July 27 - August 5, 2012 (Friday-Sunday-Sunday)
''Hyper-Extended Week-in-Review''

(The following is a review of the time between our departure from Virginia to New Jersey for the weekend visit with my father through the ''pre-honeymoon'' week-long visit of my ''fiancée'' at our home in the Roanoke Valley.)

[[''Gracie Period'']]
(Friday, July 27 - Sunday, August 5)

(July 27, Friday)

(Day One: ''Father's Day'')
We left a little later in the morning than originally planned, but we still arrived in New Brunswick roughly about the same time that I'd informed my father that I'd be arriving at his front door anyway. Once there the confusion began, because going off of the memory that I'd had of the place when I'd last passed through there on my own I'd lost my bearings and kept insisting that there was a ''left turn'' off of ''George Street'' after crossing under a rail transit bridge, but I was under the strong impression that I'd passed that landmark going towards the  ''Downtown''  district rather than the ''Rutgers University'' campus. To settle the dispute, my mother drove us to the house of one of her friends who drove us first to the church where my Dad's wife (Gloria) & he attends, and finding them not there led us to their actual residence where my father was in the back yard working while several of his wife's adult daughters were gaggling about in the house's driveway.

During this initial reintroduction phase, one of Gloria's daughters, seemingly as part of a sort of get-to-know ''family'' outing, kept asking me if I wanted to go to dinner with them, but repeatedly avoided and refused to answer my very simple and conditional question  (''Am I being invited?'')  until it became apparent to her that though I was expressing myself in a ''lighthearted'' manner I was being quite serious about getting that question answered ''honestly,'' because I'd wanted her to clarify whether my ''tagging along'' with them would mean my dining bill would be ''covered'' as a ''guest'' of theirs or if it meant that I would be responsible for paying my own tab... and when she was finally backed against the wall to acknowledge that it would indeed be the latter, I expressed my lack of interest in accompanying them -- especially since nothing was said about inviting the man whom I'd come by to visit (it was just going to be the wife and her brood flock of hens).

During the middle of the night I'd used Gloria's laptop to check up on a few things and to try to pay-off my credit card bill, but I was unable to complete the transaction because I refused to allow Gloria's computer to be ''recognized'' for that purpose.

(July 28, Saturday)

(Day Two)
Gloria had already gone out by the time that I'd awoken. Dad drove us in his  Chevrolet ''Chevelle'')  that he's constantly rebuilding like a veritable ''Brad DeGroot'' and took me out to breakfast at some sit-down place called ''Omega Cafe'' (the length of the trip beginning from his house I'd video documented) which I thought was costly as all get-out, but the relatively decent experience was completely ruined when the cashier literally glared at us without saying a single word (not even any standard ''by rote'' insincere interaction) as we were paying our bill -- my main concern that it had better have been something he'd been doing consistently throughout the morning. During our mealtime I was disappointed at my Dad when he (proudly) revealed to me how he would frequently ''take advantage'' of ''The System'' as a means of cutting corners to save money.

On the way back to the house he drove me along the route I'd taken to get to his house originally, to show me that I was correct in that I'd insisted that I'd taken a ''left turn'' after crossing under the railroad bridge, but also that my mother was correct regarding which direction we should've taken -- because as it was revealed to me, when I'd taken the ''loop-back'' after riding the length of ''George Street'' I'd returned via ''Highland Park'' and had re-accessed George Street on the ''Downtown'' side of the tracks, heading towards the University.

(July 29, Sunday)

(Day Three)
Had to ask Gloria for the password to her computer access because I'd thought that putting the laptop into ''sleep'' mode, as I'd done the previous night, would keep the session open. I tried to use that time to work on my online job application, but it would only allow ''preliminary'' information and would not accept any of the detailed information most applications require, which threw me off, so I continued to follow-up on finding the traffic route to ''Gracie's'' house in Newark, jotting down what appeared to be the most direct route.

