So I've been piercing at Lucky Monkey again for about a month now. After being "let go" from there back in 2005 because the old piercer wanted her job back (and because her boyfriend was a tattoo artist there at the time) I left the tattoo and piercing world to tried my hand at retail. I was never really happy aside from the fact that I knew how much money I would be making from week to week as opposed to being nervous about not making enough to pay rent.
I am SO happy to be back in a shop. All the people that were there before are gone, and the atmosphere is decidedly less dramatic than before.
The one downside is that our only competitor as far as piercing goes has moved about a block and a half a way, which is slowing down our traffic slightly; but to compensate I have been going in to work on Sundays and Mondays because the other shop is closed then.
I like the other piercer I work with, and have learned a lot from her (like dermal anchors which were not really done back when I was piercing before. Or at least not as prevalent).
The main thing I like (and really missed being able to do when I was at, say, Pottery Barn) is being able to tell the customer that no, they are NOT always right; and if they are being a dick being able to tell them so. Not that I am a particularly bitchy person by nature but being able to tell someone where to go when they deserve it is quite satisfying at times.

Aside from that, nothing much is really new and exciting around here. It's starting to warm up so we are getting our gardens ready for planting. Already we have radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and a few beans planted as well as some pansies. Hopefully we don't have any hard frosts anymore for the sake of the chard, though I am pretty sure the spinach and the radishes could handle it. We're also planning on planting some tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos and raspberries. I want the jalapenos if only to make grilled poppers out of them.
I have these two big planter boxes out front of the house that I want to put some tall flowers in, but aside from sunflowers and dahlias I can't think of what else to use. I'll probably get my mom to help figure that out when my parents come to visit next weekend.

Better News:

Since my last post there have been a few stressful days as well as a few good ones where Kevin and I forget everything that is happening to us and just enjoy each others company.

Two nights ago, the idea popped into my head that I should try and get my piercing job back at Lucky Monkey. I was somewhat limited with who I could apply with for a position at a tattoo shop because I have no portfolio or equipment to speak of. I figured I would apply there and if they didn't need anyone I could always go and see Doug and ask him if he knew any shops that were hiring.
Long story short is that I have a potential job there. When I walked out, I immediately found the nearest Fairy door (I can't find a picture of the one I found, perhaps they haven't updated the site yet, or maybe the fairy door appeared just for me*) and placed a few pennies on it's porch along with my good wishes. I had to send them a list of past clients they could call for references along with some past employers; so now it's just a matter of me waiting to hear back from them.

I also have found an immigrations attorney who has been kind enough to take my case pro bono and I now have to start the long-ish job (again) of applying for a green card. The only good of starting over instead of trying to renew something that I technically don't have anymore is that I will get my 10 year one right away; instead of the conditional 2 year card I had before.

So...things are so much more promising than they were, and it's so sun-shiny outside, and I can hear Robins singing in the trees; that I think I may just have to take a walk today.


This is still my favourite picture of Kevin and I, even though it was taken at a time that makes me an extreme asshole to someone else.


*I FINALLY found a picture of the fairy door I was near. As you can see it was right next to Lucky Monkey.

I have not posted on here in like, forever, but I need to vent and this is the only place I can do so since some of the people I'm venting about are on Facebook and have a tendency to hold a grudge and be very sneaky and vindictive.
I was laid off on Friday. At 4:45PM on a Friday. While this sucks enough for anyone, especially in this shitty economy; it was doubly harsh news for me seeing as I AM LEGALLY UNABLE TO APPLY FOR A JOB OVER HERE RIGHT NOW. So really, thanks, Renee and Geoff, for fucking my chances of survival over here so badly that I have cried at least once a day since Friday afternoon. And also because it's mostly (not, all though. I will concede that some of it was the ombudsman's fault) your fault that I have no valid ID to live here.
I am so fucking fed up with getting the short end of the stick. I don't know why it keeps happening to Kevin and I; and it's starting to wear me down.

Shit what needs to get done:

-Write a resume. (I fucking hate doing these and I suck at them. Like, hateHATE).

-Give written resume to my landlord who can hopefully hook me up with a few job prospects. Tom is AWESOME and knows like, everyone in Saline. He isn't really aware of how not-supposed-to-be here I am at this point, but I am hoping to work around that.

