With my teaching job ending last week, I'm back to working 5 days a week for Knotts. My feet have reminded me why they really, really dislike that job. Having a bar toenail doesn't help. Sigh. Due to my Knotts scheduling, I still haven't made it out to a Corona battle practice. It does look like I will be able to go to the practice specifically for the archers (Thank you God!).

Lots of news. The good: SHE aka Nora from Antares has made the adult decision not to attend Corona faire this season. Frankly she cannot afford it, nor does she have transport. The fact that most of her guild (and a lot of mine) would like to push her off the river bank doesn't even occur to her. One less bit of stress at Corona. Tim (mostly of Ravenwood) won't be there either. Another victim of finances (that whole being unemployed and having a new baby thing). I'll miss having a drummer on site, but that's about it. I won't miss having to force him and his lady to actually put in the time working for Ravenwood that they promised by signing up.

My stressors from the previous post continue. No real changes for my son. My daughter's bf continues on his up and down way. He did fix my son's car (paid for by my ex as a belated Christmas present), so I will be nice today.

My new stressor is that my mom got a notice about her driver's license. The current one expires in May and they want her to come in for a written test-the first one she's had to take in years. I need to go get her a booklet very soon. It just occurred to me today that she just may not pass the test. I know I'm going to get her car someday, but I'm not ready to get it just yet. Mom still needs that bit of independence that being able to drive gives her. She keeps thinking that if she tries hard enough she will be able to remember like she used to. I haven't the heart to tell her that it's unlikely. Today she was trying to balance her checkbook and having problems. She was a bookkeeper for most of her adult life. Now she's having trouble understanding that the bank will charge her for overdrafts. Which reminds me, I need to look into that to see why the overdraft happened. To the best of my knowledge she hasn't bounced a check in years. Sigh.

I need to head to bed. Early shift at Knotts tomorrow with Manny. Yeah, the man who refused to work with me has a shift with just me for the first 2 hours Wed. and Thurs. He seems to be getting better around me. I wish I knew what he disliked about me-aside from the fact that I'm not 18 and female. It's supposed to rain tonight, so there's a chance that the shift tomorrow might get canceled. I can hope. In the evening my kids are coming over so we can celebrate Easter. We're all going to be tied up with work and other stuff on Sunday, so we moved out celebrations to tomorrow night. I even dyed Easter eggs from a Star Wars egg dying kit! It should be fun.

I really despise drama at work. It's unprofessional for one thing. But right now I'm stuck dealing with some. The corporate drama (which I'll talk about first) just makes me mad.
On Friday, when I wasn't at Knotts, some Cedar Fair corporate folks from Back East were in the park. Our attendance numbers are down. Not a surprise. But it's still early in the month. By the 24th we are going to be needing every store clerk, ride operator, security, etc. we can get. However, this corporate big shot showed up on Friday, knowing the numbers and apparently began walking the park with the lead supervisors. Said corporate bean counter started pointing out employees and insisted that they be sent home immediately. "They weren't needed." Not even caring about our scheduling, etc. Apparently the place was in quite an uproar, since many of the people sent home were breakers, and finding people to fill the spots so employees could get their federally mandated breaks was a real trick. Not to mention how the employees who were sent home felt. Said bean counter also informed the senior supervisors that if the Haunt $$ numbers didn't improve people were going to be laid off. That set well. I think what irritates me most is the heavy handedness of the corporate jerk. In my opinion, what he should have done was to turn to the supervisors and tell them that they needed to send X number of people home. Maybe even indicate which areas of park service to make the cuts. Let the people who know the schedules and the individuals make the wiser decisions. But yeah, didn't help us any last night. The word is that Haunt monsters (the entertainment part of the Haunt budget) won't get laid off, but the rest of us in merchandising, foods, etc. could well go. Thanks, bean counter!

