Life limped along at subsonic speeds

So I intended on answering this meme from Sammanthia at The Edge of Insanity on Wednesday night, but then I fell asleep by 9. It's amazing how tiring 60 or so 13 year olds and their drama can be.

Here goes. This is the "four things" meme.

Four places I go over and over:
1) Domino's--I work there quite a bit, but sometimes I am even there when not working. Not as much as I was before I had Quincy though. I'm not as pathetic as I used to be. Yay.
2) Walmart--I'm cheap and it's where I grocery shop. I could go to Publix, which is more expensive and has better produce, but, like I said, I'm cheap.
3) Barnes & Nobles--I love books. I love to browse books. I love to find books that I want for Christmas. :)
4) Jersey Mike's--It's a sub shop here. I am addicted to thier Chipotle Cheese Steak. Steak cooked in Tabasco with chipotle with peppers and onions and topped with chipotle mayo. Yum.

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1) Some place where I have all my papers graded and all school stuff organized. Not sure where that would be.
2) Bed--It's cold in here. It's supposed to be in the 30's tonight. I will be wrapped in blankets before long.
3) On a date with my husband because I never see him.
4) Living somewhere besides Tennessee. This weather kills me. It's 70 during the day, in the 30's at night, and 40-something when I leave for school. The next day, it might be 80 or 60. At night, it might be 60 or 40. Can't it be Fall already???

Four TV shows I watch:
1) Grey's Anatomy---I love this show, but sometimes I skip the end where Meredith is narrating or I watch it with the captions on and turn it way down.
2) Greek--This is such a great show. It's on AMC Family, which my husband finds hilarious. He continually asks me why the family channel has a show about frats. I don't know, but I like it.
3) ER---I have watched this since it began and, now that it's the last season, I watch it every week. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen the episode where Mark Green dies and cried.
4) Cold Case--I love to watch the reruns of this show because I always forget to watch the new ones.

Four things I eat for breakfast:
1) A banana---This is what I eat on school mornings, usually with a Dr. Pepper, sometimes with coffee.
2) Hardee's sausage and biscuit--This is what I eat on weekends.
3) Chocolate--only sometimes though.
4) Oreos--Only on mornings where I am home and I sleep until 10 a.m. so it's already lunch-time anyway.

Four animals I like best:
1) Mini schnauzer's---I now this is a dog breed. I love them. I love their little beards and eyebrows and the way they dance when they're happy. It makes me happy.
2) Goats--There are some goats in a pen as you enter my subdivision. I think they're cute, too. I know that they eat everything so I'm not sure I want one.
3) Guinea pigs--My sister has one named Moe. He's very sweet and cute.
4) Deer--When they are standing very still in a misty field, like the one I saw Friday morning, they are very beautiful.

Four beaches I've been to:
1) Myrtle Beach
2) Kiawah Island
3) The man-made beach at Callaway Gardens in Georgia
4) Clearwater Beach in Florida

Four people I am tagging:

1) Just B at Mile 17
2) Marilyn at Slackermama
3) Bejewell at The Bean
4) Wendy at Notes from the Sleep Deprived

Fall Break

It's my last week to sleep late for a while. Also, my last week to get anything done I guess. After this week, I'll be at school from 7:00 a.m. ish until 3:30 Monday- Friday and then at my other job from 5:00 to 9:00 four or five nights a week. The teacher that I am interiming for is coming back sometime around Thanksgiving I think. There's a permanent teaching position opening in January at one of the other schools and I am planning on sending a resume over about that one soon. I don't know when I would interview though!

This is going to be fun, except for the lack of sleep and the getting up early five days a week. That will suck. And I'll have to make a grocery list on the weekends, but probably will not have time to go myself so my husband will have to go. It will have to be a very specific grocery list or who knows what he'll come back with. That may also suck.

It does not feel very much like Fall here. Well, maybe at night, but it was 88 today. The disparity between the morning temperatures and the afternoon ones are messing with my head. There's at least a 30 degree difference between the two. It would be nice if it at least looked like Fall. None of the leaves are changing here yet! Also, my allergies are being kicked up by something. I don't know what. Leaves? Leaf mold? Grass? Dog hair? All of the above? I just know that my eyes are red and itchy. Yuck!

