wandering past 2nd street and looking at the ghosts

And here I thought my sleepless nights were over. Now she wants her money back. Money she said I didn't have to pay. Four and a half rent payments (allegedly) and a loan for a replacement cell phone (which she has no receipt for, hmn, problem on her end).

Why? Because she's lazy and doesn't work and now has all these "unplanned" (my left foot) expenses that she's too broke as a joke to cover. Not my fault you quit Disney and a regular paycheck, not my fault you sent me & Steve running screaming from your house and assumed that giant rent payment, not my fault you drink all the time and run the jacuzzi twenty four hours a day.

So I fired off a nasty e-mail, called her absolutely ridiculous, reminded her about the times she said I didn't have to pay her back, disputed the vast majority of the bill, said the chances of renewing our friendship are officially the big squadoosh. Can't wait to see what she says. If it had all ended more amicably, none of this would be an issue obviously.

Work was pretty fun. I did ten hours today. When I told our facilities guy Lane at the end of my shift how long I'd been there, he said "that's all?" That's pretty much how I feel lately. I'd just be sitting around the apartment bored if I didn't work so much.

I had a conversation with a lady on Main Street on my way out tonight about the ghost of Walt Disney still inhabiting the park. I don't doubt any of the stories circulating out there, even though I don't really buy into all that stuff, but I think she thought I thought she was crazy. We parted and I got offstage, where I had an overwhelming urge to listen to "Ghosts of Me and You" by Less Than Jake. Which I did.

Mousetrap's made enough money to cash out with Cafe Press, so now it's the rush to move everything over to the new vendor. I did another round of MySpace marketing last night, added about 35 more friends and made the sale that took profits over the $25 commission check threshold. So time to cough up $10 and submit all the artwork sitting on my desktop to Spreadshirt.

la vaca critter dice, "moooooooo!"

The work bug hit me after I got home tonight, so instead of going to sleep I spent time with Adobe Illustrator re-learning all about working with paths and snapping text to curves, all to make a T-shirt with a poorly drawn cow and the phrase "Hecho en NO/CC" on it. I love my little side business.

Mousetrap's first sale was a big success, I'm up to eleven customers, sixteen shirts and upwards of $200 in sales. I got the two shirts that I ordered; the designs look good but the print quality is rather lousy, especially for how much they cost. Cafe Press' definition of "black" is a little different than mine, I guess. So between that and talking with a few other people who've gotten their shirts I've decided I'm going to move production to another vendor called Spreadshirt; the print quality will be better but I have to re-do all the designs as vector graphics instead of bitmap files (thus the time spent learning Illustrator). Plus I get a lot more color options for shirts, and since Spreadshirt is based out of state there's no sales tax, so the price tag will be a bit lower.

I talked to Steve at work today. He & Jenny found a new apartment and their last day in the Orange house is tomorrow (today). Good for them. That tiny, dimly lit room must have driven them crazy. I was supposed to get that room when they moved out. Obviously that didn't work out. Instead tonight, I sit at my once-garaged desk in my new room, looking out at treetops and roofs, getting used to the walk-in closet, scheming about what I'm going to do with all this empty space, and thinking about how much better things are now than than they were a month ago.

Except then you feel guilty about the past, the people you left behind. Even if they deserved it, even in spite of lies, false pretenses, broken promises, nagging, phone conversations you weren't meant to hear, eviction letters.

Then you realize it's not about winning. Nobody really got the best end of the deal. You write off bad debts, cut your losses, and don't move on so much as you just get on with your life. So far, so good.

creepy ladies wearing wigs that are dentists

This morning I was fast asleep, dreaming about sitting in a dentists chair that looked more like one of the "shampoo" chairs at a salon, getting "put under" for what I thought was a routine cleaning -- not with gas, but with a headrest that cut off the circulation to my head...

When our friendly stage scheduler called (cue Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" ringtone). So in the span of sixty seconds, I went from sadistic dentists' office to being asked to open Splash tomorrow. And lead the crew through DOSH inspection. Our day crew. In the rain. At 6:30 a.m. (thereby losing 2 scheduled hours of OT).

I may have said yes to all that, since I don't want anyone to interpret declining as me chickening out of a DOSH inspection. But on this rainy, random morning I needed a few minutes to wake up and think it over. The scheduler and I must differ on what "a few minutes" means. She called back before I could find any warm caffeine in the kitchen, saying she'd found someone else. Well, that's ducky.

And who was supposed to open Splash tomorrow? The scheduler, of course.

concentrated evil lurks inside furniture grocery stores

Weird Swedish-named products I bought at Ikea on Sunday:

ASPELUND -- "Antique" bedside table with a small cabinet underneath. I was about to buy just a regular table until I saw this, which reminded me of the nightstand I have at home, so I bought it instead. Assembly time was under an hour, so I was pleased, plus it looks nice.

NOT -- Free-standing floor lamp. Not very bright, but not too shabby for eight bucks.

ANTIFONI -- Free-standing, versatile directional lamp. Swivels and bends into any position for desk work. Looks like a giant version of Luxo (of Pixar fame).

SUNDBY -- A tall, pretty lamp to go on my nightstand. Turns on and off by pulling a chain hanging down from the light fixture.

NA-SHADE-- Brown lamp shade for my Sundby lamp.

ISBRYTARE -- Halogen spotlight for bedtime reading and to project pictures on the wall behind me while I'm at the computer. Right now it's a pattern of blue squares and it kinda reminds me of the contestants' background on "Press Your Luck."



KOPPLA -- Three-outlet surge protector (comes in a two-pack). I thought there was a rule that surge protectors had to have six outlets... shows you what I know!

RAKET -- Three-pack of 4"x6" photo frames. You can never have enough, and they were a steal at a buck ninty-nine.

FIXA -- Where else but Ikea are you gonna pick up a hammer, pliers, adjustable wrench and interchangeable screwdriver with 11 bits for under six bucks?

DOKUMENT -- It's a trash can. It was $3.