Actually this should be called, "Jodi Tag", but Naaaah! I didn't even notice the tag until she gave me the heads up, and even then I still managed not to do it until now. Lets just say i'm not a morning person. In any case Jodi, I don't know which one you tagged me for, so I will do them all.
First Up
a. I will write 10 interesting things about myself. b. Then tag 10 people. c. If you’ve been tagged, you do your own list and tag 10 more people. (”No tag backs.”)
1. I tend not to kill bugs when I see them. (maybe i'm on a guilt trip.)
2. When my foot is bothering me and I am walking home, I tend to count as many of one particular thing as I can see before I get home, to distract myself.
3. I don't feel interesting.
4. I have a spontaneous sense of humor.
5. My astrology sign is almost on the bullseye.
6. There are days where I could hug people, and there are days where I could strangle them.
7. If something of mines broke, and it is really really important to me, I'll go out and replace it the same day if I had the funds and a way to get it.
8. When I want REALLY want something, I can't get it when I want it.
9. I have never seen a National Monument in person.
10. I saw the Twin Towers for the first time (and the last) from a distance, a week before they were destroyed.
The second meme is, "Eight random/strange facts about Me".
1. When I was 13 I wrote a few rap songs. I threw my raps through a hole in an unfinished room in a house we were renting, in the hopes that someone would find them and make me famous. However it never happened because the house burned down.
2. My ears don't match.
3. I pick my lips when I get worried.
4. I like ranch salad dressing on my macaroni and cheese.
5. Without warning I could start lip singing one of my favorite songs.
6. I almost always feel like an underdog, so I always root for the underdog.
7. Sometimes when I am playing a video game I act out the lines along with the characters. (hey I did say I wanted to be a voice actor)
8. I still carry my MP3 with me on days I don't even listen to it as a form of comfort and as a barrier.
The 3rd and final meme. "Ten things that make life grand".
1. Sunrise on a beautiful day.
2. Amel Larrieux's songs.
3. Everyday that I can still walk is grand.
4. Walking in the rain on a bad day.
5. A great tasting Cheese cake (I wish I could have one now...Mmmmm)
6. Blogging makes me pretty happy.
7. A peaceful night where there is no noise, and no loud neighbors.
8. My Nephew's smile. His smile always makes life grand.
9. and 10 are reserved for when or if I ever will find love and become a parent, because that would make me feel the grandest of them all.
I'm not going to really tag anyone, because I may be doing some tagging on Saturday. If you didn't know some of these before now you know.
Okay, I know, I know, I need an excuse as to why I haven't posted in six days...I have one for ya!
The reason is that my eyes have been bugging me. It turns out that it wasn't eye strain from being on a computer all day at work, and at home. Well maybe a little...20/80, maybe 30/70. Well I don't know anything about ratios so I will just skip that. I have been having problems with my vision for a while now. Even with my glasses my vision seemed a little off, and I'd still get these throbbing headaches that made me feel like some of my blood vessels in my brain were going to explode.
I would have went to get my eyes checked sooner, but the calendar at work was filled with a number of requests off, and I didn't exactly know how to get to the optometrist on the bus-line. Truth is I was afraid that I would get lost, so I wanted to get a ride from my brother or mother. The only problem is I had to find a day that one of them had off, that wasn't filled on the calendar. Couldn't find one...well actually I did. My mother's birthday was free, but the hell with that.
There were days where I was actually put my head against my register, or hid behind the bottle machines and just closed my eyes, just to try and relax them. Finally it got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. I decided that I needed to do this on my own regardless of my own self-doubt of my abilities as an independent. So last week I called and made the appointment, and then I went online to check out the city buses' website, to see which buses I could take to get me to Empire Vision. That process was kind of hard, because RGRTA (which I will be referring to as RTS after this) only had landmarks listed as options for a destination. I had to go to mapquest.com to get the address of the Empire Vision center that I went to two years ago. Oh I forgot to mention that they moved from there original location. I got the address, copied and pasted it to the destination portion of "Trip Planning" and I think I got 4 possible bus routes that I could have taken to get there.
