Week One: The Highlights/Lowlights

I'm back online for real now, so let's discuss my first full week as a resident of Georgia.

My apartment is very spacious and I like that. I live in a big old mansion that has been converted into a bunch of apartments. I've met most of the residents and for the most part I'm surrounded by military guys. John is the gay Navy Arabic translator who works nights, Andrew is the 21 year old drunk in the Navy, then there is mystery Navy guy who splits town on the weekends to visit his family somewhere not in Georgia. The chick next door is MIA thus far, probably home for the summer since she is in college. The guy upstairs is older and moved in a couple days after me, goes by the name Matt and has Florida plates...not real sure about his deal. John went to Temple Bucks and lived in PenDel, so we clicked right away. In fact my very first night I was on the roof of the building next door drinking beers and lighting fireworks with both John and Andrew. Our schedules don't line up very often, but when we are here in the house/apartment building everyone is kind of social.

I've spent a lot of time here shopping for shit. Target and Walmart are like my only friends. And oh, the movie theater has seen some of me lately as well. (War of the Worlds was good, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was too long) But getting back to shopping, I'm realizing that I should have probably just rented a Uhaul and drove my shit here since my movers seem in no rush to actually deliver my possessions to me. Last check I received a very luke warm "possibly Wednesday" from the guy in charge. I've been purchasing little things here and there to get me by...and the amount of little shit that you realize you need really can add up. I also went a tad crazy at Best Buy on Sunday last and grabbed a flat screen HDTV for a grand. I'm considering it a moving away present to myself. I'm propping it up on a cardboard box at the moment, so it doesn't seem all that flashy...but just wait until I get this place up to snuff....PIMPING is gonna be the word du jour my friends. To make it without cable I've been plowing through Season One of Scrubs, a show I never watched once and apparently really like a lot. And I also bought Monty Python and the Holy Grail to occupy my free time.

Which brings me to my next point...this week sucked. Flipping the switch on Tuesday to an entirely green staff was a big mistake for my company. I've been working crazy hours, no lunches and I'm on my feet all fucking day long answering the same questions over and over again. The staff are slightly less educated and it is completely apparent to our customers. Instead of the usual escalated calls from customers to complain about not getting their order in a timely fashion, I'm now having to listen to women tell me that they think they just spoke with a retarded person. The sad reality is that I'm not sure that she didn't just speak to a retarded person. Everyone is either lazy or obnoxious or chock full of drama that it's pissing me off. In fact the few people that I would consider smart or kind of cool have already walked off the job this week. I'm basically running around all day that I haven't really had a chance to reflect on the whole mess, but I can say this...I'm not going to be friends with my staff like I was in Philly. I will basically be a teacher, grading and taking roll each day and failing the dummies. I was hoping to maybe find a couple folks to befriend at work, but that is looking slim...and without friends here, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I'm about to have a 3 day weekend, one that thankfully contains cable and internet, a bed, blinds and a sofa that needs to be constructed in the morning. I have a shitload of wash to do and need to locate a laundry mat which should keep me busy. I'm also planning on seeing Land of the Dead with Joolie on Sunday. Joolie appears to be making the best of the move and has met some people that she is hanging out with pretty much every night. Sometimes I wish I was more trusting of people I don't know or more outgoing like she is. I don't want to wind up always tagging along with her to shit like her mongoloid brother or something. The one person I did meet at work that I planned to hang with quit today before I even got in. Although she rolled, she has my cell number and says she is gonna call me to hang out this weekend...but I'm not banking on it. If she does call, I'm sure you will hear all about it.