Today, so far (I know it's 4:30 only), has been Karma Friday. It's one of those days where it's hard not to believe in something like karma.

I started this morning laughing to myself that the jackass upstairs got a parking ticket because the street cleaners came by and he parked on our side of the street. I even heard him out by his car say something like, "What the fuck is this?" and then wander around his car in an angry spell, looking for the sign CLEARLY tied to the tree nearby. I chuckled then. Ha ha.

Then, I locked myself out of my apartment when leaving to do laundry. I had to call my landlord because Butch is in Chippewa Falls learning how to be a good Leinenkugel's seller or something like that. All I know is he's going to a northern Wisconsin fish fry tonight, the bastard.

So I went to my parents' house and waited to hear. Nothing. I headed back here so I'd at least be in the neighborhood in case the landlord was in a hurry. I stopped at White Castle to get a late lunch.

Outside of White Castle, this guy comes up to me (says first, "I thought you were Greg Maddux!" I replied with, "I wish") with a story about how he has $13 and is trying to buy a tire at this place across the street and that he was embarrassed and all this, and that he needs $8 to get the tire. I "bought" his story (it sounded pretty credible, but whatever), but I said, "I can't give you $8, but I can give you a couple bucks to get you closer to what you need. See, I'm actually unemployed, so I can't afford to give anymore to you." He said he was sorry, and actually sounded like he meant it, and was very thankful (more thankful than a "bum" would be, so again, I buy his story) that I gave him $2.

I went back to my apt. and sat in the car outside of it, eating my White Castles and watching all the punkass kids parading themselves up and down the sidewalks--stupid punks--and then remembered that I'm an idiot. Because I didn't have my keys, I couldn't lock the deadbolt. So just the knob was locked (Chuck Knoblauch?!). Simple enough...though I'd never done it, I'd heard of it. And indeed, just by pushing a credit card into my door when the deadbolt is open, you can waltz right in. It was almost magical--I BARELY touched the freakin' card to the door and it popped open. This after climbing up and over the railing on my deck, hoping a cop wouldn't turn the corner, since my driver's license and car registration are not updated to this address. So I broke into my apt. basically. This is the second time this has happened in this place--Butch had to climb in a window (with the help of our neighbor who let him into the basement to get the apt's ladder) when we first moved in because he locked himself out.

But all in all, it has been karma-filled day today...at least so far. There are plenty of hours left. So we'll see...I'll have to be nice to people, I guess. :)

I'm typing this as Kazak sits quietly across the room, staring, staring, staring...waiting for me to get ready to walk him. Most of you would probably find this creepy as hell. And sometimes I do. He just sits quietly, doesn't move, and stares.

Anyway, not much to talk about, really. I'm heading to my parents' house to pick up my laundry and do a little more myself. Then I'm coming back here and, if it's not TOO cold, gonna finish planting stuff on the deck. I finished the other two window boxes in the freezing cold and wind yesterday. I'll take a picture when it's all done, because I know none of you care. :)

Later, Gina's family is having a party for her great uncle's birthday. Should be a good time, I'm sure. But yeah...that's later on. Otherwise, my day's kinda open. So we'll see how it goes. :)

Why? Why, I ask!?

Why must former Stone Temple Pilots front man Scott Weiland torture me so much?!

So, he was (big shock) picked up for heroin or some other substance abuse recently. And I forgot about him again, thinking, "Good, now that whole Velvet Revolver project will go down the tubes, Scott will fade into oblivion and I can forget about him and enjoy the music he made with STP and in his side projects."

But NO. The other day, I hear this song on the radio. UNMISTAKABLY it is Weiland's voice. I'd recognize it anywhere. Forgetting about Velvet Revolver, I think, "Wait, STP has a new song?" and I get marginally excited.

But it's Velvet Revolver. Velvet Revolver is Weiland and the former members of Guns 'N' Roses, minus Axel Rose. This is a good thing, in my opinion.

So, of course, the song, called "Slither" kicks major, major ass, just like the first one they released as Velvet Revolver, called "Set Me Free." In fact, Slither, I submit, is better. Listen to them here.

But now I have to continue to listen to awesome music this jackass puts out every X amount of years because he can't stay clean. It's frustrating, because he's probably my favorite vocalist, all time. The guy is downright talented, and unless you've heard the entire STP library and his solo stuff, you can't say anything against it. He's not a screamer or angst-ridden whiner on the mic. He actually can SING, and he can do it a multitude of ways. It's very good.

