// sweet revelation // sweet surrender //

WWE geek moment

2009-04-27T09:29:17Z

So, I was pissed that I didn't take the day off of work to watch the pay per view tonight. I mean, fuck, it was such an awesome card. Last Man Standing match, six man tag for the WWE Championship, Jericho against Ricky The Dragon Steamboat. Christian for the ECW title.

Then I managed to find a feed of a replay online and just sat here for three hours, rather than sleeping, to watch the damned thing. SO. WORTH. IT. Christian is ECW champion. Randy Orton is WWE Champion. Shane McMahon was in a match. Chris Jericho won. Edge is the World Heavyweight Champion. Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy in an I Quit match. Bitch all you want about gimmick matches, 'cause the show was heavy with them, but damn! He duct taped and tied his brother to a table, and then hopped over a ladder and landed on him.

Big Show threw Cena through a fucking spotlight. An actual spotlight that broke and caught on fire. Holy shit. They showed a bunch of replays of it and it was nasty.

...and even better, Christian came out at the end to check on Cena, which is SO gonna set up either an Edge and Christian feud, or an throwback to the E & C days. There might actually be a tag team division again. Honestly, that quick little cameo right there by Christian at the end, when Edge was hugging his belt totally made Backlash for me.

I forgot how much fun watching pro wrestling can be. Heh. Plus, they just announced a tour with dates in Kelowna and...meh, somewhere else. If they announce Vancouver anywhere on there, anytime soon, I'm completely and totally there.

Okay, I think I'm calmer now. Time for bed.

aurasae @ 2009-04-08T20:40:00

2009-04-08T20:42:01Z

Mom had her surgery today. They're releasing her at two. Poor Mom. I'm a horrible nursemaid.

I came out of my hidey hole to say I'm still alive...

2009-03-30T20:34:44Z

But I'm going back in. Work gave me five days off (straight in a row! 'Course, I had to work nine days with one day off in order to get it), and four of the five have been me dealing with a migraine. Now it's just down to a dull roar.

Mom says she figured it would happen. I've gotten all of her other little problems and maladies (outside of being born utterly blind) roundabouts when she did, so she figures that it makes sense that I would start getting migraines now.

This sucks. I'm almost out of T3s. And I go back to work tomorrow. Wonderful way to spend my days off: doped up to the gills and still in pain. I'm now taking offers for beheadings.

Don't expect to see me much...

2009-03-15T21:27:43Z

I just bought myself an XBOX 360. Used, of course. Since I've pretty much given up on WoW, I need something to occupy my time.

Any recommendations for games?

The mind? It has been boggled.

2009-03-08T09:28:28Z

Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Twilight and Brady Bunch.
The story should use a malevolent artificial intelligence as a plot device!

Generated by the Terrible Crossover Fanfiction Idea Generator

I kinda wanna read it now...kill me, please

Oh, WWE...

2009-03-05T06:17:01Z

Damn you, WWE. Chris Jericho and his little smirk (and his butt). John Cena and his dimples (and his butt). Randy Orton and his gorgeous eyes (and his butt). Shane McMahon and his...everything (including his butt).

I thought I had quit you. WHY did I get sucked back in? God, I love me so bad soap operas acted out by big sweaty men wearing next to nothing and pummeling each other.

Um...

2009-02-26T07:57:34Z

I have a dinner date on Friday. I...am still sorta surprised as to how it came about.

Yay!

2009-02-25T09:49:12Z

Officially five pounds heavier.

Also, I feel that I need a Facebook for Dummies or something.

Mainly for myself...

2009-02-19T12:19:50Z

...and so that I can access it on my other computer.

Possibly the best Degeneration-X promo ever. Triple H and Shawn Michael impersonating Vince and Shane McMahon.

Part One
Part Two

Help!

2009-01-28T21:31:56Z

So, I don't know how many of you venture into the kitchen or sift through recipe books often, but I have an issue.

I've been trying to think of a way to make a lemon crunch pie, now that M&M Meats doesn't carry theirs anymore. It's a lemon filling (very tart), a normal pie crust, and a crumble topping. I know how to make all the parts (frozen pie shell, because I'm lazy, a recipe for lemon filling, and how to make a crumble), but putting it together is the problem.

