Day One: Unemployment

It's lovely to have Friday off, no? Yeah, it's kind of different when you're unemployed. I sat at the computer for a little while looking for jobs and such, but I am not certain that I applied for anything. I did apply to one or two positions with the county the day before though, I believe. I'd like to work somewhere close to home, and maybe get back to working with kids again, maybe juvenile delinquents. I remember enjoying my time with them.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and preparing for a weekend visit from the in-laws. Yes, in-laws. I'm officially married now! Crazy, eh? J and I went to Charlottesville last month and got married with our parents and his brother there as witnesses. It was a lovely time and it takes the pressure off the slightly larger ceremony in September. So, in the midst of this unemployment, I'm still making preparations for a wedding!

a new adventure: UNEMPLOYMENT!

I was laid off last Thursday. I wasn't all too surprised. A few weeks ago, my supervisor suggested that I apply for another position within the company. The position is kind of a lame one, so I was not interested at all, but the wheels started turning once my supervisor said, "I don't really know what's going on with the company. Things aren't on the up and up." Yeah, so there was my big tip-off. At that point, I applied to about three different jobs (not within the company) and left it at that. I was hoping that it was a false alarm.

The other big clue was when I found out that the company is not going to reach its projected profits for the year.

So, I was called into one of the small meeting rooms by my director and handed a packet of information. She told me a bunch of important dates and in my head I was already making a list of things that needed to be done. After she told me, I think I felt a sense of relief. I was growing a bit tired of my job. It was becoming rather monotonous and not fulfilling.

I had to pack up my things that day because it was my last day in the office. My last day of employment will be August 26th, and I will be receiving my last paycheck on September 5th. My dental and life insurance will end on August 26th while my health insurance runs until the end of August. I will also be receiving a severance package which is basically just one paycheck, not sure if that is the norm. I also get a payout of up to 80 hours of vacation time. Too bad I had 104 hours. I'm losing 3 days and 3 sick days. Ugh...

So, now I'm unemployed. Can't wait to see where the days take me!

February Volunteer Venture

This month's volunteer venture earned me a free ticket to Disneyland! I read Tightwad Tod to a group of second-graders at an elementary school close to work. I signed up via "Give a day. Get a Disney Day." I expected the experience to be similar to my experience with the little girls at Camp Diva, but the interaction was brief since I was only there to read the book to them.

After I finished reading, I asked the kids what they thought Tod was going to do now and some of them said, "spend all his money!" Though being a tightwad isn't necessarily fun, I felt the need to remind them that you don't have to spend money to have fun. I asked them what fun things they could do without spending any money. One little girl said, "You can play at the park and that doesn't cost a penny." It was cute. Definitely my take home point of the day. I'm going to the park tomorrow!

January Volunteer Venture

I signed up to sort books through onebrick. It took place at a warehouse not too far from my house. Since it was in a warehouse, it was quite chilly. Brrr... I got to sort children's books and reminisce about all the books that I read as a kid. Sadly, I had to toss some because they were "outdated" or in poor condition. It took some self-restraint to not salvage some of those books, but I did end up taking Millions of Cats and Stone Soup home with me.

After three hours of sorting books, I went to lunch with five other people from the group. It was a nice experience, chatting with some new people. I learned about some cool volunteer opportunities for when the weather gets warmer. There was one guy there that was kind of socially awkward and creepy. Not sure what his deal was. Unfortunately, I didn't get to debrief this guy with any of the other volunteers. Oh well, talking about the creepy guy purpose of my volunteer venture.

2010

I decided that I should record my New Years Resolutions in writing, so what place better than the old blog?

Here we go...
1. Volunteer once a month
2. Take better care of myself - skincare, exercise, etc. (mostly for vanity's sake)
3. Attend church on a more consistent basis
4. Save money (retirement, kitchen appliances...)

we really must stop running into each other like this...

