Freaks and Geeks

Wow.

I have to tell you, on a daily basis I think that there is no way that I will see something downtown that will shock me more than I have seen the day before, and then I show up and *BAM*. Shock. On a daily basis my jaw drops and I am involuntarily laughing or shaking my head.

Allow me to expound.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAY:

* The scary pierced, tattooed, dread locked, belly dancers are back. Along with their cymbals and violinist. Strange you say? Yeah, no duh. (Whoa, haven't used that expression since junior high, may have to bring that one back for old times sake. "No duh".)
***TANGENT ALERT:****
Do you remember the word "Doi", or something like that. Sounds like, "Doy". The alternative for "Duh"? I totally forgot about that word! I really like that word too!! Next time somebody states the obvious just roll your eyes, exhale loudly and say: "No DOY". Hee hee. I'm bringing it back, you heard it here first!! I'm such a geek, I know. I mean, no doy, er I mean doi (sp?). Anyway.

Ok, back on track here...

* On the opposite corner of the street are two guys, dressed up as devils, dancing around and screaming at people walking by. I mean, running up to them and yelling in their face. They are even running up to cars and yelling at people driving past. I swear, if I was one of those people I would probably freak out, thinking they were trying to rob me or something. OH MY. OK so one of the devil-dudes just crossed the street and started dancing with the belly dancers. Now that is something I didn't think I would see, but I guess it's appropriate.

OK I just tried to take a picture, but they are too far away, and I would have to venture outside to get a better picture. Too scared, won't do it, sorry.

* The usual homeless people going up to the people sitting at tables outside of Starbucks, likely begging for money so they can feed their habit.

You see, this is why I sit INSIDE of Starbuck's, I avoid the scariness, at the same time maintaining a good vantage point.

Little kid in the BIG city

CONFESSION:

I am not a city girl. At all. Yes I love the fashion, and the shopping, and the cool restaurants and cafés, but I only wish I could have all that without the traffic and the people. That sounds so sad, but true. People irritate me. And the older I get, the worse it gets. Really y’all, I used to be a really nice girl, so what has happened to me!?! Oh well, ce la vie (Danielle??)

So let me explain. This past week I have been commuting to downtown Phoenix for training, and the commute is just killing me. It takes me about an hour and a half ONE WAY, so I’m putting in about 10 hours of overtime this week. Thank goodness they are paying for the commute time, PLUS mileage. So my paycheck will be nice, but I won’t be so much after the training (nice that is). Did I mention this training (and thus commute) is EIGHT WEEKS LONG. Yup. Eight weeks. E*I*G*H*T WEEEEEEEEKS. I’m gonna die, and I’m not sure at this point if that is an exaggeration. Let me just list the things that I hate about having to train downtown for the next eight week:

• The commute. I hate it taking 1.5 hours to go 22 miles.

• Getting up early and going to bed late. I have to get up at 5:30am every morning, and go to bed at about 9:30pm. I have no life right now.

• The classroom setting. I was SO over being in a classroom four years ago. (I SO sympathize for you Danielle!!) Because believe it or not, even though people are “adults”, many do not “grow up”. The most annoying guy in my class is in his late 40’s and thinks he’s hilarious, and cracks jokes, makes faces, and makes fun of people all day.

>> o Tangent: So I got SO mad at some guys in my class yesterday. It was the end of a LONG day, and the whole day I hadn’t been able to get on to my lab computer because the screen wouldn’t turn on. I had checked the power button on the front, checked the connections, etc, and it seemed to be connected fine, it just wouldn’t turn on. SO at the end of the day I finally call the trainer over to help me out. He couldn’t figure it out, and as he was turning it back and forth I noticed a switch on the side of the monitor. SO I was like, of course, it figures, as soon as I ask for help I find that the monitor has TWO power switches. So I told him and he was like “Oh yeah, it is weird, I remember this happened before and we couldn’t figure it out”. So I said “Yeah, who would’ve thought two power switches. Seems stupid.” So then I hear some snickering coming from the other side of the room, where a bunch of guys are sitting, including the above mentioned. So I look at them and say, “What’s so funny?” They don’t answer. I repeat, “What’s SO funny? Seriously, what’s so funny?” Finally one of them chimes in, “Just funny that you were surprised it was the power button,” and the really annoying guy says in mocking tone, acting like he is me, “‘Oh how can it be that the power is needed to turn the monitor on’” Or something to that effect. I was SO mad. I said, “I’ve never heard of a monitor having two power switches, which is stupid btw, and I know basically everything there is to know about computers so don’t even go there dude.” I just shake my head and go back to what I was doing. They don’t say anything. I was SO MAD!! I hate that they just assume because I’m a girl that I don’t know anything about computers, and I HATE being laughed at. I wanted to also add that I have a four-year degree in Web Design, Computer Animation, and Graphic Design, but I just let it lie. I probably overreacted, but I absolutely hate being the butt of joke just so a bunch of guys can snicker and bond together. There is one thing I am pretty sure of though, they won’t be making fun of me for the next eight weeks, but I’ll keep you posted.

• (Back to the things I hate about training...) I hate having to sit in a dungeon (the classroom is basically in the basement, so there are no windows), for eight hours a day.

• There are a lot of CRAZY people downtown. Let me paint you a picture: The other day I am sitting in Starbucks, and outside the window I see a woman in a gypsy type outfit dancing around with a three foot sword, across the street from her is a man they call “the preacher” who screams his lungs out at the people walking by, and homeless people walking up to the business people eating lunch at tables outside. Craziness. I’m telling you, it’s nutso.

Well there are definitely more reasons than those, but I just don’t have the time or energy to write them all down.

Until next time!