Extended Stay America

I have been working for Extended stay for fourteen months now; we just got our old area manager back. The first three months that I worked for this company, the hotel was no where near what it is now, and Christene is going to run it right back into the ground. On Friday I was warned that my hours would be cut by Victoria. I didn't realize that I was the only front desk person that would be getting fewer hours. I love Carrie, she's on of my best friends, but it is so not fair that they gave her forty hours a week and cut hours from me. I cannot believe that I have been working here the longest, and just because I go to school and the simple fact that Christene doesn't like me, I get the sh!t end of the stick. She has only been here officially since Monday, and already she has half the staff ready to quit. I don't want to quit; I really don't. Usually in this company though, getting fewer hours is their way of saying that you should just go. Plus, I am not able to handle working for someone that is constantly spreading rumors about me. It's so high school!

All of the changes are stupid. I'll go along with them because I have to and as an underling that's just what you do. However, this hotel was working smoothly enough to where we didn't need any changes, so I don't understand why there are so many being made. Christene refuses to actually train our new manager, so she knows nothing of her job and just basically sits around doing nothing. I think once Dana knows what to do, she'll be a fine manager. Until then, we're out of luck. I refuse to call Christene with any problems. Refuse. Okay, maybe that's a lie. Luckily, I don't have to call a manager much since I know how to do my job, but when I do I'm going to have to call her. If anything is done in a way that she doesn't like, it's going to be redone anyway so I might as well do it her way first.

Here are some of the changes:

Guests must now give forty-eight hours notice if they want to extend. (Does she not realize how many guests we have that extend on a daily basis?)

Every time there is any change on a registration card, we must print a new one. No just rewriting what needs to be done. (Waste of paper.)

Because I've requested off four days since January of this year, I get no more vacation time. (When she hired me a year ago, she knew that I take off Thanksgiving. She knew it! And yet, now I get no more time off? What about all the people that request off once every other week? Because it's not a holiday they can do it? Tammy and Carrie want to work Thanksgiving, so what the heck is the big deal???)

Housekeepers are no longer allowed to stay and finish rooms. So if they have six hours on their board, but one of the room takes them two hours as I have seen it take before, too bad so sad. (We're going down with dirty rooms, which then means that we can't rent those rooms, which then makes people very angry because they can still book those rooms online.)

Tammy is being promoted, I am getting my hours cut.

We have twice as much useless paperwork to fill out.

[[Busywork.]]

Mike has to get 10 pms done per week. (On top of all of the maintenance orders and other problems around this hotel? He's lucky if he gets one done a week.)

To top things off, they want to hire another front desk clerk. (Really?)

I know that I'm just complaining right now, but I am so... upset. I know that I'm not the best worker in the world and I know that the company would do just fine without me, but at the same time it would be so nice to have a boss that didn't gossip like a little school girl, or change ever darn thing in the hotel. We were doing just fine before, leave it be.

I want to stay here and see how things work out
but at the same time,
is it really worth the effort?
The longer I stay
the better it will look on my resume.
The longer I stay
the more experience I will have in the hotel industry.
The longer I stay
the more time I will waste on a dead-end job.
The longer I stay
the more worthless and useless I will feel.

I’m good with people
I love to help out
My heart goes into my work
And I never call off

[[Eventually, everything is going to be okay.]]

The Tyra Show

Every once in a great while, I get bored and go to the website for The Tyra Show and glance through the topics that they are trying to get people for. One of them popped out at me a little while ago and I thought to myself, 'What the heck, why not?' And I told them my story. The topic they are doing is about relationships and friendships that have been broken by a diary or journal. I didn't really think anything of it, I was just bored and it gave me something to do for a couple minutes. But then this morning I got a phone call from a four diget number. When I picked up the phone, a lady told me that her name was Alli and she was calling from Tyra. At first I didn't understand and just said okay thinking that it was a sales call of some sort, but then she asked for me to go into further detail about my story. When I did, she said that they would be interested in flying me and Alaina out to New York to be on the show. I don't think it will happen, but it was an interesting event for this morning.

Other than that work has been pretty uneventful today. I'm ready to go home, but Victoria wants me to stay late and help Carrie again. She says that Carrie is worse than Pam and that she wants to fire her, but I so disagree. I understand that Carrie has made three big mistakes since she's been here, but she was only trained for three days and she has only been here for two weeks. Give her a break! I made way more mistakes when I first started, and I was trained for at least five days. This company has crap for employees because they don't take the time to actually train anyone so then they make mistakes and get fired or just kinda learn the swing of things and do a crappy job. I feel like the only reason I do well at all is because I was trained for a longer period and Jeanie took the time to explain every little teeny tiny detail of what I did wrong. I don't know, I'm just frustrated I guess.

