLC

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Pavlovian politeness, new toys, & hey – you just can’t fix stupid

July 29th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', girl valet, money, nerdery, rowing, screw you cosmic muffin, work

You know what, you’re right, this is totally my bad – I forgot to factor in that you’re an asshole.

Chat with Sylvie, part deux.
So in the other part of the conversation that I had with Sylvie, I was reminded that no matter how smart you are, or how much you’ve experienced, sometimes you really just need another person to tell you what you already know before you’re ready to accept it as fact and move on. One of the most notable incidences of that in my life was when my b-i-l looked at me & said, “That’s because your mom is a drunk, honey.” We all knew it, we’d all grown up with it, but that was the first time anyone I knew had had the chutzpah to actually say it out loud. And once it was said, & it was out there, I suddenly had the ability to accept it, factor that in as a reality, & move on with my life.

Same thing happened when talking to Sylvie last week. I was scheduled for an appointment on that Friday morning for something & I was seeking her advice on how to approach it. Her response?

“You need to stop worrying about these people – they don’t give a shit about you. If they did, none of this would have happened in the first place. Don’t worry about being nice, don’t consider them in your plans. They don’t give a shit about you, and they never will because they’re children. Be like a man with the town whore – use them for what they’re good for, then leave.”
I know, right? I laughed at that one too, prudish American that I am.

And intellectually, I already knew everything that she was saying – I’d been saying it to myself for a long time now. But hearing someone else confirm what I thought was just me being a b*tch in the comfort of my own head… there was something about hearing it from an outside party that allowed me to emotionally accept it, if that makes sense. And now, I’ve found that I can look at people & think, “You don’t actually give a damn about me. No matter what you say, or how you act, or how hurt you pretend to be by all this, the truth of the matter is that if you cared, none of this would have happened.”

It’s kind of odd, really – after months of being tossed around like buoy in a storm, I walked in & there was just… nothing. I just classified them in the same cubby as my parents, & it made things way better – you’re here, I have to deal with you, but at any second if given half a chance & left the slightest bit unsupervised, you’ll f*ck me over in a heartbeat & act like it’s my fault.

I just need to remember what I was told by the lawyer I met with that Friday morning: “Before we discuss anything, I need to just say – I can do alot, but I can’t fix stupid.”

Can’t Fix Stupid. Check. Lesson learned, let’s move on.

Gaiam.com, Inc

Congratuations! You’re in charge!
On Saturday, I worked a Doll gig by Griffith Park. Saturday shifts are hard, because I get out of SpiffV!Hotel at 2am, then I crash in the boathouse parking lot until 7am, row, and then have a couple hours until I have a day shift, after which I go back to SpiffV!Hotel in Santa Monica for my Sat night shift of 7/8 – 2am, after which I usually head down to the boathouse at Long Beach so that I can do a coached practice, get there about 3 am (4 if I went home to get Zoey) & crash in my car in that parking lot until about 6:15am.

So working during the on Saturday? kind of a stretch.

Anyway, so I show up at this gig – I’m already 15 min late because of traffic, and LB says to me, “Oh, great, you’re here – what do you want to do?”

Being the Foursquare Mayor of States the Obviousville, I replied, “I thought I’d be parking cars. why?”

“Well, G called & said we’re training you to supervise today, so until SD gets here, you’re in charge.”

ooooooooooooookay. Me in charge.

This should be good.

Now, it’s not like I can’t Team Captain [TC] – I’ve been working on & off as a Doll for six years, I’ve stepped in when needed, I’ve been a trainer, and in a pinch I’ve TC-ed a couple small parties before. It just takes a certain amount of energy to do so that I hadn’t been prepared to expend that day, so when I found that out, I was like, “effin’ ay – really? I don’t wanna!” But, ya know, G & I had talked a bit back about me becoming a TC, so it’s not like this was happening against my will, just not on my expected timeframe.

So there I am, writing tickets, doing my thing, and SD stops me & goes, “You need to stop saying that.”

“Saying what?”

“Have a great time.”

Now, let me pause to explain a reality here – half the time, when I give some situationally-prompted pleasantry reply, I don’t even know I’ve said it. I’ve been working in customer service for different stretches since the day I turned 16, so for me the sheer habit of smiling and being cheerful to people is so ingrained that I can’t help it. I once had a friend point out to me that when I walk up to a cashier, I’m the first one to initiate the question, “Hi, how are you today?” (Which in my world, comes out as “Hey, how ya doin’?”) I could be in the worst mood ever, and I will smile and be pleasant to strangers because that’s the way I’ve been trained – Pavlovian Politeness, we’ve taken to calling it. The point being that I hadn’t even realized I was saying that. However, it did leave a question, which led me to ask…

“why wouldn’t I tell them to have a good time?”

“They’re here for a wake*.”

:pause for moment: “Oh… right. Okay. Well who know, right? it could be an Irish wake.”

*In hospitality, or maybe it’s just a California thing, they don’t call such events a wake. They refer to them as a “celebration of life”. Yah. True story. While I think that’s actually a better way to approach it, this has cause confusion on the part of a couple of girls who thought “celebration”=”actual party”.