I might even think about going to the Velvet Revolver concert here on May 19. (Nevermind, I can't...it's a Wednesday and I work) Argh. Such torture to like a band or singer. It kills me.

Christine, by way of her Starbux insights, wins the "how to spice up my life a bit" contest. Passion tea lemonade is back. Too bad I have no job to buy copious amounts of the liquid.

I'm mailing out apps. to three jobs tomorrow. Three interesting, yet very different places. One is my high school, which is in search of a recruiting director. I'm not sure how much of a shot I have, but hell, it's worth a try. I was a smart student there, not a flunky, so they still respect me.

The other is a nonprofit that helps people internationally--in a red cross-ish kind of way, if I'm not mistaken, but not the red cross. It's actually up in Ev, IL, which scares me a bit, but heck, it looks interesting. And I can put my skills to work for good for a change.

The third is for some nuclear (it's nucular, Lisa, nucular) society. Not sure what the hell they do, but they need an editor, and it seems like it'd be cool to work for them.

I applied to two other places today--some healthcare organization and a confidential company. We'll see what of this pans out, if anything.

Work was marginally uneventful. Nothing really interesting worth mentioning, except that it was pretty chilly out. Yet I was prepared, so it wasn't bad.

But now I'm tired, so I'm off to bed.

I should post, shouldn't I? OK, twist my arm.

I have work at the ballpark this evening. Actually, I'm leaving in about half an hour. Whoop-dee-doo.

I've noticed that job opportunities seem to be coming in waves. After my initial job-application blitz, things calmed down significantly. Now, I've got about five positions on my docket to apply to. So I wrote out a bunch of cover letters today to print and mail tomorrow, hopefully. A couple posts I applied for online, and that was nice. So we shall see. Given the uncertainty of the hours I'll get per week, it's even more imperative that I get a full-time gig now.

I planted a window box of flowers out on my deck. I have two window boxes left and a huge plastic pot to plant stuff in. Probably after applying to these jobs tomorrow, I'll do that, unless it's raining. The flowers look nice. Hopefully that continues to be the case...I expect it will, since a 36-inch window box is far easier to take care of than a 36-foot garden.

Hmmm, what else is going on? Not too much, really...anticipating like crazy the start of softball season(s) already. I'm itching to play, and they should start next week or the week after that. Gina and I need to hit the batting cages though, to prepare. Gotta get the muscles back in working order.

Other than that, my boring life continues. :) Any ideas how I can spice it up?

Although this post says it's Monday, it's actually still "Sunday" for me.

Worked today at the ballpark for the first time on my own. It wasn't bad, even though the 40-plus m.p.h. winds were annoying. I only got four hours of work though, which kind of worries me...I docked my hourly pay b/c I thought I'd be getting 16 hrs. per week. If I get significantly less than that, well, it may not be enough earnings to survive on. I guess we'll see how it goes--it's still early.

All in all, the job's simple. I stand around and tell kids to stop running around or climbing on things or you don't belong here and whatnot. I also help clean the garbage up from the grounds so that we don't have a lot to take care of later. That's all during the games. I do a lot of standing around if there isn't much of a crowd. Then, after the games are done, I machine drag the field and shut everything down, basically. It's pretty easy.

Tomorrow (Monday, really), I HAVE TO do laundry. I am really backed up on my laundry. I'll go to the bank and get a roll or two of quarters (or I'll just go to my parents' and do laundry) and then go to town. I wanted to go to Home Depot though and get some planters--I bought flowers while I was in Bolingbrook that need to be planted very soon (it's such an addiction, I tell you). And since I got a gift card to Home Depot from the Easter Bunny (along with plenty of chocolate), I'll be buying some window boxes and/or huge pots for the deck.

Now, I'm gonna go to bed...but of course, I'm hungry...but I'm also sore from working at the ballpark tonight and Friday night (on my feet constantly) and from helping Kim and Nick move in briefly on Saturday--that washing machine took a lot out of me, and showed me just how out of shape I am. :)

By the way, go see the new house...it's very nice, despite blog complaints about the cleanliness--they did a FANTASTIC job of cleaning the place up, and it's a cool lot--sweet backyard with lots of potential, particularly as far as city lots go. :)