Ginormous update

Trip to FL

I had a great time in Florida. I didn't do many "Florida-y" things, didn't go to the beach (don't like the beach anyway) or Disneyworld. In fact, it was their coldest temperatures in 6 years down there.... though I hear it was worse up here during that time. Also, my grandpa couldn't do much because he's hooked up to oxygen nowadays.

The one touristy thing I did was go to Seaworld. Which was awesome, I'm glad I made that choice. I like animals better than rides, so that sort of makes me more inclined to do Busch Gardens or Seaworld than Disney or Universal, and Busch probably has a lot of zoo animals I can see at Miller Park anyway. Even if the animals and shows weren't awesome (which they were), it was one of the nicer days and it was awesome to walk around in nice weather for a few hours. My one regret: Dad did not let me go to "Gatorworld," which we saw an ad for on the way to Seaworld. Who goes to FL without wrasslin' at least one gator before leaving? Seriously!

The rest of the trip was basically hanging out at Grandpa & Phyllis' (his girlfriend) trailer. Phyllis is an awesome cook and made something great for every meal. I felt bad that she went to so much work for us, especially since I didn't know her that well, but she insisted and it was pretty delicious (my dad and I probably gained 10 pounds). And I really did enjoy getting to know her, she's a pretty neat lady. I hadn't really gotten a chance to know her before because my mom didn't like that my grandpa had moved on after my grandma died, and hence kept my grandpa & Phyllis from visiting much after that. In fact, even aside from Phyllis, this is probably the most I've seen my grandpa in the last 15 years. I'm glad I got to hang with him, he's a really cool guy and my one remaining grandparent. The only thing that sucked is he's on an oxygen tank now, so I'm thinking he's probably dying. He's had a lot of trouble breathing the last few years, he inhaled too much dust or something back when he was a carpenter, but when you need oxygen you're probably on your last legs. Plus he's at least in his mid 80's. I really wish I had been able to hang out with him more over the years.

Bridesmaid's Dress Shopping

Upon my arrival, Julie asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. My answer: an enthusiastic yes! The only person I've ever bridesmaided for was my sister, and that's pretty much a given. So it was nice to be asked by someone who actually wanted me.

Dress shopping was fun in a lot of ways, I really liked hanging with Julie, D, and Laurie a lot, and making fun of (and trying on) the store's more unfortunate looking dresses. I'm not a girly girl, but I do like trying on something nice once in awhile, and there were some good ones too. All in all, I'm glad for the dress shopping experience, and look forward to the other bridesmaid stuff.

There were some downsides though.

1) Our salesgirl was AWFUL, and I cannot complain about her enough. She was incompetent AND kind of a jerk to us. First of all, she gave D and me the wrong size bra's like 8 times instead of just telling us she didn't have the right size. I just started going commando after awhile, because the bras were so awful. Secondly, I know the store was busy, but she gave us no one on one time to help us choose the right size dresses or bras, which I could've used some help with. She kept giving me these size 12's I needed the jaws of life to get into, and in one case a 10 that I couldn't get into at all. Thirdly, we'd ask for a specific type or cut of dress and she'd say they didn't have it, then it would turn out they did have it. She was new, but for god's sake, she could've asked someone else for help finding things. Lastly, and maybe this is my fault, but she was really snippy and almost wouldn't let me try on a weird zebra stripe dress for fun. Julie is the best friend in the world, because she told the lady she would seriously consider this dress just to get the woman off my back so I could try it on. This woman is getting the commission on 3 $160 dollar dresses, you'd think she could let me try on one ugly dress for the hell of it.

2) The store was really, really hot, it was a super uncomfortable environment to try on fancy dresses.

3) I feel worse about my body than usual. My boobs are small and wouldn't fill up any of the boob places on my dress, whereas my gut is enormous and sticks out of all the gut places on the dresses. I hate that all the weight I've gained lately is in my gut... nothing fits right. My pants fall down because they won't stay up over the gut, unless I wear something so tight I can't breathe. All my shirts show I have an enormous gut, and it hangs out under them half the time. I stopped exercising after awhile, but even when I was really working on it I couldn't get my gut smaller. I'm doomed to have a fucking beer gut the rest of my life, and it is depressing. Seriously, even if I get skinnier, I'll just be skinnier all over except for my gut.

The last few days
Yesterday, I almost locked myself in my house and couldn't get out. There's something wrong with the one lock, it won't turn very well... but for some reason from the outside, with a key, it works fine. Anyway, I have two locks so I've just been using the other when I'm inside since, but it is sort of scary to be locked in.

I also looked pretty dumb, I was opening the door for a delivery man. My dad sent me internet brownies for valentine's day! Quite tasty! Only one downside. Well, 2 if you consider the previous rant about being fat:

phoemeister (12:40:57 PM): all these brownies are giving me the shits :/
GOWALLSGO (12:41:07 PM): :: laughs :: well damn
GOWALLSGO (12:41:22 PM): don't you just hate when something that tastes really really good does that?
phoemeister (12:41:27 PM): yeah
phoemeister (12:41:31 PM): it's like... worth it
phoemeister (12:41:37 PM): but not as good as it would be without the shits

Today I had an interview in another dept. It did NOT go well.... there are so many goddamn depts that I honestly read up on the wrong dept. and did not know anything I was talking about. It's okay though, I'm not sure if I wanted the job that badly anyway.

I've sort of decided I kind of don't want to take a promotion at work unless it's a real improvement. I've been happier where I am lately. While some of that is no doubt due to antidepressants, there are some perks from being where I am that I don't want to lose unless the other job is actually better instead of just nominally better.

1) call volume has dropped like crazy the last few months. I actually, crazily, have enough time between calls to actually finish a sentence to a coworker or work on other things. Some of the other depts I'm looking at are still call centers, and have been having a really high call volume.

2) I'm involved in a lot of "extracurricular" activities that I really enjoy, such as toastmasters, the newsletter, etc. that I don't want to lose.

3) I finally have FRIENDS in my dept after working there 2 years and I don't want to spend 2 years finally getting to know other people.

So all in all, I'd appreciate a quality promotion rather than just some lame half-step where I have to entrench myself all over again at.

Time for some more brownie shits!