What would have been

June 30 1990 my sister got married. Today would have been her 20th wedding anniversary. now it's just another day. about 5 yrs ago she stopped celebrating it. I honestly don't blame her with the asshole of a husband she had/has. That's about 9 or 10 yrs longer than I would have. Tis not my life so *zipping it*

A few weeks ago I mentioned wanting to join the YMCA and I was totally psyched about it! There was actually 5 days worth of stuff I wanted to participate in...and a friend of mine said she'd join too so we'd have support and someone to hold each other accountable for slacking. Well I had to wait until I got the money to afford the $46/month. That's what I thought it was going to be, plus there was financial assistance for those who couldn't afford that monthly fee. Well flash forward to late Tuesday night. I get a Facebook comment saying that my friend had joined and Monday was her first day. Awesome! What wasn't awesome was the no way around it $100 sign up fee! WTF! they said NOTHING about that when I called to ask about fees! I remember asking the guy I spoke with "What are the fees to join the YMCA?" He asked if it was going to be just myself and I said yes. he told me the monthly fee and said there was also financial assistance. Made no mention of a sign up fee, let alone that it was $100! I'm sorry, I can't afford that...no matter how close the place is and all the benefits that $46/month gives me.

So needless to say, finding out about that really crushed my desire to workout. My dad mentioned that for $299 I could join the 24 Hour Fitness but I was adament there aren't any locations near me - and by near me I mean a bus ride away. The only 2 places I knew of are in Compton and Santa Fe Springs...both more than 1 bus ride away. Well a quick trip to the 24 Hour Fitness proved me wrong! There's a location in Lakewood by the mall I frequent. That's 1 bus ride away! And on top of that, their current membership offer (it expires June 30th :[) is about $30/month! And due at signing up was like $60! Dude! I can totally afford that! Sadly, not right now. Looks like the soonest I'll be joining the gym is the beginning of August...and that gives me only 4-5 months to lose about 70 lbs! That's about 14 lbs a month, but still. *sighs* There's always Jillian Michaels '30 Day Shred' DVD but I really wanted to get out of the apartment!

On Saturday I ordered what I thought was going to be the outfit I would wear to my 10 year high school reunion at the end of July (even though I have yet to buy my ticket. oops) but then Thursday I got a call from the owner/manager of the online store where I ordered from and he told me that the top I ordered is out of stock and he'd like to make me a replacement offer. What was the replacement offer? my money back (for the top) or 2 tops and an additional pair of leggings...at no additional charge! Yeah, I'll go with that! 2 tops and 2 pair of leggings for the price of what I paid for 1 top and 1 pair of leggings! awesome! As long as i get it by the last week in July it's cool!

Going grocery shopping on Friday for Saturday's BBQ at the church. I have a list of all the things that I need to get. I hope I'm able to get it all with what little money I have left. Yeah, I screwed up with my bills and spending, but I'm covered and lucky that no more than 10 people will be at the BBQ because everyone else has other plans (which knowing the ppl at my church is oddly like not wanting to come out....but I could be wrong)

After missing the last 2 seasons of Angels Baseball, I'll finally be going to a game! yay! I think next year I'm going to have to treat myself to season tickets. That way I'll be more inclined to go. So the game I'll be going to is the 4th of July game on Sunday. it'll be me, Lora and Staci. I had the hardest time finding tickets that I wanted, so I had to go with the cheapest. I know that waiting until the last minute snaps up all the good tickets but I was still hoping for home side seats and couldn't find any in my price range.

I want to go to sleep before 2 am so good night!

Shaky ground

(subject has nothing to do with what I'm posting about. it's the first thing that came to mind)

A few months ago the lower apartments in the complex got new windows. a "one week" job ended up being 2 + weeks. It was killer on my sinuses that's for sure!

Now the roof is being worked on. The old one completely taken out today and I'm assuming the rest of the week a new one will be out on. The flyer we got said June 28 to July 3rd, so we'll actually see if that's the case.

I hope fumigating the place is next! it's been about 5-7 yrs since that was last done. And the front door need to be replaced. it's been "fixed" so many times the wood isn't together enough to be "fixed" again.

But honestly I worry about how all this remodeling is going to effect the rent. My parents are paying the least as we've been here the longest (since 1986!!) and rent is slowly creeping up. Granted it's nowhere near what the neighbors are paying, but it's getting to be more than my parents can afford with the retirement money they get and I'm supposed to be giving my mom money every month towards rent but my bills are so royally screwed up that I can't get them under control to go back to doing that.

In heated moments I say that I'd have someplace to go if I were kicked out, but I honestly don't know where I would be able to go. Everyone I know could take me (with or without my cat) for a little while, but to live with until I oh...found a job to move out? Who the heck knows how long that could be?! And my parents? yeah, they can't go with my sister as she needs to find her own place since her stupid m-i-l has been threatening to kick her out? I don't know. But then there's my brother & his family in FL. I guess they have the space in their house, but I honestly don't know if my dad would move there. I'm pretty sure my mom would.

It's all really shaky in my head and I do think about it from time to time. A drastic 'omg what if...' moment, but I never voice it to my parents. It kind of still feels like I'm the "little" kid and none of this is my business to worry about. but I'm NOT the little kid and I should at least have a plan if things ever get to that point.

Nearly a month later!

