Did you know?!

Last Saturday it hit me…

The main ingredient in salad dressing is soybean oil.

Do you know what soybean oil is?

Vegetable oil.

The vegetable oil we fry foods in.

Gross.

Oh and by the way, it’s the same for mayo.

Welcome to my Randomness XXII

Is anyone else as tired as I am? I don’t know what it is but I’m exhausted.

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I’m planning a trip around the world. Of course after I finish my CPA exam.

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Talking about a motivating factor…

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The countries I want to visit so far: China, Thailand, Greece, Poland, SPAIN, Philippines…

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So far… that’s it. Of course, I wouldn’t be touring and exploring. I’m planning on teaching English. Lord willing if I’m able to do so.

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I’ve come across some pretty cool programs and organizations. I’m praying everything works out because I’m really looking forward to this around the world trip!

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Wednesday I was called for an interview. Unfortunately at a time I’m unavailable, the morning. I can’t interview in the morning because I’m expected to be at work. So I go to interviews on my lunch breaks.

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Long story short the HR Manager called me in the afternoon wondering about me in the morning. SHOCKER! You NEVER get called back after you missed a scheduled interview (only of course if they’re sales positions) Anyway! I was shocked to say the least and she wanted me to come in ASAP that day BEFORE 5pm. Good thing I was on my lunch break at that very moment (3pm).

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I told HR lady I’m not prepared! I’m not dressed!

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HR: Are you in business casual at least? Hurry up and look online at the job description!

TALK ABOUT HEART ATTACK!

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Well, as far as my interview intuition goes… I don’t think I’ll get a call-back. This was my 2nd interview… the Hiring manager said the dreaded words… Ok, well our HR department will be in contact with you.

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LADY HR disrupted my LUNCH HOUR to schedule an impromptu interview with you! Goodness! AND I wasted a perfectly beautiful paisley cotton printed card for you. UGH!

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Anyway, you live and you learn. I’m definitely getting my interview practice in.

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Saturday volleyball: I landed on my left ankle wrong. It was bruised and swollen. BUT I healed up quite nicely and only when I accidentally sit RIGHT on my ankle does it hurt. Not bad… I suppose.

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I’m going to talk to my parents about letting up a bit on chore list… Its kind of hard to study when you are constantly being interrupted by questions of who’s washing the dishes, who’s cleaning the kitchen counters/stove, who’s going to sweep the floor and mop, etc.

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Wish me luck! My other alternative is to pay my brother. My sister already said she doesn’t have time… surprisingly that shocks me that she’s actually turning down “free” money…

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I’m still contemplating how much I want to shell out for the bro…but maybe if every now and then I buy him dinner we can come to a nice agreement.

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This would be most helpful…

What’s the one thing you would pay for to get done and how much would you pay?

Please, for my sanity. II

Ok, I thought I covered all the bases with my first Please, for my sanity.

Apparently, not.

1. If you are chilling out on the freeway and not in any hurry: GET OFF THE FREEWAY!

2. If I text you and you text me back a reply…please wait til I text you back. Don’t text me again. I got your text message, I’m busy!

3. We’ve known each other for 10 years how do you not know I’m not a picky eater and something probably happened as to why I no longer eat potatoes, salmon, soy sauce, bread, cookies, etc.

4. You know the game red light, green light? Yeah, you played it when you were little… well, you know how when the moderator said “Green light” you ran towards him like crazy? “Red light” you screeched to a stop (literally sometimes falling over) and “Yellow light” you TRIED to walk slowly in a fast manner…? YEAH! Apply this to the ROAD!!!!

5. Actually, I’ll just send you a memo when I’m going to be driving around…so you can stay off the road.

Thank you,
Melanie

Welcome to my Randomness XX

I had two stories to tell now none come to mind. Wow…talk about getting old.

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I remember!

Anyway, I was reception relief yesterday since my subordinate didn’t come to work. I haven’t been up to the reception desk in about a month or so?

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A client calls. Need to speak with Jack, please (Names changed, of course)

Me: I’m sorry Jack is out of the office for an event. Would you like to leave a message or be transferred to his voicemail?

Client: That’s what you told me last week. Did you ever give him the message?

Me: I’m sorry, this is the first time I’ve been at the reception desk since last month. I work in the accounting department and we’re short-staffed at the moment.

Client: Oh. Well, when will he be back?

Me: I’m not sure I know he had training last week and there’s an event this week. If you leave a message I’ll e-mail him your information. Jack returns phone calls accordingly.

Client: Ok, I need a loan and I was referred by Wells Fargo…

Etc. So goes the conversation.

