March: A Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That

[Edit]: I have Twitter now. I don't even know what it's used for, who uses it, how it's supposed to be used, and why people use it. I just got it because everyone seems to have it, and I didn't want to feel left out. People ask me all of the time if I have it; and now that I do, I don't remember who these people are. It kind of defeats the purpose, I know. So if you were one of those people who suggested that I get it, or if you have it and want to add me (that's how it works, right? You add people and read their posts, or something like that?), then add me on Twitter: dr_apple_scruff. I also just figured out how to add my Twitter updates on this thing. I assume that one update will be on there for a long time. We'll see though.*

It's been nearly a month since I last updated. I'm just going to type up a few stories that I remember from the past month.

I. City of Austin parking ticket

I got a $25 ticket from some douche bag parking queer who works for the city of Austin. The funny thing (not in the haha way, but more in the that's-pretty-freaking-stupid way) about it all is that I was in the freaking car when he wrote me up. I parked on University in a no parking zone, which was located right behind a parking zone. It wasn't permanent since I was just there to wait for Andrea while she finished class. Besides, the no parking zone was on a corner, completely out of the way of everything else. A couple of cars even pulled up behind me a few times. No biggie.

A car that was parked in front of me in the parking zone actually left while I was waiting. I almost pulled into the empty spot, but decided not to since like I said, I was just waiting. And of course, the one time I decide to be nice, I get a fucking ticket for it. I even approached the meter officer (meter butler?) and informed him I was in the car the entire time. He was an asshole and said he couldn't do anything about it because he already wrote me up. What a fucker.

I called the city and asked them how I could contest the ticket. The guy was super nice to me (and gay...not that it was relevant, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway) and told me to just go to the court and do it since it was the fastest way. So, we went. It was scary. Nothing but lots of Mexicans...like, the stoop labor kind. The security guard (who was black...again, not that it was relevant, but I am always curious to know what ethnicity people are) thought we graduated high school from Austin High or something together. Not the case since I graduated from some other shit high school that's about two hours away from here. When I walked through the metal detector, he said something really casually, borderline inappropriate (perhaps it wouldn't be inappropriate if I knew him), to me.

The hearing officer (a Mexican) failed to dismiss my ticket. He said I broke the law, a law that apparently doesn't care about exceptions. I explained what happened, and he was just apathetic to the situation. I even told him that the sign simply said no parking, not no parking AND no standing, which is what I was doing. He didn't care. What made it worse was his God awful stupid analogy. He said that even if my own mother was dying and I was driving her to the ER, I couldn't park my car along the hospital's curb for the doctors and nurses to take her in since it is a no parking zone. So pretty much, I'd have to park my car in the already full parking lot. After driving around a few times on the ground floor of the lot, I'd have to drive to the next level for a vacant spot, and then another level if there wasn't a spot there either, take the elevator to the ER, find a gurney or wheelchair, and push my mother to the nurse liaison. He told me that if I parked my car on the no parking zone of a hospital's curb, no matter the circumstance, even if it was to bring my dying mother to the ER, I'd be breaking the law and could be penalized. That made me so mad. Who the hell says something like that?

I wanted to tell him that I hope his mother dies that way. I didn't though, of course. All of the appeals are taped. I didn't want that recorded. But really though, I hope that happens to him. Either that, or I hope I'm the doctor on call when they come in. I'll be waiting on the curb with the gurney. When they pull up to the curb, I'll refuse service and tell him to park his car since he's violating state law. He'll probably yell that it's an emergency, but I'll tell him that it's the law. If he's already breaking the law, and I'm helping someone who's breaking the law, then that means I'm breaking the law. I wouldn't want that to happen again.

Karma's a bitch though, right? Sometimes literally.


II. St. Ed's $25 parking ticket

Yeah, I got this the very NEXT day. This was just stupid too. Some officer gave me a ticket for improperly displaying my parking permit. For some reason, St. Ed's has sticker permits that you're supposed to put on the outside of the rear window. That's just stupid. All normal schools have those permits that hang from your rear view mirror. I put my St. Ed's permit on the inside of my rear window. I do this because it allows me to easily transfer it from car to car. Andrea and I carpool to school. Sometimes we take her truck, sometimes we take my SUV. So, of course, we need easily transferable permits.

