3rd time - waiting for the charm

So like many American's, I am currently on the job market. Although I do have a job. At least until the end of January.
Our company was sold to our #1 competitor back in mid-October. Nice huh? It was a shock to everyone. It wasn't like we were struggling; if anything, things were turning around. Granted, cash was tight. So they sold us for 3 times what they paid but about half of what we were really worth.
I remember the day well. Actually, I woke up around 3am that morning just freaked out about something. I had no idea what but it took me a while to calm down. Then I got to work and the company attorney, the CFO, the Controller and an HR manager were already there. They NEVER beat me in. I knew something was wrong...I figured layoffs were coming. I was almost right.
One bad thing about it was I was in the process of buying a new car. I had to call the dealership and break the bad news. (Did I mention the whole sale process felt dream-like and unreal?)
For now I have to report to work until mid-month, then I get paid through the end of January. After that, my unused vacation pay and my 4-week severance....I'll be officially unemployed. Crazy.
I've been through this before, sort of. The first time I got laid off. No notice at all. I think I received about 3 or 4 weeks pay then. I found a job within 2. The second time I was working as a contractor and after a big contract was put on hold, my position was ended. I found a job then as well. Question is, will I be as lucky this time?
I have done some job browsing and I have applied to a few places but I haven't really "pounded the pavement" as of yet. It's a few weeks before Christmas and I figure, why not relax over the holidays and then go after it after the new year.
The real question is; will this be a transitional job...or a career?
Stay tuned....

If there's one thing I can do, it's bitch!

So I started a new part-time job at a local restaurant that JUST opened. I'm not going to say the name. But there's no REAL use in being secretive either.
Training for this job was....LONG. 8+ days of menu training, right-attitude adjustment and dance training. Yes, dance. The reason I LOVE this job is the dancing. First time I've had a job where I've actually been encouraged to be my crazy, dancing, singing self.
Along the way I nightly broke a sweat, failed a few menu tests (not sure of the outcome of that), voiced my concern about the late hours (they serve until 1am on weeknights?) and developed a COLASSAL crush on one of the trainers. (which I still can't shake) To the point where I'm not sure I'm gunna even enjoy this job after he leaves. I feel like I've fallen into a time machine and woken up in my 20s. Yeah - that kind of crush. I wish I was in my 20s. Back when I was skinny, not a double-digit jean size! Speaking of jeans, that's what the uniform is; the t-shirt they supply us and jeans. Another reason why I wanted to work there.
I'm sure along the way I will use this blog as a means to get out my gripes in regards to this gig. That's a given. We'll see how the customer-stupidity stacks up! My complaints about it so far: the post-shift cleaning, the un-friendly trainers and the co-workers who have gone through the same training as me but feel somewhat better at their jobs so they must tell me how to do mine. Ummm...I don't think so Junior! lol. Oh, and did I mention that employees can't sit at the bar? Ever?! even when we come in for dinner? Seriously. I found this out last night when me and my friend Julie went. I had no idea. I don't remember being told that but, whatever. I can understand before or after a shift but if I come in for dinner to spend MY money....I should be treated the same as ANY customer...or better!
So there you go. Those are my beefs.
More to come!

No - I'm not the crazy bird lady!