Poor eating deciions seem to plague me at work. I arrive at work to find a bag of cookies on my desk (some sort of holiday gift), which I devoured. And then, my good friend brings me a hash brown from McDonald's. Who can resist a McDonald's hash brown? Mmm... (even if I just had one yesterday).
I have a lovely lunch of leftover from last night's dinner at Bonefish Grill and as I'm going to get my utensils, there is an entire spread of cakes, brownies and cookies on the table! Now, normally I can ignore some of these items especially since I already had a bit of a sugar fix this morning, but there was also a box of KRISPY KREME donuts on the table! So, I polished off half a crueller and took a chocolate iced and holiday sprinkled donut back to my desk with me.
I will be good and eat my lunch before I have the donut. I skipped my real breakfast this morning (instant oatmeal) so my body should probably have some non-junk food.

an expensive day off

So, my car died on me today. At an intersection about a mile away from my house. I had to call a tow truck to come get me and take me back home. This cost me $84, but boy was I relieved to be off the road and warm inside the house. I didn't have an economical way to work, so I stayed home. It actually wasn't a bad day to stay at home because furniture people were coming to look at the bed that they had delivered and I got to sort through/organize some things (even if that just means consolidating it all into one drawer instead of two... does anyone else have this problem?)

Anyway, so something had to be done about the car, right? After I got some good information about local mechanics, I had to have another tow truck come to take it over there. Another 80 some dollars.

The mechanic will charge $115 just to run the diagnostics and then who knows what I will have to pay for in repairs. Ugh...

I did manage to spend some happy money today though! Snapfish had a coupon for 100 free prints if you made a purchase of at least $5. I spent about $15 and saved $9 in prints. The bulk of it was Australia pics, not that I have even gotten around to scrapbooking that trip.

There seems to be a never-ending list of things to do at the house. Clean gutters change air filters, rake the leaves, remove the half-bath wallpaper, buy this, clean that. If this were a few years ago and I had to miss work, I would have been sleeping! Perhaps the amount of sleep you get determines your status as an adult. Being awake means that you have responsibilities that you feel obligated towards. Less hours of sleep = more adult-like. I mean, I at least know that babies sleep tons and old people typically get up super early, though I'm not sure if it's because of an early bed time and there is that whole theory that you are just reverting back to infancy in old age. Now kids in college - there is quite a range of sleep cycles. You have your kids that like to burn the midnight oil pulling all-nighters or the regimented ones that know they need their full 8 hours or the ones that come back from class and get right back into bed. And obviously parents sleep a LOT less since they have to take care of their children. There aren't many responsibilities greater than being a parent.

Gosh - I'm not sure how this post ended up on this topic. It's definitely time for bed.

basement brothel - part 4.5

On the night on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, the last "guest" to leave Apt T3 left a little past midnight. Yep... what other activities do you imagine going on at that time of night?

basement brothel part 4 - final installment

As we're getting stuff moved out of the apartment, we're seeing a lot more "business." Today, we happened to get mail for T3, so J made several attempts to give them their mail. However, they never opened the door when he knocked. Not once! How shady is that? A man had just gone into their apartment a few minutes prior and now all of a sudden they can't open the door... Something fishy is definitely afoot. They even looked out the peephole! J also heard sounds of a belt buckle inside, as well as voices.

It is getting really irritating that there has never been any interaction with these "neighbors," besides the glimpses we've had of them as they trek behind the apartment to Starbucks (they hold Starbucks cups when they come back from their excursions - I believe this is where they solicit their clients).

I have a theory that they don't actually live there and that the place is just rented out for them to conduct their clandestine activities. Never have they checked the mail and never have they used the front entrance. They just always go out the back. I've never even seen them come out of their front door. The only people to come in and out of that place are men!

*sigh* So, these are the final hours of this investigation... I wonder if we'll uncover anything else. Also, is this something I should tell the new tenant about?

keys open doors, keys open doors...

A week ago was closing day on the house. Keys are in hand, stuff has gradually been moved over, the painters are there getting after the ugly blue trim, window salesmen have come and gone (decision still pending). All these developments have left me shell-shocked. I think it takes awhile to get used to changes that have such an impact on your life. I haven't lived in the same place for more than about 4-5 years, so it's incredible to think that I will be living in the new house for at least twice as long as I have lived anywhere else!

