Odin's Bleak Outlook

Well, I’ve moved to Chicago.  Nearly three weeks ago, actually.  It’s been mixed.  I love my new job.  I work as a legal assistant, and that’s about as much as I’m willing to say online.  It’s in an office, very white collar.  It’s in a big tall office building, and I have a cubicle and everything.  I’m pretty excited about decorating it, any ideas?

I’ve worked there two weeks now, so far it’s a challenge, but I enjoy that.  Honestly, no complaints about the job.  I work with some interesting people and they’re all pretty nice.  I don’t know if I’d hang out with any of them outside of work, but we’ll see.  There’s about an hour commute, which I could do without.  I’m working on getting an apartment closer to work.

The room I’m renting now just isn’t working out.  I just don’t feel I have freedoms.  An old friend of mine who lives here in the city wants me to get a place with him, we’d been talking about it for awhile but not much progress.  I had honestly planned to move into a place by myself in October.  But, he’s ready and wants a deposit next week.  It’s all a bit much for me, I don’t even know when we’ll be able to move in.  I don’t want to pay for a month’s rent at this place only to move a week into the month.  Just too much money to burn, and Chicago is expensive enough already.  In fact, I managed to leave town without my security deposit or $50 a friend owed me.. both of which I’m still without.  If I had that money things wouldn’t be so dire, but at the moment, I’m dead broke.  Payday is Friday though, there is hope.  I’ve got some groceries and money for the train and bus until then.

I like the free antenna TV around here.  Some nice local public access type shows.  There is a restaurant review show that I enjoy.  I am redy to get my Netflix re-activated any time though.  I’ve been reading Let The Right One In, also a film.  It had a slow start but it’s turning out to be a very good book with a rich, exciting story.  It’s about vampires, which helps too.  I haven’t been going out much, and I really don’t want to meet people or be social.  I don’t like bars or clubs, unless they have cheap food.  They’re usually too loud.  I do have a place down the street with $2 burgers on Mondays.  They have shepherd’s pie (a favorite of mine) every Wednesday, but I have yet to try it.

Well, Soddy, here’s your blog entry.    I’m off to watch Antiques Roadshow.

It’s been a week!  I’m sorry!  I really have been insanely busy with packing.  I have SO MUCH stuff.  I really just want to burn it or give it all away.  I just want it out of my sight at this point.  Friday I’ll be taking the U Haul to my dad’s to store some things, then up to Chciago to unload the rest.  It’ll be about 1000 miles in 2 days.  I’m trying to dwindle down the amount of boxes I have to move between now and Friday.

I had 7 bags full of cans to recycle.  They were on the back porch waiting for me.  I went out to gather them up and found all 7 were housing a swarm of bees.  So, in my genius, I created my own beekeeping outfit.  I put on a thick hoodie, and tucked the sleeeves into yellow dishwashing gloves.  Then, I put on a wide brimmed fedora, and draped a see through laundry bag over the top, like a net.  It worked like a charm.  I got a whole $7 for my bags of cans…. it wasn’t worth it.

One of the guys who bought from me on eBay hasn’t paid me.  It wouldn’t be a big deal normally, but I already shipped the item.  So, if he doesn’t pay me i’m screwed.  I’ll only get my listing fees back.  Maybe I can take it up with PayPal, but they usually side with buyers, not sellers.  I can always just post his name and address all over the Internet and invite whatever may come to him.  He has until 10:30 tonight to pay me, and he kn0ws that.

This has me all paranoid about the room I rented.  I sent $550 to move in, I haven’t heard if my money order was recieved yet or not though.  Also, I’ve asked three times now for some more pictures of the apartment, and I have gotten nothing but pics of the room I’m renting.  It just all makes me really confident about this move.

Oh well, this is my new buddy, Greggy, from Milkboys forum and chat!  As you can see, he hearts me.

Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile.  I’m in the middle of packing and selling stuff on eBay, in the midst of working.  I’ve been willing myself to do things besdies sit on the computer.  I’ve gotten a lot accomplished, sort of.  Most rooms are packed up, I still have a lot to give away/sell.  I got about $300 from old toys on eBay, so, that will help a lot.  One guy never paid for his stuff, and like an idiot, I sent it when I sent the rest of the stuff, so, I really hope he ends up paying me.

Life has been slow.  I thought I had a room for rent lined up, but the person on the other end just quit contacting me.  So, I’m not sure what’s going on there.  I have ads posted on Craigslist, unfortunately I get a lot of weird offers.  This one creep wanted me to come down to Orlando and be his house boy or something.  Yuck.  No thanks, sir.  I’ll find something.  I’ll just keep reposting the ad until I do!
No luck with a job so far.  I send a lot of applications/resumes every day, and I have heard nothing.  Well, I got an offer for a shipping/receiving manager position, it sounded too good to be true, and it was.  Turned out to be a check scam.  I’m glad I Googled it first.  Oh, I also got a scam e-mail through the apartment thing.  There are some bad people out there.

