My mom works at a school for autism kids. Well they are hiring, and at first the job they were offering was for a part-time teacher for 1 to 4.5 yr kids. It was 30 hours a week, at $13 a hr. plus benefits, the kids would be both “normal” and autistic. Many of my friends know I have a slight unnatural fear of kids. I like them okay I just can’t handle them for long periods of time. But I was willing to take this job, cause one it would be easy to get to work. If my mom goes I go, which is a big thing because I don’t have a car to provide my own transportation. Plus it was a job which meant money would be coming in. And at this junction I need money. I wanted to have a job before February…but since that’s tomorrow…I need to kick things into an higher gear.

So I sent my resume to my mom so that she could give it to the head boss. Well today my mom sent me an email saying that the teacher who I would be working with has decided that they don’t want another person in there. Which doesn’t make sense to me, why didn’t they say something before and just not have the job offered. So the boss has decided to do another job offering, instead of being just in one class I would be doing 1:1 with some students plus work in several different classrooms. I would basically be a private tutor for autistic kids. I believe that the pay is slightly higher and I think it might even be full time, not sure. And while the aspect of working with autistic children might be admirable I’m not sure about the whole idea of it. I mean I loved working with my mom when we worked with two of her kids especially the one little girl. But what if I got saddled with one that was destructive to themselves and others, I couldn’t handle that. And what if I had to help them learn how to use the potty, or if they had a bathroom accident? Its different when it’s a toddler then when it’s a kid that’s 10. Not only that but the working condition isn’t all that great. The people there, especially some of the management are basically not cut out to be in the positions they have. And I don’t handle poor management well, I run right over them I can’t help it I just do.

So if there is anyone out there actually reading this I would like your thoughts on this conundrum. There doesn’t seem to be another option in the horizon and I have bills to pay and a sanity to keep. But just at the same time is this not a similar problem that I found in the Edward Jones job offer?

Part two of this series encompasses my dream to visit Japan. My love for Japan comes from its past, not so much it’s present. Although I am quite interested to see its future. Japan is a unique country with an equally unique culture. Somehow they have managed to come fully into the 21st century while still observing much of its past traditions. Only in Japan can you go from high tech city to a bus ride out to the country and see traditional Japanese living.

I’ve had the privilege to study the Japanese language for about six years, and although I don’t profess any kind of proficiency, I would like the chance to go and converse with the locals. Going to Japan, doesn’t involve any religious meanings for me. But it’s still a major dream of mine.

So as promised her are some more pictures from the ice “storm” of 2008. I decided to go for a walk around the property and find some really nice shots. This was after I had just played three hours on Guild Wars…I needed the exercise. This time I tried to make sure they weren’t blurry!

As you can see it’s already starting to melt away, it stopped sleeting a couple of hours ago. Easy come easy go.

My mom’s car again

The back patio

close up

This isn’t showing the ice, but this sign is right behind our property. I personally think it’s rather a great sign!

Even though there wasn’t a lot and it didn’t last for long someone was still able to make snowman.

 

The last one’s are my favorite.

Today I woke up to our first ice “storm” since my freshman year in college back in 2003. It didn’t do much but it’s still sleeting as we speak so it might get worse. But it’s also starting to warm up. Here are some of the pictures I took… (Sorry but some of them are a bit blurry, it was still sleeting when I took them.)

This was taken from the Living Room Window.

Taken from the front door, that’s my Mom’s car.

Someone had already made footprints…I wanted to be the first.

The hedge right next to our door.

Shot of my Mom’s car.

A sky shot

A close up of the car

A blurry close up

My sleeve

My footprint

 

Our back patio

Another picture of the back patio

I’ll try to take some more pics as the day goes by. I have to go out later to do the laundry. Our laundry “room” is sort of detached from the house, off the back patio. If I was still in school today would have definately been a personal snow day…despite the fact that my college was still open.