I keep thinking that somewhere it's probably snowing already. That would be kind of fun. All the pollen would be killed. No more sneezing or rubbing my eyes! I could deal with a little more cold.:)

Is it Fallish where you are??

Bits & Pieces

I have a whole lot of random things swimming around in my head so I'm bulleting this post.
Things I've noticed today:

• Staying up til 5 a.m because I can't sleep and then getting up at 9 really makes me feel like I'm coming down with something

• It also kills any motivation I have to call about open positions
  

• My boobs feel like they are on fire. Supposedly, I could cure this by not drinking caffeine. Not gonna happen.

• Good job interview means I am assuming I got a job and we all know what happens to people who assume, right?

• Bob the Builder was teaching my child what a camera obscura is earlier. I even listened.

• The Wonderpets talking directly to me kind of freaks me out. Also, it's a little weird when they hand me celery and apple. It reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, which creeps me out. Yet, I feel a bit of admiration that they are breaking the 4th wall on Nickelodeon. It's very metatheatre. See, I paid attention in grad school!

• Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that a men's haircolor marketed to Baby Boomers is called Touch of Gray? Not just because it's meant to cover gray, but also the hidden reference to the Grateful Dead song of the same name.

• A watched pot really doesn't boil.

• Also, if I don't watch chicken'n'dumplings, even if they are on low, they will stick.

I had a lot of observations today for someone who did pretty much nothing except lay around the house. I did go to Tractor Supply Company, where Quincy threw a fit because we would not buy him a pink tractor ride-on toy with pedals. Yeah.

Blah, Blah, Blah........Ramble, Ramble On

Sometimes I stop writing at the end of posts because I think it's a good stopping point. Whatever feels right, you know? I did that the other night at the end of my song post with that Goo Goo Dolls song that expresses the really unrealistic picture of love. That's love at 16 in that song I think. Infatuation really. Didn't mean to give the impression that I expected marriage to be that way. This is my second marriage. I know better.

I know that marriages are built on trust, for instance. Mutual beliefs and adoration help, too. I adore my husband. Even when he's annoying or he farts on me (that's not cute by the way), he's adorable. He cracks me up when I am mad. He has amazingly similar views on lots of things and even his dissimilar views are interesting. All night last night, after a question about whether it was cheating to talk to a friend of the opposite sex, he called me at work and asked who I had cheated on him with. I actually talked to the most annoying guy that I work with last night off and on all night. My husband kept saying, "Him?? Again??" It was very funny and I giggled all night. I'm sure my co-workers thought I was nuts. I'm also certain that it wasn't the first time some of them thought that. Here's a picture of him since I talk about him all the time:


Now, I'm going to get all philosophical. I explain this in a way that doesn't give me a headache. The key word there is me. This is from years of reading philosophy. I've really distilled my own views down pretty simply.

We are pretty much the same belief-wise with a few differences that are not important. I believe in the Calvinist principle of predestination, which states God "freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass." God has complete control over everything. Essentially, everything happens for a reason. Every good thing and every bad. People come into your life at the exact moment and in the exact manner that they are meant to. And this is all planned out for you. I don't necessarily believe in free will. I think that choice is an illusion and that, even before we think we've made a decision, that decision was already made. This is where my husband and I differ and maybe it's because he's coming at it from a scientific background. He says that it's not that our decisions have already been made for us, but studies show we make our decisions even before being offered the choices. These are scientific studies done in some lab somewhere. Don't ask me. Google it. He also said something about we take every choice offered because of quantum...and that's where it went over my head. I just think it supports my assertion that we don't have free will.

This quote pretty much sums up what I believe: "Spinoza....was unwavering in his application of determinism to the psychological domain. The behavior and mental life of human beings are completely determined and cannot, therefore, be different from what they are. We often think we are free or choose freely in a sense implying the absence of causal determination; but this belief is a consequence of our ignorance of the causes that determined our action or choice. Because the term “free will” was often used to explain behavior that was believed to be immune to explanation by underlying causes, Spinoza rejected this view of the concept. Moreover, it is absurd to praise and blame people since they are and do what they must be and do. We should rather seek to understand the causes of their actions and states of mind." History of Ideas Even though, as stated, we are ignorant "of the causes that determined our action or choice." Therefore, life is predestined or predetermined. Still, this person explaining Spinoza puts it all better than I can.

