Archive for November, 2007

Fingers crossed

November 30, 2007 · Filed under Life in Peekskill, knitting, technology

At 8 pm tonight at the Danbury Fair Mall, I had a job interview. With Apple. Well, with one of their representatives, anyway. They’re hiring for a new position: Personal Shopping Specialist. Basically, I’d get paid to do what I do best, convince people that they reeeally need what I’m selling. With aplomb. They’re trying to hire people that look like their buying public more, that resemble their customers. Someone like, me, say, instead of an 18-year-old boy-thing. I said that I probably never thought of Apple as a place to work since the field was mostly dominated by men. They’re trying to change that image. I hope it starts with me. I’ve been a proponent of all things Apple since the tender age of twelve, when we were the first people on the block with a computer, the Apple II+ in 1979 (yes, that makes me VERY OLD INDEED). I’ve long considered an Apple logo tattoo, and if I get this job, I just may do it. I certainly don’t need Anil Gupta to do it, but just maybe I will, make it all shiny-like. Or with knitting needles crossed behind it, to show off my loves. Even though I knit with circular needles. But I digress.

To digress even further: our email was down for about five hours earlier, from three to eight pm; if you sent me something during that time, please send it again (everything bounced).

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On this day: Finished Priscille’s Poncho 2006

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Gratuitous furriness

November 28, 2007 · Filed under cats, shopping

He’s all ready to go Christmas shopping, got his bag packed. What store should we hit first, Momma?

Tigger, ready to go shopping

Tigger kept me company while I wrapped presents, a welcome diversion from thinking about getting fired.

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Not a good fit

November 28, 2007 · Filed under work

Eighty-eight days is all I lasted. I was told today (after clocking back in from lunch), that I wasn’t meeting the criteria needed. Not enough consistent energy. Not getting the big picture. I told them that I thought that they wanted me to be manic and that I couldn’t do that, that I was giving everything I had. What’s ironic is that they used the exact phrase I was planning for my exit speech. Call it sour grapes if you want, but I never loved the job. Never liked picking up after people the whole freaking day, collecting things for them and wrapping them with care. In the end, I suppose I just didn’t care enough, and it showed. I want to solve people’s problems, not design their million-dollar interiors.

The Kool-Aid tasted like shit.

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Can’t find Jack

November 27, 2007 · Filed under G, Life in Peekskill, technology

Jack is our GPS, a Garmin Nuvi 660 little box o’ wonder that I have found myself loath to live without. And he is missing. I love his little voice (or big voice, when he’s plugged in to the stereo) that tell me that I’m still going the right way. He comforts me. Reassures me. And now he’s gone missing. With me driving to Danbury Thursday night after work. I need to get there in the 44 minutes that Google predicts, or I’m busted. I could just make the appointment for 8:15 pm, just in case, but that sounds idiotic. I was asked to provide times for which I was available, and I gave 8 pm as one of those times. I better hie my ass out to the ninth-floor parking lot and hope for no traffic or accidents. I’d also better call ahead and ask about the best place to park. I’m not familiar with the Danbury Fair Mall, have been there on more than one occasion, but not in recent times. I could always do a dry run tomorrow night or Wednesday, but that’d mean getting home really late. As Charlie Brown was wont to say, “Good grief!” I’ll set G to looking for him (Jack, not Charlie Brown), since G was the last one to use him.

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Dinner for six (sort of)

November 26, 2007 · Filed under G, Life in Peekskill, Zeke, family, food, grill

ZekealiciousTonight was our Thanksgiving redux, replete with grilled turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes with cheese and sausage, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin bread. Everything except the bread (which I baked) was made from scratch. I can’t say enough about the stuffing. I’m a stuffing fiend, going so far as eating StoveTop for dinner, plain, when I was single. I’m lucky enough to have a husband who really puts everything he has into the dishes he cooks. You can taste the love with every bite. Joining us at our groaning table were our friends Josh and Tony, my sister, Carolynn, her husband, Tom, and their son, my adorable nephew, Zeke (in case you forgot what he looks like, here he is).