Never lend family money. So the other day was my birthday and my Grandmother sent me a check worth $25, not much but more than enough for me. Well I don’t have a car nor license so my sister offered to take me to the bank so that I could cash it. I was going to put in the bank and save it for a small emergency. Well my sister was also going to take me to the library but it was going to go the following day. Meanwhile she had no food at her place. So I volunteered $5 to buy something to eat. She opted to go to the grocery door. Somehow between us walking in and leaving, she managed me to talk me into using the whole 25 with a promise to be repaid on the 15th and I could take the food that was left home with me to the ‘rents place. Well after being treated like crap for two days I packed up and left and took some of the food with me.

Well today is the 15th and I text my sister to ask her to drop off my 25 dollars. In which she replies with a “Technically I only owe you 15 dollars because you took all the food back.” I said that’s what you said I could do plus I didn’t take it all I left a lot of it there and you eat the most expensive of it. She then text back well I don’t think I even owe you 15 but that’s what I’m going to give you. I didn’t respond I just left it. I’m tired of arguing with her. I hate that she thinks she can change the rules so that it works for her. And no one else is allowed to do such a thing.

Last month my mom lent my sister some money and this month my mom really needs some help. My sister response…she can’t take care of two households…no she doesn’t have the money to lend to my mom. Which I don’t understand, she paid her rent (at least I think so) and her car payment (which she borrowed money from a friend to do…and she didn’t pay my mom back to pay the friend back.)

Needless to say I’ve learned my lesson, she hasn’t dropped off the money and I seriously doubt that she will be. That’s the last time she gets money from me. No matter what. I know that it’s going to come back to haunt her. I’ve advised my mom to not lend or borrow from her again, (she makes you feel like crap when she does give you money). But I don’t know how that’s going to pan out.

A while back I posted a list of my dreams, and promised to fill in the reasons behind them. Well here’s the first one: I want to visit Egypt.

If you have taken the time to read my About Me Page, then you would know that I have a History degree. I’ve always been fascinated with Ancient Egypt, since I can remember. When I was in high-school I attempted to teach myself how to read hieroglyph, and I still plan on learning someday.

Why Egypt? Well I think it’s rather simple really. A lot of people trace civilization back to the Egyptians. After all they did give us a lot that we use today viz the romans and the Greeks. They were self contained and self educated. They also had a simple rule in the society…keeping maat. Maat is basically translated into keeping things in order. I like order.

For the Egyptians war was not maat, war was to be avoided by all means necessary. But that didn’t mean they were not above defending their way of life against intruders. Unlike the Romans and Greeks who were quick to jump into battle (although they explained away as the other people forced them to go to war with them and then take over their peoples *insert a sarcastic face here*) the Egyptians were slow to raise arms. war meant a disruption in their main focus of life. Religion. For Egyptians there was nothing else but religion, there was no separation between the government and religion. Religion was the government.

The idea of a total religion based society that evolved into something grand and intricate and verbalized here on the physical plane through such monuments as the pyramids, is a enthralling thing for me. The Egyptians had a unique way of looking at the world and you can’t really find that view point in any other ancient society.

For me Egypt is my Mecca.

You know sometimes it pays to click on a random ad. Today when I logged onto my music “subscription”, Ruckus (I’ll tell you about that at another time) there was an ad for the National Body Challenge. For a while now I have been trying to lose a decent amount of weight, for various reasons. I can’t claim to have tried many different diets, my Mom can though. You see I have an unnatural fear of vegetables. It goes behind the whole not liking vegetables, no they actually cause me fear. Over the years I’ve been trying to ad more and different types of vegetables, but it’s going very slowly. At present I can stomach peas, corn, small doses of Alfredo drenched broccoli, onions, small amounts of carrots and that’s about it.

