Oh they lost their chance. Every year, I keep a spreadsheet for the following year, with notes that include the no-shows, the people who hid in their trucks and don't work, and now, the people who hang up on me when they get bad news. They go on THE LIST for next year. THE LIST was very useful this year, when some of the no-shows from last year tried to apply again this year, or the woman who read romance novels behind one of the residence halls the whole time applied. Or the guy who hung out in the basement of the dorm he was assigned to with all the Housing Support guys. THEY THINK I DON'T KNOW.

Go to an air-conditioned movie! A long one. Or possibly a good one.

Libraries are great for air-conditioning too. Plus they have books!

Yay Trudy!

Yay for checks arriving, Sean!

I really admire people who can do freelance/contract work - I'm just not emotionally cut out for it. Selling out to the man was ultimately very relaxing for me.)

I think I would be okay with freelance work, but I also KNOW that both Pete and I being freelancers would be hugely stressful.

Spreadsheets? Day-um, amyth. When you keep a list you go hardcore.

There's no way to staff 28 residence hall dumpster sites over three days, charge those days to separate account numbers, show all of those people's supervisors how to charge the overtime to the different account numbers, equip those people with grabbers, work gloves, and box cutters, make sure that they have adequate snacks and water and Gatorade over the weekend, coordinate six trucks, and have handmade signs made and placed on the dumpsters at all of those residence halls (and sometimes replaced due to weather), and, oh yeah, implement a shrink wrap recycling pilot without SPREADSHEETS.

The very idea terrifies me.

I've been very happy being freelance, but it is also very stressful. The only thing that made it more stressful is when I expanded to the point where I'm not just employing myself, but also have people that I'm keeping working. It's a bit crazy making sometimes. It can be rewarding, and I at least get to run my company and treat people the way I think they should be treated, but it's a pretty big weight to be responsible for people like that.

I am way too stupid to do amyth's job. Even with spreadsheets. This afternoon I am going back to school for the third time to try and get my son enrolled. Because I keep forgetting some piece of paperwork. Seriously.

amyth, does that mean you didn't hire R this year? Remind me to high five you tomorrow. BTW, The Mayor just gave me a ride to Franklin. Those must be some fucking happy pills, yo.

The Mayor is taking some MAJOR happy juice. He is a totally different person, and may not actually change into a giant snake and eat us all.

I did hire R., since she is the supervisor for two of the other hires, so AWKWARD, but she is, shall we say VERY STRATEGICALLY PLACED. There will be no shenanigans this year.

I just went shopping. Tried on a bunch of stuff, but none of it really fit right. Also realized, yet again, that clothing sizing is really weird. I tried on a pair of pants in a 12, and they were way too big. Tried on the same pants in a 12 petite, and they were way too small. So I guess that, in that brand, I wear a 10 if I'm shopping in the regular section, but a 14 if I'm shopping in the petite section.

I did buy some shoes, however. Two pairs. They're the kind with sneaker soles that look like Mary Janes on top, and I tried it out, and I can wear my brace with them. One pair is black with purple trim, and the other is brown with pink trim. The brown and pink ones have some sequins that make them a bit too sparkly for my taste, but it looks like the sequins will be simple to remove. (Good thing about kids shoe department: cheap shoes with no heels, designed for people who will be running around a lot, so there are plenty of dressy-looking shoes with sneaker bases. Bad thing about kids shoe department: everything has sparkles.)