I figure if you blind-bake the shell, and pre-bake the crumble topping, and THEN make the pie, it'll work. As soon as it begins to set, which is immediately almost, put on the crumble and voila! But I'm not sure.

Has anyone ever come across a recipe for this? Or have any clue or hints or anything I could use? This is the best Mom and I could come up with!

And yes, I did Google. Apparently "lemon crunch pie" means a lemon square with a gingerbread base. Who knew?

There's a first for everything...

2009-01-23T07:35:08Z

Including dyeing your hair by yourself.

Yes, this is the first time that there hasn't been kool-aid (followed by cider vinegar, naturally...that was a hard lesson to learn) or sun-in with the hair drier.

Pics beneath the

Before:

During:

Afters when I finish.

The picture looks like shit, because it's my shitty webcam that I'm using (hey, it's built in!), and the color in the photo looks kinda orangish but I assure you, it's a blonde that's only a few shades lighter than my normal color.

All in all, I did a good job. And now I get to relax with my royal purple luxury fuzzy robe- luxury because it has a hood - and my now warm blueberry raspberry lemonade Vex. Yes, there was alcohol involved. A picture, for evidence:

It's been an interesting evening. I wonder if anyone'll notice when I go to work tomorrow.

Well, THAT was fun...

2009-01-05T18:23:14Z

Nothing like a power outage a half hour before the store closes.

At least I got to pass most of the close over to the morning shift for today. Heh.

Happy New Years!

2008-12-31T17:58:45Z

My plans got canceled, and I'll be sending a night alone with a bottle of red and a bottle of zinfindel and Dick Clark.

Hopefully, all of yours is going much better, and you all have a great last night of 2008.

Wait, they said "blizzard-like" weather?

2008-12-21T18:59:20Z

Happy White-Out, people.

And for the love of whoever, be safe out there.

What the fucking hell, they SPARKLE!!!11

2008-12-18T10:54:11Z

The subject, in case you were wondering, was my initial reaction to being told about the differing factor between Stephanie Meyer's vampires and the more...common theory about sunlight and undead blood suckers.

I swore to myself that I wouldn't read that shit. I had heard such bad things about it. And because of the movie (no, I haven't seen it. The last time I was in a theater was during my last overnight trip to the city), Twilight ended up back on the shelf of our paltry little book section in the store.

I picked it up out of curiousity, read the blurb, rolled my eyes. Ran into my Friday and Saturday night closing manager, who informed me that he had read it, the fact that he considered it a decent read (apparently, sun sparkly vampires are refreshing?), and that his girlfriend had all the books and liked them.

I bought it.

I put off reading.

Fuck me, I liked it. Okay, so I wasn't in love with it. I kept rolling my eyes at how one-dimensional and weak the characters were. Everyone knows that I like Anne Rice's vampires, because of how rich and colorful they are. They're detailed. I do NOT do sparkly vampires. I couldn't stand the schmoopy teen romance part of it (so she sees the guy a few times and vice versa, and they're IMMEDIATELY in love and soulmates? Excuse me while I laugh and roll my eyes again). But...it was like a train wreck. You just can't look away. Or at least, I couldn't put it down. And since I can't get my hands on the other books, I'm currently downloading the audio books. I mean, I already spoiled myself, so I know I won't like the end. It honestly sounds worse than the J. K. Rowling fan fiction ending of the last Harry Potter book.

But damn it, I have a weakness for vampires! They just shouldn't sparkle!

aurasae @ 2008-12-02T18:52:00

2008-12-02T19:01:23Z

Yeah, I'm here. I'm just tired.

The bullet points:

- This should be my last week of Grandma sitting. I had to have a talk with my mom, and explain to her that I CAN'T do early mornings anymore when I'm afternoon/evenings at the store. Especially with me having to work an hour longer during the holidays. I can't get home at eleven, eat, shower, wind down, fall asleep and be up at six. God, I miss those days of being able to pull all nighters. Either way, she pulls morning duty for me, and I pull late morning/afternoon up there. It works.

- If you ever want to learn politics, get a job in a grocery store (by the by, is anyone still surprised I have this job for this long?).

