the joys of $7.50 an hour.

hello you few people who will actually read this..

this is another post about some of the things i have encountered on the job: working at target.

i think the easiest way to do this is going to be just listing some and elaborating on the ones that need to be explained to get the point to the fullest extent. ok? ok.

-this one happened yesterday. the store manager asked me if i could help him real quick to see if we had any more of a product in the back room… he was accompanied by a very old woman.. the product: prune juice. its true. old people like prune juice. turns out we had none.. so the manager says ”was there any other prune juice you saw you were interested in?” and she just smiled and said, “ok thank you” and walked away.. then again, the manager puts his arm out to gesture that he is saying something, ”ma’am was there more prune juice you were interested in?” and she just walked away smiling. so this old woman was either hard of hearing or pissed off that we were out of prune juice. it was kind of funny to see this go down as i just walked away.

- someone shit on the floor. this was a few weeks ago.

- a raccoon got into the morning truck trailer we unload stuff from.

- i was the only dude working this morning, so i got the privilege of dealing with this.. someone put an entire roll of toilet paper in a urinal and peed around it. i had to put on these gloves, which were weak.. and pick it up, and throw it in the garbage. the gloves were thin so i still felt the cold ”water” and this thing had absorbed a lot of water.. it was pretty heavy for being toilet paper.

- my friend and i loaded 750lbs (we actually figured out it was over 700lbs, legitimately) of kitty litter into a van. these people were kind of creepy. they were older, overweight, and didnt appear to be very… umm.. i dont know.. popular..? older, worn down clothes kind of thing. they had a creepy daughter who looked like she maybe had one friend once. we loaded all of this into the van, which we were careful to make sure we didnt get in too far incase they tried to pull something.. and then the ”mother” said, ”oh are you boys going to come and unload it for us too?,” smile on her face. and then the daugher chimed in with a comforting ”well they might not come back!” at this point, my friend and i looked at each other with fear in our faces. we had to laugh it off. we went inside and were like… what the hell?!  we actually helped these people a few times.. each time.. it was kitty litter. we decided they probably have a tiger named kitty. or… 100 cats. that shit a lot.

- a lady came through my lane (when i cashiered) and had a file and a little 3 drawer plastic bin of her own, filled with coupons. she handed me probably 50 coupons.. i scanned them, whatever. well i had her receipt and what does she do? stand by me for the next 2 minutes making sure i scanned each coupon. turns out i missed one and had to give her her 35 cents off in change since it was after the transaction.. im sorry maam. i have a pop can in the trash here, do you want that for 5 cents? ….

- one day, i had a conversation with one of my coworkers/friends, while working on lanes next to each other, how we liked working at target because all the hot girls came to target and the.. not so hot ones, went to walmart. during our conversation, my friend, who was saying all of this, was checking out an older woman, probably in her 60s.. she looked up and said, ”yeah boys, get some.” we both started crying from laughing so hard. she laughed and walked away. we were like… what just happened?!

ya know, ive worked at target for three years now. everyday its the same thing and something totally different. its not so bad. of course id love making about, $3 more an hour, but realistically, ill need a better job for such things. however, i have lots of good stories from that place. this is what i have on this issue. ill write more later.

let me know what you thing.. somehow. want more? check out:

@colin_gargano on twitter.

http://gargano2010.wordpress.com/ (older posts, but ill write more if people read and comment on them! there are lots.. from two years ago to a month ago. good stuff)

of course im on facebook. i even have a blog fan page. colins blog ..pondersome thoughts..

thanks for reading friends.

until next time.

colin blogs? oh yeah..

well hello.

colin, its been like forever since your last blog post.

i know. my last post was february 21st. how sad is that..? i dont even know what i have to say. its weird too because i havent really had much desire to write anything for no reason at all. lets see what stories i can come up with…

well, to begin, my car is still a total piece of crap.  dont laugh at me, because you are probably thinking, well, thats what you get for $500.. well when my father insists i buy this car because its in good shape, i figure alright. lets do this.   recap:

..and then everything goes wrong with it. its a total hunk of junk. i’ve had a flat tire since i got this car in november. its a slow leak, but a pain in the ass nonetheless. my car died at an intersection on one of the coldest days of the year… and since it died, and we had to push it to the side of the road downtown, i was greeted with a parking ticket.  get the car fixed, it was missing a belt. its pants kept falling..

after that was fixed, i slid into a snow bank and took a nice chunk out of my bumper. it is in my back seat. oh, i forgot to mention the fact that my door seal is crap and doesnt completely meet my door and car frame, so when it snows, it snows in my car. and i get a nice pile on my seat in the morning.  what else… oh, my car died multiple times because the heater would turn on after i turned off the car and then just run until i happened to go to my car and figure it out… that was cool. then, my car sat idle for a week while my dad was going to fix it. that took a while with lots of infused anger.