But yah – upshot is that it looks like I’ll be doing more gigs for the Dolls where I’m actually in charge of sh*t, which also means I’ve finally got to get around to cleaning out my car so I can fit the sign in the back. :sigh: Mo’ money, mo problems – so friggin’ true. ;)

——————–

 

I am both a PC & a Mac!
One of the items on The List is for me to acquire an iPhone for myself. This is less because I want an iPhone, & more because of work. To get work for Prem!Co, they send out a pdf of the upcoming week’s schedule, and then you email which shifts you want. Shifts are filled on a first come, first serve basis, so the quicker you respond, the better your chances.

Two weeks ago, I was working SpffV!Hotel on a Friday night when I saw the email for the schedule for Prem!Co come across my phone. Well, I can’t see the pdf on my present phone which I really only got because I fell in the damn marina last March – I got out of the marina, my phone… still down there. (sorry phone!)

Anyway, the schedule came out at 6:30, so I stopped at a 24 hour Kinko’s on my way out of work at 1:30am & filed my shift requests… and they were already filled up. Ugh. Thus, I need to get an iPhone so I can see anything on the internet in order to be able to get work. I’m finally caving.
However, since my contract with AT&T doesn’t re-up until January, I decided to investigate alternate means. I got an offer from my neighbor for his unlocked 1G, which was tempting, but for only $40 more, I was able to win the bid on eBay for a 6-mo old 8GB 3G whose owner has already upgraded to a 4th Gen.

:fist of triumph!:

On the one hand my fear in this situation is that I shall never actually get off the internet. On the other hand, in 3-5 days of shipping time, I’ll totally be able to download the free app that lets you play your iPod like a flute!

 Watching: Invictus Invictus

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Not enough time, ATMs that judge, & zombie preparation.

July 7th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', girl valet, money, work

Oy with the vey – Okay, let’s get (a little) caught up.

Who do I work for now?
Three valet companies:
1. Dolls – first love, blue collar sorority, originator of more fun than I’ve ever had on any payroll ever. (and I’ve been on a lot of different payrolls!)

2. Prem!Co – another private event valet co which I was ref’d over to by a fellow Doll because I needed to pick up more hours. Not nearly as fun, and mostly guys, but still – pay the bills.

3. SpiffV!Hotel – high end hotel on the beach in Santa Monica who originally were interested in me as a doorperson full time, but right now I’m just working a fixed Fri & Sat night shift, 8pm – 2am. Named on a variation of the last fixed locale I worked at in Westwood which I called Spiffy!Hotel.

Oh, an in between all this? Still taking clients, trying to maintain the work, and attempting to figure out how the hell I’m going to a) afford & b) fit in Not!Grad School in the fall.

Happy 4th of July! :falls over:
So from Friday to Monday of 4th of July weekend, my life went like this:
Valet – SpiffV!Hotel
Sleep in parking lot at LB boathouse
Row
Lunch w/ Jess
Sleep for an hour
Valet – SpiffV!Hotel
Sleep in parking lot near LA boathouse until Panda Face got off the highway & called to wake me up.
Row
Go home, assure Zoey her mommy was still alive
Drive to Malibu
Work for Dolls for about 8 hours
Sleep for about 3 horus in my bed for the first time in a few days
Row w/ the juniors
Valet – Prem!Co
Get fed awesome food because there’s few things better than a Jewish family having an engagement party/housewarming for their new mansion. (Smoked lox with dill wrapped around cream cheese… oh so good :insert Homer Simpson donut noise here:)
Go home
Sleep from 4:30pm – 7am
Tuesday
Wake up & realize that I had a crapload of stuff to do to get caught up.
Despair.
Do a load of laundry.
Despair more.
Drop off the rest of my portfolio for Not!Grad School review.
Attempt get caught up.
Fail miserably.
Sleep.

…and that pretty much brings us current. Go Team me!

Wavee US, LLC

1 ticket down, two to go!
I have this little…problem. It’s called Street Parking. Because as any city dweller knows, when you have street parking, you’re vulerable – your poor car is subject to the leanings of any drunk passerby, as well as the travesty of parking police driven to leave unsightly & economically damaging tickets on otherwise nifty windshields as part of their attempt to do their part to plug the state’s deficit so they don’t have to go on furlough.

Combine that with my unsighly state of unemployment for the last year or so, and hey – those tickets can add up. I dunno that I’ve ever admitted this publicly, but a strong motivator in getting my sorry arse to the boathouse on Monday & Tuesday mornings has been to remove my car from the possibility of a street cleaning ticket lest I discover that I’d messed up & parked on the wrong side of the street, which has a minimum penalty of $55. (Yes, you read that right – fifty-five dollars.)