Sometimes you can tell someone is prolonging the conversation. I was getting that type of feeling with this guy. Hey, what can I do? A client is a client right? Go with the flow, keep him engaged, interested, and portray that I really care about his needs and how our services can meet those needs… yada yada.

Yup, I was right. He just wanted to prolong the conversation. Unfortunately, he asked for my name and yes I gave it.

His conclusion/goodbye. Ok, sweetie thank you so much.

GAG.

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He was probably in his mid-thirties. Not that anything is wrong with that age. It’s definitely not the age for me. 🙂

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We were supposed to have an Alumni Volleyball game tonight. We aren’t having one. It got canceled. I’m totally disappointed.

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I was so looking forward to this game!

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At least tomorrow I still have my Saturday league. I’m going to need to find something after this Saturday league is over though.

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November 1st starts the end of my life. Not that I’ve had a life right now anyway. For sure, I’m going to start studying again. This time I’m determined. Studying 3/5 week nights I’m available. Saturday afternoon studying. Sunday afternoon reviews.

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Let’s hope I stick with it. I have 2 months planned out. I also have a weekly to-do list. I also have a daily to do list: M, T, W, S/S each day has several goals.

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Since I love lists and crossing things off my list…this should help me stay motivated and determined. I’ve also accounted for Holidays.

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The second story I really wanted to share has completely eluded my mind.

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OH MY GOODNESS! I remember now! I think I remember at least. Vegetable oil. Everyone uses vegetable oil, right? Well, we also have olive oil, virgin olive oil, etc.Sometime this week in the evening I was really itchy. I couldn’t figure out why. I took Benadryl and it somewhat subsided. The next evening I was looking at the ingredients for pan de sal. Filipino bread. AMAZING taste. Anyway! It said vegetable oil. I randomly thought to look at the ingredients for vegetable oil just because I was in a weird mood. I don’t know what I was expecting but definitely not what I found out!

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There was only one ingredient for vegetable oil: SOYBEAN OIL

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I immediately stopped eating. That further complicates things considering almost EVERYTHING is cooked in vegetable oil. I think fewer people would actually use vegetable oil if they called it what it really was: soybean oil-sounds weird.

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This morning I came into work later than usual. I was actually able to talk to my dad. I don’t ever see my dad because I’m usually out of the house by the time he wakes up. He was awake a little earlier because he’s attending this online trading seminar. I opted to go into work late just to chat with him even if it was for 15 minutes. I love my dad. He’s always smiling. Honestly sometimes its hard to tell if he’s serious or not because he has those smile wrinkles.

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The only downside to this Saturday evening volleyball league…I’m unable to go out-of-town. My family is visiting my grandpa (he lives 3 hours away). I haven’t seen him since…oh dear. I don’t know when. Probably the summer time. Because in August my skin wreaked havoc and in September my volleyball league started. I miss him. My dad is just like him… lol.

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Any randomness you care to share?

My Experience with Student Loans

I paid off another student loan! One more to go. Let me share a few things I’ve learned, maybe it will help you.

Read your statement. I got my loans through Sallie Mae. It has all the information about your loan, interest rates, monthly payments, automatic withdrawal, etc. Read it! Find out how many loans you have, what are the interest rates on each, when are the due dates, etc.

Research. Find out if you can consolidate your loans-I had 3 different loans and all three had different amounts and different interest rates. There are requirements for lowering interest rates or consolidating your loans. Find out if you qualify!

Do the math. Sallie Mae conveniently worked out a payment plan to my demise. If I had paid less than $100 every month for the next 10 years, my three loans would have been paid off. Of course, they didn’t mention how much in interest I would be paying. If I tripled the amount every month for each loan I would have paid off the loan in 3 years with more of my payments being applied to the principal rather than the interest.

Pay extra. It doesn’t hurt to go on spending fasts every now and then to apply the money “saved” to your loan. You’ll feel better about yourself.

Pay attention. If you’re planning to pay extra I strongly advise you to pay 2-3 days right after you paid your monthly payment. In that way, the extra payment will be applied directly to your principal. Pay attention. Check your loans several times a month to monitor when the interest kicks in and starts accruing.

What’s your interest rate. I had three different loans. I had three different interest rates. Two were fixed rates and one was a variable rate. Read about the variable rate. What causes it to fluctuate, how to steer away from fluctuating rates, etc. Always pay off the highest interest rate first.

Use your savings. I don’t make that much money. My yield on my savings account does not exceed  my interest rate on my student loans. If you’re able to pay off a good bit of your loan with your savings DO IT! Chances are you don’t have a savings account yielding 5-6% to cover for the interest accruing on your student loan.

