More pests and stuff....

So the exterminator just came in and sprayed for ants and TERMITES in our apartment. The termite problem has not been so huge, but in the past week I have found a half a dozen drowned termite corpses in our bathtub. ICKY! But hopefully they will be gone soon, they have been sprayed and will hopefully no longer invade our humble abode.

In other news, John and I are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary in just SIX DAYS! The sentiment all around is that it is unbelievable that it has already been a year! The past year has flown by with so many changes and exciting events, and I myself am having a hard time believing that we have already shared 359 days as husband and wife!

So I am desperately trying to come up with something cool and low-cost to do on our anniversary. It appears that the La Brea Tar Pits have free admission on the first Tuesday of every month, so we will definitely be planning on checking that out the day after our anniversary. From what I've heard, it is super cool! I am excited to start doing all of the cultural "things" available to us living in LA, so hopefully at some point soon we'll be able to afford to do them all.

Next I want to plan an expedition to see the Groundlings - an improv/sketch comedy troupe that has become a breeding ground for Saturday Night Live cast, and it is supposed to be amazingly funny. And only 1.2 miles from our house down on Melrose, so there will be no annoying parking to deal with!

ANTS!!!

So last night I was getting myself all ready for my day of Borders interviewing, and decided to iron my shirt. I pulled the iron out of the cabinet, and put it on the counter, but before I plugged it in, I noticed that the iron was completely swarming with ants. Upon further investigation, it appears that the ants had not only made there home in our iron, but had a full blown colony, with eggs and big mother ants.

EWWW!

So, needless to say, we threw our iron away. It was TOO disgusting. So if there is a gift-giving occasion coming up, John and I could really use a new iron! (wink wink!)

In other news, the job fair at Borders went really well, everyone was really impressed with me and my experience, and it looks like I have a really good shot at getting a cafe supervisor position! It would be a really awesome opportunity to get back into the company, and it's $3 more per hour than the Coffee Bean job. The bad part is I won't hear for up to two weeks, and then the job will start sometime mid to late October. But during the three weeks of store setup, we are allowed to work OT!

Ka-ching!

ARGGHHHH!!!
So I just made the decision to resign from my position at the Coffee Bean... The manager wanted me to work during the crucial time where I could interview for a supervisor position for the new Hollywood Borders. I had to make the call to the general manager of "the bean" and leave a message about all of this. I feel absolutely horrible, but I think it really will be in the best interest of John's and my financial state. God I hate things like this. But the Coffee Bean was really not the right place for me.

And we've all got to go for what's best..... Right?

Damn Borders Again!

So I just heard from the manager of the Cerritos Borders, and they decided to go with an internal candidate. So once again, I am screwed by the "promoting from within" policy. Which I can respect, but it still kinda sucks.

In other news, tomorrow I am returning to work at the Coffee Bean, after not hearing from them regarding my schedule for the week. John is starting to think that I should just blow off the Coffee Bean. I don't know, I can't decide what to do about this job.

Tomorrow is the job fair for the Hollywood Borders, which should prove to be fruitful. Both the Long Beach and Cerritos General Managers will provide a reference for me, so that has to be helpful. With any luck, I will walk away from the job fair tomorrow with a supervisor position in the brand new Hollywood Borders store!

Wish me luck, it appears that I will need it!

YAY! It's Finally Saturday!

So I made it through my first week at the Coffee Bean, and I am getting to like the job a little more. I has been a little encouraging that EVERYONE in this store that I'm training at (in preparation for the new store opening in a few weeks) thinks that I should be a shift supervisor, so maybe, JUST MAYBE the general manager will see it in his heart to promote me. It would be a good opportunity, so we'll see what happens.

In other news, John has passed his cold onto me, so I am sniffling, sneezing and generally just feel like poo. But it seems that the bug has been weakened in it's journey to me, so I seem to be way better than John was early in his illness. It probably doesn't help that I've been working around a lot of people in a completely new environment. I should have accepted that I was going to get sick - but it's such a rare occurence for me that I jsut get pissed off when I finally get the bug.

