Revelations

So, I haven't blogged in forever. I know. And please forgive me. If I was positive that I had as many readers as some blogs (most notably, Mike's Bloggity Blog Blob and Blog Cabins, among others) I would never allow so much time in between posts. . . .

But I have. And now it is a new year. But this post will say that it was made a part of the world wide web on December 31 for a couple of reasons, which are as follows:

- I can

- With another post in the year 2007, my total number of posts for the year tapers off at 66. This is just ok, considering that I posted 99 times last year. However, I find it funny because of the unintentional symmetry formed by the upside-down nature of the amount of posts this year compared to last year. . . I'm weird like that.

And that's my reasoning behind posting this on New Year's Eve (although, for the record, I wrote it on the night of January 2 - - shh, don't tell anyone. . .).

But beyond that, the title serves as both an allusion to the final book in the Bible (a book which I have not cracked open in eons. . .) because of a calendar year ending and the fact that I will be revealing some rather notable truths that have come to be in the month since I have last brought my fingers to the keyboard, at least in order to type on this website (but you will see that shortly. . .). Please enjoy and comment if you did so - you know how I like that :)

- On the work front, the MW is currently fighting through one of the slowest fourth quarters in recent memory. Ironically enough, this downward spiral began the week after I began. The lofty promises that were thrown at me have been thrown directly out the window, and I have been instead fighting tooth and nail with cheap customers to make enough money to justify leaving my management position over at the FL. I have made more money in the time that I have been there, true. And my responsibilities are much less, of course. And I don't work nearly as hard (in between customers, I will join my co-workers in either reading - which as led to me completing more than four books since I started merely two months ago - or playing games on my phone - which led to me scoring a seemingly insurmountable 10 million points on Collapse, the most popular game amongst us employees). But it's frustrating when on many days, I have helped barely a handful of people throughout the course of an eight-hour day. Just today, in fact, I only helped out one customer the entire time I was there (besides the people who come in to pick up their previously purchased garments that have been altered). If I hadn't sold to them (which I did - I got two suits out of it which garnered a $600 sale, which is a tad above average, and made myself around $45) then I would have left with nothing to show for my day, which has also occurred (one day I left with only $55 in sales for the entire day - that was especially tough). So I don't know. As I honestly told my District Manager (the one who recruited me), every day at one point or another, I think to myself that I made a mistake in coming over to the MW. And at another point in the same day, I will think to myself that I made the right decision. This happens every day. Who knows what this continued indecision means (I personally think that it only shows what a tough choice it was in the first place and my harbored regret, which personifies itself in my weekly visit to the FL to check in old friends and co-workers, sometimes gets the best of me) but it's present and that's all I know.

- Now onto school. . . My classes were up and down all semester as I previously vocalized here. I had actually thought at one time that getting an F was possible in not one, but two of my classes! However, this did not happen, and I managed to pull a rabbit out of my hat in the form of passing grades across the board. I got an A in my Marriage and Family Relations class, B's in both my Visual Communication and Anthropology class, a C+ in my man-hating Journalism class and a solid C in my J210 class, the one that pushed me like no other class has (for better or worse). Those grades gave me a 2.85 GPA for the semester (the + gives me an extra .05), which is lower than I ever received (hell, those are my first two C's I have ever seen on a report card) and I could not be more excited. Not only are these tougher classes than at AVC (which was theoretically easier than high school) but the commute down to CSUN is slowly eating me away. It strains the education process severely, and there is unfortunately no solution that has presented itself yet, because of high living costs, a full-time job, and a desire to have some money in the bank at the end of the month. So sue me. I'm doing the best I can (which I didn't do this semester until it came down to the nitty gritty) and I got the grades I deserved. But I passed them all, and that is a great relief. Furthermore, it doesn't matter anymore that I passed the Journalism classes. . . You see, I went through with the whole major-changing thing. I am now a Family and Consumer Sciences major and I will be minoring in Human Sexuality. My goal in all this (at this point) is to work my way through CSUN in this field and after graduating do one of two things: 1) Continue into the Master's program at CSUN, earning the master's degree in something potentially teachable or 2) Getting my teaching certificate through some manner and beginning to teach at either a lower level (high school and below) or begin some sort of training for higher level teaching. I'm not sure how it all works out, actually. But I can totally see myself doing this. And the greatest part about it is the possibility for me to write on the side. Whether it was going to happen or not, I could have presumably grown to hate writing if it was both my meal ticket and my hobby. I like writing as more of a thing to do on the side - something I'm good at that I can improve on while I'm doing other things. I think teaching is potentially the perfect vehicle for this train of thought and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

- On a much lighter note, the football season has ended and thus so has the pool that I am a part of. Even though I did hold the top slot for a few weeks, I ended the season in a tie for third, most unfortunately. I do win some money (essentially the same amount that I paid to enter for the entire season) but I was more upset by my inability to win. I hate losing (yes, it's true) and am one of the worst losers out there, actually. I'll be humble to your face in defeat (depending on who you are, I suppose) but once I'm away from the arena of play, all bets are off. And I'm still fuming over my finish here (although I did outguess every single ESPN expert overall - I know it means nothing but just go with me, ok?).