A guest just came down and basically told me I don't know how to do my job. It surprised me because she is a guest that normally is very sweet. I wouldn't take her check though, which our company says that we don't allow it. However, in the lease apparently it says that cashier checks are accepted. I called Victoria and ended up accepting it, but she even told Mike to tell me that I need to take it because it's valid. By that point I had already put it into the computer and printed her a reciept. She informed me that I need to learn the methods of pay that we take, but I do know them. Our company totally contradicts itself all the time. Ohhh! I am so not happy at the moment.

To top things off Victoria obviously doesn't like the way that I've trained Carrie, and yet again I'm the one staying late to give more training. What? Why don't YOU stay and train her. You are the manager, and you are the one who is having issues with how Carrie is doing things. Personally, I don't. I think she's doing a pretty good job actually. Yes, she has made some mistakes and a couple have been pretty stupid, but she's new and you can't judge her based on things she doesn't know yet.

Natalie invited me to a party tomorrow night, so at least I have something fun planned for the weekend. I really want to go the the Wet-N'-Wild fright night thing or whatever it's called. I love Halloween :)

Eventuful Morning

Yesterday was such an average day; get up, go to work, go to school, go home. Work dragged on forever because the new manager Dana and Christene were there with Victoria. Christene got there first of the three, and actually helped me unload some supplies that should have been done over the weekend. Cindy was complaining like crazy, so I really didn't have to talk to Christene much, but I don't think we're going to have any problems working together. I hope so at least.

Victoria told me that Susan is coming next week, so I have to find my headband or get a new one and wear a bandaid on my face. Whoohoo! I'm hoping she comes Monday or Tuesday so that I'm not there.

After school, I went home and ate my leftover Panda. That food gives me a stomach ache, which is weird but I like it anyway. I then changed out of my work clothes and took a shower before picking Danny up to meet friends at Harem Nights. I had never been there before, and neither had Danny. It had a really cool atmosphere and the waitresses were all super sweet. One of the kids we met up with is from America, but is of Persian decent. Danny told him he looked Arab, which I thought was absolutely hilarious but everyone else didn't seem to think it was weird at all. Danny told him that he was Lebanese, and the kid nodded but I don't think he had any idea what he was agreeing to. Later, a song came on that I first thought was Arab, but then it sounded spanish and I was like, what? I asked Danny what it was and the kid said, "Arabic of some sort." Danny nodded and said, "Egyption Arabic." The kid shook his head saying that it couldn't be and he highly doubted it yada yada. My mouth hung open in shock; was this kid really telling someone who was born and raised in the middle east and who had also been to Egypt several times that he was wrong? After a few minutes of explaining that he lived in Lebanan, Danny dropped it until we got in the car later, where he cracked jokes and made humor out of it.

I slept on the couch last night because my nice clean laundry is on my top bunk and the dirty clothes are on the bottom. I need to clean. Anyway, I woke up at two thinking it was time for work, then again at three. I woke up again at four because I had a dream that my dad died from a spider bite. Where that came from, I have no idea. But then when it came to be five thirty and my alram was going off, I slept right through it. I woke up to Jeffrey saying, "Don't you have to go to work today? It's Thursday." I asked him what time it was, and he said sevenfifteen. I leaped from the couch and ran around the house like a headless chicken. He had to help me find my keys, which were sitting right in front of me. Victoria called me for the third time as I was walking to my car; boy was she happy! "How long is it going to be before you get there, I'm in my car and Pam needs to go to work." I told her five minutes and ran to my car.

When I walked in the door Pam looked very angry. I knew that she would, she has another job to go to and that job dosen't know that she works this one so being late has no excuse for her. I held my hand out for the keys and told her to go to work I would clock her out. She gave me the keys but didn't move. I walked into the office because the phone was ringing, but she picked it up. I tried to figure out why she wasn't leaving. It wasn't until the second phone call that I realized Victoria was still on her way to work. I asked Pam if I should clock her out and she said of course, I hesitated in clocking myself in, thinking that V was coming in to fire me. Pam said she was sorry and didn't want to call her but she couldn't get a hold of me, then she left and V walked in a minute later. She wasn't upset, or at least didn't seem like it. She just told me that Pam said this was the third time that I was late on a Thursday and asked if I shouldn't be working Thursdays anymore. I assured her that I was fine and that I just didn't hear my alarm which is what has happened every time that I have been late; although I only can recall twice but still... The phone rang and Victoria left as I was making a reservation.

At about eight o'clock in the morning, a girl that has been staying here on and off for a little while came down gasping for air and crying very hard. She asked me to use the phone since she couldn't find hers and I gave it to her. I didn't want to pry, but boy was I curious. About fortyfive minutes later a man came down that has been staying with her. He made me nervous and I watched him carefully. He tried to pull her up out of the chair she was sitting in and I told him to keep his hands off of her. He held them in the air and told me, "It's not like that." I simply asked that he just doesn't grab her because it made me nervous and he agreed. For a minute. I went to give the housekeepers a note and I heard her telling him to stop. When I went back into the office he was forcefully guiding her out the door and one of the housekeepers followed them out while I called 911.

