Canderous and Cade's Crazy Cantina: a shiny new fanfiction social thread!

Briannakin. Tell her you are a follower of Thulsa Doom!

 

Mabel just left a stinker. Thankfully, I have the windows open and there's a breeze, so it dissipated quickly.

 

So my land lady called this evening and said she's going to have the driveway paved tomorrow and we won't be able to use the driveway for 24 hours.
I can't park at work during the week as there is nowhere to park, I don't have a city parking pass because I don't need one having a drive way and she didn't give us enough notice to get one.
I think I'm just going to park in the yard and she can be unhappy about it, I have nowhere else to park. The thing is, our driveway is perfectly fine. She would be better to paint the crappy looking trim on the house or fix the leak in our bathroom that only happens when it rains really hard.

 

Gotta love landlords...

I spent all day in town today. Walked in, took the bus to the Outlets, walked out to the grocery store to get coffee, then walked to a cafe, ate, then walked back. My legs and feet hurt, and my back hurts from hauling a bookbag all day.

Hot shower and good sleep sounds nice...

 

I got home at 8:30 PM. I hate scout days. I drive the kids to school at 7:15 AM, then (because the school is in another town far away) I go to the library for a few hours to write, then I go to the gym for a couple hours. I pick up the kids at 3:30, drive the youngest to Football practice and then I go with my older son to the gym to kill another two hours. 6PM we usually go home, except on Tuesday where I drive them 40 miles in the other direction to their scout meeting that goes to 8PM.

Since I live in a backwoods town that makes Mayberry RFD look like Metropolis I have to drive 30 or 40 miles to get the kids to any of their events.

 

Well, my commitment to 7-Eleven is about to expire, as the small mom-and-pop company (literally) that runs the franchise store is abandoning it to Corporate in the wake of a number of issues (most having to do with an inability to retain employees—training is expensive even before they hit the register!). However I'll still be working for them in the other store they have opened up, which is a party-supply business that's setting up a wicked Halloween section, some of which will be a year-round thing (costumes and makeup included). Personally, it couldn't have happened soon enough, as the constant strain of a fluctuating schedule and having to fill in for other employees failing to show up for shift, as well as simply running the store myself when on-shift, was really starting to get to me (due to disability I can't work full time—in fact a full-time schedule at 7-Eleven would kill me within a month probably).

So yeah, I'm happy to be sloughing a hundred-kilo suit of responsibility that's been squeezing me like a nerf sausage. After a year working there, I feel that my fortitude has been sufficiently established.

 

Wow. I though my 15 minutes drive to town was bad (the hour bus ride to the University IS bad). I had days like that back in high school. I had to leave the house by 7:00 to get to concert band practice, which lasted till school started, school ended at 3, then I'd go to my friend's house so that I could get a ride to bible study, which end at 9:30. I often didn't get home till 10.

On a related note, I got my Learner's license (I passed on my first try)! I have to drive with a teacher for a year, so I'm still reliant on busing for the most part, for now.

EDIT: Congrats on moving on to a better job. It sounds like a serious improvement.

 

Briannakin It's not really a new job per se, as the party store had already been open since early June and I was among the first employees; basically, I was culled from the ranks of the 7-Eleven workforce. So in essence I was working two jobs at the same time, though there were a few occasions when I was excused from working a scheduled shift at the party store due to lack of business. I'm hoping to get more hours there, though that does come with a four-mile bike ride each way, which I consider a benefit as it gets me to exercise more (the 7-Eleven is right across the street from my apartment complex).

 

I would never let my kids work at a 7-Eleven (especially the night shift). It is too dangerous. They are safer in the Army.

 

I have come to the conclusion life is not fair. My high school is now offering a 'Middle Earth' class that students can use for university credits. Basically, all they read is Tolkien. Why wasn't this offered when I was there?!

 

I haven't been on here in weeks. I switched jobs at my employer. I spent three weeks interviewing and reinterviewing and seond-interviewing and finally got a job offer to work at Ancestry.com, where I have several friends already working. I let my job know that I'd be leaving on September 9, which was a formality, since I didn't actually have to do that. They "accepted my voluntary resignation" twelve days early. I'm now at the new job and just finished certifying for the job, so it'll be good, but my very small last paycheck from my last job stressed me out. I've been getting by in part by getting articles on writing published for $20 a piece, but I have to put off paying my phone bill and the fees for my piano lessons this month until the first of October.

I also have to work 1-9 for weeks 1, 2 and 4, which means that I can't take the bus home. Luckily, my bishop's wife had a bike I could borrow and the 6-mile ride home only takes 35-50 minutes, depending on the stoplights. My only real disaster was the first night, when someone left a trash can in the bike lane on a darkened street and I clipped it. I skinned my knee, bruised my arms and legs and gashed my finger badly enough that it's still unpleasant to work with.

And if all of this weren't stressful enough, I have my piano recital on September 27. I will survive!

 

Not true.

