Shriek Elegance

This flu or cold or whatever has just been ridiculous. I had a fever for three days. I seemed to be doing alright today, which was good because then I could go back to work. I started getting really warm and sweaty at work, though, so obviously I wasn’t really quite well enough to be there yet. But I stayed anyway, it was only for four hours, and now I’m home and I feel gross and icky and bleeeeeh but whatever. Work again tomorrow, 9-1.

Speaking of work, our new manager is supposed to arrive and start working on Monday, so that will be interesting. Adam knows him from Vancouver apparently, and he says he’s pretty strict, but as long as you’re doing your job, you’re okay. So that’s good. Also good because (my first Lordco rant!) the countermen are useless when there’re no customers in the store. To be fair, Scott does help out around the store a bit, he’ll restock the oil and other things that he notices are empty and knows there are more of in the back. He also helps me find stuff. But for the most part, overall, the countermen don’t do jack. They help customers get parts, make the invoices and send them to me, as per usual. Today, since I worked the later shift and it’s Saturday, the store was pretty empty. There was a reaaaally long time (~45 minutes to an hour) where we had no customers at all. I’m plainly sick and injured on top of that and I was down in the seat cover aisle spraying and wiping down the shelves and merchandise with Gunk spray and paper towel. What were the countermen doing? They were all standing around one computer, looking at the ranking list of employees in sales (highest rank wins a trip, etc.) and making fun of people’s names. Seriously? I’m busting my ass cleaning up the store and you choose that as your constructive work for the moment? It was ridiculous. I just wanted to yell at them so loudly. Second complaint- I was told that “we” (me, Denise, possibly Aly) need to learn to cash out faster because the countermen didn’t like having to stay ~20 minutes after close. I’m sorry, what? I can’t cash out before we close. It’s my obligation to make sure that we accept all forms of payment until the store closes. When I cash out, I have to count all of my change, record it on the float sheet, then round it down to the nearest $5 increment (i.e. $68.56 would become $65.00 and I would put $3.56 into the deposit envelope to be deposited). After that, I have to count up enough 5s and 10s so that the total of the float adds up to $150 and that there are a decent number of each bill. Okay, doable. Then the rest of the cash gets counted up and put into deposit. Then I have to record the total of my cash invoices (which is fine, I total them periodically throughout the day so they’re already totaled by close). Then count my POS slips (also something I tally throughout the day), record the Visa, MasterCard, and debit values, then add everything up, subtract the totals, and see if it balances. I’m sorry, but that shit takes AT LEAST 11 minutes. It’s the fastest I’ve ever been able to do it. And that’s only if there are no customers holding up the closing of the store. If there are customers until the last minute, then yes, we will go until 6:20. They’re just going to have to DEAL with that. I mean, I don’t like staying after work to count their fucking money. I don’t get paid for it (which I have a problem with, by the way, I should get paid as long as I’m staying there doing their work for them. I wish I had the courage to raise this issue). But I do it anyway because that’s my job. Boohoo, so you don’t get home at 6:15. Honies, I’m not used to getting home before 9:30 when I close. Suck it up. Deal with it. Agh. So frustrating.

Anyway… ending that huge dumb rant.

I was contacted by one of Gerri’s friends the other day. Apparently he died on August 19th. He felt I should know. I felt bad because it didn’t affect me in the way it should when he told me, especially because I haven’t talked to him in so long. He twisted our relationship too far for me to deal with it anymore and I think that he’s partially the cause of the way I am now. Though, I like some of the changes, so I wish I could’ve thanked him without sounding like a callous dick. I feel a little sad about it now, though. Not like, devastated, inconsolably sad. Just sad that he’s actually gone. I dunno. I don’t really know how I feel about it, I guess. I suppose I’m bound to feel it a little. Ah well. Life goes on.

I bought Dissidia yesterday. It’s fun and pretty. Most importantly, the music is gorgeous. I love it quite a bit. So I’m downloading the soundtrack. <3

Other than that, my knee still hurts. Resting it for four days helped, but it’s still not fixed. We shall see how the next week goes.

