MY LIFE - MARCH 1999

I'm starting to wonder just how I wind up on mailing lists for these music clubs. I've never responded to any of the offers that I've gotten, yet each week I get a new one claiming to be better than the last. Instead of offering 12 CDs that you don't want, you can have 5 instead. In the process of narrowing down the number you have to take, they also narrowed down the selection.

What's bad about that is that there's literally no rap offered with this package except for Wyclef Jean's "The Carnival," which I already have. Even worse, it's classified under R&B, which is fine, except that you only get 8 choices in that section. Apparently the people at Colombia House haven't realized that rap is one of the biggest sellers in the music industry right now. Stores give it it's own section (at cheaper prices I might add), but these clubs don't. When they do offer rap, it's mostly mainstream stuff like Will Smith or Mase, neither of which do I have a passing interest in. Where's the gangsta rap that I listen to? Where are the Master Ps, the Scarfaces, hell, not even Busta Rhymes made it onto this list.

It's a ridiculous thing because they don't even give you a chance to select rap as a listening preference. Apparently everyone listens to either alternative or country, and both of those have been slipping lately, especially alternative and rock. But hey, they don't care. They'd rather see you buy Greenday than 2Pac. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony? Never heard of them. How about some nice Clint Black instead.

Needless to say, it found its way into the garbage can very quickly. Oops, my hand slipped.

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It's beginning to look more and more like Crystal is going to have to make some tough decisions in her life. She told me yesterday that her parents were fighting again and could be getting a divorce soon. She also told me that she's getting really sick of her job at CVS, which is nothing new, but it's still news to me. Her whole life is just a mess, and while I don't intend to be mean, it would seem a lot of it has been brought upon herself.

She rarely goes to school nowadays, she goes out all night and parties, and she's easily frustrated by simple things. She didn't even know all the states, which raises some serious questions in my mind. Just how much do her parents care about her future? It doesn't seem like much, they'd rather fight about everything than try to resolve the problem. Does she care about her future? It seems that she does, but sometimes it looks like she just wants to say fuck it and start over. Her real problem appears to lie in the people she's friends with. She's on the wrong path and I'm not so sure that she'll right things soon.

She did get serious about how she'd move out on her own if her parents did split. That means that she's looking for a better job now and would deplete our already thin line of workers. I understand what she's saying and all, I just think that moving out on her own would be a large mistake. Time will tell for certain what will happen, but I feel that she'd be setting herself up for trouble if she tried it. I can't tell her what to do though, nor do I want to. I'm not saying that she shouldn't get a better job, believe me when I say that if another job came along, I'd take it too. It's just that I think she's planning too far ahead with too much uncertainty to take into account.

However, I will support her with whatever decision that she makes and will let her know that I'll always be a friend for her if she needs one at any time.

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Realizing that it's been a while since I've written anything, I think I'll catch you up on my weekend and the things going on around here. Let's start with Saturday. I worked, came home, and did absolutely shit the rest of the night. Okay? Sunday was the same way for the most part, but I can't remember exactly what I did.

Monday, I was late for school because the weather was bad and my mom didn't want me driving in it at all. God knows why we had school anyhow. The streets were a complete mess and there were accidents everywhere, but the school said it was time to learn. I got in around 9. I went to work that night and had a rather uneventful night there, so nothing new on that front. At least until my mom came in to buy some stuff.

She told me that she had bought a zip drive (already did I claim a disk) and Windows 98 (shudder) so that things might actually work. You see, since Microsoft unveiled W98, there's really no more support available for Windows 95, which is their way of making you buy the upgrade so that some things will work. It's not that bad though. It hasn't crashed yet, although some things are acting a bit screwy right now. Hey, W95 wasn't perfect when it came out, so why should we expect W98 to be working?

Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday, except that I was able to go online for the first time in two days, which is something of a record since I started showing up again. Went through my e-mail and the such, but really did nothing else. I did check out some sites, but really nothing major. Same thing for Wednesday. E-mail and some checking around.

Wednesday did have it's interesting moment of the day. I came home from school all ready to do my homework (I'm sick I think) when my older sister Lori informs me that I have to take her to school. In all likelyhood, that would make me late for work since it was 1:30pm when she told me this and I leave for work at 2:30pm. So out to Middleburg Heights it was where I dropped her off at work, got back to I-71 and went back south to Strongsville. I walked in at 3:01pm, making me one minute late. Sue me.

Of course, everyone threw a fit that I was a minute late. But that's what makes my job so interesting.

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Today, oh today was just a damning day for me. Not that I'm in a bad mood or anything, it's just that I'm so tired right now. I'm just really fatigued at this point and I need a little bit of rest at this point. Tomorrow will be a good day for it. My Ecology class is going to the Natural History Museum, then I have to cash my check and pay my car payment, and I'm home free from that point on. Tomorrow should be a much better day.

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We have caller ID now. Finally we have a way of finding out who's calling when we're not around. Ever since our answering machine fried a few months ago, we've had no way of finding out who might have been calling when we're not home or in the shower, or whatever else might be inhibiting us from getting to the phone. Not that I care or anything; I don't really use the phone myself, but it's something that's necessary. I wouldn't have exactly gone for caller ID myself, but hey, I won't complain.

Now we'll catch all those damned prank callers. C'mon, try that again you bastards.