I have an addiction, and it's name is LOST.

Oh, the days when TV didn't plague our lives.

Thank God. Literally.

Wow. So, Winter break comes around, and I ironically find myself more stressed out than ever. I'm about to make three major points here, people, so keep up:
1. I'm home, and there are lots of people that I would love to see and hang out with while I'm in town. But (and here's the clincher! It's great, o-ho!) all I find myself wanting is alone time, me time, Denise time. Yeah - I might be bipolar. Sure - I might have multiple personalities. Who knows; who cares? Now leave me alone.
Ok, I'm just kidding about that whole me-going-insane part. But I seriously can't bring myself to be social most of the time I'm here. I just need time to sit down, slow down, relax and recuperate from the stress of exams and the horrors I see as a theater worker six days a week. I just need some breathing room sometimes, you know?
2. This ties in with number one: my friends are, of course, NORMAL people who want to spend time with the people they haven't hardly seen since August when we all went our separate ways for college. Me being temporarily anti-social, this creates problems. They want to talk about their ups and their downs, their happiest moments and their tough times of the past four months; all I want to do is be left alone for a few hours. So, I turn down offers to go to IHOP at 2 a.m., I reject the invitations for daytrips to Houston, and I usually refuse to go to the movie theater considering I'm already spending the majority of my time there working. I really hope I'm not hurting my friends' feelings by not hanging out with them that often, because it's really nothing personal toward them - it's just me needing my own time.
3. Work. Should I even go there? Yes, I think I will. You know, it's bad enough, working in the service industry. But somedays I realize exactly how unappreciated service workers are. I've been fuming over this the past day, and now I'm finally just going to get it out here.
Christmas day is special. No matter who you are, no matter what your religion is, most people know to respect the observation of Christmas and to treasure the time you get to spend with your family, exchanging gifts and hugs and words of love. Most businesses even observe the holiday by giving their employees the day off, maybe even the couple of days around Christmas. But of course, the movie theater is part of the entertainment business, and we never take a day off. Unfortunately, the new hires didn't quite understand that part of the deal when they were hired. Each and every one of them were asked "Do you understand that we are open on Christmas Day and that you will have to work one of the two shifts that day?" when they were hired, and each and every one of them said that yes, they understood, and yes, they could work. And what do they do? They ask off. And my manager is way too nice to tell anyone who asks off "No". So each and every one of them got the day off. That left about 10 people total to work the theater yesterday. 10 people to work the only 10-screen theater within a 30 mile radius and practically the only establishment open for business on Christmas Day. So 8 out of the 10 of us ended up working for at least 1.5 shifts worth (8-9 hours), if not a full double shift (11-12 hours) on Christmas Day.
"Ok," you might say. "At least you got holiday pay." Wrong. The entertainment business doesn't get holiday pay. Or at least we don't. Just the same freaking wage as always. I pretty much just ate Christmas dinner and then went to work yesterday - I didn't get to sit around and chat with my cousins. I didn't get to play Blitz or Apples to Apples with my aunt and uncle and brothers. I didn't get to watch Little Miss Sunshine with my parents. Nope - I didn't spend much of my Christmas with my family, but rather at work.
This wouldn't anger me so much except for the fact that Christmas day is the busiest day of the year for us at Starplex - also, it's apparently the most popular day of the year for people to be rude to theater workers. It's Christmas day - why aren't you all at home spending time with your families?! Okay, maybe you are just sick or your family, but you feel bad about not spending time with them, so you figure you'll go to the movies: spend time with them while not actually having to talk to them. But please, please understand this next time you go to the movies on Christmas day: WE ARE BUSY - WE ARE SHORT STAFFED - WE ARE ALL TIRED OF WORKING AN 8-HOUR SHIFT BEHIND A CONCESSION COUNTER NEXT TO SCALDING HOT POPPERS AND NOT EVEN GETTING HOLIDAY PAY. At least you get to see your family, okay? So stop complaining. Please, even if you've been standing in line for popcorn for fifteen minutes, please try to be patient with the workers. Maybe even tip them a quarter. Trust me, anything helps on an ironically hellish day as yesterday was. Each time someone got snippy with me yesterday (which was pretty much every customer), I just wanted to bite their heads off because at least they were seeing their families. It just doesn't seem fair that me and the other nine workers yesterday had to sacrifice our family time just to go to work and be treated like dirt.
That's not even the end of it. Oh yeah, you thought I was done. What irks me even more is that two of the people who asked off work had the nerve to come up to the theater to watch a movie yesterday. They weren't even with their families. They were by themselves. Just bored.
I don't even need to explain that one. I think you understand why I'm angry at them.
For the most part, I would consider this Christmas to be the worst one I've ever had. Poor me, right?
Well, at least the time I did spend at home on Christmas was nice. Dinner - I highly recommend the stuffing - was delicious and fantastic, especially since I got to sit down with some of my favorite people in the world who I know will always love me no matter how much I complain on Blogger.
Hm. I complain too much, don't I? *sigh* None of that is what matters on Christmas. Not really.
Family. Remembering the birth of Christ.
That's what matters. And, in the end, those are the things that will always be there for you at the end of the day, no matter how crappy your day has been.