I've finished another book. This one should have been finished weeks ago, this the book literally sat by my bed for a week without being opened/read!
4.
Title: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse
Genre: Fantasy, Greek Mythology
Summary (taken from Amazon): Percy Jackson is now 14, a bit older and wiser, yet still entangled with the Fates. Friends, monsters, dysfunctional gods, and the romantic stirrings of all things natural and mythological are encountered. His good friend, if oft-time rival, Annabeth (daughter of Athena) is missing, as is Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Joined by best buddy Grover-the-goat-boy and an argumentative array of accomplices, Percy sets off to fulfill, and hopefully foil, the foreboding prophecy of the Oracle. Plagued by ominous dreams, thwarted by hideous monsters, and challenged by conflicting partnerships, the search party's success hinges on unlikely unity.
Thoughts: There were SO MANY things I didn’t see coming! I was right there with Percy every time he felt stupid for asking a question about something he “should” know. Why wasn’t Clarisse’s info given more? Like where had she been? Maybe I missed that. *shrugs*

This book took longer for me to read for some reason – actually I think it had to do with the fact that when I first checked it out of the library (btw it is now a week LATE in being returned oops!) I didn’t get far enough into the book before stopping. But the last 2 days of reading it, I read 5 chapter chunks and that’s what allowed me to finish it. I really hope I’m able to get the “hooking” chapters read of The Battle of the Labyrinth so I won’t take forever to finish it.
Rating: 4 out of 5

Another class...another lesson learned? Lets see...where do I start?

Lets see...where do I start? Since starting ICDC back in January, I've taken 14 classes (Wednesday I start my 15th class). My grades are 11 As, 1 B and 1 C...and later today I'll know for the class I just finished.

These classes haven't exactly been drama free either. Latest bit of drama revolves around a grade for an assignment that wasn't updated. Long story short, I called the instructor on his mistake and he fixed it. That's how I have the 1 B. Good. I didn't want to have 2 Cs! Also, I achieved my first 100% for the course! That was for Immigration & Constitutional Law (with the trouble instructor).

Now I'm on to a new instructor. Administrative Law started last Wednesday and ends today (when I take the final). This instructor seems much more involved. At first it was annoying, but now I like it. It takes a bit to warm up to the new teacher. LOL I'm not sure how many classes I'll have her for, though. Second class with her starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow's class is called Employment Preparation. Its 5 days long with pretty much an assignment every day. Oh great. I've lost count with how many employment preparation classes I've taken. They all say the same things and while I do learn something new from each class, none of them seem to tell me why, with as much experience as I have, do I seem to not find a job...or at least get a second interview?! People around me with much less experience seem to find jobs every time they turn around (or in the case of some people I know change jobs to frequently they have resumes that are multiple pages long and they're a good 5 yrs younger than me and have no college degree)! Anyways, I am still going to keep an open mind to this Employment Preparation class and maybe learn something that will finally get me a second interview...and *gasp* a full time job!

Aftermath

Yesterday I worked the California State Primary Election as an Inspector. It was ok. 4 precincts in 1 location sucks. in my precinct there was supposed to be 5 workers but we made it work with 3 - oddly enough, the 4th person who was supposed to work came into vote! I didn't want to say anything for fear that it would be creepy that I "knew" who she was. 5th worker's husband called me at 625 that morning (I left hoe at 530 to be at the polling place for 6 am set up) to say she was sick and wouldn't be in. I called her Saturday, Sunday and Monday with no word from her! would have been nice to know Monday so I could have possibly had that 4th person! We really needed it.

The day went smoothly enough. There were 962 registered active voters in my precinct. Only 106 voted + 1 provisionally because she wasn't in the roster of voters yet her address was. Where the heck were the other 855 people?! I'm guessing since this was a Primary election, not many people turned out. I'm sure come the general election in November, I'm sure there'll be more voters...I hope as we'll be voting for a new Governor, Senators and various other officials. I did my part and voted too. Took all of 5 minutes too!

Come July, I should have a nice paycheck from working this election. I think close to $300. I never knew what the base pay for election workers was, but Inspectors get $50 for going to training, $50 for picking up & dropping off supplies and this time around they added another $50 for picking up additional ballots. Right there's is $150 in "bonuses"! Good deal! I'm hoping I'll be able to work the election in November!

Got a rather annoying "reminder" e-mail from my student advisor. Apparently if you log into the discussion board everyday but don't participate in the discussion, you get and e-mail sent to you. Maybe if I had something worth participating IN I'd participate! Because seriously, these people who give responses annoy the crap out of me when I can't understand a thing they've typed! Words are misspelled, sentence structure is all messed up...how the instructor understands to reply is beyond me. Oh and I was only TWO days behind! WTF! So I slapped together some responses, posted them and did today's response and left the board. I didn't want a headache trying to understand what those people were trying to say. This class is over on Wednesday...the entire course is done in like 17 months? I have to recheck that tho. Soon I'll be done and won't have to worry about anyone in the course anymore.

Success!

now that Sunday is pretty much over, I can say that the 35th anniversary concert at my church was very nice. the choir sang to an audience of about 30 people, there were 2 duets and 2 solos (I did a solo!!) and after a dessert reception.

It was also the Pastor's wife's 83rd birthday! so we surprised her with a pineapple upside down cake. She loved it! She also thought that we forgot her birthday because we didn't sing happy birthday during the morning service, but did at the concert.

Tomorrow evening is the set up for the Primary Election that's on Tuesday. I like working the election. For like 16 hours of work I get nearly $275! That's either going to go towards getting my passport (possible cruise at the end of the year!) or towards bills (boo!) or shopping (yay) or savings (yay?)

I need to go soak my feet and either put on a movie or do some reading for class. I have a midterm on Tuesday and oops that's the day of the election so I'll have to do it Monday night! No biggie...though I probably should have e-mailed the instructor to let him know *shrugs* oh well.