So as part of my whole “Trying to get my life in order” (which I’m sure I’ll write out & explain later when I have time, but yes, let’s just roll with the concept that I’m trying to get my life in order) I’ve been on a campaign to get rid of these monkeys on my vehicular back, and thus have slowly siphoned a fraction of my cash tips from any job I can spare it off into a clutch purse which sat innocuously amongst the tomes* on my bookcase, sides slowly bulging out with one dollar bills.
*tomes = programming books that I still haven’t had time to do the exercises in yet. :sigh:

Thankfully, the breakneck pace of 4th of July weekend meant that I had finally hit the $154 total needed to pay off the first ticket. (oh yes. you totally read that right. One hundred and fifty-four dollars. For realsies.)

In attempting to recover from the “despair” portion of yesterday, I gathered my pluck and moseyed to the ATM to deposit said cash so that I could pay it off today once the deposit had cleared. After all, Bank of America has the nifty new cash deposit thing, it should be easy peasy, right?

Let’s not play – just the fact that I asked that question should tell you the answer.

The next time I have to do this, someone please remind me to go change the ones to larger bills, m’kay? Because having the ATM process over $100 in one dollar bills was a less than idea experience – wrinkled & folded bills got kicked back out & had to be re-entered, and after the third time of trying to deal with the fact that it only lets you deposit 40 bills at a time, I swear to gods that ATM was making aspersions on my profession based on me being a female in Los Angeles depositing a large volume of $1 bills. Shut it, Bank of America – I’m a valet, ‘mkay? No, that’s not a euphamism – I seriously AM a valet. If I were a stripper, I should hope the hell I’d be depositing way more than $154 after a weekend’s work, or I’d be a really bad stripper.

The upshot being that the money is in the bank, and once I get home tonight to a place where I can print the receipt, I’ll have paid off the biggest ticket, & then there’s just the $122 & the $97 ones to go before I am footloose & DMV free, thank the gods.

——————–
What made me smile today:

Finally – a class that would actually get Sachiel to the gym!
ZombieFit classes. How to prepare for the inevitable apocalypse. yes, you TOTALLY read that right.

What made me laugh out loud today:

I’m not a Twi-tard, but I do less-than-three me The Fug Girls. As someone who often sees the celeb crowd (and the aspiring celeb crowd) in their comings, goings, & rates them based on whether they can spare the valet a $5 when we all know what they made for their last movie, I find the Fug Girls’ sometimes scathing evaluations to be oddly in line with my own inner monologue, and I won’t lie – sometimes when in doubt about what to wear, I have been known to think, “What would the Fug girls say?” (Incidentally, their “No to leggings” is a movement I can get behind)

So it was with that in mind that I read their eval of Kristen Stewart’s newest attempt at a press junket, because yes, I totally think that girl really needs to learn to wash her hair a bit more, and considering my complete lack of patience for anything beyond shampoo & conditioner, that’s what we could call “an indicator”. And while I’m not really a Robert Pattinson fan (he glitters, people. How the fuck can I take a vampire seriously when he glitters? ) I did love thier parting shot:

But now the twosome has gone public, finally, and the stress of hiding — and coming up with new coy denials and vague non-answers — has lifted. The question is answered, and we think it’s a big part of why Kristen can relax and try to enjoy herself instead of waiting for a bullet to dodge. Also: What’s up with the denials in the first place? He’s Cedric Diggory, child. BRAG.

Music: Jakob Dylan – Nothing But the Whole Wide World Nothing But the Whole Wide World

Adagio Teas - Free Shipping & Wrapping

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Dings, gay parties & the constant struggle against lazy-arse

June 25th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', girl valet, work

what’s the only thing better than filling out a resume on an HR website that only sorta works to apply for a coaching gig in San Diego two days before the closing date listed on the online ad?

Not being able to find the listing on the school’s site when finished, calling their HR dept, and discovering that hey – they listed it wrong on the outside website – instead of being two days from now, the deadline was two days ago.

:insert Flailing Hands of Panic here!:

Luckily, the woman in HR was very nice, and when I sent her the link to the job listing, she was all right with submitting my application for the job, so yeah. We’ll see. :shrug:

In the meantime, there’s a gig as an assist with the juniors’ team I used to volunteer for – I find it ironic that I’m applying for a job that I used to have, but whatever. I think the best part was when I was warned last week that people who rowed in college would automatically be more qualified than I am. On the one hand, I realize that on paper that’s true, but anyone who’s been a coach can tell you that athletic time in office does not necessarily a good coach make… plus there’s the fact that I already did the job well for an entire season. But ya know, it’s fine. It’ll all shake out in the end. I just need to remember to engage my zen breathing and use my words. Good words, that is. Must make sure to use good words.
I’m not gonna lie – hit me in the right moment, and you’ll discover I also have a great talent for bad words. No, really… me! True story!

Chocolate Gifts from Chocolate.com.

Dear gay men – thank you for the motivation.
I did two parties on Saturday. The first was for Prem!ValetCo, and it was the party from hell. Run up a straight hill because there was no shuttle, people who got there before we did that parked illegally & made the road a one-way passing, just… ugh. So bad that for the first time in my six years as a valet, I cracked my perfect record and actually dinged someone’s car.

