the crappy mood continues.

Question- Am I being unreasonable to be ticked-off that my bosses have assumed that I will watch/check their home every day while they are on their annual fall vacation (3weeks)?  I found out that I was doing it when I was sending an email to their contractor that said I would be there every day.  Especially taking into account that there was a major flood the last time they were away for a significant amount of time.... Most people might ask me if I was even willing to do it.  Of course, I'll say yes, but it's nice to be given the option.

Another question- Am I also unreasonable to be ticked-off that they are giving out my personal email and cell phone number to anyone they think may need it?  So far, they have given it to 3 contractors!  That's bullshit.

Because, I'll tell you something, I AM most definitely ticked-off.

It's probably my fault. I should have said something, but I didn't.

I am probably being unreasonable. :-(

Either way, it makes for crummy days and a shitty mood on my part. Especially since we're heading into our really busy/stressful quarter-project time the day after tomorrow.

Fingers-crossed something good happens to me pretty soon (I don't care how big or how small!).  I'm really tired of crappy days. A compliment, a nice phone call, heck, I'll take the parking guy wishing me a good morning!

Bah.

Have you ever woken-up knowing that you were in a crappy mood? That's been me since last Wednesday (mainly during the work week). No matter what I do to try and kick it, it's still there. I tell myself "It's going to be a great day!!" (over and over) and I've plastered a smile on my face, but neither has worked. I'm hoping for something (anything!) good to happen that might snap me out of it. So far, nothing!  Work sucks, so that's not helping much.  Neither has the horrendous traffic home each night or the heat we've been experiencing.

My folks were in-town this past weekend. I spent Saturday with them....those few hours were the only respite from my shitty mood. Although, to be honest it only lasted until I was on my way home.

If anyone has good news or ANYTHING that might help, you know where to find me.

Yikes, I can already tell that it's going to be an exhausting day.  My boss is supposed to come in to the office and I didn't get much sleep last night.

I woke-up to the news that Jack Larson passed away.  If you don't know, he was Jimmy Olsen in the old black and white Superman television series (with George Reeves).  To be honest, apart from the Christopher Reeves movies and the old Bruce Timm animated series, that was the only Superman I really watched.  I remember my dad liked the show, so that meant I got to watch it with him every-so-often, if he was home (and in the mood to watch it) when it was on.  I just loved that show as a kid.  I wasn't a huge fan of how they portrayed Lois (she seemed so mean!), but it was such a neat show for a kid like me.  If you can believe it, I haven't seen any of the recent movies, the Lois and Clark TV show, or anything else.  I was going to watch that one with Brandon Routh, but when it came time to "press play", I just didn't feel like it.  I probably switched over and watched an episode of Mob Wives instead, LOL.  Rest in peace Jack Larson....

Like I said above, I didn't get much sleep last night.  In addition to the heat and humidity, I was dealing with iPad issues.  Like a dumbass, I went in to update it to iOS9 and it got stuck on the "swipe to update" screen.   Turns out, a lot of people have had that problem and the only way to fix it it (other than go to the Apple Store) is to either back-up the unit and restore it from that back-up (it somehow fixes the bug) or you have to put your iPad in recovery mode and restore it to the factory settings.  Now, when I was about to update the iOS, I turned off the the "find my iPad" feature and it gave me this scary-looking warning message, so I thought "shit, I better not turn it off" and turned it back on again.  Welllllllll, did you know that you can't back-up your iPad or restore it from a back-up if that feature is still on?  WELL YOU CAN'T!!!!  I went on to the iCloud to manually turn it off and it took about 5 tries before it worked.  I was still unable to to restore it from a back-up as my computer still showed that feature as being turned-on, but I was able to put it in "Recovery Mode" so that it could be restored to it's factory settings.  That took over 5 hours.  And it wasn't just "plug it in and leave it" for over 5 hours either.  It was "sit by it and keep putting it into recovery mode by pressing the power button and the home screen button simultaneously when the iPad disappears from the screen every 15 minutes (or so)" for over 5 hours.

When it was finally done wiping my iPad, I noticed that all of my previous back-ups were gone from my computer, so I had to use a back-up from my phone that I did 3 months ago (yeah, I'm bad about backing-up my phone).  That took a while, then I had to try and get things close to how they were before......I didn't do so well.  I was up (the first time) until about 2:30am fiddling with things, then I tried to go to sleep since I had to be up in four hours.  I couldn't sleep, so I started fiddling with it some more.  You know, trying to get the websites I always have open back into Safari, Trying to get the text messages that used to show on iPad to show again (I failed), etc.  I didn't accomplish much, apart from losing valuable sleep.

