They gave me homework already!!

First week of the new fall semester is over and I already have homework!! The line up this time around is 8:30am to 9:45-Public Speaking...hour break then 11am to 2:20-Geology. What happened to first day being "hi my name is blah blah blah and lets talk about the syllabus then leave? Nope. Not this time kiddies. In fact I have 2 chapters to read over the weekend for PS-BS and 3 for the Rocks 101. Normally gen-eds are the blow off classes everyone HAS to take to get which ever degree they're seeking and you usually take all those first. Not this girl..this of course was due to the fact that I switched majors half-way through and then time frame options per semester. So here I am...and frankly one of these classes scares me to death. No it's not Rocks 101...
Public Speaking...the class I've been dreading this whole time and the one I've danced around on my schedule hoping it would just go away. I realize everyone gets nervous, in fact that was the topic of discussion Thurs., but that doesn't make me feel any better. The last time I did anything like this was a summer course in eighth grade or something. The minute I'm put on the spot I turn red, sweat profusely, and then stutter. I don't stutter in normal everyday conversations unless I get really excited and my brain is out running my mouth..so NOT normal. Another thing that is totally off for me is I'm sitting in the front row and dead center in this class! Why? I'm the person who likes to sit toward the back or against the wall so I can face pretty much everyone. I hate sitting up front. The reason? I was walking down the hall looking for my class number and who do I see when I get there? A fellow HVAC student named Terry. I've had classes with this guy for at least 3 semesters and he's a familiar face. The drawback...he's an older guy and has trouble seeing the board so he sits in the front. So I negate one comfort zone so I can sit next to another. To say the least, it's very awkward for me and also a first. Panther, Oscelot and my mom think it's good cause then I can just ignore everyone else behind me...that sounds good until you have to go to the front and face them.
So the first speech, due on Sept 4th, is supposed to be an introduction speech. Introduce yourself for 2-3 mins. Well that should be easy enough, right?!  Except all I can get out right now is "My name is Tiger............................duh.    I think I need some work :)
Rocks 101 despite the work load is like my breathe easy class. The first day I made a beeline for the back (like usual) then noticed that I would be at a lab table by myself if I did that. So I moved up to the next table. Next to me was this short mousy blonde girl and diagonally from me is another girl with glasses. The next thing I know blonde girl looks at me and glasses girl, picks up her stuff and moves to a new table with some geeky looking guys. Glasses girl arches an eyebrow at me, cracks a smile and holds out her hand "Hi, I'm Randi".  To which I reply while pretending to smell my armpit "Hey I'm Tiger and I'm pretty sure I don't smell that bad!" She laughs and says "What was that all about?"  I shrug and say "We must not look like the cool kids who know a lot."  Eventually we get two more guys who sit at our table and everything seems pretty easy going. Thursday was even more amusing when me and Randi realize that one of the guys who sat with us on Tuesday decided to switch tables..he is now sitting next to blonde girl. I make another crack to Randi about how our table must really suck and at this rate everyone will just be on the other side of the room sitting on each others laps.  This turn of events is actually good because the guy who stayed, whose name is Chris, knew one of the girls sitting by herself and invited her to join us. All of my table-mates are cool and it's easy to joke around with them while still getting our lab work done. Rocks 101 might not be a short class at 3 hours long but it might be the down time I need after PS-BS.  Yes, the work load seems a little intense for a beginning class but the atmosphere, at least at our table, makes up for it. Should make for an interesting semester. Stage fright followed by camaraderie, now that's a screwed up cocktail.

Hind sight being 20/20..

