Queen of Love and Beauty

The first week back to school has been fairly uneventful. I am bothered by the fact that it does not even seem like a fall semester. It just feels like a continuation of summer. Maybe this will change once the weather cools off a bit.

Had my first quiz in calculus 2 this morning. What was the quiz over? Everything that I did not review very well. I guess I am more concerned with my computer science classes and getting done the needed web work that I am supposed to.

Stacy is taking off work today because she wants to go shopping and I am going with. I put some dresses on hold at one store so she can see me in them and help me decide whether it is worth it to buy one for the reunion. They are all on sale and even found one that I had seen previously at Nordstrom’s on their sale rack, but then again their sale rack does not have sale prices.

I watched “The Sweetest Thing” (the unrated version) again last night and I still cannot get over “The Penis Song”. It is hilarious! It is done to the music of “I’m too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. Too funny! There are some other things that are added but that one just beats all.

Went to the rest of my classes yesterday – symbolic processing, software development and games programming. Between the latter two, it looks like this semester is going to be very programming intensive.

At least my Amazon order arrived. Ahhh… the stress relieving properties of bubble wrap! A nice thing after fighting the UNT parking vultures twice in one day. I missed my morning class because I could not get a parking space. Took me 50 minutes to get the one I did. No, I am not kidding.

By request, I tried to find some full fledged Kelly Willis mp3′s to download. Since I am no longer subscribing to any of the existing services (I was on one of the ones that is outside of U.S. borders but last time I tried it would not work… probably because they have gone by way of the dodo too) I did a search on good ol’ Google. I was not able to find much so I then found some mp3 rippers and went to town. Woohoo! So, here are the some tracks off the “What I deserve” cd: Not Forgotten You, What I Deserve, Heaven Bound, Got a Feelin’ for Ya and Talk Like That.

Had the songs uploaded wrong but that is fixed now. Sorry for the static on “What I Deserve” – I worked with two different rippers and one of them turned out not to be too good in regards to the first two tracks on the cd. The static on “What I Deserve” seemed to be tolerable so I posted it anyway since it is a good song. Also, if clicking on the links for the songs does not automatically start the download then right click on the link and choose “Save Target As”. Just thought I would add that.

Once again, the event is September 28th and it is being called Symphony on the Range. I would like to get a group together to go so if you are interested let me know.

I am not going to let another opportunity pass me by and since I don’t currently know of anyone that might also like to go to this I am posting about it here. The evening of September 28th is going to be the night of what is being called Symphony on the Range at Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX. The McKinney Symphony Orchestra will be performing and along with them will be Kelly Willis, Jack Ingram, Bruce Robison, Radney Foster, and Allison Moorer. All these artists fall under the category of Americana – it is sort of a country and blues mix. Very cool! If you don’t know what I am talking about you can catch Renegade Radio on KNON 89.3 weekdays from 4-6pm. That is typically the style of music they play during that show. I don’t know if they will play anything from the folks that I have mentioned but they might. Here is more of a run down on the few that I know of:

Kelly Willis – I first heard her one day many years ago while just flipping the tv channels (I think it was on Austin City Limits). Amazing singer! This is one person I am always checking to see if they are coming to town anytime soon. I have only seen her live one time and that was at Son of Hermann Hall, and it was really cool! She is one person not to miss!

Jack Ingram – saw him and his guitar at one of DotComGuy’s parties. Even got me a signed t-shirt that night! His performance there was really great and even though I have not seen him in a more normal concert setting I am sure he is good there as well. Another not to be missed! Maybe he will even do the Barbie doll song!

Bruce Robison – Husband to Kelly Willis, I saw him the same time I did her at the Sons of Hermann Hall. He was really good that night as well.

Radney Foster – The name rings a bell. I cannot recall off hand anything that he has done but I am sure it could be found out on the net. You can check around and see. He might get more air time on the regular country stations, which I really no longer listen to.

The last one I have no idea. I know I am going for the first three I described to you, as well as the McKinney Symphony Orchestra. It is going to be an outdoor on-the-lawn event so you will need blankets and lawn chairs. For more info on the event you can go here. They also have picnic dinners you can purchase ahead of time and pick up there. If anyone else wants to go let me know and maybe we can split one of these. If you have any questions leave comments or email me.

Oi with the poodles already! Got Chipotle for dinner last night and ate close to half. Just heated up and finished the other half and feel like I need someone to come roll me around. I am stuffed!

I also worked out last night with Stacy at TI. Got a bottled water while I was there and also drank my diet dp afterwards but I guess I got dehydrated anyway. Came home and had a headache later. Threw some pills at it and went to bed.

Got the logo up for A White Cat and am still working on the rest. The ad will not come out until the end of the month so I still have a little fudge time. Braydon is submitting the proposal for the church website that we are going to do. It looks good and Lana, the Goddess of Tech Writing, gave the green light on it. We’re plugging along.

Looks like I am going shopping with Stacy tomorrow for a dress for my reunion next month. It just hit me yesterday that I need to take care of that. Why they think that there needs to be two days worth of events is beyond me. Regardless, this is one of those things where everyone tries to look a tad better than they normally do. I have to go for a little more than just a tad. Must also make sure that I take plenty of cash for drinking.

