Why I will never EVER have and utilities through SBC Ameritech again

On Sunday, Jon called and said "why is your phone disconnected?". Or maybe he asked Rob, and Rob asked me. Regardless, I was not aware that my phone was not working. Then I thought about it, and my DSL wasn't working, but I hadn't thought anything of that because our DSL seems to be constantly messed up. So yesterday I call SBC to find out what the deal is. Let me give you a little background info first. Im moving out of my apartment in 2 and a half weeks, so I called SBC last Monday to tell them I wanted everything shut off on April 24th. The lady I talked to that time was incredibly nice and even though I was on the phone for a half hour with her, mostly on hold, it was okay because she was making sure that I wouldn't default on my year long contract if I disconnected on April 24th. So she says everything is fine, and I hang up.
Now, back to yesterday. I call the lady, and she says that service was cancelled on March 24th, per customer request. I tell her that, no, it was supposed to be April 24th, the other lady must have made a typo. Do you KNOW what she said to me??? "Well, we disconnected that last wednesday. Why are you just now calling?"
UM, EXCUSE ME??? Oh, you're right, I should have noticed earlier, my fault. What the hell does it matter why Im just now calling? So then, she says to me "Well, I cant just hook the phone back up because you had a year long contract that ended in April, and since it was cut off in March you have to pay an early termination fee." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! DO YOU HEAR WHAT YOURE SAYING??? YOU'RE the one who cut it off!! you made the mistake!! So I freaked out on her, and she has her manager take the fee off. But does it end there? No, of course it doesnt. This whole situation is too asinine to end there. Then, she tells me that she cant hook the phone back up, because in order to start the phone, Ill need to sign another one year contract. Yeah, because thats going to happen. To make a long story short, the problem was fixed freaking 45 minutes later, when I arrived to work unshowered, because it took me that long to explain to the woman that I wouldnt be signing or paying anything and that she would be hooking my service back up. Absolutely, without question, the worst customer service I have ever received. And the phone wont even be back on until tomorrow, and the DSL wont be back for anothe two days. GET REAL.

If your curious what a drunk email from jon might look like...

here is the answer to all of your questions...

Lola. I love you. And you love my hair. Right now you are talking
with a pseudo-german accent, trying to be like a hairstyleist.... you
are not an east-german hair-styleist. I am really really drunk. maybe
you should cut my hair, i am under the assumption that you are not
going to cut my hair. you are instead going to give me the side pony
tail. for fucks sake. side ponytails are a female thing. really. if i
don't have a vagina i really shouldn't have a side ponytail....and now
you are laughing at me... fuck. now you are getting a camera.... and
my girlfriend is saying that i'm cute... i dont' buy it...
unless .,... fuck yoiu... i don't want my picture taken.... fuck. my
picutre was taken. damnit. and people are downstairs smoking. i want
to smoke, but i shouldn't. now i can hear rob... i'm going to go find
out what kind of madness is going on downstairs... buy... or bye....
whatever... oh, my girlfriend is scratching my back... mmmmmmmm....
ohb yeah......


this is jo. jon's a ittle sleepy. e


NO I'M NOT!!!!!

Details for Joe

This post if specifically for Joe. So if youre not Joe than MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. The details of grad school are as follows- I believe I will be attending the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence in the fall. I say believe because while this is my number one choice, I havent gotten the results back from all my schools yet- So far Ive been accepted to Colorado, Pittsburgh and Sarah Lawrence. We would be living on the outskirts of NYC, and its a two year program, so we would move back to Michigan after I finished it. It would be particularly sweet because McSweeneys has an NYC office, and I could attempt to get an internship there while I was at SLC. This is all the info I have for you at this time. The bachelor/bachelorette parties are April 17th- are you coming??
miss ya:) Lola

Sorry, those are old posts, but I wrote them at work, and for some reason they wont publish there...

