The latest on the car story

Right now, nothing is going right. Apparently, we filled out the title wrong when we sent it to the insurance company. So now I have to get a new title. But I have to wait for the old title to be mailed back to me because it's our proof that the lien was signed off, then I can take that to the "title place" (wherever that is) to get a new one that we can then sign correctly and send back to the insurance company. This promises to be very time-consuming as most of it is waiting. Waiting for the old title. Waiting for the new title to come (unless they really can print them on the spot as the insurance guy said--dad said he had to wait for another one recently to come by mail, though). Then, after we send the new title off to the insurance company, it takes a couple of days of processing before we'll get the rest of the settlement money.

The one thing the guy did do was give me a partial payment for the car. Like he gave me the money as if I was keeping the car and getting it fixed, but I'll get more when they get the title, which is what I mean by the rest of the money.

The other ordeal right now is waiting for my Trileptal. Obviously, this is the one that causes the most problems anyway, as it's $233 at my local pharmacy. But then, I found out I could get it for less if I ordered it from Canada. For one thing, they have a generic one there that's not available here (why it can't be available everywhere is beyond me) and that was $85. So I'd been ordering it from this Canadian pharmacy. However, over two and a half months ago, I placed an order and didn't receive it. They wouldn't run a trace on it unless I checked for sure (even though I could already tell them the answer to this question without checking) with the post office that they weren't holding a package for me. Well, we're getting all our other mail and even have gotten packages since then, so it's not the mail. So I called the post office that I thought was my post office to see if they were holding a package for me and they said that for security reasons they couldn't tell me over the phone. So I drove over there only to find out that that wasn't my post office anymore. Great. So, in the end I checked 3 different post offices before I found out which one was mine. Mind you, they're not very close together either. The one that's mine is actually the farthest away of the 3, too. Weird. Anyway, all of that just to find out what I already knew, no, they weren't holding a package for me. So I called the pharmacy back and said so, and they ran a trace on the package and said it was at a sorting facility and would be here the next week. The next week came and went and I didn't get the prescription. So I called back and told them. So now, they say they'll re-ship the package. Great. Whatever. Again, I have to wait the regular 3 weeks before I found out that that package didn't arrive either. So I called them back and she said, there had been a postal strike and it would be delayed, but would be here by last Friday. Again, Friday, nothing happened. So I called again today (Monday) and she ran a trace on it and said it would be here tomorrow. Well, I've heard all of this before and I don't believe that it will really come, but they won't issue a refund until then, because that's when her computer system is telling her it will be here now. Well, nevermind that, before, she said it would be here last Friday, right? She went on about the postal strike in the UK causing delays. Well, if there was a strike, why did they send my package from the UK then? Either way, they're not making sense to me. I don't believe them. I have already decided not to use them again, so no need to say that to me. There are plenty of other Canadian pharmacies out there.

Anyway, that's it for now. Feel free to drop a line and cheer me up. Been kinda bored, despite all the endless phone calls trying to sort everything out. I should have some book recommendations coming for anyone interested. I'll probably be reading a lot this week since I have to give the rental car back. Reading is fine, still didn't want to give up the rental car, though. : (

Need to look for a new car : (

Found out on Friday that my car was a total loss. I'm not happy about that at all as the car was in good condition with no mechanical problems at all. It also sucks that it wasn't even a mistake I made that caused this, but some woman who was stupid enough not to pay attention to her driving. Still, what else can I do?

So, Dad and I discussed options and we're going to see some cars and decide from there what the plan is going to be. Will probably need financing of some sort. I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, car shopping can be fun, like the looking part. The buying part is not fun because there's no way to do it without talking to the salespeople. That part I hate. I'm going to see if my bank can do something about it, maybe I can co-sign on a loan to rebuild my credit. But we'll see how it actually works out.

Had a good time in FW. Mostly we went shopping as Mom wanted me to buy some clothes to interview in. The suits I had were pretty huge on me, so I guess it was time to replace them. It's a shame as I really liked them a lot, but the new ones are nice, too. The hardest part was finding a skirt in a size 2. In the end, we got a couple at Old Navy, although at Old Navy I needed a size 0 as their 2s are fairly big. I wish I could have bought a lot more clothes as most of my stuff is too big, but I have to get a job first. I hope I get the one I interviewed for on Monday, even though the office was kind-of creepy. It was just dark and depressing, but the guy insisted that they were just remodeling. I don't know. I didn't see any additional light fixtures anywhere.