I have tried two of the main stream diets, Weight Watchers and Slim Fast. I have strong opinions of both, the main one being they aren’t budget/frugal friendly. Weight Watchers basis of going to meetings is a good one, I mean it’s much easier when you feel like you have to answer to someone. And even though they say it’s about community, come on who isn’t going to be a little competitive in an area like that. Slim Fast, is advertised as free, which in a way they have one up on Weight Watchers, you can easily go online and use their tools and website for free. (Weight Watchers online tools is part of their Weight Watchers Online program and cost roughly the same as going to the meetings programs.) But Slim Fast is really geared around their products that are not cheap at all. It’s hard to substitute regular food when they say have a Slim Fast Meal Replacement bar for Lunch…well does that mean for us normal folks?

So at first I was a bit skeptical of the NBC program. So I clicked on the ad and it took me to the Discovery health website, so far so good. So why am I psyched about this challenge. Well for starters its completely free. The package is amazing to be free, you get:

1. An 8-week free membership to a Bally Total Fitness
2. Customized meal plans
3. Progressive fitness plans, tailored to you by professional experts
4. Diverse community support (It’s called the National Body Challenge for a reason.)
5. Individualized weight and fitness trackers
6. Various videos and interactive tools
7. Plus more!

There is one set back…it’s only a 8 week challenge From January 5 2008 to March 2 2008. But I’m sure the information you learn both on the website and on TV you can easily take it with you to keep for life. Another important note is that the you can potential register anytime doing the 8 weeks but the 8 week pass to Bally Fitness is available until the 15 of January (11:59pm).

If your reading this after the end of it…don’t worry it’s a yearly thing. If I have a great experience this year, I plan on doing it again next year.

Lucky for you I don’t feel like crying. It’s been a very (VERY) low key birthday. It’s not a milestone…just 23, but even if it were a milestone I wouldn’t have done anything special. I didn’t do anything for my sweet 16…I don’t even remember it. I didn’t do anything for 18 either. My 21st, my friends throw me a tiny party, basically we went over a friends apartment, loaded up on all sorts of different alcoholic drinks and junk food and played Uno. It was one of the best birthday parties I ever had. This year I stayed home. It’s the same every year I always think that my birthday comes at the worst time. Really, I’m sure it’s for anyone who was fortunate to have been born  the early part of January. January is arguably the worst month for finances. Everyone has just received the bills from December and have made their various New Year’s resolutions to spend less. Most years I usually get the “this is your Christmas and Birthday gift”, when people remember that my birthday is two weeks after Christmas, but this isn’t why I think it’s the worst time to have a birthday. Nope, it’s the guilt I feel when people buy me presents or give me money. Because I know that most of the people I know don’t keep up with their finances so they really can’t afford to gift me twice in such a short period. Honestly I would be happy with Happy Birthday and call it a day. That way I know you were thinking about me. 

This year was pretty much I good year for that, I mean I graduated in December, Christmas, then my Birthday…too much I know that. So I stress the importance to everyone that I didn’t expect something for every event…in fact I didn’t want much (just a few dollars to ease the pain of unemployment ) I think a lot of people heard me, I got five text messages, 1 email, 2 calls, and countless facebook and myspace comments all wishing me a happy birthday. My Grandmother did write me a check, for how much I don’t know, I have to go pick it up. But I just felt loved to day and that was all I needed.  

The other day my sister made a comment, she asked me “What do you do all day on that computer?” Whenever I’m not out somewhere and away from home I can usually be found near my computer. So I decided to make a list of the things I do every day.

Writing:I write romance fiction. I currently have one short story manuscript that is finished but is in the stages of editing. I have three full length manuscripts in various stages of completion. One is only two chapters away from being completed, the other two I am at chapter four and five. I currently have seven story ideas that I do small writing projects for. I also have three different blogs, including this one that I write for. 

Job searching: as stated before I’m unemployed, plus I don’t have a car or license ( I have a un-based fear of my car ( It has to be my car, not a any old car. I’ve driven cars that belonged to others) exploding the very moment I crank it up.) So I do a lot of my job searching via the Internet. It’s going slowly, it’s amazing how many different at-home offers there are out there.

