I have to...

I suppose rather than just commenting on everyone else's posts about the shootings I should just write my own. I kind of feel I have to because the whole thing is really surreal for me. Since I never update I don't think anyone knows that I have been working at the Blockbuster in Bellevue for that last month or so. It happens to be located right next to a McDonalds, the one that fired Robert Hawkins. Now I hate to say "I knew the shooter" or even "I met the shooter" because like I said in my comment on Raptor's post that implies that we at least exchanged names and we didn't. The fact is that I talked to him earlier this week. (I believe it was Tuesday night, but it could have been Monday.) He was just an employee either off work or on break sitting in the corner with his coat on and I was just waiting for my order and he started talking to me. I don't even remember what we talked about other than it was lighthearted and I was laughing. He left no impression on my other than being a slightly awkward but outgoing friendly kid. Had the conversation happened even a week ago I am sure I wouldn't have even remembered it. I just can't wrap my brain around how someone can joke around with a stranger one day and the next shoot a bunch of strangers. Its just so tragic. I spent a good amount of time in tears on Wednesday. Even before I made the connection between the shooter and the kid in the corner I just couldn't get over the sadness of the whole thing. That said, I do agree with Raptor that life must move on. I shed my tears for the strangers and their families. I have said my prayers for them and now I must move on. It may seem quick and I understand that not everyone can just move on. I would be lying if I said I will not feel a twinge of sadness every time I pass by Westroads for a while. I just can't actively mourn for strangers longer than a day or I will go nuts. Tragedies happen everyday all around the world and if I continue to dwell on them I will never stop crying. My loved ones are all safe tonight and I am thankful for that.

On a completely different note on the same topic it was really interesting watching national coverage on this event. What really got to me was seeing their "experts" discuss what his personality was probably like. They depicted this psychopathic person when the interviews with the people who knew him described him as a depressed kid with some family issues. If anything I blame media coverage and reporting on events like these for causing more of them. Not that its an excuse. There is no excuse for killing 8 strangers, but if you are an unremarkable depressed kid who wants to get noticed by someone, their family, a stranger waiting for their food, or the entire country there is one thing that will do it. Maybe if the media would start downplaying the shooter and only talk about the victims it wouldn't be such an easy way for someone to "be famous" or "go out in style" or whatever it was he wrote. That was another discrepancy between national and local news. He was also 18, 19, or 20 depending on which channel you were watching. Sorry, the little detail changes got annoying to me after awhile. And that is my two cents on this issue. Since I probably won't post for another three months because I am just too lazy I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

Grey's Anatomy

Okay, short post that is mostly a question to those of you that watch Grey's. Lexie is Meredith's half sister, but was she Susan's daughter from a previous marriage? This is never really explained that I can remember and if she isn't there is a huge flaw in the timeline since Thatcher left Ellis when Meredith was 5, it would be at least a year before he got remarried and probably another year before Lexie would be born making her 7 years younger than Meredith and impossible for her to be an intern this year. Its been bugging me since I finished watching season 3 on dvd. If anyone can answer this for me please let me know. I think I might have to rewatch season 2 to see the episodes that first introduced Susan and see if they say anything other than "Lexie is at Haravard in med school." They all certainly act like Thatcher is her biological dad, but it just doesn't fit. I am all about suspending disbelief in t.v. and movies, but this might be too much for me. I might get really made at the show over this. Seven years? Seriously!?!

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Ok, ok so I haven't posted for a long, long time and this one will be brief because I don't want to spoil the book for those of you who may not have finished yet. This was a fantastic book, I cried at the ending, as has been my custom since the 5th book, though no fit has been greater since Sirus died. Anyway, one thing I wanted to address was the issue of spoilers for this book. I hate spoilers, I want to find out for myself how things turn out, but its a fact in this day and age that spoilers happen. They are out there, people like to spoil things for others and there is no stopping that. The thing that I don't understand though is why people get so mad about them. The fact remains, you have to LOOK for them. It is not like you can sign on to the internet and a pop-up immediately says "And this is how the book ends..." If you don't want something spoiled for you, don't go looking for it. Don't type "Harry Potter" in a search engine before you are done reading the book. I didn't want the book spoiled for me so I refrained from looking. It was only today that I went looking for interviews etc on the book because I finished it days ago and even now most things that I read had huge *Spolier Alert* signs or even links to take you to a different page to read anything that gave away the ending. I will probably write more on the book later once everyone who has more of a life than me has finished it. I am going to read all the books in order now (I read the 5th and 6th again a few weeks ago for the film and the last book) so when I am done with that I will try to write a Harry Potter overview because I am an obsessed nut like that. Enjoy the book if you haven't finished it!