Anyway, I guess I don't have much to blog about. I'm just wanting to get all of this resolved and over-with. I don't know when I will get the settlement from the insurance company but I hope it's soon. I really don't want to mess with this anymore. : (

Invisible car strikes again

Not the best time in the world for my car to turn invisible again, but it happened. Dad and I were leaving Starbucks and we're out on the street now, driving, minding our own business. I'm in the left lane and there's a truck in the right lane trying to turn into a driveway. So I slow down, because I can't see around this giant truck and I don't know if there's someone going to come out of one of those driveways or not. Apparently there was. As I decided I was past the truck, this woman guns her truck (another truck, coming OUT of the driveway as the first truck was waiting for her to move before he turned in) and smashes into the side of my car. Basically she was trying to make a left there and go down the opposite way I was going, and she ended up making a "T" with my car being the top of the T. How she couldn't see me, I don't know as I was right in front of her. Hard to miss, but she did it. I call 911 to get a police officer over there to take the report, and she calls her insurance company first. She's extremely apologetic and knows it's her fault, but that doesn't make it any less of a pain in the ass to deal with, you know? Eventually, I'm taking down her information and then I talk to her insurance company, and they say they won't do anything about my damages, getting me a rental car, or anything at all until they do an investigation. Great. What am I going to do about a vehicle? I was extremely mad by that point, at the insurance company dragging their feet about this, when it's obviously the other woman's fault. I wasn't speeding or anything as I'd slowed down considerably, when I was only going 35 in a 40mph zone anyway. I don't know. After we were done with all of that, we were waiting for the cop, and he still hadn't arrived. Finally I decided to call 911 again, but the cop arrived right as I was doing that. He took the report quickly and that was that.

I got home somehow, even though my car was making all kinds of funny noises because o9f the damage. I told my mom about the accident and that the other woman's insurance sucked (it's a county mutual--insurance for high risk drivers). Well, my mom said county mutuals are like that. They drag their feet about everything and it's really hard to get a hold of them on the phone and it always takes forever to resolve the claim. Great. So, I called MY insurance company (USAA) and they scheduled my car in the shop right away and arranged for a rental car. They'll just get the money back from the other insurance company later. Fantastic! I love them. Hopefully it will be arranged before I have to pay my deductible, but we'll see. I'm just mad about the timing as I have a job interview on Monday and that's the same day I've got to get my car in the shop and get the rental car, so I can (hopefully) go to FW. R's husband C is in LA right now doing a freelance job and they've already informally discussed hiring him permanently, so this might be my last chance to visit R if they end up moving to LA. But C is there designing the package for the Country Music Awards, so it will be cool for him to do some national spots as opposed to the local stuff he's done. Anyway, busy, busy, busy. I'm going to have to get up early tomorrow. Hope everything works out.

Looks like I'm going to FW...

Woohoo. Yes, not that exciting. A boring place to go with nothing to do, but my sis is there. So I will be visiting her mainly. I doubt we'll find all kinds of fun things to do, but we'll probably go to Starbucks a lot. Hopefully she has this ice cream I've been obsessed with. It's Blue Bunny No Sugar Added, Reduced-fat Bunny Tracks. This stuff is heavenly and doesn't taste light at all. Normally, I'm not one for peanut butter, but put it with chocolate and I'm all over it. However, this ice cream is 3 points for a half-cup. I wish I could have lots more, but I usually don't have more than 3 points left over after my meals. The first time I had it, it seemed really rich and I didn't think I could eat more than a half-cup, but the more I eat it, the more I want it. I wish I could feasibly eat it all day long, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The stuff is delicious.

I made a version of tortilla soup from a recipe I got online. I had to alter it a bit as they seemed to think there were bell peppers in tortilla soup. Well, you can tell when someone is not from here when they put weird ingredients like that in Mexican food. Still, it made some good soup (my altered version), although it didn't really taste like tortilla soup. I think that's the recipe's fault, though. In real tortilla soup, there just aren't that many ingredients and they seemed to think they needed a whole bunch. But at least it was good, and there's some left over in the fridge.

