sorry for the YOLO

but shit has been cray.  (i generally don't approve of the use of the word 'cray', but you know.  YOLO and all.)

so, let's see.... last update was after my graduation party, right?  so you all saw how i was graduated as fuck and had a party with hella awesome cuppity cakes?  perfect.

after that i continued on my job hunt.  applying for customer service positions, data entry, and some basic officey stuff with non-profits.  switchboard for red cross.  appointment setter/intake for planned parenthood.  followup case worker for families struggling with HIV/AIDS.  shit that is in the human services field but not full blown social work. 

and just kept continuing on my job hunt.  and continuing.  didn't get a job at the place i used to work and they won't tell me why (which is really fucking annoying).  got two call backs for a place looking for 'marketing, customer service, and management' which turned out to be the asshats in, like, home depot who ask if you need your damn chimney swept (and dumb shit like that).  fucking pyramid scheme.

and then i continued to look for a job.  i agonized over telling my current job at the tattoo salon that i'd be leaving (or cutting down seriously).  at the same time, i agonized over my bank account because i was making nowhere near enough money to justify spending 39 hours a week in the shop.

awesome husband (@_antgas, remember.  you can follow him on the twitter and the instagram) had a delicate surgery planned for about a week and a half ago.  as i realized his income would disappear for two weeks and saw that i made a whopping $590 for the ENTIRE MONTH OF JULY, i ate a few tarzipan and took a nap.

as much as i love piercing, i agonized over the decision to leave or cut back my hours.  there are some problems in the shop, but the main problem turned into me making $3.70 an hour while working full time.  yes, i wanted a job with benefits to replace the benefits @_antgas may be losing when he goes back to school.  yes, i wanted a job with less nights and weekends so i could spend time with my family.  but in reality, as the surgery loomed and my savings dwindled, i realized what i NEEDED was a job with some money.

and because i have ridiculously awesome friends, someone offered me a temporary job helping out with the business they owned to make some money.  part-time schedule, i'd still be able to spend 3 days a week piercing, and i could, you know.  make money.

things started to come together.  and i had a call back for a second interview for a job i wanted.  i put everything on hold for a couple of days and hoped.  oh, and spent some time shuttling my ailing @_antgas around after his delicate surgery.

i purchased a blazer to wear for my second interview (seriously, i now love blazers.  why haven't i owned any before?  oh, wait, i had a horrid pink plaid one with matching SHORTS in the early '90s.  now i remember.) and showed up ten minutes early.  i had another excellent interview and went home hoping to hear from them - either way - by the end of the week.

well, that same evening, i received an email from one of the people i'd interviewed with.  she just wanted to let me know that she had forwarded a letter offering me employment to the top hiring manager and that i should expect to receive the official copy the next morning.

so as of yesterday, i have a job.  and a pretty kick ass sounding job at that.  it's all the basic data entry/customer service/reception shit that i've done (and loved doing) in the past, but for quite a bit more money than i've been paid for it in the past.  and benefits kick in almost immediately.  and i'll get paid vacation.  i mean, it's excellent.

suddenly, the dwindling savings account doesn't seem so scary because i know i'll be able to replenish it.

but i had to tell the tattoo parlor that i'll be cutting back.  i'm going to try to keep going in on sundays to piercer because i do like piercing.  of course, school starts in a few weeks and who knows what my schedule will be then.  the college i'm going to has a lot of saturday classes.  since i can't go to school during the day and i don't want to be in class until 11pm every night during the fucking week, i may see myself learning all day saturday.

which would leave sunday as my only day off.  and i treasure my time off.  after my mother died, i realized that spending time with my family is, like, really important.  and i have already missed too many family dinners and lunches and birthdays and shit like that.  i don't want to miss any more.

so by this time next week, i'll have started my new job.  i'll be back into the 9-5 routine (or 8:15-5 routine with a 45 minute lunch break).  and i'll be making bank, yo.

sorry.

but, you know.  YOLO and all.

and now i'm a college graduate. sort of.

so i finished my first two years at university of phoenix.  i applied for my diploma and should have it within the next few weeks.  i have an associate of arts in psychology.  and i have a 3.92 GPA.  which is pretty fucking sweet.

