Actual e-mail

This is an actual e-mail I just received....

Hi Carmen,

One of your friends that has shot with us told us you might be interested in working with us! We film adult video's for private collector's. Your friend said you are a CUTE dark haired woman with large boobs. Would you be interested in shooting with us? A 5 min scene pays $800 to $2,200! Interested?

Angelia West


I think I'll pass.

What's in the Hollywood water?

Finally! The weekend is coming to a close and I'm actually looking forward to a Monday for once. I'm just SO ready to make money. Tomorrow should be fun at work. Friends and family coming in, eating for free and tipping us servers! Easy peasy!

Today I went to the Cannery because I had a free ten dollars to use. They give away tons of good stuff to the locals. I also had a nice brunch over there with my mom. Later in the evening I picked Angie up and we went to a meeting. I haven't hung out with Angie in weeks. It was good to see her.

Roommate had to go back to L.A. for a few days. His sister is on life support and I guess the doctors anticipate her dying in the next day or two. So, not fun for him. I'm taking care of the doggies and holding down the fort. I hate staying in the house alone, but oh well. Whatcha gonna do? Someone has to be here! I think it's a pretty safe neighborhood. We are in a gated community and we have lots of locks on the door. Not to mention, two dogs with great hearing and loud barks.

So, first Ed Mcmahon, then, Farrah, next M.J. and today, Billy Mayes! Holy shit! What are they putting in the Hollywood water??

It's Saturday

So, I went into work today and I took the wine test, the liquor test and the food test. I studied for 3 days straight. I'm happy to say that I passed everything with flying colors and we start working for real on Monday. Yay!!

We took a few pictures today...

This is all of us servers...

as you can see, my shirt is way too big. I borrowed it from my roommate because he wears the same kind of shirts that I have to wear and he has tons of them. When I start making some money, I'll go buy some new ones.



and this is all of the servers and our cute manager, Scott...



He told us today that so far, they have spent 7 million dollars on the bar and restaurant to get it ready for our grand opening. Wow! I can't believe they spent that much money. I had no idea it cost that much.

So, I'm all ready for Monday with one tiny exception. I haven't gotten my Sheriff's card yet. I keep putting it off. Part of the reason is because of the money and the other part is because I'm just nervous. They pull up your record and run your fingerprints and I haven't done anything illegal in a while, but I'm just sort of paranoid. Apparently, a lot of people get arrested when the apply for the Sheriff's card. If someone owes child support money, they are arrested. If they have any warrant's out for their arrest, they are arrested. Yuck!

I definitely have to get it though, so next week I will for sure.

Happy Weekend to everyone.

More later

Well, we didn't have the contest like we were supposed to yesterday. We had a wine seminar to learn about the wines and another food tasting and some computer training etc. It was a busy day.

We might have the contest today, I'm not sure. We had an outline for training, but everything has been different. The outline says that we are testing today, but I know that we are actuall taking all of the tests tomorrow.

I have to memorize all of the ingredients in all of the appetizers, soups, salads, pastas and entrees. I also have to know the wines, beers and liquors. It's pretty brutal. I spent my whole night last night studying. I made flash cards so that I could test myself and I know that I'll spend most of my day and night today studying too.

I'll be really happy when all of the testing is over.

Sunday is my only day off and we start working Monday night. I get to invite friends and family in to eat Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. All of my invites are taken. Should be fun!!

More to come later. Gotta head to work now.

Broke down already?

This is going to be a short post. I just woke up for work and I'm tired! I got up like 10 minutes before my alarm went off (don't you hate that) because my phone was ringing and it was a girl from work calling. She needs a ride today and she lives WAY out near me. Unfortunately, I'm at my parent's house today and that's not near her. I would have backtracked and picked her up, but she found another ride so that's cool.

It's funny because the one thing our manager asked us during interviews is if we have reliable transportation. He didn't ask much, but of course, transportation is a pretty big deal. So, we aren't even a week into working and her car broke down already? I don't have high hopes for her. Something tells me she won't last very long.

Yesterday we got to taste some of the entrees and most of the pastas. My favorite was the scallops dish. My least favorite was the ribeye. I'm not a fan of large fatty meat.

Today we are having a little test. We have to stand up in front of the three managers and do our opening presentation and suggest an appetizer and a drink or something like that. Piece of cake. I should be able to that in my sleep if I don't get nervous. I think they are actually giving away prizes for 1st and 2nd and 3rd places. I wanna win!!!

Well, gotta jump in the shower and damn, I wish I had a monster. I'm tired!! I'll be picking one up on the way to work!

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a great birthday week so far.

