Watching tail lights disappear.

Oklahoma's downright enchanting to me these days. The air's getting colder, the sun's setting earlier and I can finally get away with wearing a hoodie in the mornings. Fall in New Mexico is sort of like a week-long change, it's like one day you wake up and it's officially Fall. Oklahoma eases into its seasons and for some reason, it's absolutely intoxicating for me. I've been doing lots of driving with my window down, with ruins my hair since I need a haircut pretty badly, but I'm not really here to impress anyone.

On that note, Labor Day weekend was splendid, at least compared to Memorial Day. One things for sure, I ate like a champ. Sunday night, I went to Tyler and Laura's wedding shower and there was so much food, I might have gotten a little sick. But it was all so good! Other friend Murf moved just down the street and invited me and Chelsey over for chili potatoes tonight. It's been a long time since I've eaten so well, I've been on a mac n cheese/ramen budget these days.

Digital trinkets:



One thing's certain, this is Chelsey's pose of choice when the camera comes out at Edna's.


After the wedding shower, Tyler and Laura headed out with Laura's school mate Sa to a White Party, since you know, Sunday was the last day you can wear white. It got pretty intense and we bailed early, but we dressed for the occasion.

Your destiny may keep you warm.

Sigh.

Thursday, I called the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions to file for unemployment. And I mean, I was dreading it. I bunkered down on the coach with my blanket, some crackers and every important financial document I've had in the last year. I was only on hold for 7ish minutes and the lady I talked to was very nice, very calm and seemed very competent. She took my information and told me to call back on Sunday to find out if I was approved and for how much. I already know I'll quality since I was formally laid off from the job I can't blog about in November and the only substantial job I've had since was seasonal.

So, I call back Sunday and after I'm on hold for an hour, a different woman that actually they have no record of me working for the job I can't blog about. UMM. This absolutely wrecks me. I really tried not to lose it, but I completely did; sobbing hysterically to an unknown worker, who was absolutely horrible about it... launching into the, "Ma'am, this is not my fault." Me: "Well, actually it probably is. I worked for ******* A WHOLE LOT in 2008." The woman tells me I'm "more than welcome to protest their decision" and I can send in my W-2 so they can evaluate it, but I need to allow FOUR TO SIX WEEKS for processing. The whole thing went poorly. I call my parents after I calm down a bit and both of them tell me to call back the next day, when I've mellowed out and ask to talk to a supervisor. Chelsey decides instead of sitting at home and feeling sad about it, that we should go out and have fun. And fun, we do have, including a Backstreet Boys singalong in a bar and later, Chelsey screaming "NACHO CHEESE" to a Taco Bell drive-thru attendant. Man, I needed that.

I call back yesterday and talk to someone who's nice, but still has no idea what she's doing. I tell her about what happened and how I just don't understand how it could be possible. She puts me on hold about 4 times to ask her supervisors and co-workers what the problem could be. It turns out, the first person didn't process my claim correctly. EVEN THOUGH the full name of my employer was available to them, they only ran it under half the name. Now, it gets a bit confusing, but it was basically like saying I worked for "Taco Bell" but the clerk saying I worked for just "Taco". OF COURSE, "Taco" will not have any record of my employment. Why would they? But, because of this error, the lady tells me I STILL have to fax in my W-2 to prove my wages and it'll still take 4 to 6 weeks. WHAT. I get a little sassy, just a bit, because I shouldn't be punished for someone else's error. The lady starts telling me how there's a lot of new people there and the software they have to use is really complicated and they're all doing the best they can. I tell her calmly that she's been very helpful, but I'd still like to speak with her supervisor. MAN, that did ever piss her off. Well, supervisor IVAN gets on the phone and tells me that upon closer inspection, my claim is actually against the federal government (the job that cannot be blogged about was for a federal agency) and because federal agencies are not required to report their earnings to the state of New Mexico, I'll still need to fax in the W-2. But, he says it'll probably only take 3 weeks and that I can still file for weekly unemployment and once it gets cleared up, I'll get back-unemployment for every week that goes by. He also gives me the direct line of the person in charge of the federal stuff, which he will soon learn he should not have done, because I will be calling that person EVERY DAY until this gets cleared up.

See dudes, this is why people hate dealing with government agencies; you have to be on hold or in line for hours of your day, they inevitably do something wrong and you get royally screwed for it. I think every person in the world has a horror story similar to this, be it with the MVD, the social security office, the IRS, etc. Seriously, people don't tolerate behavior like this from a private business. If someone sells you a car that breaks in a week or you eat somewhere and get food poisoning, most of the time, people get upset. But when it comes to dealing with the government, it's almost accepted that you're dealing with morons and you'll have to spend half your day getting it straightened out. Why exactly should we have to pay for an MVD Express when the regular MVD should really just be able to get it done right and quick in the first place? My entire job when I worked for the feds (and the job I turned down in the Governor's office) was basically fixing other people's mistakes. And I'm saying that we all must be perfect at our jobs, I screw up all the time (ask Kathy), but just the shier percentage of failure from government agencies is absolutely inexcusable.

