There’s Gotta Be Something In The Water

“A woman’s mind is cleaner than a man’s: She changes it more often.”~ Oliver Herford

I was having a really nice day. “Was” being the key word there in that sentence.

I think there’s something going on and there are only two logical explanations that I have come up with.

People have either lost it and have gone insane. Or there is something in the water.

I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt and say that there’s something in the water.

Nonetheless, I am still quite frustrated and angry over the events of this afternoon. Just when I am only hours away of going back to the Dirty Dog for music by BEAUTIFUL DISTURBANCE tonight.

My neighbors and I share the same attendant. The attendant actually is helpful in doing things around the house that I am simply either unable to do or have great difficulty doing on my own. It actually is a great help.

But I had to fire my last one because of stupidity and struggled through hell to get the one that I have now who happens to be helping a neighbor in the morning and then she comes to help me in the afternoon.

I think it works out well.

Until today when my attendant came to work for me.

The neighbor that she works for in the morning has had the fortitude to sit there and tell the attendant what to do in MY home. And tell her how to do HER job when it comes to MY home. And today is the biggest straw that was broken because now the neighbor is just so upset that I flipped the bird the other day in humor and she took great offense to that. And suddenly now, I’m the devil and “I’ve changed” and now the attendant either needs to watch out or actually quit working for me, because I am the one that isn’t doing right.

What business is it of hers? What business is it of ANYONE around here what happens in my home??

So now I’m pissed. And there’s gotta be something done. I know that I need to confront this neighbor and unfortunately, its not going to be pretty and definitely will not end well for someone.  

It is ridiculous that this neighbor is just talk-talk-talking about me the way she has been. Its not right.

And they wonder why I wanna move outta here??

I’ve had enough.

Scams

“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is”~ a catchphrase used by the Better Business Bureau.

So here is my story as I see it. After having mixed feelings back and forth for about a month, I have come to my own conclusion that an opportunity that was presented before me, was in fact nothing at all.

I had been in contact with a certain team of individuals via Facebook for a short amount of time. After “getting to know them better”, an opportunity was brought to my attention. An opportunity where I was told that I could make some money. And I didn’t have to do too much at all in order to earn it. Right off the bat, it sounded too good to be true. Yet, I was trusting enough to see whether or not these people were actually good on their word. So I went with the flow.

The project was to be worked on in one month’s time. After that, would come the biggest pay that I would ever receive in my lifetime in one lump sum. This offer was given to a small number of people, and not just me. Whether or not the others took up this offer was of no concern to me. I did though, take up the offer and was ready, willing, and able to do whatever was necessary to see this project become successful. Even though throughout the month, I would weigh back and forth on whether or not this was going to be a legit deal.

One of the things that caught my attention that it would be fake, was the fact that the whole project was to be a secret. Why? We weren’t involved in any security measures or dealing with private sectors of life. But it was supposed to be kept a secret.

And then our project leader vanished for a long period of time. The project was pretty much decided on and really all that was needed was the fine tuning. But the majority of all decisions that were needed on this project were done. And the one month time period was coming to a close.

I was smart enough to ask just HOW we were expected to get paid. The response I received back was “A certified check in the mail”. And that would have meant that I would have actually give my address out to some people that I did not know personally. Such a dangerous and stupid thing to do!

And that was before the disappearance. Once that happened, my mind changed from being excited about this opportunity to more thinking that this project wasn’t much of a project at all. I had been warned by my family that all these people were going to do was steal my ideas and run off and make a ton of money. And I would be left with nothing.

The project wasn’t rocket science, so I thought that if that was the case… then they weren’t going to be able to run off with ideas of complete brilliance and win the Nobel Prize.

So the time passed. No word from anyone. And nobody else knew anything either. Until one day, out of the blue, the leader of the project showed up. They said that they had been out of town and was in Dallas at the time. When I told them just how close they were to me geographically, I could just tell that wonder and excitement filled their mind.

By the end of the day, that person and I were discussing whether or not they were going to have me fly to Dallas to hang out for a day or two so that we could meet. I didn’t mind so much, at that point there was nothing in my own mind that was telling me that this was all crap.