So things are plodding along as usual at the Happy Waffle..meaning of course that work is tedious and sucks LOL. When things get lame and we're busy I usually turn on my mental radio. Today for some reason I wasn't getting much of a signal and my brain went in another direction entirely. A couple days ago someone asked me out of the blue "When did you first realize you were a lesbian?" It got me thinking and looking back on my childhood and younger years. All the signs were there and now, to me, totally obvious.
 I played Barbies with my little sister ONLY if I could be Ken. If he was missing (under the bed or in the back of the closet) I would be the blonde barbie who invariably got into some trouble like almost drowning and then had to be rescued by the brunette barbie, which involved CPR or conserving body heat if it happened to be in a cold lake.  I liked the grumpy Care Bear because he seemed the most realistic about being surrounded by puffy clouds, bright colors and cheeriness from the other bears.  I loved playing with my army men and was stoked when I got a set of walkie-talkies for Christmas one year. I would put on my camo gear and sneak around the backyard.
Delving into the T.V. watching gives even more clues. My parents would record movies off the T.V. onto VHS tapes so we could watch wholesome things during the summer when they would both go to work.  I wanted to be Atreyu in the Neverending Story so I could beat up Bastian and save the princess. In Herbie Goes Bananas most kids are cheering for the little Volkswagon that comes to life and saves the day. Not me I was more interested in the G-rated romance on the side involving the guy wooing the girl. Usually those tapes got put into play whenever we knew our parents were going to be home soon. What we normally watched all day was MTV. This of course was when the M actually stood for music and the videos were non-stop. I wanted to be in Billy Idol's "Rock the Cradle of Love" video. Watching a half naked chick dancing around in your bed room? Yes please. I lusted over Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler in Aerosmith's "Crazy". I mean, here's two hot girls running around being bad and even cross dressing and going to a strip club! All videos would have plenty of sexy female dancers. I would wait patently for these things and stare entranced at the screen. When it was almost bedtime I could sometimes stay up with my dad and watch T.V. with him. I had a thing for "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H and thought it must suck for her to be stuck without anyone else pretty to share her tent. I'm eternally grateful for my fathers love of sci/fi as well. Star Trek the Next Generation was epic for me. Around this time I figured out I preferred dark headed women opposed to blondes. While I suppose most teen girls would be eyeballing William Riker (second in command) I wanted to peel off that one piece body suit on Counselor Deanna Troi. She could sense my thoughts about her any day..seriously hot!
In school I never 'crushed' on the boys like everyone else. I can appreciate good looks and personality in the opposite sex and even admire some qualities but never felt any stirrings in my core about them. I always had funny vibes or even butterflies from the girls though. Stupid mundane things like sitting next to someone during lunch, borrowing a hairbrush during gym, being picked for a lab partner..yup I had crazy mad feelings for my best friends. The thing is, at that age, I couldn't and didn't have a word for it. Even if I did, those things weren't talked about. I NEVER went into the girls bathroom in the groups they're so fond of. I dressed down in P.E. with my back to everyone and stared at the wall. You don't want people thinking you might be 'weird' or 'gross'. I purposely never hugged even my closest friends. Sleep-overs were rare occasions and I always took the floor or couch instead of the extra space on the bed. No way. I knew deep down that that wasn't good for a girl hitting puberty to do. What an easier way to screw up a good friendship than to wake up in the morning spooning your best buddy! It made me sad and moody. Retreating from a social person and becoming a loner. *SIGH*
Oh well..I finally got older and came out senior year in high school and the rest is history.
But yeah looking back on all the major clues I've got to say hind sight is definitely 20/20 and the answer to that question? I guess as far back as I can remember :)

Change..and the things we miss

So here I am and it's almost December. Some days drag on but occasionally you stop and look around and think ' where the hell did all that time go?'
Many things have happened since I last logged on. One of my good friends, the lioness quit the Happy Waffle. It was finally time for her to go back to school and do the things she wants to do. For me it was bitter sweet and I'll admit I went through most of the stages of grief. I bawled like a baby, was totally thinking she might change her mind, and then was a bit angry (anger mostly because I wanted to be the one to leave too). After working with someone for ten years and seeing them at least 4days a week it's a bit different when they aren't there when you turn around. I miss her. A lot.
More about change later...

Some things matter and the rest...well they don't

Thought I'd pop in and blog about what a weird month it's been. On the 16th I got a parking ticket! This is a slightly big deal for me. I'm 31 years old and the last ticket I had was when I was 18. Come on, I was 18 in New Orleans..and btw I never paid it. So either I have some random warrant in the state of Louisiana or the hurricane has totallly wiped that clear for me. That's not important.

We parked downtown so we could get out of the house and have a fun day for all three of us. This parking lot used to be free for all day use. Apparently I missed the memo, not to mention the tiny signs that proclaimed it a 2 hour lot. So we come beebopping back to the truck and I see that little yellow paper stuck under the windshield wiper.
"What the hell is this?"
Of course I then proceed to look around me as if the information genie is going to pop up and say 'hello friend you're mistaken, that can't be for you'....well it is and that's when I notice the tiny signs. Figures.