Oh, and I slammed my middle fingertip into my front door today, it hurt like a mofo.

Here is a photo from a VERY hot day…

There is an episode of The Simpsons from the late 1990’s called “Bart Carny”.  In it, carnival workers come to town and take over the Simpson house, citing ancient Carny code and claiming it as their own.  Hillarity ensues.  Well, that’s happening to me.  My apartment is next to a large lot we use to park in.  Well,e ach year for July 4th, the town has a big carniaval.  Awesome, right?  Wrong.  All the carnival works come and park their skanky RVs in MY parking lot.  Which is actually owned and rented by the furniture store across the street.  So, there’s nothing I can do.

They are literally RIGHT NEXT to my bedroom wall, and I can hear them as if they’re out in the hall.  Blowing up balloons for their crooked games, speaking to eachother in their weird Carny tongue, ugh.. they make me sick.  On top of that, ALL of them came into the restaurant I work at tonigt.  Bastards… can’t they just leave me be?  And they’re here all damn week, folks.  I’ll try to get a good picture of the invasion tomorow.

I’ve been selling a lot uf stuff on eBay.  I’m not getting much, but it helps.  I screwed up and sent someone the wrong thing, the shipping set me back about $25.  Damn.  Lesson learned.  This afternoon I got a few groceries.  I was looking for the cheapest possible foods, and found that it was fruit!  So I got a bunch of bananas for about a dollar, and a whole fresh pineapple for $2.  I cut the pineapple and had it for lunch, it was spectacular.  Fresh pineapple is so much better than the junk in a can.  Mm.. Henry liked it too, as you can see:

Well, I’ve still been packing away.  7 boxes of very heavy books!  I also have a lot of miscellaneous plugs and cables that I don’t recognize.  I better hang on to them, just in case.  It’s coming along pretty nicely.  I have put a LOT of stuff on eBay over the last couple days, and I’m hoping to make a good chunk of change there.  I also have some cans to cash in, change to count, and friends to beg for money.

I’ve been watching my Michael Jackson Number Ones DVD for the past couple of days.  It’s been awhile since I watched it.  Of course, Fuse, MTV, VH1 are all playing the videos too.  It really makes me mad when I hear people saying all these bad things about him after his death.  No matter what your opinion is, don’t people know it’s just not right to speak ill of the dead?  It’s shocking the disregard some humans have for eachother.

I’m a little mad at my employers at the moment.  I guess they’ve figured out that I’m moving, and my hours have been cut.  It pisses me off, they know I”m moving, and they told me they’d give me hours so I can save up before I go, and surprise surprise, it’s not happening.  They’re notorious for this kind of bullshit.   Of well, the sooner I leave the better.

Here is a photo of Henry, just after being disturbed from a nap:

What a frustrating couple of days.

I’m not getting enough hours at work, which pisses me off.  They offered my job back, knowing I was needing to save cash to move, and now I’m not getting the hours we talked about.  So, I’ve decided I’m just going to take what I have and go.  I’m looking at doing this July 15.  I’m going to see if my dad can foot the bill for a moving trailer, and I’ve got a couple of people to hit up for cash.  I’m listing a bunch of shit on eBay, and I have some other miscellaneous stuff to try to sell.  Wish me luck, I guess.

I’ve got a lot fo the house packed already after just a day.  My bedroom consists now of a few boxes.  Most of my furniture I’m taking to my dad’s or getting rid of.  I was going to see the new Transformers movie last night, but, I prioritized and decided to pack instead.  I’m taking a desk and a bookcase, I think that’s going to be it.  Maybe a nightstand too.  I’m going to sleep in a sleeping bag or something for awhile.  Maybe a nice cot if I can afford it.

Enough about the damn move.  I think things are at a breaking point with the ex-boyfriend/roommate.  I keep hearing about how he doesn’t “have” to stay here, as if I’m making him.  And for that matter, he’s not doing me any favors being here, so, don’t let the dor hit ya where the good lord split ya, bud!  But it’s not always so bad, don’t get me wrong.  We get along msotly, but there’s a lot of bottled up tension.  While I was packing I looked back over some of the notes we used to pass at the job where we met, things used to be so different.  He actually liked me, and I liked him.  I don’t wish things were like that again or anything, but I hope the both of us look back at those good memories instead of the bitter ones.

In other news, Michael Jackson died!  Holy shit!  I’m a big fan of MJ, I must say.  I was actually thinking he may have another album and/or tour in him.  I have always told myself if he did tour again I WOULD see him.  Now I’ll just add him to my “dead guy concert series” along with Johnny Cash and Hendrix.  This is really going to hit the world, I think.  Like when JFK or Elvis died.  Anyhow, RIP King of Pop.

