PCC has started up again (as I'm sure you're all aware). Here is my schedule for this semester!

English 1A : MWF 2:20-3:45
Spanish 2 : TTh 6:20-9:00
English 900 : Th 3:15-4:20
Math 131 : F 6:40-9:20
and S 1:00-3:40

My work schedule is not included, as that changes from week to week.

Now, for the important part. My school schedule is fixed--I can't move it around to accommodate plans. I *can* however, request days off for my work schedule, provided I put the request in two weeks in advance (or before the schedule for the day in question is posted.) So if you have something you want me to do or an activity you want me to join, make sure that it fits with the school schedule, and then let me know as soon as possible!

And, finally, the most important part...I have a cat snuggling with me on my bed. It is adorable! And cuddly.

"I can't stand the rain
Against my window
Bringing back sweet memories."

( For the sake of your friends list, I hereby present you with a cut. )

"I may be romantic,
and I may risk my life for it,
But I ain't gonna die for you,
You know I ain't no Juliet."

It hasn't quite been a year, so perhaps I am getting better at this whole "remembering I have a livejournal" thing. Don't blame me for not being around more often; I have a facebook now, and that's the only defense I need.

Many things have changed, but as most of you are already aware of it all, I don't think I need to post it here. Also, I am lazy.

I'm flying up to Oakland this evening to visit Lauren! I am extremely excited about this, giddy, even. This weekend is going to be a lot of fun!

"You could be nobody in Heaven,
Or you could be a star in Hell.
You could have a billion dollars
And blow it all...
Away."

i'll be going to the pasadena store as their sales manager.

also, i have a cold.

a good thing and a bad thing. i am balanced. i am...zen...

"when logic and proportion
have fallen sloppy dead,
and the white knight is talking backwards
and the red queen's "off with her head!"
remember what the dormouse said:
'feed your head! feed your head! feed your head!'"

( the crisis and its subsequent aversion...maybe )

"girls will be boys and boys will be girls.
it's a mixed up muddled up shook up world
except for lola."

well, i finally got up off my ass and ordered some bookcases. i've been meaning to do this since i moved into my new room at the apartment...which was back at the end of december. can we say procrastination? i was going to just get one tall bookcase to go next to my bed, but i opted for three shorter ones to go across from it instead. that arrangement actually gives me more shelves, and a counter to put stuff on as well! yay!

by the way, office depot's furniture instructions are much easier than ikea's, because along with the pictures, they also have a WRITTEN DESCRIPTION of what those pictures mean. i've only built two of them, but it only took about fifteen to twenty minutes to do each one. i'll build the third one as soon as i con someone into holding the planks in place while i use the screwdriver. i'd attempt to do it on my own, but i think we can all imagine how that would turn out...yeah. i'll hopefully get that done by tonight at the latest, so i'll be able to finally unpack those two boxes of books and the two boxes of manga. if there's enough space left over, i might be able to bring more books from my old room at my parents house!

my next step will be to purchase a desk, and following that either a small tv or a new computer. three guesses as to which one i choose to buy first!

i also bought my pass to anime expo for this summer, and put in my request for time off. i'm going for all four days again. it's at the los angeles convention center this year, which is only about twenty minutes away from my apartment. with traffic, it's about half an hour to forty five minutes. that is MUCH better than the two hour drive it was last year to get to long beach.

that's it for now! i'll post another update involving work things soon.

"drove downtown in the rain, nine thirty on a tuesday night,
just to check out the late night record shop.
call it impulsive, call it compulsive, call it insane,
but when i'm surrounded i just can't stop."

or happy valentine's day. you know, whichever you are in the mood for.

i've come to the conclusion that valentine's day is a spectator sport. at least, it is for those of us who are perfectly content with their single status. i got to watch a variety of couples yesterday at work, and i started keeping score in my head. one older man got points for bringing his five year old daughter in with him and listening very carefully to what she thought would be the perfect valentine's day present for her mother. a slightly younger man lost several points when he brought his girlfriend in to the store and told her "just pick whatever, okay?" in an annoyed tone of voice.