We all ate way too much (I have my nutritionist tomorrow morning, what an idiot girl am I?) and enjoyed each other’s company, and in the end, packed up all sort of leftovers to take to friends (I may feast on stuffing alone yet again!). The Clementines I picked up for dessert weren’t as sweet as I’d have liked, but edible. I’ll have another before bed, perhaps.

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On this day: Still good 2005

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I need a watch with an alarm or something, not that I’d wear one

November 25, 2007 · Filed under bipolar, meds

I forgot AGAIN to take my second dose of Geodon today. At 7:59 pm, I wrote, “I have no smiles left” on a business card and tucked it into my pocket. At 8:45 pm, I took out the card and wrote, “Some days I feel more like one of the ‘little people’ than others. Today is one of those days.” I just didn’t care anymore, about helping the customers, those elitist, pampered, black-metal-Amex-wielding contemptuous snobs. Didn’t care about your “little pile” of goodies tucked away for you at the counter, nor your penchant for putting wooden utensils in the dishwasher so you have to rebuy them every stinking year, nor your need for me to wrap your things in extra tissue because you’re traveling. I. Just. Don’t. Care. About. You.

What I do care about was the sympathetic voice at the other end of the telephone when I called home. The voice that told me that a delicious dinner would be ready when I got there. The voice that told me I was silly for not taking my meds, not stupid, but silly. It occurs to me that I should have known that such a global shift in attitude was a drug-related thing, but I’m such a rapid cycler that it could have been totally normal for me. Which is really fucking unacceptable. I need to get into a new routine with these meds. They are not to be missed. I can’t fucking function. The candy cane I found as if it were left just for me perked me up a bit, but only while I ate it. I wasn’t able to draw on it, make it last.

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On this day: Thanksgiving was fun 2005

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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2007 · Filed under Hello Kitty, Life in Peekskill, Léa, Zeke, bipolar, cats, family, food, meds

First, let’s get the adorable kin pictures out of the way. Here’s Léa, manhandling her apple pie á la mode:

Léa Madeline, eating Mom’s apple pie

And little Zeke, slurping on his daddy’s head:

Zeke, licking Tom’s pate. Yummy!

Both youngsters were delightedly well-behaved. Léa even had some of G’s delicious Cheddar Soup (almost everyone else had seconds). We got home around 7 pm to re-watch the parade, since I missed seeing Hello Kitty Supercute and my sister informed me that she was definitely there. Meredith Viera even commented on her appearance, wrongly pointing out “her signature right-side bow.” If you’re looking at her it’s on the right, but it’s on Kitty’s left. Idiot wasn’t even paying attention. Oh well, she’s in the parade, that’s all that counts. I got all stupid and choked up watching the Rockettes and the marching bands. Why do I do that? A good day, all in all.

A few things to be thankful for:

My snoring husband, because this means that he is at home with me, lying next to me in our king-size bed with kitties akimbo, and is slumbering sweetly and peacefully.

The internet, for bringing friends to my virtual door.

My family, without whom I wouldn’t be as fucked up as I am, making life much more interesting.

Blogs, which a lot of the time, feel like group therapy, which in real life, I CANNOT STAND, but online, feel much less creepy.

My expensive medication, which is a lot less expensive than it used to be thanks to my new job and a fabulous pdoc who gifts me with samples, and allows me to live something like a semi-normal life. I’m striving for normal. I’ll get there someday.

My new job, which aggravates the shit out of me because they want me to be manic. But I have a job to aggravate me, and therefore, a steady paycheck with benefits.

Espresso. ‘Nuff said.

Tigger, who wakes me up at 5:30 am to pee by smacking my face, without whom I would not be here.

Pye and Harry, who have the awesome power to simply be and that is enough to make me smile.

Life is hard. Wear comfortable shoes.

