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08/01/2004 Entry: "Disaster Free for almost a week!" So far, this weekend has been disaster-free. It's been interesting, though. On Friday afternoon, we had coffee with Anya and Matt. Both of them are very interesting friends, and it turns out that Anya and I have another thing in common: a hellish customer. Time for the Little Black Notebook again. Back when I worked at Cargo Furniture in Springfield Mall (this would have been about 1994), there was one of my top 5 worst customers ever, a short, angry, crazy Italian man named Patrick Capriglioni. His name is burned into my skull. He ranks as the only customer that threatened to actually kill me. It's a long story I don't have time to write at the moment, but to ease curiosity, here's a summary: I open store, Pat calls, order messed up, calls my drivers racial slurs, beats his wife, wants correct order or cash refund in 1 hour, calls ever 5 minutes with a countdown, calls police, threatenes to come to my store and kill me, mall security gets involved, I get police protection, Pat calls home office, screams at all the women managers, makes the head of our customer service cry, the president of company won't talk to him, calls me back, stating he's coming to shoot me, my assistant gets terrified Pat's in the mafia, and then Pat accepts new terms of delivery given to him by 3 corporate people, but only if the drivers are not black. The end. I never actually met the guy face to face. Well, it turns out, at Anya's second job (her part time job at an animal hospital), this is one of their customers. Apparently, he's still just as crazy. What another weird coincidence for the Little Black Book. Matt, Anya's husband, is a really nice guy, too. He's got a new job working for a defense contractor, after his last job passed him over for several promotions. These days, I see more and more of this. Both abused techs and a lot of new jobs with defense contractors. I guess Bush is good for one thing, he does give jobs if you work with a company that builds weapons or defense systems. And techs are snapping these up, because these jobs will be a lot harder to outsource. Trickledown. It's like living under Reagan again. So, then Christine goes to our friend Gay's house to watch some of the missed episodes of "Queer as Folk" (Gay had On Demand TV). I mull the irony of seeing a show about gay people at Gay's house. I got some serious writing done on my book, about another chapter's worth, making the total up to 7 of 23. Saturday, I had nothing planned. I slept late, and woke up going "Day 5 of no disaster." It's the little things, you know? And truthfully, the bad day I had on Monday was almost entirely reversed. Nate's not leaving my company, I am still in the running for the other job, and the code that was swiped from me has been proven to be more annoying than helpful. Christine got her nails done, and then we went to Fair Oaks Mall, where I browsed through one of my favorite stores, Hot Topic, and looked at all the Glam Goth stuff. You goth girls? Have the coolest stuff nowadays. We had to make our own rubber washer jewelery back then. Christine and I spent some time people watching and discussing gastric band surgery, which her doctor has recommended she have. It turns out our insurance will cover it, but we're worried about all the after effects. Earlier in the day, I got a call from Sean, almost in a panic, because his whole family was at their friend Rob's wedding, and it was running late. There was a wedding, then a reception, and newly discovered "after hours - adults only" party that was going to last until 3-4 in the morning. They needed someone to sit their kids, because it was their nanny's day off, and they didn't know where she was, anyway. So later that evening, my family went to their house, and we "took care" of their kids. I put that in quotes because Keiran was already zonked out from dancing, Scarlet fell asleep after only an hour, and Chance and CR played video games until I sent everyone to bed at 2 (Scarlet had fallen asleep on the couch). Christine was very tired, and left early, so CR and I were going to spend the night there, but Sean and Lou got back early (a little before 3), and Sean gave me a ride home. I ended up staying up until 4, because apparently, a Possum had gotten loose in our yard, and Christine got really excited about it. We've decided we don't want him, because I think he's been eating some (like 2) of our tomatoes, and I am afraid of it going through our garbage, or biting our dogs, who have no sense whatsoever when something they don't like is in our yard. I fell asleep around 4:30, and my sleep was really restless. I had a lot of dreams, including, embarrassingly, I was a student at Hogwarts. I was embarrassed because I really had a good time there, apparently. I was in House Ravenclaw, and I was a really good and popular student. That thought has kept me cheerful all day. I am like, 12. next thing you know, I'll be at the Jedi Academy or something. Anyway, Brad came over around 4. Christine and Brad are going to see M. Night Shymalan's "The Village," which I started reading reviews about after they left. Not good. I didn't want to see it because I have gotten to the point I can't take suspense in movies anymore. If I want suspense, all I have to do is just wait, and reality comes along and gives me some. I have had enough suspense to last me for the rest of my life. For about ten years of my life, I lived under suspense daily: "is my mother drunk?" and "is my dad in a bad mood?" These days it's, "will I still have a job next week?" and "do I have enough money to pay all the bills this month?" Shortly after they left, Sean, Lou, and the kids came by unexpectedly. They had driven out our way to see a movie, and it was all sold out! So since we were nearby, they dropped in apologetically so they wouldn't have to have driven up our way for nothing (also, all day it's been raining REALLY hard in short bursts). I got in some good talks with the adults, and kids ran around and were... well, kids. They didn't stay long, and so I cooked dinner, watched TV, did some more writing, and finished this entry. So, unless something terrible happens in the next 3 hours... it's been a good weekend!