If you see my head bulging in odd places, it's because my head's about to explode. It. is humanly impossible to have this much to do and get it all done. The problem is this- well, I got into grad school in New York, which is great. But where is Rob going to work? So I got on the NY Dept of Ed today- to be certified he has to take this test- and he has to go to NY to take it. Cool. Also, even if he takes the test, theres no guarantee that he'll find a job, and what is he going to do if he doesnt have a job. Freaking education. Why doesnt the federal govt just have one big teaching requirement, so that way you can go anywhere and teach. So I found this Urban Teaching initiative thing that he could do, but there are all these catches and once again, its not like you can just count on him getting in, because what if he doesnt? Im going to be in school full time, not a whole lot of time for me to work, and if I did, Im a freaking creative writer, what the hell job am I going to get? Oh, and then I say to myself, well Laura, why dont you worry about all of that later, because youre getting MARRIED in six freaking weeks, and I have TONS left to do for that. And while we're on the subject, where am I going to work this summer? and where is rob going to work this summer? and is Lily going to be able to come to Ireland, or am I roaming around there for 10 days by myself? And what if I dont get enough financial aid from SLC, how am I going to pay for my education??? And should we get insurance for the summer? Because I get insurance from SLC, but what if something happens this summer? And somehow I ran out of contacts- am I going to have to pay for those myself? And my glasses are the wrong prescription now- can I get new ones or did I have to do that at the same time I got my contacts? And the front right side of my car looks like its about to fall off. And are we going to be able to go to Martha's Vineyard in August? Or are we going to have to spend all the honeymoon money going back and forth between here and new york, taking tests and looking at apartments for the fall. Dont ask me whats on my mind...

Mystery Solved and "Yes, my foot fits nicely in my mouth, thank you."

First of all, the previous post was actually written yesterday- I was writing on my crappy lap top that I use in the ISS room and the only graphic that popped up was the avocado. Today, one of the teachers was sick, so I'm subbing instead of doing ISS and Im using an actual computer, and VOILA! all my fruit is at the top of the page. Mystery solved. But I thought it was kind of a funny post and decided to post it anyways...

On another note, I had an interview for the ISS position this morning (yes, for the job I already have. Because of some type of union stuff they have to interview me as some kind of formality before actually hiring me. You'll be happy to know that I landed the job I've been working at for a month and a half.) But we did the interview thing (kind of..) and then me and the vice principal were talking about some of the kids that end up in ISS. You know, I dont back down on my statement that a lot of those kids just act like complete jerks. But the truth is, I have no idea what it's like to be in their place. Let's face it, I am a middle class white girl. And while I am proud of, and make a big deal about, the fact that I pay for everything including my college by myself and I have worked since I was 14, the truth is I am priviledged. I always had a nice, warm comfortable house to come home to. My parents are still married. Not only did my parents never do any type of drug, there wasn't even alcohol in my house when I was growing up. I was given a car for my last two years of high school. I have never ever, as far as I can recall, been hit by my parents in any way.
The vice principal was telling me about how she doesnt even suspend some kids because she knows that they'll get the shit beat out of them at home if she does. When I have kids in ISS, without fail, at least one of them has a parent in jail. I dont think I even know anyone who's parents were in jail. And while I dont feel that all of this makes me snobby or uncaring about their lives, nor do I feel that it validates their misbehavior, the truth is I dont know what its like to be in that position.

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

You know, I could be wrong, but I swear my blog used to have more than just an avocado at the top. I swear there was like, an orange or some cherries or something up there too. Maybe, since I haven't been blogging nearly as much, they started to take some of my fruits away. And left me with an avocado, because they know that I dont like avocados. It's like the ultiimate insult from blogger.com. Or maybe it's like a five-star rating. This is the third day in a row that I've written, maybe I will get an orange back.

What the hell am I going to do with my life?