the other day, i was at the dariette and sitting in my car with a friend when we rolled down a window to talk to my brother and pal in the car next to us.. it wouldnt go back up. so that was cool. ohh… and i think its going to blow up. when i drive, i cant accelerate worth a damn. i can get up to about twenty.. and then as i floor it, it slows down and eventually catches and launches me up to 35!

i keep telling my dad it was a waste of $500 and that i need a new car. its been funny because he keeps saying ”save your money” and then an hour later im calling him because something is wrong with me car. ”jesus christ… i dont know what to do to fix it.” ”i need a new car dad…” if im staying here another year, which i am, why not get a new car now before i get stranded on the highway or something? thanks to the bestest sister in the world, i now have the option of getting a nice car.. and im looking at a 96 lexus for about five thousand. lexus cars last foreverrr. itd be the same to save my money up as it would be to get a loan and work the summer away to pay it off, with a little interest.

back to the school thing.. im still a journalism major. i think im a good enough writer that i should stick with that.. but i want to double major in something.. and i think i know what: history. this may come as a surprise as i have never once mentioned my desire to study such a subject. my test scores were always best in social studies or history or government, whatever it was called. i think id end up being a teacher if i just majored in that, but i love knowing things and history is just fascinating. however, i went to the hypnotist last night and every time i go to one, i want to major in psychology as i have wanted to in the past. so i need to think..

i felt kind of bad that i didnt go to the saint edmond musical.. but i did go to Grease, put on by manson northwest webster. i only knew a few people in it, but one of the girls said i had to go.. so i went. it was pretty good. if i would have attended st. edmond’s musical, i would have known everyone, and see, i was actually going to attend until..

last wednesday, i attended the boys tennis practice for SE. im helping coach a little bit, voluntarily, and it was cold. it was also raining/snowing. my sweatpants kept falling so i took them off and played in my shorts. it was ok until i finished playing.. and my sweats were soaked.. so i stood there, freezing in shorts. guess who has been sick since? colin.

i havent been to school since wednesday.. and will return tomorrow. work, called in. i went to target a bit ago and the lady i talked to when i called in was there and asked how i was feeling. i said better and she said i sounded like death on the phone and if i wouldnt have said it was me, she wouldnt have recognized my voice. yep, it sucks.

good movies i have watched lately: american history x… salt… toy story 3 (again)… catfish… prince of persia was alright, as was chloe (chloe could have gone without a few aspects but the idea of the plot was great).. green street hooligans, the movie wall street: money never sleeps was pretty good, however it was really long. i got kinda bored.

good cds i have recently purchased: (if you ever need music, i have lots. more than you could imagine. and its quite the variety. let me know..) Sum 41: screaming bloody murder. (just go that today) last week, i bought: Yellowcard: when you’re through thinking, say yes.  and i also acquired from a friend, Panic! at the disco, vices & virtues. i have the new Mayday Parade EP, A Skylit Drive, i bought the new Rise Against album: Endgame, Diddy-Dirty Money, Daniel Tosh’s new stand up: Happy Thoughts, Go Radio’s new cd Lucky Street, and then i also go the Inception score. i love me some music. i have lots i need to listen to again.. and again.. and again.

to finish, id like to say how happy i am lately. my friends are great and they welcome my friends i bring to the group, with open arms. i hope i get better soon, and i realllllly hope i get that lexus. i think i have a new poem or something on facebook if you havent read it, check it out. hopefully its not another month before i write another.

until next time.

well..

hello.

so i realize its now been a month since i have actually written a post. the last ”post” was 2 weeks ago, but that was just a copy/paste of a facebook note. so ill actually write something now.

to start this, id like to thank the lady who came to target, right after she got off work from wendys. how do i know this? the wendys sweatshirt and the intense scent of french fries were a giveaway. i was very happy when she happened to be going the same way i was, because the scent of wendys is pretty darn awesome. no, i wasnt creeping on this lady, trying to waft the scent.. but it just resonated for feet around her. thank you “Wendy.”

they make dry shampoo. whats next? dry soap. showers on the go. excellent.

why the hell was lenny kravitz the one playing for the NBA All Star pre-game? not only is he old, but he was playing songs that came off of NOW 7. in case you didnt keep tally marks anymore, we are NOW up to 37.