Anyway, I'll be back on Thursday as there's another meetup group I want to go to that night. Then, the organizer for the atheists meetup wanted to have a Halloween party, so that sounds like it might be fun. He said he hired a 12 member folk band to play loud music directly behind us all night, but I think he was joking. So, hopefully I'll make some friends out of this and have some fun.

Besides all that, not much going on. No job interviews, nothing. I'm getting so sick of it. I NEED a JOB!!! I'm getting impatient here. It can't last forever, can it? I mean, someone will hire me eventually, right? I mean, I'm not mean or awful to live with, am I? I think I'm a decent photographer. I know the graphic design software and I can learn quickly. I have customer service skills. I have a college degree. Really, what is it about me that turns employers off? Really, someone tell me.

Atheists Meetup

I had a great time at the Atheists meetup last night. One guy was in the same area as I am, so he carpooled with me. So I had company on the way over there, and he and I shared an interest in photography. So that was cool. He does mostly landscapes, which I also enjoy. He said he didn't become an atheist until he was 55, so it was fairly recent for him, whereas I think I was always an atheist. I just didn't figure it out for sure until college.

We got to the restaurant and met a few people. At first I had a table with a couple of guys who weren't very talkative, so I tried to ply them with questions to get them to talk a little more. Then, some more people arrived and they moved to another table. One guy stayed with me since I was alone at the table. He and I got into a debate about what an agnostic really is, then he went over to the other table with his friends and I joined another discussion at another table. There we had some lively debates and some really enlightened, deep, philosophical conversations, which were really fun. I think our table was the last table left in the whole restaurant after a while as everyone left and we ended up staying really late, but it was fun. The only thing was the food was only so-so and kind-of fast-food-like and not very good. AND there was a band playing right behind us, like not even a foot away. My chair was right against one of the musician's chair. So the music was really loud and it was hard to talk. We had to yell to hear each other. So, I enjoyed the group, but I don't think I want to go to that restaurant again.

I have a paranormal group meetup tomorrow morning before I meet my dad. That should be fun, too, but it will be a smaller group of only 9 people. The guy arranged it at this tiny Starbucks with only two tables, so we'll have to sit outside, probably. There's not even that much room on the patio, so I don't know. I don't know why he picked that one when there's a larger one right across on the other side of the highway. But, what can I say? I won't get to meet everyone, though, because they had to make another meeting the next day since the place was so small. I wish I could meet more of them, though. Oh well. Still, I look forward to meeting more people and maybe making some friends.

Anyway, lunch is almost ready, so that'll be it for this post. But at least I did something fun for once instead of being bored at home. Nothing new on the job front, though, but I'll keep you posted.

A little bummed...

I may have had a post on my other blog with a similar or exactly the same title. I don't know. But every so often, when I think there's a job that I will get, it sucks when I don't get a call back. Really, the last interview, it seemed like they were desperate. Why didn't I get that one? Am I really that awful? Was it something I said in the interview? I thought it went really well. I can't think of anything that would make them not want to hire me, except maybe that there was still someone better out there. But that makes me pretty bummed, like maybe I'm not that great a photographer or something. Obviously, I'll keep trying, but it's hard not to let it get to me. It does get to me. Why wouldn't it get to me? I just feel like no one's ever going to want to hire me if I didn't get that one. Who could possibly want to hire me more than those people? No one.

Well, I can't give up, of course. I've got to keep trying. I just wish I'd get a job soon so I don't have to worry any more. I'm sick of job-hunting. I'm sick of looking at listings, I'm sick of interviews, I'm sick of getting turned down. Really. There's only so much of this I can take, you know?

I have a couple of things to do this week, though. I signed up for some groups on Meetup.com. So, there's a meeting tomorrow night at dinner at a restaurant I've never been to before. It's a pizza place, so it will be a challenge to stay on my diet that night, but I think I can do it. Then, I have another one Saturday morning. We'll see how they go. Obviously, I don't have to go to any more group meetings if I don't like that particular group, but maybe I'll at least make friends. It gets lonely without R bugging me all the time. I don't get to see H very often either. So, it will be nice to meet some new people.

I haven't been wanting to update this blog for a while, I guess. Most of it's just being down all the time. Plus, I don't feel like I have much going on. I don't have that many interviews and when I do there's not much to say about them. So, we'll see how things go. It's hard to be optimistic when I keep applying for jobs and nothing ever happens, not even an interview.