In the middle of the call they started to come back in because Cindy was yelling at him to keep his hands off. She sat in the chair and seemed like she was in a lot of pain; she had already called her dad earlier to come pick her up and take her to the hospital due to something being wrong with her that I never figured out. As he was walking in the door I was giving a description to the operator and he asked if I was calling the police; Cindy said, "Of course she is keep your hands off!" I didn't respond to him. He then told his girlfriend or whatever to tell me that she is okay and the police didn't need to come here. She told me she already had a ride to the hospital, but that's all she would say. Once I was off the phone, he went into the stairway and I walked out into the lobby to talk to her and see if she was okay. I asked if he abused her and she said yes, then started appologizing profusely for being a disturbance. I told her that it wasn't her fault and that the police would be here any minute and we would get everything taken care of.

However, the police didn't ask any questions of me. I know the girl couldn't tell them that he hits her, and he denied it fullheartedly. Eventually the guy did come downstairs and walk out with a bag of his stuff, throwing his arms up and giving me the, "Now look what you did" look. The police were gone before I could even ask for an incident report for my records, but they did tell her dad who arrived toward the end to get her to the hospital there is something sersiouly wrong with her.

Honestly I'm a little angry that the police didn't do more. She's going to end up back with him and he's going to be as abusive as ever. She needs help. She needs to go somewhere to be away from him. My housekeeper that didn't get involved told me it's the way things work. He's a pimp and she's a ho and if she gets involved he'll come after her. It makes me angry. So if she were to walk by a girl being beaten she would just keep walking? I couldn't do that. Men who hit women are freaking babies, and they don't want to go to jail. If you stand up to them, at least when you are in public, they aren't going to do a thing. It makes me want to cry that people can be so selfish. Seriously, if I feel that I can help someone I'm going to. If the dude swung at me I'd kick him in the manparts and call the police. I am so disappointed in those police officers today though. He threw his girlfriend across the parking lot and all they did was send him on his way. Some say it's her fault for getting back with him, which it is, but seriously could you walk away from someone that scared you of being beaten? Like I said, she needs help.

[[I'm so angry right now.]]

Eventful

The past week has been freaking crazy. Studying for midterms, attending classes, going to work only to deal with issue after issue... I'm getting worn out! I feel a tiny bit better than before my math midterm. She still has yet to post the grade for it though, so the knot between my heart and stomach is still throbbing. I went to go get my nose pierced this week because I just had to do something fun and exciting and I wanted to get it done.

[[I love it ♥]]

Needless to say, Mom and Dad were not too pleased when they saw it on Saturday. I thought they may have reacted a bit differently, but lets just say things went better than what I had hoped.

On Friday I went to work at six in the morning and stayed until four. Carrie got there around two. It was crazy busy and by the end of the night we sold out, but it was Carrie's second day by herself and the night before she had made a few mistakes. Minor mistakes that everyone makes, but that's why I agreed to stay and help her learn a bit more. At six I left to get my hair dyed and cut once again. I asked her for the same exact cut as last time, since I had fallen head over heals in love with it. It's similar, but not as good. I wouldn't keep this hair cut for a second time let's put it that way. The bangs are crooked and the layers aren't as blunt as they were last time. Honestly, I still like this cut I just like the last one better. My bangs will grow quickly and I'll figure something out for the layers. She also didn't strip my hair like she did last time though, so there's blue and purple now. Which is fine by me, but it just isn't as pretty as last time. Like I said, I still like it :)

Anyway, after two hours of sitting in that chair, listening to Joyce jibberjabber on about her own nose ring, I returned to work. I brought a couple of salads and frosties from Wendy's with me since Carrie's throat is soar. Poor girl has to get her tonsils out. Her voice was almost gone, so I took over for a bit while she ate. She was glad that I was there, and honestly I don't think she could have done it alone. It was busy and there were several grumpy ol' men complaining.

Co-Workers once again :)

After work she came over to my parents and I made Daiquiris. I only had one, and she only took a few sips since the alcohol was not helping her throat. We were supposed to go hang out with Danny and Cajin, but Danny fell asleep so she went to hang out with Cajin alone. I was fine with it, since I was tired anyway.

Last night, Saturday, I went to the ASU game with my parents. It was a very intense game, although I had most of my attention on my phone. Danny got in a car accident and totaled his Mercedes. Luckily, there was no other damage done other than a sore back. I ended up going to the hookah bar with him, Andrew, and Tony last night, but we didn't stay long as it was late. We originally went to Urban cafe, but it was closing so we went to King Tuts instead. I thought it was pretty funny because they hate that place with a passion, but it was just across the street from the other.

I went home and planned on going to sleep. Didn't happen. Jeff was already out and snoring and the dog was hyper. Which by the way, my brother found a dog. It's very cute and friendly, but will be too big for our condo so we're trying to figure out what to do with him.

