Tag: frustration

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Aptly Apply

I woke up shortly after Summer left this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I laid around for a while just trying, but I was wide awake. My ceiling fan was making a lot of noise, which probably didn’t help. I eventually got around and saw the weather called for some rain, so I went outside to clean up from our fire the night before. Then I came inside and tinkered with my résumé on Indeed before checking out a few more jobs.

Summer had her neurological follow-up video call in the afternoon, so I took a shower before I had to meet her for that. She wanted to do it at Superfast, so I left a little early to get a buck worth of overcooked McDonald’s fries and a free spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. It was all very unsatisfying and left me feeling more full than I expected.

The video call went well, but we didn’t really learn anything new. They said there didn’t appear to be anything particularly concerning, but suggested some therapy and other mental health activities. Summer was ready to leave work after that, so I took her to Rose Drug for some drugs and then Feltner’s for her race packets for this weekend. Then we went to my house and hung out until Eaddie was done at school.

Summer promised Eaddie a carb-loaded dinner, so I met the two of them at La Villa for dinner. I just ordered a salad to be a bit lighter, and though it stuffed me, I was glad the salad was as big as it was for the price. I’m not sure it was particularly healthy, but it was less heavy than pasta. The girls really enjoyed their food, but I was the only one to make a happy plate.

It was quiet when we got back to the house. Autumn immediately disappeared into her room once we got home. Kayla called for an update on Gary, but I hadn’t talked to him for the day yet. She told me it had been a rough week with the school after a cafeteria worker died from internal bleeding after an accident at the school, a senior veteran fell off of the stage, and then Gary fell into the orchestra pit. It really sounded like everything was going to hell. Summer didn’t waste any time getting ready for bed. Eaddie played the flute for a bit, so I went and hung out with her for a few minutes before winding down with Summer. It felt way later than it was, so I hoped I wouldn’t have trouble falling asleep.

We’ve gotta get something started.

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Restless Exhaustion

Autumn woke me up with a start this morning and asked me to take Eaddie to school because they slept in and were running late. I would have declined if I had known she just wanted to leave five minutes earlier so she could still make the McDonald’s drive-through before going to school. We ended up arriving right after her, and I was angry. I was sleeping so heavily when she got me up, and I didn’t feel like I could go back to sleep once I got home.

I laid around for a bit until I started to feel really hungry, and I got out to pick up a McGriddle myself. I noticed Kevin’s truck outside AT&T on the way, so I drove around and ate my breakfast in the parking lot and then went in to find him. He was busy for a bit, so I talked with the other Kevin for a bit, which gave me a chance to catch up a bit with both of them. Hope eventually found her way out and saw me too. When I told Kevin I was looking for work, he turned me on to a friend of his that was looking for someone, but the job wouldn’t pay quite as much as what I was making. He figured some income was better than no income though.

After a little while they were still dead, so Kevin wanted to drive the Model 3 again. We drove out toward Pottsville, and then up Old Cove Road to return the back way. By the time we got back, they were pretty busy and I decided to head on home.

I fired off another message, this time to Mark’s winning counsel. Hopefully I hear back from literally anyone, but it seems like nobody’s hurting for work enough to talk to me so far. I feel confident enough in my own case, but would still prefer someone with a little more skin in the game.

When lunch time rolled around, I went back out and picked up a burger and some cheese sticks from Sonic for two bucks. I was annoyed when I made it home and realized there was no marinara, but I made it work. The burger was too saucy anyway, so I guess that made up for it.

It had been cool all morning, so I decided I really wanted Summer to come over and sit quietly by a fire with me for a while. The stress of not working or having any real schedule was still getting to me, and I just wanted some quiet time to relax with her. I started a fire and then took a shower, but then I had to get Eaddie from school since Autumn was running around getting her nails done for prom.

Summer had arrived home from work just as we got home, so I got her charging and then we went right out to the fire. Eaddie left on her bicycle and we never saw her again. Summer brought some smoked sausages to cook, and even Bác Vân decided she’d eat one. Autumn came over to eat before eventually leaving to pick up Eaddie and take her home. Summer and I wound down by the fire, and got everything put away after it got dark. We saw a couple little toads hopping around, but the bugs started to come out as well. Once we got inside, it was pretty quick to sleep for her. I was still exhausted as well, so I didn’t dawdle.

Just apply more.