Tomorrow is the big moving day. It's going to be amazing to watch the house fill up stuff, but it will be even more amazing to watch it fill up with the people I love.

basement brothel part 3

When J went to take the trash out yesterday, he ran into an Indian guy who was coming into our hallway. He appeared skittish and acted like he was going to leave. When the guy saw that J was going out a different door, he continued to T3. As J was coming back from taking out the trash, the guy left looking all around like he was afraid of being seen. It doesn't seem like he made it into our neighbor's. I guess he got cold feet.

Today, there was a notice on their door. It was a "Summons for Unlawful Detainer." This was the information that I found. Pretty interesting, eh? Looks like our apartment community might be on to them as well...

basement brothel part 2

So, it's 9 pm on a Thursday night and someone just knocked on the door. A man.

J opened it and the guy said, "Sorry, I must have the wrong address."

Talk about awkward! What if I had opened the door? I guess I should have to see what he said! And I could then ask him what was going on over there. But would he even tell me?!

My suspicions must be true. I just need that confirmation. Well, looks like I have at least another month to figure it out.

are you my mother?

Today I tried on dresses with E, K and my mom. Despite numerous phone calls and text messages, I have not heard from my mom since the week I got back from Australia. Or at least that's how it seems. And I hadn't seen her since the end of July. It is now September. She doesn't live that far away, but we never see each other because she doesn't seem to know how to call me or answer her phone.

I just feel really frustrated with her at the moment. She's in the process of moving right now, so I guess I should cut her some slack. I will be going over there this Saturday to help her and to also get some of my things.

I just want her to be more involved with my life and it seems like she's slipping farther and farther away and now she'll actually be even farther away distance wise. I just don't know what my expectations are of her anymore. I feel like she doesn't really know me, but I still value her opinion more than most other people.

While I was in Australia, my cousin Christina told me all about my mom's life - stuff that was a mystery to me, stuff that my mom had been keeping from me even when I asked her bluntly about it. I hate that my mom doesn't feel the need to tell me things about her life. *sigh* Maybe I'll finally meet her "boyfriend" on Saturday, since he's probably helping her move. With my luck, I'll probably show up to an empty house.

third times the charm... hopefully

House-Hunting: Even before J got a job, we had been looking at potential homes. Of course E wanted us to stay in C'ville forever and ever, but we finally did venture beyond the 20121 zip code. Since moving to Tysons, we started to check out some other areas and once J got his job offer, we were ready to start looking more seriously. We've already put in two offers on places in Centreville. Neither worked out. The third offer we put in was for a place in Fairfax. It looks like third time will be the charm! The house is old, as in built in the days of lead-paint possibly. That will be checked out during the home inspection, among other things. Then there is also the appraisal process, so it will still be a few weeks before we know for sure whether we will be moving there or not. The place is about mid-way between J's job and my job and it has 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths and tons of space. The only thing it's really lacking is outdoor living space, but hopefully there is enough for J and his grill to be reunited.

two years...

My dad has mentioned to me a few times that my god-cousin, Allen, had a brain tumor. He would ask me if I had heard any word of whether Allen had passed away or not. Growing up, my mom, grandmother, brother and I would go to visit Allen's family in North Carolina a lot. I can remember spending short weekends there as well as entire summers.

Allen was some years older than me. He got married when I was in the 11th grade. That was the last time I saw him.

Today, I went over to my cousin Cathy's to pick up some pictures that my uncle had set aside for me. While I was over there, my uncle told me that Allen passed away two years ago. I didn't know how to respond, though I was already given some warning via my dad. I guess I knew it was a strong possibility. I just can't believe he died two years ago.

My mom has grown so distant from the people that she was once close to, which is probably why we didn't find out about Allen. My cousin, Christina, gave me some insight on that while I was in Australia. I guess it's a lot of cultural and "adult" stuff that I wouldn't understand or stuff that my mom doesn't think I would understand. Come to think of it, two years ago was also right around the time my step-dad passed away.

I guess sometimes we don't know how to reach out when our loved ones are what we need.