richard got points for bringing me a snickers, a twix, and a 3 muskateers, along with a linkin park cd. i don't known if it was intended as a valentine's day gift or not, but it brightened my day regardless. of course, he always does that whenever he visits me at work.

speaking of work, i am ANGRY! as i mentioned previously, there is another store in our district that i am currently helping out. let it be known that i am doing them a FAVOR. i could just as easily say "no, i would prefer to only work at the store i was hired to work at," and there is nothing my store manager or my district manager could do. but today i received a phone call from the full time assistant at that store who had some "concerns" for the way the floor set was done last night. she spoke rudely, and was basically upset that the two of us who did the event change last night left her two small tasks for this morning. why she didn't take this up with her shop manager, who was the other person closing with me last night, is beyond me. i wanted to yell at her, but couldn't because there were customers in the store. instead, i will be talking with her shop manager about her behavior the next time i see her. i already spoke to the shop manager of my old store (where i worked today!), and she was furious on my behalf. and, of course, i'll tell my current shop manager about it, and then i will sit back and watch the explosion. (my shop managers are as protective of their employees, past and present, as mother bears.)

and, last but not least, do any of you read the web-comic questionable content? and, if you do, WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH THAT LAST COMIC?!? ::brain explodes::

"i'm strong on the surface,
not all the way through.
i've never been perfect,
but neither have you."

it's three in the morning, and i am still awake. i had absolutely nothing to drink today that did not have copious amounts of caffeine in it, along with some energy gum (that i HAD to have--it was advertised as not suitable for children), and i've run out of my sleeping pills--both the prescription and the cheapie, over the counter crap ones. so i figured i'd actually update this thing, seeing as it's been almost two months.

it's actually an improvement...how sad...

anyway, work has pretty much taken over my life. i'm full time now, and i was working full time hours before, so it's not too much of a change. the thing is, one of the stores in our district is currently short on managers, and because of a stupid hr problem they can neither promote nor hire a new part time assistant right now. so guess who gets to help out over there two days a week? (please note that if you actually needed to guess, you should be wearing tin foil so i know who to avoid speaking to.)

as is usually the case, i'm getting along with the people who work at the store. i'm not sure why, but people tend to confide things in me after we've spent a certain amount of time together. so i now know that half the people who work at this other store are majorly annoyed at the other half most of the time. they don't hate each other or anything, but there is a major communication problem. things haven't been getting done because of it, and i've basically had to take care of a lot of issues that aren't really my responsibility as an assistant manager--especially considering it's not even my home store.

in more exciting news, i'm a redhead now! SQUEE! and i have a new haircut that involves slightly more defined layers and BANGS! there is something about changing my hair that makes me feel better about life in general. of course, i now have one more step in my daily make-up regime, considering that i have to color my eyebrows to avoid looking ridiculous...but it is worth the effort. i make a sexy redhead.

i've started jogging again...sort of. on my days off i go for a nice looong walk and sporatically burst into a jog so i don't feel too lazy about it. it's not the same without someone to be my exercise buddy, but i haven't found anyone to join me just yet. my dad gave me an ipod shuffle, so at least i can listen to music while out and about, but smarmy conversation beats dancing in public anyday. (smarmy conversation WHILE dancing in public is one of my favorite activities and not enough people join me in that.)

as i am sure some of you already know, katie has moved out, which made me sad...but i think she is happier where she is living now, so that is good. i would not want my chupakatie to be unhappy! for a little while, dave was our third roommate, but now kylee, his girlfriend/fiance, is living with us. she's been an awesome roommate, and she has turned out to be a very cool person too, which is always of the good. (i figured she would be spiffy since i met her at anime expo, and my first impressions of people are usually on the money, but i hadn't had much of a chance to really get to know her until she moved in.) woohoo for new friends!

ehren has promised to come and visit me sometime soon! he says that i need to be the one to pick when he comes out here, though, so my inability to make any sort of important decision may derail our plans. i'm thinking the end of april, though. i am excited to finally meet my boyo in person!

and, finally, if you are a friend of mine and are reading this, and are wondering why i've fallen off the face of the earth...just remember, you know where i work. stop by and visit sometime, dammit! ray and richard get uber-brownie points (redeemable towards liz brownies!) for loving me enough to say hello. richard gets even more for stopping by at the other store when i was ready to run screaming from the store in frustration and boredom.