65% of all elvis impersonators are of asian descent. interesting..

a few weeks ago, i had to sit and wait for my food at hunan king of fifty… minutes. FIFTY. the ONE time father sends me to get the food.. and that is the last.

the last 3 weekends, my friends and i have gone cosmic bowling. i suck at cosmic bowling. maybe i should blame to dim lighting, or the flashing yellow lights in my eyes. but truthfully, i just suck. out of 10 games that i have bowled… i broke 100 one time. once.

im done spending money for the rest of my life. the last month, i acquired a 40 inch television/monitor. i bought an itouch. some awesome new headphones.. and new shoes. whereas, a few of those things were needed, a few were not. however, i work a lot now-a-days, so its not like im just blowing my student loans.

for some reason, i have an immense fear of burning my hand when i take a pan out of the oven. like, i fear i will under reach with oven mitt, and i will be burned. why? i dont know.

i have decided to write a book about people and people watching.

you know you’re hearing an older person when they refer to something as an ”apparatus” rather than ”that thing.”

if you are going to give your friends/child/relatives.. whatever, nicknames.. come up with something other than peanut. it doesnt even makes sense.

women blink twice as much as men.

the new texting method where you just slide your finger is absolutely ridiculous. it would take three times as long to slide your finger from the “W” to the “O” to the “W” rather than just typing out “wow” with two fingers. technology is advancing? in theory.

i dont know. this is all random. i dont think i really have any ”stories” to tell. its been so long i dont remember what stories i have.

this weekend, im going to kansas city. hoepfully, we go bowling because id love to keep the bowling streak alive. i just hope i dont suck. i look forward to having jimmy johns. i look forward to a weekend off at last.

i had a lady sit and argue with me for a good 5 minutes about the size of two different standard SD cards. they are exact same size. but, this lady must have had seeing difficulties. ones of them supposedly didnt have the definitive slanted corner it had. after i told her i was positive it would work, and if it didnt, she could return it.. she was like.. no, ill just go somewhere else. alright, sweet. do that. i dont want your $11.99 or your attitude.

i just witnessed a commercial for miracle whip. that stuff is disgusting. some will say ”oh you cant even taste it.” then why use it?

shamrock shakes are back at mcdonalds. they are pretty good.

tomorrow night is my first closing shift back in electronics. not sure how that will go. after two years of trying to get back there, i no longer care. and yet somehow i magically am told i want to go back there. alright.

i had an old lady ask me if target had typewriter ribbon. i knew we didnt because its 2011. but, in order to make her feel better, i asked someone. they said no. weird.

if anyone knows of a writing job available, let me know. not that i dont like target.. id just rather be writing. writing something. i dont care if i like it… its experience.

the little red riding hood movie looks pretty good. or really stupid. i cant decide.

im just going to stop and see if i cant write something more creative. ill tag you in facebook if it works out.

thanks for reading.

new one tomorrow.

i know, i keep putting it off.

and i feel like i havent written anything in a very long time, so i wrote this.

it may be sub-par, stupid, or just plain awful. but i dont care. i just needed to try. judge it yourself. see you later.

 

its a beautiful day..

i couldnt agree more.

the sun shines bright

but your breath is still so cold.

you take my breath away,

faster than i can catch it.

you’re not the brightest star in the sky,

but hey, you do what you can.

you’re the brightest to me,

if anyone asks.

a sunset is like a smile on your face,

and it puts a smile on mine.

its as if you sculpt the clouds

to look like dogs and cats,

intentionally.

people always say it,

but i never understood..

until now.

she takes after her mother.

mother nature.

 

shorthair breed.

hello.

its been a few weeks since the last post, so i figured i would write one.

today i bought a pack of tic tacs with the full intent to sit and eat them like candy. its not like i was like.. ohh i want my breath to smell orangey for a few moments. no. i wanted to sit and eat them.

its been awhile. last time i wrote, i wrote about my idea of the concept of ”love,” which was a facebook note. if you want to read it but dont have me as a friend, either add me or let me know and ill try to get it to you. i had quite a response from readers, none of which i expected in the slightest. so thank you all for reading and giving me feedback.

i have received so much new music lately, i dont know if i can make myself sit and listen to all of it. i absolutely love getting new music, so once again, if you want to exchange music, let me know. i only have.. a lot.

the second semester is off to a running start and im excited for whats to come from it. the only class i really care about is photography. im already kind of a suck up to the teacher. i know he knows my family well and so talking to him isnt a problem at all. i spent two hours after class one day helping set up the studio. i now know how to hang lights, etc, so it was a win-win in theory. i guess i got some extra credit for it too.

i no longer look like jesus. i got a haircut, and although it isnt super short, its very short opposed to the mop top. i also shaved the beard. i miss it already. my face gets so cold on those long walks to class. when i went to get my haircut, i sat in the cool chair that goes up and down, and spins.. and the lady stopped and asked the other ladies in the place if i looked like a handsome jesus. they all agreed. i thought first, it was wrong to compare me to jesus. and secondly, i dont have abs. look at jesus on the cross.. he has abs.

i now realize i should have walked in the salon place with sandals, a robe, and a small group of people. if only i could go back in time..

my i looked like jesus three days ago. ahh the correlation.