Mortified. that’s what I was. Can’t even begin to describe.

Now, yes, I intellectually know this is not the end of the world – these things happen in our business, and there is a policy, rah rah rah, it was minor so it’s not like I’ll get canned or anything. But still. It’s the principle of the thing.

Of course, right after that it’s a day where I have a second party to go to – this time for the Dolls. I went into that with no small amount of dread.

What I didn’t know was that it was a female valet’s favorite setup – a gay man’s party.

No, I’m really not kidding about that. I love working parties of gay men. And I’m not alone in this. For the most part, the cars are clean and well kept, the clients have manners, we never have to worry about getting hit on, and usually they feed us. Plus, they tip so well. It’s awesome. This was a no-tip party, and guests insisted on tipping us. Not like, ones, but fives! More than one at a time. My favorite exchange went like this:
Disclaimer: This gentleman was actually straight, but it’s just the best one of the lot

Guest: …and this is for you.
Claris: Thank you sir, but we’re not accepting tips tonight – the host has taken care of it.
Guest: Well that’s not right, this is a huge hill. Can’t you just take it if I like… throw it out the window as I pull away? Then it’s just money you found on the street.
Claris: Well, I guess so. We could try – I’ve never had a money bath before.

:Claris turns to co-worker V, thinking it was over. Truck pulls away, and two fives come flying out the drivers’ side window and bounce off my shoulder:

Co-worker V:… did they just throw money at us?
Claris: You know, I think they did. I like this party!

——————–

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch…
Later on that night I was standing there, waiting for the bathroom, and I look around at this beautiful home, where things are neat and clean and smells like flowers, and I had one glaring thought:

God, my apartment is such a dump right now.

Okay, so granted, it’s easier to have a shiny pretty home with an open Japanese zen pool & attached Jacuzzi when you make a certain amount and probably have a maid of indeterminate immigration status to keep things moving along, but still – my apartment could at least be clean.

It was with this in mind that I used my Sunday off to remove the drek from my household. My whole apt. is hardwood floors – I didn’t even bother sweeping, I just borrowed Neighbor!Beth’s vaccuum – it’s the bagless kind — you know, where you just empty the container instead?

I emptied the container three times.

:hangs head in shame:

I think it’s literally been about two months since I truly cleaned my apartment. I moved out multiple trash bags of paper towels that were full of glass cleaner, bleach cleaner, & swiffer pads. (after I vaccuumed, then I polished.)

I tossed my couch covers in the tub with oxyclean, detergeant & really hot water – and had to drain the tub three times before the water didn’t come up black. Oh, I shudder at the dirt & sweat Zoey & I contributed to those poor things.

:sigh: It’s all clean now. Except the dog. I didn’t get a chance to wash her. But I think that might be a Doggie Wash project to be executed at an offsite facility. Good times, man. good times.

So my apartment is once again clean. Incidentally, it turns out that when I actually pick stuff up, my apartment is huge!. I know that shouldn’t surprise me after eight years, but yeah – I often forget this.

——————–

What made me laugh out loud today:

…because it’s so totally descriptive of my constant struggle between good & lazy-ass:

Why I’ll Never Be An Adult
via @janeisjane

Music: En Concert: Bonus Track Version – Jack Johnson En

Gaiam.com, Inc

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Running, retail & why spellcheck is your friend.

June 15th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', money, semantics, work

you said that love was gone, And that I had to leave… what goes up, must come down….

I love when I get directions like this:
Change colors of page/borders – darker/flashier
Instead of blues/reds – Client wants bolder/more exciting/flashier (“think of dreamworkers, sony websites etc.) Client says that we need to consider that people from movie studios and other related persons will visit his site.
Recommends golds, yellows, dark reds, burgundy

Now, a cursory view of those two studios would tells me two things:
1. the client hasn’t actually looked at those sites before giving that critique.
2. the client doesn’t know their colors for proper descriptives.

sigh

——————–

Running, running, running…
oy with the running! much as I love my Dolldom, the work’s been petering off as of late, so I took another Doll’s invite to hook up with a second valet co that she also works for. Got the gig no problemo, and boy howdy do they have work. I’ve worked more in the last two weeks than I did in a month with the Dolls, and I literally had to pick days to take off so I could do design work. It’s not going to be anything I can live on any time soon, but the hours are a comfort, and give me at least SOMETHING that I can depend on getting on a regular basis – problem with design work is that while it pays more than valeting, you have no REAL guarantee of when the clients will pay, so between this & the web/retail gig at Women!Co, I should (theoretically) have the money to be fully off EDD soon. Not going to be rolling in it, but yah – at least enough to have a base to bounce project work off of.

Which reminds me – I need to make a page for The Great Master List – aka, everything that I need to accomplish, pay for, get caught up on, & get fixed. I fear this list may never actually be completed & instead will become an running commentary o’ challenges, but hey – what’s life without tribulations, hrm?