"There's just you and me
Maybe that's all who's left
And if there ain't no heaven
Maybe there ain't no hell"

i was supposed to have today off, but due to the horrible monster my cold became, i switched with myra and took yesterday off instead. this meant that i had to be at work today, but when i got there, i was still too sick to do much. andrea (sweetheart that she is) called ana to see if she could close the store for me, so i was left to sit in the back for a couple of hours just in case help was needed. then i left to go home.

i really hate being sick. i had plans for today, and i was looking forward to them, too. hopefully i'm better by a significant amount tonight because i'm opening the store tomorrow, and we don't HAVE anyone else i can call in to cover for me.

life sucks sometimes.

i did, however, read "american gods" by neil gaiman while i was staying in bed yesterday. it was just as brilliant as i thought it would be, and all i can say in reaction to it is "wow". it was amazingly good. i heartily recommend it to anyone (except for the extremely faint of heart, i suppose).

"What if God was one of us;
Just a slob like one of us.
Just a stranger on the bus,
trying to make his way home."

this update is just for ehren, if he even still reads this journal, since i update it so sporadically.

i love you, boyo!

"if you'd call my name out loud,
do you suppose that i would come running?
do you suppose i'd come at all.
i suppose i would."

apparently TYPING that you've knocked on wood is not the same thing as actually knocking, because my cough has turned into a really bad cold. my head hurts, my nose is stuffy, and i'm still coughing up a lung every so often.

on the plus side, it's christmas, which i SHOULD be calling "newtonmas" because i am in no way religious. seriously, a little old man who passes by my store gave me and another girl a bracelet with little pictures of the saints and jesus on it the other day. he stopped by yesterday and was upset that i wasn't wearing it. apparently it is supposed to bring me good luck, but i just felt like a hypocrite every time i looked down and saw it. although maybe NOT wearing it once you've been given it is BAD luck, which would explain the cold.

but back to the subject of newtonmas! my parents gave my sister a roundtrip ticket to hong kong as her larger gift, but then couldn't think of an equivilant gift for me, so they just wrote me a check for a lot of money instead. i am totally cool with that. because they spent so much money on those gifts, however, we each only had one gift wrapped under the tree and, of course, our stockings. my one gift was a really cute black peacoat. i laughed when i saw it--my mom has been mentioning for the past month how sick of my black trench/raincoat she's been getting.

my stocking had all sorts of spiffy things in it--i got the "hairspray" dvd, as well as "at world's end" on blu-ray. (my mom hadn't realized she'd gotten me something other than the dvd, and is insisting she exchange it for me, instead of letting me use that as an excuse to buy myself a ps3, hehe.) she got me the last three books in the "Discworld" series as well, which is awesome! i've been reading the series in order, so it'll take me some time to get to those, but it's three less i'll have to buy!

other spiffy things in my stocking :
-underpants and socks. because no stocking would be complete without these things.
-a fifty dollar giftcard to Ralphs
-a Tide-To-Go pen, for her daughter that doesn't spill. (my sister pulled her pen out first and cracked that it was "for the daughter that spills")
-gift certificates to Pacific Theaters
-lipstick and lipgloss in a color i ran out of
-a cute hat and matching scarf
-a tube of m&ms with an ornament at the top, which is traditional in our stockings, even though they are ridiculously hard to get into
-a teeny box of godiva truffles, which is a much more tasty tradition.
-and various other small things!

we had our traditional christmas morning breakfast, which was delicious and consisted of scrambled eggs with onion and bell peppers, bacon (because no traditional breakfast is complete without it), coffee cake, and half a grapefruit. i had tea with honey instead of coffee because of my cold.

i've spent the rest of the day napping in bed. i was going to go over to my other family's house, but i don't want to infect them with my cold, and i'm really not feeling up to driving all that way. i haven't even gotten out of my pajamas! i'm glad i don't have to be in to work tomorrow until two in the afternoon; i'll need the extra rest tonight.