writing my facebook note about love kind of opened my eyes by means of readers response. i wrote the note because i was bored and full of thought. i didnt expect a lot of my friends to say how great they thought it was or how everyone should read it, etc. i doubt myself, thats just me being me, about things such as my career in mind. i dont know if i can make it as a writer in the real world. i think im going to have to go out on a limb past blogs and facebook. ive never tried to write a book.. a short story.. etc. i dont know if i can do it. and i have no idea where to start..

i love pepperoni. i could eat it right out of the bag. my favorite kind of pizza? cheese.

with pepperoni.

the packers are in the NFC championship game against the bears. one more win, and they are in the super bowl. i hate the bears. and that is all i have to say about that.

ive always wanted to come up with something cool to do with tic tac containers. im laughing out loud to myself right now because in study hall a few years ago, i came up with the tic tac flask. i filled it with mountain dew, and by golly, it freaking worked. i think it leaked in my pocket though. the concept is whats valuable.

arrested development is probably the funniest show i have ever seen. if you have netflix, check it out. netflix is one of the greatest things ever. $10 a month and you are set. its so great. ive watched: dexter, sparticus: blood and sand, californication, skins, arrested development, and not to mention movies.

my tic tacs are now gone. i have a headache and my heart seems to be beating faster. i think its just my imagination.

i tried to solve a rubiks cube.. and finally.. after a long time of messing with it.. and looking it up on google… i still cant do it.

i want to write a book.. but what about? give me ideas. please. i promise not to even say the word ”vampire” in it. actually, its a promise and a vow.

my goal for the winter: stay out of ditches.

im afraid to get pulled over. i dont look anything like my ID now. i dont have long hair or a beard. so…officer..

i dont know.

this is what i have for now.

until next time.

my new years resolution(s).

hello

im bored so i decided to write.

today is january third, just barely into the new year.

i dont really understand the whole concept of resolutions. its just an excuse to put everything off for another year. oh this year i promise to get into shape! yeah.. well how many times have you said that one before? here is an idea: do something for once.

what are my resolutions… hmm.. well… how about a list?

1. find something i love to do. i know i love writing, and as of now, thats what i love to do. but what if there is something out there bigger and better that i like even more? i guess we will see.

2. find someone that makes me happy. this makes me sound like a lonely middle-aged man. i know. but hey, why cant i want a girlfriend that makes me all giddy?

3. stay true to what i am, and what i believe in. im not one to give into peer pressure and do what everyone else does. i have something that is kind of unheard of these days… ohhh yeaaaa, morals. if i gave into what everyone else was doing.. id be a drinker.. a smoker.. a man whore? i dont know.. you get the point.

4. keep the same friends along with making new ones. my friends are the best because they are similar to me. that makes sense.. seeing as most times, friends are similar. they believe in what i believe in, mostly, and they are just good people.  we some how manage to make great times.. while sober. drinkings not bad, im no anti-drinking advocate. i just dont do it. neither do 90% of my friends.

5. manage to get 94.5 to stop playing sugar ray songs. seriously. when i work in the early morning on sundays at target, we listen to the radio via the PA system. if sugar ray plays one more time.. or nickelback. the only thing worse than nickelback is having to listen to them. its horrifying.

6. get into shape. im one of those people.. i have put this off every year since i was probably 12 and a chub. im not so chub anymore, but hey.. are abs so much to ask for? i mean, i know i have them.. somewhere. im kind of sick of playing hide and seek with them.

thats all i have for resolutions at this point.

now i want to ask the unanswered question about ”talking” with people. talking is just saying you and another person, in my case, girls, are interested in each other but not yet “dating.” as i fought with my brother on this topic just last week, the question is kind of interesting. what really makes a pair officially ”talking?” well, typically, text messaging on the cellular device telephones is one given. they text back and forth. from the crack of dawn to the last message they read before closing their eyes for the night.  another possibility: usage of smiley faces. oh how those few things can screw up a person. im not much of a smiley person in text messages. i mean i use them, sure, but with caution. usually if i like someone, the smileys are frequent. if you have never got a smiley face in a text from me.. i must just not like you. just kidding. but, the conflict with ”talking” is knowing whether or not the other person thinks you are ”talking.”    with technology thus far in 2011, it is impossible to know what someone else is truly thinking so you are always left with an unsolved equation, the variable x can stand for their thoughts. my thoughts + x =  :) ?

smiley faces that are made like so-  :[ look like vampires. stupid vampires. team jacob.

just kidding. i refuse to watch twilight.

oh, more things i hate:

1. spongebob squarepants. god i hate him.

2. serious segments. what a bunch of crap. ”i guess until then, ill just keep trying…” stop complaining. im starting a new segment called meaningful moments. notice how he stopped using so many dots? he takes knowledge from my blogs.

3. those little white bumps you get on your tongue after you bite it, or burn it, or while you are sick. those suck.

4. mustaches. i have to deal with it because a beard with no ‘stache would just be weird.

5. hypocrites.

6. bad people. yeah. i said it.

7. going to the doctor. i get that they are nice people who want to make you feel better.. but still.