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Two Broke Dudes

I woke up before Summer this morning and couldn’t really get back to sleep, so I just laid in bed until everyone left, and then got around to some leftovers for breakfast. Then I made sure I had all the information I needed and headed home to try and find some alternative firms that might be interested in what I have to say. I stopped by Superfast on the way home just to see Summer, and return her wallet that I found in the Murano. Then I dug right into telling my story in another, slightly different way. I only got one person on the phone, and then just decided to submit online forms for the rest of them. I still felt it was pretty disheartening not to get an answer right away, but it felt better than getting hounded for money.

Gary eventually got back in touch with me, and said that I could come by the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock to see him. He seemed to be in relatively good spirits, but I still didn’t even know what actually happened. I made plans to go see him, but Summer reminded me that the band had a fundraiser at Freddy’s after school.

I met the girls for dinner, but Summer wasn’t in the mood to socialize after having her character attacked by a customer at work. I hung out adjacent to the girls while she went home for the evening, until I finally made the call to leave for Little Rock. I talked to Melinda about possibly going with me if she finished preparing for her grandfather’s funeral, so I dawdled a bit on the way out of town. I went home to clean up, then went to the car wash to get the big chunks off of my windshield. Then I went by Summer’s to get my Steam Deck on the way out. Melinda decided not to go at the last second, but then called me to get an update on all of my drama while I was driving.

We talked from about Pottsville all the way to the hospital, which helped pass the time. I kind of hoped she might have a little more helpful insight, but I think we were already on the same page. I let her go, and continued to drive around the parking lot, just guessing where I needed to enter the building. Fortunately I guessed correctly, and found my way up to see Gary.

He was on the phone when I walked into his room, which actually made me feel a bit better. He was fully alert, but with metal rods holding his leg together. He broke his left elbow, and his right knee, tibia, and fibula. Overall I was impressed with his apparent outlook. He was trying to take it easy on the pain meds, even as the nurse offered more. I tried to help him get readjusted a little bit, but I don’t think there was much we could do. Hopefully the swelling around the knee will let up soon so he can get somewhere a little more comfortable.

I didn’t stay too long. We caught up a bit, and then I wanted to let him try and get some sleep between his hourly checkups. Zach chatted at me briefly on my drive home, so maybe he can go back down with me later in the week. I stopped for another car wash just as I got home, and then headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Everyone was asleep, so I finished up and went to bed myself.

That’s not even a real bone.

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Stick-on Shade

Summer went to the gym this morning and then came home to shower before going to work. I had gotten around a little bit, and once Summer left, I tried to get someone from the EEOC on the phone. The wait time ended up being longer than I could stay on the phone though, because I had to get home and cleaned up before taking Summer’s car to River Valley Tinting and Glass to get the windows tinted.

I waited in the near-silent lobby for over an hour while they did the job. I had high expectations after trying two other places in town with the Murano and then the Model 3. I was told this place had a plotter to cut the vinyl, which would make the corners perfect. When it was all done, the left window looked to be stuck on a little lower than the right side, but they both looked good. There were a couple bubbles on the driver side as well, but not as much on the passenger side.

Once I got back home, I put together a slightly more concise timeline to try and explain to another firm, but my first pick was a girl that claimed to be a “switchboard” that could only take my information, but couldn’t tell me whether I would get a call back or not. The second place I tried also said they never worked with employees, and would only work in defense of the employer in my type of case. For better or worse, the first place I called was still ready to get started if I would only pay them nearly two months’ salary.

Just as I was becoming the most frustrated, Dad rang my doorbell and I went outside to see him. Apparently Mom, Lelan, and Julie were all coming over to try and sort their outfits for Randall’s wedding. It seemed to be quite an ordeal for the girls to find something suitable to wear. It was all a bit too stressful for me to consider.

Summer picked me up when she got back to town so we could go to the high school for a PSAT meeting for Eaddie. Michael was outside the Crimson Room when we got there, and told us it would mostly be the same information we already had. We decided to leave, assuming Eaddie was already at home. Summer dropped me back off at home so I could continue to visit with family.

As soon as she got home, Summer called to say that Eaddie wasn’t there, and that she had left her phone in her room. Evidently she was still at the high school in her study group, which I thought was being led by the same people hosting the meeting we didn’t attend. By the time I made it back to the high school, Eaddie had already started walking toward my house, and was spitting mad that we left without her.