Now the drama in the Gallery is more complex. We have a guy in the gallery, named Manny. He's just younger than I am, probably working two jobs. I was told that he was hard to get to know, so not to be offended if he doesn't interact with me at first. Once he chooses to like a person, all is well. So I didn't worry about it. Besides, Manny and I haven't had many shift together.
Fast forward to last week. Manny and I were scheduled to work Coffin Photo together all week. I didn't think anything about it. He's efficient, knows his job, etc. I got to work that Wed. to discover that my shifts had been changed to all inside Gallery shifts. Apparently Manny has decided that he doesn't like me and refused to work Coffin photo with me. He informed the assistant shift lead about it, who got the shift changes made for him. Manny has proceeded to ignore me pointedly (and rather rudely) all week.
This rather floored me. I immediately thought of at least 6 reasons why he wouldn't like me. But I couldn't think of any way to solve the problem, except by direct confrontation, which didn't feel right. My daughter, bless her, had good advice. She told me that, in her opinion, Manny was being a whinny bitch and acting unprofessional. I should keep on doing my job and ignoring his childishness. Sooner or later, the senior lead in the office (Howard, who is gone this weekend and I'm pretty sure in unaware of the reasons for the changes) is going to find out what's going on and will do what he can to work things out between us. But for now, I do have hurt feelings. Not that anyone at work would know.
Luckily, Manny and I are not scheduled to work together next week. It's supposed to be a split week for me-half outside, half inside. Here's hoping.

Last night (Friday) I went to a Great Big Sea concert. I love this band. My ex and I discovered this band around 10-12 years ago. One thing we always loved to do was to go see live music. And we both became major fans of this band. Being divorced didn't change this fact. In fact, Tod found his new wife through a GBS fan site I believe.
Now since GBS (for short) band members live in Newfoundland, they don't visit the Los Angeles area often. The last time was 3 years ago. So every time they're even somewhat close I go see them, as does Tod and wifey #2. Since Tod would rather I didn't exist on the planet it does make things odd. My daughter is a big fan too, but she's the one dealing with the most in this circumstance. I usually by her ticket, because if her dad did, he would expect her to spend all her time with him. I understand Katy's problem-she loves both of us. I bought her ticket, but her dad got stuck with the concert t-shirt bill. It evens out.
Which brings me to last night's truly odd thing. GBS does a song called "The Scolding Wife" which includes in the chorus the words, "I swear to God I'll hang myself if I get married again." In my heart of hearts I do tend to agree with this song, especially when Tod is standing right there. But Tod is still in massive denial about what happened in our marriage. So he used to sing along with the band (during concerts) making sure I saw him. He meant it to hurt me. My daughter has since confirmed this. I'm made of tougher stuff than that and have always ignored him. Actually, he never stopped trying to irritate me during this song. But it has evolved. While I wasn't paying attention, "The Scolding Wife" became a song that Tod and Marilyn sing to each other. It's "their song." By the end of it they were hugging and kissing. My head hurt and I think my eyes must have been going, "tilt!" I couldn't miss this one, since they (and Katy) were standing right in front of us.
It was Katy who brought this up to me on the way home. She finds it utterly bizarre. I told her to go with her feelings. It is utterly bizarre for a man to have as a love song to his wife a song about a bitter shrew of a wife.

With the exception of the bomb scare it really has been a low key holiday season for me. The happy part is that my mom actively participated. Her short term memory loss is sporatic, but still really bugs me sometimes. We're getting a chunk of role reversal with me as the mom now and I'm not liking it. I'm really having a hard time being patient enough. It's not her fault that she's not remembering what we've talked about doing 3 times before. I'm really not looking forward to what I know is coming.
But on to happier stuff, mom had a good Christmas this year. And she feels confident enough with her new teeth to go visit 2 of her adopted sons in the Phoenix area. That's a big step.