NOTE: I know this one is long but alot has happened. If are looking for a job in Dallas and would like to know who this is that you should avoid like an anthrax envelope email me and I will tell you.

My weekend went from starting out really nice to chaos to having fun to ending the chaos today.

Everything was going good last Friday. Found the new Reef flip flops that I wanted to get for school (went ahead and got them since they only had two left in my size). I had something lined up for Saturday and now something for Sunday afternoon. All is well until…. I got home and checked my bank balance. I saw something unusual beside the balance. I did not have my glasses on at the time so it looked like a dot. Turned out to be a negative symbol – the paycheck from the woman I had been working for bounced like that cheap rubber ball that I mentioned before. Shit! I immediately call the bank and get some really nice and helpful people on the phone, and even check the current availability of funds on her account (they were still not available) but that still does not solve the pickle I am in. I then called her (it is almost midnight at the time and I could care less) and the first thing she says is “It didn’t go through did it?” No shit Sherlock! I had even waited until Tuesday like she asked. The check went in on Tuesday and came right back out on Wednesday. I told her that I wanted to take care of this Saturday and get my money in cash. She said she would call me. Yeah, right.

Called her Saturday morning and she said that she had $100 for me in cash. I have to take this since I had no cash on me and my bank balance was still negative thanks to her. Drive all the way to her office (this is at minimum a 40 minute drive from where I live) and get the money and proceed to ask her about the rest. She is giving me the story that since the name on the check she was trying to deposit was different from the name on the account the bank was not taking it and had to verify something. I am thinking this is total shit – there was only a slight difference. The check was made out to her whereas the name on the account was her business, which was her name followed by another word. But the fun does not end here…

She then proceeded to say that she was not responsible for my overdraft fees. Ummm… the reason I have overdraft fees was because the check that she gave me bounced. There would have been no overdraft fees if the check had been good. I would not have been there then. What the hell! Next, she tries to say that I lied on my resume. That right there was a LIE! I have never lied on my resume and never misrepresented myself to anyone in regards to employment, including her. She asked me questions on what I knew and I answered honestly. It appeared that she was doing this to try and get out of paying me the all the money that she owed me. If that wasn’t enough, she proceeded to tell me that there were changes to the website that I had been working on for her that were not done. Up until the last day that I was there, all the changes that had been given to me had been done with one exception. It was going to be a graphical change that could have potentially thrown off all the sub-pages and it should have been pointed in the beginning to me by the client but wasn’t. I told the client that I would look into it, as I was intending on checking with her to see if she might want to charge him more for that change. I never got to check with her due to the fact that she called me and told me not to come in since she had nothing for me to do on both the Thursday and Friday of that week (the last of the changes were done on Wednesday). My pay was crappy to begin with anyway, I had not gotten the hours that I was told I was going to get and now she was actually trying to justify not having to pay me the money that she clearly owed me, and this was all after I had to tell her that the amount on the check she was trying to give me was incorrect ($82 short) and had to make her write me a new check for the correct amount.

At this point I am going from pissed off and thinking I might have to tough things out until Wednesday to all out rage and fury. She said in a defiant tone “Well, what do you want me to do?” She was acting like how dare I ask her to pay me the money that she clearly owed me. I told her “First, do not try and justify this. There is no justification for this. Next, I want to get this taken care of as soon as possible; I have a negative balance because of all this and I have bills to pay. You will have at minimum (insert balance after $100 paid here) for me on Monday. That gives you today (Saturday) and tomorrow to find it. I will contact you Monday.” At that point I walked out.

She called later on that afternoon telling me that she had another $200 in cash for me but since I did not care to see her twice in one day, and the fact that she had the audacity to call me with this was even more infuriating. It was like she was trying to appease me and thinking I would go away after that. She was also not listening. I told her what she was going to do and that was that. After I got the message I called her back and told here no dice – she would have the remaining amount for me Monday and I would be by no later than 1pm to get it.

I head home to get ready for the evening. I finally get out the door and over to Tommy house in Plano for dinner and then we met up with some of his friends to see “Stormriders” at the Magnolia Theater courtesy of the Asian Film Festival. I was pretty cool but not quite like the other Asian films that I have seen recently. It contained alot more sci-fi fantasy than the others and I have never really gotten into that area, whether it be books or film. It was still a good movie and if I had had an extra $10 on me I would have gotten one of the copies of “Battle Royale” that they had there for sale. Now that was cool!

Sunday was brunch at Cynthia and Brian’s swanky place (I think I like the word swanky…one of those words that you don’t use very often but when it applies you use it liberally). Once again Cynthia is an awesome cook. She told me later on while we were at the Dallas Farmers Market how to make the romanoff sauce that is used on the strawberries romanoff at La Madeline. I got strawberries and peaches there and I want to go there again, at least once the weather cools off a bit. We took the train down there and walked to the market in the heat. I don’t mind the heat so much as I think the ozone plays a big part in making it difficult to be in. I have temporarily stopped my long outside walks because of this.