- I think I've fallen in love with the new WoW expansion (never mind the fact that I couldn't get the collector's edition...grr!) and the content patch before it. I'm leveling Ria slowly, but it's fun. I haven't been to Dalarn yet, and I'm sure that's when I'm gonna wanna throw something (I hear the lag is ridiculous), but I like the guild I'm in, and I've been catching up with some old friends recently, but it's nice. And the new zones seem better than the BC ones. I, of course, have yet to step into one of the new instances.

- Mom's boyfriend is pretty cool. I like anyone who offers to take me on a shopping trip. Yes, sounds bad, but SHOES!

Bits and pieces...

2008-11-06T18:02:59Z

Note to self: ask Mom what Dad's mom's name was. I should know this (I'm sure I do), but the nurse was up yesterday when I was at Grandma's, and it was one that I hadn't met yet. As usual, we got the whole, "Aw, isn't that cute that you have the same name" and Grandma said that I was named after her, and after my other grandmother, who's name was Julia. But I honestly don't believe that Julia was her name. Could be wrong, but...meh, maybe one or the other of us is losing it.

Oh, and former roommate! Okay, so you're a bad influence. It started with Stargate SG-1. Watched it, fell in love. Then The X-Files, which I had never ever ever liked. Watched it, loved it. Now? It's all your fault that I got my hands on seasons one and two of Supernatural and I've been devouring the discs as quickly as I can. Yummy, Jensen Ackles. 'Course, I had a thing for him back when he was Eric Brady, Sami's good twin brother (although he eventually did some evil things, as all people are wont to do) on Days of Our Lives.

...which of course, just brings back fond memories of Marlena as the Devil back when I was a kid...

Regardless, although a bit of my mind is slightly squicked by Wincest...dayum, those two are hot and have a hell of a lot of chemistry together. YOU SUCK, FORMER ROOMMATE! Also because I'm getting copies of Doctor Who on DVD soon. Particularily of the ninth and tenth doctor, I think. Either way...haven't seen an episode, but again with the hotness.

I just about got beaned in the head by a two by four. How lovely.

Can't wait to get home and watch more Supernatural. I've been trying my hardest not to nit-pick, either, like I usually do. Just watch the pretty.

I really need to get back to setting up my mega-super-big Sims 2 'hood.

Is Julia's schedule

2008-10-24T17:52:27Z

I need a fucking vacation. Or a day to myself. Seriously. This is the start of my work week and already I'm hating it.

Friday - is Julia's Monday. Is last day of current flyer. Is the day with the most no-shows and (insert fake cough here) calls about being sick.

Saturday - is Julia's Tuesday. Is the first day of the new flyer. Is the day with the most customers. Is the day with the most customer complaints. Is the day the store is so busy, I have to jump on till and have my manager run customer service for me. Is the week end close for my office. Haaaaate the week end close.

Sunday - Is Julia's Wednesday. Is unpredictable. Is the day when my hours change for 2:30 - 11:00 to 2:00 - 10:30. It may not seem like a big change but it is for us cash people.

Monday - Is Julia's Thursday. Is unpredictable. Last Monday, so fucking busy it wasn't even funny. The Monday before that? Completely dead.

Tuesday - Is Julia's Friday. Yay Friday!

Wednesday - Is Julia's first day off. Is actually Grandma-Sitting Day One of Two. Anywhere from 8 to 12 hours long. Starting at 6 in the morning.

Thursday - Is Julia's second day off. Is same as above.

...lather, rinse, repeat for the next few weeks. This hour this morning is the longest, uninterupted moment of the past few weeks, and damn it, I'm enjoying it. So much so that I might go back to bed.

Cryptic post is cryptic...

2008-10-17T16:58:58Z

I'm STILL waiting. The waiting and the stress is starting to get to me. I mean, I know what I'll do if it happens to swing that way, but I don't want it to swing that way. I really really really don't. I hate not knowing something for sure.

Oh, yay!

2008-10-15T02:17:27Z

First post on the new laptop. Curse you, Windows Vista!

The lesser of all evils...