Goal Setting: As you can see I like making list and I like prioritizing my life. I also like setting goals for myself. I discuss the problem I have with goal setting in this post, but never the less I still set goals for myself. Now it’s usually daily and weekly goals. I usually have a typed up list that I work on through out the week for the next week and print out several copies to post in different places. I also have a yearly goal list and have started 101 goals in 1001 days list.

Personal Finances: Right now since I’m on limited funds I’ve taken to looking over my personal finances very closely. As well as trying to understand the type of pay I need to live off by myself. This has lead to reading Personal Financial blogs and researching different aspects of personal finances.

Reading: I’m an avid reader, so I read quite a bit. Right now I’ve gotten into reading blogs, online articles about different things, and e-books (usually romance novels.)

Organizing: Another issue (if that’s what you want to call it) is I’m OCD. I spend countless hours organizing my computer files, renaming them, making new folders and all that. The upside to this is that it’s quite easy to find anything you are looking for on my computer. I also organize my email accounts, I have four (five counting my school’s email but that expires in six months) different accounts. One for friends, one for my writing ( I write under a pen name.), one for family, and one for work (now job queries), and there’s one that I have through my Internet provider I don’t use that one but I might once my school one expires. I also try to organize my life and the things around them. My living space is small but well organized.

Gaming: I’ve always been into video gaming, at one point I thought about going into the field. I like going on MSN and Yahoo and playing their web based games, not so much now because I have vista and a lot of the games are not vista-friendly. I also play a computer game called Dream Fall and for Christmas my friend and her husband got me GuildWars, which I try to play everyday…nice way to interact with others. I have a ranger/warrior that just level up to level 10. Unfortunately I have an unstable wireless so it makes it frustrating to have to keep logging back on when I lose the signal. 

Thinking: This is something everyone does I’m sure…but I have a long list of things I think about through out any given day:

1. Story Ideas
2. Current Stories
3. Blog Posts
4. Job searching
5. Getting a Job
6. Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Goals
7. Personal Finances
8. The things I’ve read
9. The things I’ve seen
10. Organization
11. My environment (direct and indirect
12. My past, present, future
13. My Family
14. My Friends
15. Myself

After I made this list I took to my sister and she responded with a “You need more friends” and I said I was fine with the number I had and walked away. When I complete something from this list of things I fill accomplished, I get a warm and fuzzy filling from hanging out with my friends but nothing like feeling accomplished when you are down in the dumps right?

Just so you know I am currently unemployed. Which is a major bummer. After having a solid job for fours years straight I got use to having one. It’s weird I always thought I would prefer not to have to have a job but now that I don’t I want one. It sucks not having money. Not because I want to buy stuff, cause I don’t. I’ve had plenty of chances to spend the little bit of money I have on frivolous things but just haven’t been in the mood to be a consumer.

But I have been proactive, as much as I can be without a car to go searching for work. I have actively applied for four different positions in the last three days. All at local colleges and one at a bank for a financial advisor (on the job training). I have a phone call coming in for the bank to talk about a interview set up so let’s keep our fingers crossed. I would like to have some sort of employment before the first of February.

In the mean time I have been looking around for other ways I can make some cash while I wait. I’ve signed up for Google Adsense and Amazon Associates for my pf blog, and I’m thinking about put this blog and my website on the account. I have a website for my fictional writing and I get a pretty steady stream of business on there. I have some diehard readers that come by on the regular. Speaking of writing I’ve been looking for competitions to enter to gain some revenue plus get my name out there. Anything and everything (that’s legal of course) I’m looking into.

I have a massive paperback collection. About five or so boxes worth of books in my parents storage. They have been in there over a year now. I figured since I haven’t really missed them I can start selling them on Amazon, they are all in excellent order. I was taught how to maintain a paperback collection and how to repair said paperbacks for commercial resale. So my paperbacks are practically like new. At least they were before going into storage, there is no telling how they are now. But I have some books that I kept out of storage that I can start with.

I’ll keep you all posted about how this all works out.