Today I woke up and had like 20 birthday wishes on facebook. I love facebook. It's the best invention ever. I had people from high school that hated me back in the day wishing me a happy birthday. Amazing how much cooler people are now that they've grown up.

I got home tonight and I have like 30 more comments and messages to read on facebook. Wow! I love it.

Last night I had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday with the roommate. Today, we actually worked 5 hours instead of the measly one hour that we worked yesterday.

We got to taste all of the appetizers and all of the salad. So far, my favorite app is the marinated Skirt Steak with Feta Cheese - to die for - yumm! My favorite salad is a toss up between the Arugula salad with shrimp, scallops, pears, tomatoes, etc or the all time favorite Caprese Salad with fresh mozzarella and juicy red tomatoes.

Then, I went to my homegroup tonight and my girl, Nicole took me out for sushi to celebrate my big day.

Tomorrow my lovely parents are taking me out for yet another birthday dinner. This time we are heading to the always fanstastic Planet Hollywood for an exquisite meal at P.F. Changs. Yumm - lettuce wraps, kung pao chicken and whatever I can find for dessert.

If I can continue this streak, I might be able to eat for free the rest of the month. hehe I mean, it is my birthday ya know!!

And that's it for me tonight. Thanks to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday and as always, thanks for being so supportive and caring. It means a lot. I might not always show it, but I appreciate all of the love you guys give me.

Good night!

Nice and Easy

Work was super easy today. We were only there for about an hour. We introduced ourselves to each other and filled out paperwork and that was it. Unfortunately, the manager hired like 10 females and only 5 guys. 2 of those guys were good looking. I was hoping for more guys and less females, but whatever. Everyone seemed really cool and I think it'll be a fun place to work.

We are training everyday this week and then we are having 3 nights of practice. One of the nights is a friends and family night where we get to invite our own people to come in and eat for free.

July 2nd is the official grand opening. woo hoo! I got a copy of the menu today so I have to start studying. We are definitely going to be tested on the dishes and the ingredients.

Roommate is taking me to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday which is tomorrow. I picked it. I love the cheesecake factory. It's good stuff.

And, that's it for me today. More to come tomorrow.

Day One

This is the first year I've been with my dad on Father's Day in a really long time. We had a great day! I came over early and we watched some T.V. Then, we went to the Cannery where I won $10 in free slot play. So, we played 4 card keno for about an hour. I won about $5. Then, like, 20 of us went to this nice italian restaurant called Vino for dinner. I had the shrimp parmesan and it was amazing. After dinner we saw the movie "The Taking of Pelham 123" and I really enjoyed it. Great flick!

Today is Day One at the new restaurant and I am psyched. I have really high hopes for this place. We get to eat free during training because they want us to taste everything on the menu. I love free meals!

There were lots of cute guys there when I had my interview, so I'm hoping I'll meet the new love of my life at this job. I think we can all admit that working is a lot more enjoyable when you have someone to flirt with. Am I right??

Yeah, I know, a lot of people are against dating in the workplace, but I'm not one of them. I love dating people I work with. I think it's a blast.

So, I'll definitely do a post later today and let you know how it goes.

Another year

Happy Father's Day everyone. I just finished showering and I'm heading over to my parent's for the day. I'll spend the night over there too since they live a lot closer to my new job than I do.

How exciting! I start training tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. I'm really looking forward to meeting all of the new people I'll be working with and the best part is that we are all brand new. So, it's not like I'm walking into a place where everyone knows each other. I love that.

Here's a picture of Sari and I from Friday night. You can see that my hair has been cut a lot shorter and I died it a dark brown color with a touch of red...




Other than that, it's been a pretty uneventful weekend. Roommate is taking me out to dinner tomorrow night because Tuesday is my birthday. Geesh! Another year down the tubes. I hope this year is a better one.

It's Friday!

So, I went to the Health Place yesterday to renew my Health Card. I didn't realize that if you let the stupid thing expire, which I did, that you have to pay penalties for a new one. What fucking bullshit. It's not a fucking driver's license or insurance, it's a stupid ass health card. So, instead of paying $35, I had to pay $65. What a fucking scam. Yeah, Nevada doesn't have state taxes, but they sure do find other ways to screw you.

Anyway, I got the stupid card so now I'm good for 3 years.

Today is my last full week day off work. I don't have anything exciting planned. I'll probably just watch some T.V. and relax during the day and then Sari and I are hitting a meeting tonight and going out for Thai food. YUMM! I haven't sat down and had thai food in months. I'm excited.

