4 to 50 -- 2007
Sep. 5th, 2010 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Meanwhile, back at the medical billing office, they'd taken me out of my happy little cubical and put me back on the phones. (Insert rant here.) I was stressed, but I was still writing. And I tried for every other job in the office that came up, and believe me, I was NOT pleased when I got passed over in favor of someone who'd barely been there six months.
And then---! One afternoon, during lunch---did I mention the daily lunch run? There was a rotation, where we took turns going out to pick up lunch---"I'm going to Woody's barbecue, get your orders to me in fifteen minutes."---and that day, as I well recall, the lunch run was to Tropical Smoothies, where I'd ordered my usual, an Asian chicken wrap and a chocolate smoothie.
While I was awaiting lunch, I got called into the manager's office and told I was being let go (for various spurious reasons), pack up my stuff and hit the road. Fortunately, my lunch arrived before I was through, although by the time I got home, the smoothie was kinda soupy.
Well...piss on 'em. The problem being, they'd pissed on me on the way out---their spurious reasons were enough to deny my unemployment benefits. I'd had a retirement account that I cashed in, which gave me enough money to live on for a while, but I still feel stabbed in the back and hope they get what's coming to them, kharmically speaking.
I was out of work for exactly six months to the day. That was the summer I discovered House MD, and got really active on LJ. I got a couple really close friends out of fandom---
karaokegal and
pwcorgigirl, and another---
foreverhermit---by way of...?
grammar_whores?
little_details? Something like that.
Because I kept seeing references to it on my f'list, I tuned in the season opener of Supernatural, and boom! I had a new fandom. I'd lusted after Jeffrey Dean Morgan back in his Burning Zone days, and he'd only improved with age. The younger two weren't exactly gargoyles, either. I did one ficlet, then let it all hang out with a 10K word, three-way crossover for
karaokegal's first annual "Come As You're Not" fiction party. (That would be "Bad Fairy", which was preseries for SPN, House MD and The Burning Zone.) I've spent the last four seasons writing SPN, and I'm finally getting to the point where I'm over it. (Let me tell you about Justified!)
In September, the money was running out, and I went to a job fair in Melbourne, which was traumatic---I was still freaked out in traffic---where I gave my resume to everyone with a pulse. (Anyway, that's how it felt.) I got ONE callback, from the call center that ended up being my next job.
I didn't want to drive to Melbourne every day, it scared me stiff---literally. I had a white-knuckled deathgrip on the steering wheel both ways for a very long time. One thing that made it a little nicer, though, was the presence of a Goodwill store in the same plaza. My first trip down, when I was turning in an application and doing the obligatory "at least 20 WPM" typing test, I wandered in there and got a great denim jumper, a patchwork shirt and a Wild Woman jacket. Score-o-rama!
I was hired as "seasonal", and I desperately wanted to be permenant, despite the daily trauma of the commute. There was an incentive running during the holiday season that year, where they had a pot, I think it was something like $2500, and if you missed any time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, you were knocked out of the running. I don't remember exactly how much I got, it was something like $150, but after New Year's, I noticed fewer and fewer people sitting in our section. I kept my head down and worked hard while they thinned the herd, and got hired.
And once I got over my asphalt anxiety, I liked it a lot. For one thing, very seldom was I called "you people".
.
And then---! One afternoon, during lunch---did I mention the daily lunch run? There was a rotation, where we took turns going out to pick up lunch---"I'm going to Woody's barbecue, get your orders to me in fifteen minutes."---and that day, as I well recall, the lunch run was to Tropical Smoothies, where I'd ordered my usual, an Asian chicken wrap and a chocolate smoothie.
While I was awaiting lunch, I got called into the manager's office and told I was being let go (for various spurious reasons), pack up my stuff and hit the road. Fortunately, my lunch arrived before I was through, although by the time I got home, the smoothie was kinda soupy.
Well...piss on 'em. The problem being, they'd pissed on me on the way out---their spurious reasons were enough to deny my unemployment benefits. I'd had a retirement account that I cashed in, which gave me enough money to live on for a while, but I still feel stabbed in the back and hope they get what's coming to them, kharmically speaking.