And to appeal parking violations here, you have to call and make a court appointment. You have to appear in front of the school court. What the hell? Maybe I'm just spoiled to some of UT's reasonable techniques; for example, how to appeal parking violations. At UT, we could appeal it online. We just had to fill out a form online, type in our side of the story/what actually happened, and then they reply in a timely fashion whether they believe you or not. Really simple. I wish the same was used at St. Ed's. Oh no.

They sent me an e-appeal form. I already filled it out and sent it back. They bubbled me in to appear in student government court sometime next month. So lame. I should write a brief before I appear in court, put on a suit, and present it.

I have a feeling that they're not going to waiver this either. In that case, I'm going to continue my refusal to pay $25. It wasn't like the officer didn't see my permit. He did. So, what's the matter? I paid $85 to park on campus, and now I'm charged another $25 for parking in a spot I'm allowed to park in since I already paid for it? I don't think so.


III. Andrea's glasses

I stepped on them yesterday morning. They were on the floor, underneath a blanket! How the hell was I supposed to know they were there? She put them there, instead of putting them, oh, I don't know, anywhere else but the floor. The right lens is cracked, and she can't really see through it.
We're due to get new glasses anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter. We went to the optometrist over Spring Break and got new prescriptions, so we're going relatively soon for new ones. I've had my glasses for five years, so my eyes definitely deserve new ones, even though the doctor said my prescription barely changed. What? I still don't get that. I can't see the board when I sit in the front row.

IV. Spring Break

It was lame...much like this description of it. We didn't do anything but go home to Kerrville and then come back to Austin a few days before we had to go back to school. My highlight was going to the dentist and eye doctor. No, wait...I have a story that happened over Spring Break.


V. Denny is a psycho

I highly doubt that I ever mentioned Denny. I'm sure this was because he never surfaced enough in my life that he was ever worth mentioning to anybody. Let me give you a quick rundown of who Denny is.

I met him a few years back when I was still with Mark. He and Denny worked together. I think Denny was a contractor or something of the kind, I'm not so sure now, nor is it relevant to the story. But when I would go out to lunch with Mark, Denny was sometimes there to join us. When I would occasionally visit Mark at work, Denny was sometimes there, and we'd say hello. Denny and I had a lot to talk about, mainly because we grew up in the same parts of Texas (although, he has a heavy Southern drawl, and I still don't. He thinks it's because I purposely talk fast to avoid it ever coming out. Apparently, he thinks I do have one when I speak slowly...kind of like Andrew...but they're both idiots, so this can't be true) and because we're both Republicans. I think I've seen Denny a total of ten times, if that. Denny moved to Llano when he and Mark finished whatever project, and that was also around the same time Mark and I broke up. That was the last time I spoke/heard of/thought of Denny.

Until recently.

I got a text during work (I don't think I mentioned this either. It will be VI) from an Austin number, asking if this was still my number. I texted back and asked who it was. It was Denny, and he was just wondering if I still had the same number. We exchanged numbers because Mark would leave his phone at the office when we went out, and we'd have to get a hold of Denny to tell him where to meet us, etc. Anyhow, I texted Denny back and told him that I had the same number, etc. We texted back and forth very innocently, no biggie.

Then he asked me if I was still with Mark. That should've been my red flag, but nope. When I told him that we broke up years ago, Denny got a little weird on me. He told me that for the longest time, he's had the biggest crush on me...even when I was with Mark. That's why he was always there at lunch. He'd ask Mark if it was okay to tag along since he had no plans; but in actuality, he just used that as an excuse to see and talk to me. He even said that while they were working on site, he'd look at every girl that would pass by, hoping that it was me. What the?

He went on to say that he still feels the same way towards me. He's had girlfriends since we've known each other, but they don't challenge him enough, etc. I told him that he was being ridiculous since we don't even know each other. He agreed and said that it was frustrating for him to be so attracted to me when he barely knows me and barely remembers what I look like. He said it caused him physical pain, and he used that excuse to explain why he wants to see me. If he sees me and spends time with me, then his frustration will go away since it'll verify his feelings for me. What on Earth? I told him that it was a weird situation for me since he is/was friends with Mark, and I just wanted to avoid all potential problems and awkwardness with that. He didn't seem to understand anything.