And that's the most conservative I'll ever sound.

ANYWAY, it is good to know that eventually, when this all gets cleared up, I will get some dolla dolla billz coming my way. Especially since I just got disqualified from front runner out of all my job prospects because I didn't have a years worth of working with a specific kind of fundraising software. I don't think many job markets have bothered to admit that younger generations are pretty dang competent when it comes to the fancy computing machines. I can pretty much guarantee I could learn that software in under a day. If I can make a dancing piece of bacon in Maya, I can add and subtract. It seems I'm either overqualified or under-qualified. I'm never just qualified.

It is so freaking hot here. And the 's' on my keyboard seems to be dying.

We'll keep singing along.

I never to cease to amaze myself. Yesterday, I fell in the shower. Like, was leaning for something, my foot slipped and before I knew it, I was flat in the bathtub. My initial concern went to my tailbone, but then I became increasingly aware of a throbbing in my right elbow. I spent about the next hour waiting for it to go away, and it hasn't yet. My elbow was so swollen yesterday, it was like I was growing a third one. Especially after knocking it AGAIN on Matt's car door. I thought I might have to go to the ER last night. Things are better today, I guess. the swelling isn't as localized, but it's as swollen or threatening. The bruise is starting come out, so now the entire middle of my arm basically looks like sausage.

Happy Birthday to me!

Pictures soon, but it's really hard to take pictures of your own elbow.

The Chelsey quote on the incident: "I totally heard you fall and I said to myself, if the shower doesn't turn off in 10 minutes, I'm going in."

Homesickness is holding me deep this weekend. I'm just about broke and no one's calling me back about jobs. I'd do about anything for my favorite order from Frontier, a night at the El Rey, some pink mountains and a big hug from a certain Kyle. At the end of the day, I know moving was a good call, but it's times like this that I have a hard time believing that.

Awesome. Awesome night.

A lunchbox is a specialty drink served at a notorious OKC bar called Edna's. It consists of a shot glass, frozen into a beer mug, a shot of amaretto, filled with Coors light, and topped with orange juice. Proceed to chug. It is absolutely delicious and I cannot think of a finer summer treat. Expect for maybe the bloody Marys I've become a damn expert at making (olive juice, people!).


This is probably my favorite image of the past few days. It's Chelsey, acting like some sort of bizarre dinosaur, her high school BFF Murf and a very, VERY important neon sign. (Cat: "I know someone who's related to the family that owns Coors. Chelsey: "He needs to come visit. With beer.")


There's still a lot I don't understand here. I'm still jobless. And there are huge chunks of myself clinging desperately to New Mexico and all the fine people in it. The actual act of starting over is the hard part. Moving here, being here, that was the easy part. Creating myself here is more difficult than I ever imagined.


But with some new friends, some old friends and some lunchboxes, I'll get there eventually.

East Jesus Nowhere.

Guess what! More blogging about weather!

OKC got about 3 inches of rain in twenty minutes on Friday night. Streets were flooded, cars were stalled out, all out mayhem ensued. I still found the courage to brave Tropical Storm Benny (since it was the second of the season and I watched Benny and Joon today) and go to drag night at the Hi-Lo. Good decisions all around.


Rain dance.

Bigger pictures of the torrential down pour if you care.



This video is priceless for several reasons: 1) Chelsey's sound effects when she splashes the water. 2) It's a pretty accurate representation of what happens when I start freaking out over the weather; Cat: "There's a tornado!" Chelsey: "There's not a tornado."

I wish I could say I was doing more with my life than freaking out over weather. But here's the thing: my rent's paid up until July. Job searching is much harder when that's taken care of.

Driftwood.

So, last night me and Chelsey went out for $7 All You Drink Killians at her favorite bar, the Hi-Lo. When we left, it became clear that the wind was getting pretty intense. We went to Whataburger and the lights started flickering, which made Drunkie Cat assume that there HAD to be a tornado somewhere close by. We get back to the condo and what do we behold, but:


God hates Fords.


Yeah, that's a transformer and a power pole through a Mustang.


Completely destroyed that car.

The good news is I live with Chelsey and she's super good at storms in Oklahoma:

Look at her already clearing the damage!

It reminds me a lot of this glorious photo, taken on the Gulf a year after Katrina:

LOLing in the face of destruction.