His name is Chewy, as in Chewbaka, not chews everything in the house. But anyway, I took the dog out for potty time, which he had no issues with. He went and slept next to my brother, while I layed away for a while. I didn't actually fall asleep until close to four in the morning. So annoying.

Other than that nothing is really happening.

Work is crazy as heck, I think it's because the fair is in town.

School is still kicking my butt too.

But the weirdest thing I have ever seen is this:

No, he's not going potty.

He's actually laying in the litter box.

I caught him sleeping a couple of times in the one at my parents during the past week, and now the first thing he did when I brought him home this morning was lay down in the cat box.

He's such a weird cat,

but I guess that's why I love him so much.

:)

And just because I'm on the topic of weird sleeping arrangements:

I woke up one morning for work one day, and this is what I walk into the living room to see. The picture does no justice compared to the actual sight, I literally collapsed laughing.

Since the picture doesn't show what's really going on, here it is:

His head is nuzzled into the corner between the arm and back of the couch.

From his waist down, he's hanging off the couch.

And his remote to the video game that is still on is laying next to him.

That's Bubble Butt for you :]

♥

Stressing Hard

So I redid my grades and figured out that my math was off, which makes me feel a little better. I do have a D in my math class, but I spoke with my teacher and she says that as long as I get a C on the midterm and continue to do my homework, I have a pretty good chance of passing :) My astronomy grade is only based on the questions that have been graded, so all of the ones that haven't are zeros when in reality my professor told me that I actually get a lot of mine right so after calculating all of the in class assignments I've done, he estimated that I have an A in that class. My Psychology class I'm still a bit iffy about, but I'm pretty sure that I really do have a high C in that class and I'm pretty confident that I can raise it up to a B by the end of the semester. We'll see. Tests scare me.

Other than that I am completely stressed out and I don't know why. My homework is sucking the life out of me and all the tests are causing me to freak out at random points of the day; I'll wake up in the middle of the night from dead sleep scared to death that I'm going to fail. I think about school so frequently that it has even started to affect my work. It doesn't help that Victoria has been covering a lot of night shifts so she's not around when I need her; it makes all of the things that are usually sorta, kinda, maybe stressful to having me full-blown, near-tears stressing out. Luckily there haven't been many complaints as of late, and a lot of the guests here love me. I get several good reviews on the surveys that are turned in on a daily basis.

I've been studying nonstop for this stupid math midterm for days now. Which of course I have to miss the majority of my art class to take, but whatever. I think that is part of what is stressing me out. If I study so much and try so hard, then what happens when I still don't pass? It worries me. I'm so scared to fail not because I'm going to use x over y minus four times seventy ever in my life, but because if I can't pass this class then I can't graduate. If I can't graduate then I will never have my degree. If I don't have my degree I will never be successful like I have always planned. I just feel stupid lately, literally. I feel like I'm not as smart as I've always thought and that maybe college isn't for me. I don't want that to be true because I would love to get several degrees it's always been my goal. I just need to figure all of this out.

School is Stupid

What the heck is the point of weighted grades? I can't stand it. I did the math on Astronomy, Psychology, and math and I would have high C's almost B's in all three of the classes. But no. Instead, the teachers have to weight the tests so heavily that I have three low D's. This is ridiculous. At this rate, I'll never get into UNLV. I'm so discouraged I feel like I'm wasting my time with all the homework that is sucking the life out of me. I'm studying, and have been since three. It's now past six. If I can do the freaking homework, then why shouldn't I pass the stupid class?!

The most difficult thing for me to swallow is this: if my grades were purely based on homework, I would have straight A's. No joke. In my psychology class, I would have a hundred percent.

Drama

Yesterday while I was at work, a regular guest who always has something to complain about called from his room to inform me about an incident that had happened the previous night. After speaking with him for over twenty minutes, I had the whole story. Victoria had worked Thursday's night shift, and a couple of dogs that are staying in the hotel were running around outside without a leash or even an owner in sight. The regular guest had gone out to run errands or something like that, and the dogs "charged" him; he yelled and they stopped, but then started running right at him again. He got into his car and drove around to the front of the building to speak with staff about it. Victoria told him she would take care of it within the hour. He said that fifty minutes later it was still not handled and when he saw V trying to round up the dogs he said that he wanted to know what kind of dogs they were and why they were in at the hotel since hotels aren't supposed to have pets. For staying here so often, he should know that we are a pet-friendly hotel. But anyway, Victoria told him it was none of his business and that he needed to return to his room. This is why he was telling me; he wanted to not only report the animals but to report the front desk clerk as well. I had told him that my manager would be in at the beginning of the call, thinking that when he said "last night" he meant while Connie was working. However, since it was Victoria that he had the issue with, I had to call Leslie and ask her what to do.

We found out that the dogs belong to the guests staying in room 129. The dogs were "service pets" for emotional problems, but they were pit bull puppies, so I really don't think that is allowed but that is besides the point. The dogs are very, very friendly and would never hurt a fly, but since they breached their contract and the Arizona law of having dogs on a leash, they would need to leave the property.

