Scanner, why you no work?

     Sorry for the lapse in posts. New job with long commute doesn't leave me with a lot of free time. But I have no intentions of abandoning you. Just need a couple of things to cooperate.

     I have oodles of stories to share, but I want to put them with doodles so they make sense. My 'fancy' printer/scanner has been refusing to function for a while now. Work has scanners, but the one I have access to decided to lose it's will to live (and it's drivers). I'm starting to think I've offended the scanner community.

~misfoijd

Dreams Really Do Come True?: Week One

This was my first week working in my field of dreams (sort of). I didn't build it, but it did come. Here's a brief overview:

Monday

• I'm suppose to be working as a floater for composition, news room, and advertising, but no one seems sure what to do with me. I felt frustrated and irked that I didn't have much to do. I just kept asking for things to do. Give me a list and I'll get it done. 

Tuesday

• They put me in comp so I can learn their page design set-up. Still frustrated, but it's mostly because 1) still not having much to do, 2) the 'instruction folder" I was handed was completely wrong so I didn't have anything to study, & 3) no matter how helpful Trainer was, she would only give me bits and pieces out of fear of overwhelming me. I pester advertising for ads to make while Trainer is in class.

Wednesday

• Trainer has class most of the day. She comes in between classes to teach me some more. In her absence, I just dive into composition. Fiddling and playing with InDesign, just trying to better understand things. It was an okay day.

Thursday

• I show up to work early (morning person) and started working on comp. When Trainer arrived, she decided that she'd watch for a bit to answer my questions. I do most of the composition myself, except the TV guide. I learn this next week.

Friday

• I show up early and basically get left alone to do comp. Trainer starts working in the news room (she wants to be a reporter). I don't have a lot of questions left for Trainer. I get pretty far ahead. By that I mean I finished comp for the weekend paper, ad layout for Tuesday's paper, and template design for our 2 sister papers done before leaving.

This is the brief version. I could ramble about the thrill of working puzzles all day, the social aspects that make me like the news room more than advertising, or the perks like random free shrimp but this is an overview of the work aspect.

Here's to next week!

~misfoijd

My Goofy Goal

Now that my dream of joining the journalism world is starting to happen, I'm going to have to start on my next dream. I've always wanted a chunk of land for my own. Originally, I wanted a hundred acres and put my house dead center of it, but that quickly shrank to a more realistic 3-10 acres. Just enough for my master plan.

*MASTER PLAN*


1. Buildings - I want a garage, a decent house, and a barn.

• Garage - We have a house with a 2-car garage now, but anyone that has seen our home knows it's not a garage - it's our living room. I like being able to fix my vehicles when they break. It's frustrating to have to do it on a sloped driveway or having to go to my dad's place.

• House - I don't need a huge house, but I do need one that has 2 bathrooms and a large kitchen. Two bathrooms because I get sick a lot and sharing a bathroom when you're sick sucks. A larger kitchen would be fantastic. My current kitchen is the size of the smallest walk-in closet I've seen. I love cooking when I have the space for it. I HATE it when I don't.

• Barn - There's a lot of reasons for this. I'm hoping to have some chickens; maybe a horse and cow later. Mostly I want it for our current animals. I'm hoping to modify a part of future barn so we can keep the cats in the barn instead of the house (chicken wire) and provide a safe place to the dogs to go when we leave them in the yard. 

2. Land - Garden, tree fence, & paintball course.

• Garden - I'm hoping to have a decent garden taking up most of the front yard; maybe with a coy pond.

• Tree Fence - Plant crab apple trees along the sides for the property to make animal/human proof fence. This is optional.

• Paintball Course - On the back acre, I'm wanting to have a paintball course for Husband. Maybe some cars, maybe a shed here or there, so he and his friends can play back there.

Now to take over the world!... I mean save up.

~misfoijd

Light That Tunnel, BABY!!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. But here's why: deep depression followed by flood of opportunities.

Yesterday was my last day driving a bus. After trying for over 2 years to get in the newspaper world, someone is finally letting me in. I'll be working for Paper in a week. Mostly page design and some light reporting, but I'LL TAKE THAT!!

It's sucks being told that you should give up on your goal. Told that "it's been 2 years your degree is worthless." It hurt. It hurt thinking that no matter how hard I try, I'll never go beyond bus driving.

Frankly, bus driving (and a friend dropping my name frequently) is probably the only reason I got this job. They were looking for an Education Editor, saw that I was a bus driver, and therefore I can handle schools. I'LL TAKE THAT!

