Well, I'm still here.

I don't have any good excuses, just the usual work stuff. Had to fire someone over some "cash intake discrepancies" and training replacements. Time always drags to a crawl, standing up, stooping over to point out where to write things, what this and that does, etc.

And then when they actually start working, the Boss wants me to stay around the building in case they need help. Which is the best course of action, of course. It just sucks that I can't even go unwind after a long day at work.

And Stacia.

Stacia, Stacia, Stacia...

Well, she had finally found work, and long story short, she ended up getting fired a couple of weeks later for not making quota. According to her, when she broke the news to me, I wasn't "Sensitive" enough. So my being practical, asking if she had finished updating her resume and such, was a terrible thing to do.

Which lead to a fight, but we made up.

The very next day, I was talking to a friend while Stacia was using my computer. I asked this friend if I could get that talking watch back that I gave him months ago, seeing as how he didn't use it, because it would work great for a project I was working on.

He said of course, that he never found a use for it anyway. And Stacia butts in, saying that's not right, that I should have "learned my lesson" from the MP3 Player Incident of a few months back.

She KNEW that was a sore subject, that I felt I was in the right, and that never really got resolved. We just moved on. So, that was the straw that did me in.

She had to go. I won't get into the real thick of it, her refusing to go and me having to resort to throwing her stuff out into the hall. She cried, she said it wasn't fair...

And I agreed the situation sucked. That it could be considered cruel. But I knew that she wouldn't end up on the street. And if I gave her even a few days, I'd lose my resolved and cave in to her manipulations and let her stay.

I had to cut her out like a tumor. And honestly, I was surprised how unemotional and cold I was, like I flipped a switch that turned off my soul.

I said she could keep some of her stuff in storage, and we talked some more after all was done. Her stance is that it's not fair and right, my stance was that she was taking advantage of me, and that I was her safety next, taking away all motivation to find a job and get her own place.

She lived with me a combined total of almost six months, and the few jobs she got didn't last more than a week. No savings, no Plan B except Mooch off a "friend"? The girls almost 30 for crying out loud. I'm not crazy here, am I?

So, I'm not crying like I was last time, even though I know that this is it, that she's gone for good now. Heh, with some of the things I said, I'm sure of it.

But I am hurt. I think that we could have been good friends. It was the close quarters, with me being the provider, that did it in. Jeez, I never asked to get married or anything.

So, I am listening to a few songs over and over again. 'Ruby Tuesday' and 'Mad World' among them.

And I have GOT to quit smoking. Next paycheck for sure- Nicotine Patch.

Ack, I let a couple of weeks slide by again without a new post.

Boy, has my life improved the last week since I discovered caffeinated Jolt Energy Gum. It feels like I'm being much more productive.

I've found that by switching my To Do list to pen and paper, I get more done than when I put it on my electronic PDA. That will be the only paper I allow, since I've decided to go paperless.

I picked up a scanner and have been working on digitizing EVERYTHING. Books, magazine clippings, pay stubs, etc. which I'm also backing up to two external hard drives.

Part of this started from an impulse purchase I made. I am now the proud owner of a Sony Portable E-ink Reader. It had been backordered for awhile, and ebay was charging over $400. I walked into Borders the other day and BOOM, there it was. I stood there playing with it for about a half-hour before I told the cashier I had to have it.

Seeing it in person was incredible. It reminded me of those fake computer screens they have at furniture stores, where it looks real from a distance, until you see that it's painted on the screen. The text is too crisp, the viewing angle is almost 180 degrees.

And thanks to Parallels, I loaded up the software on my Mac No Problem. I've got dozens of books on it now that have been sitting around on my hard drive forever. PDF's don't display too well, but it was simple to convert them to Word Documents.

Deciding to go Paperless has also caused me to reevaluate the rest of my room. I'm also getting rid of my TV, along with the bulky Cabinet it's in. And while I'm at it, I'm also replacing my clunky wood-pulp desk with a streamlined aluminum and glass one. Only $70!

I've also segmented my day into blocks, providing time for writing, language learning, exercise, etc. I'm also teaching myself how to ride a skateboard!