Why is it that I always have trouble with stuff like that?  Coupled with the fact that you cannot expand an iPad's storage capacity and you have me seriously thinking about whether I should even get an iPad when I upgrade.  My unit is about 3 years-old and I'm always getting close to the limit on storage since I didn't think I'd need more than the 13GB offerred.  It may be time to break away from Apple.  I dunno.

So today I'm tired and a little sad.

Spontaneanation was great fun last night. Super Ego and Kristen Schall were hilarious. But, because it's me, something just HAD to happen to complicate the evening.

As I was getting out of the car, my phone fell out of my purse, hit the ground, bounced and went right down a gutter and into a storm drain. OF COURSE IT DID!!!

We called DWP since their name was on the man hole cover (is man hole one or two words?). After lots of hold time and talking to a very nice woman who didn't believe me that the man hole cover said DWP, I got the number of the Sanitation Department. The guy who I talked to was great. I explained the situation (and he didn't laugh once!). He said to call back after the show and he would send someone out. He totally understood that I couldn't go right then and wait as I had tickets to something I didn't want to miss. Hey, it's not like my phone was going anywhere. There were no freak rain storms expected.

I called back at about 10:15pm and he promised someone would be out within the hour. Apart from the bummer of leaning against a car in the muggy heat until they got there, it wasn't too bad of a wait. The truck arrived in about an hour. Two guys hopped out, got the man hole cover off (after a few attempts), climbed down and got my phone for me. They were so nice, friendly and professional.

I am so grateful it happened in a residential area and that it wasn't raining. They told us about some of the things they've seen in storm drains....gross.  Those guys saved the night!  Not only did they get my phone for me, they did it without encountering  a single Morlock!  They also made me feel better by telling me it was a pretty common occurrence. Thank you Department of Sanitation!!!

Always zip your purse closed before getting out of a car. Lesson learned!!!

Dead Authors was a blast.  Of course, as always, I misjudged my fellow audience members and when someone behind me defended Spaceballs (don't ask), I said "yeah" kinda loud and got ripped by PFT for it. Delightfully ripped though. :-) later on, while I was standing on the sidewalk chatting with my friend, Paul walked by, seemingly oblivious that we were there......until he yelled "YEAH" at me as he passed (and kept going, never looking back). It was an awesome way to have a heart attack!  I hope he doesn't do it tomorrow if I go to Spontaneanation!!!

As I expected, Chris Tallman was a genius. Being the last regular monthly show, they pretty much abandoned the format of the show for most of the time. It was great!

I'm going to miss this show. :-(

My friend made it out (and early!) but informed me that they hadn't gotten a ticket for Spontaneanation tomorrow (I got my ticket when they said they were getting theirs).  It's sold-out and I doubt she is going to try to come out on the off-chance she can get a ticket.  I wish I could say I was surprised....  I don't really want to go solo, so I'm kinda bummed.

That leaves Reading Aloud on Sunday.  We'll see if that happens.

Tonight is the LAST regular monthly Dead Author Podcast, so (friend or no friend) I'm going to be there. Chris Tallman is playing L. Frank Baum (Wizard of Oz) so it should be amazing. I can't wait to see if he riff's on the Native American controversy!  The trick will be getting to the UCB (Franklin) early enough to get a good place in line (it starts at 6:30pm). I invited one of my friends that cancelled at the last minute last time (and about three other times this year) so we'll see if she leaves work on time. We're also supposed to be going to Largo tomorrow night (Super Ego is joining Spontaneanation) and to Nate Corddry's Reading Aloud on Sunday, so we'll see what she makes it out for.

I was going through some of my old cd's, records and tapes yesterday and I have to say, I'm glad I did! I've rediscovered my fondness for Grace Jones!! I know she's not to everyone's taste, but I love her! I remember hearing "Pull Up to the Bumper" and being blown away. None of my friends liked her much ("She looks so weird with the flat top"). I remember, before that, seeing her on the (I think) Mike Douglas Show (or was it Merv Griffin?) one day. If I remember it correctly, she performed in a lilac spandex bodysuit that went from the top of her head to her feet and it was amazing.