Martha's arrival was surprisingly most punctual, given her lack of sticktoitiveness to back-up her ''be-on-time'' hype. Sadly, the so-called ''most direct route,'' according to  ''Google Maps''  had yet again proved totally unreliable and threw us off course, and because of this my mother kept insisting that if we couldn't find ''Gracie's'' house soon she'd drive back to Virginia without her.

Eventually, we did get out bearings and arrived at the house, where Gracie's live-in uncle was going to try to be insistent on trying to shit on the girl with some long discourse on Gracie's flaws... but when my mother essentially let him know that we weren't there to waste time, he had to desperately grab at what he felt would be the most damaging thing in his quiver to get us to think negatively about the girl, so he went directly for the  ''She's under psychiatric care''  bombshell, only to be told (indignantly) that he was in fact not sharing with us any information that we weren't already privy to. Gracie's grandmother was nowhere to either introduce herself or see us all off, which I thought was odd (I would learn later that it was because just a short time before my mother and I arrived on scene, Gracie and Grandma had gotten into another of their heated & intense arguments over jack-nothing). Gracie's uncle (Tyrone) had insisted upon getting our ''contact information'' prior to our leaving with their ''family member'' (this particular piece of information will prove a very important factor in what's to follow later).

During the trip back to Virginia, Gracie and Mom seemed to be building-up quite the rapport between themselves, which helped calm my nerves, especially when my mother acknowledged that she IMMEDIATELY saw through Tyrone's devious tactics and was aware of what exactly he was trying to do.

(July 30, Monday)

(Day Four)
Invited Gracie to go for a walk down ''Melrose Avenue'' to the ''Popeye's'' restaurant, both as a ''dinner date'' and as a way of helping familiarize her with some of the surrounding areas, as well as a way to get her accustomed to the idea of walking, since she's often expressed her desire to ''work-out'' by means of a treadmill, even though Martha had a basic rudimentary treadmill in the ''guest bedroom'' closet.

(July 31, Tuesday)

(Day Five)
Prior to going to eat at the Chinese restaurant on Melrose Ave. I suggested that we walk as far as, and stroll through, the old ''Roanoke-Salem Plaza'' -- which looked & felt like a virtual ghost town... a mere shell of what it had once been. On the way back home we took a brief stroll through the cemetery.

~ ''catch-up'' entry date: (November 30, 2013 - Saturday)

Later in the night my mother had reminded me that we'd forgotten to call from Gracie's family to inform them that all was okay here: this was partially due to my mother's erroneous belief that Gracie had access to her own cell phone. So after the ''free minutes'' time phase had rolled around I took the initiative to call Gracie's home in Newark to inform her grandmother how things were going during the visitation. When the grandmother asked about Gracie I told her that her granddaughter was right next to me... and when I'd asked the grandmother if she wanted to speak to Gracie, I received the attitudinal reply of, ''Does she want to talk to me?'' (hyper-redflag!). True to suspicion, not very long after Gracie had begun interacting with her grandmother that the whole conversation descended into Gracie hollering and getting angry & emotional because her grandmother kept refusing to listen to anything (especially ''positive'') Gracie was trying to either relate or explain/clarify to her. It had reached such a point of aggravation that I took the phone from Gracie and set it aside and told her to stop engaging with someone whose only purpose seemed to be to turn her into an emotional wreck, especially when she kept trying to tell her grandmother how happy and at peace she'd been  [[since being able to stay]]  with us. The grandmother called back a few minutes later, after I'd tried explaining to Gracie why she should not allow her grandmother to walk all over her like that, and Gracie told her grandmother that the reason they'd been disconnected was because the phone battery had run out of power, even though I'm certain the grandmother heard me explaining to Gracie why she should end the conversation if she was going to be treated with disrespect like that. I tried to stay out of this follow-up conversation as best as I could until Gracie again became agitated and loud because the grandmother insisted on pushing her granddaughter's buttons. At this, I again took the phone from Gracie and told her grandmother forcefully that I'd grown tired of her nasty behavior and that I was hanging up on her, even as she was trying to interject and talk over me. A few minutes later the grandmother called again, and upon recognizing the phone number spent absolutely no time with ''preliminaries'' and told her immediately and flat-out that I'd already told her that we were in absolutely no mood for her shenanigans and immediately hung up on her, after which we heard nothing back from her for the rest of that night.