So I guess that “fix my site & occasionally man the front” translates into “You’ll be running the place”?
Retail gig, right? Right. Totally. The theory is that I’m going to work on her site… except that I opened the store & she never came in today. I mean, at this point I’m waiting for her domain co to switch the nameservers before I can really do anything, but we went from “I’ll be in soon” (9:30) to “I’m still at home, but on my way” (12:15) to … now, when it’s 2:30 & there’s no sign of her. I assume at this point that I’m also going to be closing when I leave at 5:30. :shrug: I mean, I don’t care – I’m pretty much completely unsupervised, and I’m not against that. Just observing the whatever of it. She has a girl that works Sundays for her from 11-4 that she says has been flaky since the girl’s getting married, so I told her that if she can give me two days’ notice to rearrange my valet shifts I’d cover those days when the girl can’t be there. I figure five hours a week getting paid almost double the hourly that I’d be making as a valet & doing it as a w-9? Psh. ohkay sure.

Is it wrong that I’ve gone from being the person that’s the hardest working person anyone knows to the one who, after the last year & a half of working & dealing with my boathouse is now just like, “Sure. Whatthef*ckever, as long as I can cash a check.”

When they stand up and talk to the parents at the beginning of each year for the Juniors, they talk about how rowing will increase work ethic, and build character, make them into better people, etc. I have to say I find it amusing that my experience has taught me to be way more hands off, and distance myself from how much I care about what happens to others… and my level of giving a damn is definitely diminished, that’s for sure. (of course, I won’t be putting that on any applications any time soon)

——————–

In other news, when making an ad reviewing a book, one should also review their spelling, lest their words robbed of being… “complelling”:

oopsie…

——————–

What made me smile today:

What made me laugh out loud today:

——————–

Why my friends are awesome:
katiegeeks sometimes a fan club membership and some persistence is worth it. SIXTH ROW SEATS FOR GREEN DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Claris: @katiegeeks: I’m straight, & your Green Day triumph is making me think you so damn hot right now. just so you know. ;)
katiegeeks: @heroineaddct sexual orientation is irrelevant in the face of ticketmaster triumph. :D

Music: Karma – Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys - The Diary of Alicia Keys - Karma

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Then we watch and wait and do nothing but sigh and hope everything is gonna turn out right…

March 17th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', money, school, work

Here goes nothin’.
Filled out the initial application online for Not!Quite!GradSchool today. The school that I’m looking at is an atelier program, which means they’re not yet accredited as a Masters’ program — for most professions, this doesn’t mean much, but for art, it’s totally a legit accreditation.

I took a class there last May, & when I first showed up the initial email I sent was basically answered with, “When would you like to start?” so I’m hoping that the application & (gods bless) acceptance process goes quickly… after which I just have to figure out how to pay my tuition – no pressure, no pressure. ;)

Today’s step was just filling in the app – on Saturday, I’ll probably go up & drop off my samples & application deposit. And we’ll see. :fingerscrossed:

In the vein, happened across this photographer, whose pictures I think are going in the files as reference points for future paintings. This one especially caught my eye:

Run, doll run!
Got home from the boathouse today, took a shower, was about to settle into work, & my phone rings – it’s MadamG, & we’ve got a Doll-mergency.

There’s a restaurant in North Hollywood that the Dolls have a contract with, and today when D showed up for her shift, they told that hey! Fifty extra cars were going to show up.

When you’re the only valet doing lunch shifts at a bistro whose parking lot has ten spots, your only gut reaction is… whuuut?? So D called in to the Dollhouse on the 911, and when MadamG looked around, I happened to be home. Not totally in my plans for the day, but I knew I was available & it’s part of the gig, so I sighed, put on my black pants & white button down shirt, asked the universe to make this outing damn profitable and headed up the 101.

Turns out that what was going on was a retirement lunch for a public attorney, so here we are, totally overloaded on space, parking sh*t on the sidewalk and the guests? They’re all cops! Thankfully, the LAPD guys were good about it, & most of them put their cop permits in the window, which basically gave us license to park… wherever. We ended up parking across Vineyard, which meant a quarter mile sprint wearing a white button down shirt & black pants in 90 degree weather in the Valley between noon & 3, when the sun is strongest.
Add in the fact that dashing across Vineland makes any dropoff or retrieval an impromptu game of Frogger, and everything becomes awesome in the way where it’s completely & totally not.

But, come 3pm when everyone had cleared out, D & I totaled up the cash & lo & behold, not only did we make enough to pay our hourlies in cash, but we also cleared some decent tips. After I stopped to acquire some food for myself, I still put another bit in the account for tuition. Almost up to the first month in the bank, so yeah…workin’ on it. First year’s tuition – almost $1k down, $11k to go, and if I get accepted the start date is July 5th. But hey – no pressure, no pressure.