A few days went by and nothing. No trip to Dallas was planned. And all I would receive back was, “I’m working on it”.. well that is all fine and great but working on it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was going to happen.

I had been told that they were only going to be in Dallas for a short amount of time before they moved on to a different site in the state of Kansas.

Needless to say, that I never did find myself making plans to go to Dallas for a couple of days. And nobody knows (to this day) whether or not this person actually made it to Kansas either.

And that was was another idea that they had come up with. They were going to try their hardest to find a way to get me into Kansas instead. So they pushed the whole idea forward to another time and another place. Such a red flag!

Then the whole realization for me set in. I had questions. Basic and common questions:

• When am I leaving?
• How long will I be there?
• Who is paying for it?
• Where am I staying?
• What will I be doing?
• Who is coming to pick me up?
• Will I meet you personally?
• How much of this trip do I have to pay for out of my own pocket?
• Is this going to lead to a job opportunity?

And many, many, many other pertinent questions. I would have to include that I would ask about the previous project that was worked on and whether or not, I was going to be paid for it. So I tossed that question in as well.

These were not difficult questions, these questions are pretty standard. So why the whole scene of dodging them was very confusing to me.

I had told that person that I was getting to the point where I was NEEDING that money for other things that were coming up that I had planned. That money that was promised to be paid for working on this project had been a factor in my future plans.

These questions went unanswered.

I had to ask again and again the same dumb questions until they were tired of hearing about it. And another red flag was added to the pile.

So then their response to me was that I was impatient and “good things come to those who wait”. Maybe. Maybe not. But still these were not specific questions. These were important and again….. so general. The information was needed so that I could plan properly while getting ready to travel on this trip. Information that would be necessary for ANYONE to make travel arrangements.

It dragged for a week. Finally, SOME of these questions had received a response. Not all of them though.

I was told that I could get a job. I was told that I would be meeting with someone to discuss the job as a recruiter for this particular company. I was told that I would be staying in a hotel. I was told that airfare and hotel costs were taken care of. I was also told that I would be flying into Kansas City, Missouri and then be picked up and driven into the state of Kansas. And I was told that this was going to happen on the 19th of July. And I was told that my flight was an open-ended ticket. Meaning I could fly back home on any day I wanted. (Today. Guess what?? I’m still at home.)

It was not enough information. WHEN on the 19th would I fly? Who was picking me up from my home? Who is paying for that pick-up service? And once I got this job, was it salary or just commission? And what was the percentage of the commission?

I pretty much had expected in the past two days to actually hear from someone, only to tell me that this idea was going to be postponed further into the future. I really did. When I realized that my questions were being dodged, that is when I felt that this was all just a bunch of crap. But I gave them a chance.

Today is the ninth straight day in which I have heard nothing back. What does that tell anyone? What should that tell anyone??

During those nine days in which I had waited, I did some searching online. Found nothing but pure negative comments about the company being a scam and what not. People who had become involved, were complaining that they never got paid what they were promised, if at all.

Some of my friends did the same thing and told me exactly the same over and over again. What they had found, was nothing but complaints of it being a scam.

But still, I gave these people a chance. Not like I was expecting anything by that time though. I had given up. A part of me wanted to hear their side of the story but I don’t think that I probably would have given then any benefit of any doubt.

When it comes down to people making plans or ideas, and they are always telling you to keep it a secret, then there’s something horribly wrong and that should be your first clue that whatever they are about to tell you is not true.

In this particular case, usually secrets are lies.

And when things constantly change like it was with me, that’s also another clue that whatever was being planned, is not true either.

But because of that short amount of time where I had truly believed that I would have been given a “certified check” for my help in this project, I now will not be able to get my ring out of the pawn shop. It was mentioned in an earlier blog.

I will not be able to go to Houston in August to see SIX MINUTE CENTURY play again. And I will not have any kind of savings from any money left over from the quick weekend trip to Houston, to be able to be set aside to go to Las Vegas to visit one of my best friends at a show in Caesar’s Palace some time in the future.

Those plans are gone. All because I believed in this.

