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I survived my first week!
I survived my first week at my new job and loved it! I can’t share what I’m doing because it’s probably top secret, and I signed a bunch of contracts on my first day, etc., but when I can, I will. Also, next week I’m traveling! I’m a traveling graphic designer. That hardly ever happens! I’m so excited. I know it’s fresh and new now, so it seems like a super fun fast-lane sort of life and will probably get old soon but I secretly think it won’t. The travel for this job is to the most beautiful places. I keep pinching myself I can’t believe this is my job. I can’t believe it’s real! I feel scared that something bad will happen because I don’t deserve this great job. But maybe I do deserve it. I’m going to work my butt off to prove that I do.
The sad news is that my working my butt off means long hours away from Bug and home. Bug is doing fine because she’s seventeen and has her own full life. Cody not so much. So we made the difficult decision to let my parents take care of Cody. I miss him like crazy but staying in an apartment all day alone is not a good life for a dog. It’s hard enough that he doesn’t have his buddy Whiskey anymore.
At first it was hard to leave him. My parents reported to me that after I left he was sad and curled up by the door waiting for me to come back. Thankfully that didn’t last long. A few treats here and there and lots of walks and now Cody and my dad are best buddies.
I mean, it’s not the worst life out there in the sticks for a dog. My dad and I walk every morning at the same time and chat via headphones so now I get daily pictures and reports on how Cody is doing. Sometimes my dad even puts me on speaker phone and Cody will bark at me. It’s cute.
But because I gave my parents a dog, they were now over their pet limit at their HOA so I got to take home a cat in exchange. I now have three cats. Kady (the one I’ve had the longest), Inky (who Bug has claimed), and now Rosy. They are all actually littermates that my mom rescued nine years ago when their feral mother left them in my mom’s front yard. They’ve been separated over the years but funny enough when we brought them back together, they got along just fine! I’m so relieved. You know I’ve had so much trouble introducing new cats in the past I’m a bit traumatized. These three cats get along great. They don’t love each other. It’s not a lick fest cuddle puddle or anything but nobody really gets upset if they get too close to each other. They all mildly tolerate each other like typical siblings. Maybe someday they’ll learn to cuddle together.
And that’s my news! It’s been raining like crazy, and the park is flooded but I’m happy in my cozy apartment and my fun new job.
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A Big Mysterious Newsy Update
This post is all about me. Aren’t they all? I’m looking over these photos and there are a lot of selfies. That’s mostly because my hair is growing out and I’ve been taking lots of pictures of it on the days I like it. Cutting your hair is such an act of freedom.
Anyway!
Big News! I quit Ralphs. I’m going to miss the gym that pays me $200 a week to work out but I have bigger things on the horizon and my body was wearing out. There’s a lot of wear and tear that goes into being a bagger and running around the store all day long. Pushing and pulling carts, lifting heavy items, walking 20,000 steps a day… Every night my legs would hurt. I like being fit though so I’m really going to miss the regular workouts. I’m going to have to find a new workout routine and that is always a challenge.
You probably want to know how the “Stay Fresh Cheese Bags” prank went. It didn’t. I shared about this on Instagram but I should probably recap here. There was a meme going around Instagram saying to post the last screenshot of a meme in your photo roll and it would reflect who you really were inside. I couldn’t resist playing along because the “Stay Fresh Cheese Bags” meme was in my photo roll and it had me laughing out loud. I’d been having an ongoing private fight with the Dairy guy at Ralphs in my head. He was super rude to me and I was not fond of him. He scolded me once and every time I would see him and he wouldn’t say hi or he would roll his eyes if I accidentally swept my broom into his way because I can’t read his mind and know where he’s going… I would say to him (in my head), “Stay Fresh, Cheese Bags” and it cracked me up. You know, whatever gets you through the day, right?
I ordered some stickers that say “Stay Fresh Cheese Bags. You can see one right up there. My plan was to stick one somewhere in his work area in the back and laugh my head off knowing that he would see it everyday and wonder who put it there. I mean, he is the guy who stocks up the cheese… it’s not like it would exactly be out of place. But then, I accidentally stuck it on the liquor department guy’s locker instead of his. I don’t know what happened. I read the names wrong or I just pulled a typical Brenda air-head moment and slapped it in the wrong place. My whole joke was foiled.
The good news is that I told the Liquor Guy what I did and he got a chuckle out of it and said he didn’t mind the sticker being on his locker. Phew! And that is how I left Ralphs. Will they remember me? Probably not. Will they wonder how that sticker got there? Probably not. But at least I got a laugh out of it.
Also, that taped-up car? It’s not mine. It has nothing to do with anything. I just thought it was funny because it looks like a crying emoji. The other car was just a cool old car I saw and the Volkswagon is Toby’s old Super Beetle. No, Bug is not going to be driving a Volkswagon Bug, though it would be cute! I’m too paranoid about her safety. She currently has no interest in getting her license and I’m hoping to buy some kind of hybrid that is full of all the safety gadgets before she gets to that point.
Back to our main topic: Goodbye Ralphs, Hello New Job! Yes. I interviewed all last week. Four interviews in total. You can see me dressing up trying to look spiffy. Do these shoes go with this? Can I get away with wearing Mary Janes and socks? It was exciting. I love to dress up.
The interviews went well and I got the job!!!! I can’t share what it is yet but I am very excited. It is my dream job. I hope I can share later. It’s been a long six months of job hunting and I’ve gone through so much rejection and the self-pity. This job is so great that I can say those long six months of floundering and getting my ego smashed to smithereens was worth it!!! Things are going to get so much better. I can’t wait. I start on Tuesday.
In other news: Matt flew down for Valentine’s Day and we had the best time! He took me out to fancy restaurants. We walked and talked and went shopping. Of course, I got roses because I am spoiled. Long-distance relationships are not for the weak but they do have their perks! I’m actually really thankful for this relationship right now and how it gives me so much time to myself to be a workaholic (which I really need to be as I dig myself out of debt.) I’m very thankful. I know my story doesn’t make sense to everyone but it works for me.
xo