The bad news is the storms are only supposed to get worse. They're talking about flash floods, 80+ mile an hour winds, baseball size hail and dare I say tornadoes until the early hours of the morning. So, I'll probably be spending most of my night listening for sirens and hiding in my bathtub. I remember when Albuquerque had a tornado watch about a year ago and thinking it was super cute. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. But here, dudes, I've never seen clouds so low. I'm trying hard not to freak out, but it's scaaaaary.

More awesomeness: That power pole that killed the Mustang also killed most of the electrical in our complex. We didn't have power for 6 hours this morning and we won't have hot water until mid-day tomorrow. This is unfortunate because in my drunken excitement over taking pictures of the carnage last night, I slipped and fell on a puddle of some sort of goo (which I am now reading was probably coolant from the transformer). And when I mean fell, I mean I was leveled before I even knew what had happened. Pretty sore today. And sticky from transformer coolant and the Sprite I dropped when I feel. I could really use a shower. It would be pretty awesome if I got called back for a job interview tomorrow.

Also, little sister qualified for the FINAL of the 100m hurdles at the NM High School State Track and Field Championships. She raced in the prelims today and had the 5th fastest time in the state. She's only a freshman!

Days turning into nights.

Selections from the Cat Vanderpool American Gothic series on outdoor furniture:


Chelsey and myself celebrating the splendors of moving: the Pier One discount section, new coffee makers and tea pots.


Me and Momma celebrating her 24th Mothers day as my Momma (25 if you count the one in utero. In case, you have not formally met the giant orangutan, her name is Suzanne. YES, obvious Kevin Smith reference, but this is taken from Mallrats, not Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. She dates back to the Hallmark year and is the largest, single purchase I made the entire time I worked there. Her and Russell Stover jelly beans (be still, my beating heart!).

I've lost my voice again. My Dad's convinced the El Rey has given me some sort of mold, which I don't entirely rule out, seeing as I don't seem to get sick until I work there for a night. I'm presuming it's allergies; it has to be by this point. I've been sick for the better part of two months. Definitely some unique symptoms, though. I'm considering going to a free clinic in the next few days just to make sure, you know, Swine Flu hasn't mutated with Haunta Virus and created Haunta Swine. (NAME YOUR BAND RIGHT NOW.)

MOLD:

Yeah, the Rey's got some of that.

You know what else had some of that? The house on Princeton after the roof collapsed. Man, I really loved that house. But post-roof collapse, I got in the habit of sleeping with a blanket over my nose and mouth (something I still do) just because I was so scared about what I might have been breathing in. And now that I look back on it, it really is a miracle me and Kenneth didn' get some kind of bizarre disease. OR MAYBE WE DID and it's just been dormant all this time. In my lungs, hanging out, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Point is, contemplating lung-mold is much better than job hunting.

I left Oklahoma and the sun was out. I went back to Albuquerque, watched Flood the Sun release a CD and kick off a tour, did some minor car repairs to my stupid-crap battery, worked a shift at the Rey (O'Niell's staff came in and they were awesomely generous tippers. Thanks for remembering me, ladiez!) and bought my mom a McFlurry. 48 hours later, I come back and we're back to low clouds and thunderstorms forecasted for the next week. Unbelievable. It does keep things cool, though. It's not that I mind the weather, I always loved rainy Raton summers. It's just that I'm completely not used to it. Humidity is a beast this desert gal is not yet prepared for. I'm glad I have a temperate May to transition me into the muggy summer.


Lake Hefner is a 2580 acre impoundment completed in 1947 and operated by Oklahoma City. Water is bought into the lake from the North Canadian River and from the Canton Reservoir in Blaine County.

It is also a mile and a half from condo. Hello hello, summer.

Leaving you with nothing.

New roommate Chelsey is proving to be the new queen of one liners:

Cat: "Is that the bag of Garrett's stuff?" (Stuff that needs to be returned to an ex-boyfriend)
Chelsey: "Yeah. I wanna pee in it."

And on a separate occasion:

Chelsey: "All I can think about when I hear the Postal Service is a fat, naked man." (I could explain the context, but quite honestly, I think it's better if I don't.)

Today, I successfully navigated myself to the neighborhood mall, then to the Pottery Barn inside the mall. On the way out, I found a lady's credit card and spent 15 minutes trying to find an information desk to return it to. Once I was done, it seemed pretty pointless. If I lost a credit card anywhere around a mall, I never would think to call the mall and see if anyone returned it. But, I've got no need for bad karma at this point. I also went to Walmart, which is nearly across the street from the mall, but it takes 20 minutes to get there. Once inside the Walmart, I spent 20 minutes looking for Laughing Cow Mini Babybel semisoft cheeses.

Anyway, spent most of my day looking for things. But once I found them, I felt pretty good about myself. My feet are shaky here, and I miss knowing where everything is. But today's moderate excursion made me feel like I was making progress.