Doing it My Way (8)

June 22nd
My new normal feels calmer but I am still uncertain at the same time. I am sleeping better which is lovely. And my days are less filled with stressful thoughts and emotional regrets at retiring. I have another two months before Ranney stops adding cash to my checking account. So, I figure I have two months to figure it all out. Meanwhile, I sent in a resume to Papa Ganache to help kids (what that has to do with Vegan cupcakes, I have no idea), a resume to Huntington Learning Center (which would put me at work after 4:00... not ideal), and a resume to VIPKids to tutor online English to Chinese kids (I am not a language specialist and can barely remember the words in my own language, but they say no training needed). I am still hoping the Zimmerli responds to my resume from last week.

Yesterday began with my "orange" oat waffles. So funny how I glance at things like recipes and then do it my own way anyway.  I forget it helps to read and follow instructions. When Ann Esselstyn says that she adds the zest of an orange to her oat waffles, she is so right. I'll have to write that brilliant reminder to a comment thread on her video for other people who don't pay attention. The burst of citrus brings the taste of this plain little waffle alive on your tongue. And for someone who enjoys eating plain cardboard, this burst of flavor really makes a difference. But, and this is a big but, I will still do the rest of the recipe my way.

Doing it my way continued throughout my day. I went to Joyce to help her build shelves. She bought four shelving units at Costco. The shelving company needs someone new to write their instruction sheets. It took the longest time to try to make out the visuals in the instructions and to guess which part goes where. There should be no guessing involved! Even the height of the unit was in question until we could guess how to make it taller. Norman would have thrown the heavy metal parts of the unit out the tiny windows of her basement before finishing her first shelf. Horrible, horrible instructions. By the time we began shelf two, I created my own order of business and my own tips for success. These tips were obvious to me and should have been there for all customers to read. Shelf two with the added help of Howie holding onto the bars went up with ease.

In the afternoon, I went to Verizon which was a total waste of my time. My phone only broadcasts sound into my right ear and not through both ends of the earplugs. The guy spoke to me with accusations of spilling water in the aux hole of the phone. Excuse me, but I refuse to be spoken to like that. I just left a job where people were wonderful and sympathetic in any and all situations. Now I am faced with real-world lunatics like the phone guy who needs lessons in customer service. I was not thrilled with the choices he gave me of upgrading the phone which adds more money to the monthly bill or going to the apple store to figure out why it doesn't work. I guess I could replace it with the same model under my warranty but my model is already outdated. I left thinking the thing still makes a phone call so I will continue to use it as is. I tried using the phone with my hearing aids but then everything, like the traffic outside, gets loud and I really can't hear the voices of my Rich Roll podcast. Next idea will be to try the adaptor the newer phones come with since they don't even have an aux plug hole. Now that is a brilliant idea. Why didn't the phone rep guy come up with that one? I like to do things my way. It's not always the better way, but it's my way.