i've requested my transcripts be sent to my next school, st. joseph's college.  i will be starting there this september.  i'm working towards a bachelor's in community health and human services.  and i'll be able to take the credentialing exam to become an alcohol and substance abuse counselor.  which i'm really excited about.

i didn't get that job.  the job that i used to have, that i was pretty sure i'd get.  yah, didn't get it.  fuck that noise.  so i'm all over the interwebz throwing out applications and resumes like woah.  i've had a couple of call backs and am excited to get out there.  i've found some REALLY NEAT opportunities that i'm so fucking stoked about it's not even funny.

of course, i won't get THOSE jobs.  i'll get, like, the basic customer service job.

but there's a not for profit on long island that works with homeless and low income people who either have or are at risk for HIV/AIDS.  they are looking for a follow-up person.  so the case workers/managers, you know.  work and manage the case.  and the follow-upper goes and checks on the people to make sure they're getting and using the benefits and shit that the mangers/workers got for them.  which is really an amazing sounding job and i really want it.

i've also gotten a call back from a local cable provider (or a company that does their hiring... that better mean they provide their benefits too) and a marketing firm thingy.  they're opening new offices and are looking for customer service reps and markety people and all shit like that.  but i've applied for A LOT of jobs.  like 53 that i have information saved on.

fifty.  three.  jobs.

i mean, i have to get one, right?  and i'm qualified for all of them.  i have years of customer service experience, data entry experience, and reception experience.  i love working with people (even though i really don't LIKE most people) and am good at it.  i'm self-motivating, have good time management skills, and a very professional manner.

so, i have to get one.  right?

RIGHT????

because i need a new job.  one with benefits.  so awesome husband (@_antgas, seriously follow him because he never tweets but often puts up funny pics on instagram) can work fewer hours and lose his benefits and go to school full time.  he really wants to get into school.  nursing school.  that will be fun.  i'm excited for him and i'm excited for me.  i never thought i'd be planning my future, but hey - here we are, planning our future.

i've just been so BUSY.  i planned a graduation party for me and it happened last sunday.  i'd love to tell you i have a fuckload of photos to post, but i don't have any.  seriously, i have like no pictures of this awesome party that i planned and pulled off.  there was food, a big tent, pretty floral centerpieces that i made myself, eight dozen quiche that i made myself, six dozen cupcakes that i made myself.

well, the cupcakes were from boxed mixes.  but i made the frosting myself.

we also had like a gazillion pounds of fruit that @_antgas cut up.  and nine liters of sangria.  and 84 bottles of beer (not on a wall, they were in a cooler).  and a fuckton of bottled water.  and twenty 2-liter bottles of soda.

and we have like two thirds of it all left.  people drank, like, 18 beers.  WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE?

but we ate almost all of a 6' hero.  and the majority of the quiche.  so, there's that.

now @_antgas and i have buckets of sangria and beer to finish off.  which will take forever.

especially because @_antgas is having surgery on monday.  nothing big, people, just a little procedure.  he'll be in and out of the hospital in a few hours.  and will be home from work for two fucking weeks.  mostly playing video games.  and i'm hoping he can push a damn vacuum around too.

so.  since i don't have any really exciting shit to share, feel free to look at a bunch of pictures of me and my cats, whom you know and love.  

this is babyjakes blocking my bedroom door.  good job.

i am a self-professed shoe whore.  i love these shoes.  i have walked in the lace-patterned ones, not the black booties yet.  we'll see.

OMFG BABYJAKES.  he's too cute.

samantha cat, lounging

samantha and i, snuggletime on the couch

piggy mama, being adorable as always

me, on my way to my brother's engagement party

me again, at my brother's engagement party

thanks to my coworker.  i wasn't sure it was a trap.  glad i know now.

sammy baby sleeping on her daddy's (@_antgas) pillow

babycat jake after knocking over the cat toy box

my most recent tattoo addition.  bonus points if you can tell me where it's from.

me wearing an apron.  i was making a lot of fucking mini quiche.

my graduation party

sammy baby in her new collar.  there are lady bugs on it.