8. nights when i am really really tired and cant fall asleep. usually when i have to work early. of course.

9. when friends piss off other friends. no one likes picking sides, but im usually one of the people who jump in and says something. probably not always a good thing, but hey, someone needs to say something. usually.

10. to finish off this ‘i hate’ countdown: driving in snow. its fun, but not so fun when you take out a nice chunk of your bumper. it would probably cost me more to fix my bumper than the amount i actually paid for the car.

meaningful moment: go hug your parents. say you love them. and that colin says hi. they will be happy and confused. end meaningful moment.

i was working the other day and this lady bought an african american baby doll. she said ”i hope my grand daughter doesnt care that shes getting a black baby doll. they are half price!” i thought it was terrible… and hilarious.

i have ideas for many.. uhh.. ”poems” and such but im kinda on the fence on whether or not to try and write them out. i lay in bed at night just waiting to fall asleep, and then words start flying around in my mind, yeah they have wings in my mind, and start to match up and have word babies making sentences. its really quite beautiful. im pushing for a discovery channel special but i dont know. the primetime slots are pretty tough to get.

i dont know what any of that really even meant.

until next time.

for me.

hello.

its been a few weeks since i have written a post, so here i sit at one a.m. and im deciding to write.

to begin, id like to mention ive started to read my twin brothers blog. dont think im a patron or a fan.. but i do like to see what my competition is.. and let me tell ya, i have none. im just kidding.. kind of. he just has a different style i guess. his style is use a million “………………” between ever other third word and throw in serious segments. i would like to respond to his serious segment. the whole concept he spoke of, about liking girls or whatever, is a bit hectic. he made it sound like such a drag. but, in truth, if you do it the right way, its great. whether or not a girl wants to be ”more than friends”  doesnt have to be a sad swan song of friendship. if one person is devoted to the idea of dating the other, the other is going to get all angry, boom goes the dynamite, and no one is left with a pal. you have to go slow and get to know someone. ive had more relationships than my brother, yes, so i think i know more than him. he could have had more than me probably, but things dont seem to work for him..

enough about him.

a lot of people give me crap and say stupid crap like.. ohh.. go blog about it! no. shut your mouth. im not a ”blogger.” im not writing about stuff like obamas healthcare program or reviewing movies or something. im writing on this site because it was easy, free, and easy for others to access. it happens to be a blog site. i write for me. i dont care who reads it. i dont care if anyone reads it. i write for my sake because i love to do it.

my first car accident happened today… with myself. stupid snow. it was icy i guess.. going 5 mph around a corner… boom. bits and pieces of my bumper go flying as i slide into a snowbank. it would probably cost more to fix than i paid for my car. duct tape? i think so.

i have a fear of using someone else’s toothbrush by accident. every time i brush my teeth i look at my toothbrush while im brushing, making sure its mine as a double check. i dont know why. it freaks me out.

i dont like the transition of calling people by their real names after they have received a nickname. its weird.

i also dont understand how we get so use to the way we say things. why do we say ”mom and dad” not ”dad and mom”? i want a jelly and peanut butter sandwich. yeah, what of it?

i took rice crispies to the face the other night at work. i was ‘zoning’ the food section (making it look nice) and a box of rice crispies fell off the top shelf, boom. face.

i think it is funny how we call the parents of our parents “grandparents.” they are real grand. but then their parents are great and grand. i want awesome great grand parents. thatd be neat.

i got bored one day so i looked my name up on urbandictionary.com. great site. its kind of like a site to find out peoples definitions of things… names.. places.. slang words, etc.

“Colin: A name for sexy boys who often use guitars. Often confused with Colon, the body part. Common to be very popular with girls. Id also have to agree that Colin is a man who falls deeply in love with a woman. He’s really cool too and usually a sharp character, doesnt particularly like Colm though. Colin gets irritated when people get his name wrong, e.g. Connor, Colm, Colon, Cailin, Conan. a guy i think is cute, funny, sweet.”

that was a compilation of the first few results. let me break them down. 1. i wish i could play guitar. 2. i wish i was popular with the ladies. 3. i havent been in love yet, i dont believe. id like to try some day. 4. im not that cool. 5. damn right i get irritated.. but not with those names.. close.. 6. cute.. funny.. sweet.. ehh. maybe.

i wonder what the statistics are for the accuracy of a magic 8 ball. i hope they are bad. i have asked it some questions recently about current hopes of mine… not looking so good.

the hardest part of writing is figuring out the right words for your thoughts, and the right words to get your message through to the people you want it reach.

ive been really into inspirational quotes lately and i have no idea why. not just quotes but lyrics and anything i think sounds cool.