Apparently ex roommate and I aren't going to be keeping joint cell phones anymore, so I'm shopping around for a new one. I was gonna go with Metro PCS or Cricket since they are very reasonable and you don't need to have good credit for either of them, but my mom told me to look into a family plan for her and my dad and I. So, I've been shopping around and so far I'm liking the AT&T with rollover minutes. It would be great to carry the extra minutes from month to month - especially because my parents only use their cell phones like once a month. So, basically, all of the minutes would be for me to use!

Do any of my readers use AT&T? Does anyone have a strong opinion, good or bad about AT&T??

Happy Friday!!

Good Day!

So, I ended up dying my hair dark with a touch of red. I'm very happy with the results. I'll get someone to take a picture tomorrow.

I ran tons of errands today. Got food for the house, got gas, had dinner with my parents, went to a meeting, went to the bank and tomorrow I'm getting up early so that I can head to the Health Card place. I just remember waiting in line forever last time, so I figure if I can get my butt out of the house early and be there when they open, I'll get through the wait a lot quicker. Maybe I won't have to wait at all!

I got a surprising message on facebook the other day. This guy that I used to date back in Baltimore, Zack, found me and he said he's been thinking about me a lot. It's funny that he said that because I've looked him up on facebook and myspace before too, but I never found him. Zack and I met at Baja Beach Club in Baltimore a bunch of years ago. I was about 28 and he was like 22 when we met and we had this whirlwind courtship. I liked him a lot because he came into my life when I really needed him and he didn't play games. I was so used to dating these "club" guys and they always played a lot of games and I never knew where I stood with the. Zack was really honest and open about liking me and although I"ve never been married or even engaged, he at least talked about marrying me all of the time. If we would have stayed together a little longer, I think we would have gotten married. We ruined the relationship though because he moved in with me way too soon. I bought a house and he moved in right away and that was the beginning of our downfall.

Anyway, he's thinking about moving to Vegas. Not because of me. He just finished 4 years of schooling and he's in some union in Baltimore and he found out that his pay would be really good out here and the housing market is so cheap out here too, that he's really considering it. Funny! He didn't even know I lived here.

So, we'll see what happens. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited about the possibility of him moving here.

Today was a really good day! I think sometimes it's necessary for me to go through bad times so that I can appreciate the good times so much more!

So, a friend of mine scanned in our senior pictures from high school and I was blown away, laughing hysterically at the 80's hair do's. I mean, I graduated in 1991, but believe me, the 80's hair was still popular apparently.

Guess which one I am!

Picture Wednesday

Went to my sponsor's house last night for dinner - everyone brought a dish and the food was excellent! I finally got to meet all of the girls that she sponsors and they were great. I had a really good time. I ate to my heart's content.

Of course I snapped a couple of pics.

I'm happy to report that my unemployment money came through today! I was expecting a little over $600, but I only got like $350. But, WHATEVER! I'm totally not complaining. I'm happy that I got anything. So, today I can get my health card renewed, buy groceries, get gas, and I'm going to buy some hair dye so that I can get rid of these nasty dark roots. I haven't decided on a color. I'm either going all light, or all dark. I don't have enough money to justify going to the salon, so I'll just do it myself and I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here - let's take a poll....

Should I go

A. Light Light Brown - closer to a dark blonde almost for summer
B. Dark Brown - My normal color - it'll be easy to maintain because there won't be any roots
C. Dark with Red - I always enjoy red but it's hard to maintain because it fades pretty quickly

I'll count the votes and do whatever gets the most votes.

Pictures from last night...

Group Shot




Eden and Rene... (Eden is on the left, Rene is my sponsor and she's on the right)





Christine, Donnell and Eden...




Me and Nicole...



Time to get my health card - Hopefully it won't take all day!

...

Last night I went to a meeting with roommate and I ran into my sponsor. A little awkward considering I haven't called her in like 3 weeks or a month. Whatever. She was probably a little annoyed, but she really didn't show it. She invited me to come to her house tonight for a party that she is throwing for one of my sponsee sisters who just got ten years clean. So, although it's going to be a little awkward, it's time that I got back in the swing of things, so I'm heading over there tonight. I'm so broke I can't even bring a dish. I feel like a real slug when it comes to money right now. I've been waiting for my unemployment money to come through for two weeks now and so far I still haven't gotten it.

I'm really expecting it tomorrow. It usually comes through on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. If I don't get this money tonight I will be so upset. I have to renew my Health Card to work in the restaurant - that's about $30. I have to get a Sheriff's Card - it's $85 and I have to get black socks, white shirts and a few other pieces to complete my new work uniform. Money money money. I literally have one dollar in my wallet. So, I'm praying like I never prayed before that this money comes through tonight.

After the meeting last night, roommate took me and two of his friends out to dinner at Claim Jumper. I love that place! I had the fried shrimp dinner and then we had the most amazing brownie ala mode to die for dessert. It was big enough that all four of us shared it and there was still some left. I ate so much. Delish!