I was out of work for exactly six months to the day. That was the summer I discovered House MD, and got really active on LJ. I got a couple really close friends out of fandom---
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Because I kept seeing references to it on my f'list, I tuned in the season opener of Supernatural, and boom! I had a new fandom. I'd lusted after Jeffrey Dean Morgan back in his Burning Zone days, and he'd only improved with age. The younger two weren't exactly gargoyles, either. I did one ficlet, then let it all hang out with a 10K word, three-way crossover for
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
In September, the money was running out, and I went to a job fair in Melbourne, which was traumatic---I was still freaked out in traffic---where I gave my resume to everyone with a pulse. (Anyway, that's how it felt.) I got ONE callback, from the call center that ended up being my next job.
I didn't want to drive to Melbourne every day, it scared me stiff---literally. I had a white-knuckled deathgrip on the steering wheel both ways for a very long time. One thing that made it a little nicer, though, was the presence of a Goodwill store in the same plaza. My first trip down, when I was turning in an application and doing the obligatory "at least 20 WPM" typing test, I wandered in there and got a great denim jumper, a patchwork shirt and a Wild Woman jacket. Score-o-rama!
I was hired as "seasonal", and I desperately wanted to be permenant, despite the daily trauma of the commute. There was an incentive running during the holiday season that year, where they had a pot, I think it was something like $2500, and if you missed any time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, you were knocked out of the running. I don't remember exactly how much I got, it was something like $150, but after New Year's, I noticed fewer and fewer people sitting in our section. I kept my head down and worked hard while they thinned the herd, and got hired.
And once I got over my asphalt anxiety, I liked it a lot. For one thing, very seldom was I called "you people".
.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 02:23 am (UTC)I'm trying to remember exactly how we hooked up, but I'm drawing a blank! I wanna say I either read a fic of yours, commented, friended and that's how it went down - OR - you were commenting in a community we're both a member of and I started a conversation with you that way. Honestly, I don't recall.... Is that weird?
Either way, I'm very pleased to call you a good friend, as my life is better for having made your acquaintance. *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 04:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 06:55 pm (UTC)You're right. And speaking of the Three Investigators, did you know they made not one but TWO movies about Jupiter, Pete and Bob? Caelie and I stumbled across "The Three Investigators and The Secret Of Terror Castle" (based on the first book) on TV a few weeks ago while she was flipping channels and I was all "Whoa! Back up, BACK UP!" I only caught the last hour of it and then immediately headed to IMDB to find out more. It was ... okay. The actor playing Jupe was fine, but Pete and Bob were horribly miscast, especially Bob (brown hair, no glasses - wtf?) and they also threw in a girl character who helped them solve the mystery. Uh, no. I wasn't traumatised by (what I saw of) the movie but it definitely made me shake my head and wonder why the studio even bothered!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 07:39 pm (UTC)Your icon is adorable. I have a little blue seahorse hanging in my bathroom window, and I swear, my next tattoo is going to be a seahorse.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 08:10 pm (UTC)As for the icon, I think it's supposed to be a dragon. I recently upgraded to the Firefox 3.6 browser and stumbled upon it while searching for add-ons and extensions. It's the logo for the Fire FTP program. I tweaked it with Corel PhotoPaint (adding the flames), but if you wanna snag it and call it a seahorse that's fine by me! *grin*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 10:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 10:33 pm (UTC)I could even see him having his own talk show (ala Jerry Springer) - hee!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 11:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 12:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 12:23 am (UTC)(This is fun. Not having to write the darn thing, just play with ideas for an appreciative audience. ;))
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 12:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 12:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 05:54 am (UTC)Was watching the first season of Weeds today. JDM is the late husband of the main character!
Also, I was behind a car in traffic recently that made me think of you. Corvette, Florida plates, with a plate surround from a dealership in Melbourne, FL. I took its picture, but have never got round to posting it. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 06:04 am (UTC)Melbourne is pretty close (comparatively speaking). And there's a local company called Ecklers that manufactures after-market 'Vette parts---I think we have more of them locally than most places.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 02:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 05:43 pm (UTC)My sleep schedule is all kinds of messed up...got to sleep around five, got up at six-thirty to go to the food pantry, came home and went back to bed, finally got to sleep around nine, and just woke up 15-20 minutes ago, mostly because it's raining pitchforks. I'm going to turn my computer off now...all I need is to get zapped!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 02:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 02:36 am (UTC)I have got a call FROM you
Date: 2010-09-08 09:45 pm (UTC)Re: I have got a call FROM you
Date: 2010-09-08 09:51 pm (UTC)Re: I have got a call FROM you
Date: 2010-09-08 10:07 pm (UTC)