Tonight is Beau and Mary's engagement dinner, and I'm excited about that. It should be really nice. It almost makes me wish that John and I had had a nice dinner for family and friends to celebrate our engagement (it would have been nice for our families to have met before the DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING) but the engagement party we had (nearly 50 of our closest friends boozing it up in our home) was so much fun.... I am very much looking forward to helping Beau and Mary with the wedding planning, which will probably start soon, considering their wedding is little more than a year and a half away!

Okay, enough blabbering. Gotta get ready for the dinner, and wait for John to get home from his shoot. I can't believe he is working with SCARY SPICE! It's so damn cool!

Another Day in the Life.....

So I'm getting ready for my third day at the Coffee Bean, and I'm still not any happier about it than I was on Monday. It's really not a bad job, but I started thinking about it last night. When I was 16 I got a job working at Safeway in Los Altos, CA..... and it was not the best job in the world, but good for a high school junior.... I was making $6.75/hour, and I thought that was the greatest thing in the world.....

Well, here I am, eight years later, working in a coffee shop - for $6.75/hour. Eight years of experience under my belt, eight years of skills and talents that have been developed.... hell, eight years of inflation should have raised my wage slightly!

It's all very discouraging.....

In other employment news, the Borders position I was supposed to hear about tomorrow has been delayed until next week... The suspense could quite literally be killing me!

But, even considering all the complaining I have been doing about this job, I am finally starting to feel less uncomfortable in Los Angeles. Well, what I really mean is that I am no longer terrified... and I'm happy, cuz I made a coworker feel cool because they knew someone from Santa Cruz.

And life really is all about the simple joys.......

Beans and Leaves

Well, today is the day that I start training at the Coffee Bean... It should be fun, I'm currently in the process of trying to psych myself up for it.... Right now the only thing that I'm not too happy about is the fact that I have to wear a baseball hat.

And really, life could be worse.

OH MY GOD!

I can't believe it's been just under a week since I updated.... but then, I can, because I really have nothing to talk about other than the hundreds of millions of bazillions of jobs that I have been applying for. And that really just isn't interesting for anyone - even me.

But it has all become a little overwhelming... I've applied at five different Borders stores for eleven different positions, and I just have to be patient. I think I need to learn to accept the fact that I am not as qualified as I would like to think for these high-paying retail management jobs that I would totally love to do.

In other news, I did get a job working at a brand new Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf they are opening kinda near our home. It would be a great job if I was 17 years old, but being 24 and trying to pay bills and rent with $6.75/hour.... and the killer is I was pretty much BEGGING for full time, and they gave me 27.5 hours next week....

But it's okay! We're going to see the Spanish Beefcake, Antonio Banderas, and the hottest man in the world other than my husband, Johnny Depp - tonight... We just watched Desperado last night, so I am extra psyched about it.

Generally a Good Weekend.....

And it's not over yet!

Last night, the posse went down to San Diego for Todd and Jeanine's dinner party - and it was really fun! The dinner was excellent and their apartment is quite impressive! It was a lovely evening! We got home right around 5 am and crashed immediately.... i didn't even wake up until 2pm........

Today will be mellow, right now we are watching football. The 49ers are destroying the Bears. It's really sad. Maybe we'll watch a movie and have ourselves a Tombstone.....

Tuesday at 2pm I have an interview at the Cerritos Borders for Inventory Manager, so wish me luck! It would be so awesome!

It's Been Too Long...

...but I really don't have anything to say....

The job search is overwhelming and tedious, as there are bazillions of jobs in LA. Which means there will be a gazillion people applying for them, so really the only way to assure yourself a position is to apply at four hundred jillion places.... Which I feel we have done.

Yesterday, John and I went to Appleone (a temp agency), and that seemed somewhat promising. We'll see what happens in the next few days. There are also a few new Borders management jobs available, now in Torrance and Cerritos - both of which are at least a little closer than Long Beach.

I think the plan is that we are going to be driving around the greater West LA area today, looking for places that are hiring. It should be fun... or something.