Allen's parents helped shape my childhood. I spent summers in their restaurant clearing tables, peeling potatoes, wrapping eggrolls, etc. They helped my family a lot through the whole messy divorce between my parents. I feel devastated that I was not there for them in their time of grief. I hate that we've lost touch with them, but I'm not sure how to get back in touch again.

basement brothel

The day I started moving in to my new apartment, I noticed something strange. The apartment across the hall housed at least 2-3 Asian women who seemed to receive a lot of male visitors. In fact, on that first day, in a half hour span, two different middle-aged men knocked on the door and were let in.

Before I left for Australia, I commented to J that I thought they were prostitutes. He knows I enjoy making outlandish observations, but while I was in Australia, he had plenty of time to make his own observations. The trend continued. There seemed to be a steady flow of male visitors who would leave typically within an hour.

Every time there is a noise in the hallway, we go bolting to the peephole to see who might be out there. It never fails. It's always a random man. There have even been a few repeat visitors. We take every opportunity to peak into their apartment via the sliding glass doors in the back. There is a partition up on one side and a sofa bed, I believe. The tv will often be on, but nobody is there watching. I never see them inside, so I can only deduce that they are in the bedroom!

I'm tempted to knock on the door one day and introduce myself. I'm afraid the new neighbor window will be closed soon. How am I supposed to gather more evidence to support my hypothesis?

dashed

I found out just now that I didn't get my supervisor's position. One of my old managers got the job. I'm just glad it was an old manager and not a co-worker. She's really good at what she does, so I'm sure I'll have plenty to learn from her. She won't start until the end of the month/beginning of next month probably, so all of fall hiring is still on my shoulders.

I guess this is for the best. I think getting away for a bit has refreshed me enough for me to stick with my job for awhile. Hopefully a raise is coming soon!

superman

Christina told me that whenever Audrey goes to the pool she recalls when I taught her how to do the "Superman." "Auntie HT taught me how to do this." It's just about the simplest thing you can do at the pool - push off the wall and stretch your arms out like you're flying a la the man with the "S" on his chest.

I was touched. Audrey was 4 and they still lived in Singapore. It was so long ago and I don't even really remember it, yet it has stayed with her. It's funny the things that stand out in our memories. I hope that moments from this past trip will stay with her as well. And I hope wonderful memories of me were created for little Marcus.

back to life, back to reality

It's a little before 7 am. I leave Melbourne to head home in a few short hours. It is so sad to leave because I've had such a wonderful time here. Spending time with Audrey and Marcus (my cousin's children) has been such a joy. My cousin Christina and her husband CK watched me and my brother grow up and I only wish that we lived closer and could do the same with their children. Maybe we can, in our own way - probably mostly via photos and skype.

Christina and CK have been so generous with everything. They opened up their home to us and made sure we saw sights and ate to our heart's content. Christina and I also had a lot of good conversations - I learned about family history, the trials she experienced in her life, and even details unbeknownst to me about my mom. She's the oldest granddaughter of my grandmother's grandchildren and I'm the youngest. There is a 15 year age difference, yet she is one of my closest cousins.

Audrey and Marcus are such great kids. Audrey is a brilliant girl on the cusp of adolescence. It's a trying time for all involved and I hope that I can provide some counsel for her. She is not only smart, but participates in tons of activities as well and she no doubt has a good head on her shoulders. Marcus is a ball of energy who is also loving and sweet. One night in the car he whispered to me, "You are my best friend. I love you." His little accent is adorable. Yesterday when we dropped him off at school, he had a bit of a tantrum and kept asking his mom for more hugs and kisses. He also asked if I could stay and be a helper. That would have been so cute - all those little Aussie babies.

I will have more reflections on all of this. Right now I just have that feeling of missing them all already. :(

Money Diary Abandoned...

So, I got a letter from the IRS that I owe $800+ for my 2007 taxes. Ick. I am not happy about that. With that, I am ending my money diaries right now.

I will find out whether I get the new position when I get back from Australia. Hopefully it'll be good news because I need some more money in my account.

Australia has been awesome. It's winter here, yet still so enjoyable. No wonder Aussies are such happy people!