2008-10-14T19:21:31Z

Oh, yay, it's voting day.

aurasae @ 2008-10-11T10:20:00

2008-10-11T17:23:55Z

After seven months (I believe) of working at the store, mainly forty hour weeks, save for sickness and holiday, after busting my ass continuously for them...I got a raise. I made my hours.

I got an extra twenty cents an hour. The excitement of, "Ooh, a raise! Cool!" has gone significantly down, and the feeling of, "Well, that's kind of a slap in the face," has gone significantly up.

In other news, I'm well on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady. I now crochet. Step one is complete! Step two will be a little harder, as I have to get my hands on large amounts of cats. Hmm...

It's aliiiiive!!!111one

2008-10-07T18:24:18Z

And hidden behind cuts for your convenience.

This is one of the bigger ones, so this where be where I'm starting from.

One thing that annoys me about work is that although I work in the cash office, and I'm technically in charge of front end for forty hours a week (minus overlap time with other cash office people) and I have a shiny key that dangled from my arm, I'm only a junior cashier. Which means that I shouldn't have to deal with the headache of say...the front end supervisor. Scheduling (other than when people no-show or call in sick) and pay roll are just a few things that I shouldn't be touching. Same as a period end close.

Each period is four weeks long. Every Saturday, we do a week end close. The rest of the nights, we do a night close. A week end close is more annoying, has a lot more paperwork, and is a little more delicate. I need to make sure that the safes are completely balanced, I need to make sure that the tills and the over/short report are somewhat reasonable and I have about five times the paperwork on a Saturday. No kidding. Usually, the morning person helps out by subtotaling everything that I'm going to make a final total on that night, as well as getting everything ready for the deposit and the paperwork. It's not much, but it definitely helps. The chances of me leaving on a Saturday before eleven at night are slim to none (I managed it this last Saturday, and was out the door with five minutes to spare).

After I came back from Vegas, a number of things started happening in the cash office, other than the supervisor and the next higher-up sniping at each other throughout the day. They started to leave me increasing amounts of work. Throughout the day, we're not allowed to leave more than two thousand dollars in a till, for security and safety reason. Whenever anyone is off shift and someone else gets on their till, we have to bring it in and spot check it first, floating it back to three hundred dollars, so we can tell who is making the mistakes on cash. They weren't. Morning and afternoon safe counts weren't being done. Paperwork wasn't being completed and taken upstairs to the managers. Lists of phone numbers of people to call to come into work and cover shifts was being left on the desk for me, and usually an hour before the shift needed to be covered, which c'mon, you try and get a teenager to come into work from four to ten on a Friday when it's 3:25 pm on that day.

It just kept building up for weeks, so I finally snapped. I complained to my store manager, Terry. Thank God he was the one that was closing that night. I ranted for close to an hour, and I was close to tears through some of it as I was telling him that this was complete and utter bullshit. I was taking on practically all the work of the cash office and all the stress, and I was getting pain ten bucks an hour while everyone else went home early and left the work for me to do. I conceded the fact that I agreed to take all night shifts (have I ever been a morning person?), and all nights shifts meant all teenagers, and I knew that it was going to be hard at times, but this was unbelievable. I wanted to go back to being a cashier.

It seems that those were the magic words that got the ball rolling. I hadn't known that there had been a discussion before this about my office between some of the managers, and the conclusion had been that everyone was doing a good job, but Julia was really good at customer service and doing the paperwork and closing the store and damn it, we can't lose her because no one wants to do her job. It didn't take long until the message got to the store owner and he asked me to write out a very simple letter with all the problems happening in the cash office, so that he could address them. So I did.

And then I hunkered down for the shit to hit the fan. Literally, the day after I gave him the letter (I expected it to take longer), I went into work and got pulled out by the front end supervisor for a ~~cigarette~~ staff meeting, and was reamed out. Why didn't I say anything to her, she asked. Well, I did, but the common response was, don't worry, it'll get better. But it didn't. It only got worse.

It was the magical little letter. Everything was fine after that! The morning shift got their work done, and the other woman who works the nights I'm off and I had just our afternoon and closing stuff to do. Hurrah! Then new shit started happening.