Make extra payments. It doesn’t hurt to make extra payments. That kicks back your due date for your monthly payments. It doesn’t mean if you made two payments in November you don’t need to pay in December. Pay in December! Only use up that extra month if you’re in an unforseen financial bind.

I enrolled in automatic withdrawal for each loan. I specifically made extra payments to the loan with the highest interest rate. I went on spending fasts-no eating out, no clothes, no buying anything-all that extra money went to the loan with the highest interest rate.

If you have any further questions-ask away. I hope I can help and hopefully these tips will work for you!

“Well my mom said!”

I’ve been on the new employment radar…

Lately I’ve been losing weight.

Actually, I’ve lost weight and I’m not trying to purposely lose anymore. I’m more on the maintenance side of the weight issue.

A few days ago my mom said… “People don’t like it when you’re too skinny. They won’t hire you.”

 

For the record, I eat. I love eating but my list of untouchable foods encompasses a lot of the food my family eats daily. I’m stuck with veggies and rice.

By the way, they had salmon last night. My mom is planning to cook more salmon tonight. What will I get stuck with? Brussels Sprouts. Don’t get me wrong, I love veggies! My mom also knows if I don’t have anything to eat, I won’t eat. It’s a lose-lose situation for mom when she’s trying to get me to gain weight. They love their soy sauce 🙂

Welcome to my Randomness XVIII

Friday all I did was drive.

At least that’s what it felt like: drive to work, drive to Long Beach Community College, drive to Target, then drive home-only to find out my brother is expecting someone to take him to his game.

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I take a 40 minute nap. Drive my brother to his game in Chino, drive back home, quickly get ready for a family gathering, drive to Pomona for family gathering, then drive home. FINALLY.

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Later on today, Saturday: Drive my sister to a bridal shower (West Covina), run company errands-yes, on a saturday, pick up my friend Courtney from ULV (University of La Verne, pick up my sister from West Covina, drive to Americana at Brand, drive to Griffith Observatory for the sunset, drive to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles for dinner off Sunset Blvd, then drive home. I’ll probably have to drop Courtney off at ULV too.

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If Friday’s drivers are going to be the same kind of drivers on Saturday I may have my sister drive.

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I emailed him and invited him to a Saturday game. I told him if he wanted to come to text me if he didn’t want to come. A text is unnecessary. Is that rude?

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This weather is killing me. It’s cold then hot. Friday was drizzling/spitting and in the afternoon it was warm and sunny THEN in the evening was cold and breezy.

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California weather please make up your mind. My allergies go berserk and so does my health!

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Honestly, if I wanted sporadic and spastic weather I would move to Greenville, South Carolina. There is sporadic and spastic. In one week I could experience all four seasons!

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I’ve got an Interview on Monday at 1:30. I haven’t heard anything from USC yet. I’m planning on calling them Monday to see how the interview process is going for all the applicants and if I’m still in the running.  

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I’ll be updating my Resume and adding a whole lot more responsibilities and duties to my current job description.

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Thursday I was not feeling well at all. Wednesday night was a horrible allergy night. I think it’s from the egg rolls I ate, they had carrots in them. It’s really hard to remember I’m allergic to veggies-celery, carrots, and potatoes.

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I digress, so Thursday I call in sick. I’m exhausted. My allergies/sinus are kicking in. Menopausal weather does not help. I’m expected to come into the 3 pm meeting. The meeting lasted 30minutes. Honestly, they should’ve called my home phone for this meeting.

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This is getting ridiculous. I’m really in need of a sabbatical.

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What I really want to do though is get alone. No distractions and no people. Just sit, contemplate, pray, read, relax, and fast. Maybe I only need 1 day, or maybe 2-3 days. I just need a couple of days to refocus and reenergize.

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It doesn’t look like that can happen anytime soon. Praying it does though. I need it.

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Until then this will be my happy thought….

I love my mom…

I came home Monday night to a silent house. It was cold, rainy, and dreary outside. I was a hungry gal.

I open up the cupboards… hey! They’re full-ish!

Oh wait!

SOY?

Soy Protein?!

Mind you, when I didn’t know I was allergic to soy-I was the only one aside from my mom that regularly drank this stuff…

PEANUTS!

Almond Milk

Apparently, my mom forgot she has an allergic to everything person living in her house.

BUT WAIT!

Half-empty bag of….

Something I CAN eat!

I have found my substitute for POTATO chips! Not that I really liked potato chips but when you can’t have something you tend to miss it…Can I get a witness?!