Anyway, we got back, relaxed for a bit and then went to see Full Frontal at the Angelika Theater. Very good yet very different. If you are into films that are not of the mainstream go see it. One of the things that they kept referring to in the movie was what would be your porn name – your porn name is either your middle name or the name of your first pet followed by the first street you lived on. My porn name is Rebecca Eastwood.

Got back to Denton, went to church and then came home and made the romanoff sauce and had that and strawberries for dinner. Not totally nutritious but it was good! Watched a little tv and then sat down at the computer and proceeded to get the numbers of all the people that I would need to call Monday if I did not get my money – Dallas County DA, Better Business Bureau, Labor Relations Board, INS, IRS, etc. Went to her office today and she gave me the rest of what she owed me and then some, I assume for the overdraft fees. I then went straight to the bank and cleared up everything there. I will never work for that woman again, regardless of the fact that I have me money now. I was put through too much trying to get that out of her and don’t care to experience this again. I guess I am a rare find these days – I don’t spend beyond my means.

Summer school is finally over! Woohoo! Not sure how I did but I don’t care at the moment. A few more weeks and the fall semester will be here and I will be in the class for my major. Right now I have the time necessary to gear up on the job search more. Plenty of errands to run and that to work on today. Tomorrow night is dinner and an Asian film at midnight with Tommy. He has promised not to lick my face again.

He also sent me this link that is pretty funny. Poor teddy bear!

Almost forgot… went shopping at Grapevine Mills earlier this week with Stacy and there is a new store there – Past & Presents. Their retro furniture was what caught my eye. If you happen to collect un-opened glass Coke bottles with various labels they have tons! If you are out that way be sure and check it out!

Got home last night and among other things decided to check an online email account that I have. To my amazement (or horror… I don’t know what to think yet) someone not only found an old site of mine but sent me an email, responding to something that was on there. About 4 or 5 years ago, when I was really big in the swing dance scene, I re-did my site of that time to get it more up to date. One of the pages that I added was a requirements page – requirements for the guys that I date, or I should say now, was willing to date at that time. Let me say a few things here: 1. this page no longer applies; right now the only requirement is that they be breathing. 2. this page is hella old and was never linked to anywhere of any significance. 3. do not ask for the url – I am not giving it to you; if you would like to find it, I wish you luck.

Anyways, I am finding this to be totally crazy. Never before, in the entire time that I have had that site at the two locations that it exists, have I received a random email on it. The guy responded to each of the listed requirements. I responded back, asking how he found that dreadfully old thing, where he was from and why in the world did he bother to respond to all of those. Who knows. If anything else develops from this I will let you know.

Last week ended (and I am glad it is over) on a few high points. The first of which was my summer grant money finally coming through. There is only one week left in summer two and I am just now getting the money. It’s about damn time! Now the weight of debt from summer two is lifted from me and there is one less thing for me to deal with on Tuesday.

Next, I got the paycheck for the work that I did during the month of July. Thank goodness I spoke with Stacy the day before, inquiring as to what the amount should be. I was almost shorted $82. I spoke up and told her what the check was supposed to be for. She frantically thumbed through the pages of the circular E to try and make her point but she did not have a leg to stand on. She also mentioned something about doing it herself because she did not want to pay her accountant the $100 fee for doing the payroll for her. I finally got the check for the correct amount and was able to leave. She also asked me to hold the check until Tuesday. I am going to the back Monday night and it will go into my account first thing Tuesday. I also made a copy of the check in case it bounces like a cheap rubber ball.

Went to the Dog Day Afternoon event yesterday with Stacy and Punky to benefit Operation Kindness in Carrollton. Stacy and I both thought that Punky would throw some kind of fit or try and bite one of the other dogs since she is not used to being around so many other dogs. To our amazement she behaved quite well but this may all have been due to the fact that by the time we got there she was already getting worn out. Not ’til yesterday had I seen that dog pant to the point that she started to drool. She turned her nose up at the communal water bowls that were out and would only drink from either our hands or from the bowl that Kyanne brought for her dog Precious. I should have pictures up no later than next week.

Broke down and finally bought the dvd of “A Beautiful Mind”. I was going to wait until school started and after I got my disbursement but I was in a mood yesterday and it was only $20 at Best Buy. There are some good deleted scenes; one in particular that is funny is where John and Alicia (Crowe and Connelly) proceed to gang up on a man that was trying to flirt with Alicia, but instead wound up insulting her intelligence. There is also feature on the dvd where John Nash himself explains Game Theory. I was so tired from the day itself I was not able to give that portion the attention that I wanted to. Going to watch that again later and I also can’t wait to watch the movie itself with the Ron Howard commentary.

For a number of weeks now I have been going to Denton Bible Church on Sunday evenings. One thing did not occur to me until today – in the weeks that I have been going not once have they passed around a collection plate. Maybe they only do this at the morning services. I looked for the possibility of collection boxes in the foyer but did not see anything. If they have those they could be somewhere else that I have not been yet. I am still not involved in any of the activities. I feel like I need to find my feet first with regards to getting back into going to church on a regular basis. Just thought I would mention that observation.