randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

Andrew.

Andrew is one of my co-workers.  I’ve mentioned him on here before.  Surely you’ve seen the random “Hi Andrew” or “Still with us, Andrew?” bits that have popped up from time to time.

Andrew is a very nice 21 year old guy.  About 6 feet tall with blond hair and blue eyes.  He’s a good looking guy.  More importantly, he’s friendly and funny.  And his sense of humor runs along the same lines as mine… a little twisted sometimes.  Overall a very nice guy and very hard working individual.  I mean, he worked a couple of hours the other night on his own time.  If he’s that dedicated to a job, imagine the dedication he’d show his woman.  Someone should apply to be that woman.  Seriously.  Andrew is a catch.  Applications to meet Andrew can submitted in the comments.  Applicants should be females in the general vicinity of South Jersey.  Let us know you’re serious by starting the post with the statement “Andrew sounds like an interesting guy” and tell us why you’d like Andrew to contact you.  You should of course use your actual email address so he can contact you, and links to websites, blogs, nude photos (lol), etc are always welcome.

LUV YOU ANDREW!!!!

Haven’t seen Hot Russian Guy in awhile.  About a month, actually.  Sucks muchly.  But there is a steady parade of attractive men to drool over coming through work.  There really is something special about Hot Russian Guy, though.

On the subject of attractive guys at work, there IS someone at work that I think is really cute, and a really nice guy.  But I’d be willing to bet that he’s at least 10 years younger than me.  Not that I haven’t gone that route before, but let’s be honest.  At 34 years old, being involved with a 24 year old can be fun… but the chances of there being a future in it aren’t very good.  Especially when you factor in the whole single mom aspect.  Not that I’d be opposed to something that’s just for fun, mind you.  But at this stage in my life, I think I’d prefer to go the route of something with a long term aspect to it.  Or maybe not… I mean, if said cutie at work wants to have some fun… yeah, I think I’d be up to it.  LOL

and have a cup of random.

Went to the zoo today.  It was fun but all that walking around made my feet hurt like hell.  And I get to work (on my feet) for the next 6 days.  I KNEW there was a good reason I wanted to just sit on my ass all day today… I’ll be surprised if I’m even able to walk by the end of the week.

The zoo WAS a good time, mostly.  Gage threw a couple of little fits.  He wanted to go into the gift shop, I wanted to wait till we were leaving.  Should have let him go in when we passed it… it was closed when we went back by (we didn’t realize that the zoo closes early on Sunday, DOH!).  Which lead to another fit.  He just wanted a nice fluffy stuffed animal… but no.  Hopefully, sisser will go back in the next couple of days and get him a fluffy stuffy to cuddle.  Of all the animals we saw… the kids loved the Giant Otters the most.  The Otters were so funny to watch play in the water, and they responded to the kids standing by the glass of their enclosure.  It was really cute.

Haven’t seen Hot Russian Guy in about a month.  It sucks.  He’s such a nice guy, brightens my day when he comes in.  I’m hoping that he just went home for a visit and will be returning in the near future to start the next term at school.  He told one of my co-workers, that he’s got about 2 more years left.  So assuming that he’ll be staying at the same place, I should be seeing him again.  That would be good.  I’d love to see him outside of work, but since he’s apparently got a girlfriend… it’s probably good that I can’t see him outside of work.

I will admit that I HAVE been thinking that it would be nice to start dating again.  It would be nice to have occasional evenings out without children being involved.  It would be nice to have someone over the age of 8 to cuddle with.  And of course I wouldn’t mind some of the more adult activities that come along with dating someone.  Not that you really have to be dating to someone to do that, but personally I’d prefer it. 

I think that we should offer Alaska back to Russia free of charge, if they promise to take Sarah Palin with it… LOL

there’s something extremely appealing about Chef Eric Ripert.  Yes, I’m probably a nutbar for thinking so.  Maybe it’s the accent.  Maybe it’s that he’s such a highly regarded chef.  Or maybe he’s just hot.  I dunno, but extremely appealing.  Thank you.  Good night.

Some sad news… You may have seen him on Throwdown with Bobby Flay a few years ago, beating Flay at BBQ which is (by all accounts) something he was very good at.  Butch of Butch’s Smack Your Lips BBQ passed away recently.  Why am I mentioning it?  Well, he was one of my customers.  One of the nice ones.  Rain or shine, hail, sleet or snow, if he came in and was buying meat… there would be barbecue.  We talked everytime he came in during my shift.  He was one HELL of a nice guy.  Gave me tips on BBQ and grilling in general when I asked and even asked about stuff I like to grill and said he might try some of the grilled veggie dishes I mentioned.  Nothing but smiles and hugs from the man, and it was really sad to hear that he’s gone.  My heart goes out to his family and friends.  Such a vibrant person will be sorely missed, especially in the lives of those who knew him best.