"Demolition Man", "Warm Leatherette", "La Vie En Rose", "My Jamaican Man" and, of course, "Slave to the Rythmn". Will be blasting from my car tonight when I leave work!

Too bad my album "Fearless" was on tape and broke last night. Nina Hagen is another great performer from my high school days. I can't find it on cd online. Bummer!

Oh yeah, the other night, after 11pm, I was rudely woken-up by some girl sitting outside my bedroom window engaged in a loud conversation on her cell phone. At first I played "Los Angeles" (by X), but she didn't take the hint in the lyrics "Sheeeeeee had to leave. Los Angeles......(edit) she had to get out, get out, get out, get out, get out". So then I broke out with the loudest Clash songs, then the Sex Pistols.  She didn't move!!! It wasn't until I resorted to playing disco that she finally left. Thank you Peaches and Herb (Shake Your Groove Thing)!!!!

Been a weird week!

To all the folks who looked at me weird on my drive home: "Yeah, I was blasting and singing along to Stevie Nick's (and Don Henley and Tom Petty's)  "Edge of Seventeen", "I'll Run to You", "Stop Dragging My Heart Around"  and "Leather and Lace" at the top of my lungs, so what? Traffic sucks! A little interlude into the music of my past helps make it better.....DON'T JUDGE ME!!!"

:-)

What should I listen to tomorrow to get strange looks..... I'm thinking Heart, Queen or Pat Benatar.

I had a hair appointment this evening and I finally took took the plunge..... I got bangs. Bettie Paige bangs. It has taken a while to get up the courage to do it, but I finally did.  I also had about 4 inches taken off the length, so now it's about to my shoulders.  It's so weird! I haven't had bangs since my hair was much shorter. It's been about 5 years!  I'm not sure what I think about it yet.  I'm just hoping that I won't have to color my roots as often! When my bangs were long, I swept them to the side with a barrette, Lauren Bacall- style, so the roots showed right away. Now that I have bangs, I'm hoping it will take a little longer. :-) 

I heard from my mom tonight. They have two new kittens!  One boy and one girl. The girl doesn't have a name yet, but the boy is Walter. I love it! I'm glad they rescued them too.  

All in all, a good day.

A friend / ex co-worker of mine who moved to San Francisco was in town, so we went to dinner last night.  We went to a place near my apt that I've been wanting to try.  The food and the service were really good.  PLUS they have pork belly lollipops! 

I caught her up on my stuff (not much there!) and caught-up about stuff going on at my old company and what she was up to.  It was nice.

There aren't a lot of people who know about my parents cat.  I  mean, why would they?  It's not like you meet someone and you say "So, my parent's have this cat....".  Anyway, I'd told this friend about his antics over the years, so it was good to tell someone who knows how much I loved that cat that my parents had to put him to sleep last week.  :-(  It needed to be done, the poor thing has been unwell for almost a year.  He had cancer, which had spread rapidly over the past month. 

It was so sad.  My dad sent me a text to let me know that they had done it.  I knew my mom would take it hard, but I was taken by surprise at how deeply affected my dad was.  I touched base with them over the weekend to make sure they were okay.  Their cat was around 17-18 years-old, he was a member of the family.  Plus, my parents have not been without a pet at any point of my life.  They had pets before I was born!  That means that this is the first time in about 48-49 years that they don't have something running around the house.  I think it's a good sign that they told me they were packing-up the cat's stuff last Sunday and not "throwing out" that cat's stuff.  Hopefully that means that they'll get another one when the time is right.

I need to remember to check-in with them and ask how things are.

I'm looking forward to the long weekend.  Since it's been so hot here the last few weeks, my cleaning and laundry chores have seriously suffered. Luckily, I own a zillion sets of sheets, fine washables, socks and white shirts! 

I started re-arranging the furniture in my living room before the heat-wave kicked-off, so it kind of stalled.  I'm hopeful that I can finish that project (at the very least).  I have too much stuff, including a kitchen table that doesn't fit in my tiny kitchen (neither do the chairs), so I have to get creative about where I'm going to put them.

It's still supposed to be kind of warm, but I'm hoping that as the weekend is three days, I'll be able to accomplish things in short bursts.

Plus, I'm on a mission to get good tomatoes.  I used to drive out to the Underwood Farms "Pick Your Own" farm in Moorepark for their to-die-for tomatoes, but they've changed their rules.  I might take a drive up there, but I'm not sure I want to pay an admission fee to pick my own fruits and vegetables.  We'll see.

Wish me luck!