Stage Across America Day 18/Extern Day 4

Hey everyone! I'm back online! And that is thanks to my sweetheart of a neighbor letting me pay her $50 to use her Wi-Fi for the 4 months that I'm here. :) Don't have to deal with the cable company or any of that, and it's cheaper! So, THANKS CHRISTINE! :-D

That said, I have some catching up to do!! I know I said a week and a half ago that I would log an entry, and then didn't, but you have to realize the predicament I was in... If you read my Facebook posts, you know that I was in San Antonio and out of money to get to Arizona! And I managed to go out to the old bars I used to go to, taking my friend Jake, who moved from NY to San Antonio last summer to run the new bakery cafe at the new San Antonio campus of the CIA. It's supposed to open next month. And so far as going out when broke--thank goodness for old friends who want to buy you a drink!

So--back to San Antonio... On the drive down from Fort Worth, I saw that my accounts were dwindling, and I spent most of the 4 hour drive on the phone to the bank, pricing hotels in El Paso, to the bank... I was trying to see if I could make it Arizona on what I had left for funds, and there was just no way it was going to happen. I wasn't even going to have enough money for gas to get to El Paso!

So I was staying with my friends Tripp and Joseph, who graciously let me stay for three nights instead of the originally planned one night. My mom, on Wednesday morning, had transferred money into my account so I would have the money to move into my apartment once getting to Arizona. The EXACT amount. We were hoping that my former landlord back in NY would come through and sent my deposit reimbursement check to my friends; address in San Antonio so I could take it right to the back and my mom would get her money back. No such luck. One of the phone calls on the drive down was to a lawyer in NY regarding tenant/landlord issues, and long story short--my landlord has 30 days to pay me back, and must itemize and deductions from the deposit and explain why. So, knowing how cheap and, shall we be nice and say uncooperative, he is, I don't expect to see that check until the 30 day mark on Jan 4. Then I had the lovely time explaining that to my mom, who, of course, had to throw it back in my face as to my poor planning, lack of saving enough money and her having to bail me out again. Oh, and how she guesses she'll just have to give everyone else notes for Christmas, explaining that there christmas presents went to my apartment, and of course I ruined Christmas. To top off that whole situation, my stepdad (who is ONLY 6 years older than me) felt compelled to send me a text regarding how much joy it gives my mother to be able to give at Christmas time, and how my insufficient planning successfully derailed that. Merry Christmas. Yeah, thanks... I will save THAT rant for another time... I'm still stewing over that one...

So, back to business. My Godsend of a friend from The Wick, April, caught up with me on Facebook that day and loaned me $200 to get me to Phoenix THANKS AGAIN APRIL! But the funds transfer from my mom still hadn't cleared and shown up in my account yet at that time, so now it was time to gamble... I decided to go ahead and hit the road on Sunday, stay the night in El Paso, and drive on to Phoenix on Monday, and pray that the transfer would show up in my account come Monday morning. IT DID! But let me just tell you... Getting to El Paso from San Antonio was VERY painful...

I was warned, but I paid no mind. The first half of the drive was actually ok. The sun was still up and I could see the countryside. It was after sunset that I wanted to stab myself in the eye just to keep things interesting... Pitch black, NO traffic, no towns, no NOTHING for hours and hours... Oh, except for Fort Stockton in west Texas... Don't blink when you drive through that town! My friend, Tommy--I see why you left! ANd once leaving town, pitch black again. The most exciting thing was seeing a shooting star.

So I rolled into El Paso, ready for something, ANYTHING, to look at. It's a bigger city than I expected, and with Juarez right across the border, all the city lights together made it look like a sizable metropolis. The coolest thing for me, tough, was a giant star in lights on the side of one of the mountains (I also wasn't expecting mountains yet): The town had originally put it up for the holidays years ago, but kept it around as a symbol of support for our troops. How cool is that!?

I checked into the Motel 6 and with the $4.67 in change I had left in the cup holder, I walked next door to Arby's and the lovely lady told me to just pick any sandwich, and also gave me a bottle of water. What an angel! ANd the girl at the front desk of the hotel gave me free Wi-Fi access. Thank you ladies! I ate, tried to catch up with my online business, and crashed out hard, to awaken to the lovely sight of money in my checking account! Time to move on! Went to the post office right there in El Paso and bought the required money order to pay my apartment complex upon arrival, and took off. I have to say that the drive across New Mexico and into Arizona is very picturesque, but I'm willing to bet money that at night, it would be as painful as that drive across west Texas the night before... There's just nothing out there! But again, if you follow me on Facebook, you undoubtedly saw all of the pictures I posted on the road. And it was entertaining me at the same time.

Now announcing the arrival of Air Rizona! Get it? ;-) I got to the apartment office only about 30 minutes before it closed, paid my money order, signed the papers, got the keys, and that was that. I was in my new place. I got in touch with Sammy, a fellow extern from school working in BLT Steak baking and pastry at the resort, and she came down to help me unload my car. Remember, I had it packed like a Tetris master with only that which I would need out here in desert. Clothes, air mattress, a few odds and ends, of course ALL of Gracie's stuff, and that was it. Got the little studio set up, which is a really cute place, if you saw the pictures on Facebook last week. Bare floors keeps it nice and cool--the complex had the heat on and it was 85 degrees in my apartment! That was a no-go, so I had them turn off the heat all together the next day. And the BUGS!! My neighbor told me that the guy who lived here before was a total slob, and that the had to replace the entire floor and repaint the whole apartment... So it stand to reason that the bugs are here because of him... As soon as I can afford, I'll buy stock in Roach Motel!

Tuesday I went to the resort in my whites to check into HR, and as I knew, they sent me right off to do my drug screening. No biggie. Then back tot he resort to explore! It's really quite beautiful! And so historic... You can see why Mr Marriott spends his birthday there every year. But the HR debacle... Man oh man what a nightmare! They KNEW I was coming for months, and yet still didn't have my background check paperwork from the corporate office! And the lady in HR couldn't have cared less about my situation, just kept telling me that it was corporate policy and there are state laws regulating something-or-other... Man, I wanted to just come across the counter and slap the taste right outta her mouth... I was so mad, but I managed to keep a smile, and my temper, and act like a man with his hat in his hands... No luck. I left. In the end, though, everything came in, I got the paperwork done, and started work on Saturday in Sprouts, the Spa cafe.

There are only 3 of us who work there, and as you can see in the picture I posted in Facebook the other day, it's a tiny little kitchen and I got the grand tour as I stood in the middle of the kitchen and turned a 360. Literally. It took 30 seconds. And I spent the day reading the menu and trying to learn the composition of all of the items. Sunday had me getting trained on the cold station--salads and fruit, mostly. And then I got trained on the hot line yesterday. I was supposed to have today off, but I woke this morning to a text from my boss asking if I could come in because she was sick and the other girl couldn't cover. So, on my one day off out of a 13 day stretch, I rolled up my sleeves and ran the whole kitchen solo. I made everything on the menu today, save 3 items. Keep in mind, that it's Tuesday... The servers said that today was NOT a busy day, but me being on day 4 of my very first a la minute service with more than 20 menu items encompassing appetizers, soups, sandwiches, salads, proteins, deserts... It was a trial by fire day and I made it through very well. But now, for the next seven days, including Christmas Eve and Day, I'l be there with the other employee while my boss is on vacation for a week.

So now that we're back up to date, I'm going to wrap this entry up, because this bare floor is starting to hurt, I'm hungry, and I just want to catch up on my Hulu. So with that, I bid you adieu until next time!