I’d like to move on to the Mosque issue.  I rarely get political, because I really don’t care to deal with the shitstorm that tends to follow, but here goes.  Give it a fucking rest people.  First of all, I don’t care that there’s a Mosque being built near Ground Zero.  Yes, it was a tragic day in history and it still makes me sad that 9/11 happened.  But acting like a group of Muslims building a Mosque near Ground Zero is like kicking sand in our faces?  I call bullshit.  Seriously people?  So because they’re Muslim, they should be more respectful and build it farther away?  Ok, so does that mean that if a black man commits murder in Philadelphia then all the black people should pack up and move out of town to be more respectful of the family of the murdered party?  Newsflash, the majority of Muslims, ESPECIALLY the ones who live, raise their children and pay taxes in the United States DO NOT AGREE WITH THOSE WHO PERPETRATED THE 9/11 ATTACKS.  Don’t you people have better things to do with your lives?  NO?  Ok, well then let’s move on to another important fact.  In the US, you have religious freedom.  That means that if there’s an available location to build your church, temple, mosque, cynogog, etc… and you have the means of securing that location for said use… TADA!  YOU CAN DO IT!  If you want to play the “you can practice your religion, but not here because of what happened here” game… well then we need to move an awful lot of christian churches that are down south.  It’s awfully insensitive to have them so close to the sites where white christian men did awful things to black christian men, women and children.  Get over yourselves people.

Only a couple of weeks left of summer, then it’s back to school time.  Gotta start taking my little out for some walks and stuff.  I’m thinking I wanna get him a decent digital camera so he can take pictures when we go out.  I think he’d have a lot of fun with that.  Also gotta get mom to show me where that fishing spot she keeps talking about is.  So I can take my little man fishing.  Gotta get that in before it gets so cold neither one of us wants to be messing with wet fish.

Work is work.  Which is why it’s not called vacation.  I could use another one of those.  That’d be good.  Keep deciding to go to culinary school… and then talking myself out of it.  Mainly it’s the idea of all those financial aid forms.  And finding classes that fit into my schedule while allowing me to still work some.  In the end, I think I’ll be going.  I want it too much.  Probably register to start in the spring.  My boss’ll be thrilled when I limit my hours even more than they already are.  LOL

kinda.

Went to an old friends house for a party today.  I haven’t seen him in at least 10 years, it’s been way too fucking long, cause he’s one of those people who always makes you feel good just by being around them.  He’s so funny and upbeat and full of life.  So we played in the pool a bit, then we played a little Rock Band, there was some food in there… and to finish the evening out, we all watched Hot Tub Time Machine… in the hot tub.  It was fun.  Kinda was a time machine, cause sitting there next to J, I felt like the girl I was in high school.  It was awesome.  Definitely MUST hang out with J more often.  Friends like him… yeah, that’s the good stuff.

that half of the comments that are awaiting moderation at any given time are spam… in Russian.  I’m just saying.

watching the news earlier, they did a feature on a website called rent a friend.  No, I’m not kidding.  And apparently the site is exactly that, a way for someone who wants to catch a movie or something to “rent” someone to go with them.  I HAD to check out the site.  They stress that it’s for strictly platonic engagements and that it’s not a dating or escort site.  I’m kinda floored by it.  I mean, I could see using it if you’re traveling on business or vacation to somewhere unfamiliar and want someone to show you around or something.  But if you’ve been living somewhere for a few years, surely you’ve got a friend, acquaintence or co-worker you can ask to accompany you to a movie.  The fees apparently start at $10 an hour… If I couldn’t find someone to go with me, I think I’d skip the rent a friend and go see two movies by myself instead of one with a complete stranger (who’s charging me to take them to a movie).  With the savings, I could treat myself to lunch or dinner afterward, too.

But then, there’s part of me that’s got a morbid curiosity… LOL

and it’s not even the full moon.  People were in rare stupidity today.  I’m explaining simple things  — things along the lines of “push the button that says…” and they’re looking at me like “huh?”  Seriously?  Am I fucking speaking English?  I just wanna make sure I didn’t wake up speaking Swahili this morning or something.  Or maybe daydreaming about Hot Russian Guy has made me spontaneously learn the language and it’s Russian I’m speaking.  Who the fuck knows.  All I know is that these morons were looking at me like I was speaking in tongues and growing a third head when I said “Push the button that says ‘finish and pay’”  That’s it.  Finish and pay.  Simple words.  Simple concept.  But no, we can’t do that all by ourselves.  We’ve left our brains in our other pants today.  Andrew knows what I’m talking about.  And a bunch of other people from work, too.  It’s disturbing to think that these people are allowed out in public unsupervised.

