I guess I should begin this post with a simple update on the news from the last post.  I got the results from the hearing.  It was resolved in the company’s favor, but I didn’t have to repay anything.  In the end it was moot due to the new job scenario, but still…I would have preferred to win.  I understand why the judge ruled the way that it was ruled.  I mentioned the unfairness built into the situation due to my being unemployed and my opponent being a large corporation with a legal department.  I also made a point not to talk about my being taken advantage of at my former employer.  I didn’t want to seem like a huge whiner.  I know I did the right thing, and I stood up for it.  I will always have my dignity there.  I have no respect for my former employer though.  I will forever use them as a baseline for how to mistreat employees.  I was always told that you hate your first job or that your first job is always shit.  Now I know that from experience.  All that being said…the case is closed.  I’m officially done with them.  Time to move on and never look back.

On to brighter and happier subjects.  I have a job.  As of Thursday, I am officially full time employed.  I love what I do and I love who I work for.  I’m a developer now, and I still get opportunities for video work.  I really like my coworkers, and so far, I’ve felt stimulated and challenged by my work on a daily basis.  I enjoy going in, and I don’t feel like I have to rush out the door at the end of the day.  It’s wonderful, and I have faith that it will stay that way.  Life is good.  Wow…haven’t said that in a long time, right?

In other news, this past Wednesday was Scarlet’s birthday.  Scarlet is my orange kitty.  Yes, I know…I’m writing about my cat.  I’m lame.  Still, I’ve never had a pet from kitty or puppy age before.  So it’s a new and fun experience.  Bonding with a kitten is so different than bonding with a grown adult kitty.  So I had to celebrate a little bit.  We have so many catnip toys now.  Plus, I stocked up on lasers and treats too.  No party hats…this time.  Maybe next year. 

In other cat news, we’ve solved the Serenity peeing problem.  I did a little digging…no pun intended…and discovered that some declawed cats have sensitive paws.  It may actually hurt her to dig her paws into the standard kitty litter.  She may be associating pain with using the box.  So instead of a protest, like we initially thought, it could be a physical thing.  Serenity was declawed about the age of 2, and it may not have been done well.  We picked up some Yesterday’s News litter, which is recommended for cats that have just been declawed.  As soon as we put that out, she started using it all the time.  So it turns out that it probably was the pain issue.  It’s been over a week now, and so far so good.  No peeing on the floor anymore.   I have faith things will stay that way.

I hate to say it, but the idea of getting a new phone has been burning a hole in my pocket.  I’ve been going back and forth between iPhone and Android phone for a while.  I finally decided.  It came down to financial reasons.  To get an iPhone, I’d have to break contract on two lines with T-Mobile before I’d even be getting the iPhone itself.  So we’d be looking at like…700 bycks.  Plus, I really like my T-Mo plan.  So, I opted for the new myTouch 3G which comes out in August about the time 3G speed rolls out in my area.  I’m excited and am geeking out about it a bit.  Sorry if I blab on too much about it.  Oh look at that, I already have…again…sorry.

Jumping back in time just over a week…my parents came up to visit.  On top of that, Chris’ parents also came up to visit.  It was one full weekend, let me tell ya.  My mother is allergic to cats.  So my parents stayed at a hotel down the street.  Chris’ parents stayed here in the house.  Both pairs of parents wanted to go to the Northern Wisconsin State Fair, which just so happens to take place in my current town.

Now, the Official State Fair takes place in West Allis, WI, which is near Miller Park in Milwaukee.  It goes on for 10 days and has a pretty large permanent grounds.  My family figured that since the Northern Wisconsin one also bears the state fair name, it was going to be just as big.  That’s not actually the case.  As it happens, the NWSF is about the size of a decent sized county fair.  I found out about this maybe two days before they came.  So I had to come up with other things to do since we likely wouldn’t spend the whole time at the fair.

Instead we went to Irvine Park, which is adjacent to the fair grounds.  It’s also home to the local zoo.  That turned out to be a blast.  While the park isn’t as large as the Milwaukee Zoo, it does a lot of things right with the open, large natural habitats and beautiful surroundings.  It felt like a state park, and since my family spent a lot of time camping during my youth, we felt like we were at home.  My parents loved it.  The fair was enjoyable, but it didn’t compare to Irvine Park.

The weekend was a success.  My parents had a blast.  So did Chris’ parents.  I know mine are excited to come and visit again.  That makes me thrilled.    They headed home Sunday morning.  I spent the rest of Sunday shopping for work clothes.  All in all, it was a very successful weekend.  It was also a very draining one.  I slept like a rock Sunday night.

Jumping forward to this past weekend…it was a much more relaxing one.  We went to see two movies.  We saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Saturday and Angels and Demons in the budget theater on Sunday.  I have to say…going to movies in the theater is less and less appealing these days.  In the Harry Potter showing, there was a blown subwoofer, the projector lens was dirty…enough that it was terribly distracting, and there was an infant in a carrier in the theater.  Why do people bring their 3 month old children to movies that could easily make them cry and ruin the movie for the rest of the film goers?  I never understood that.

Harry Potter was great.  It was very dramatic.  Less magic…more character.  It was a little anti-climactic due to the lack of a giant magic fight, but nevertheless, I enjoyed it.  Angels and Demons was ok.  The book was better.  The audio was terrible at the budget.  The center channel was so quiet that we couldn’t hear most of the first part of the film.  I really think seeing movies at home is much better nowadays.

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to make the Wonder Woman costume as a whole.  I’ve been looking for patterns that might work for it.  I’m thinking a corset design might work to get started.  I’m not sure otherwise.  In the meantime, to practice my sewing skills, I bought a pattern for a cloak.  I’ve always wanted a pretty velvet hooded cloak.  Now I’m going to make one.  It should be fun.

I’m really starting to realize how jaded I am about my love life.  I’m starting to feel so frustrated that I’m actually getting a little angry about it.  I’m so sick of being attracted to straight women.  I walked past a beautiful woman today and found myself just grumbling.  My finding love seems quite impossible. None of it has helped my self esteem.  I’ve been kind of at a low point because of it.   I feel ugly, like unwanted trash.  I think it’s making my mood overall go downhill.  I’ve been a bit bitchy lately, and I know Chris isn’t such a fan of me when I get like that.  I wonder how long it’ll be before I heal from all of this.

To help with that, I picked up some Valerian Root.  It comes from the planet Valeris…no it doesn’t, but it sure sounds like something from Star Trek, doesn’t it?  It’s supposed to help with anxiety, insomnia, and even help with IBS.  So I get benefit with at least two problems at once.  I figure maybe anxiety reduction might help me past the bitchiness.  We’ll see.

Lastly, before I end this 1500 word monster of a post, I’ve decided to start asking a question of the blog each post.  I think it’ll be fun.  This post’s question is:  what’s the worst job experience you’ve ever had?

I look forward to hearing all of your stories in the comments.  Thanks for reading!