Operation: Doggie Rescue

I stagger outside into the brisk, foggy morning air, hose myself down with bug spray, stretch every muscle in my legs, and take off into a running pace across the asphalt. As soon as I get up to speed, I hear something behind me, running, and getting closer very quickly. In a brief panic I spin my head around, still running forward, to find a beautiful, reddish brown hound dog clumsily thumping his large awkward paws on the ground, determined to catch up to me.

Someone dropped this dog off on our road at some point yesterday, and it showed up at the house without any collar or indication of the previous/current owner. It is a very friendly dog, not quite 2 years old yet, and still in that young hyperactive stage so it doesn't listen and must explore everything it sees.

After I tuckered him out from running with me, we decided to take him to the vet and make sure he was healthy and basically adoptable if we had to come to that point. That was fun - lifting a 65 lb dog into the back of the Ford Explorer, who is confused and excited and um... huge. We put an old collar on him so we could use a leash, otherwise it would have been a hopeless attempt in controlling him.

He leaped from the back, over the seats, to the front, and back again, the entire drive down. He nearly strangled himself in the seat belt numerous times. I was then in charge of holding on to him at the vet. *rolls eyes* I definitely wore out my arm muscles trying to pull him back from attacking everyone.

From what I've witnessed too many times around here, there are a lot of animals discovered abandoned along the sides of the road or cast into the woods. One person who came in the shop found kittens in a tupperware container a few weeks ago... tupperware!!?? Sounds like a sick advertisement for the more dignified disposal of unwanted pets. Awful.

I think now it's a matter of "wait-and-see" as far as whether we will take on responsibility for the dog or try to find a home for it. Right now I feel like a whiny little kid - "I want to keep iiiiiiit" - because damn it... I love that dog.

"The most important things in life aren't things."

The leaves are changing colors, the acorns are falling, Halloween paraphernalia is emerging through town, and I'm sitting here in shorts. They're calling for 80 degree weather this week which unphases the locals who tell me it really doesn't start to get cold until the end of October. Mmm... perfect.

The majority of my weekend has been spent on the boat (even in the rain) since my parents were here. We toured the shorelines, wove in and out of the North Carolina border, admired the huge mansions and the dam, and then anchored in a cove and had a picnic on the lake. The best day was today, since the sun finally came out, but I think I got a sunburn.

I have some serious networking to do now. My co-workers and friends here have some great connections, so hopefully they'll be able to help me out. I'm still continuing the seemingly inevitable job searches, but I think I have more of a focus now both with what I want and what I need as far as improvement goes.

And speaking of co-workers, Jenny sold the coffeehouse to the one lady, Dale, so she can spend more time with her children (one of whom has down-syndrome). The transition is happening October 1st, but Dale said she wasn't going to change much: "This is a successful business, why would I change it?" She did hire 2 new girls so I'll now be training them as well, but the one will only be able to work Saturdays, which could mean weekends off for me. *eeee!*

"If you have nothing, you have nothing to lose."

My parents are coming down next Thursday to visit over the weekend. They've been calling me quite a bit all of a sudden to figure out what to bring out of my huge pile of stuff that is currently being stored in their basement.

Each of these phone calls have been ending bitterly with me feeling more discouraged about that vast gaping hole that is my future. As has been well established by now, I really don't like it here and I especially hate how I'm mooching off of my relatives by staying here. They won't let me pay for anything, not even groceries or the gasoline I burn from driving their vehicles.

I've lost sight of my independence, which depresses me. I miss not having my own things, my own space, my own f*cking vehicle. I'm a long-term guest who must abide under certain expectations.

Depending on what we find out from my uncle's next doctor's appointment (which isn't until October) my relatives may not need me anymore, or at least for the time being. I also would like to leave as soon as possible. However, I don't know where the hell I'm gonna go. Staying here is NOT an option, not in the slightest. But any other means of escape don't seem plausible as far as finding another job goes, let alone a better one.

"Everyone needs a hug!"

I set my alarm and went for a run this morning. It's been months, or even close to a year since I last excercised, but it felt amazing. Off the main road I ran down a dirt road that weaves through the woods with hiking trails and pathways. The air was at the perfect cool temperature, the sun was just peeking through the trees and reflecting off of the lake with that fresh, misty, dewey atmosphere that is "early morning"... it was beautiful.

I drove to Atlanta last Thursday to Turner Field since the Phillies were in town. It couldn't have been a better day; 70 degrees, Hamels was pitching, Burrell hit a home run, not to mention the fact that they swept the Braves and maintained their first place spot. I was surprised to see that the stadium sold beer in bottles as opposed to pouring it in flimsy plastic cups that you are guarateed to spill like in PA. Maybe surprised is the wrong word to use... ecstatic?

I'm beginning to think that I might love my job. Of all the shitty employees I've worked for over the years, I actually don't mind coming to work. Of course, I don't want to make coffee (for other people) forever, and I certainly don't want to stay in this damn town for any longer than I have to, but it's been going very well.

One of our regular customers - who comes in twice a day, every day, and orders the same exact drink, which she's been doing for 5 years now - told me I make the best coffee. She even used the word "perfect" as she said of all the other employees who makes her signature drink, she likes mine the best.