Well, first off, they’re pretty sure I have bursitis in my knee, which is when the bursae (little sacs of fluid that make it so your joints move smoothly) become inflamed. Apparently this can happen from repetitive motions or extra strain, but I honestly have no clue what set it off. Dad, coincidentally, also has bursitis, but in his left elbow. Twins. Anyway, I went back to the doctor again ’cause it wasn’t getting better at all (it was getting worse) and he told me to keep doing the same thing (600mg ibuprofen, ice compress) and to reduce my hours. So I now only work four hour shifts, which is good for my knee, but bad on the money front. These shifts last for two weeks, which is when school starts up again. I’m hoping it will be fixed by then, because it really is quite painful to live with. I can’t stand, I can’t even sit- it hurts when I do both, so I’m pretty scrooged. It’s even started to hurt in bed now, which was the only place it wasn’t hurting, so that’s no good.

On top of my knee woes, somehow, [coincidentally yet again] Dad and I have both managed to catch the flu. We both started feeling it yesterday morning and are both feeling like poop. I had to call in sick to work today ’cause there is just no way I would survive in these combined conditions, even for four hours. I got about two hours of sleep and “woke up” around 3am. I started hallucinating that I was a wizardly chemist and that I was taking all the magic in existence and combining them with each other to produce new magic, ’cause I wanted to know every spell there was. The “magic” itself was represented by shiny, liquidy stones of some sort and I would combine them with a chemist’s set. I had the white lab coat and the wizard hat on. It was kind of hilarious in retrospect, but sucked because this lasted for two hours and I was so frustrated that it was preventing me from getting comfortable or any sleep. I snapped out of it around 5am and tried to get back to sleep, but I was just too cold. Dad and I both woke up at six because we were both having the same problem. I ate some toast and drank some water and he ate some roatli and thepla and drank some tea. I went back to bed around 6:30 and turned on my heated mattress pad to full blast and I was finally able to get warm enough to get some sleep. I got about another hour or so and finally gave up around 8:15. My chills were starting to go away and I started to realize that man, it was hot in my bed. So I got up, ate some oatmeal, got my body back to a reasonable temperature and decided to sit on the gravity chair since it’s best for my knee.

Blarg. I feel like shite.

Cam, Tyler, Nick and I are going to get our [school] books on Tuesday next week. It should be exciting. Some of the Holocaust books actually sound interesting. So that’s good news!

That’s all for now, I guess. Gonna hope that maybe I can take a nap later without the urge to vomit. That’d be swell. Other than that, DDS2 I guess…? WHICH HAS GOTTEN REALLY STORY-RRIFIC. Yeah.

All of my relatives are officially gone. Anaar and Nadeem left at 3:30 this morning, so I stayed up with them to say g’bye. We played Monopoly again to keep busy and stuff. Nadeem won this time. I, yet again, managed to only get railroads and the purple plots on the second side (St. Charles, Virginia, whatever the last one is). Apparently I have quite possibly some of the worst luck when it comes to that game.

Heehee. I just remembered something. I never blogged this, I guess I was too busy, but I had an epic huge nosebleed at the end of my shift a couple weeks ago. It was ridiculous. I think I gushed for like half an hour or something. Anyway, it was likely due to the combination of allergies and smoke, so I had to, unfortunately, start putting Vaseline up my nose to keep it hydrated so it wouldn’t inflame again and also so the clot didn’t dry too horribly and make it bleed again. You know what Mom gave me? It was Vaseline in a tube. Which in itself, is not weird or anything. But I started reading the tube and noticed that it said “not for sale” and “hospital use”. My mom hasn’t worked in a hospital for thirty years. I stuck thirty year old Vaseline up my nose. She kept trying to make me feel better by saying, “Vaseline doesn’t go bad!”