He proposed to come up to Austin to take me out to dinner to show me that it wouldn't be awkward. He was already in town to cash a check in and wanted to meet up. I refused. Not flat out. I told him that I was working late, which wasn't true. He suggested that we meet up in Fredericksburg, which is a little town I go through on my way to Kerrville, during my Spring Break. I believe it's about a 40-minute drive away from where Denny currently resides. I told him that we'd see.

Then on Monday of my Spring Break, I finally decide to head back to Kerrville. I told him that I was going to Fred and had to pop in Wal-Mart to check if they had some movies that Andrea wanted. We have a Wal-Mart in Kerrville, but it's out of my way. The one in Fred is on my way, so I thought I'd just drop by there. Two hours after I send that text, he texts me and asks where I am. I tell him that I'm still in Austin, and he says that he's already here. Here? Yeah, at the Wal-Mart in Fredericksburg. I asked him why he was there, and he replies with, "Because you told me to be here." What?! I told him that I was going to Wal-Mart, and he interpreted it as an invitation. I apologized to him for the misunderstanding and told him that's not what I meant. He said it was fine because he had to go into the store any way to get a few things. Pft.

Nearly two hours later after that text conversation (so, four hours from the first text to him saying that I was going to drop by Wal-Mart), I arrive in Fred. I parked into Wal-Mart's parking lot and headed toward the store. As I'm walking through the parking lot towards the store, I see Denny about fifteen feet away from me, walking the opposite direction. I quickly turned my head 90 degrees to the left and kept walking. I didn't know what to do. I kind of freaked and just turned my head to avoid him. I mean, c'mon...the guy waited nearly four hours? That's just creepy. He didn't see me though because he was looking down at his cell phone, texting, while walking. Five seconds later, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I quickly went inside the store and checked the message. It said that he had to go back to Wal-Mart because he forgot to get something, but he was on his way to his car because he forgot his wallet; and that since he's already here, we can meet up. He told me that he was going to wait for me outside on the bench. Yeah right.

I ran through the store to check on those DVDs. They didn't have them, so I bought roses for Mom since I hate leaving a store empty handed. I left the store from a different exit and headed back to my car. Once I was in there, I decided to text Denny to tell him that I wasn't going to Wal-Mart anymore. But in the midst of texting, my phone automatically died. What did I do? Well, I knew I had two options. I could either walk over to him and just do it, or I could just drive back to Kerrville. I did the latter, of course.

I didn't get home till an hour or so later because I had a few errands to run before going to the house. I plugged my phone into the charger and discovered that I had about seven missed calls and eight texts from Denny. The majority of them were "Where are you? I've been waiting forever," and "Did you stand me up again? This makes me so sad because I really want to see you."

I texted him back and told him a somewhat true story of what happened. I told him that I did go to Wal-Mart (true), didn't see him (not true), and couldn't get a hold of him because my phone died (true that my phone died, not true that I couldn't get a hold of him). So, what's that? Two true facts, and two not true facts? Looks like I broke completely even. He told me he went to his car every fifteen minutes or so to plug his phone into his car charger. I told him that it was very possible then that we completely missed each other: while he was on his way to plug his phone into his car, I was on my way inside the store on the other side. And since my phone died and I didn't have his number memorized, I didn't know how to get in touch with him. He bought it, but was completely let down. I felt pretty crappy about that.

I mean, one half of me went to him. It really did. He waited four hours to see me. And I did lie to him. That part I didn't like, but you know...you have to protect yourself sometimes, no matter what. That's the part that won me over. My bad/protective/selfish side always wins. I finally concluded that he was a little on the psycho side to drive almost an hour to a city and wait four more hours for me when the meeting wasn't planned, or mutually wanted. Then I thought about what he said about how he feels towards me, and how he has felt towards me, even when I was with Mark. I didn't like that at all. I remembered how Denny used to ask me, "Why do you want a used car like Mark, would you could have a new one like me?" People used to tell me their concerns about Mark's baggage, including Denny. He'd tease me all of the time about Mark's baggage that he didn't carry. I guess he wasn't really joking.