Here’s hoping tomorrow is a little better — if this stupidity trend continues, I may just have to strangle a customer or two.  Put a little fear of cashier in the customers, ya know?  Maybe they’d be a little nicer.

Speaking of being nice, or not nice as the case may be… I let a customer know today that if she was purchasing at least $25 in groceries, she could get an 18-pack of eggs for cheaper than the dozen that she was taking off the shelf.  No “thank you,” no “oh, I didn’t know that,” no what I got was “I don’t need you to tell me what I should buy.”  Honey, buy whatever you wanna buy.  But when 12 eggs cost $2.39 and 18 eggs costs $1.49, it doesn’t take a genious to realize that you’re getting the better deal on the 18 pack.  But fuck… it’s your money, if you wanna waste it… feel free.

Started out with a run to Dunkin Donuts since my niece and nephew stayed over last night and that was their breakfast request.  That out of the way, there was some letter writing to a friend who is in desperate need of mail.  A nice 7 page letter finished up and ready to send out tomorrow is all kinds of groovy.

After watching a few hours of Shark Week, my son decided that we needed to go somewhere.  Dunno where he wanted to go, but he kept bringing me my clothes (I was lounging in PJ’s) and saying “car.”  So I thought, what the hell.  There’s a park nearby that has playground equipment, hiking trails and an area for fishing.  I asked him if he wanted to go fishing.  He was so happy he grabbed his rod and didn’t wait for me to get dressed before trying to head out the door.  We get to the park (after I got dressed, grabbed MY fishing rod and my license), parked, checked out the map since I’d never been there before.  Apparently the fishing area is about 1/3 of a mile hike from the parking area, but it was through the woods and a nice day, so what the hell.  We get halfway there and there’s a little rumble.  Eh, it’ll probably be nothing.  We get to a fishing spot that’s so NOT a good place for fishing… you can’t get close to the shore, so the 10 or 15 feet of line that the “kiddie” fishing rods have didn’t even make it into the water.  And the area has so much tall grass, roots, fallen trees, rocks and branches that after I reeled in my first cast, I had to cut the line because it got so entangled I couldn’t get it out.  Then the sky opened up.  We had to walk back to the car in the rain, got nice and soaked.  We DID see a deer and a flock of turkey buzzards, which was kinda cool.  Since fishing didn’t work out, I got him McDonalds instead.  Nothing says I love you like a happy meal.

I might take him back to that park more often though.  Not for the fishing, but the walking through the woods.  Maybe he’ll get to see more wildlife, and it’ll be good exercise… for both of us.

After we got home, mom sent me out for KFC for the rest of us.  Watched Big Brother, watched some more Shark Week… and now I’m blogging and checking my email before heading off to bed.

that doesn’t involve Hot Russian Guy.

Gage is doing awesome.  He’s been painting a lot lately.  I get him these wooden cut outs and he paints them with water colors.  His technique for painting them is really beautiful.  I was thinking about trying to sell some of them on ebay or something.  Just to help pay for more materials, since he seems to be calmed by the painting.  I need to find a bigger variety of the cut outs, as well.  School starts in just about a month, and he’s enjoying his summer program.

Work is work.  There are some nice customers, and there are lots of asshole customers.  My co-workers, for the most part, are great.  Hi Andrew!  Right now is the time of vacations, so a lot of people are missing… sucks sometimes, especially since Andrew and Nikki are both out next week and I shall missing them.

Been having a bit more of a social life lately.  Dinner with some co-workers a few times, movies with Mare and her daughter last month, helped another friend fill out some legal paperwork last week, but the conversation while we were doing it was great, I actually had a blast and got a foot rub and a shoulder rub out of it.

Contemplating the idea of dating.  No one specific, just “getting out there” as they say.  I dunno.  See, I believe in full disclosure.  If a guy expresses interest in me, by the end of the first date they’ll know I’m a single mom.  From what I understand, most women in my position wait a few dates (some even wait till it’s officially a relationship) to let that fact be known.  I’m not out for a free dinner or trip to the movies if I go out with someone.  I’ll happily pick up the tab sometimes or split the bill, it’s not about that.  It’s about finding someone you connect with on a personal level.  About doing something for you, instead of doing everything in your life for your child(ren).  We single moms (and single dads) tend to focus solely on our little ones and forget that by not taking care of our personal needs (and I’m not talking about sex, actually), we’re actually doing our children a disservice.  But how many men are going to be interested in this particular brand of single mom?  It’s worth considering.  I don’t think I’ll turn down a chance to have a good time with a good person, but I don’t think I’m up for actively searching, either.

about the Hot Russian Guy?  Well I’m going to anyway.