Yesterday was errand running day. I needed to go to the postoffice first. The parking lot can look fairly empty but everytime I go inside there is always a long line to stand in. I figure there are two reasons for this.
ONE: Everyone decides they will carpool. That means for every car in the parking lot there must be 3 or more people inside that all rode together. If that is the case then by all means they should have at least 2 or more packages that need to go over seas, have tracking, insurance or any number of add-ons that you could possibly get for a package.
TWO: If there are 7 service windows then only two people are working the counter. The other 5 people must have car pooled to lunch. Most likely though, they are on uncoordinated breaks, this IS a government run facility. (I am not knocking the government hardcore, I just find it silly. Besides my dad works for the government, which is why I find it so silly)
The customers in line with me however never find these things amusing or silly. If they aren't looking put out then there are always the comments "why can't they get more people to run these desks?" "Why can't so and so write her label correctly the first time?" "Why can't he buy his stamps at the kiosk out in the lobby?"    Always with the whining..well let's think. Maybe the others are on break or it's their day off (it's thursday anyway, do you need a full staff during the week?)...maybe she didn't realize that she needed tracking on her package and now has to re-write it....maybe he only has cash for stamps, the little machine only takes plastic (I've looked). Who cares!? Whining about it or making the sour face is NOT going to get you up to the front faster.

The next thing on the list was go pay the utility bill. Usually I drop it off the night before but I forgot. That means I actually have to go inside to pay. This was new for me. Surprise! More people inside than out. I had to take a little number, like the ones you pull off at the DMV and then pick a space of wall to lean against. Just like the DMV there are approximately 5 chairs for a dozen people. Surprise Again! There are about 6 service windows and only 2 tellers. Hmm maybe they also rode with the postal workers to lunch. Super Surprise!! The older gentleman who came in behind me (I'm about 5 tickets away from being called) starts whining and bitching about the lack of employees. Really? must you? Maybe he shouldn't have forgotten to turn his bill in the night before..or even better, bought stamps with his credit card and mailed it five days ago, that would have been waaay faster. I'm secrectly amused of course because all I can hear in my head is my dad saying "Some people would bitch if you hung them with a new rope"   I love you dad!

Last on the agenda for errands was pay that stupid parking ticket!
Way more cars in the parking lot, I guess no one wants to carpool to court lol! I'm ready for security to check me out at the metal detector..he looks like he's missed the carpool to lunch, yikes! Time to stand briefly against the wall again. The only chair is occupied by a very pregnant woman who looks like she might pass out or give birth any second. Finally at the window I hand over my little ticket. The cashier can't find me in the ticket file behind her. She then goes and checks another file box, no dice. Looking annoyed she looks me up on the computer, Bingo! Now I have to sign a piece of paper that states that I'm pleading Guilty and paying the fine. I'm thinking to myself 'how would someone go about pleading Not Guilty to a parking ticket?' While I'm doing this SURPRISE! someone behind me is obviously mad that I'm taking too long or that there is only one open cashier...give it a rest people, seriously.    SO   I  s l o w l y  put my reciept back in my wallet, pause and wish the girl a good day and then leave.
Pause today and take a deep breath...some things matter and the rest..well they don't ( and if you didn't give yourself enough time to run your errands quit bitching, it's your fault!)
Tyger

Zap! and a lot of wet kittehs...