I actually got a call today from the other restaurant I applied for yesterday. They wanted to interview me today, but honestly, I'm sticking with the job I already got because it's fine dining and that's what I like. The other restaurant is a bar/restaurant with gaming and I doubt that the money will be very good. It was pretty dead when I went in there to fill out the application.

I'm going to try to enjoy this last week I have off before starting the new job. I'm going to take it easy, try to get all of my errands done and rest up, but I'll enjoy it so much more if I have some dough. hehe

Got it!

Well, I'm happy to report that I got ANOTHER new job today. I went on craigslist this morning and decided to check out the food and beverage service jobs. There was a new restaurant that is hiring a full staff. I drove out there and listened to the manager interview about 5 people before me and then when we sat down to talk, he hired me on the spot!!! He didn't hire any of the people before me and a lot of them had great work history. The reason he liked me so much though was because of my bubbly personality. He was really looking to hire a fun, mature staff and I fit that to a tee. I'm not 22 anymore, I know a thing or two about waiting tables, up-selling, flirting, etc. I think it's gonna be a great place to work. The menu is NICE and PRICEY! There are like 5 steaks on the menu, surf and turf is like $40 and the wine menu is to die for. They are also making specialty martinis. I've been wanting to wait tables again for a while now. The money is so good and I like the hours.

This particular restaurant is closed on Sundays which is AWESOME and they are only open from 5 - 10 p.m. What a piece of cake schedule!

I'm so excited. I start training with the rest of the new staff on Monday at 10:00 a.m. My fingers are crossed. Lets hope I can manage to keep this job.

Sunday Stuff

Well, I got up today and went to a 9:30 a.m. meeting. I also went to one last night. So, it was a good thing. When I got home I went to lay out at the pool for a while and that was relaxing, a little boring, but it's been so beautiful outside, I'm glad I'm able to get out and enjoy it. Just driving to my meeting last night I opened the sunroof and all my windows and turned up the stereo. It was good times. Sometimes I forget how much I love the weather here. It hasn't gotten too hot yet so we are lucky.

I applied for a few jobs yesterday and today and of course I'll be applying for tons more over the next few weeks. Of course, I get this e-mail today from one of the jobs I applied for yesterday and she apologized and let me know that they were so overwelmed with applicants, that they aren't accepting any more applications until they have a chance to go through them all. It's brutal.

My roommate invited me to dinner and a meeting tomorrow night with him and a friend of his that is in town. Should be fun. I always enjoy eating out.


Well, the T.V.s awaiting my return. Peace!

Chopped

So, I got up this morning and went to the hair salon to get a haircut. Of course, I'm broke, so I was unable to go to my expensive girl that puts all of the great highlights in my hair. Instead, I was at the mercy of my mom and she made me go to her much cheaper girl down the street. But, whatever, I'm so glad I went. She did a good job, I got like 3 or 4 inches cut off and it looks so much healthier and thicker. It's amazing how much thicker my hair will look when it's shorter.

Anyway, I'm heading up to my parent's clubhouse in about an hour to play in a NL Texas Hold Em Tournament. Should be fun. I haven't played in a live tourney in a while and I'm due for a win. The buy-in is only $25 so it's not like I'm going to get rich or anything. Just something to do.

I'm finally starting to feel better and to get back in the groove of things. I'm even going to start applying for work again. I was feeling really good those two weeks when I was working. I miss getting up and going to work everyday, so hopefully I'll find a job fast and keep it this time.

I might even go to a meeting tonight. I haven't decided for sure, but I am definitely thinking about it. I've seriously done nothing this whole last week except for sit on the couch, eat a little bit and watch T.V. and like, detox off of everything.

Now, I'm bored, which is better than depressed. At least I can get motivated when bored. I'm definitely feeling like I'm ready to try again. I can't just give up and die now can I? No word on unemployment yet. When I called, they told me to do my weekly call-in on Sunday so hopefully this week the money will come through. It's much needed!

Happy Saturday Kids!

I'm Alive and Kicking

Hi everyone,

Just checking in because I know a lot of you guys were concerned that I may have went out and did something stupid. I'm okay. My parents are back from vacation and I am staying with them for a little while. Hopefully I'll get back in the mix soon and start looking for a new job. I re-opened my unemployment claim and am waiting to find out if I was approved. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for all of the e-mails and facebook messages and love and support. You guys are the best. I'm going to get through this like I always do and hopefully something good will come out of it. I feel better today than I have in like a week or two so that's a good thing.

I'll blog more consistently from now on. Happy Hump Day!