1000101110

Ah, yes. Christmas break. Or - to be politically correct - Winter break. The simple time between semesters where one can relax, i.e. bum around your house (or someone else's house) all day, chatting it up with old friends and watching Scrubs re-runs, interrupting your own laziness only to go to work and make a few bucks that will inevitably be put toward some very cheap Christmas presents and/or textbooks for the next semester. Ah, don't you just love Winter Break?
It's exciting, seeing old friends. Sure, I "talk" to them all the time - this is the text-messaging and Facebook era. Still, nothing can replace actually seeing, hugging, actually talking to friends. Electronic messages have no emotion... "lol", "omg", "st*u" paired with little yellow emoticons and sent over the Internet can't compare with real-life laughter and surprise and, yes, even anger or annoyance. I like people so much more than the computerized versions of them.
Sure, Facebook has the psuedo-personal-contact feature of poking, but does that cut it? No! (Actually, I'm going to break off into a side topic here: Why does Facebook only feature pokes? Why isn't there a "hug" option? Why not a "slap" option? I'm gonna be honest - I would've used that one at least once, the "hug" at least a bazillion times. What's so special about "pokes", and why did the Facebook creaters pick that? Maybe I should start a Facebook group that advocates the addition of "hug" and "slap" and possibly other features. Maybe there already is one. Hm, I'll have to check on that.) But even a "hug" option wouldn't replace an actual hug from one of your loved ones.
Well, I'm off to work - it's my first day back at Starplex since 1985. Wait, that's not right...

The Light

Just when I thought all hope of recovery from exams/the possibility of ever laughing again in my life was lost, a study break and a new comic strip bring happiness to my heart.
www.ctrlaltdel-online.com
Yes, I do see the Light. Of my computer screen, that is.

Chicken Soup for the... Mind?

Wow. I'm gonna go on ahead and say that anything that will get your thoughts going, your mind working like crazy is probably a healthy work-out for the brain. Mysteries, especially, are always favorites of mine - trying to figure out the who-dun-it without having already seen the ending is great. This is why I'm going to plug the best* show on television right here and now: Veronica Mars. One of my favorite aspects of the show (and probably the thing that drives each season and keeps the fanbase even more guled to the screen than they were already) is that there is always at least one big mystery that isn't figured out until the finale.

If I remember correctly, Season One actually had three ongoing mysteries. Season Two had one huge mystery. Season Three - well, this time around, it looks like they're switching gears halfway through and going for two half-season mysteries. We'll see how that works out.

Plus, there's always Veronica's vastly confusing "Do I love them or hate them?" love triangles... squares... pentagons? Eh, trying to figure that out is always a mystery in itself.

If you haven't checked it out, you should. It's got the drama of Grey's Anatomy, the quick, sarcastic wit of Gilmore Girls, and the P.I. work of uh... Magnum, P.I.? CSI? SVU? Point is, it's got great mystery.
And... it's a great show. Food for thought, fuel for the imagination, and a 5K marathon for the mind.

Break down and tell.

I love writing.
I love observing people and then telling their stories to others.
I love listening to everything around me and then writing down my inspirations.
I love to tell stories.
All of this (plus the fond memories of my creative writing class that came flooding back to me today when I reread some of my old short stories) has compelled me to... well, to write. Not just scribbling little snippets and thoughts that run through my head, not like what I usually write. I'm going to start writing short stories again, articles on issues I care about, and hopefully someday, a book.
I wanted an online place to post some of my writings and get some feedback from others about it, but I'm not going to clog up this blog with it. So, I created a livejournal account. If you're interested in reading my stuff, you can find it at http://lizzy-57.livejournal.com/ ... please leave some comments if you do happen to read it. I love hearing what I'm doing right and what I need to work on.
Um... wish me luck...?

Short... maybe not sweet.

And so - as we enter the final week of school, the last leg of the race, the homestretch - I find myself buried in textbooks and an array of homework assignments. Maybe I should have done some studying last night instead of hanging out and watching two movies I had already seen and then falling asleep during the one I hadn't seen.
Nah. Studying on a Saturday night is blasphemy. That's why I will be as unsocial as a hermit today, pausing only for my life necessities - eating, breathing, napping, and Facebook. Don't lie; you do it too.
I'll probably take some time later today and update again. But for now, I'm off to commence the intense and studious day that awaits me.