-Find another Immigrations lawyer that hopefully gives free consultations and doesn't charge an arm and a leg. I need to get my paperwork straightened out. NOW.

-Possibly find a malpractice attorney. I don't think I have a case, but you never know. Although I have a feeling if it came to that; it would just descend into a dirt-flinging contest.


On top of all this, we quit smoking. (Wheee). Let's see how long this lasts.

A timewaster I stole from Gillian's page:

1. What color is your toothbrush?
White and silver

2. Name one person who made you smile today:
Kevin Taylor Mooney

3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Sleeping

5. What is your favorite candy bar?
Mr. Big

6. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Yes I have. I've even been kicked out of one.

7. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"Bye baby, message me, I love you."

8. What is your favorite ice cream?
Cookies & Cream

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Tea

10. Do you like your wallet?
Not particularly. It's too big for my taste as I don't have a lot of stuff to put in it.

11. What was the last thing you ate?
A bowl of granola.

12. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Nope.

13. The last sporting event you watched?
I think Kevin had some sort of golf on during Easter

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?
Chicago style!

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?
Kevin

16. Ever go camping?
Yes but I haven't gone for a very long time.

17. Do you take vitamins daily?
Nope

18. Do you go to church every Sunday?
No, and I never will. I used to have to though (thanks, mom!)

19. Do you have a tan?
If you consider the colour of paper a tan.

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?
Yes, and I hate that you can't get sweet & sour chicken balls over here. I know they aren't REAL Chinese food, but they are still tasty as hell.

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw?
In the off chance that I do drink a pop, if it's at home then no, but at a restaurant yes.

22. What did your last text message say?
I don't remember the exact words, but I think it was from my friend Howard telling Kevin and me to have a good night.

23. What are you doing tomorrow?
Working.

where is #24??

25. Look to your left, what do you see?
An end table, a coffee table, a couch, a rug a lamp and the floorbed.

26. What color is your watch?
It's white and yellow gold but I don't wear it because it needs a new battery.

27. What do you think of when you hear Australia?
Horrible accents and ugly landscape.

What happened to #28??

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
It depends which fast food place we stop at.

30. What is your favorite number?
138 of course!

31. Who’s the last person you talked to on the phone?
It was at work last night and it was either Kevin or my boss, Gene.

32. Any plans today?
I'm working 1-close today so not really.

33. How many states have you lived in?
I had an extended stay in Texas, but I wouldn't consider it having lived there. Michigan is the only one (lucky me).

34. Biggest annoyance right now?
My irresponsibility with money last week so we are short (and late) with rent this week.

35. Last song listened to?
A cover of the Bee Gees song, "How Deep Is Your Love?" by some group called The Bird and The Bee.

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards?
Yes, there's actually a song for it!

37. Do you have a maid service clean your house?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *deep breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My DCs. They're so comfy.

40. Is anyone jealous of you?
I can't think of anyone specific, but some of them bitchez back at World Market seem to be.

41. Do you love anyone?
Yes I do. Very very very much.

42. Do any of your friends have children?
One has a step-daughter and that's it.

43. What do you usually do during the day?
Work is usually part of a day, and aside from that it's hanging out with my husband, reading stuff online, reading in general, cooking or watching TV.

44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now?
Yes, but not anyone that I have to see on a regular basis.

45. Do you use the word ‘hello’ daily?
Yes I do. What a stupid question!

46. What color is your car?
Dark blue

47. Do you like cats?
Yes, I have two of them.

48. Are you thinking about someone right now?
Well I am now that I read that question.

49. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
No, I almost went but we didn't end up going :(

50. How did you get your worst scar?
Running up the stairs wearing a plastic G.I Joe helmet when I was 4 or 5.

As of Saturday March 28th I will only have ONE job!!!