On the other hand, I am happy and fortunate that I never given out my phone number, my street address, or any other personal information. Such as bank accounts or my social security. For that, I am happy.

I had prematurely told my family about this “wonderful opportunity” and they were skeptical long before I even began to be. They clearly were right to have been. I’m just so lucky that I made it out alive.

Yes… I allowed myself to be used and victimized. I am hoping and praying that the damage from this that will inevitably come will not be as severe as one could think. But in the end- LESSON LEARNED.

Getting Scared Comes Early

such beautiful chaos at the House of Torment

The weather so far in June has been very uncomfortable for this part of the world. We’re used to the high temperatures and humidity of course, but this early in the season? It has been very dry and very hot. We normally do not get such weather until July or August. And then sometimes we deal with it through September.

 

I kept thinking to myself that all I had to do was make it to the Fourth of July weekend. And then it struck me: July, August, September, October.

 

Holy smokes!! I know the months of the year beginning in July ….. AND …… there’s only a few more months until the whole “Halloween Season” comes. But mainly the fact that the “House of Torment” will soon be auditioning for characters for the local haunted attraction.

 

For the past three seasons I have always wanted to audition to be a zombie or a monster at this nationally acclaimed haunted house. But I always had missed out because I didn’t know exactly when to go and audition. Not to mention not really knowing what they are looking for in a monster.

 

I had always thought that I could bring something to the table by sitting in my wheelchair, all disfigured and gross.. and just scare the crap out of people!! I mean, there are endless possibilities on how to do it. Trust me, I’ve spent a lot of time sitting around thinking about it. So I have been wanting to this for so long. Why not make it an equal opportunity scare business by employing the disabled? People get scared of me all of the time, but that’s because they are ignorant. In this way, I could give them a reason to be scared. But I digress.

 

Then about a year ago (after the Halloween season no less), I read an article that the House of Torment was looking for people. The article was written in the early part of August. I know that they go through an extensive training during that month and then they open their doors at the end of September and into early October and stay open until Halloween. At least that is how it is to the best of my knowledge.

 

Personally, I think its great because most haunted houses are only open on weekends during the month of October and some of them will extend their hours of operation during the week OF Halloween. But there has been a few seasons where the House of Torment opened their doors at the last part of September and kept them open every day for business until the first weekend of November.

 

What a great way to make a living. Even if it is for a short period of time in the calendar year. I can dress up, look horrible, scare people and get paid doing it for a couple of months.

 

But like I said, every year goes by and I never find out where I need to go or what I need to do, until it is too late and the advertisements are beginning to circulate and the very late night commericals are begining to air.

 

Allow me to tell you a story of my first (and probably last) experience with the House of Torment:

 

As a paying customer I went through the attraction to the best of my ability. These attractions really are not made for people with physical handicaps and wheelchairs because a lot of the times their sets are built on feeding a person’s fear of small and enclosed spaces. A lot of haunted attractions simply post bulletins that if you are handicapped, you won’t get in.

 

But that one time that I went, I did okay.

 

There is one character by the name of Mr. Creep. You can look him up online. Top hat, top coat, walking cane. A “posh monster”.

 

So anyways, I was in the attraction and I saw Mr. Creep… but thought he was only a prop. I didn’t pay attention to it much. I moved about the attraction but did not realize that Mr. Creep was following right behind me.

 

I heard something, and turned around. Mr. Creep was right there again standing in the same position as before. I thought that haunted house staff members were playing tricks with me by moving this prop everywhere I go.

 

After a few times of this silly little game, I decided to test it out and see if this was a person in a costume or a prop. So I did everything I could to make it move. Maybe blink. But nothing happened. I then put my hand in front of its nose and mouth. The actor knew very well to hold his breath. So then I was moving my arm, waving it in its face and then I mistakenly bumped my arm onto theirs. So Mr. Creep ended up moving.

 

In a blink of an eye, Mr. Creep screamed at me!

 

I turned around and I was GONE BABY, GONE!!!

 

I literally ran over the group of friends I went with, passed them up and then ran over two other groups of people in the attraction that were ahead of me, all the while knocking people over onto the floor, and out the door I went without stopping or looking back. Screaming like a little sissy girl in the process, the entire way out the door!