"i can be that,
but soon you'll see that,
i will never do anything."

as you may have guessed from the subject of this update, i have a cough. not a cold, just a cough, so that's SOMETHING. ::knocks on wood:: totally not a fun thing to have, though.

another part of that subject line--the moon thing. this morning, i had to wake up at o-dark thirty so i could get to work at six thirty. when i left for work at five to six, the sun had not yet risen, and the moon was up. it was full and bright and shiny. obviously it was MOCKING ME.

but work ended up being alright. the beginning of the day was horrible, this is true, but once myra got in at ten thirty, things began to get much better. for one thing, ray showed up! woo! awesome surprise, that! and then, in a less of a surprise, but no less pleasant event, dave came by too! yay!

i hope everyone knows that they WILL be getting christmas presents from me--but probably not until new year's. ::grins:: you'll just have to shiver in antici....................
........
........
................pation.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

"All that you fashion;
All that you make;
All that you build;
All that you break;
All that you measure;
All that you steal;
All this you can leave behind."

here's a mini-update on the life of liz for you all.

i've been promoted to full time at my job, which is cool, because now i'm receiving benefits such as vacation time and sick time and HEALTH INSURANCE. however, i had to be transferred to the glendale store in order to get said promotion. now, it's not that i don't like working there, because the people there are cool, and it's not that much farther away from where i live. it's just that, i worked at santa anita for three years, and it's gotten to be like home to me. there's people who know me there, and my coworkers were good friends. it's so weird to not be working with them anymore.

i now have a space heater, which means i am no longer classified as a meat popsicle! the bedrooms at our apartment all have eight foot windows in them, which is actually kind of cool...except that they make it very very cold at night during the winter. there was one night where my fingers actually began to go numb while i was typing. fortunately, my bed is uber-comfy, and i could curl up and enjoy the warmth of the covers easily.

i finally broke down and made myself a facebook account tonight. if you're on there, friend me! because i am nothing if not a whore for comments and such-like.

i'm making my dad read "the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy." he promised me he'd do so before christmas, so we'll see what his word is worth.

speaking of books, i've decided i really want to read "american gods" by neil gaiman. also, i need to get some bookcases, because i am suffering from book withdrawal. all of my books are still at my parents' house, with only a few exceptions. the lord of the isles series, the first four in the discworld series, and "good omens" have giving me the fix i need to get through the day. "good omens" in particular has been a great comfort--i've taken to keeping it in my purse and reading bits of it whenever i need to be cheered up.

aaaaand that's all for now. i'll try to post more later, but with my track record, who knows?

"do a little dance,
make a little love,
get down tonight!"

soooo....this isn't a real update at all. i just wanted to post this, since i randomly found it about two seconds ago, and it is LOVE.




real update soon, i promise!


"i can't escape this hell.
so many times i've tried,
but i'm still caged inside.
somebody get me through this nightmare!
i can't control myself."

for those of you who didn't know...

i have an aparment!

i'm writing this update on the cot that is currently set up in my new room. my bed arrives on thursday, so i have a few more nights on this uncomfortable thing...oh well! it's taking a bit of time to get settled in. i would be off shopping for a curtain rod and curtains right now if i didn't need to stay here to accept the delivery for our new tv. hopefully that will get here soon so i can get moving.

yesterday, steve became my favorite boy living at the ebelhars'. he not only decided to come hang out with me to help me move stuff, he also helped build my dresser, and our dining table. AND! he actually seemed to have a fun time doing it, which made me happy...i was feeling guilty for taking him away from doing other fun stuff. i mean, he only has the weekends free, you'd think he'd want to spend them doing something other than hanging out with me. ...then again...i AM me...and i am pretty damn awesome...

richard also helped out a lot! he drove us to target so we could buy some more necessities, AND treated us to dinner. that boy is too nice for his own good sometimes.

how did i get such great friends?

well, more on the apartment later! time to do some more unpacking!

"follow orders as you're told,
make their yellow blood run cold!
fight until you die or drop;
a force like ours is hard to stop.
close your mind to stress and pain,
fight 'til you're no longer sane!
let not one damn cur pass by!
how many of them can we make die?"

in a shameless ploy to get some comments (and man am i going to feel morose if this doesn't work) i am going to ask that anyone who reads this post the first thing that pops into their head in the comment area. your comment can even be that you have nothing to say.

