Official (maybe)

So i go to get an inception on my car the other day b/c Texas law requires it. i was pretty sure my car wouldn't pass. that would be so like my car to ruin my life like that. so take it in 2 days before my IN plates are due to expire. the place i took it to looked a little shady, but i was short on time so i proceeded. the guy takes my keys gets in and literally peels out of the lot in front of me. he takes it out on the road and drives like 50 feet then backs up and does some other stuff. then floors it into the garage. i am sitting outside just starring, like "did that just happen before my vary eyes?" you think he would be a little more cautious with me there. but no. then he only pulls my car halfway into the garage. so i can see the back half of my car. all i can see is my car shaking really hard. not good, right? then i hear him put it in neutral and rev the engine really loud for like 20 seconds. i really thought he was going to break it. i was like "great! i may pass but my car will drive away broken." my car is delicate. i have to take care of it b/c i live so far from work. but it did pass and my car does work fine, for now. but i didn't like the way he treated it. (i cant wait til i buy a new car!!!)

So then the next day i go to get my new license. i am waiting in line and the lady behind me starts to talk to me and ask me lots questions. i tell her i am from IN and then she jumps right into her life story about how she is from PA and misses it, and everyone here is so different. she then proceeds to say, "isn't so weird how Texas people are so talkative and friendly? PA people just look at you like you are crazy if you even say hi. everyone just wants to tell you their life story." i found it ironic that she had just told me all about her life and then said that Texans were weird. but she was nice and i liked her.

When it was my turn i gave them all my stuff and had my pic taken (i got all hotted out just for my pic). In IN they give you the new license right there, but in TX they mail it to you. but you cant keep you old license so they give you a paper with a copy of your old license on it that is "official." so i sign everything and the guy then tells me that they revised the layout of the TX license and it is taking longer. then he looked up at me and said, "i am just being honest with you, but there was a glitch in the system and it is taking longer than expected. here is the estimated time you should get it...but don't expect it by then..." he told me to add on at least an extra 2 weeks from the date on the paper. so guess when i "should" be receiving my new Texas license? JANUARY!! yep. that's right. i am without a license for 2 1/2 months!!! i have this crap piece of paper that anyone could have made that says i am okay to drive my car. good thing i have a passport. i don't know if the airport will take that (for if i go home for Christmas.) but after the guy tells me all this he looks up at me again and says "Welcome to Texas!" with a big smile on his face. dumb.

Goodbye Indiana license. I will miss you. but not that nasty picture.

Count you blessings...

...name them one by one.

#1: To be alive (no really!)
#2: Previous Indiana driving experience

Yesterday was not my best day in the driving world. Well actually is was great in that i missed near death experiences more than once, but bad because i came close to death more than once. First i start off trying to find the license branch to get a new Texas license. I see it on my left so i stop in the suicide lane and wait to turn left. as i sit there i realize there are two place to turn in and so i think to myself "oh it must be the second because it is technically on the right and you always drive on the right." (does that make sense?) so i pull up further and start to turn in. then i realized that is for exiting only. so i stop in the middle of the road on the oncoming traffic side. i think to myself "self? what do i do?" i decided to just do it b/c there were no cars in my way, just as i realized there is a cop in his car sitting in the lot facing me. looking at me. bad idea. so then i swerve back over the right to get back in the suicide lane when a car almost hits me. this all happened in a matter of like 4 seconds. luckily i didnt get hit or pulled over. but i looked like an idiot.
Then i get my new license...(wait for that story) and i am on my way to work. its raining. raining hard. not big drops of rain, but the hard misty rain that literally whites out the world making it hard to see anything more than 10 feet away. those of you from IN know what i am talking about. so i am on the interstate going 5-10 miles under the speed limit. i know from past experience there are 2 rules when you drive in this weather. #1 dont drive too close b/c when brake lights go on you become a little to close for comfort to the car in front of you. #2 never, never slam on your brakes in rain unless it is avoid sure impact with another car. sliding, spinning, hydroplaning, etc will occur. so this car (for whatever reason) had pulled off to the side of the road but hadnt pulled all the way off the road. a few inches of the car were sticking out onto the interstate. (what were they thinking?) i am in the middle lane and there is this Neon a little ahead of me in the right lane. at the same time both the neon and i see this car so uncarefully parked. The neon who is closest to it slams on his brakes and swerves to the left (into my lane). i am not sure i have ever gasped so loud in all my life. the neon could have just moved around the dumb car on the side and stayed in his lane but i am sure it just scared him (coming out of no where). now this neon is sliding toward me sideways. so i slow down and start to move over but there is a car in my way to move over. so i slow down harder. the neon seeing me about to T-bone him again swerves to the right to over correct. WHAT!!!!! never over correct in rain. are you kidding me? so now the neon starts to spin out and now its back end is sliding towards the front of my car. p.s. we are probably going 55 mph when this all occurring. (oh my gosh) so i slow down again and finally get to move over. again this all takes place in a matter of 10 seconds or so. finally the neon gets right and i move as far as possible from him. i was super stressed at that point. i just wanted to be off the road and safe. thank goodness for my past knowledge in driving in rain. Texans dont get it. they just rip around the road in dry weather virtually all year around.