(August 1, Wednesday)

(Day Six)
Gracie and I took a stroll down to ''B&D Comics'' shop, which she'd expressed interest in during the previous day when I'd mentioned that the shop was close to our house (knowing that she was into  manga, it confused her why I hadn't mentioned the shop earlier). On the way back to the house we got caught by surprise in seriously heavy and electrically violent rain storm which upset her to the point of anger and tears, which was further complicated by the fact that I'd found myself getting disoriented on the way back, taking us out of the way: she explained that not only was she cold and in pain, but that all of the water that was beating into her face was an unpleasant reminder of a near-drowning experience she'd had as a child. (All of this after having learned on the way to the comics shop that she also had an irrational fear of heights.) It was right after I'd managed to calm her down and convince her that for all the inconvenience and seeming peril (even though the heavy and all-surrounding flashes of lightning, while stunningly beautiful, were obviously potentially life-threatening) that the storm had subsided and the sun began to reappear in the sky, almost as if on cue (she would relate on several occasions how she had appreciated and was moved by the fact that during our stationary period after we'd gotten disoriented that I'd allowed her to warm her painfully cold hands on my bare chest).

(August 2, Thursday)

(Day Seven)
I proposed that we go to ''Cox Cable'' to inquire about setting us up with Internet and phone service, especially since ''Verizon'' did not seem all that interested in any new business, given how they kept trying to force us to hop through their shitty and infuriating automated ''customer [dis]service'' system -- I then suggested that we go to ''K&W Cafeteria'' afterwards. The trip only served to remind me yet again why I've always had an aversion to relying on my mother to take me on errand runs, because she'll never ''prioritize'' whenever we need to address time-sensitive issues -- in this case, taking into consideration that perishable food items were in a hot-ass car, not only from pies we tried to salvage from our restaurant meal, but also the cold & frozen foods we'd purchased when we went on a follow-up ''grocery shopping'' trip (I was expecting that we'd be returning straight home to put all that stuff away, as any other ''sane'' person would, but she insisted on pissing around in another store on the very opposite side of town, and THEN Gracie and attempt to stop & spend time at a friend's house which was only aborted because the friend was not seen out on the lanai). When I expressed my concern over the fact that this was something I found bothersome, reminding her of the day when I'd been feeling sick (also after a shopping trip) and had wanted to get back so I could put food away and get some rest but had instead insisted on visiting the SAME ''friend'' [quote]''only for a minute''[unquote] and was just going to be ''in-&-out,'' she completely brushed it off and disregarded it, claiming that when ''black people'' say things like ''just a minute'' it really means ''15 minutes to a 1/2 hour.''

Surprisingly (or not), still no calls from Gracie's family in Newark.

(August 3, Friday)

(Day Eight)
Not much going on with anybody on this day. Gracie became disturbed when she learned that we had only two more days together before she was expected to return to New Jersey. We discussed my mother's suggestion that the return trip be by bus, since Mom did not like the idea of doing so much driving all on the same day, nor was so keen on the expense that would be involved with the trip again.

Gracie received a call from her grandmother later in the night and she started off as being surprisingly gracious and relatively self-controlled... but as Gracie kept trying to explain certain things to her grandmother, after asking her grandmother for an ''extended stay'' until Tuesday, she kept cutting Gracie off and again began obnoxiously projecting and stressing Gracie with all sorts of manini nonsense that was relevant to absolutely nothing and nobody until eventually Gracie shut down the conversation. After this disappointing encounter, Gracie expressed to me that she'd reached an emotional point where she was convinced that she simply could not allow herself to be re-immersed into such a hostile & toxic environment and was wondering if my mother would be agreeable to allowing her to stay permanently.

(August 5, Friday)

(Day Ten: ''Welcome Home'')
After again discussing what we would be doing involving how Gracie would be returning to Jersey, I brought up what Gracie had expressed to me and tried to vouch for her, in hopes of allowing her to remain with us so that she would not have to be subjected to that toxic environment again. Gracie then launched her own appeal, and again my mother reiterated that as long as she could find work Gracie would be welcome to call this her home.