So close to freedom I can almost smell fresh air.
So my client over at Ins!Co. contacted me at the end of last week & wants me to come into the office one day a week to just… talk. To discuss options, maybe do some on-site work, etc. They don’t need a full time designer (which is good ’cause I don’t want to be one for anyone right now) but we’re kind of at the point where things would move faster for both their “official” work & the side project that they have me helping with. Between the two, it should hopefully be a steady 5-10 hours a week, which would help a lot in terms of creating an economic net for me. Right now, my goal is that if I could get about 20 hours a week of work at the rate that I want to be paid, I’ll be fully off unemployment and the project work which pays more in sporadic lump sums. That way, I can live off the steady stuff, & put the project work to building savings & paying tuition.

After the Doll-mergency, I did a call with my one entertainment-related client, NPO!Client. We’d discussed them possibly bringing me on retainer as sort of a web project manager basis — I’d still work from home, but have a contracted 10 hours a week for them that I’d be paid a fixed amount for. Not being a fool, I did the math on the proposal so that it would be about 3/4 of what I need to be completely off the dole – while it would have been the easy out to go for the whole amount, I also am aware of the stupidity of risking the gods’ wrath, so I bid slightly under to keep myself from becoming too dependent upon any one client.

When I didn’t hear anything on it, I kind of let the idea go & moved on, looking for other business. But then I heard from NPO!Client! on Friday that she wanted to do a phone call, & we managed to sync schedules today.

The end result? They like me, but since they haven’t put anyone on retainer before, NPO!Client!‘s bosses want me to work on an hourly/project basis for about 6 weeks at an hourly slightly below what I bid, and then if things work, they’ll put me on contract. If that happens, I’ll be free & clear from EDD, which would be… lovely. Like, honestly nice. And between the two, I’d have enough to live on and be able to put everything else towards my tuition and savings. I keep funneling the cash tips from valeting towards those two things, and I’m slowly building back up — in terms of savings, I’m almost back up to the $1k base that I like to keep & had before I got laid off, which will have been a year ago on the 20th. Once I hit that, I get to continue working on my tuition and trying to put three months’ worth of bills in the bank before I start in on savings again.

And it feels like it’s so much, but I need to just keep reminding myself to move through things one step at a time, and I’ll get there. I’m starting to get there, I’m starting to pull myself out of the hole. I just need to remember not to fuck things up.

Guthy Renker Corporation

Funny ’cause they’re true
Someone went through all the Simpsons chalkboards over the years & picked out 29 of the best. To see the rest, check this out. Personally, anybody that has heard me before 9am or when I’m just generally in a mood will understand why I’m favoring this one:

Music: Everything’ll Be Alright – Joshua RadinJoshua Radin - We Were Here - Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby)

15% off Orders at OlympiaSports.net! Exclusions Apply. Ends 3.31.10

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Saturday: Incoming tsunami & waiting for the final five.

March 1st, 2010, posted in LA Livin', work

text from MadamG:
MG: How’s the party going?
TC: pretty dead. Or, as Claris pointed out, we’re just sittin’ by the ocean, waitin’ for a tsunami.

When I got the callsheet for this gig, I was pretty happy – it’s in the afternoon, it’s only 15 cars… baby shower. Totally cake. Added bonus – it’s actually in the Marina, literally on the other side of the channel from the boathouse. In fact, every time I drive out to park a car, I can see the sailing classes launching off our dock.

Then Chile had to do & have an earthquake. Which, really, what the hell Chile, so inconsiderate of your tectonic plates. So here I am, on a stormy day, while parts of southern California are on advisory for rough seas and possible small tsunami (nothing like Hawaii, but still!) and where am I? Right next to the frickin’ beach!

Any other day, I’d have been sent up to some backwoods in the Hollywood Hills or the Palisades where the roads are only half-paved, but nope. today, I’m at the marina, about 500 m from the ocean. Much like the periodic precipitation we’re getting today, irony doesn’t just reign in my world, it pours.

The final five
When you do a Doll gig, you know that a key element to getting out on time is to prep the staging area (street, parking lot, driveway, wherever you’re using) for the last five cars. This way, when almost everyone is gone except the inevitable stragglers and immediate family, you can pull those last five up as close as possible to the event, go hand the keys to the host (or the guests, depending on how sober everyone is)
This way, we Dolls get to mosey home, & those guests in the last five cars can totally stay to eat, drink, & shoot the sh*t about days of yore. (Unless it’s a party in the porn industry, in which case the third activity in that list can be…well, I’m just gonna let you make something up.)

We accomplish this through a myriad of techniques – signs, street cones, and of course, parking our own cars near the event really badly when we first arrive. If you pull up to a house with valet & there are no spots nearby because everyone for half a block around has somehow managed to take up a space and a half where normally there’s plenty of room… yeah, we probably did that on purpose. Just sayin’.

Today’s gig is in a little cul-de-sac in the marina, with two shortie side streets that really are more like larger than normal driveways than actual streets of any sort. Perfect spaces to use for the end of the party, as long as we can keep them clear of the cars belonging to… people that actually live in the neighborhood. (Hey, you live here all the time. We just need it for a day.)