 

Apparently, Mr. Creep followed me every step of the way and thought it was so funny as he stood there in the doorway holding his sides and laughing hysterically and yet some how still able to stay in character.

 

I didn’t think it was that funny. At least not at the time. But I laugh about it now and don’t get so upset when I tell others this story and they start cracking up.

 

I never went back there again. At least not as an fear enthusiast and a customer. The attraction really isn’t that far away from where I live. I go by it all of the time- all year round.

 

But then how ironic is it that I am absolutely craving the opportunity for employment at a place that just about scared the piss out of me? Wild, wild stuff!

 

The Halloween season of 2010, I kept up with the House of Torment as much as possible. I never got a chance to go to the area, but I was so amped that it was opening up again. I talked with a lot of people who did go to the attraction and had them tell me their stories and experiences. I even contacted via the Internet about possible employment but never heard back from them. I guess they were already in full swing of operation by the time I had done so that they didn’t need any more help.

 

I joined message boards, profiles, whatever had their name on it. I watched YouTube videos of people’s visits… laughing every step of the way when someone was using a cell phone to record video and an unindentified monster or zombie that was NOT in frame would come up and yell “BOO!”.

 

Now I understand that Global Fear Enterprises are the ones in charge. They offer a variety of wonderful services, including graphic design. But what I found was most thrilling was the fact that you could hire their monsters for public events and parties. I thought that was really cool. But I had to stop and think about whether or not that was just a seasonal thing, or of it was all year long.

 

Most people who have known me for the past year and a half now, know that I found this thing called “Monster Escorts”. Certainly it wasn’t how it sounded, right?!? So I sent a message inquiring about that particular service.

 

The language was a bit stiff, no pun intended. I was told that “Monster Escorts” was for more of an intimate time. That did not help!! Because the zombie chick in the photo of this blog post, I saw from others who went and took pictures, I became intrigued by.

 

Since I knew last year that I would not get the opportunity to go to the House of Torment to go get my picture taken with this actress, I wondered if their “Monster Escorts” would allow that chance for me to meet up with her and then I would have pictures taken.

 

Very wisely, I asked them to elaborate on what “intimate” meant. It was quickly explained that it was referring to more of a one-on-one scenario, like going on a date to the movies or out to dinner, rather than having a whole bunch of monsters come out at the same time. It would be just one monster to make an appearance.

 

Naturally, each monster comes with their own “handler” as they called it. Of course for safety reasons. That didn’t bother me too much. But I never got specific when I inquired to ask whether or not I would get the chance to see this particular actress in an intimate setting.

 

For the longest time, I contemplated the whole idea. It was kind of hard to take that it would cost $200/hour. But a business is a business. And they are to make money. I just couldn’t make up my own mind on whether or not I wanted to go through with it.

 

So I asked for a general consensus on Facebook. I said that if I received 40 ‘likes’ on that particular status that I would go through with it and some how manage the money to set up a date with a zombie chick. I only got 17.

 

Still though, the thought intrigues me again as the season is not that far away. Whether or not they will still be offering the escort services, I do not know. I will have to find out.

 

What are your thoughts? Should I go for it or should I just leave it alone? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

 

But it is coming. The unforgiving heat of June is telling me that once the unbearable weather disappears, then the House of Torment will be open for business yet again. It is something I can look forward to as I lie here miserable in the heat and the relentless use of air conditioning. Something that I can focus on positively.

 

I suddenly just find myself totally stoked and pumped for it to come! I can’t wait!! Time to get my scare on a little early.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Services Are No Longer Needed

So I’m going to turn down the flames a notch for this particular post.

I find this totally hilarious and sad. Sad because it actually happened.

For the past two years or so, I have been working closely together with a group who is offering services to women who are in need of help. Women who either are single mothers or are struggling to find employment or whatever the case may be.

When this was first offered to me, I declined it. But eventually I would agree to a volunteer position. What I once thought was going to be me helping a few instructors of a local GED instruction class, ended up with being me considered as the “math guru”.