Tuesday while I was on my lunch at World Market I got a call from Gene (my boss at Body Shop) asking me to become the full time assistant manager. Fuckin' A. It's not as much pay as I used to make at Pottery Barn, however it IS as much as I make currently working 60 hours a week. But now I only have to work 40 to make it.
This is great because I was really considering quitting one of the two jobs during the summer because really, who wants to work that much when it's nice outside?
World Market was the first place I have ever worked where I actually had to give two weeks notice. It was a little difficult because I always get emotionally attached to people I work with, and as much as it fucking SUCKS ASS to work there, there are a lot of people I consider friends who I will miss once I'm not working there anymore.
This may slow down the saving progress to move to Canada by a little bit, but not too much. I'm now hoping to have enough money saved to move there in a year. If we forced ourselves to move by September I just don't think we would have enough money to pay for everything we need (car, house, immigration papers for Kevin, etc).
When I called Kevin at work to tell him the good news about my promotion he said, "Well the sun's gonna shine on a dog's ass every once in a while." I fucking love him.

I don't hate cops. Or police officers. Or pigs. The fuzz. Whatever.
I understand that this in large part has to do with the fact that my father is one, and has always been one my entire life.
However, I do know that this is not the general opinion among a lot of people.
What hurts me is that if someone has a bad experience, or even more than one (which is really unfortunate and sad) they paint the entire policing population with the same brush and think that they are all corrupt evil storm troopers with no purpose in life but to personally harass you.
I agree that there are some idiots who join the police force only to act like a glorified bouncer, constantly looking for and willing to create conflict but I assure you that this isn't the ONLY type of personality on the force.
There are police officers (like my dad for instance) who are fighting to stop the bullying and the Alpha Dog I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass type activities. My dad once told a group of newly graduated recruits that it's not their job to teach anybody a lesson, it is only their job to uphold the law. After the ceremony was over one of the new recruits walked up to my dad and asked who WAS supposed to teach people a lesson if they weren't? My dad tried explaining to him that it wasn't the new officers' problem and to not worry about it. His job is to help and protect and not push people around and the new guy just didn't seem to get it. So I understand that yes, unfortunately there are some asshole cops out there.
But really, it's not a huge force of ass raping henchmen taking bribes and lurking around just to try and give you a hard time. I know I am speaking out of context for a lot of people, and of course I wasn't around whenever whatever happened but please believe me when I say that there ARE intelligent people who work in law enforcement and want the rest of the people in their workforce to start acting the same way.

Kevin and I are going to try and move to Canada.
The only difficult part is that he's not allowed over there at the moment so we are working on getting that paperwork done so he can. And I actually think that what he needs to get done is part of what he would have needed to immigrate anyway, so hopefully it'll help us fast track.
As I have mentioned once or twice on here before, Michigan is depressing. There are no jobs, and we find that the people over here are sneaky, self-centered and mean. We have no network (or family) over here and for the past few months it has really started to make us feel isolated.
When we first broached the idea back in October, we planned on moving to Toronto as soon as possible. Then we spoke to my immigrations lawyer who convinced me to stay over here at least as long as it will take me to get my dual citizenship. To stay here long enough for that would mean being stuck in Michigan for at least two to three more years. Fuck that. Kevin and I would rather use the money we would be spending on my citizenship getting him a work visa and moving over to Canada instead, where we do have a better chance at finding work and a house we can afford. This does mean however, that we would be living in the Windsor area.
Windsor is cheap. Downtown Windsor is ugly, but the county and places out by the lake(s) can be pretty at times and like I said, real estate is really low. Dani and I know enough people over there that Kevin and I could both become gainfully employed in something other than retail (oh to not work retail anymore! It would be heaven).
The fact that we now have something to aspire to and try and attain has completely changed my attitude from the past few weeks. I am now working knowing that the more I work, the more money we have to put towards a house of our own. I still fucking hate the pissing contest between my two managers every time a schedule is made, but I am trying to work something out on that end. I feel hopeful and optimistic. The way I usually feel. It's nice to think like that again.
And really, I miss Canada. A lot. I miss stupid little things like Keen's mustard and Ah! Caramels. I miss not paying for health care (again, I know I have mentioned this a lot). I miss being able to go and hang out with family and friends whenever I want and not having to plan it into a huge day trip.
I don't know how long the whole process is going to take but our lease is up on this house in September. I have a feeling things won't happen THAT fast, but it will give me some sort of time frame to try and use.

And now I am off in search of something to eat for breakfast.