“you cant depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” mark twain

i dont want to wait until tomorrow to tell you how i’d feel the rest of my life. -mat kearney, the song- city of black and white.

i felt like i was being spoken to the other night at work when i was moving boxes and crumbs of who knows what, were squeaking as they were scraping across the shelves. it sounded like they were saying words. it was really creepy the first time it happened.

i literally laughed out loud the other night when i was laying in bed and i looked at my clock sideways. it was 11:08.  but see, if you turn sideways, and do so with the thought of how digital clocks are, it looked like abraham lincoln with a hat and a bow tie. it was the best.

ive been getting closer and closer to convincing myself to write a book. i dont know what kind of book to write. im kind of scared to try and write a fictional story. but i dont think i have an interesting enough view on things to just write a book about random things. i dont know. yet.

i wish i could figure things out on my own. im a pretty smart kid, i got a 24 on my ACT. average-18 so im ok. but there is always that unknown variable ”x” that so much cannot be accounted for. if only magic 8 balls worked… at least you wouldnt have to wonder. things take time i guess. lets see if time is on my side.

thanks for reading.

until next time.

just one of those.. weeks.

merry christmas.

your present is this post… im sorry, funds are tight this year.

it is 3:03 am but i promised id write one tonight. i keep my promises.

its only been five days but oh my, how bad they have been. im just going to dive right in..

day 1: monday, december 13th, time: 8:23ish.. i leave my home and get into my car. it was a cold morning, and it wasnt supposed to warm up at all. i decide to man it out and sit in the car a few minutes before i get going, so it had a chance to warm up a bit.  the inside of my windshield is iced over as well as the outside, with the defrost on high, nothing is happening. so i manage to get to target and i buy myself a nifty ice-scraper.   i get back to my car, nicely parked in the sunlight, to a clear windshield.  sweet.  so i get into my car and start it.. or at least i try. nothing. nothing is happening. i say some bad words like fudge and shoot and i call my dad… i get it to start and head of to iowa central… good thing i was going two hours before my first class..

i make a miles worth of progress on my five mile journey when i notice my speedometer and gas gauges are no longer working. my idea: pull over and restart it. great idea. except it didnt work.  my car once again refuses to move upon start up. i call my dad after a few more kind words… and here is the thing….. you see, im a journalism major.. so when my dad gets angry when i dont know how to answer.. “what do you mean its not doing anything!? does it make any noises?! does it sound more like an electrical problem or a mechanical problem?!” …”dad, i dont know. i wouldnt know the difference. im not a mechanic.” it eventually started again and im like, ok sweet. no more stopping. i just want to get to school. 100 yards from my previous spot, at stop light…. my car. shuts. off.

im just sitting there. i said.. are you _________ (insert your own word) kidding me. i try to restart it, and nothing happens..nothing at all. i turn on my hazard lights, bust out the blackberry and call pops once more. he tells me to just sit there until he can get there.. he said i should call the cops and see if an officer could come or something.. so i did. i wrote the number on my dashboard with one the pencils i happened to leave in my car after i took the ACT. good idea. and i just realized its still there.. the lady didnt seem kind and she said she could call a tow truck.. im like uhh.. shes like well and officer would do the same thing.. im like uhh.. can i call back.. so i call dad again. he is pissed off, and says just hold on. a dude on a bike comes up to my window when im on the phone and asks if i need help.. i blow him off because i was told to, and all angry, the dude rode off. i laughed. and if one more DART bus honks at me, i will punch the driver. im sorry the sun makes my hazard lights hard to see, i cant move. if i could move, i would have 4 green lights ago.

eventually a cop happened to pass by, and knowing him slightly, it wasnt as bad. we looked under the hood as if we would find the problem laced with gold, no. hes also no mechanic. he offers to let me sit in the cop car so i dont freeze until my dad gets there. deciding i dont want to look like a convict, i sat in my car and called my dad, asking him where he was.. he arrives, we push the car away from the light, and i guess into a one hour parking zone, because i now have a $5 parking ticket i pay.

turns out, the serpentine belt was completely gone. it turns something which charges my battery or something. it was a $13 dollar fix i guess. ohhh.. and i have no radio so on my trips to school, i usually use my mac as my stereo. the song i hit pause on as soon as my car stopped was..wait for it… smile like you mean it by the killers. no! i will not smile. its 9 in the morning and everything has gone wrong. stupid song..

that same day, i get home from school, ready to take a nap because i was freezing and angry.. and i find a puddle on my bed. there is a crack in my window allowing melting snow through, down my wall, onto my bed. woo. and to cap off a beautiful day, as i set my alarm on my phone, i plug it into my computer to charge, and it doesnt work. so i restart my phone.. and now it doesnt start at all. back to my old phone for now…….

that is just my car story.