Ok so this week has been nothing short of interesting. Tuesday my dad calls and says his air conditioner has broken for a couple days and he wants to pick my brain. Hey this is right up my alley, this is exactly what I'm going to school for! Yay I can help! So we narrow it down on the phone to the condenser fan motor.
"I'll go get another one tomorrow after work and maybe you can come over and help" he says.
"Sure, no sweat!" I'm still chipper and kinda excited.  Wednesday rolls around and he picks me up from work with a ghetto drawing of what the motor looked like before he popped it off and got another one. WTF?! This drawing, and I'm using the term loosely, looks like a kindergarten picture except it's not done in crayon.
"I had a hard time tracing this all out and my glasses kept trying to fall off, I hate getting old etc etc.."
"Dad I don't understand this picture at all"
"Just wait til you get there and see it cause I can't explain it, this system is older than dirt I swear"
Well he wasn't joking about that. The whole thing looked like the first settlers had installed it! So it's 94 degrees out and I'm sweating balls trying to trace all these screwed up wires so we can put the motor on correctly.
Test one: One of my wires crossed and ZAP we blew a fuse...well that's easy enough. Drink more gatorade and wipe sweat out of my eyes. Double check wires.
Test two: The new motor fires up fine but the fan is turning the wrong direction. Ok no problem, that's easy to fix as well.
Test three: Everything starts up and works perfectly. Right about then I feel a mix between proud and heat exhaustion but mostly proud. Dad is thrilled and happy because he won't have to sweat himself to sleep anymore. He beams at me and tells my step mom that I fixed it. Well yeah but I cheated and had last semesters notes to referr to :)
Thursday-- My mom has told us to wake up early so we can drive to go see a show at a tourist spot an hour away. Sounds cool so I wake Panther and Oscelot up at 6am so we all can go eat breakfast before we leave town. My mom is late picking us up! This is a big deal. Never, never, and I mean never is she tardy to anything. In fact the last time I was supposed to do something with her and showed up a little late she ended up crying and saying how I probably didn't want to even spend time with her. Now my mom is neither as crazy as Panthers or as uncaring as Oscelots and that's why I was totally surprised by this. All she had to say about it was "oops, I don't know what I was thinking haha"  Huh, well alrighty then.
We make it to the show just fine. It was called The Amazing Pet Show. I thought it was a hoot. The coolest part in the whole thing were the trained house cats. They would walk tight ropes and balance beams and roll over and do all sorts of neat tricks. Why can't my kids be as cool? They don't do tricks, they get into trouble and basically the only really good trick they are good at is taking naps!
Which brings me to tonight...KITTY BATH TIME! Now this only happens once a year in the spring time when all the winter coat is nasty and shedding everywhere. Thank heavens this only happens once a year. We have 5 cute kids, yes I said 5, and this year was Little Man and Evelyn's first time. One by one we rounded them up..Panther insisted on taking a before and after shot of each of them. I guess why not add insult to injury, right? Needless to say its a family affair, lots of struggling, yowling and trying to claw our eyes out.  Everyone ends up wet and miserable looking.  My little princess Delylah (my baby and queen bee of the house) even showed her disdain of me personally. I sat down on the couch and looked over at her and told her I was sorry and asked her if she felt a little better now that she was clean. She climbed up on the couch and right in front of me pooped on a stack of clean underwear that I had folded last night! I couldn't believe it! In the past Delylah has peed on Panther's clothes to show her that she wasn't welcome (that stopped after she figured out Panther was not going anywhere) and every once in a while she will pee on a stack of DIRTY laundry if I don't wash it right away ( I swear she might be OCD a little). Bold as brass..I swear if she could have flipped me off while doing it she would have.
Well it's past my bedtime...gotta go--Tyger

Drop it like it's hot?

Today everyone is officially "Drop Things Day"...Why? Lets see:
5:36 a.m.---the opening server at the Happy Waffle, Indian Head, tries to replace the 5 gallon bag of milk in the machine. The nipple pops off, spraying milk all over her, the counter, and the floor. What a mess to clean up right before we open...time to get the mop bucket and towels. I felt bad because I had way too many things to do to help and the fact that she had to call and wake up her boyfriend so he could bring her a new shirt.
6:12 a.m --Kitchen Boss drops the poach egg pot which had just started boiling. Lucky for him he didn't get splashed..hmmm where did that mop go??
7:45ish--Right before Twin is supposed to clock on I dropped a bag of hashbrowns and it breaks open all over the line..no mop just a broom this time.
9:00 to about 11---Oatmeal dropped onto Twin's hand (ouch). Dishwasher drops a coffee cup which bounces off the rubber mat twice and THEN breaks (that was kinda cool looking). One customer dropped her baby as I was going to the drink station to get a soda (holding back a chuckle at this point because neither a mop or towels are going to help).
12:52--Almost time for me to go (it's my early out day) I splash bacon grease on my finger and drop a nice little cuss word loud enough for Botox Boss to shush me...at this point in the day I just wanted everyone to drop dead!
Finally this day is dropping off into history and hopefully, please let it be....no repeats!
Later--Tyger

wiped out..

Work..
Well today was a holiday for everyone, almost everyone I suppose. We got creamed, slaughtered, wiped out...call it what you want. Kitchen Boss came in even though technically it's his day off. For the most part everyone brought their A game. All I've got to say is that I'm glad I'm off tomorrow. I may even lay in bed an extra hour..nah probably not, i wake up at 6am automatically even of i don't want to haha
Side note: thanks to Panther someone besides me pops in and reads this silly blog. Hi and I'm sure something cool and/or exciting will happen tomorrow. Until  then be good to yourselves Tyger
Another side note: pray or send vibes for Lifeguards great grandma who passed away today...im sorry dear heart