In the Army you're likely to get deployed to hot zones and shot and/or blown up. At 7-Eleven the worst you're likely to have to do is substitute two additional days a week due to delinquent co-workers.

 

I'm not sure where you live, but where I live, I agree with JL. I was looking for apartments today online (finding somewhere to live that isn't my mom's basement is proving to be impossible) and one came up by the hospital. My mom is like "you cant live there, that's a bad area." I replied "Mom, we live in Canada's most crime ridden city (no, seriously, we've won the title for the past 5 years), EVERYWHERE is a bad area unless you live out in the boonies like we do."

 

The 7-Eleven in my area has had more than its share of problems, especially at night. A small town, with deserted streets at night? A lone 7-Eleven in that quiet town? You had better believe that it's a prime target for robberies. If I were a thief, I'd target the small-town stores.

 

I live in one of the largest cities in Oakland County, Michigan, and in one of the nicer neighborhoods. I won't pretend there hasn't been any trouble around here, and it hasn't evaded the store itself, but we manage just fine. Is there any fear there? No. Even if I worked in a "marginal" or "bad" neighborhood, I would not be afraid. I would be alert, eyes open, keeping my situational awareness up while doing my job, knowing that if trouble were to find me, I can stay calm and keep my head in just about any potential situation. The cops in my town are good people, and they often stop by for snacks while on duty; indeed, the nearest precinct is less than a mile and a half away.

 

All I know is I spent 11 years active duty in the Army and my husband spent 26 years as Army EOD (bomb disposal) and I felt safer in my job (Military Police) than I ever would working a graveyard shift at a convenience store. A majority of the jobs in the Army are safe with the exception of the infantry and maybe a few other combat arms jobs while on deployment.

Meanwhile I am going broke buying school uniforms. At the beginning of school year my 12 year old told me his size 14 husky pants were too small. So two weeks ago I bought him size 16 pants and they fit fine. Two weeks later they no longer fit him. He is wearing size 18 now. Wow! He's not fat either. He's muscular and on the football team for JR High. I can't believe his growth spurt.

 

Now we all know its a longshot Ben will be in episode 7 but I came across this fan made teaser trailer recently

 

Surprisingly enough, the most serious situation to occur in the store itself (that I know of, and I would've been told about past incidences that were worse) took place during the day, in what would be called "alpha watch" in the military (8am to 4pm) when the employee at the time was assaulted by a shoplifter who had been called out on her thievery. The perp basically hurled a full 20oz bottle of Vernor's at the woman, the cops were called and she was arrested. Dunno if charges were ever filed though.

That said, I don't think that anyone should try to be totally safe, or even mostly safe. Life is risky, and trying to mitigate all risk is a futile effort at best, and at worst can be outright self-destructive. You can be aware, you can use your innate sense of self-preservation to keep yourself on your toes, and you can take certain preventative measures, but you will never ever be "safe" from harm. Hell, almost all recreational activities that we as humans engage in, that isn't limited to loafing on the couch (i.e., video games, movies, reading) is built on risk. We run, ride or drive certain routes on certain vehicles at certain speeds because it thrills us in some way. We ride roller coasters because it simulates the thrill of shooting through the air in crazy ways (I liken it to a dogfight on rails). We skydive, bungee-jump, whitewater raft, hang-glide, and fly, even though these activities are literally fraught with peril.

Why? Adrenaline.

Heh, I personally despise the concept of school uniforms for a number of reasons (not the least which in that retailers can make a fat profit margin with a little creative ordering and pricing). They limit personal expression, in essence turning kids—who are already pressured by their peers to conform to artificial and often double standards—into junior automatons. Also, the very idea reeks of the state (here I use the term rhetorically) imposing its will upon the populace in an arbitrary way. Notions that uniforms help keep order are patently ridiculous in the face of all the uniformed institutions out there that have abhorrent reputations for rowdiness and chaos (yes, I'm including the U.S. military in this, as well as some noteworthy law enforcement departments) both internally and externally.

 

They like the school uniform. They said it takes the pressure off of what to wear and they are no longer getting harassed for not wearing "cool" clothes like they did at their old school.

I told them they can express their individuality by winning a Nobel for something...like curing cancer.

 

Honestly, my school days would have benefited greatly from uniforms. I was harassed mercilessly, and part of it was due to what I wore.

 

I always wished my school had uniforms... that being said, I do tire of wearing light blue scrubs (and looking at the majority of a hospital in the same scrubs) day in and day out.

Congrats on the new job Ish!

 

There's definetly pros and cons to school uniforms. I never had them in school, but we did have to wear uniforms at music festivals and band trips. It was always nice when it came to packing, we just threw our uniforms into a bag and that was it. We were called 'the dark ones' because while most schools had black pants and white shirts, we wore black on black with dark red ties, and we had a reputation of being ruthless winners.

 

When I was in drum line, our uniforms were dark turtlenecks, pants, and berets. I added dark shades for good measure. I loved that uniform.

 

Oh noes, TrakNar was a beatnik!

 

That year, the color guard was dressed similarly. Made things difficult when I was in both.