Yesterday's Parties

I woke up thinking about my long suffering grandmother, Elizabeth Crowe, today. She taught me what basic domestic things and manners I know. She also often told me family stories that gave me insight into some of the culture of my clan. One time, sitting at her dining table at lunch, she said "You might be surprised (and I was) but we (she and my grandfather, Horace Crowe) used to have fun. We would have dance parties at the house. There was a juke box where he worked and he would borrow it for the night and bring it to the house. We took the rugs out of the living room and moved the furniture out for a dance floor." 
There are no records of these fun events in photos or other written descriptions that I know of but it makes me happy to picture my grandparents having fun with friends at home while children were in their rooms, hopefully sleeping but probably spying on adults sometimes too.

Elder Abuse By Corporate America

We need to visit my mother, who is in rehab with a broken arm for the next 20 days. My sister-in-law tried to choose the facility she is in very carefully but what they said and what they actually do are two different things.

I think litigation is already in order for the rehab center she's in. The main reason they chose the facility is because they were informed that the center would absolutely take her to all of her dialysis treatments and nearby doctor appointments. As soon as contracts were signed - the next day when she was in there - they informed the family that they will no longer offer those services. Sounds like the typical scam on the elderly patients, where they assume people will die before they can complain or take the company to task for a broken contract.

Now, my uncle, who is just a few years younger than my mother, is the only one who can take her to dialysis treatments. She is hoping her doctors can make visits to the rehab center.  My cousin tells me the place is unsanitary and ugly. They were supposed to have complete laundry services for all patients but my sister-in-law has to do all of my mother's laundry now. On top of all that, when I spoke with my mother last night, she tearfully told me that she has not had a bath or shower all week. - not even a bed bath.

In Training For The Week Ahead

Every day, I set my alarm and try to be out of bed by 4:00 a.m. so that I can hopefully just jump out of bed, into my clothes, and out the door to make it to a minimum wage paying 5-day temp job that starts tomorrow. Every night I've been in bed by 8:00 p.m. but that appears to be just a bit too late because mornings are still almost impossible so I am moving bedtime down to 7:00 p.m. tonight.

Yesterday, I got an email regarding a retail job, that would be long term and a lot more desirable conditions (in a nice, air conditioned department store). They were inviting me to come in for an interview. When I responded back, there were three available times to come in for an interview - all of them are on the same day I start the job at the golf course that I wish I didn't have to take. That was the only day available to come in. Just my luck.

My mother is still in the hospital. I've been calling an leaving messages. Usually, if something is truly serious, I hear from my oldest Uncle, her younger brother, about how she is. Yesterday, she phoned me to say she was still in the hospital, not going home yet. She is on a lot of pain medication and not talking very clearly, so I was struggling to understand what she was saying. Something went wrong or a mistake was made and either her arm is broken or something inside her arm is broken. She said my sister-in-law freaked out yesterday when she was telling her about hallucinations she was having on the pain meds. If that is true, I don't think she will be going back home. I am waiting to hear more today about what is actually going on in Georgia. I ended up leaving a voice-mail for my uncle, asking him to phone me. I didn't get a call back from him or my sister-in-law yesterday. I will try to find out more today.

Once I start this 5-day job, I will be out of reach. The days are predicted to be long - at least 10 hours  - and cell phones are not allowed.

doing the best I can

It seems like this week if filled with anger at every experience job hunting. One person kept me on the phone for several angst-filled calls asking if I was willing to relocate and if I could be immediately available for a job and how far would I commute, etc. before finally telling me the position was only a 5-month hourly (part time) temporary job located over 2-hours (map quest) away. She knew I was in High Point, looking for full-time work. She asked me all kinds of anxiety-producing questions before giving me any information on a job that I clearly was not in the market for.

Neither of the two interviews from last week have gotten back to me and I am trying to follow up with them. Experience tells me that If I did not hear back from them in a couple of days, they chose someone else. Either one would have been a good job to have.

Yesterday, I went to an orientation for the only job available near me. It is a minimum wage gig catering for a golf tournament. 10-hour days (maybe longer), outdoors in a tent, starting at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday and running through Sunday.