I took her back to my house to cool down while I visited some more. After a little while, I took her on home and shared some of my leftover pasta with her. Autumn was excited to share some “tea” with me, that turned out being a critical accident that happened at the school. Evidently Gary had taken a hard fall at the arts center and broke several bones. I was upset that she considered this “tea” that she selfishly wanted to share with me herself, instead of letting me know that my friend was badly injured.

Everyone made it to bed, and Michael ended up calling me late so I could catch him up on all of my drama. He was surprised, and shared the same sentiment I had gotten pretty much everywhere else. All that’s left is to start a GoFundMe for lawyer’s fees.

Seriously, why is it so hard to find someone to provide some counsel with vigor?

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Taxing Company

I picked at some more leftovers for breakfast this morning until Summer left for the gym. Autumn came out of her cave to gripe about having to do her taxes, and blamed us for not doing them sooner, but couldn’t find any record of her taxes from last year. In the end, she did them all herself anyway, and didn’t bother to have me check over them, so I don’t know why she even bothered bitching about it.

I eventually headed home to do my own taxes. I got up a couple times in the middle of it, and cleaned up the laundry room a bit to see if I had forgotten any paperwork in there. In the end, I just assumed my checking bank didn’t send a 1099-INT because they paid me less than $10 in interest last year. All in all, I was pretty happy with owing about $300 in federal taxes and getting back around $80 from the state. I don’t know how I could cut it any closer without overcorrecting by a larger margin.

Autumn had gone to the coffee shop and the mall to do “homework” for a while, and Eaddie went to rehearse her National History Day project at a classmate’s house. She finished up just as I did, so I picked her up and then picked up Summer to go to my parents’ house for some lemongrass pork chops.

Dad was finishing up on the grill just as we got there, and Mom said she invited Bác Vân and Julie over as well, so the three of us made our bowls and ate quickly to try and make room. It didn’t take long at all for the dining room to fill up, but the girls finished their food quickly and went to the living room. I joined them as soon as I finished, but even with her new boyfriend in tow, Julie’s loud conversation quickly triggered some anxiety in Summer and we decided to leave.

The girls wanted Dairy Queen, so we stopped there on the way home. Summer had some trouble with her app, but clearing the cache fixed that and we got our order in just after the drive-through filled up. We still got in and out relatively quickly though, and made it home with our extra-melty ice cream. Our Dairy Queen is the worst about selling ice cream soup.

Autumn made some ramen when we got home, and then all three of the girls went to bed pretty soon after that. I had a couple bites of ice cream that walked me right up to the edge of lactose intolerance, but made it to bed without any trouble.

How incredibly annoying.

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The Trouble with Shower Arguments

I slept pretty hard this morning, but fortunately I didn’t sleep as late as I thought I did. I got around and picked at a few leftovers, mostly to clean up some old, rotting fruit that Summer bought. I put Fat Lizzy outside, halfway in the sun, and he actually got a bit active. I think it ate one of the crane flies I put in the cage, and appeared to have pooped on top of the moss, so that made me feel better.

Eventually I packed up and headed out, stopping by to see Dad as he was working out in the yard. He stopped to try and hunt some worms for the lizard, but didn’t find any, so I headed on home to release it. After that, I spent a bit of time just trying to organize myself some more. After cleaning up some more food for lunch, I took a shower, and my afternoon just buzzed by.

Eaddie wanted to come over after school and ride her bike, and I had to get ready for Autumn’s basketball banquet. Summer brought her over and parked the Model Y in the garage to charge for a couple days, and then we went to the high school.

We were super early, which made me feel even more like a fraud. Once people started coming in, I kept finding people I knew. I spotted Cecil, who I don’t think I’d actually spoken to since high school. Then I saw Leslie there for her son. Jeremy actually came up and shook my hand, which wasn’t too awkward after they decided to fire me last week. Ben and his wife came in and sat next to us in the very back, but I could never figure out who they were there to support. It was neat to chat with him again, since we hadn’t kept up after Asurion.

Dinner was pretty good, and we wrapped things up about an hour earlier than we expected, so we headed back to my house where I waited for Eaddie to return on her bike while the girls went home. Eaddie asked if we could pick her up with the bike rack, but I declined.