My left knee is all out of whack. It all started after my shift on Sunday. Nothing happened to it at work, nothing at all that I can think of. It was a really slow day, we spent most of it just standing around. When I got home, I noticed my knee started to ache just a little bit and it hurt to bend it/fold my leg when sitting on the couch. I figured it was nothing and that sleep would fix it. The next day was my final, which was alright by the way, and when I stood up to take it to my professor, my knee cracked. Or, more accurately, it squished. It already hurt a little bit going up the stairs and stuff, but after the squish it was worse. Yesterday was work, it ached throughout the whole shift. I’ve decided that there must be either some swelling or some fluid under my knee cap or something, because when I try to put my leg straight, it feels like there’s pressure of some sort. It’s weird ’cause first thing in the morning, when I’m still in bed, I can bend it and straighten it just like normal without any pain or discomfort that I’m aware of, but as soon as I stand up, the pressure returns and it’s back to normal. Granted, not as bad as it is by the end of the day, but still funky. Anyway… I’m almost certain that standing on it so much just keeps making it worse. Which is an issue because starting tomorrow, I work five days on, two days off, until school starts again, so there isn’t much time to rest it. SIGH. I almost hope that the doc gives me a doctor’s note or something for the next couple of days so I can get off work for a bit. I was supposed to have tomorrow off originally anyway, but stupid Tony wants me to get more practice. I’m sorry, wut Tony? I’ve been working there for ~three weeks and am perfectly comfortable with my job, I just don’t know where or what things are a lot and that will come with time. ANYWAY, digressing. I’m going to see the doc about my knee today. I have a feeling it won’t help at all. I’unno. Some sinking feeling that s/he’ll just say to get some rest and stay off it. Which doesn’t tell me what’s wrong. Ah whatever. Doesn’t matter too much, I’ll deal. Mom’s the one freaking out about it the most. Oh mommy<3

Still waiting for them to post the book list on the bookstore site. I wanna know what I’m reading this year! Also, waiting on my stupid loan documents. And my grade for Philosophy. Rawr.

I’m gonna spend my day off playing as much DDS2 as I can. :D

Also, I preordered Assassin’s Creed 2 at EB. So I get that extra area. Apparently the collector’s edition comes with two areas instead of one, but I don’t know if that’s enough to justify paying an extra $20…

I’m trying to find Valkyria Chronicles somewhere, but it’s pretty impossible. EB in Westbank and the one in Orchard Park don’t have it. I haven’t gone to the EB by Walmart yet. And I haven’t checked like… Walmart and stuff yet. But if EB doesn’t have it, I doubt they will. Ah well. I’ll just keep a look out for it.

I’m so excited to be finished school for a couple of weeks! And I’m kind of excited for it to start in September. Last year, only four courses per term, only work on weekends so my weekdays are free for homework and just… me. And after this year, I’m done school. Forever. Unless I want to get my Masters. Which I don’t. Unless I have to for some reason. Life starts soon. :]

[10:22pm]

Oh yeah, so I was right. I do have fluid in my knee. Something to do with my cartilage being inflamed and filling the joint with fluid, which is causing the pressure between my bones and my knee cap. And thus the pain. I’m s’posed to ice it and take 600mg of ibuprofen three times a day. Which is twice the normal dose >.> I’m such a druggie. Anyway. I still need to go to work, though. If the problem isn’t fixed by next week, I have to go back and start getting x-rays/physio… yaaaaaay… stupid fuckin’ knee. -grumble-

Also, I’m currently watching the last episode of True Blood. I’ll be caught up after this. Man, I love this show. I am such a loser.

Life has been going on as usual. Lee’s gotten increasingly more annoying, as is usual when people are here. Cousins have their ups and downs (from totally annoying to perfectly lovely to be around). Dad is… Dad. He threw a hissy fit the day before nanima left when we were getting ready to play Monopoly, which was just the most retarded thing ever. He also apparently threw a hissy about my friends being over last night (even though they haven’t been over for a month).  Even Nadeem has said that he could never live with Dad for as long as I have and he doesn’t know how I do it. Nadeem and Anaar are the only ones other than my mom and I who know what Dad’s like with us, ’cause he treats them similarly (as if they were his children, but with limits because he knows they’re not and he can’t treat them completely like he treats me). But they’ve had a taste of what it’s like, so they know. And it feels good to know that someone else knows. Except not because it’s not good for them, either.