Mike had left to go to Leslie's other property to help with flooding issues, so I waited for him to return before calling the room and asking for them to come to the front desk. When he got there, I informed him that I was told about the incident from the night prior and that since the contract was breached they would need to vacate. Trust me, he was not pleased at all. His voice rose a bit and he told me that it was already taken care of by Victoria and that I have no authority to kick him out since I'm not a manager and that he needed her to call him immediately as well as the division manager. He then informed me that if I did in fact kick him out I would need to refund him his money and everything. I told him that we would be refunding him the remainder of his rent but not the hundred dollar security deposit due to damage done to the room, and then informed him that Victoria would be in at two thirty but the issue with that was that they needed to vacate by one. By this point he was furious and started screaming asking how long I have been at work and when I told him since six he asked why I waited to give him two hours to get out, I tried to tell him that I was just informed of everything but he wouldn't let me get a word out. Mike had to calm him down and I told him I would call Victoria's boss and have her give him a call. He returned to his room, but then called me shortly after I got off the phone with Leslie threatening to call the police on me and that he would have my job for this; I told him he was welcome to call the police if he thought that I was being threatening to him.

I had a couple other interactions with them before the police arrived, but Mike was there to keep calming them down.

It took a while for Leslie to get the chance to call since she was working the front desk at Crossland, but when she did she agreed to let them stay since they were getting rid of the dogs by five p.m.. When the police arrived, Dan was in a completely different mood and the police were sent off as everything had been settled. Personally, I was upset that they were allowed to stay after all of that.

Today, when I got into work Victoria, Mike, and Tammy were all talking behind the desk. Mike and V were out of uniform since they weren't supposed to be here on a Saturday, so I asked what was going on. Nobody said anything. After a while, I found out that they hadn't gotten rid of the dogs and that when Tammy tried to kick them out this morning they had thrown a phone and an Iron at her, plus they had broken the front door when storming out. Both guests left and when Victoria arrived she locked them out of their room and Mike was there for protection. Apparently, Shawn and Dan were told that they were to return before five to get their things, and they would not be receiving a refund due to damage, they threatened to damage Victoria's vehicle in response and then said that they would be bringing a police escort with them for protection when they got here. Victoria said that would be fine.

So V prepared me on what to say and what to tell Connie to do tonight if they did happen to arrive after five when she was gone. By the time I was finished taking my notes and everything, Dan had shown up at the desk with a smile on his face. Victoria asked him if he had the police with him, and he said no. She told him to hang on for just a moment while she called the police so that he could get all of his things. He blew up at this and said that she shouldn't bother he would do it himself, but when he picked up his phone it looked like he was going to throw it at her so she picked up the desk phone and dialed 911. While he was talking to the police, he was making side threats toward V saying that he was going to slap her and such, so obviously she wasn't worried about his threats toward her job. He then called the news station, but obviously this wasn't a story they were interested in.

After getting off the phone with the operator, V called Leslie who told her to ask that he left the property until the police arrived. Again, he wasn't happy about this but his mom was there so she convinced him to calm down and walk outside. Eventually, they did drive off somewhere.

Once the officer arrived, it was only a few minutes after Victoria had explained the situation that Dan came back inside. His attitude of course had changed completely, he was respectful and very polite. The officer was not. He told Dan that they had twenty minutes to gather his stuff, and then that was it. Victoria and Mike stayed all the way up until everyone from the ordeal was gone, and then Mike said that if I couldn't get a hold of anyone if and more drama happened, to call him and he will be here.

While Shawn and Dan were getting their things, Mike started talking to V about something he had heard at Homestead yesterday. Apparently, Leslie is being transfered away from our hotel to work at her current Crossland location and another west location. That meant that Christine would be our AOM again, and Mike was not happy; neither was I. V then told us that it wasn't set in stone yet which is why she didn't say anything but there is a high chance that it will happen. Victoria will go to Leslie's other current property and we will get a new manager named Dana. So not only would we be losing Leslie who I think is one of the best bosses in the world, but we would also be losing V, who I like a lot. Plus, Mike refuses to work with Christine, so Victoria is going to tell Leslie to get a transfer for him since they need a maintenance person over at Crossland as well.

There are two reasons why I work here: my fellow staff members and the homework time. I told V that I don't want to work with Christine but that I would stick it out for a while and see. I could transfer to the Crossland but it has a lot of hookers that check in all the time so there tends to be a lot of police activity there. They do have full time security at that location, but honestly I would rather not have to deal with it. I don't do well with confrontation, I almost lost my pizza while trying to deal with everything that happened today I couldn't imagine having to do it on a daily basis. I really would like to continue working with Leslie and V though, and Mike too. I don't know. I really wouldn't mind working there in the morning, I just know that I would end up with some night shifts and I don't feel like that would be very opportunistic to me. Plus it's far. I don't like driving more than five minutes to work, I've never had to do it and I don't ever plan on doing so.