I use predestination and determinism interchangeably and I probably shouldn't do that. They are two differing concepts in philosophy, sort of. This is probably why I didn't major in philosophy. It is fun to discuss though. These are the thoughts that keep me up at night. Scary, huh?? Maybe I'll try to explain Kierkegaard next.

3 Posts in One Day

How Sad! I even worked today. However, the husband is still in Johnson City and I have very little to occupy my weekend time as is. So I got tagged over at The Edge of Insanity
to list 7 weird and unknown things about myself. Here goes:

1. I would probably leave my husband for Chris Carrabba or Conor Oberst . Sorry, honey!

2. I'm really an Emo girl at heart.

3. I have 9 tattoos.

4. I was married once before. He lives with his mother. Nuff said.

5. I practically lived in Doc Martens in college and grad school.

6. I minored in French and still speak it passably.

7. I once had to take a girlfriend to court and get a restraining order against her. This was between husbands.

There's some conversation starters there!

Now to tag 7 other people who haven't already done this.

Okay...

1. Bragger

2. Mom-101

3. Lost in Translation

4. McMama

5. Tales of a Misguided Mommy

I really don't have anymore people to tag, but if I think of two more I'll add them! Going to see if there's anything on TV now.

New Blog address

I spent the last year teaching public school and working at Domino's. I was non-renewed at the end of the school year and have been looking for another job since. I wanted to move out of the area and go somewhere else, but my son likes our neighborhood and his preschool plus he is finally potty-trained. I don't want to jeopardize that!

Just discovered that it's possible to make money doing online editing, which I could do from home so I am looking into that because that would be ideal. If I don't find a teaching job, then I can hopefully find an EA job and make money writing/editing from home.

The boy is huge. He is over 3 feel tall and just amazing. He is rarely still from the time he wakes up until he goes to sleep at night. Makes me tired just watching him.

I am still working food-service part-time. It has been very slow so I'm not working much. Plus I am sick of it. Wonder how much money I could make developing press-kits for musicians or testing products and writing reviews???

Back

Haven't been here in forever. I normally post over on my MySpace blog, which I know is lame, but anyway.
Quincy is now 2 years old and so so big and he talks--in full sentences sometimes.
I still work at Domino's, which I am beginning to loath. I generally have a good time there, but sometimes my co-workers make it seem like hell.
I am in school now at MTSU pursuing my teacher certification. If all goes well, I should be finished in May of 2007 and able to teach full time by fall of 2007. Yeah! I am so proud of me, but it is very hard. Homework is hard with a toddler.
Well, that's my update for now. I'll post more soon.

Hmmm..well...I've decided that no one reads this

Since that is the case, I can say anything I want about anybody. Well, really, I always could, but there were people from work reading this (Abby where are you?) and now there aren't so I won't feel bad complaining about irritating co-workers. I've decided that, when you're young, drama seems to be the way to go for some people. Create drama, cause drama, have it in your life--these are all situations that scream, "Someone pay attention to ME," "Someone value ME (presumably, because no one does)." All of that is just sad. Life is just too short to be so keyed-up all the time. Relaxation and taking it all one day at a time are important. If you ask my boss, she'll say that good customer relations are important and, right now, I'm not sure we have that at Domino's in Murfreesboro. I mean, come on, a little rudeness can go a long way towards getting rid of customers and if you let every person with sub-par intelligence who calls a place of business upset you, then you are asking for a heart attack. I think customers are important, but they aren't anything to get stressed over. I also don't think that doing my job is a huge imposition. I mean, yeah, I don't get paid enough, but really nobody thinks they make enough. I'm still not going to spend over 50% of my time on the clock sitting on my ass in the manager's office. I refuse to get stressed out over this. Essentially, I refuse to care what other people around me do at work. Karma gets everyone in the end. I just wish the boomerang would hurry up and smack this person upside the head. I want to watch. Is that mean?

haven't posted in a while

but that's because my son has grown and now naps less so I had to catch up on sleep at the times when I was previously posting on here. Now, he has settled into about two naps a day---one morning and sometimes another mid-morning or late afternoon and he's sleeping all night as long as his teething isn't bothering him too much. He is growing--he's up to close to 20 pounds now I think and he's 5 and a half months old.