Ever since I can remember, I've liked birds. Well, I always liked animals but I've almost always had a bird. We had an Chinese Nightengale named Admiral when I was a kid. Couldn't tell you what he even looked like but I remember his cage and that we fed him crushed dog food and meal worms. I've also had canaries; many canaries. Presently I have one canary who I bought for my cousin; who lost interest in it and gave it to her mother who traded it with me for my obnoxious, biting yet charming parakeet named Louise, who I adopted from my friends Jimmy and Elaine. I also have a pair of parakeet brothers now who I've named Jimmy and Stewart. (pictured) They reek havoc on my ears some times but are also adorable and entertaining.
One thing I can't quite remember is how or where my fascination with wild birds began. I know alot of the breeds and I can sit and watch them feed for hours without getting bored; unless it's a flock of sparrows. Where did this come from?
My sister is into it; so is my Mother and my Aunt. My sister actually has a set-up from the store Wild Bird's Unlimited which I call the bird feeder Taj Mahal. Last year I even hung feeders in a tree outside a window at work until the bitches I work with complained so I had to either move them to a tree I wouldn't be able to see from a window, or take them down. I chose the later. (however I did recently hang a hummingbird feeder; who could complain about that?)
Now I'm a little pre-occupied with hanging feeders outside my apartment. The problem is, I'm on the 2nd floor of a house. Solution? Hang them from whatever hardware I can find on my sun porch. I now have a Squirrel Buster Min, which the squirrels have gotten so aggravated with they did something to it which made it pop off the hardware and plummet down from the 2nd level into the front yard. The bastards! I rescued all but one important piece which is probably caught up in the multi-layer roof or a gutter somewhere.
Then yesterday I purchased a really nice window feeder and, sure enough, this morning a chickadee and a couple house finches found it. (see picture of the chickadee visiting)
Future plans; get out the power drill and attach some more hardware so I can hang another Squirrel Buster Mini, get a window hook to hang a hummingbird feeder and some more hardware to hang an Oriole Feeder. I did spot an Oriole outside my house in a bush last year. Who knew; Orioles in the hood?

Grammy's and complaints

Wow, can't believe it's been almost a year since I blogged. What have I been doing? Tweeting too much; facebook'ing like a crack addict.
I haven't moved yet because...well, I don't know. I'm lazy. That's a fact. I get home from work and I don't want to do shit. I could've had my apartment packed up months ago. More about that later...
So tonight is Sunday and the Grammy's are on. So many artists that I'm like "Who is that" and "Why is that crap nominated?" I must be old.
Oh great, Jamie Foxx is introducing someone. Is he gunna plug his new movie? A new CD? The only reason I can tolerate him is because I know my boy Robert Downey Jr is a friend of his.
Cee-Lo is on now doing "Forget you" instead of the "Fuck you" we all wanted to hear. And he looks like a cross between George Clinton, Elton John and NBC Peacock. With Muppet back-up
singers.
Okay, back to my life. Can I just say it, 2011 has sucked with a capital UCKED! Bad stuff went down at the house, then my car starting acting up, then my canary died and then the ONE thing I took joy in at work, some bird feeders I had hanging up outside the office window, they made me either move or take down. The back-stabbing, two-faced bitches I work with. I know who complained. So now not only do I want to move, but I want a new job too. I'm SICK of busting my ass at that place while others do nothing and just freaking coast. And get paid more than I do FOR their coasting. I'm surrounded by fucking slackers. And the managers don't do anything about it because they don't care. They're bringing home their money. It's beyond frustrating. What I really want to do...is move back home. I want to be with my family. There's nothing for me in Rochester. My phone doesn't ring with people asking me to do stuff. My friends have their own lives now. There's nothing here for me. If my Mom lived alone right now, I'd be gone. I'd pack up my shit and just go. Put it into storage and just hang out with my Mom.
Okay, Katy Perry is on. I know who she is. lol. Is she gunna do that fireworks-out-her-ass routine again? I like Glee's version of Teenage Dreams better than hers, sorry! Darren Criss killed that shit.
What's up with John Mayer trying to look like Johnny Depp?
Nice, Lady Antebellum won Song of the Year. Nice. Great song. And it's cute that they're choked up about it.
You're probably wondering why I posted the pic of Michael Waltrip on this post. The stink face was appropriate. It's how I've felt so far about this year. Two months in and it's basically been....a big turd.