the job

so my job is one of those jobs you dont want to do forever. it is a means to an end. i have gotten into it and learned the ropes and gotten better at it. my whole job is to get people to pay me (or their mortgage). We call those Promise to Pay's, or a Promise. on a good day i may get like 18 out of 350 calls. that is decent. at the end of the month getting anything above 30 is pretty awesome. more people call in to make payments at the end of the month so they dont receive a credit hit for being more than 30 days late. so yesterday i didnt have a good day, i didnt have a great day....my day totally rocked. i got 64!!! that may be the highest anyone has ever gotten. i have heard people brag about this one guy who once got 52. i totally blasted thru his # and set a new record. am i bragging a little? :) okay so i am. but so what. on top of that i got promoted yesterday. not because of my 64 yesterday but because i have been doing well all month. so i move up to what they call "30s". i will now be dealing with people who are 30-59 days behind on their mortgage. normally this move doesnt come with a raise, but they offered me a new schedule to go with my promotion. it is kind of the shift that no one wants so they offer a raise with it. i took it. i am trying to pay off debt and buy a new car. i will take their crappy shift and their money! so now i will be working 1pm-11pm M-Th and half a day on Friday. no weekends. i didnt think it was so bad. i wont get home til midnight, but no weekends?! and a raise?! so the best part is i got a 10% raise to go with it. are you kidding me!!!!???! 10%! all the sudden i feel really good about this job and being yelled at everyday!

San Antonio

I went to San Antonio last weekend. had a blast. i picked up Reina and we headed south. We met up with my brother and his girlfriend Erica. SA is a pretty cool place. there is a lot to do and tourists all over. We hung out on the Riverwalk and investigated some of the shops.

Reina and i saw a club that we thought we might want to hit up. as we investigated a little closer we decided it was not our kind of place (that is all i will say about that). I busted out my dancing skills one night with Erica since Reina wouldn't dance with me. she got it on video... uhhh. not sure i am okay with that.

We saw the Alamo. it was pretty cool. they are super strict about what you can do when you are there. you cant take pictures inside. you cant touch anything, including the walls. you cant have your phone on. the "guards" had whistles and would blow them as loud as possible if you were doing something wrong. i may have lost some hearing in one ear. (not from me doing anything wrong) i was a little turned off by their prowling guards ready to take you out in a second.

Reina and i went shopping. i bought a cowboy hat!!! that's right. i look good too! :) We ate at the Rainforest Cafe and this amazing place called "Mi Tierra". it is totally decked out with fancy decorations and they have a bakery that is to die for.

Pictures to follow...

the Trip

Here are some pics of my trip to TX! i pretty much cried the whole 2 days there.

A really nice Mustang!!! Called the Shelby.

Big Sky Country!

We ate her a few days later. They cook it in their pits!

At 'On the Border'. Trevor happily torturing Jason.

Jason not loving it!

Copperas Cove

So i went to Copperas Cove to visit my Ray Ray Lish (Reina) and had an awesome time. I needed to get away from being lonely and feeling very detached from everything. Reina is always good for bringing up my spirits. Here is what i did: I got lost (due to someones poor directions), learned to play poker. Had amazing beginners luck, and then promptly lost all my chips from over eagerness. We made cookies and decorated them. Go Colts! We made a ton of food for Aaron's birfday party (her husband). I almost hit a car when i didn't listen to Reina and tried to go around her when the coast was not so clear. I then almost bashed in her back end when i tried to get out of the way of the bright yellow oncoming car. lol. I saw a 2008 Pontiac Solstice in someones yard for sale, in black. i wanted to steal it/buy it! we did each others makeup and took pictures. We also discovered that Reina and i carry all of our body weight in our hair just like Britney Spears...(you had to be there). i almost shaved my head!! It was just what i needed. Jason said was i was noticeably happier when i got back.

Sorry for the sideways pic...

manager

so i really like my manager. he is a really nice guy, and he brags about me a lot. what is not to like? he pretty much tells me everyday that i am really smart, or a fast learner, or that he is really impressed with how i handle a customer...it is nice. the first day i met him, i asked him if he remembered phone interviewing me.

i was pretty sure i bombed that interview 6 weeks previous. i almost cried at the end because i was pretty sure i blew it. i thought i would never get a call back and i would never get out of Indiana.

So i mentioned the phone interview to my manger and he did remember. He basically told me i was one of the best interviews he had ever done, and that i was super professional. he later told me that if he didn't know better he would have thought i worked for a bank with 45,000 branches and i was manager over 65 people. I laughed at him. i told him i thought i bombed it. he laughed at me.

it def makes work better when i feel like someone has confidence in me. even when i am messing everything up. work is good. long and repetitive, but good.