"i want to break free!
i want to break free, yeah.
i want, i want, i want, i want to break free!"

- katie, sarah, and i found an apartment! our official first day at the apartment is september fifteenth, although i'll be moving in on the sixteenth, and katie will be moving in a few days earlier. the apartment is in alhambra, in a very spiffy location, and it is going to be AWESOME living with those two! YAY!

- my parents' birthday gift to me was a bed, which is nice, because there is no way i could have afforded a good one. the one i got should is uber-comfy, and hopefully will last me many years.

- my cousin hannah drew me a birthday card! she's only six, and has met me all of one time...which was about three years ago. even though she barely remembers me, she wanted to make sure i had a birthday card from her. it was the cutest thing ever, and made me feel all mushy inside. i think she and casey (her older sister) are the only two small children in the world who i can actually tolerate.

- i've discovered that i have an interesting curse on me : whenever my store has a corporate visit, and i am going to be the manager on duty, i will not get a break until at least three in the afternoon. so far i've had to be the MoD twice for a visit from grace, the vice president of our region, and both times i've been stuck by myself at the store for almost seven hours without a break. can we say sucky?

- i'm attempting to be promoted to a full time employee at work. according to grace, a part time employee automatically becomes a full time employee if they've worked an average of thirty hours a week for at least two consecutive months. i went through the payroll for august and july and did some math : my hours averaged out to 30.08 a week. kim, my district manager, made a note of my request. we'll see what comes of it.

- richard is back in town! YAY! and he brought me my airport gift, which was sweet, because it seems to be turning in to a tradition. he visited me at the store the other day, but it was while kim and grace were visiting, so i couldn't glomp him like i wanted to. i'm hanging out with him on monday night, though, so i'll have an opportunity then!

that's all for now. more points of interest later!

"i feel stupid,
but i think i been catching on.
i feel ugly,
but i know i still turn you on."

::SQUEES!::

Sooo....who wants to go to the ren faire tomorrow? Give me a call!

"somebody once asked
'can you spare some change for gas?
i need to get myself away from this place.'
i said 'yep,
what a concept.
i could use a little fuel myself,
and we could all use a little change.'"

today was a fantastic day.

it didn't quite start out that way. i wanted to add another class, but it was completely full, and the only adds that the professor was going to allow were the people on the waiting list (and i wasn't one of them). so now i only have one class on tues/thurs., and that is spanish II. i'm actually taking it with the same professor, in the same classroom, at the same time, on the same days, as i did spanish I last semester. fun stuff, huh? he seemed happy enough to see my in the class, although i'm not sure if that were because he actually liked me, or if it was because i had managed to prove that i wasn't a complete and total moron, unlike many of my fellow students.

after class, i went to vromans and picked up some books. i got "hocus pocus" and "the slaughterhouse five", both by kurt vonnegut. i just finished reading "a man without a country" last night, so i was on a vonnegut kick. damn, but that man is an amazing author! i also got "the quotable atheist", which is a compilation of quotes from various types of celebrities (basically famous figures from any time period, not necessarily celebrities as we think of them today) on religion and god or the lack thereof. i'm thinking of using some of the quotes as prompts for quick little snippets of writing.

later on in the evening, i went out to dinner with richard, katie, and sarah. we were celebrating "fat tuesday", and it was the first time i had ever done such. katie picked the restaurant and wouldn't tell me where we were going until we got there. we ended up at "the melting pot", which is a fondue restaurant in old town pasadena. and it was AMAZING. i don't think i've had food that delicious in quite some time. everything, from start to finish, was incredible. the only thing that i could even find the smallest fault with was the fact that we were given a very poorly placed table, despite there being others available. as annoying as it was to have to look at an "employees only" door just a few feet away from me, it ended up not being too bad; it did give us a bit more privacy than we would have had otherwise. and with company as great as katie, richard, and sarah, who needs anything else? katie and richard treated, too...i don't know how i got lucky enough to have friends who are that sweet.

the only downside of this great day is that tomorrow is going to seem very bland in comparison.

"this thing called love, i just can't handle it.
this thing called love, i must get round to it.
i ain't ready,
crazy little thing called love."