Denny continued in his attempt to persuade me to see him. He hasn't been successful. However, I think he finally got the hint this weekend. I told him again that the whole situation was uncomfortable for me and that I wasn't sure that seeing him was the best thing. He should be with someone his own age (he's 35) who's ready for the same things that he wants in life right now. I told him that I didn't want a family right now or soon, and more than likely, will never want one. And I told him that I was still in a considerably different stage in my life than he is. I'm still in my developmental phase and will be for a while.

Then he had the nerve to say that this was it for me. He wasn't going to keep trying to convince me to see and be with him. He didn't want to wait for me. He wanted to be together now and then see what happens and gave me this now or never ultimatum: if I didn't want to be with him now, then I can forget him altogether. For those of you who know me pretty well, you all know that I don't respond well to these, or bluffs or threats in general. How dare he thought he had the nerve to say something like that to me. I was pissed. I told him that I could never be with him because he had all of these expectations, which I hate, and that it was probably best that we just stopped knowing each other. I don't think he expected me to say that. He kind of back peddled and told me that I didn't mean that. I did though. He hasn't called me since.

Boys, no matter what age, are all idiots.


VI. New job

It's just a temp/seasonal job. Austin ISD hired me in their system wide testing area. I only work during TAKS season (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills is the state standardized exam that students who attend public schools are required to take). Basically, I'm I'm the person who handles a lot of the crap that goes on about the TAKS.

The exam's supposed to reflect the progress of the school: what the teachers are teaching the kids, if what they're teaching coincides with the required standards set forth by NCLB, if how they're teaching is effective, if they need to hire new teachers or to specifically train their teachers how to teach students to be successful on the TAKS, etc. Really though, it's about money. If the school's academically recognized, they get a bonus from the state. If the school does poorly for a certain amount of years, they can be shut down. I'm the person who the schools come to about questions, I handle the shipment and packing, etc. for all of the exams in the Austin and surrounding areas. It's just a temp/seasonal job though since students don't take the TAKS year round. We just got finished with Reading and Writing. Next month's math. Then over the summer, we'll be preparing for the upcoming school year.

It's not bad either. I get paid $15 an hour, and I don't really do anything. When I first started, they trained me to "stage," which is pretty much just checking in the schools and their paperwork to ensure that all of their documents: booklets, scantrons, stickers, etc. are all there. They even make you sign all of this paperwork that you're certified and that you'll keep everything confidential, etc. So pretentious. You actually have to have a degree to do this crap. I was the youngest and least educated one there. This nice lady named Willa, who's a calculus professor, worked there for some extra money. There was another lady who's a retired psychologist and geologist. What the hell?

They set up a row of about seven desks for check-in. I was at the last one. And since no school wanted to walk over to my desk, I barely worked that entire time during that particular phase. There were about 200 schools that came in one day. I took three of them. I check really fast because I know what I'm looking for a doing, so it takes me about ten minutes, max. I was there for more than ten hours, so I only did about thirty minutes, if that, of actual work. The rest of the time I sat at my desk, studied, and did homework. And oh, they also provided breakfast and lunch. So pretty much, I sat at my desk, did school work and ate for free while getting paid. I want a permanent job just like this one. Someone help me out.


All right, well, I think that's enough. I type way too much, I know. I apologize. But I do think that it makes up for my lack of entries. I promise to do a lot better. I'm actually considering writing at least once a week, specifically for my new creation, Fuck You Friday.

Fuck You Friday is a weekly entry written every Friday (clever, I know) that will consist of fuck you shout outs to idiots who irritated me throughout the week. I'll write up stories about what happened and about said people's role in them. I figured I do this a lot anyway, so why not reserve a specific day for it? I suppose my other entries will be filled with frillies or something, who knows? But I do know that Fuck You Friday will be a lot of fun. I'll be able to release a lot of irritation and tension from the week, and you all get to read up and laugh about it. See? Fun for all.

Okay, I'm going to go read up on for my Bio lab.

*I decided to scratch all that Twitter shit out. Andrea and I were talking about how dumb it was since it's basically a site where you just type up a bunch of statuses, only it's frequent, sometimes daily...that's just...dumb.