Well, at least Jason's life isn't so dramatic...

Assistant Manager came in yesterday and fired my roommate Kristin... a day before Kristin was due to have worked her last shift and would have officially quit. So now Kristin is eligible for unemployment, where she wasn't before. This is definitely good for us.

I've got some phone calls to make today. I really wanted to put in my two weeks' notice (or, really, almost three to be honest, I gave them plenty of time just to be nice) and work, and it be done with. And it be fine. I've seen people quit, work their two weeks at 50% or 75% capacity, and then leave. I thought I could do the same thing.

Apparently this has to be a whole huge dramatic deal, though, and I'm very tired.

Oh, well. Like I said; I'm trying to just do my last thirteen days and be done with it. I just wish she would stop trying to start fights.

I mean, I guess if she pushes this far enough she might make the terrible mistake of firing -me- too. The problem is that I, also, am not eligible for unemployment, since I'm quitting. But if she comes in and fires me a week before I was due to be done anyway, the company will have to pay out some serious cash, and I don't think they're going to like that. So I'm trying to warn her ahead of time.

I dont' know why, but I've been going around trying to save my assistant manager her job. Her behavior for the past week has been reprehensible, the worst kind of middle-school gossipmongering. But I don't want her to lose her job, because she worked really hard to get it. I don't know.

Jason says I am too nice of a person.

Start All Over

Tonight was sort of a girl's night for Kristin and I! And the baby. Only he's not a girl, so I don't think he counts. Jason works 4 to 10 PM (ouch) and my shift today was 9 AM to 3 PM, so we barely got to see each other before he was gone. Since then, Kristin and I have napped, played with the baby, and watched the Hannah Montana concert movie on Starz On Demand.

That fifteen-year-old millionaire works harder than I ever have.

My assistant manager is on a mission to try and be as passive-aggressive and mean as possible until I leave... unfortunately, I'm pretty much on cloud nine about quitting right now, so she's getting kind of frustrated. I'd feel bad for her, except that I purposefully gave me two weeks' notice in a way that would absolutely not get her in trouble (despite her being a big part of the reason I quit, and her being the entire reason my roommate quit). I'm not sure where this hostility is coming from, except that she seems to be convinced I'm making trouble when she's gone.

Oh well. Two weeks, I tell myself. Two weeks as of today and I'm out.

Wal-Mart is hopefully calling me on Monday. There are several openings that I am qualified for. I'm holding out for greeter at the TLE. The Tire & Lube Express, for those of you who don't know, is where Jason works. Wal-Mart has no problems with us working together so long as neither one of us is in a position of authority over the other, and we wouldn't be.

I will soon be at a point in school where I'll have to decide when my thesis show is going to be. I'll put it up here so everyone can know, in case anyone wants to make the trip. It's a long trip for some of you, I understand. I'll try and get photos to put up when the time comes so you can see.

That's about all I have for now, really.

Tomorrow I work 2 to 9 PM, which actually isn't a terrible shift. And it's pretty much just me and Kristin the whole time, which is nice. Kristin and I are working just the two of us again on Sunday, and then, ta-DA!, I don't work Labor Day! I was originally scheduled but they cut that shift out. The assistant manager thinks she's punishing me by cutting me a shift, but seriously, I haven't had a day off in a WHILE and won't have another one until my two weeks is up, so I plan to start off my day with a luxurious bath and a whole lotta nothin'.

New Developments

I put my two weeks' notice in at work on Monday. The environment just got really bad, I've been underpaid for a very long time, and I just wasn't willing to work that hard for a company that wasn't willing to compensate me anymore.

Before anyone asks, no, I don't have another job to go right to. But we're fine for the moment and there are a couple of possible new jobs that are sparking my interest. So I'm going to look into them and see what's up.

Our roommate Kristin (who also worked at my store) put her two weeks in as well and has already interviewed with mall security. They're very interested.

So right now Jason is the only one in our house who isn't in the midst of quitting a job yay.

Oh well!

Our wedding photos are up on the internet... I've been trying to get peoples' email addresses, but not having the best of luck.

My classes are going well. Jason is having a fine time at work, as fine as he ever does, and he pre-ordered a video game he's really excited about, so he's been in a good mood.

Our cat, as usual, is needy and whiny but so cute it's okay.

I suppose I should wander off and go to bed... I do have to get up and go to work in the morning. Oh well. Night, everybody.

Small note of interest before I wander off

I'm still getting used to this whole idea. Sometimes when someone calls me by my new last name, I don't catch it at first, it takes a moment to realize I've shifted the identity my friends and family know. And then I do catch it, and I get kind of goosebumps all over, in a good way.

I kind of agonized over whether or not I would choose to change my last name; I was kind of attached to the old one. I liked Katie VanHoorn. My name fit who I was, how I looked, what I liked. Faulk? I wasn't sure about Faulk, at first. It fit Jason, but would it fit me? And was I required to take a man's name just because I had married him?

After a lot of thought, I chose to do so. It may not be the most liberated or feminist choice I've ever made, but I made it, and I'm glad I did. I like this whole Faulk thing. I like the Faulks and I like being associated with them. I like how easily they welcomed me into their family, how much I feel like when Jason and I move out to Greenville, SC after we've both got our degrees that I won't be quite so homesick, maybe, because I'll have a bunch of people out there already happy to see me come.

So, I think I'm okay with being Katie Faulk. Still have to get used to it though. And stop giggling every time I remember I'm wearing The Ring.

I watched the DVD my cousin Josh recorded of the wedding ceremony... my sister burned me a copy and sent it to me? I got it in the mail just the other day, sat down and watched it, and got all teary and giddy.

Still am, just a little bit.

Also, I love all the pictures I've seen! I want them plastered to my walls. Oh well... now we're using -picture frames-.

All right, that's all I have ofr now.

FINALLY

I have internet again! It's been almost a month and man... not havin' internet can be very hard. But I've read so many books in the past few weeks I feel it was very much worth it.

Anyway, have the internet again. Kristin, Jason and I are settin' up house... slowly... very slowly. Unfortunately, my work place still hasn't hired a manager so I am taking on a few extra hours to help my assistant manager out, because otherwise it's really just her.

So, yeah. First update in a while, right? I'll start updating more regularly now.