Sheesh talk about a hectic last two days...
Last night I worked from 11-8 in the store as a manager, which means I got to wear my white shirt and nifty blue tie that I absolutely love. After I got off, I went directly home, to eat, sleep, and then come back in at 4 AM. It was pretty rough, but I had set myself up for an easy open, so that made things nice. I was really happy to be done with book-keeping in 2 hours and 25 minutes, my fastest yet! I was cruising!
I totally was not feeling inspired enough to head to my 3.5 hour art class, so I e-mailed my professor and told him I wasn't feeling well. Thanks swine flu? I feel only a little guilty for lying to him, but not really, he's honestly quite a terrible instructor. I really hope that he learns how to teach an art class better in the future.
I will have to be ready for my art critique on Wednesday, but we really do not have ANYTHING to show for ourselves, so I'm wondering how that will turn out...
I'm having some issues with people at work. Megan has become most unbearable lately. She's so on and off, and very short fused. I really do like working with her, but she's hurt my feelings quite a bit the last few days. Let me quote a note I've received from her:

Nate,
On a more positive note, I do appreciate all your hard work. I know you strive to do your best. Just don't let everyone make you feel like you have to be me. Be yourself - be the booth clerk I know you can be- get your spark back. Be a great backup, ignore all extra stuff.

It's almost a nice letter, but it's very bittersweet at the same time. I sort of appreciate it, but I feel like it's mostly an attempt to manipulate and back-pad her own ego. It hurts my feelings, and I don't appreciate it one bit.
I'm so tired, I can't believe I'm still up. I'm going to lay down and listen to some Plumb, I'm totally in love with her music as of late.

New blog = Fresh Approach?

> So as you may have guessed, I've gotten myself a new blog. I'm quite happy with the simplistic black layout that they had available. I have always wanted to keep a blog, and let out my feelings into it.
> I used to have a LiveJournal (http://xshadowsongx.livejournal.com/), however I never really kept up with actual, meaningful posts. I remember getting it in the beginning of high school when my friend Marie told me about it. I basically used it because I thought it was cool, but most of my posts just sought attention from others, and it became really boring and relentless after a while. If you're a LJ user, don't get me wrong, I loved the interface and the fact that they let you customize so much, but I just didn't click with it as much as I'd liked.
> So I'm guessing you've already noticed the title of my blog, eh? I mean it is huge, and placed right at the top of the page, so it's only logical that you've actually stopped, read, and digested it. I was trying to think of a good title, and it just came to me. My life (as far as I am concerned, and my opinion about my life is the most important one right? It is mine) is pretty complex, much like a symphony and often elements of my life are quite tragic as well. Perhaps we will get into that later, but I'm not sure if this will go anywhere, let's hope!
> So I'm currently sitting in my room, drinking a nice cold Coca Cola, and listening to some Otep while thinking exactly what I want to say to you, the reader. Things have been pretty chaotic lately. I've been going non-stop. I'm working approximately 30 hours a week while going to school 12 hours, plus homework, outside work for art, and you know, sleeping (if I actually get the chance to). It's pretty hectic, as I need to be working 30+ hours a week to make sure I make enough to pay for my schooling, my car insurance, my car payment, and my cellphone bill.
> I don't like to sound like I'm complaining though, so I don't want to go on forever about that. The days do kill me, though. I get up at 3 a.m for work at 4 a.m., where I push myself to do an 8 hour job in less than 4, so that I can be out of work by 8 a.m.. I then head home where I work on homework, study, shower, maybe nap for about 20 minutes, and then head to school, where I've got back to back classes until 7:20 p.m., when I am dismissed from Drawing II. I drive home, in a zombie like fashion (mind you I've been up for 16 hours by this time) and I typically don't get into bed until around 9-10 p.m. I rinse, and repeat... It get's to be very draining, and when I don't have school I am usually work 8-9 hour shifts. I typically have about one day off a week (Friday) which of course, I still have class. I am tired, and quite annoyed by people saying, "Oh, you're young, you can do it." Yes this statement is true, but it is not encouraging nor is it supportive.
> Anyway, enough about that. I've actually set aside some free time tonight, and I'm soaking it up. I went to Target and got a nice comfy black hoodie for 15 bucks! I couldn't find one in my size in the mens, so I had to buy the smallest sized one from the Juniors section. Yes it's true, I am thin, and I like to wear clothes that are slim fit / not baggy. The mens section did have a small, but I was pretty much still swimming in it. The one I got is super comfy inside! I plan to use it for work, because we have to wear entirely black outwear over our uniforms if it gets colder, you can't wear anything with a design / pattern. This one is simple, so it does it's job!
> I guess it might be helpful to say where I work, or what I do. I work for Safeway (www.safeway.com), a multi-million dollar corporate grocery chain that is most popular on the west coast. I was hired almost 3 years ago to be a customer service representative / fuel station attendant. Basically I worked the desk at the front of the store that handles all the refunds, exchanges, and other services provided by the store that didn't have to do with ringing up your groceries. It's actually quite a demanding position, you sink or swim immediately. Thankfully I swam.
> Customer service clerks start at a meager $7.79 hourly, only 54¢ greater than the national minimum wage (I think. Minimum wage is $7.25) Not too shabby, I suppose for a junior in high school. It was nice to have my own money. On top of handling refunds and exchanges (which are not so simple when you work for a huge corporation, the rules are always changing and becoming more and more ridiculous) I had to learn how to rent rug cleaners to customers, sell money orders, handle Western Union money transfers, issue rain checks, and the different brands of tobacco and whatnot. It was very stressful, now I could do it in my sleep.
> About 5 months ago I started training to become a backup / assistant book-keeper for the store. I was really excited about this, and I still am. I've actually love doing the book-keeping (even more so when things are done correctly the day before, but they typically aren't, so I've got a nack for problem solving). I realize I tend to use a lot of parenthesize. Oh well.
> Book-keeping is really demanding, and often can be really stressful, and it definitely requires you to be quick and accurate when counting and handling large quantities of money (I typically handle ≥$16,000).
> Enough about work, what was I getting to about that anyway? Perhaps it was just an explanation because I'm constantly asked what exactly it is I do.
Anyway, I don't think there is actually much more that I intend to discuss (at least in this entry), so with that, I'll conclude my post.

<3