Not that the above bold statement fit into what I am stating I just felt like inserting it in there.

My mom did go grocery shopping. She had high aspirations of cooking fajitas that evening for our lunches the next day. First she steamed asparagus and the Brussel sprouts because she bought a bunch of veggies and didn’t want them to go to waste…. Then she got distracted. What did she end up doing as it was getting close for her to get to sleep?

She marinated SALMON. If I recall…salmon is a BIG no-no.

I came into the kitchen and saw her with the salmon. She looked at me,  soy sauce in hand ready to pour into the pan…”Oh, you want to eat this..?” She places a salmon fillet into a separate pan….before she fully places it in there…”Uh, mom, that’s salmon…”

Mom: “Oh, oh, yeah that’s right.”

Way to go MOM!

Apparently to console me, she was cleaning up the pans she used to steam the asparagus and Brussel sprouts, “Melanie! Drink this juice because you can’t take anymore vitamins.”

“Yeah, mom that’s because it has soy in it.”

I drank it like a good daughter would. I had asparagus and Brussel sprouts for lunch the next day.

Just another random episode of my life…

Hey! It’s MELANIE

Remember when I said my sister was going to take pictures of me during our family vacation?

I lied, we never got to do that. We did squeeze in a very pretty family picture of the gorgeous view that looks like a fake background 🙂

Avila Beach

She was however able to take pictures after my dad’s party….

looking at these pictures, I probably should have put make-up on to define features alot more but eh, maybe next time. I literally mean MAYBE.

#1

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#3

Comments, votes, thoughts? More pictures to come of family and sister poses.

Welcome to my Randomness XVI

This Los Angeles weather is insane!

Saturday & Sunday: High 90’s

Monday: Record-breaking high of 113, it’s the last week of September!

I officially know how a piece of bacon feels as its being fried in oil.

Tuesday: 100s

Wednesday: 100’s did I mention it was spitting as I drove home from work?

Thursday:  high 90’s and humid not to mention in La Verne there was thunder, lightning, and rain. On my way home I felt like I was living back in SC with monsoon type winds.

Friday: I awake to the sound of thunder clasps and noticed the sun was beaming its heavenly rays!

The clouds

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Confession: I have failed miserably this week regarding my spending fast.

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Volleyball update: We didn’t sweep last week. The team was completely off last week. Not to mention, the gym was unbearably miserable to play in because of the ridiculous heat! We started our first game with 5 players-put us in a bind. We got through it and won all three games. The second game was a bit harder. We won the set 2/3. For the third game I served about 8 points within 3 minutes, all over hand. I was pretty proud of myself considering I haven’t been able to exercise my over-hand serve much.

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My sister told me she found a mustard colored trench coat the same style as my white trench coat. It’s 24.99 ugh. Should I or should I not?!

HELP!

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Not that mustard is my favorite color but I like the way it looks on me. So far, I’m on the lookout for mustard colored peep-toe wedges. I think that would be cute. I would love to have a mustard color purse, as well.

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Ever get that need to leave for a few days to clear your mind and refocus? Yes? Great, because I would love to do that right now.

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Actually not a few days, I would like a sabbatical, please. I’m 22 and need a sabbatical?! Something is wrong with me! Or is that normal?

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Oh and my next post will be #100 and Malize will be taking over for that post. She had let me be a guest blogger on her blog and my post also happened to be #100 for which she was waiting to throw a big party and involuntarily forfeited that #100th post to me. So we traded #100 post.

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I was really surprised as to how much positive feedback I got regarding my Facebook post. I was prepping myself for some serious ‘hate comments’ lol. I probably should not speak too early but so far, I’ve had great feedback. Thanks guys!

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Lately, my imagination has been going crazy. I was on my lunch break parked underneath a tree in the park and there was a guy  parked in front of me chilling as well. Five minutes later a white van pulled up in front of his car. The guy came out of his car, went to his truck pulled out a brief case and hopped into the white van. Hm…what’s going on there?!

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Yesterday as I was driving back to work from making deposits, I heard a little girl screaming at the top of her lungs as she was walking next to this lady, maybe her aunt? I believe her mom was walking in front of her and the little girl’s sister. What was she screaming? I HATE YOU! I want it now! I HATE YOU!

Goodness gracious? What did the child want? Did she want ice-cream, she want to stop by the store? Did her mom say she couldn’t go to a friend’s house? Keep it up Mom! Don’t succumb and I hope you dealt with that child when you got home!

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I have never thought of yelling let alone muttering under my breath I hate my parents. Such sadness.