I've been listening to The Killers "Can You Read My Mind" lately. There is this guy I know, who has managed to get this song stuck in everyone's mind that he works with. He plays it all the time. It's a really good song. The verse which struck me most was the one about "the stars are like rebel diamonds cut out from the sun". Beautiful.
I started another blog, under a pen name, and I don't publish it for anyone or let anyone know where it is. I'm working so much I don't have time to write, but when I do, if I want to write about current things happening, I can do this. This blog here, I need to devote to finishing the TTSOML stuff.
My former roommate said he found this blog, and said he was shocked. He lived with me, so he said he knows I'm "normal" but can't believe all these things that have happened.
Since I left his place (which meant I had a 2 hour commute to work everyday, and 2 hours back), I then stayed with a coworker for awhile, and now I'm catsitting for someone and after that, I'll be able to stay with another coworker who is also a lawyer and writes articles at a firm. She has a nice place in downtown NW D.C. and will let me share with her for just a little bit of money, until I have saved more to get my own place for me and my son.
It's really almost miraculous I'm "making it work" here. D.C. is a difficult place to spread your wings, and it's extremely expensive. I'm making pretty good money in tips, while waitressing, and I save all of it except what I spend on Chinese take out & delivery and taxis. Random things happen to, like, one taxi driver took a liking to me, who is Punjabi, and gave me his number for his taxi service and told me anytime I need a taxi at night, when he's working, he'll take me where I need to go for free, no strings attached. Seriously. I let him put his hand on my head for a little "blessing".
Then I've met this Romanian/Russian gypsy fortune teller who says she's breaking my "bad luck". I haven't paid for anything, she just likes me. She tells me to call her "mama".
Last night after work, I met some neighbors and went dancing for a short time with some professionals from Ethiopia. We smoked "sheeshi" (?) it's just a tobacco product which is light on tobacco, and danced to hip-hop. I talked to some guys from Puerto Rico too. I've been drinking margaritas but I need to lose weight, so I'm back to my vodka soda. I say I'm drinking a little bit more and everyone says, "It's the food and beverage industry...it happens to everyone." It's really weird, but this is so true.
I got canned from one of my jobs, and it was really for the best. It was the first job I took in town, just to take anything, as a coffee barrista, which is totally dead-end, doesn't get waitressing tips, and a little bit boring. I was filling in for people on vacation anyway, but I had a hard time multi-tasking on keeping coffee going and putting deli stuff together, making coffee, taking orders, etc. Then I'd have a break and daydream. I never wanted to clean but I did. I also couldn't lift some of the heavier things the other women lifted. I asked my boss what I could improve on, for future reference, and what I did wrong, and he said I wasn't very good with behind the scenes stuff and detail work, but that I was excellent with people and customer service. He said my strength was my people skills. And he said he would recommend me highly for an office job, but not barrista stuff. Office job. I don't know, maybe if it's doing something analytical and interesting. I would do as poorly with filing and affixing labels. But then my boss changed his mind, after I took the firing gracefully, and said he would give me a good reference regardless. After he fired me, not smiling, I took my money and smiled and wasn't upset at all (I'd been doing a little clock-watching for a couple of weeks) and I laughed and shook his hand and said, "Well it was good while it lasted" and he laughed too and then I shook his dad's hand and thanked him for the opportunity to work for him. I said I'd still come by for coffee. So, no big deal. I needed to take more hours where I could make more money anyway, and the barrista stuff took up a chunk of time. Now I'm picking up more hours doing something I'm better at.
I don't know why, but I'm a lot better at waitressing than the coffee barrista stuff. Not sure why. And for whatever reason, I can take orders without writing anything down, for food and drinks, and remember stuff, even for large groups, but I sometimes screwed up coffee. ?! Maybe because the coffee orders are so much more similiar (the difference between a cafe au lait and cafe con leche is nothing but sometimes everything).
I'm also talking to lawyers about the legal profession here and they're giving me tips. My next roommate is an attorney and has had some good advice already.
This is the slow season because Congress is out of session, but it will pick up again in September, and I should be making even more money.
My opportunities here are far better than they are elsewhere, and to move to Wenatchee would be a dead end for both me and my son. I cannot make a living there, and I would miss out on the opportunities I already have here.
It is in the best interest of me and my son, to live in Washington D.C.
It's not possible for me to live in Wenatchee, under any circumstances, and the way things have been working out here, isn't an accident, and may not be repeatable in the future. I have to work besides, and my work is in D.C. There is no work for me in Wenatchee or the surrounding area, and all I would have there is bad blood.
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