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On this day: Thanksgiving morning 2005

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Gunshots

November 22, 2007 · Filed under Hello Kitty, Life in Peekskill

So I’m driving home from work, the late shift tonight, after having gone to the stupidmarket to pick up some last minute necessities (organic scallions, mayo on sale, Vermont cheddar, cat food and treats, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Blue Point Hoptical Illusion, and diet soda), and I’m about four minutes from home, when I see, through the thickest fog, flashing blue-and-red lights up ahead. There are the kleig-style lights also, overhead, and a H.E.L.P. truck with its yellow flashers running. Eight police cars in total, halting traffic on both sides of 9a, Staties and locals alike. I roll down my window for the grey-uniformed trooper and ask what’s going on. “DWI check, ma’am. Have you had anything to drink tonight?” “No,” I tell him with a tired smile, “just got off work.” He tells me to go ahead to the next officer up ahead. Same questions, this time from a County police officer. Same answer. Next comes the local blue uniform, same questions, posed a bit differently. Same answers here, and he tells me to “go on home, now.” I think it’s a bit early in the evening for a DWI check, but hey, people like to party hearty up here in the sticks, and 11:20 is as good a time as any.

Pulling up to my house, there are no less than five Peekskill Police cars up and down my street, careening around corners, meeting each other in the middle, chatting, then pulling away. I park and start to unload my five bags of groceries and a fresh-faced young officer drives up and asks if I’ve just pulled up. Yes, I tell him. “You didn’t hear any gunshots, did you?” GUNSHOTS?!? “No, I kind of had my radio up.” I quickly unload my trunk, panicking as the cop drives away, knowing that G is sleeping upstairs already. I look both ways, squinting into the misty black, then bolt for the house, trying not to bang my way up the stairs. Both arms are laden with plastic bags as I fumble my key into the deadbolt and slip into the house. I gingerly drop the bags in the hallway, then stretch to kill the porch light, avoiding the sharking cats at my feet. Gunshots. In my neighborhood.

And now for something completely different. Hello Kitty is going to be in the parade tomorrow! G’s set up MythTV to record it in case we get up late.

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On this day: I feel positively great! 2005

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Détante

November 20, 2007 · Filed under cats

DétanteOn a cold, blustery day, warming one’s paws by a roaring fire is a luxury too good not to be shared. If delicately. This photo of Harry (the silver tabby) and Pye (the tortoiseshell) is deceptive; he’s more than twice her size.

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“I carry…”

November 18, 2007 · Filed under Sunday Scribblings

In my bag, whether it be a bona fide knitting bag, or my regular Paul Frank Skurvy pink with skulls bag, the following:

At least one knitting project, currently a sock of my own design, made from Colinette’s Jitterbug in “Blue Parrot”

a brown leather Raika Filofax, personal size

a fold-out wallet from Sportsac, pattern in “Partridge” (no longer available. boo hoo.)

clean napkins from The Westchester’s Food Court (Nathan’s and Ranch 1)

a pink glitter pen that Suzanne gave me

a small bottle of Tums Smoothies

a travel toothbrush

Motorola cell phone and pink Bluetooth headset

Hello Kitty Band-Aids

pill bottle filled with two 40 mg caps of Geodon, one 80 mg cap of the same, four tabs Motrin, one tab Excedrin Migraine

pill bottle filled with lorazepam (generic Ativan)

two Triple Chocolate Chaos Balance Bars

pair of red leather gloves

pink leather card case from Neiman Marcus with cards that don’t fit into the wallet

Ralph Lauren sunglasses, not in the case

Ziploc bag with at least one clean baby wipe

pen with hand sanitizing spray

three Commerce Bank pens

dental floss sticks in a little plastic case

more Hello Kitty Band-Aids

TheraMints (with Xylitol!) in Eclipse mint case

receipts waiting to be logged

pink aluminum size C crochet hook.

Because you never know when you might be on The Price Is Right.

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On this day: Started Priscille’s poncho 2006

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