Hi, welcome to Extra Foods, where we'll be more than happy to let you steal! The employees seem to think that this is the new motto. We literally started catching people all at once in different departments. The worst? Front end. Five teenagers in particular. I was the lucky one that they seemed to target (to be fair, I'm the youngest in the cash office, so I'm closest to their age, I talk to them when it's slow, and there are people that have asked to be scheduled specifically with me because I'm the most easy-going of the cash office). They started to learn that they could scan items in and then void them off the bill, leaving only one small item to pay for. What they didn't realize is that in our office, we have a computer that's strictly used to look at the electronic journal roll. Basically, it's a copy of every single order that goes through every single till. It wasn't hard to filter the results by their number, the date they worked, and what till. I think the stack of paperwork we have on them is almost an inch thick at this point. And last Sunday, we actually caught them doing it with cigarettes behind the customer service counter. Which, is not only stealing, but giving it to a minor, which means the store can get nailed for it. Someone from head office, and someone from loss prevention is there today (and hopefully will be gone by the time my shift starts) so hopefully this is all going to be over and done with. On the other hand...knowing my luck, I'm gonna have a bunch of angry teenagers. Grr.

Thus endeth the work update.

And Grandma isn't doing so well. She's been in and out of the hospitals lately. They had her up at St. Paul's for almost a month, because of the heart failure and pneumonia (isn't St. Paul's the old people's hospital? I seem to remember calling it that for some reason). Oh, and the kidney failure. They finally sent her home once her lungs cleared and she was able to walk up and down a flight of eight stairs with minimal difficulty. That was all fine and dandy. However.

In the hospital, in order to clear up all the fluid that was accumulating in her, they had her on water pills. Huzzah, they worked! And then they took her off of them when they released her. Bad idea. A day and a half after she came home, she passed out again, and we had to call an ambulance to take her back to the hospital. Now that she's there in Squamish, and it's been awhile, they've given us two choices. Either take her home and take care of her or send her to an old-folks home. This is where I start to get angry. We HAVE one in Squamish. We have Hilltop. But despite the fact that my grandmother has lived in Squamish for fifty years, she can't get in there. Nope. In fact, she'll never see the inside of Hilltop. Instead, they'll ship her off to West Vancouver. How does that help her? Yes, she'll be surrounded by medical care professionals and other people, but not her family. I had an aunt who was sent to West Vancouver. Because her family couldn't afford to go and see her constantly, she had nothing left to live for. Literally. She died not long after they sent her there. And I definitely don't want that happening to Grandma.

So, instead, we're changing the house around a bit. We still have all the tubing for the oxygen system in the walls from when Grandpa was still alive, and we're installing benches for the shower and bars on the walls in certain rooms so that she'll be able to get around. Of course, as soon as they told us that we could take her home after Thanksgiving, she started to get worse again. All the fluid is building up and putting a strain on her heart, so she's not doing good. If she comes out, I'll be moving up to the house and modifying my work hours, because she won't be able to be left alone. I helped take care of my grandfather towards the end, so that's not a problem. I've done it before. I've wiped asses and emptied pee containers with minimal gagging.

But I know that we're just going to end up sending her back to the hospital later on, so really, what's the point of sending her home? She'll probably be home for a day again before this all happens again and we have to call for an ambulance. Now that's a sad fucking existence, going home when you know you're going to have to go back up, but then she'll be a new patient, and it'll be a month before they threaten to ship her off again.

Thus endeth the Grandma update.

As for the manager-type-person...

We're most certainly not sexually compatible.

Not happening again.

Thus endeth the Manager-type-person update.

The More You Know...*cue music and shooting star*

Is it Hallowe'en yet?

2008-10-04T17:23:51Z

Just a quickie.

For the past week and a half, almost every number I've been coming across (and I come across a lot in a day, y'all. I check my over/short report for eight tills and two safes at least ten times a day, not to mention counting tills, making up a deposit, etc.) is either 666 or 66.

Should I go find myself an old priest and a young priest or do you think I'm safe? I think I have a few people freaked out by this recent problem.

Blarg....

2008-09-07T19:29:25Z

I hate being sick. Seriously. So I'm working a four hour instead of an eight, but I think I might get it down to a two or three hour shift.

Cold. Flu. Tonsils. Grrrrrr.