It's so disappointing to learn that I could be losing the entire staff here. I mean, once Christine moves over here Cindy will want to transfer, and Martha will try to find another job. I don't want to work with Christine either, V says she isn't going to be here often, but she doesn't like me and she has vocalized that to several members of her staff. Why would I work for such a person? Plus she's a gossip queen. Ew. I don't like being in a team enviroment that has backstabbing and gossip, which is exactly what was here when she was the boss and is what will be here when she returns. I don't understand why the company has to keep moving managers around. I don't like it!

I guess I really should have taken the Starbucks job. I mean, I'll try to work for Christine, I am moving in a year anyway and it would be nice to have another job for two years on my resume. I just like how things are as of now and don't really want them to change.

I'm trying to plan something fun and exciting to do this week, but I can't think of anything. I'm so sick of the classes that I'm taking already. Astronomy is all about degrees and angles and I have the feeling that I am going to fail my business class due to the fact that all she does is talk about the news and there is only one assignment/test: the final. I don't do well in those classes. Psychology I think I'm actually doing pretty well in since it's online. I'm done with my assignments so far, I just wish I could work ahead like I can in most of my classes. Math is going just fine as well, I have to study for my midterm, but she gave us a hundred problems as an assignment to help with that so I'm glad. I'm going to work on that when I'm done ranting and raving on here :D

I need a makeover, but I don't know what to do. I'm getting my hair done on Friday so it's going to be black and blue with the same haircut as last time. I could go more drastic, but I like my long hair, and I loved that hair cut so I don't see why I would. I like my clothes, but I'm always wearing my work uniform it seems like, although really that's only four or five times a week and I usually change out of the shirt between work and school. I still feel like I am always wearing it.

I think that I am going to start looking for another job just in case. I really don't want to work weekends, but I guess it's just a sacrifice I'm going to have to make. Hopefully I'll find a job that will perhaps let me off around nine at night. That's the latest that I want to work on weekends, then I wouldn't mind. Go in around noon, get off around nineish... that sounds good :) I can't wait till I make my own schedule. But I think my top priority for finding a job this time would have to be people. I can't stand working alone! I still want a career in customer service of some sort as well. V said that if I'm serious about leaving she can talk to her friend that is a sue chef at a restaurant inside of a hotel and get me a hostess job. So that will be an option to think about. I also would like a job that lets me dress nicely but not in uniform. I would love to be able to wear pretty dresses to work and stuff like that, I just have no idea where I could do such a thing and still work with customers. I also need to think about the fact that I will be moving in a year. Do I really want to get settled at another job and just get up and move? Not really. But maybe if I work for another corporation I could get a transfer or something.

There is so much more that I could write about, but I guess it's time for homework. Hopefully I'll figure something out for all of the thoughts racing through my head. Too much to think about, not enough solutions!

Tired

Today is Carrie's 20th birthday, but she had to train at work tonight so I brought her an ice cream cake and flowers, as well as popcorn and cherries. I could not find candles for the life of me though, so we used Tammy's lighter as a candle :D I lit it by the cake and had Carebear make a birthday wish. People can tell Carrie is one of my friends, they say that we act similar, so a lot of the guests that have been there a bit longer refer to her as "Brittney's friend." I think it's humorous, her not so much. Just goes to show I've been there for a while. Anyway, one of my favorite guests, bought pizza for her and then told me that he's leaving tomorrow :( Sad. Carrie had already ordered wings and a salad, so we had a pretty big dinner to share between the three of us!

When I walked into the Fry's to buy her cake and everything, a guy told me to come sign up for a chance to win a $500 Fry's gift card. How on earth could I pass something like that up? He told me they wouldn't be doing any phone calls or anything to sell stuff, but then after I put my ticket in the jar with my name and number on it, he started asking me all kinds of questions about the news paper. He told me all sorts of deals and how this would be a mistake to pass up and yada yada yada... before I could tell him I wasn't interested, he had my address and everything written down on a slip of paper and he was asking for my credit card number. I told him that I wasn't interested, and he got upset for me "playin' with [him] like dat." Seriously? Learn some grammar and don't try to sell a nineteen year old college student the newspaper. I prefer the internet k thanks!

As of right now I'm sitting in my parents kitchen, about ready to go downstairs and watch a little America's Next Top Model before bed, and Zeus and Spaz are wandering around the kitchen counters. Weeny still has yet to venture out of the bedroom, staying either close to the food bowl or in the corner of the closet. I must admit though, she is much less skittish than she used to be. Mattie seems to be okay right now. A little while ago I went and pet her for a solid five minutes; she came out from under the bed on her own and although she was hissing every so often I don't think it was at me because she kept "talking" as well.