It stayed drama free-the only real opportunities for drama were at the 2 parties I've been to so far. Ironiclly enough, the drama swirled around the same person. His ex-gf showed up at the Ravenwood party. She's still "getting over" him. As soon as I heard that, I walked away and didn't really talk to her. It's been over a year. The ex gf spent almost the whole party talking to my male friend who has the pregnant wife who's "in love" with the the WoW guy in Florida. I think they both needed to compare misery notes. I stayed away from those conversations too. When I left the Ravenwood party all three were talking. I didn't even go over there to say goodbye.

I did something odd recently. I joined an online dating service. The results were interesting. After about a month and a half I have found two guys I know (one from faire and another that sometimes goes to my church) and one guy who is apparently just in it for the sex. Such a waste of my time and money. Though the curiosity factor was worth it.

In the "this is ironic" news, I have invited to 3 different New Years Eve events. Last year I had none. My friend Paul is throwing a party, but so far I think I'm the only one who said they'd come. Both his roommates are working graveyard shift, so he'll be there by himself. That's sad. I'm thinking that if his party is a total bust I'll try to drag him to one of the other 2 events. He'd like both of them. Trainwreck is on his invite list. Yeah, I know, no mention of her for months now. Apparently she still talks to him every few weeks. But then, he is a brewer (oh, did I say that out loud?). I really doubt she'll come on NYE, but I really don't want to have to deal with her bs when I can go other places and have fun. Luckily I will have internet access while I'm in Arizona to keep track since I'm not getting home until the 30th.

I think that's enough venting for now. I need to pack a bit more, then get some sleep!

Once again, oh faithful readers this is where I vent the stuff that I won't talk about in my regular journal.
This week at Corona was mostly ok. Only two real spots of drama in Ravenwood. We dealt with them short term, but the overall problems still need work. Dear Lord the woman has control issues! So much so that she refuses all offers of help in doing a costuming presentation and end up putting on what I hear was another bad lesson. Sigh. She and Summer got into it again about support issues. I just keep doing the jobs Summer assigns me. No glory (not my first priority anyway), but I make sure the stuff gets done. The ironic thing is that the woman in charge of our education program is about to step down. I know Amber is going to want the position (want is actually a mild word here. If her patterns follow true to form, she will assume she has the job), but I am already the Corona guild rep on that-by her boyfriends choice. It will be entertaining.
The other drama is more serious. The wife of one of our officers had been a bit of a nut job since I first met about 2 years ago. Lots of disassociation. The problem this weekend was head lice. I think once all the facts are sifted we'll find that the 14 year old son was the one who brought it home. But the wife was where it was discovered-by an employee at the Corona hair braiding booth. They refused to serve her (health code!) and sent her to get their diagnosis verified by a camp medic (we have 2 in our camp). Until that was cleared up, they could not braid anyone (especially from our camp), until they had checked their head.
Did the wife follow instructions? Nope. She got a shower, then asked one of the girls in our camp to braid her hair-without telling any of us! I found out about it when the braider refused to work on me until I had been checked and she got final word about the wife. I was a bit pissed-this drama took at least an extra hour out of my busy schedule.
In the end one of the camp medics did check the wife's hair (once it was dry) and verified the diagnosis. Because of the contagion problem the family was asked to go home and deal with it. The wife apparently stormed out (I don't think she believed she had a problem). The family removed most of their belongings and we "bug bombed" their tent and the tent that their kids had been sleeping in. We should be ok, but it makes my head ich even thinking about it.

On a happier note, Tristi and I had "margarita night." That was fun. And no, I did not go to bed sober. It was one of my rare nights of intoxication.
Funny drama. The narcissistic personality disorder in my daughter's camp made breakfast both days. The woman has no understanding of the fact that she is loud. And she never shuts up. It is a good thing we store the archery stuff at my camp. My daughter is now a good enough archer that she can usually hit what she aims at. And waking my daughter up early for no good reason is close to a capitol offense. We talked about it on the was home. My daughter agrees that shooting the young woman is probably the wrong solution (though tempting). Instead, she will try to politely tell her to speak with less volume. If that doesn't work, my daughter has no problem being rude verbally.