Work is about the same....the same incompetent people, the same ungenerous tipping customers. Only thing is, now the incompetent people are sometimes belligerent too which makes them a real joy to work with. Sometimes the tension is so high it gives me a headache and there's way too much drama in the air.

Things look promising on the finding another job front. I have found several open teching positions here in Rutherford County and hope to be able to fill one of them in the Fall. If not here, then in another county close by---there are positions pretty much all around here since Middle Tennnessee is such a fast-growing area.

well---since I spoke of sleep earlier, it's really time for me to eat something and get some rest--Quincy might be up by 5 a.m. but I sure hope not...

haven't posted in a while

I haven't posted in about a week. Quincy started waking up at the indecent hour of 3 a.m. and thought that it was time to be up for the day everytime he did it so I had to start going to sleep earlier. He's sleep to the more agreeable hour of 6 a.m. the last few days though and, being an optimist, I choose to believe he'll do that tonight. Having said that, he probably won't. *sigh*

There's really been very little going on around here. Quincy is eating carrots now and loving them, but they are so messy. I could see them on his face today even after I wiped them off. He had an orange carroty mustache. It was kind of cute, but not as cute as the little mohawk he had when he woke up from his nap last night. I had to take a picture of that to show his daddy. Speaking of my husband, today was his birthday which means that mine is getting close also. His is 8 days before mine. I don't know if we'll do anything this year though or not. It's our first birthdays together as a married couple. Last year, we were just dating and had just found out that we were expecting so we were kind of in shock on both of our birthdays. This year, we have Quincy so we'll probably just eat dinner together or something. We used to watch movies a lot, but I lost the ability to stay awake through one while pregnant and haven't regained it yet. Sometimes I have trouble staying awake to eat dinner--it depends on how demanding Quincy has been that day. Some days he's a little angel--others, he's just the opposite, but that's ok.

Speaking of dinner, I should make some and eat because I'm already sleepy..

an accomplishment I forgot

forgot to mention..Quincy ate his cereal today and it actually went down. That may not be exciting to most, but to me it's a big deal. I've been waiting for him to be ready for cereal and now he is. He wasn't particularly patient about it. He screamed between every bite because I didn't shovel it in fast enough and he wanted it to flow as quickly as the milk does.

Oh well, the laundry is done....

susan

First Post

Well, my sister has a blog so, after reading hers, I thought I'd post one also. Hmmm, it's 10 a.m. It's very quiet with only the laundry going and the hum of the computer and baby m onitor. Odd how 4 a.m. used to be my quiet time. Then I had a baby and that's one of the many things that has changed. Since he began sleeping through the night, 4 a.m. is my sleep time, too. Actually, I am the only one awake now. My husband, being a night owl, stayed awake until baby Quincy woke up at 6 a.m. and then went to sleep and Quincy ate his cereal, took his bottle, and went limp in my arms a half hour ago. Soooo..it's just me and the dogs...

What to do today? Go to the store, drop Quincy off with my sister, go to work, pick him up. come home. That's about it. I look forward to going to the store. My life started revolving somewhat around food while pregnant--due to an obsession with the Food Network no doubt--so going to the store is always fun and, for practical purposes, Quincy needs formula.

Other than that, I have to work today. Not really something to look forward to though. It might be if they paid me well or it was busy enough there to keep boredom at bay. Since neither of those things holds true, it sucks. I work at Domino's and pizza is not my life. However, my husband works there too and he works tonight so I get to see him during one of the rare times when neither of us is sleepy. I need a job that I enjoy. Preferably one using my degrees. Teaching would be nice, but, since having Quincy, I think that it would be nice to work with babies. I like being around them. i just don't want to bring more home. However, day care is out of the question. First of all. they don't pay well and secondly, I don't want to bring home germs to Quincy and, third, I have no desire to be in a roomful of 2 year olds. I'm not even sure how anyone ever manages to take care of more than one child, let alone a room filled with them. That said--I should go get my son's laundry out of the washer and put it in the dryer, wake up the husband, and head to the store....

susan