My exam was Thursday. I got there about an hour early. One of the employees there said she would see if she could get me in early, but that didn't happen, and I was okay with that. I really didn't have anything frustrating happen to me, well except that they were talking about the season finale of LOST. Which I hadn't seen yet. It made me start saying stuff in my head like, "no no no no I'm not hearing you", and "Charlie isn't dead yet".
When it was time for my exam I met my optometrist for the day. I know that there are weird people in specific professions, but I had no idea...
When I first heard this guys voice and the way he said my name (Mr. W-), immediately the first thing that came to my mind was Agent Smith from The Matrix. This guy didn't look like Hugo Weaving, but he did kind of resemble the character Agent smith took over in the "real world" during The Matrix: Reloaded. We had no conflict or confrontation. Although the guy wouldn't look me in the eye, which was kind of irritating. "Agent Smith" proved rather useful though. He diagnosed me with astigmatism. Its not that my eyes got any worse, they just became "different". I got my glasses yesterday, and hopefully the headaches will be gone for good. Funny thing is my sister has an astigmatism to, and when I looked through her glasses, I noticed a weird looking distortion in them, yet I can't see it in mines. This made me wonder if the optician didn't put the correct prescription in my lens. The again, when I wear the glasses I feel kind of weird. Just like "Agent Smith" said I would feel. Maybe i'm just not supposed to see the distortion. In any case I have to get use to my new glasses, and find a case for them that fit.
So theres this meme going around, if you want the person to ask you five questions, you just say, "Interview Me". Since Chelle had Chris interview her, I decided that Chelle would get the chance at being Barbara Walters. At first I hesitated to say "Interview Me", because I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Now I know! These are some tough questions...Sort of.
1. Is there a certain scent or sound that sparks a good memory from you past? If so, what.
I swear I had this question before, it must have vanished into the abyss or something. At first I didn't think that I had any good memories. I had a pretty rough childhood. There were some good memories, but I guess there is only one batch of memories that matter. I guess this would fall in the category of sound and sight. Whenever I am playing a video game I think of when my brother and I would play. Whether it was co-op or against one another, it was fun. Now we don't get together as much so its at least nice enough to have those memories...Like this one.
2. How did you come to like, forgive my speeling, amrel lemuex? (Its Amel Larrieux! You did that on purpose Chelle grr...) lol I could go look at yer blog to speel her name correctly. When was the first time you heard her?
If it wasn't for the (in my opinion) the bad direction that rap took, I would have never started to listen to R & B. So eventually I started listening to Mariah Carey. Eventually Mariah changed her type of music, and I lost interest in her. In 1995 I was on the verge of giving up on music and then one day I turned on the TV to watch MTV. A video countdown was on. What are the chances that the first video that I saw restored my faith in music and give me a new favorite singer...Not to mention some damn good music. Before Amel became a Solo Artist, she was a part of a duo (With producer Bryce P. Wilson) called Groove Theory. The first song released on their debut album was called "Tell Me". It was also their first music video too. Not only did Amel's singing and beauty catch my attention, but her hairstyles did too. You see in the video "Tell Me" she had two different hairstyles, and everytime they would show her wearing the second hairstyle, I would think that she was another woman. I thought Groove Theory had more than one woman in their ranks. It turned out that I was wrong. And if that didn't make me her fan, the fact that the MTV VJ thought the same thing, clinched it. (Tell Me if you want me to, give you all my time, I wanna make it good for u, cuz u blow my mind, I promise Girl that I'll be true, ur the perfect find, so Tell me if you want me to)
3. You have been doing so well with your goal to eat better. Are you this way with all goals you make for yourself? Is your willpower this strong at all times? Or was there a time you did not follow through and regret it?
HAH! I wish! I made a lofty goal on purpose, just so I could stop myself from eating sweets (kind of as a way to trick myself). Mainly the the BIG THREE (Reeses Peanutbutter Cups, Oreo cookies, and Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies). I ended up eating those TV dinners that I said I wouldn't, and I also had a milkshake, and some nachos with cheese, oh and two pieces of small candy from Japan (I was curious). Other than that I am doing fine. To put it in a nutshell, I am NOT good with all of my goals...Gosh NO. In fact I have been trying to get a car for the last seven years to no avail. My willpower...I have no willpower. To prove it, I'll have a Jedi do a mind trick on me. Seriously though, I may not have strong will power, but when a crucial time comes, I do step up and get some serious determination, and when that happens...Watch OUT!