Several hours later, Eaddie still hadn’t shown up. Evidently she was dragged around town by Maristella’s mother, and they just never brought her and the bike back to me. Eaddie finally called again and asked me to pick her up, so I had to figure out how to remove the hitch cover from the Model Y. That was a pain in the ass until I remembered that I had some trim removal tools. That helped a bit, but it was still more difficult than it should have been.

As I got ready to leave the house, I remembered that the actual straps to hold the bike to the rack were all in the Murano, which Summer drove home. I grabbed some Velcro, and just hoped it wouldn’t tear anything up. I loaded Eaddie’s bike up before she even came outside, and then she sat in the car while I tried to fasten everything in place. We made it home to disassemble everything again, and then we took the Model 3 up to her house.

Everyone was locked up and in bed, so Summer had to groggily come out to let us in. I was still feeling pretty aggravated over the whole evening, so it was just a bit of catching up online and then off to bed for me.

The other guy’s never as smart as you.

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Nolo Wyer

I woke up to a disappointing and short phone call from Joey, letting me know that they don’t practice in what I need, so the hunt is on for representation before taxation, or whatever. His only suggestion was to try someone local, but I know how the local politics work. Mark never got back to me, so I assume he’s lost interest.

I got up and around to do some more research, but the internet kept dropping out every few seconds. I decided I’d had enough and wrapped up Summer’s modem to take it back to TCA/Cox/Suddenlink/Altice/Optimum. I went home to shower first, and couldn’t get deep into much else. Summer said she could meet for lunch, and that turned into the rest of the day for me.

I went to Optimum while I waited for her, and had to wait in line while the singular employee processed the queue as quickly as she could. I could tell she was excited that my request was very straightforward, and I walked out with a new modem in a relatively short amount of time.

As I left, I realized I had forgotten where Zaxby’s was, so I had to circle back through the Walmart parking lot, but still had time to wait for Summer, who still hadn’t even left Superfast. She finally showed up and we had lunch, and then she said she was just going to work from home for the rest of the day. I reminded her that I had her new modem, so after we ate I had to run home to get some things and then head straight up to her house.

Most of my afternoon was pretty wasted. The girls showed up late after a long day out on a band trip. Eaddie came in and promptly fell asleep. I called Mom for her birthday, but she didn’t want to go out for dinner or anything tonight. I got hungry after a bit, but never made a proper meal and just did my best to find healthy snacks instead. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have fewer distractions and get some more done.

If I hurt my knuckles when I punch you in the face…

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Work Searching Saturday

We got out of bed this morning, but it took a little bit to get started. I started playing some music videos on the TV and we all just sat around for most of the morning. Summer eventually went to the gym and I started job hunting again. We got Autumn outside to mow, but of course she tried bargaining her way out of it first. Eaddie was inside doing homework the whole time.

Summer came home feeling frustrated, but I showed her my own willingness to help out around the house by cleaning out her little vacuum cleaner. She had to call her maintenance guy because the sink had started leaking after the last time he came over to clean out the garbage disposal.

She let Autumn go out to the movies and hang out with her boyfriend, so the rest of us enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I picked up a couple pizzas from Little Caesar’s for dinner, but otherwise it was a super dull night with lots of reality TV.

Master Chef, but it’s only the dramatic pauses.

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Straight Fire

I had to stop by the wash to give Summer her lunch that she forgot at home, and then I continued home to finish prepping for my hearing. I had pretty much all of my information where I wanted it, but I still wanted to get copies of some things to hand out to the board members. After taking a shower and starting some laundry, I went to Staples for copies of a couple pages. I didn’t realize how much the copies were going to be though, and spent over six bucks for 20 pages.

Afterward I went by the wash and printed the rest of what I needed, and then I read my argument to Summer, Justin, and Cameron before I left. I spent the last few minutes I had re-assembling my handouts and dressing up before Summer came by to pick me up. We made it to the high school a little later than I wanted, but it didn’t really matter anyway.

My dad beat us there. Kevin was inside, I suppose as “the muscle” in case things went really sideways. I was happy to see him. Thomas was manning the recording station. I remembered seeing Andrea, Chrissy, Samantha, and of course Ginni. Six of the seven board members were there, but Jason was absent. Ben showed up right before we started, and I think Jeff showed up a little after we started. Judy had to sit with Marshall, and by five o’clock we were off to the races.