I was assisting others in a class of about ten women or so. These women were looking to advance their education so that either they could go to college or get a job. And that was a wonderful thing. And then one day, during a math session the students were struggling with fractions. Not the easiest thing, I know. But I spoke up and then showed the class a shortcut of how to deal with fraction multiplication and division.

That apparently set me off on a journey that I would soon never forget. Any time the class was going to do math, I took charge. I didn’t mind it too much. I was there for a reason to help these women get their education. And so the job just kind of stuck with me. I was being announced and introduced as the “math guru” or instructor and people were impressed. I even had one woman come up to me asking for help outside of class. Unfortunately for her, that was not something that was tolerated.

Anyways, I did this religiously for over a year, either every day or maybe six days out of the week. It depended on the need. It would be days or nights. I generally tried to contain my instruction during the day and kept it inside of the classroom.

But eventually, I would get burned out. After all, I was a volunteer. I was not receiving any monetary payment for my teaching math. Although I cannot say that I didn’t receive anything at all. I was able to make some contacts in the community and I was also taken care of when I was out of food and was hungry a few times here and there. But there was no weekly check involved. No pay stubs or anything like that to worry about.

Summer came, and I was under a lot of stress because I had been doing this day after day after day after day. Sometimes with doing the job seven days a week, I would beg for a little break.

I would receive that opportunity when another instructor said that he was taking the summer off. And since he was my source of transportation, I too would decide to take off for the summer. It was a great thing for me.

After the summer hiatus, I actually was choosing not to go teach as much. I was willing to teach, but not as much as I had been because of the stress levels. Teachers can get very frustrated with their students when they have been teaching them for so long and it doesn’t seem like the students are making any progress. And that’s how I was feeling. It was the same students day after day. Asking them to solve a math problem that was more complex than 1+1= ? was an absolute situation to the point where I wanted to pull out hair.

So I backed off a bit through the fall and winter. But I still was willing to help. After all this organization was more than willing to help me whenever I truly needed it in life. Therefore I wasn’t completely at the end of my rope where I was just going to tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine.

So gradually, I came to an agreement that I would help out, but only on a tutorial basis. I would deal with maybe one or two of these students, with the supervision of another instructor at my own place, which was more local. It was actually driving me crazy because I was having to rely on someone else so much just to get to the classroom. IF these students were serious enough to want to get their GED, they would have agreed to it.

The idea was more or less approved of, yet students didn’t really take advantage. So by the end of this winter, I wasn’t doing much of any teaching at all.

Now it is summer, and the program to help these women in need continues on. But I get told “your services are no longer needed”. Yep, they were letting me go. Firing me, if you will.

All I could was laugh through the rest of the conversation. Fire me? From what?? It was I who had made the decision to fill my days in trying to help these women out. But it was and always will be a 50/50 situation. I can instruct until I am blue in the face, but the students have to want to learn. (It is my personal opinion that a lot of these women who have been coming to class, don’t want to learn. They’ve been over the same materials over and over again, and they still ‘fail’. I do not believe that it is because they are stupid, I honestly think that some of them can actually pass the GED test. It is just that they have nothing better to do at home and they want to get out of the house. So they sit in my classroom for a few hours and then go home.)

It cannot be said that I am lacking in my teaching ability because I can see when a student has improved whenever under my instructions. But when it comes test time, they sink like a rock, and I think that they are doing it on purpose.

But I get told that I am no longer needed. Like it was a professional setting and they were having to fire me for whatever reason. They wanted to be looked upon because other people were in the room.

Seriously though, CAN you fire someone who is a volunteer? There’s a difference between trying to fire someone and telling someone “You no longer need to come to teach.”

Certainly, this cannot be a disciplinary action. I’ve not disrupted the flow of the program on any level. I think they wanted to hear themselves talk.

So yes, I really thought that it was unnecessary and incredibly stupid. But that’s the way they wanted it and that’s the way it is.

Pretty lame if you asked me. So I have the full time of this summer to either find some place else to work (whether its being paid or volunteering). Clearly the optimal choice would be to find a paying job.

But firing a volunteer, unless they have broken a rule or is not working together with the organization as a whole is just pretty stupid.