27.2.11

Vacation's Over

Jeff and family will be back from Mexico today.  This means I have to move back home now.  I'm not too excited about this.  I have realized that I really miss cooking.  I won't really miss the chickens but I will miss the feeling of peace that comes with not needing to walk on eggshells around a certain roommate.  I am wondering if I should have a talk with him so we can get on the level.  He is not willing to compromise or change his ways.  It has been a delightful week.  Now, the floors are swept, the sheets are changed and the animals are fed.  Now, I need to get fully packed up and move on.

20.2.11

At Home in Someone Else's House

I have a one week reprieve from roommate drama.  I am getting paid for it.  Despite the extra one hour each way in my commute, this week should be heaven.  Jeff's house is very homey and colorful.  I like it.  I also have a very old, very cuddly cat (named Socrates) to keep me company.  I have two reasonably friendly chickens in my charge as well. I can do laundry at any hour and cook without fear of pissing someone off.  It is delightful and I have only been here one day.  Tomorrow is a day off that will involve dim sum and the Underground Tour of Seattle.  There was a student of mine that passed her interview on Thursday.  I was totally shocked by it but I will take it.  It brings my tally of students that passed to 10.  Because she passed, we will be going out for lunch on Tuesday as well.

Looking at my blog, I realize that most of the things on here are about Time.  This is both disturbing and intriguing.  I am contemplating writing a book about the whole experience.  I am disturbed by how much a lowly, miserable person can impact my life.  I would even be willing to do a second Americorps term if I was able to get a better arrangement for my housing.  I can live on this salary, especially if I'm not miserable in my time outside of work.  It is becoming more of a possibility since jobs are so hard to come by.  If I can get BIA accredited, I am a lot more likely to get a position at ACRS.  I need to work on it and prove my worth so I will be marketable after Americorps.  There are plenty of NGO's with outposts in Seattle.  I would like to stay here for a while if at all possible.

16.2.11

Under Where?

I have no clean underwear right now.  This very second, I am not wearing underwear because the pair I was wearing is all sweaty from working out.  I have a pair of clean, yet damp underwear hanging up in my closet. Why is that you ask?  Because Time caught me changing over my laundry at 11:30.

  I put my stuff in the wash when I got home and was a bit nervous because there was a load in the dryer.  We have a piece of cardboard to put on the washer in that event so that when the person with things in the dryer comes to get their things out of the dryer, they can start the load in the washer a-tumblin'.  I was really hoping that would be the order of events but no.  I fell asleep because I was truly worn out after a long day of selflessly helping others and giving so much of myself while getting pretty much nothing (at least monetarily) in return.  I woke up at 11:30, with my contacts still in because I passed out.

We also have a house rule about no laundry after 10:30.  I fully admit the I am in the wrong on that.I have a few caveats for that admission of wrongdoing.  First, my room is directly over the laundry room.  This means that if there is anything going on in the laundry room, I hear it.  Time directly told me, which he denied ("Don't lie") and then later recanted ("I may have said that but I didn't mean it like that"), that the rule about laundry time is specifically for the person sleeping in my room because of the location of the room.  Second, I woke up, went downstairs and then heard someone walking around upstairs.  This triggered my "Oh shit" alarm to go off in my head.  Time was already in a tizzy about Jim turning off the lights in the kitchen while the oven was on earlier in the night.  (P.S. With how easy he blows, it's kind of amazing that he doesn't yell at least every day)  He came downstairs while I was taking out the other person's load and putting in my own.  He asked me what I was doing to which I responded,

"I don't have any clean underwear for tomorrow.  I figured that since you told me the rule about laundry was for the person in my room's benefit, and it's only 11:30 that I could start my load and it would be ok."  It amuses me how after how many years of being a legal secretary or whatever soul sucking work that he does, Time always tries to use legal jargon.  Tonight he was somehow insinuating that there is some kind of universal law in cohabitation situation about clothing restoration and stain removal proceedings wherein party A shall not commence in any laundry cleansing activities at or after the hour of "ten thirty o'clock" has been reached.  He gets his knickers in a twist which makes his English even worse.

Push comes to shove, I have no clean, dry underwear.  I want to go work out right now to burn off this stress but I don't think that walking through downtown to get to the gym, since the buses aren't running right now, would be the best idea.  Also, I would either be going commando or reusing so there would be serious stink issues.  I would get back and Time might yell at me for showering too late at night.

10.2.11

Flustered

I'm tired of Time's shit.  This wasn't even a thing but it's just frustrating.  I have the bottom one third of the freezer which is de facto "my area."  I thought the other people in the house were aware of this.  Time just loaded up about 8 frozen chickens.  Rather than moving the two things of mine that weren't in the drawer, he put them in the refrigerator.  This isn't that big of a deal because I caught it before they were thawed but it just adds to the list of things that show his disrespect for me and inability to handle any kind of disruption to his little routine.  I'm not even sure that compromise is in his vocabulary.  I can't believe that I am actually blogging over thawing vegetable lasagna.

In other news, life at work is lovely.  Another one of my students passed the citizenship interview today.  We also had a photographer from ACRS come in and take pictures for the newsletter.  We are going to be the cover story.  I'm glad that the citizenship program is getting some recognition.  There is even the possibility of full restoration of naturalization funding at the state level.  This would make it even easier for me to get a job after my Americorps term.  I don't want to get my hopes up but it would be awesome if I could get a big girl job there.