Ahhhh, I love caffeine.

I haven't been 24 for that long, yet I've already reached two milestones.

First, I opened myself a Roth IRA and made a pretty sizable deposit. All I have to do is keep depositing for the next forty years, and maybe I'll have a little spending money during my last few seasons on this planet.

Second, I bought my first anti-wrinkle cream. Stacia teased me pretty hard about it. She's five years older than me, so she always gets annoyed when I talk about how old I'm getting.

Well, that dumb raised eyebrows "Who?" expression I've been making since childhood is starting to take it's toll. Might as well do what I can.

Let's see, what else...

Ah. Well it started out with my new Mac. We have a wireless internet kiosk in the hotel lobby, but if you try to connect to it, it takes you to a payment screen. The kiosk operator set up the software to allow the office computer through the filter (A MAC filter I later learned)
and my old laptop.

I tried for days to reach him, to get him to let my new Mac through, but he was out of town.

It took me a solid two days, but I finally figured out how to 'spoof' (change) my MAC address to get through the MAC filter on the kiosk. It was pretty exhilarating, typing a few lines of commands in the Terminal, and then watching FireFox connect to pvponline.com

So lately I've been getting into computer code, Linux, that kind of stuff.

lol, I'm such a geek...

Well, here I am... 24.

It was a little depressing, the days leading up to my Birthday, but surprisingly, I was pretty happy on the day itself.

My Mom called me up and sung Happy Birthday. I went and took care of a few errands, namely getting a new Social Security card and shipping my old laptop off to Mom.

Then I grabbed some breakfast and saw a pretty awful movie.

I spent the rest of the afternoon leveling up my Blood Elf Warlock on the Dark Iron server.

Finally, Stacia and I went to a bar. I didn't get totally wasted, just pretty close. I've been much drunker. But, all in all it was a nice Birthday.

I bought myself a wireless Mighty Mouse for my Mac, and the above mentioned Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft.

So, not too bad.

*weary sigh*

When you combine a full moon, with everyone getting their Government Assistance and Social Security checks, watch out. It gets a little crazy.

At least it's busy again. We were going through a bit of a slump, which is probably why my Boss has been so touchy lately.

-

Today I found out that my Dad got a credit card in my name four years ago, and now I've got a collection agency telling me I owe $900 and they'll start garnishing my wages soon unless I pay it off. I gave the info to Mom, who works in a Law Office.

Hopefully she'll be able to take care of it.

On top of that, I've also began paying off that bill I racked up when I went to the hospital for that bad X. Eesh, 2006 really flew by.

I've been getting a bit depressed lately, with a birthday coming up. My one good friend will be leaving town, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I suppose there's 'Amy', we share the same birthday and traditionally we do something.

I don't know, it just seems like I'm disgusted with most of the people in my life. Is that normal?

First there's Stacia. Sometimes I just want to shake her- maybe it would wake her up.

She's too damn picky. She never had to take the first job to come along, no matter how bad, just so she could pay rent and eat. She's always had a place to go.

I suppose when you have that, it's only natural to get a little lazy. Maybe I'm just bitter, having to work so hard just to get to where I am now, which isn't even that great of a position.

Ugh, well, anyway.

My other friends... I put on a pretty face about it, and we hang out sometimes and stuff... It just seems like since I put my foot down about not paying for everything I don't seem to be as 'close' to them as before.

Which is a good thing, I 'spose. Learning who the good friends are and all that. It's a learning experience.

And now, here I am, about to turn 24 next week.

Like sand in the hourglass...

Ooh boy, work has been killer the last couple of days. My boss is getting on my case about everything, constantly telling me to keep on the ball.

It bugs me because I'm not constantly telling him about all the stuff I'm doing behind the scenes (like some other people around here) so all he seems to see are the mistakes. What's infuriating is him misunderstanding what's going on, and getting upset with me about it. Stuff I didn't even do wrong.

Bah.

I'm unwinding after work by helping a friend put together some internet video clips, using iMovie HD. It's so much fun, I bought a camcorder off eBay to put my own little projects together. Ah, don't get too excited- I think my best talents lie behind the camera.