One of the girls at work talked to him a few weeks ago, told him that one of her co-workers was interested in him, thought he was nice, attractive, etc.  He said he was flattered but he has a girlfriend back in Russia.  *ALAS*

Actually, it’s been pointed out that it’s possible that he only said that because he thought the person who was talking to him was the one interested and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.  Yes, that’s possible.  But until I have confirmation otherwise, I’m operating under the assumption that he does, in fact, have a girlfriend.  Which makes him a no fly zone.  Sure, I’ll still try to get to know him.  Sure, I’ll still flirt with him.  If he asked me for my number, I’d give it in a heartbeat.  But unless I get confirmation of single-ness, nothing would happen but friendship.  There are many people who have told me things along the lines of “if his girlfriend is over there, and HE’S here, and you’re here…”  Sorry, no.  I’ve been cheated on, didn’t like the feeling.  I won’t do anything that would make another person feel that way.  It just wouldn’t be right.  At least that’s my opinion.

Anyhoo, I will confess that before I got the girlfriend info, I did find out his last name so I could see if maybe he had a facebook or something and his relationship status would be visible.  He didn’t.  But I searched his name on Google and found a paper he wrote.  I haven’t read it yet, because usually when I get time online it’s late and I’m tired and I want to be able to process what I’m reading thoroughly.  I’ve read the first few paragraphs and it looks like it might be very interesting.  Definitely information I didn’t have before.

Anyhoo, he was in the store the other day.  I happened to notice that he was buying something that we had a store coupon for, so I tore it out of a flyer and gave it to him.  He told me he “likes me so much for saving him money.”  He was very enthusiastic.  Especially since we’re talking about 35 cents or so.  I’m trying not to read too much into it, but he also asked me to help him ring up some produce… and I KNOW he knows how to ring up produce at the self checkout.  He does it all the time.

Have you ever met someone, and the moment you met them something told you that you absolutely must get to know this person?  Yeah, that happened with him.  Over the past few months, I’ve realized that he gives off a tremendous amount of positive energy.  The kind that just uplifts you.  Prolonged exposure is starting to have an effect even when I haven’t seen him for awhile… I’ve noticed that I’m thinking more positively than negatively lately.  See people, the energy you give off DOES effect the people around you.  Take heart and try to adjust accordingly.  On some of my worst days at work, when he’s come in, it’s been very difficult not to just throw my arms around him and try to absorb as much of that energy as possible.  I’m thinking he’d be a little startled (if not terrified, lol) if I did that.

A co-worker and I were chatting, discussing, comparing and we both agree.  Of all the customers from all the different countries (America included) who come into our store, the Russian customers are the nicest.  Personally I’ve found them to be polite, patient, courteous, etc.  We even had one customer, who is Russian, who purchased a money order for one amount but received a money order for 10x the amount she requested.  I’ll be the first to admit that if I had no ties to the store… I’d probably have had a hard time returning that money order to get one in the correct denomination.  This customer, however, did bring it back.  Eastern Europeans are also extremely nice.  Pretty much all of the customers from outside the US are very nice to the employees and other customers.  It’s the American customers who aren’t.  They’re the ones who try to rip us off, who treat us like we’re there for them to walk on.  They treat the employees at the grocery store as if we are so far beneath them that we are not entitled to the simple courtesies that our mothers took such pride in teaching us when we were children.  Whatever happened to a thank you?  Now I’m not saying that all Americans are like that, but I’ve noticed that the customers who walk around and act as if every employee in the store owes them something, or who decides that because they want something for a lower price… or to get a refund on something that they ate in its entirety… or anything else like that… well we should just bend over and take the loss because they deserve it.

What is it with this sense of entitlement that Americans are developing?  This whole “the world owes me” attitude?  No wonder people hate Americans.  As I said, not everyone has it, but so many people who come into my store on a day to day basis do.  There are days I just fuckin hate people.

I’ve said it before… I’ll say it again.  Randall (from Clerks) said it best when he said “This job would be great if it weren’t for the fuckin customers.”

I should read what I’ve posted before I post.  I posted about Hot Russian Guy already.  LOL  Well, I HAVE discovered since the first post about him that the guy my co-worker saw with a wifey type person was not the same hot russian guy (we have several Russian men who shop there… and they’re all good looking).

So there’s a bright spot occasionally in my dreary day at work… I refer to him as “Hot Russian Guy” though I do know his name.  And Russian isn’t entirely accurate.  He’s actually from Ukraine, but when I asked him initially he said Russia.  It was Russia when he was born… I guess old habits die hard.  Anyhoo, I digress.  Apart from being absolutely gorgeous.  No seriously, he’s probably the most incredible looking man I’ve ever seen (in my opinion, of course… there are those who would probably disagree).  His smile could light up a room.  There’s something incredibly infectious about it.  You can’t help but smile back when he smiles at you.   I actually get giddy and tongue tied when he comes in.  I also find myself acting more… girly from time to time.  Strange for me.  Strange indeed.