Yesterday was a lava lamp of mixed emotions.A slurry of crying and laughing evilly that 'I'm free!' Here's why:

•  I loved that bus. It was fun to drive it. It was nice being able to look down on mini vans (minivans are evil). 
• I will not miss the middle schoolers. Some were absolute sweethearts, but they were smothered by the dummkopfs that think I work for them. Dummkopfs
• I will miss the parents of my elementary kids. Many of them meet the bus and WANT to know if there was trouble so they can nip them in the butt. I wish them the best.
• I will miss my coworkers. They kept telling how proud they were of me and how they hope I'd do well. They asked for me to fax them articles or visit when I could. They took such good care of me. 
• I will not miss Preach. Preach is the nickname of a coworker that I had conflict with. He liked to make comments about how I was a poor wife, how I should be in the kitchen, and how I should be bent over his knee. After months of this, I called him a bastard and he told me I can't take a joke. >_< Will not miss him.

I will miss driving the bus, but I needed to move on. 

Screw It

I love ice cream too much. Makes me sicker than a dog. I'll still try to avoid mass consumption, but BY GOD'S GRACE! I MISS ICE CREAM!!!

~misfoijd

My Brain Is Making Changes.

Every once in a while, my brain starts picking on me. It calls me names like 'lazy,' 'lack-a-daisy,' 'sloth.' It'll tell me I could be more, how TV is an addictive substance, that I'm letting my brain slip, and how my health is deteriorating because I'm acting like a lazy daisy sook. The worse part is it's right. I've gotten lazy.


I hate being smacked around by my brain. It's getting bolder. I fully expect it to leap out, backhand me, & scoot away on a segway if I keep pissing it off. So I'm making some pretty big changes with my brain doing it's best Mickey Goldmill impression. Just needs it's own tiny stocking cap. 


BIG OL' CHANGES


1. No Dairy - Most dairy makes me viciously sick. Most cheese, ice cream, & all milk makes me ill. Considering I LOVE cheese and put it on almost every dish I make, I may go into a lack-o-cheese depression. Fortunately, it seems I can still have frozen yogurt. That's a plus.


2. Workout Everyday - No matter how tired/lazy/sick/busy I get, I'm going to spend a minimum of 5 minutes doing push-ups, jumping jacks, or whatever exercises I can think of. It's not a real drastic change, & that's why I think it'll work. If I dedicate an hour, I get intimidated. But 5 minutes is an opponent that's more my size. Once I can whip 5 minutes like a rented mule, I'll take on more aggressive opponents like 7 minutes. 


3. De-Stress Often -  I work myself up over little things. It needs to be managed or it will kill me. Literally. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. Well, not exactly. I KNOW what I WANT to do, but I can't afford to go back to college. Right now, I'm a school bus driver going to votech [yuck] to become a Pharmacy Tech. I hate my back up plans, but they'll pay the bills. To quote Jayne, "If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak." I've just got to keep breathing and keep praying. And remember: 

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." 

- Abraham Lincoln

4. Craft the Crap Out of Everything - a.k.a. multitask like mad. If I'm sitting at the TV, origami. If I'm listening to something on the computer or radio, sew. Reading on my future kindle (birthday is soon), I'd crochet. No more idle hands. I've got a long list of costumes, outfits, Christmas presents I've been wanting to make. No more excuses. I'll craft the crap out of everything!! That reminds me I need more yarn.


Not sure how Husband will like these changes. He loves cheese & knows how attached I am to my brain.


Too bad  :D


~misfoijd

Crap-tastic

Started & ended my CNA class today. Remember I said I was going for a CNA so I could be an AUA or a Pharmacy Tech? I was told you had to get a CNA before pursuing the aforementioned by the secretary of the votech. I've decided that pharmacy tech would be smarter. CNAs/AUAs need strong backs to move people. My back has been shot and I get sick easily, so just seems smarter to go that way of the pharm tech.

Showed up for class today at 7:30am. Was talking to people, asking them what they were going to do with the CNA. When the talk shifted to my direction, I told them I was trying for pharmacy technician. Faces of confusion were what I got. Something wasn't right, so after lunch -  I asked a teacher if I needed this class to be a pharmacy technician. She didn't think so, but walked off to find answers.

Upon her return, she said I should go double check with the secretaries up front because everything & everyone was saying NO CNA NEEDED to become a pharmacy tech. I went up to talk to the front desk, and spoke with same secretary who told me I HAD to take CNA.  She tells me that I didn't need to take the CNA course to be a pharmacy tech.

*sigh*

So now I'm unenrolled in CNA& enrolled in pharmacy tech (assuming the lady is right this time). Glad I found out when I could get a refund on the fee (can only do it on the first day of class). Happy that I can go straight into pharmacy tech.

But I'm still pissy about paying $90 for books I can't return (will have to sell them at a far reduced price) when it could have been avoided if particular people understood how to use their brain.

~ misfoijd