I feel like I have nothing good to update about. I’ve been pretty depressed for some reason.

Last night was fun, at least. We all went and saw G.I. Joe. It was a good action flick, but that’s about all. After that, we came home, then went out to Denny’s, had an encounter with a very drunk girl, got shakes and food, and left around 3:30/4am.

Today/tonight, Earth is passing through a cluster of Perseid fragments that were caught in Saturn’s gravitational pull. It’s a once in a lifetime thing and Perseid activity is supposed to be especially high. I was going to watch the sky, but there is a giant cloud covering half the sky. This saddens me greatly. I’ll keep a lookout anyway. I caught a couple of meteroids last night on my drive home. It was neat.

Aunt Jayshree leaves at like 3 or 4am tomorrow morning and then later in the morning, my parents, Lee, and the cousins are going camping for six days. Which will be super nice for me ’cause I’ll get the house to myself until my final so I can study and just… relax. No Lee, no cousins, no Dad. Just me. I look forward to it. It’s too bad that I have to work so I can’t quite enjoy it completely, but that’s alright, at least I get money. Speaking of which, I think I get paid in four days. First paycheque in a year, I’m excited.

[10:28pm]

JUST FOUND OUT THAT SOMEONE FUCKING BROKE MY FAVORITE, 10 YEAR OLD PAIR OF HEADPHONES. I AM SO BEYOND PISSED RIGHT THE FUCK OFF RIGHT NOW. THESE HEADPHONES HAVE BEEN WITH ME FOREVER.

FUCK.

EVERYTHING.

I want everyone to fucking go away right now and stop touching my shit. This is why I’m fucking anti-social. Because people touch my shit and break it or fuck it up.

Fucking fuck.

Good story.

So remember how I said my cousins are less annoying than they used to be? Well, that’s only sometimes. As they’ve been around longer now, I’ve come to realize that yes, they are almost just as annoying as they used to be at times. They’re always upset or annoyed that I’m either at school, doing homework, working, or too tired from working to do things with them (things such as throw a football, which I don’t want to do anyway, or other such things that I just have no interest in). Gee, guys. I’m sorry that I’m always so busy. But I decided to go to school this summer long before I even knew they were coming. And as for the job, that one just kind of happened a month later. I wasn’t expecting it, it just happened, and there was no way I was going to turn it down after the job drought. So don’t get fucking pissy with me about the time I don’t have. It’s not like I enjoy going to school all the time. Has it not occurred to you that maybe I’d like a summer vacation? I don’t want to go to school so much, I’m doing it proactively so that maybe, just maybe, I can keep my sanity during my last year. So get the hell over it. We’re all adults here, we all have lives. So frustrating. And they just don’t understand that I’m not a social person. I like my space, I like time to myself, I enjoy relaxing in front of my computer or the TV or the game console and just… doing nothing, for once. I respect that they like to go out and do do do all the time, I do. That’s great for them, they’re very active and easily distracted. But I’m not like that and they need to learn to respect that, too. It’s just so frustrating. Blah.

Anyway… work is going very well. They like me, I like them, the job is good, I’m getting great hours, the company buys me lunch on the weekends (<333). I just need to remember to water the flowers outside this weekend, since I forgot last weekend XD Woops. My bad D: I’ll get it right this weekend, though! Chuh!

Class is kind of taking a backseat in my life, lately. I’m only there two days a week and it’s just… not getting the attention that it should with everyone being here and stuff. I dunno. It kind of really sucks. I wish I could devote more time to it. -sigh- I’ll just have to tough through this. What’s another couple weeks of misery, right? u.u

Oh yeah, Stephanie was evacuated but now she’s back home again. Huzzah! Fire is still burning. The end.