The hearing more or less went how I expected. Marshall had binders for everyone with the supporting documents, which were just the statements given by those that were there when I bumped into Zach, as well as one from Thomas after our conversations. I was really surprised how much some of the statements differed, but I was most bitter about Thomas’s. I chose to assume it was misremembering, rather than outright lying. Given that he has a Pixel with an excellent audio recorder, I don’t know why he wouldn’t have recorded the conversation to get my quotes correct.

The biggest letdown was the fact that Marshall objected to me giving any background of my employment. I think I made my case to the board reasonably well, and I received sad smiles from a couple of them. They went into executive session for about 45 minutes, so I almost got my hopes up while we waited. Things were relatively light outside the boardroom doors, and I chatted with several people there.

When they let us back into the boardroom, they got right to the vote, and only Don voted against my termination. The feeling of the room read very much that there were others present that didn’t feel comfortable with the situation, but played the political game of backing the superintendent they had just hired for the next three years. Onward to Plan B.

I tried to get Kevin to join us for dinner, but it was just Ben with Summer and me. He chose Linh’s and we chatted over noodles. My phone had been blowing up, but I tried not to pay too much attention to it. I did jokingly ask Judy if I would get to fill out an exit survey. Brody confirmed he was trying to open a position for me, so I’ll have that option. Ben insisted on paying, even though I had originally offered to buy his if he actually showed up. I don’t even know why I was surprised that he said he would, because he’s one of the most supportive friends I’ve ever had. I did have to joke that it took me getting fired to bring him back to town though.

After dinner, we dropped him back off at his truck at the high school. Then I went home to clean up before catching up with Summer at her house. Shortly after I got there, I remembered I had a pickup order for some chicken strips at Walgreens, so I took the Model Y across town to get those. Summer was feeling mixed emotions about the day, but I felt nothing but relief for the moment. At least now I know what path to take next.

Six to four isn’t a bad ratio. At least I’m not a quitter!

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6º

I got up when everyone left this morning, and made myself some fried rice out of some leftover egg yolks from a cake that Summer baked. Then I went home and got showered before my Tesla service appointment. Jacob came over a little before 11, and we kind of laughed at the fact that they sent him out for basically nothing since they denied any fault in my autopilot complaints. After that, we stood around talking about motorcycles for a while. He made a comment about the Grom, and it turned out he knew Chase from the group of guys that gets together to stunt ride.

Dad came over just as we were finishing up, and we went next door to work on Bác Vân’s patio door. We kept fighting getting it out from the inside when we should have just started from the outside. The fixed glass door was actually way easier to remove, so even though we had to lift more things, it was way less trouble than going out the wrong direction. The rollers didn’t seem to be in awful shape, but they were a part of a bracket that ran the width of the door.

We went to Lowe’s first to try and find some replacement rollers, but they didn’t have any. We saw Manuel on the way out, and he tried to help even in plain clothes, but he didn’t think they had the whole bracket, so we headed to Leonard’s. They had just the wheels, but they bolted on and we weren’t sure that would work with the bracket we had. In the end, we knew we were missing a screw to lower the rollers on one side, so Dad picked up a replacement and we headed back. I spotted Allen on his old Kawasaki on the way back, and it looked like he was enjoying the ride.

The replacement screw ended up not fitting, but after going through a couple drawers and several cookie tins of random screws, we actually found the original! I just had a feeling about it, and luck was on our side. We got the door back together and it was marginally better, but then the locking mechanism kept falling down. We went back to Leonard’s and picked up a new one, but then we had to Dremel the opening a bit in order for the latch to fit.

The project snowballed on us quite a bit, and we could still fix it better, but that was enough for one day. We put everything back together, Bác Vân forced some money on me, and some shrimp and rice on Dad. Then he went home and I waited for Summer to come get the paperwork to request a new title for the Pathfinder.

Autumn dropped Eaddie off to go ride her bike, and then Summer got her paperwork for the DMV. I waited around, exhausted, for Eaddie to finish, and then I took her home. It wasn’t long after that she wanted to go to the mall to do homework with some friends. I dropped her off, and then remembered I left my valve stem caps off for my appointment. I ran home to get them, and then headed back up to Summer’s.

Julie called me about another Entergy job I asked her about, and we ended up talking for quite a while, even as I had to pick Eaddie back up. It seems that no matter what happens next, it won’t happen fast. I’m fortunate to have savings, but we had plans for all that money I was making. Hopefully my hearing next week will keep that flowing at least for a little longer.

There’s gotta be a better way. I just haven’t started looking for it yet.