- On another sports-related note, my SUNS went 10-5 in the month of December, instead of the predicted-here 12-3 (and given their losses, it should have been even better). It was a tough month, but one that we will hopefully forget and move on from as we have a busy January with 16 scheduled games. Now we are riding a 3-game winning streak and I think we can take at least the first seven in January (the one trap game is at Utah on the 10th since it's a back-to-back after a home game against Indiana, who is not a bad team at all). I'm not worried about New Orleans on the 5th because it's a back-to-back for them and we are in the middle of a short home stand, so I'm confident we win that one. The first big match-up for us is on the 17th in Los Angeles against the suddenly-pesky Lakers. I don't know how, but this team has risen up to a level that honestly scares me. They have a post game with Andrew Bynum that Kwame Brown never had (and never will). They have a one-two punch at point guard with Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar that make Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic look like high school players (but a lot of players do that to those guys too). And Kobe is still Kobe, which always means they have a chance to win, which they have done against us so far twice this season (out of two games). We have to win this game in order to show that we are still the best team in the division, not to mention a title contender. We finish the month with a home game against San Antonio who will almost certainly be looking for revenge after we provided them with their first home loss of the season this past month. Now I'm sure we will lose at least a couple of the apparent Gimme Games like they did in December (perfect examples being the embarrassment in Minnesota and the home game against Miami) but I still say we get at least 11 wins out of January, and no less than 10. We sit at 22-8 right now and I predict we will finish January with a solid 33-13 record.

And for now, that will be enough. My goal in 2008 is to get back up to that 99 post plateau, or at least higher than 66! I will come back soon with an update on how Christmas went, the movies of 2007 (a year filled with a whole bunch of quality flicks!), and my predictions and more for the year 2008! But for now I sleep - -

Goodnight, and good 2008!

Until later,

The Stretch Run

With one quick rip, the November page was ripped from my desktop calendar (which, ironically enough, does not top any desk, but rather is tacked to my wall) and I have now entered into December, arguably (especially by my beautiful fiancee) the greatest month of them all. . .

What follows is my agenda for the next month, and hopefully tonight, a few more detailed plans will follow that as well:

- Working at the MW at least 35 hours every week (the week of Christmas will be more like 30 though - -)

- My advisement with a counselor in the Family and Consumer Sciences department on 12/03 to go over my potential major change and what my possibilities are for next semester and beyond.

- Registration for the Spring semester on 12/04 (most likely limited to 12 units)

- Five finals (one no-note, no book; one at-home, open book; one oral, in class; one project; one I have no idea), countless tying-up assignments (in a simple maneuver that will God-willing get me through my 210 class - which is the one where I was told just yesterday, "If you pass," by the teacher whom I have most familiarized myself with this semester. . . that was tough to handle) and anything else that involves the last 14 weeks of school. My final day is the 17th and I will officially be done at 1000. . . yes, I'm counting.

- The MW Christmas party on 12/15. They take us via bus down to a hotel in L.A. where all of our stores in the district get together for a night of free food, drinks, and fun in a controlled, MW-only environment. As an employee, I was able to rent a tuxedo for free (this instead of a Christmas bonus) which gives me a no-charge $150 tux. That's cool. Seeing that I get to bring my lovely Heather, she wanted a new dress since I'll be wearing a tux. I agreed that since I will not be paying for my tux, gas, or food that night that I would buy her a brand new dress. . . so that's in the plans as well - probably this weekend. Should definitely be a fun night!

- Random tangent: Han Solo is the single coolest film character of all-time, joining the pantheon that includes Indiana Jones (so what does that say about Harrison Ford. . .), James Bond (but really only Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and now Daniel Craig), Marty McFly, and a tie for fifth that includes countless characters that we all love, and won't be delved into now (that's a future blog post waiting to happen. . .). Don't agree with me on the Han Solo thing? I have one perfect argument that has no holes in it whatsoever. Ready?



Any questions?

- Christmas shopping: I guess. . . God knows when I'll actually be able to get to the store to pick up gifts (I'm planning one single gift of significance for each of those around me instead of several, potentially insignificant gifts) for my loved ones. Plus Heather's birthday on the 27th (for which she will be in Las Vegas with her sister and mom to celebrate her big 2-1!). . .

- And many other things. . . of course. But this is just a brief. I head to work at 1300 today and will be there for 8 hours, then it will be home to begin chipping away at all the work that I have to do for school.

- Another quick aside: my beloved Suns enter the month of December with a 12-4 record, giving us a pretty strong leap into the new month. I'm predicting a 12-3 December, which would put us at a very strong 24-7 through two months. Our potential struggle games are at Toronto on the 5th, as it's the second of a back-to-back after a game in Indiana on the 4th. We struggle in these types of games, which goes to show our giant loss to the Lakers earlier this season, so I would not be surprised if we lost. At home against Utah worries me on the 12th, if only because that is a good team, but they will be on a back-to-back after a home game the night before. So maybe not. It will be a good test though. We then are at San Antonio on the 17th and at Dallas on the 19th. . . two big tests. We WILL beat Dallas, but that Spurs game, I don't know. That one will be tough, and one that I will TIVO and watch later that week (why won't I be home - - - I guess you will have to check back in later this weekend to find out!)

Well enjoy your Saturday (for those who aren't working) and if you live in the area, hop into the MW for me. I'll be there til 2100 and would love to sell you a suit. . . it's been slow this week!

Take care and until later,