Meanwhile, my mother is in the hospital again this week undergoing various procedures on her heart and kidneys. She does not know what day she will be released to go home. I would drive down to see her if I could be certain she would still be in the hospital when I got there. Once she's home, I don't know if she'd be willing to let me visit. When she's home, she doesn't want anyone to see her place and she mostly sleeps, not answering the door. I don't have a key to her place so there is really no point in trying to make the trip without advanced planning.

waiting for next week

Mother had a heart catheterization done today. My uncle sent a message saying there is, of course, some damage to a heart valve from the Fen-Phen she insisted on taking years ago and, with her genetics, she has a 90 percent blocked artery. I spoke to her this afternoon after the procedure and she sounded like she was in fairly good spirits. She had not yet talked with her doctor - that will happen tomorrow - about what they found and what she would choose to do or not to do about it.

I am still constantly looking for work here. I have a temp gig (minimum wage) for a catering company next week. Orientation is tomorrow in Greensboro. I am wonder if we should plan a trip to Atlanta again this weekend to visit my mother. If she is still in the hospital by then, it would be easy to visit her. If she is home  already, I can't count on being able to see her if I come down. After a 6-hour drive, it is really too long of a trip to make to be unable to to see her and after  two previous failed visits in the last year, I don't want to make that investment for nothing. Next weekend, if all goes well for me, I will be working long days and traveling will not be an option. I can't do anything in Atlanta on short notice.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of a weeks' work and without any money other than the plastic kind, I spent $49.00 on a haircut today so I could submit a photo for my security pass.

family. parties. food.

The surprise birthday party for my mother went quite well. She was completely surprised and burst into tears several times. My niece arranged the entire gathering, including finding an affordable guest apartment for me and MonsterMustDie to stay in. Reservations were made for the group at one of her favorite restaurants that was near her home. I pointed out a couple of facebook links to a couple of close friends to invite. I regret my youngest uncle was not there with his family but someone else decide not to invite them because 1. they probably could not afford the dinner and 2. he probably would not have time to come anyway. I know he probably would not have been there but it seems like the gesture of inviting him and his family would have been the right thing to do. Still, seems like they did not mind, being in different worlds now.

After the birthday dinner, we went to the annual Tequila and Porn party at B&G's home nearby. Great to see so many people that I haven't seen since we moved away from Atlanta. Made me really homesick.

We finally made it to the old neighborhood to return and distribute several things we should have delivered months ago.


We also were able to make it to the Peachtree Road Farmers Market and to Buford Highway Farmers Market to buy things we just can't find local equivalents to yet in North Carolina, like meats from the Spotted Trotter and Pine Street, Red Rock Gingerale, and Ginga Kogen beer. I wish we had bought some of the beautiful mushrooms we saw at the Peachtree market but, without immediate plans to cook them, some of those beautiful fungi would have gone to waste.



This week has been spent cooking some of last weeks bounty.

Looking forward to this weekend

The swelling in my leg has finally gone down so I look much less like the elephant man now. My skin is remaining clear for now too. This is good news, since we'll be traveling to Atlanta this weekend. We'll be in MonsterMustDie's car, so I won't have the freedom of movement to choose what to do with the earlier part of the day unless someone else volunteers to drive me around - my choices will probably be riding with the old Dutch man as he goes antique shopping at all of his old haunts. That, or I could just stay at the Buckhead apartment that my niece arranged for us to rent for a couple of nights. Some time late Friday or early Sunday, I hope we'll be able to work in some visits with friends. 

We'll be in Kennesaw on Saturday, celebrating my mother's birthday in a surprise dinner party at one of her favorite restaurants. We are hoping her health and spirits are good on Saturday. She stays in a very delicate state most of the time now and how she will feel from one day to the next is unpredictable. 

Sunday, we'll be heading back early, after brunch and some shopping at the farmers market for things I can not find where we live now. There are a lot of little delicacies I want to stock up on. There is now NC equivalent to Red Rock Gingerale and no markets sell sprouted wheatgrass or fresh carrot juice. Not even Whole Paycheck. If I can find dry ice to keep things frozen, it would be great to make it to one of the weekend farmers markets for Spotted Trotter meats or some hard-to-find organic produce. I believe we'll have a freezer at the apartment so I should have the option of shopping for things that need refridgeration without fear, as long as things are well-iced and the drive is straight up without stops at more antique shops. Really, just this one time, please let me have a good trip. He's welcome to make all the stops he wants to on the trip down. Friday can be all his if I can just have the Saturday morning market and Sunday's return trip with goodies.  

WTF is my body doing?