Snow Day

Its been about 10 years since I have had a snow day. As adults we rarely get snow days. Schools close, but work remains open, and usually no matter what Blockbuster stays open. Today, however, since the store manager lives in Lincoln and the roads were closed between Omaha and Lincoln most of the day, he could not come in, my car is buried under a foot and a half of snow, and the other manager was stuck in her driveway all day, so no one could open our store. Outside of the occasional phone calls to see if anyone could get to the store, I had the day off, stuck in my apartment with nothing to do but watch movies. It was a really nice change. The thing that really got to me though, was the stores that did open today were really busy. What is up with people? The roads were extremely dangerous, schools, banks, and most all businesses were closed, I even saw that some Urgentcare centers were closed, but people were still driving out in the blizzard, risking their lives to rent a freakin movie. I wished all of them to get stuck or wreck their cars, no injuries, just lots of money in damages. That would teach them. When you can't see more than 10 feet in front of you, don't go out to get movie. Stay home, read a book, watch tv, watch a movie you already own, you don't need to risk your life to see a different movie. Its just retarded to me. I hope everyone in Omaha enjoyed their snow day and stayed at home. I sure did. I watched the entire extended Lord of the Rings trilogy with my boyfriend and his roommate. They tried to make it into work this morning only to find their stores were closed too and since I live next to both of their jobs they just came here rather than drive the whole way home. They were not stupid enough to come over here just to watch LOTR.

Where has the time gone?

I promise that I am not ditching out on people or parties, the truth is I am horribly overworked. Today was my first day off since the 21st and even today I had a conference call to be on so it wasn't even a full day without any work. On the few days that I have not worked I have either been running around like a crazy person trying to get stuff done i.e. pay bills, go shopping, all the boring errands that just need to get done, or I have been in bed. I spent New Year's Eve in bed sick. 20 hours of sleep later and I am still sick and I have to get up and work in the morning. What a fun life I have. I should be getting a week off sometime this month so I can catch up on my life and sleep for a bit and hopefully now that the holidays are over I can go back to working no more than 40 hours a week. I don't think that there has been a single week in the past two months that I have not gotten overtime, and while the extra money came in handy over the holidays, right now with how sick I feel and how exhausted I am I just don't think it was worth it. Well another some what long week ahead of me and being sick should be so much fun. At least I got some rest in today. I hope everyone had a happy new year!

Which Reindeer are you?

You Are Vixen

Sexy and sultry, you're the one all the other reindeer dream about. Why You're Naughty: That fur pulling spat you got into with Dancer over Santa. Why You're Nice: Because even when you're nice, you're still delightfully naughty!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Yeah stupid quiz, I know its not much of a post, but I am leaving town for a few days so this is all you get for now.

Quick update

So I am still working my butt off. I think I have worked overtime like 5 out of the last 6 weeks, I am working lots of overtime this week, then I am out of town next weekend, I might be going to Florida over New Years, so basically I am busy. I am changing stores though. I will be working in West O instead of the ghetto, which I am happy about. I will miss my store and the people I work with, but its a nicer store in a nicer area of town and so far everyone there seems really friendly and should be fun to work with. I gave up one of my days off to work there tomorrow. Sometimes I am a little too generous with my time at work, but hey it is the holidays and I have bills to pay now, so I want all the overtime I can get while I can get it. Right now though I am tired and I think I am going to shower and go to bed now and get ready for another long day tomorrow. At least I am not closing and I have Saturday off still.