For a couple of days straight I've received compliments from customers, and not just for my mad-coffee-drink-making skills. For instance, yesturday I wore my hair down instead of hiding it behind bobbypins, headbands, and bandanas and a lot of people made a big deal how much they love my hair... the question is, does my hair really look nice? or are they just making note of the fact that they can actually see it?

I also had a Cuban sandwich for the first time. I've never heard of it before until working here because it's one of our weekly lunch specials. Jenny discovered it when she lived in Florida, so she decided to make her own "Americanized" Cuban. She puts ham, turkey, swiss, pickles, and this mustard/mayo spread on bread and grills it... so frickin' good.

And my trainee is going well too. It's weird to have someone literally standing over you all day, and following you around like a shadow. She looked like a deer in headlights the first day because there is so much to know that it's overwhelming. I wonder if I looked the same way on my first day, that I-feel-awkward-and-don't-know-what-the-hell-I'm-doing look. Yeah, probably.

"Don't ask me about the potatoes... they just didn't work out."

Metallica's new album Death Magnetic came out a few days ago. I have yet to listen to it because there is no place to buy it around here. From what I have heard, it's awesome... Metallica plays metal again, which makes all children from the 80's very happy. We'll just pretend St. Anger never happened.

Next week I will start training a new girl who was hired for the closing shift. She's still in high school I guess so she'll only be working a few days a week. Hopefully this means I will be relieved of the monotony of closing every night, 6 nights a week. I can see the light of a day off in my future... I might have some of my shifts changed to working through the midday then to keep my hours. The morning shift has been mentioned as well but um... yeah ok, NO.

I still struggle with insomnia and this past week has been especially terrible for some reason. One night I only slept for 40 minutes!! But I don't want to take anything for it because I'm afraid of building a dependency, but I finally gave in and asked my aunt (who is a nurse) about it. Did you know if you take Tylenol and Benadryl, it works the same as a Tylenol PM?

It still took me a few hours to get to sleep, and I still woke up in the middle of the night, but it was the best sleep I had in a while. I'm still scared of taking pills in order to sleep, so I'll only do this when it is absolutely necessary... like another 40-minuter. I don't mind lying awake at night so much anymore, now that I have something new to think about... or someone. (wink wink nudge nudge)

"Doing all the little tricky things it takes to grow up, step by step, into an anxious and unsettling world."

A guy walks in, orders a cup o' joe, ruins it with an unsettling ratio of sugar to coffee, and I figure like most other customers he'll walk right back out the door. It's been steadily busy with customers filtering in and out, that is until this moment; the flow of customers stopped, so I finally managed to get everything stocked, ground the coffee for the next morning, cleaned up all the counter space... the first time all day I could breathe.

But out of the corner of my eye, there sits said guy at the bar, asking for more refills with a growing pile of empty sugar packets in front of him. I should have figured after he drank the entire pot of coffee what was coming: the 3-N combination.

Napkin - Name - Number

I called. (I apologize for the complete lack of details which I know is deemed necessary for a blog entry, but that's all I'm allowing you to know. At least for now)

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Now let's talk football. Everyone was excited over the weekend because the Towns County High School football team won 2 games in a row; the first time in 4 years I think they said.

And how 'bout opening day for the NFL? I forgot just how much I missed it. I watched the Jets/Dolphins game, because I'd rather watch Brett Favre play than the Falcons(even though he's wearing the wrong color green), although I better get used to seeing the birds since I don't have much of a choice. And of course I caught the mnf double header. Rodgers and the Pack looked pretty good out there... am I right?

"To the person in the bell jar... the world itself is bad dream."

I went swimming and then took the boat out for a few hours yesturday because it's the last weekend to take advantage of the lake before they start to lower it for the end of summer, which means half of the population will be gone soon. It was humid out, which is surprisingly rare, but the lake was freezing. I felt like a floating ice cube, but I didn't care... as soon as I went completely numb it was fine.

This summer went fast but it's been the best one yet... graduating, taking about 4 vacations, quitting my job, suddenly up and leaving everything behind, finding 2 new jobs... Except I've only managed to read 6 books! Normally I read 15 in a three month period (my personal record is 15.5 which I've been trying to beat every summer since). I hang my head in shame.

And now it's September, which can only mean one thing: football season. Finally. I'm anxious to see what happens this year, especially after all this Favre bs. Aaron Rodgers has some mighty big shoes to fill, which means everyone is going to compare his every move to Favre; if it were Favre this wouldn't have happened, if Favre was in there he woulda done this. I'm already annoyed by it all, but I'm curious to see how Rodgers holds up to the extra pressure.

College football is underway as well and (surprise, surprise) everyone is a diehard Bulldogs fan down here. "Oh, but ya see we respect Penn State." - This is what they tell me in their thick southern accents.

I've also come to realize that this is about the time that I would usually say goodbye to my bed, and all things normal and human, and prepare for another year of school - an equivalent experience to being hogtied to the back of a four-wheeler and dragged across a gravel driveway; something I would rather have spent my time doing then the torture I put myself through in the past 4 years. I am still recovering.

Considering I've always been an academic nerd with an unstoppable work ethic, it doesn't feel right to be done with school. I think a part of me felt like it would go on forever... it certainly felt like forever. But I'm glad it's finally over, besides I'll need some time off to recooperate before I ever consider going back; I've been through too much.

Now the thought of academia makes me physically sick. I've been having nightmares about school this past week too. It seriously haunts me.