Other than that I went into a Spirit store today since I don't think I'm going to have time to make my Halloween costume this year (:() but it was so pathetic! The store was large, but all the stuff was spread out so that it looked packed full of goodies. However, the stuff that they were selling wasn't even of good quality, and the prices were outrageous. It was so pathetic! I do need to find a costume though. I really want to be the Queen of Hearts, but we'll see; I don't really like the pre-made costumes of her so I would have to do that one from scratch and like I said, I don't really have the time. I'll figure something out :D

Decision Made

Friday night I went to my parents house since Mom invited me to go to JC Penny to return clothes for Dad and to Costco for dinner. I also needed to figure out my class schedule for next semester, since obviously the one that I had planned would have been the death of me. Plus Mom and Dad thought that I was closer than that to an associates. After what seemed like forever, I was extremely discouraged. My mind was finally made up to go to UNLV next year, but it was looking like there were credits I had taken that wouldn't transfer. Finally, I was tired and cranky, and didn't feel like looking at it anymore. I laid down on the floor of Mom's office and passed out while she did all the work. Dad came in and laughed at me, telling me to go to the couch or something. Being half asleep as I was, I didn't budge until a little later at which point I was going to go home but only made it as far as my old bed.

The next morning Mom had everything figured out and we sat down for me to write down all the actual class numbers so that I would be ready to sign up as soon as available on Monday. She had found out that a few of my classes should be at SCC, but eventually I got a full schedule at MCC so I don't have to attend two schools at once. Although, one of my classes is at the Red Mountain campus instead of Southern and Dobson. Gr, long drive, but at least I will be done with it and Mom knows the teacher and students have given her all positive ratings on RateMyProfessor.com.

New Spring Schedule:

• History of the Middle Ages (Monday 7-10pm)
• Introduction to Logic (Tuesday 7-10pm)
• Public Speaking (Wednesday 7-10pm)
• Surveying English Literature After 1800 (Internet)
• College Algebra (Internet)

I was supposed to go hang out with Carrie a couple nights ago, but I got called in to work on late notice. Apparently, Pam called saying she would be late, and then two hours after her shift was supposed to start she quit. Why she couldn't just do that in the first place, I'm not really sure. I didn't even really hesitate to go in, I could always go hang out after- a little extra money is always a good thing! Now that Pam has quit, Carrie will not only get Monday and Tuesday nights, but Friday and Saturday as well; that is, once she's done training. She'll be happy for the hours. However, her birthday is this week, and she already informed Victoria that she would be out of town this weekend. Friday night Victoria agreed to work, but she asked me to work Saturday. Again, I don't mind a little extra money. The following week after that, Jeff wants to go hunting so I may end up working at his hotel on that Saturday as well. I'm not so sure about that one, his hotel has several more issues that I don't really like to deal with. But I will, every once in a while.

After work Saturday, I went over to Andrew's for a party. There were several people there, but for some reason at his parties everyone is always pretty nice to "new people." It was fun, although slightly aggravating since there were several couples there. Talk about being the 17th wheel... Like I said though, it was fun :) I left around one-thirty since I had math homework to work on and I didn't want to stay up too awfully late; Danny called after the party was over and said, "Andrew told me you left half way through what's the deal?" I just laughed. He said bye to me as I walked out the door, but I guess he didn't realize I was leaving? We talked for over an hour, which was odd; I never talk on the phone...

Anyway! While at work I was figuring out bills again since Mom had just cashed the rent check. Somehow, someway, my APS bill ended up being $10 negative instead of owing $90+. How? I don't really know. I didn't see any double payments last month, but maybe I did. It was a very nice surprise though! More money for savings this month :)

Speaking of money, there are several things on my "I want" list as of right now, but I'm trying oh so hard to hold back. I don't want to put things on my credit card and I want to have that certain amount in my savings before I start spending money again. I already spend a butt-load more on food than what I would like. But! I decided to make a list with pictures and everything so that I can look at and admire the things that I will one day have... no harm in a little motivation right? ;)

Product: Smashbox Photo Finish

Store: Ulta

Price: $42

Mandy wrote a blog about this a while back, and now I'm curious. I had never even heard of a primer before her post, but I love putting makeup on so I figured hey, why not? She said that Ulta has it in a kit for fifty dollars, but I couldn't find it online. Oh well, that just gives me an excuse to go in to the makeup store :)

Product: bareMinerals foundation

Store: Ulta

Price: $30

The site tries to sell this product for $28. When I found the kit for $30, there was no way that I was going to purchase one product when I could get a whole pack for $2 more. Stupid. Mom is the one that got me addicted to this stuff before a dance in high school; I've never had a problem with acne really, but it never failed on the day of a dance to have one or two major zits on my face. Somehow she managed to make my skin look almost flawless. I have to admit that I don't really know how to use it as well as she does, but every once in a while I can make it look how I want it to :)

Product: Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara

Store: Walmart

Price: $7-$10

This is one of my favorites. When I don't have time but feel like I have to put some sort of makeup on, this is what I choose. It's quick, it's easy, and I don't mess it up! I pretty much like all of the mascaras that have this brush on them, it doesn't clump and makes my lashes curl but grow at the same time. Loves it!