4. You are such a great uncle. What age do you think is too old to become a parent for the first time?
First let me say thanx for the compliment! Personally I think as long as a person has enough life in them to raise a child and as long as a person has the energy and the patience to take the role as a parent, than I think a person at 60 could become a parent. Heck I read in a paper awhile back that a 65 year old woman gave birth to a healthy baby. So HEY more power to her. So whether its by giving birth or adopting, what I think doesn't really matter where a potential parent is concerned. Let me just add that there are so many children out there without parents that need love and attention. Sure there are infants, but there are also young children that need adopting. They deserve love too.
5. How do you feel about interracial relationships? Have you ever been attracted to a vanilla chic? Heck even any othah flavor?
Hey it was supposed to be five questions, your sneaking in bonus ones into this interview. Wow this is an interesting question. I have never been asked this before in blogworld... First let me just say, that for the rest of my life I will be a African American, or a black man...or another word, that I choose not to say. For the rest of my life I will be stared at when I go somewhere where I don't fit because of the color of my skin. For the rest of my life, there will be some people from different races that will walk by me and either feel hatred towards me, or feel intimidated by me. One day I was with a friend, she is vanilla (as you cleverly put LOL). We went to a mall and ate at a friendly's restaurant. I can't tell you how many stares we got, while we were there. Not to mention the fact the waitress didn't serve us in a timely matter. It made me feel so uncomfortable. So unwanted, but I sat there, and you want to know why, my friend sat there with me. She didn't care what they thought about us. We aren't even in a relationship, we are just friends. They just made an assumption. So what I'm saying is YES, oh yes. As long as she (NO matter what her ethnicity is) is willing to be with me, than the sky is the limit, and we can fly over the unsteady eyes together. Yes I have been attracted to "Vanilla Chics" before (still am, and always will be attracted to them). Vanilla, caramel, chocolate, cocoa...I love ice cream! LMAO. Yeah I have, and I think I have been shot down by a woman of every ethnicity. For the record I have bad luck when it comes to women. I always end up being "just a friend". I'm thinking its because of the geek in me. I could go on with this a little further...about relationships in general, and whether or not I'm ready to be in one, but you didn't ask...HAHA.
If you are brave enough to play…. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
This May started off in a seemingly never ending way. You see I posted on May first, and didn't post again until May 13. Part of it was because of what I thought was me being sick, which in fact may have been allergies.
I had a slight fever, a runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing that never seemed to end. I felt like crap...No wait crap probably wouldn't want to feel how I felt.
Achoo!
I said that more than anything else, and I was like that for a little more than a week. I would have thought it was the flu or something, if my friend and co-worker didn't point out that her husband was having problems with allergies, and that I could be dealing with it as well. To my knowledge I never had any problems what so ever with allergens. I wonder whats going on now.
Finally I am all better, but you know what??? My computer isn't! A couple of days ago, my computer died on me. I didn't even know it. I was lying in my bed trying to get some sleep, when all of a sudden, my door opens. "Charles did you know your computer isn't working"? I had no clue. I went downstairs and pressed the button on the tower to turn it on...NOT A PEEP! I went and got the manual to look at the trouble shooting section. It said to leave my computer unplugged for about a minute and then try turning it on. Nothing happened, so I became upset, and I didn't want to talk to anyone asking me obvious questions (your computer's not working). I unplugged it and left it in a corner and tried it the next day, still nothing. I think the thunderstorm we had the night before my computer officially said adieu struck it down.
Its funny though, I had a surge protector. Didn't I just restore it from a computer virus? Ugh...Anyways I gave up and decided to buy a new computer with my car money. I'll post about my new computer some other time. At least I will be able to play that new game Spore when it comes out, and at least I don't have to worry about color schemes and cordless mouses for the time being. That reminds me. I wonder if I can play That old Star Trek: TNG game I have that was too much for my dead computer. I'm going to find out. Most likely I can, but apparently I can't use my computer to watch LOST episodes online with there new viewer. I thought everything should be compatible with Windows Vista by now.