Now, a lot of valets & shuttles understand this, & will be proactive about getting themselves in gear & making this happen without any prompting from the TC. Others… not so much. Today, after the initial guest arrival of our whopping 15 cars, our TC asked the shuttle to park in the middle of two spots on the nearby curb & he just… didn’t get it. at all. Which may have prompted the following:

TC :name deleted: take that spot. No, that one. The one that no one’s in… right there…”
:TC walks over to physically show the shuttle the spot to place their car:

:mumbling from Dolls watching this display:
“Yes that spot.”
“Yes that one right there.”
“Yes. The chasm of unparked concrete…. that’d be the one.”

Really, it just illustrated to me that no matter what job you’re doing, as soon as multiple people are involved in a situation, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t get what’s going on, and eventually, inevitably, someone else will mumble, “Jesus dude – it’s not like this is rocket science.” And everyone else will chuckle.

Except (and yes, this has happened) the day will come when you’re talking to a friend who says that about his own office, and you pause to point out, “Um, dude? You work at JPL.”

And then you just get a wee bit scared for the future.
Which reminds me – I totally owe RocketScienceGuy a phone call.

Music: Throw Me a Rope – KT Tunstall KT Tunstall - KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza - Throw Me a Rope

iPhoneStore.com

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you’ll remember me like a melody…

February 3rd, 2010, posted in LA Livin'

I’m not a valet, but I play one on the internet.
So on Sunday, I’m in at the gas station, in a rush because I’m going from the boathouse to a Doll gig. Rushing rushing rushing – there was no hot water at the boathouse, so I’m not just in a rush, I’m also friggin’ cold.
Gas in the car, back up to leave, and hear cruuuuunch. Yes, that’s right – I completely & totally backed myself into a pole. Nobody else involved, totally just me, myself & I. Dented my fender & took out the cover of the light.

The funny part? I got out of the car wearing the company shirt. I was joking with MadamG about it later, & she was all, “next time take off your uniform shirt before getting out!”
(Yes, I can joke with my boss at the valet co that I cracked up my car – after 5 years without a scratch working for her, G knows this was an anomaly)

Honestly, I’m not really that upset about it. I have firmly come to the belief that a consequence of driving is that everyone has a certain amt. of Accident Karma they have to pay off every so often — much like John Mayer’s theory of a New York City Complication Fee, even if you stay home all day, they just come in & take it. So you gotta figure considering that my part time gig involves driving cars that cost more than I make in three years, I didn’t hit someone else, and the only car that got damaged was mine… I’m chalking this up to me paying my LA Traffic Complication Fee for the next five years or so. I keep forgetting to call the insurance company, though – really need to do that tomorrow during the day. oy.

It’s Deja vu all over again!
So I’m looking at the preview for The Book of Eli & I see this:

Plot Summary: In the not-too-distant future, across the wasteland of what was once America, a lone warrior must fight to bring civilization the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption.

Hopefully Denzel does better with that plot on dry land than Costner did on water.

Interesting ponderance:
@danecook If u could switch places w/ anyone 4 1 day & f up their life who? #TwistedGoodness

Oh yeah, you already thought of the name – no no, don’t try to pretend — you had the thought. Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies.

It’s a new hybrid of slacker.
I love watching the businesspeople that come in to Starbucks to work & … just… can’t.. get.. comfortable. They don’t know how to… slouch, & it just seems out of place for them to be trying to make a proper workspace amongst us migrant urchins in our worn jeans as we type away on battered laptops, iPods diligently churning away to drown out the “relaxing” atmosphere that ye old ‘Bucks strives so hard to create. (fyi, if I can hear your music over my headphones? Way less welcoming. If I want that, I’ll go hang out at Urban Outfitters so I can not only be deaf but also have the bonus of feeling fat & slightly intimidated by the half-naked people walking around. I’m just sayin’.)

—-
…is this a hint?
I had two spam comments today, one of which was an advertisement for vacuums. Is that that internet’s way of telling me I suck?

Music: Slow Like Honey – Fiona Apple Fiona Apple - Tidal - Slow Like Honey

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Suppose I said I am on my best behavior…

January 30th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', cosmic muffin, nerdery, rowing, screw you cosmic muffin

there are times…I lose my worried mind…

oh, cosmic muffin – now you’re just makin’ sh*t up.
My goal for the weekend was simple – finish Hotel!Client‘s site and get things uploaded to a test server so that I could upload to their server early in the week.
Unfortunately, the universe had a different idea, as my laptop decided it no longer wanted to recognize my passport that I use as an external hard drive. Granted, this is completely my own fault — the part where you should “safely remove” a device when you take it out of your computer? In the migrant style of work that I have, I am admittedly rather pants at taking the time to do that instead of just pulling the cord & moving on to my next destination. This is doubly sad because as a former IT drudge, I know that the reason you’re not supposed to do that is that it sends a small electrical shock through the device each time, & eventually, it stops working. (As I said to ZenMistressE today, “Really, can you blame it? I mean, if I kept electrocuting you two or three times a day, you’d probably decide to stop working for me too.” :shrug:)

So yesterday & today was spent backing up the files on that over to my WD Book that I use as my backup. However, in the philosophy of trying to roll with what the universe gives me, I can’t help but think that this was a preventative measure on the cosmic muffin’s part, since when I went to Target today to find 4BG flash drive for a ridiculously low price. Considering that I remember when a 1 GB drive was fantastically huge file capacity & we thought it a great deal at $30, I’m totally willing to cop to having had a “uphill in the snow both ways” moment in technology when buying the 4GB.