Product: L'Oreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Eyeliner, Carbon Black 690

Store: Walmart

Price: $7-$10

Another of my favys. Alaina got me addicted to an eyeliner very similar to this one, I think the only difference is that it's a dark brown instead of black like this one. I'm pretty sure other than that it's the same stuff, same company and all you know? Anyway, while I was at Walmart looking for the original product that I used, the one that Alaina introduced me to, I was having difficulty as usual. For some reason, I could never find it as quickly as she did. However, the product pictured above caught my eye, and while I was studying it, I noticed that it was sitting right next to the other. I compared, and then made my decision: this could be the minor upgrade that I had been looking for, which it was! It's so easy to put on compared to most liquid liners, and I don't need to retrace every five minutes.

Product: Hair cut/Dye

Store: Joyce

Price: $80

I really need to find a job that doesn't care whatsoever what color my hair is. Then, I could do so much more that I want to! However, knowing me, it will never happen. So instead, I simply have to find ways around it. I love, love, love my latest hair cut and color, but sadly it has faded way too much for my taste and my bangs have gotten too long to be where I want them. Plus they like to stick up when I'm not paying attention. Annoying. I'm trying to figure out if the picture above (with more bang) would be too much for work... probably. But I will be going with blue instead of purple next time :)

Product: Piercings

Store: Varries

Price: $5-$40 per piercing

[[I like jewelry .]] I would like to get another piercing to make a total of three in my ear lobes; 14 gage, 16 gage, and 18 gage. I already have a 14 and an 18. I'm also debating on getting the top of my left done as well, but that won't be for a while in all likeliness. Also, I want to get my bellybutton pierced (again) but since it's been pierced twice already it seems to like to open the old hole which makes it very difficult to heal.

Product: Rampage Kassy Oxford boots

Store: Macy's

Price: $50

I have had my eye on a similar pair of boots for years. I like them better with the ribbon shoelace, but that's an easy fix. The reason I don't have these even though I've liked them for so long is that they are just a tad too pricey; I cannot bring myself to spend that much money on shoes. Just can't.

I am also looking for another pair of boots, but I can't find them anywhere. I have an image in my head, but that's it. Two inch thick-ish heal, knee length, lace up boots. I have been in search for these for what seems like an eternity!

Okay, so I've been working on this post on and off for the past couple of days and to be honest I've already forgotten a lot of what I was going to add. So instead, I shall end it and start anew next time. Time for school!

I hate business law.

Stressed out!

School is a total ball of stress. I cannot stand how every teacher decides to do everything all at once, it drives me nuts! Two weeks of nothing, then a week of studying until four am for a test I didn't even know I had until the night before. My math grade is slowly slipping, and I have emailed my instructor a few times. No reply. I tried another email account, still no reply. I'm just trying to find time to get ahead again, and then everything will be just fine.

The worst part of everything is that my work has decided to throw me for a pretty major loop. Apparently one of my coworkers can't stand eight hours of not being horny, so she was looking up inappropriate sites on the work computer. Now we can't get on the internet except for the sites that are directly linked to our company and Google Maps. Not a big deal, right? WRONG! I can no longer do homework at work; I guess I should have taken the Starbucks position I was offered on Monday after all :(

Today, I brought my laptop in to try to catch up on everything, but technically when I was hired I signed a contract that said I wouldn't have a laptop on property. Hopefully, Victoria won't give a crap. She knows how important school is to me; I'm always discussing it with her and ranting and raving about it.

Okay, now that my little rant is over, I can officially sign up for my Winter Intersession and Spring semester classes. I'm totally freaked out because I am going to sign up for seven classes, but every one of them is interesting to me, unlike this semester. Hopefully, I can do as I plan, because as is right now if I sign up for the classes I want, I will only have one more math class to take during June and then I will have my associates degree. Woo!

Winter Intersession:

• English217 Personal and Exploratory Writing (Online)

Spring:

• HUM292 The Art of Storytelling (Monday and Wednesday nights)
• BIO160 Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology (Thursday midday)
• ECN212 Micro Economics (Online)
• CIS133DA Internet and Web Development (Tuesday nights)
• MGT253 Owning and Operating a Small Business (Online)
• MAT151 College Algebra/Functions (Online)
• ENG210 Creative Writing (Online)

So, like I said I'm nervous, but kind of excited too. It would be nice to finally have a degree, even if only the associates. For my bachelors, as of right now, I'm leaning toward going to UNLV. I've pretty much given up on FIDM, and the only reason I would go to Parsons would be for the simple fact that it's located in New York. I'm still okay with ASU though, but I feel that if I don't move away for college I may not ever move out of state. I love Arizona, but I don't want to live in one place my whole life. I think I want to move away for a few years, and then once I start a family I'd like to move back. I think. I haven't quite thought that theory all the way through yet.

Zuzu is such a jerk. I was relaxing between homework assignments, petting him while watching tv, and he bit my face!

He's still my babyboy though ♥