Occasionally, I have to close on Sunday. I don't mind in the football off-season. So I was glad to give the mothers a break today. It was a quiet day for the most part. I had know problems and nothing to challenging to do. So I did some odds and ends things like a little organizing. Eventually I got bored with that and I decided to go and get our Compliance quiz for Western Union and Money Orders to study it. I have a feeling I am going to get stuck with the Audit again. It always seems to happen when I am the opener on a weekday (which is even more rare).
Anyways, one of the questions on the quiz is, "What triggers a customer into filling out a CTR (Currency Transaction Report)? The answer by the way is a customer sending more than ten thousand dollars via Western Union.
It's ironic that I was studying the quiz and a customer comes in to send a THIRTEEN thousand dollar Western Union. Unfortunately she came after my help left, and unfortunately I may know everything there is to know about CTR's, and what triggers it, but when it comes to actually doing it, I admit I get panicky. The highest amount on a western union I have ever did by myself was five thousand dollars. About three or four years ago I did one for ten thousand dollars, but my boss lady was with me, and she knew everything. I had it made then. Tonight, was had me a bit nervous. I called the boss lady and she told me where the CTR form was, and what I needed to do. Then I called the Manager on Duty to help me count all of the money. That didn't work out very well at first because it was way too much money to count by hand. Luckily for us that TODAY WITH THE MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES MAKING LEAPS AND BOUNDS, THEIR WAS A MIRACLE WITHIN OUR GRASP.
A Cash scale! (Isn't that so cool)
So we used that to count all of the money (even though I still had to count it all by hand when I had to count out). It wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I was panicking at first thinking that I was alone in this, when I wasn't. I got the help I needed and I am very grateful for it. The only problems I had was that it would take time, and I was the only one in the store trained to do the service desk. So the other customers had to wait, and I was sorry for that. The other problem was, it was such a large sum of money. I was worried that I would have some kind of dumb luck and some criminal would come in and rob me. FORTUNATELY NOTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED.
Thank Goodness.
So all that was left for me to do was to finish the transactions. We couldn't do it all on one, so she had to fill out three forms. The max that you can send per transaction via a quick collect is five thousand dollars. Usually I get out a half an hour early. Tonight I left fifteen minutes late. It was a little unnerving, but since we made the customer happy, and since she smiled at me and thanked me, I figured that it was worth the the difficulty.
I was on my break earlier this evening. The Six o'clock news was on, and I really didn't want to hear about anything bad so I changed the Channel looking for some laughs. The Simpsons come on at 6 in syndication on our local fox station. So I watched that and got a few laughs, when all of a sudden, "We interrupt regular programming for the following Special Report". Damn more bad news, can't I watch Homer Simpson stuff a slice of pizza in between his fat rolls without being interrupted because the president vetoed a bill that EVERYONE ALREADY KNEW HE WAS GOING TO VETO IN THE FIRST PLACE...HELLO. Not to mention the fact that it was on three other networks, and one of those three owns the fox affiliate. I got up and turned the TV off! They just want to make themselves look good and the Democrats look bad. Either way I don't care about there bickering. What I care about is lives are being lost, while cheap talk and posturing on both sides is wasting time and the very money they need for the war. It just goes to show you that politics is just bull. Nothing but a waste of time if you ask me.
Secondly
Everyone knows by now that I am counting down to Amel Larrieux's new album, and I want it badly. But...Do you know what I am really dying for??? I have been waiting for it since October of last year, and now its seven days away. I have been waiting for .Hack GU Volume 2 Reminisce. I have been dying for it, and I can't wait until I can become the "Terror Of Death" again. The .Hack games have become my favorite now over Final Fantasy. It may surpass Xenosaga if I like volume 2, Especially if it has more scenes like the one below. One thing is for sure though, Haseo has taken Over as my favorite video game character. Now I have a dark character that I can relate to and a character of light that I can relate to, even though Spider-Man is going through a dark period right now. I wish I had this kind of power. I could rule the world HahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA. (LOL) Then there would be no preempting of my favorite shows, unless it was really really important.