Today was so miserably, sweltering, horribly hot and humid.  I had to work at the baseball game, and it was torture.  Being from fine Scandenavian stock, I am highly susceptible to heat injuries!  I don’t handle it well at all.  I was dripping sweat, it was highly uncomfortable.  So afterwards I felt like I had just gotten back from a trip to the dessert, and I just wanted to lay in the A/C and recharge.  However, I had to go work overnight and prep at the restaurant.  But here it is, 4:30 AM, and I am finished.  I get to sleep all day in the cool apartment.  Wait, no, stupid staff meeting at 2 PM.  Also, angry roommate is off work too, so, I get to look forward to a dull day with him.  Ugh.  I’m sure he’ll just be sitting on my laptop all day.  Which is what I do, sure, but it’s MY laptop!

I’m beginning to stress more and more every day about this move, and how little I have done and how little money I have saved.  What the Hell is wrong with me?  If I want this so bad why is it so hard to get motivated to make it happen?  Is it because it’s so damn hot?

I’ve spent far too much time acquiring useless things.  Stuff I get, look at, then put down and forget.  It’s time to get rid of pretty much all of it.  I’ve decided that when I move I don’t want to take anything with me.  there are a few things I will take to my dad’s for safe keeping, but not much at all.  I am taking Henry the Cat, some clothes, swords, books, and my TV.  Add to that a few boxes of miscellaneous.

I was thinking of starting a second blog to keep track of the happenings of my move to Chicago, but, I’ll just do it here.  I don’t want to divide my attention for no reason.  I may be able to rent a room in July in Chicago.  If so, I will keep my apartment here, and go there to begin looking for a job.  Also, my future roommate (who already lives up there) and I will check out some apartments, and hopefully have one found by August.  So, this means I want to have enough money saved and enough packed/thrown away by the second week of July or so, and I will go get that room.  That’s the plan.  Money will be tight, but I am not going to eat out as much, and I’m going to go get some cheap groceries to keep me fed until then.

I have a lot to do.

On another note, there was a crazy storm the other day here that lasted all of half an hour.  I managed to take a couple of pictures.  This is from my back porch:

Well, I have work in 38 minutes, I must prepare.  *sigh*

I had yesterday off, so, I managed to get a few things done.  I did the dishes, washed my sheets and comforter, and gave the cat a bath.  I’m not sure if he needed a bath or not, but, he got one.  I tried to watch 3:10 To Yuma yesterday, but it was sort of boring.  I’ll try it again another time, but today it goes back to Netflix.

This afternoon I went for some Chinese food.  It was good, but I’m beginning to look forward to the dessert part more and more.  Afterwards, I got a haircut!  Yay!  I was in desparate need of one, that’s for sure.  If I think about it this evening I will get some photos.  In the mean time.. I have got to work tonight, so, I must get ready soon.

One of my favorite pictures, I have no idea why:

Well, here I am at my shiny new Milkboys Blog.  Under construction.  To any new readers, hello!  To my current readers, hello!  And welcome.

Things have been good for the last few days.  I admittedly haven’t been working too hard.  I cleaned up the house a bit yesterday, and some time soon I need to give the cat a bath.  He’s shedding, and the house has become quite..  furry.  The second season of HBO’s True Blood premiered on Sunday.  This is going to be a great season, I can tell already.  For anyone who has NOT seen True Blood, go rent/buy/Netflix Season 1 immediately, catch up, and start on season 2.  You won’t be sorry.  It’s a great modern sexy/violent/thought provoking vampire drama/action/thiriller/crime series.

A few days ago, I had just finished an overnight shift at work and I was walking home.  It was about 4 in the morning, and I’m an adult, so, it’s not like I’m barred from walking the streets at night.  However, two police cars spotted me and swung around the corner with their spotlights on me.  Gee guys, bored much?  I almost laughed a little.  Did they think I was an escaped con or something?  I made it home unapprehended, but it made me a bit uneasy.  I feel like I’m living in a military compound all of a sudden.

On a final note… there are a lot of comic book movies in the works.  Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, Avengers, etc, etc.  Note to the creators… make superhero movies.  We don’t want your unique vision of any of the above, or your retelling of anyone’s origin.  The people who wrote these comics in the first/second/third place took care of the vision/origin/etc, don’t mess with it.  These are characters that are recognized, and there are things comic fans expect from them.  Superhero movies have been hit or miss recently (X Men 3, Daredevil, Wolverine Origins) and I don’t want this to become a trend.  Let’s pump out more Iron Man and Dark Knight quality films.  Please no more Ang Lee Hulk, no more WTF Ghost Rider films.  Just make superhero movies, and try to do it write.  There are PLENTY of resources out there to find out what us geeks are looking for, and forthe most part, it’s consistent.  Be faithful to your source material!  Don’t chew it up, spit it out, rearrange the pieces and cover it in shit.. ermmm.. I mean, restyle it with your new artistic vision.

Just had to get that off my chest.  And now for something completely different: