hope that i get old before i die…

so my “free checking” account has been getting charged $5.95 every month since i got laid off in december because i haven’t had direct deposit to my account. when i try to explain that it’s hard to direct deposit no money whatsoever, they tell me that i need to have direct deposit to avoid the charges. and now, here i am literally *hours* away from a direct deposit, and THEY CHARGED ME FOR NOT HAVING IT ANYWAY. thankfully i just set up a new account which is actually free to use with no hidden fees and no extra costs for using my own money. because, as the title says, bank of america is a shitty bank. and now i have to leave them just when i finally got them to stop putting a hold on my paychecks too

i *wish* i could have gotten a pic of the incredible thunderstorm that rolled through this morning. it was so bad that we briefly lost power twice after i got to work, in addition to the raging river rolling through the parking lot when i pulled in. it was the kind of morning where you just want to sit at home and watch the lightning go by. it would have looked much better at night, but beggars can’t be choosers as they say…

well, the texas alcoholic beverage commission has decided that if you are out and about tonight and “acting suspiciously”, that is grounds for arrest without even giving you a sobriety test. they are planning on stationing police throughout local bars for the express purpose of arresting anyone they even *suspect* of being “too drunk”. so you know what i’m gonna do? i’m gonna go buy me a 6 pack and do my drinking right here in the comfort of my own living room instead. if the bars want me to come out and support them, they’ll have to allow me to actually have a drink at the bar without worrying if i’m going home in handcuffs tonight.

so there are a couple of local schools, pretty much suburb schools, that have decided that if you play sports for the school you are not allowed to have a private life whatsoever. of course, the parents are using this as an excuse to say that they are “worried for their children’s safety”, but in reality it’s just yet another fucking arm of the failed “war on drugs” in this country.

for those who don’t live in texas, the story is that these schools have decided that their athletes are allowed to be subjected to mandatory drug testing as long as they play sports for the school. there was a public hearing tonight, but again it’s in the suburbs so i’m willing to put good money that they not only approved it, but by a large margin. not only is this the suburbs, but it’s in one of the most republican voting counties in the nation, so you tell me what you think

i realize that the supreme court said that kids who actually perform extracurricular activities for the school are the only ones *legally* allowed to be tested. but there is a *big* difference between what is legal and what is right. the one thing i will say that is positive about the whole thing is that they are not pressing drug charges against any students who test positive. but i don’t know if a positive test goes on their history or not, so if it does then that means no government funded financial aid for them when they go to college and all the other stupid crap they pile on kids who end up getting caught doing what kids are known for doing. they should just forget about piling on all this stuff and just make it illegal to be under 18 that seems to be the prevailing attitude for passing these kinds of laws, imo.

so i am *almost* caught up with my bills — which means no more working every fucking day of the week (yay!) — but this week has found me just a little short until this weekend. and i have a prescription due later this week so i’m basically facing a situation where it’s buy groceries or prescription but not both without borrowing money from someone. so in comes my mom with a bunch of food that she had made but was leftover from yesterday. so now i have enough to eat for the week without spending any money and she gets to dump her leftovers on me instead of having them sit in the fridge. it’s win-win!

1) i am not irish, nor catholic
2) i don’t feel the need to drink to excess to celebrate these things of which i am not a part of
3) st. patrick did not actually drive the snakes out of ireland. he converted the island to catholicism and called for the persecution of the celtics and the druids. this led to a systematic killing of the peoples of the island and is one of the great reasons why i hate organized religion as well.

i have nothing against the irish or your average everyday catholic. i do have a problem with the catholic church and its history and therefore when everyone is doing green shots and drinking green beer until they puke even greener puke than normal, i will be doing something else entirely and letting all of the people who feel the need to buy into the commercialism of this “holiday” have fun running each other off the road in a drunken rage and/or stupor.

well i’ve been finding myself becoming closer friends with the girl at my apt building. see previous posts for the story, but i know only about 5 people read this blog unless i write about g-strings anyway but i’m coming to find that most of my original impressions of her are not quite correct. well, maybe not impressions, more like assumptions. and you know what they say about assuming things well, just this one time i don’t mind being wrong about things like that….

so the other day my mom asked me about the new job. when i mentioned kind of jokingly that i’m the only straight guy in our office she asked me if i could work in such an environment when i told her that i used to have gay friends before i came back to texas and that it doesn’t really bother me to work with gay guys. then she tried to backtrack and say that “some people would be uncomfortable”. in my mind i’m thinking “yeah, kind of like you?” i don’t remember her being so bigoted before she became born again. and i don’t know if it was always there and i didn’t see it before, or if it was brought out by her church. i personally think it’s her church because it is an incredible example of religious largesse that you can only find in texas. 400+ member choir, two sunday broadcasts, and situated in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the whole city. needless to say, it is incredibly incredibly over the top and a shining example of why i refuse to buy into organized religion. no offense to those who have an attachment to the christian faith, but this is the kind of church that gives “normal” christians a bad name, imo.

the djembe was a little loose so i thought i would tighten it up a little tonight. mental note: next time you get the bright idea to use your hands to tighten ropes, remember to put on some good gloves to stop the blistering. i don’t have pics right now, but i know tomorrow morning it will be pretty bad. i can feel it.

speaking of feeling it, i went home early today because i had the worst headache. almost like a migraine or something. even now i still feel it, and it’s especially bad when talking on the phone. hopefully it won’t come back tomorrow, unlike my newfound blisters…

lately i’ve been feeling lightheaded and strange, like i can’t concentrate on anything for very long and nothing sinks in anymore. my ear feels like i’ve got an ear infection, i’m hoping i don’t have to go to the doctor for this, but at least i have insurance now.

i also kind of started up a friendship with this lady who is older than me (by at least 8 years), not that it matters. we met on a dating site, but i get the impression that she wants something with me much more than friendship. and i am just not attracted to her at all. she’s on the large side and eats like it too. i know that’s a mean thing to say, but one of the least attractive things to me is when i see someone literally “pig out” on their food. i know eventually it will come to the “i just don’t think of you that way” speech, and i am not very fond of saying these things to people. she’s nice otherwise, and we have a lot in common, but i just really don’t feel anything for her romantically whatsoever.

and the new job is going very well. my boss said he likes my enthusiasm and that i know what i’m doing technically, but he told me i need to work on my email formation. i already knew this but it is still a conscious effort not to create a huge run-on when i’m trying to describe a situation. even when i write here i have to go back and figure out what would make a good paragraph break and edit accordingly. but at least they like me and it’s obvious that there is enough work to keep me busy and then some so as long as i don’t screw up then i should be ok for some time