I told my daughter that I had a few goals this season for faire. 1. I wanted to stay in character more. 2. I want to be more interactive with the faire guests. 3. I want to get my head in a place where trainwrecks noise and actions don't register on my radar.
My emotions before going ranged from excited to aphrehensive. I should have known that the reality would be entirely unexpected.
Yes, trainwreck was there. She was there with the singing group she's a part of. I found out later she gate listed with them. Which means that she "stiffed" MacGowan (which I so predicted). At one point Sat. night she was around the same Ravenwood campfire with me. Apparently someone offered her alcohol which she made a point of refusing (since my daughter and I were within earshot I assume). I never heard it. I was able to avoid her largely, and I didn't let her actions involve me or get to me. I consider that a win.
I do feel sorry for MacGowan. They made an ok showing, but not what they wanted. They had, I think, 7 people on site for the weekend-including a toddler. Two of the three officers had to work at the last minute, so the weapons master (capt. of the guard) had to run things. I barely saw him. The 7 people who were there are all people I still consider friends, so my daughter and I were welcome there, which made me happy.
The rest was good news, bad news, and fuster-clucks, which is normal for first weekend of the season. I did reasonable well at archery. The good news included getting to talk to one of my "sons" at faire. This is a 20 year old I've known for about 4 years now. He's had a rough spot, but it looks like his life is improving now. That made us happy. The bad news/sad news included seeing Tom-Tom (which I will post about in my other lj), seeing the problems The Bob was having just walking around, and some other stuff. Ravenwood is still working through drama, but for most of it I'm optimistic.
There's more to write, but I've had my post-faire shower, my allergies seem to be settling down, and so my body is insisting on bed. Oh yeah, bed, that lovely piece of furniture that is truly off the ground, is the right temperature and softness, and doesn't have wood chips (and spiders) all over it. Plus no sounds of a squeeking swing close by. Oh yeah, so there!

I think it was Monday when I hit the wall. My beloved cousin was buried (and I had to stay strong for that for the sake of my mom). My last remaining uncle had died the week before. A good friend of my daughters had shockingly died. A man who had date raped one of my faire daughters was back in the state (a fact that really, really upsets my daughter). Another friend may have been diagnosed with cancer. And to top it all off, my allergies were trying hard to shut down my systems. Not a happy ladyfreque.
What finally send me to bed Monday night, crying, was issues related to my computer and the hassle I've had trying to get my intern status paperwork sent in. Dealing with any governmental entity is hard enough. Having items needed to send in with the official forms go missing is frustrating. I ended up having to re-take my photo.
The computer stuff is equally frustrating. In my job search two things seem to be happening with regularity. Either my emails to promising employers get bounced back (why I don't know), or I end up filing out forms-all of which eat horrid amounts of time. I decided that I need to be less fussy about where I work, so I started applying for teaching jobs. Then I discovered that my teaching credential expired in Oct. My own fault. Normally the school district I work for reminds me and they do the paperwork-all I have to do is sign and come up with the bank check. But I took a leave of absence from them to go to grad school. So yeah, I don't blame them for not reminding me.
So it hit me hard. I'm having a hard time getting a job as a MFT intern. Now I can't really be a teacher until I get that mess straighted out. And since my credential has lapsed, I may have to go back to school to take some new classes to get it renewed. Sigh.
Wednesday I went and got my hair done. My hair sytlist and I worked out a new color. My natural colors are currently dead white and a dark blonde. So we're taking the gold out of the mix and letting my hair reflect more of the natural darker shade. I like it. It looks more like me. And I decided that my new hair reflects a new me.
I'm still unemployed, hanging on to my finances by a slim thread. I'm still looking for work-hard. I'm dealing with the teaching credential issues. Somehow it will all work out. How do I know this? Because I serve a big God who has gotten me this far...

Now if I could just deal with the weight and the lack of dates issue...