Weird body issues tonight. Two weeks ago, I had a rash that spread to several place that I assumed was poison ivy. Only going through a prescription of prednisone last cleared it up and I still have to be careful not to scratch those spots. Tonight, my left ankle is really swollen for no reason and my skin feels dry and papery. At least there is no pain in my legs and ankles but it is strange and disturbing. I suppose I might go to an urgent care clinic in the morning, if it is still as swollen, just to try to have a medical professional look at me. My back hurts but it's just the same discomfort I've had for months now, since I pulled a muscle while stripping wall paper from the kitchen.

In better news, we now have a new fan in the main room that works well. MonsterMustDie installed it on Thursday night.

Underneath that, we have a rug composed of grey Flor tiles that makes the room look more complete.

Moody Blues

Yesterday,  I was unspeakably sad. All I did was look for work online and sleep.  I could not pull myself out of the hopeless I feel now.

Today,  let's combine that with anger at every door slammed shut in front of me. I can't even find minimum wage work. 

And there is no other path to try.

Fanimation ceiling fans

My advice - Don't use any ceiling fans manufactured by Fanimation. They look great but are not designed to function in the real world.  The light has no venting and becomes intensely  hot (kinda counter productive for a device meant to cool a room ).
Our electrician said we were lucky it did not start a fire. 

The fan stopped running within weeks of being installed.  Then the light would not respond to the remote control.  The heat from the light had warped the housing,  making it impossible for the fan to run and ultimately frying the light.  Although the fan and light are designed to work separately, we would have needed to run the fan at high speed constantly just to keep the light cool.
MonsterMustDie put together a professional quality box to ship it back to the manufacturer today so we can get a refund or exchange for a different model.

Urgh! 

Politics

Eavesdropping on conversations at lunch,  I hear one older woman say she's  probably voting for Hillary... unless Trump is running... in which case she'll vote for Trump.  The table agrees that Bush will probably be the Republican candidate. They seemed to like Jeb Bush, not because he was a good candidate, but because he was so funny to them. 

giving up this weekend

I had plans to go to the Triad Geeks gathering this evening in Kernersville, NC.

Both John and my next door neighbor have been discouraging me from going by myself to spend an entire evening with people I have not met face-to-face yet, possibly driving home late on a holiday night, possibly in the rain.

I also have a bad skin rash that I have been dealing with all week that only seems to be spreading despite my efforts to keep everything covered and taking Benadryl.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning is a fit of existential angst, knowing if anything happened to me or my car, I would not be able to fix either. There is no work lined up in the future. Not a thing.
So, maybe I should not be spending any time outside around green things, dirt, insects, and unfamiliar beasties until I have all of this small health issure cleared up. I cancelled my plans for today and tonight and am planning to go into the local Urgent Care clinic on Monday.

Another Interview

Sitting in the office of a staffing company.  I have a digital portfolio on a thumb drive. I don't bother carrying my old portfolio book most of the time unless someone requests it. Nearly all companies only want to know what software and systems I am familiar with and an online portfolio slide show or Acrobat file is sufficient. 

I am waiting for my interview when another person, obviously seeking the same job, walks in. She is a foot taller than I am, long blonde hair, in a new dress and high heels and a recent graduate. She has a large bound book with her in a plastic case. It looks like 16 x 20, with huge black letters on the front that say "Thanks for looking!" 

I realize I don't have a chance, even on my perkiest days, to compete with that. 

*sigh*

(Otherwise, my interview went quite well it before it was her turn, so at least I can still moderately impress people with what I can do.)

This might have been a big mistake... but what could I do?

My household relocated from Atlanta, Georgia in November 2015. I took one for the team and dropped out of my life - I was already underemployed but busy enough to fill in gaps in the budget - so MonsterMustDie could keep his job when his employer closed their Atlanta showroom and warehouse to consolidate things in High Point, North Carolina, where they opened their first production site in the USA.

Previously I worked as an art director and graphic designer in print, publishing, and advertising; also worked in numerous roles in the film industry as a graphic designer, background extra, production assistant, and makeup artist. Now, I am trying to find a place for myself where all my experience and professional relationships don't matter. The main industry is either banking and manufacturing or education.

High Point is a ghost town; a WASP retirement community wrapped around an Ivy-League university. I am too old to be attractive in the service industry and too young, bored, poor to retire. I told myself I would give this at least a year before any more changes were made in my life. I am thinking this move was not what I should have done. I think I should have found a cheap room with friends or family, making just enough in the film industry, until I could go back to living in the city. I long for my friends and all the great cultural events and activities I was part of. This place has been a series of doors slammed shut.