The Great Apartment Hunt begins

For 10 years I have lived in a peaceful apartment on the 2nd floor of a beautiful home in Rochester, NY. (and no, that is not a picture of the house) There were/are occasional inconveniences like the guy who lived down the hall whose girlfriend screamed during sex, (although that was more amusing than inconvenient) the ceiling fan downstairs that makes obnoxious noises in my bedroom, the girl who lived down the hall at one point whose boyfriend was verbally abusive to her and even the police came looking for him once. But even those issues didn't make me REALLY want to move out.
All that changed in October 2009.
My landlord decided that the best person to offer a studio apartment right next to a 45 year old, two job working woman is a 19 year street kid who has NEVER lived on his own and whose mother lives only a block away. Hmmm...doesn't it make you wonder WHY she would be kicking him out basically? Not my landlord. He never even did a background check or considered the outcome of this, he let the kid move in 1 day later.
Ever since, the 2nd of floor of this beautiful home has turned into the party, pot-smoking spot for bunches of local city idiots who drop f-bombs at least 5 times in one sentence. Nice, right?
So every night, I smell pot. Every weekend, I hear loud "music" (if you can call it that) until all hours in the morning. I hear people basically YELLING (talking?) to each other across an apartment that can't be more than 9 feet wide.
This is my life now.
Yes, I've complained. MANY times. From Day 1 because the partying began on Day 1. Allegedly, my landlord had a talk with him but nothing changed. I complained again. Nothing changed. And again, AND again, AND again. Until I got sick of complaining.
Why haven't I called the police? Well, being a single woman living on my own who has to walk by the party apartment every morning and every night....there's a little bit of a security issue there. I don't know these people, I don't know what they'd do if I did something. And I don't want to know. And the thing is, i shouldn't have to. My dumb-ass landlord should've known better and should've taken care of it 7 fucking months ago. (there's my one F-bomb)
Recently I had hoped there was a solution on the horizon. A "friend" of mines boyfriend owns a house who a friend and bandmate of his was living in by himself. They offered to let me move in there as a temporary or permanent solution. So not only would I be out of the current place but I'd have a WHOLE HOUSE to live in. Suddenly that option was taken from me. The rug pulled out from under me. I can no longer sit in my apartment, hear the shit going on the other side of the wall and think "It's only temporary, it's only temporary". I'm stuck again.
So now "The Great Apartment Hunt" begins. It started yesterday when I had appointments to see two places; both in really nice villages, in the center of said villages to be exact.
The first was on a 2nd floor above some businesses in the village of Webster. Looked nice on craigslist. I arrived before the agent did to find the landlord arguing with someone. And I heard what sounded like a VERY protective dog. The stairway up to the 2nd floor looked pretty old and somewhat neglected. The railing at the top even had nails coming out of it and moved if you leaned on it.
The hallway was painted green and everything, let's face it, looked cheap. The dog continued to bark and growl the whole time. Two other dudes, who I found out were from Ontario, showed up. (Ontario is basically the red-neck neighbor of the Rochester area) This place seemed more their style. The tenant was out and his brother, who lived down the hall, was the one the landlord was talking to. I guess he wanted him to hold the dog so he could show the place and the guy didn't want to be bothered. After trying numerous keys the landlord discovered that the tenant had changed the deadbolt. (which I THINK is illegal when you're renting). The funniest part was when they tried and describe the place. I also realized, it had no bath tub. BZZZZT! Thanks for playing. So I finally left.
The 2nd apartment was in the middle of the village of Penfield in an old mansion (pictured above) that I passed about a million times when I lived in Penfield with my Mom. I was very excited to see the place. The owner was waiting for me, leaning on his black Escalade. He started telling me about the property and this little house next to it, some guy who's going to cell ice cream on the corner all summer and then we finally went inside. I bet the entrance was nice back in the day. First he knocked on the wrong door and a college-age girl answered, as we tried to keep from stepping on the 20 pairs of shoes laying all over the landing. (red flag) He opened the other apartment and I couldn't believe what I saw. The living room was about as big as my kitchen, the bedroom was about the same (and didn't even have a closet) and the kitchen...was about the size of my pantry. As was the bathroom. I told him right away that I loved the house and the area but I have too much stuff for such a cracker jack box. Not to mention $680+gas and electric? for THAT?!?! Freakin crazy.
Needless to say, Day 1 of TGAH was a bust.

Is it July yet??

If the cold weather, the piles of snow and the crappy drivers aren't enough to make me want summer to be here quicker, this doesn't help either:

Another reality TV couple bites the dust..

I've gotta admit, I didn't see THIS one coming.
That bitch Deanna dumped my favorite dude from her Bachelorette show; Jessie.
Granted, this show has had one or maybe two successes from all the seasons they've had.
I said once that if the dates were more reality-based, maybe they'd have a shot but when
one minute you're strutting the beaches of a tropical Island and the next you're ordering from
the window at the local Dairy Queen....that can be difficult to handle.
I feel for Jessie though; I've heard that line before myself.


Chin up sweetheart, some snow bunny will be MORE than happy to take her place!