lets talk about online math classes. heres the thing.. and mom, relax. breathe in, and out… in.. and out. i was going to cheat, use the same assignments as a friend, and do the quizzes and such on my own.  the one time ive EVER cheated on anything, it was just assignments.. and i turned in about seven and my teacher noticed they were the same.. i was like.. crap..  yeah i cheated. give me zeros.. tisk tisk on me. well, i had 23 more of these assignments i was going to use.. but instead, i sat and did them all, the day they were due, this is now tuesday. i get an email saying they all still have the name of the other student on them.. im thinking.. oh my god.. here is was happened with this.. i used the files i was given, but did all my own work.. but since they werent my files, they had the girls name as the author in the properties.. lesson is: if you are going to cheat even on just 5 assignments: copy and paste. i finished the online class with 13 minutes to spare, thanks to my brothers help.

i passed the class… with 69.69% i needed a 70% to move on to the next class.

so now, i either retake the class, or, i take the stupid COMPASS test and hope for a higher math score and just bypass the.. awesome class.. i hate math.

i think this is enough depressing talk..

i went to tron 3d midnight showing.. me, four pals… and 3 random guys. that was it. the movie was sweet. average acting, open ending for a sequel to a sequel.. but the effects and stuff were really sweet. i think it would be better in the theater with the big screen and all, but its almost renting-quality. it was intense though.

its 3:30 almost and im taking photos and making christmas cookies tomorrow. so, im going to bed.

look for another post soon.. i have lots more but i dont think you want to read my book.. .yet.

comments please.

until next time.

 

i hate..

hello everyone.

im writing this at last, because people have been asking for one, and also because i dont want to do my math. makes sense.

not a whole lot has been going on since my last blog.. just a whole lot of working and sleeping pretty much.  its so nice having a car now. like, if i am hungry, i go to target when i want to. i dont have to wait for my dad to come home and waste time until we can go. i just get in my car, and go. its great. i dont have to sit at school for an additional 4 hours a day, set to the schedule of those who gave me rides. no, i go to school for 2 hours a day. it is so enlightening. oh, and i dont have to ride a bike in the snow to work.. and fall. great story if you dont know it.. .ask me sometime.

the end.

ok, i guess i can come up with more to say.

i was eating some cheddar chex mix the other day and in ONE small bowl, 30 pretzels. for you select few who read my older brothers blog, he had a similar rant on pretzels.  they ruin chex mix. and whoever came up with the word ‘pretzels’ must have hated them too, because who puts a Z in a word?

now, i want to make a list of things i hate. or dislike strongly. whichever makes you happy. in no particular order:

1. needles. i dont really even know why.

2. giant squid. they are giant.

3. plague masks. these things just suck. http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=618&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=plague+doctor+mask&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=plague+&gs_rfai=

4. nickelback. if every song wasnt the same, or played every 4 minutes and 17 seconds on the radio, maybe i would hate them less.

5. baby dolls. they stare at you. they are stupid. and the motion sensor ones at target get me every time.

6. glitter. who ever ‘invented’ glitter… you suck. i found glitter in my beard today. i didnt even see glitter today! ..how does one invent glitter? and why? you cant just wipe off glitter either. it sticks to you. so, four days, three nights, later, it may happen to be gone if you are lucky.

7. waiting in lines. its not because i dont have patience. i guess i do. but other people who are waiting in line are not always courteous as they should be. the other day i was at the courthouse to get my license plates and this lady and her little kid had to make a scene right in front of me in line.  the kid wouldnt stand up or something and keep in mind this lady has an eyebrow piercing.. and she starts yelling at the kid and spanks him. what does the eyebrow piercing have to do with this? nothing. i just wanted to paint a visual with words.  lets just say shes the kind of person who would wear flannel pants to school.. if she ever went to school.. that was mean. but im sorry. its how it was.

8. math. im supposed to be doing my online math class that is due at 11:59:59 wednesday night. its going to be a long few days.

9. reading books. if i could sit still long enough to read, i would love it. i like to learn things. if i want to know about something, i want to know everything i can. id be so smart..

10. static. winter means dry air. which means static. i hate it. i got out of my chair to turn up the television last night and i got shocked every single time. it did not feel good.

this morning i was supposed to be at target to work at 4 am… that didnt happen. thanks to mother nature, i couldnt get out of my street. i even tried. so i called in. i was told to sleep a few more hours and try again around 6 or 7… of course i chose seven. i have never had to drive in this weather before because i have never had to drive before. i found out my door seal is broken so i had a pile of snow on my seat. sweet. also, i drilled two huge drifts on the way to work.  it is nothing like that movie tokyo drift. they dont even get snow. i made it eventually to work. but dang..

im currently loving the beverage Sprite.  take some warm sprite, put ice in it.. and it is amazing. you will be a born-again sprite enthusiast.

ive been working a lot with my photography, whether its pictures of people or just things i find fascinating.  you can check those out on facebook. or, actually, on my deviantart page http://gargano2010.deviantart.com/ yaaaaa! click on browse gallery and it should work.