So, the results are slowly coming back from grad schools- of the seven I applied to- I'm on the wait list for the one I really want and I've been denied admission to two. Now the two that I didnt get into, I can honestly say I'm not too upset about- one was the number one program in the country- i wasnt even going to apply to it, but then my professor told me to. The other was a school that kind of specializes in offbeat, experimental writing, which doesnt necessarily fit my writing. Nonetheless, when you say "Next year, Im going to move to wherever I get into grad school" and then you get letters in your mailbox that say "Nope, can't come here", you naturally start to wonder to yourself WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING TO LIVE?? WHAT IF I DONT GET IN ANYWHERE? Because, I hate to say it, but I dont think I can stay here. I love Kazoo, but I have just been here for too long, and its time to get going. I'm 23 and I still live smack in the middle of one of the largest student areas where everyone is 19/20 and I hear people outside my window at night yelling drunken nonsense and I think to myself YOURE AN IDIOT. But really, they're not. Well, they are, but not in that sense- I mean, I did the same thing the first couple years of college, but now...you know. It's kind of like in kindergarten. I went to this school for kindergarten where we had a pizza party every friday followed by swimming lessons at the country club- There were three levels, and I tested into the advanced swimming class, but my best friend (Megan Bennett) tested into the intermediate. So I said I wanted to stay in intermediate. So I went there, and they were like, learning to float on their backs, and I was all like, come on people, who cant float on their back? and I was all bored and irritated with the people around me because I SHOULDNT HAVE BEEN THERE. See what I mean? Does that sound bad? Because what I mean to say is, everyone had to learn to float on their back, and you know, its okay if youre plugging your nose while youre going underwater. But once you've learned to swim without plugging your nose, you need to move to the advanced swimming class, because after a while, you're looking around going WHY ARE YOU HOLDING YOUR NOSE?? IF YOU JUST BREATHE OUT, THE WATER WONT GET IN. And if everyone around you starts to seem wierd, you're probably the one who's in the wrong place.
Four schools left to hear from. Pray for me.

Is it wrong that I hate a lot of the kids in my ISS room as much as I do? The thing is, so many of these kids act like such assholes. I realize also that I just see the bad kids- I subbed last week instead of doing ISS and the kids were really nice. But I seriously worry about the future of the world when I have these kids in my class who just dont give a crap about anyone or anything but themselves. And then you meet their parents and you realize where they got it from.

Several Things....

First, I'd like to start a profile series called "Spotlight On..."
The first Spotlight will be a study of the "number collector"

Number Collector-
What is he DOING with all those numbers??? He's someone I barely know, I would have walked by without saying hello if I had my anti-social way. We worked on some project together, like YEARS ago. We talk for four or five minutes after which I would be more than happy to leave, but inevitably (sp?) there is the "Oh, let me get your number, we should hang out some time" AM I REALLY BITCHY? because all i can think is "you KNOW we arent going to hang out." Maybe its because I'm not the most of gregarious of people, maybe he really does think we should hang out some time. What do I think is really going to happen though? I think I'm going to get drunk dialed some time in the near future and hear "who is this?? you were in my phone" Speaking of which, how many numbers can those phones hold??

In other news- I had a dream last night in which I defended Jen's honor. Rob and I meet up with Jon and we all go to meet up with Jen and Ryan. Just before we get in the apartment though, Jon says "well, you know ryan is seeing someone else, right?" and I'm like "Ryan and Jen broke up?!?!?" and Jon's like "No, Ryan's just seeing another girl too." So we go in and get ready and I'm like "are you ready Jen?" and shes like "Oh, I'm not going Lola" and Ryan's like "Oh, [insert 'other girls' name that i cant remember'] is going to come with us." Then I got really pissed off at the boys and I turned around and said "Well, I hope you guys realize I am NOT being nice to her." Ha. Ive got your back Jen:)

In other other news-
Rob did something cute today. I had this student who was asking how the Cold War started, and for the life of me, I could not remember- so I told him about the Space Race and McCarthyism and the Red Scare and all that- and then Rob came in my room and I'm like "Rob, could you explain to him how the Cold War started?" Well, it turns out that Rob knows everything there is to know about the Cold War and he just went off and explained everything about it. It was hot. Am I a nerd? Im glad I dont have a place where people can post comments. :)