Steady Work?

It’s been a year since I moved to Oakland and although I love it, I’m so tired of looking for work. Do you know how many W-2’s I’m going to have when I fill out my taxes next year?

I went to a job fair yesterday for a teaching position. I don’t have my credential yet – am paying to get it because that’s basically how you get credentialed – you throw some money at the state government. Anyway, I was under the impression that I could apply for the job while I waited for the application to go through. Nope.

I was kind of led on and now I’m kind of annoyed. Still waiting to get my credential and when I do, then I’ll send in my application

In the meantime…I’m trying to think of things I can sell to bring in some cash.

I actually…

clicked on the Oakland Police Department website to look at their job listings. The pay is better than I’ve had.

Did I mention Monday was my last day at the job I got two months ago? Company closed.

mi casa es not su casa

saw a critter run under my bathroom door this morning. i was in the bathroom post-shower. it ran out. to where??? the BF is not here which is so unfair because this is what BF’s are for. (in addition to a few other things)

i cleaned up the kitchen, where i’m sure it meant to go. then bought the sonar thingy’s that are supposed to hurt their ears. i have yet to see it come running with it’s hands covering it’s ears and screaming.

Road Rage, My Bad

I learned a valuable lesson today, folks. Actually, I should have learned this long ago and even not so long ago. Let me explain…

I live very close to a freeway exit which is awesome and not. One of the problems is that 4-5 lanes merge when I need to get over to the exit only lane. It’s dangerous and even more so at rush hour. So I’m driving home in rush hour after just doing a reading of my work to an audience at school. Nerves were ripe.

I got almost all the way to the right without getting hit and there’s this dude who won’t let me into the exit only lane that I need to be into so I can go home. So, I flipped him off and yelled. He saw me and then I realized that he wasn’t trying to keep me out of the lane – he didn’t even see me because he was talking on the phone. I continued to struggle to get over and ended up in front of him. I knew this wasn’t a gracious act on his part and thought, oh bugger.

When we exited, I pulled into a different lane and he pulled behind me. His high beams were on and he was following close. I drove by my house because, as I said, I learned that lesson. I quickly pulled into a left hand turn lane hoping he would continue straight ahead. He pulled behind me. I was at a stop. I locked my door.

He got out of the car and came to my window. It struck me as amusing that he had his cel phone in hand. This was our exchange:

“What’s your problem?”

“You shouldn’t drive while you are on the phone.”

“What’s your problem?”

“You shouldn’t drive while you are on the phone.”

And then he walked back to his car. We both turned and after a moments pause he drove away from me. I doubled back and went home.

Did he think I was crazy and flipping him off for no reason? Did he have anger management problems? Do I?

All I can do is give this advice. If you are driving home in rush hour in your fancy convertible car with the special ‘art’ license plate don’t flip off the guy on the phone in the beat up mini van who, it turns out, works for Fed Ex or at least was wearing one of their T-shirts. I hope he’s not a Fed Ex driver.

And I promise to stop flipping people off. I promise. I promise. I promise. I’ll pretend to do it in my head instead.

missing garbage can oakland

That was the internet search I did yesterday.

You see someone, and we know who – the man who takes cans out of our recycling bin, and we know why – a few days earlier his container broke and he left a pile of broken bottles, a thin pair of red pants and a t-shirt in the street in front of our place…he took our small garbage can and put his things inside of it.

As thrilled as we were that he got his stuff, lack of garbage can was not cool. I called the landlord and heard nothing back and last night was garbage night. I wasn’t sure what to do but I did want the chicken carcass that was in the garage out of the garage. So, I tried to find instructions on how to dump your trash sans bin.

I searched ‘missing garbage can oakland’. Any guesses on what came up? How about a hint – they had nothing to do with helping me empty the trash… Ok, I’ll tell you.

Articles about missing bodies found in garbage cans. Thankfully none were about Oakland, but still. This dumping of the human body into a trash bin freaks me out as much as the thought of the murder. People are f-ed up.

The Sounds of Sirens

Happy day, people! Though admittedly, I was scared that the cops were chasing some pyscho killer when I woke to a siren and a cop on his megaphone saying ’stop’ and I think ‘get out of the car’.

But no…they set up a speed trap and have been catching road racers all morning. This thrills me beyond belief because I’m getting old and I think speeding is dangerous. Especially when it’s in a residential neighborhood, the street has lots of curves, there is a junior high school, and when I have to pull in and out of my driveway with you inconsiderate *bleeps* on my ass.

Wheew, wheew, pull over. It’s music to my ears.

Why I Love Oakland, Entry #3

Moisture!

One of the main reasons I thought I would not like the Bay Area was the idea of constant rain and overcast-ness. I’m not sure if it’s from growing up in Hawaii or if it’s just me, but I need sun sun sun to remain sane sane sane. This is why we decided to live in Oakland as opposed to San Francisco. (That and more for your money re: apartments.) It’s generally sunnier here and warmer than across the Bay.

What I didn’t even think about before moving up here was how close I would be to the water. I’d been living inland for so long I forgot how nice it is to have some humidity in the air. (Again, a trait left over from islands?) Anyway, I’m loving the humidity especially because it’s not that warm here which keeps it from being the nasty New York City kind of hot and humid.

And look what it has done to my hair! I’m embracing the curl and loving it.

Why I Love Oakland, Entry #2

The boyfriend. We were watching a movie and I got up to use the restroom. While I was away he began to decorate the house plants with Christmas tree ornaments. I caught him in the act.

How can I not love living in Oakland with this man?

This week: Why I Love Oakland

One of the reasons I love living in Oakland is Full Belly Farms. The other:

Pimped out rides! The sweet, usually sparkle-y bright paint jobs, the shiny spinning rims, the extras…a pimped SUV flew by me then stopped – the car doors opened Lamborghini style – and then he closed them again. No one got out. He drove off. It was the highlight of my day.

A guy pulled up next to me on the freeway the other day in a car that looked like the one in the picture except it was orange. He caught me staring and smiling at his huge ass tires. He smiled back. I think I made his day.