i took the ACTs on saturday. i think i was the only kid thats already in college taking this test. i have to take it to transfer into iowa state without an AA degree. so i took it.  math wasnt so bad.. it was the science that sucked.  i didnt want to sit and read about experiments students 1, 2, and 3 performed. so, i didnt. i looked at the charts, the questions, and figured it out quicker. i hope i got a good score.. im hoping to at least be above average.. average is 18.. perfect: 36. im thinking ill get around a 22-24.

my friends are awesome.  two of them came to my iowa central christmas concert TWO nights in a row. it wasnt even that great of a show, but they are that great of friends. you know who you are. and then i have other awesome friends who just went once… but still.. i wouldnt sit through a boring concert that you guys were in… just kidding. i was going to go to their concert but it got cancelled.

some of my friends and i decided we are going to the midnight showing of Tron: Legacy in 3d this thursday. in order prepare for this event, we watched the Tron movie from like.. 1982. i have no idea what happened in that movie. two of the main characters look too much alike to decipher which is which in which scenario. anyways.. we were discussing how this ‘sequel’ came about THIRTY years later. they ending of the original was not open ended as if there was going to be another. but if there was? OH MAN! i cant WAIT to see the second one! well buddy.. if you were really waiting.. its been thirty years and now you probably dont even care. lets just make another finding nemo… in THIRTY YEARS! get ready for it. dont worry.. it will be in 3d im sure. or 4d..

thats what i have for now. im sure i will have another one soon, because i probably forgot half of what i wanted to say.

thanks for coming, come again.

until next time..

 

 

 

skimming is not reading.

hello there.

so its been awhile since i last posted, and for this, i am sorry. quite a lot has happened in the last few weeks.. let me elaborate.

1. i got my license. who woulda thought that i, colin gargano the first, would ever receive such a prized possession? just about no one. i had to take the driving test and everything. the first day i went to take the test, i couldnt because the wait was too long to allow for time to test in the time frame my dad and i were working with. so i went back the next day. 15 minutes after my initial arrival, im  in my dads car with the DOT lady, testing for my license. first things first, i had to show that the turn signals worked. she was like.. ”left turn signal..” and i froze for a second. i was thinking.. what if i ruin this before it even starts?! luckily, my reflex was the correct one. all went well, and off onto the road we went. my instructor wasnt very clear on anything she wanted me to do. she said something about stopping and when i didnt stop where she said she reminded me.. uhh.. ok.

but one thing i didnt like was how she took points off for things either id never know or for things she told me to do! i didnt know i was supposed to signal when i parallel parked.. which was only behind one car, not in between two.  i lost points for not having my hands on the steering wheel at all times.. im sorry it was the longest stoplight in fort dodge. i lost points for crossing a lane of traffic to get into the lane she told me when the intersection was a straight and turn right and then a turn right two lane street.. and i was 50 feet from that intersection already.. whatever. i passed nonetheless.

i also got a car. its not an amazing car, but it gets me places. dude, gas sucks. $20 for half a tank?! good thing i have a job again.. more on that later. the car makes it look like i cant drive worth crap. i really can. the accelerator or something is messed up because when i go to tap the pedal to move, it does nothing.. a second later.. i jolt forward against my will. great. and my radio doesnt work. i hate that. im buying a new one.

i have a job again. i finally contacted target and now im working again. ive already put in almost 30 hours just last week. its better this time around because people like me, there are new people, and im not a cashier. im toy team, meaning i make the toy aisles look nice for 5 hours a night. fun? better than cashiering. ive decided i hated that because i never finished anything. it was always scanning stuff and what not. doing salesfloor, i put something away, and start a new little project. i like feeling accomplished.

i wonder if a store would use the overhead PA system for a lost elderly person… they do it for kids who cant kind their parents, but would they do it for an old guy who cant find his wife? itd be pretty funny.

black friday sucked. why? i was up at 3:00 to work 3:45 am to 12:15. long day. comic relief came in when a lady somehow managed to drop her ID down a crack where two pieces of the lane meet.. so we had to call the maintenance guy to come take it apart. this was awesome because the lady laughed it out, it was really busy, and i got to just stand there for 45 minutes watching.

i dont get why kids have to be asleep on christmas eve, otherwise ‘santa wont come’ but they can go to the mall and see him.

i recently made a stop motion video of my friends playing with wooden sticks, aka wands for you muggles, no magical people, out there. check it out on facebook. im not spielberg, but its still pretty funny. i think anyone can see it, friend or not.

i dont have much else to say. uhh.. i have about 2 weeks to finish a math class online that ive barely started.. i have the ACT test in a few weeks… the ICCC christmas concert is coming up.. im so poor until i get paid in two weeks, its ridiculous. if youd like to make a donation to the colin gargano fund for a future, let me know.

feedback is a great friend so be a better friend and tell me what you thought.

remember, skimming is not reading.

thanks.

until next time..