However, the files are transferred, so there’s work to be doing when I get home from tonight’s Doll gig. After all, sleep is for the weak, right? *snerk*

Whistle while you do it, damn you!
Doll work is ramping up again as people start to poke their heads out from the party hangover of the holidays. Tonight’s my 3rd gig in four nights, & I just got another notice for one tomorrow afternoon, which sadly meant I had to cancel on seeing Avatar with RocketScienceGuy. I tried to reschedule for Monday night, but haven’t heard back from him, so we’ll see if it’s off to the ArcLight for a 3-D in IMAX I go.

I’m still plugging my way through my backlog of work – one site put to bed & ready to be billed this weekend, hopefully soon the Hotel!Client to follow.

I keep putting off starting work for Utah!Co because I feel like I don’t have time while I have all of these other projects, and I need to get in the groove of doing work for them – if nothing else, my one year on unemployment is March 20th, & while the fact that I’ve been partially working for the last year means I should be able to get another extension without any problem, I really just don’t want to have to do that. And to accomplish that, I need to create a steady stream of work to supplement the fact that most of my clients work on a project basis & thus are not chronologically dependable income. However, on the note of trying to set manageable goals for myself, this upcoming week’s benchmark is to complete their tutorials and just complete one or two simple jobs from their task board to use as test cases of their system & billing procedures. Here goes nothin’.

Discovered last night why Fitness!Client hasn’t answered my emails in regards to them not paying their bill — seems that someone else has taken over the company. Not quite sure what happened there, but have sent the new manager (who I’ve met a couple times) an email asking for a meeting to bring them up to date on the site. Even if all I do is hand over files & get paid the balance of the account, that works for me. I’d rather finish their site & launch it, ’cause it’s a good site, but eh :shrug: sometimes you take what you can get.

Let there be light
One thing that’s going forward is fixing things in my apartment. Over the last few months, the lights have slowly been failing – it’s an old building, and I think the ceiling fans might be only slightly younger than… me. My landlord will reimburse me off my rent of course, but he’s a bit cheap, so I can’t just go out & arbitrarily buy whatever, else he’ll insist on fixtures of his choosing, which would just be… bad. So I’ve been shopping for fixtures the way I’d shop if I owned the place – stuff that’s on sale & doesn’t suck. IKEA won the battle for ceiling lights & a wall sconce, but failed for ceiling fans on an epic scale.
After looking at Home Depot, Osh, & a bunch of other hardware places & deciding I didn’t like any of them, I found fans that I liked which weren’t going to cost my firsborn… in the hardware store across the street from my apartment. (Next time, need to look there first. Go team me.) Finally having the cash, I ordered them on Thursday & was lucky enough that they came in on Friday. As a bonus, when I picked them up this morning, I discovered they were actually $10 cheaper than the price listed in the catalog, which should make my landlord happy as well.

The upshot of this being that next Saturday I shall take the day off Dollwork to stay home while an electrician comes in & changes out all of the lights in my apartment. I’m also hoping that we’ll be able to get a plasterer in – last fall’s rain revealed a leak in the apartment above me, so I have two walls that need to be fixed due to water damage. I’m borrowing ZenMistressE‘s steam cleaner, since I figure at that point I’m going to have to move my bed & the couches so the guys can work, so I might as well just kill a crapload of birds in unison & also steam clean my mattress & couches at the same time. (I have hardwood floors with no rugs, so that’s one less thing.)

Good timing on all that as well, since there are a small cadre of Bronzers coming to town President’s Day Weekend. For me, having Bronzers about is the internet equivalent of a high school reunion, and since Polgara & I are pretty much the designated places to crash, much like any high school reunion I can’t help but want my apartment to look decent as part of showing that the years haven’t touched me a bit. ;)

Holy schneikes, where did you all come from?
Somehow, over the last few weeks, I’ve turned around to discover I have a crapload of rowers on my team. They just bloody well fell out of the sky, it would appear. Crew Classic is fast approaching, and thankfully it’s beginning to look like I won’t have to double up races – I mean, just because I can do two 2k races in one day that Sunday doesn’t mean I want to. I called a meeting with my coaches for tomorrow since it’s all happened rather fast & I think right now I’m the only one that actually knows what’s going on — as I said to the others, “I think that the knowledge should be somewhere other than in my head, since let’s face it – my head doesn’t always work!”

Okies. Time to go meander my way up Laurel Canyon for a bit. 20 cars with a shuttle, a TC & 3 valets — in Dollspeak, that means “Small party with unavoidably messed up semantics”… oy. Hopefully, they tip well.

Music: Not Myself – John MayerJohn Mayer - Room for Squares - Not Myself

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