Also, as if on cue, tonight proved to be the night where Gracie and I finally achieved the literal ''breakthrough'' she had been hoping for and anticipating all this time:  ''full penetration''  of her vagina after a full week of patient attempts to loosen her up for her first sexual experience.

August 6 - 9, 2012 (Monday-Thursday)
''Week in Review''

Stopped by ''Planned Parenthood'' on Monday (Aug. 6), en route to trying again to locate the motorcycle mechanic shop and still lost sight of it, temporarily getting off track and riding around aimlessly before heading back into town via a back route. Went grocery shopping at ''Towers Shopping Center'' prior to returning to the house, stocking up mostly on an entire trunk-full of a variety of breads and frozen soy products, which required me to completely empty and rearrange items in the freezer which left us with barely enough room as it was, but became even more of a challenge when Martha returned home with several bags of many of the same items I'd just purchased.

On Tuesday (Aug. 7) my mother returned home with some  ''Carol's Daughter''  hair care products for Gracie, which made Gracie ecstatic, amazed that this line of products (for which she'd begged her disinterested & disregarding ''Home Shopping Network / QVC'' addicted grandmother to no avail) was carried in a local shop here.

The  ''Cox Cable''  technician arrived early Wednesday (Aug. 8) to hook-up telephone/internet service, but had to get very involved in wiring not only my set-up room drilling into the basement but also needing to work on the telephone pole across the street. After wiring was complete I soon learned that it would not be possible to connect my mother's old  ''Gateway''  computer to share Internet because it was discovered that the unit was not equipped with an ''ethernet'' port.

I later rode out intent on doing another physical job search and swinging around through ''Salem'' to get Gracie some more of those hair care products she liked so much, but by the time I'd arrived at the location of the office that allowed me the paper ''pre-application'' (so I could update my contact information), I not only found the office closed but I also discovered that I'd forgotten to bring my wallet (hence, my ''driver's license'' and my money) with me, not to mention the fact that I was attempting too many things to fit within the time limit of when I told everyone to expect my return, so I called it a day almost as quickly as it began.

Later in the same evening, Gracie had gotten into another heated blow-up with her grandmother who was relentlessly insistent upon being given our  ''residential''  (physical) address even after it had been explained to her several times that our physical address was ''off limits'' and that NO MAIL comes to the ''physical'' location. When Gracie handed me the phone to try to get me to explain reality to the woman (since I did not want either of them disturbing my mother over the situation), the grandmother was determined to dictate to me how I should properly/respectfully handle her disrespectful ass on ''MY'' territory, which resulted in me hanging-up on her after I'd fairly forewarned her several times that I would not tolerate being so disrespected.

~ ''catch-up'' entry date: (December 7, 2013 - Saturday)

After this incident I was disturbed that my mother seemed to keep making excuses for that toxic old woman who kept insisting on bringing discord to our household, simply because a few days ago she'd engaged in a conversation with the bitter old emotionally abusive manipulator and had what was interpreted as a ''pleasant'' conversation with a ''nice woman'' who's ''just scared'' that she's losing the granddaughter she ''loves'' so much (''loves'' so much, that is, that it's regularly expressed with belittling, shaming and guilt-tripping, along with her refusal to ''protect/defend'' her granddaughter against her bully of a fag uncle). When Martha kept encouraging Gracie to keep calling this woman, but only to do so where I was not around to cut the bullshit short whenever it got out of hand and began unquestionably upsetting my fianceé, I took it personally and hid out in the mini-dining area to stew... had it not been for the fact that I would've had to have passed between them in the hallway I would've grabbed my keys and taken the motorcycle just to get the #@*X away from the blatant diss.

Thursday (Aug. 9) Gracie used the Internet to file a couple of online job applications ((using her own computer system: a  DELL ''Inspiron''  laptop that her uncle had purchased for her which she'd brought down with her from New Jersey)). I'd downloaded & installed  ''Firefox''  and the  COMODO 'Chromium-based' ''Dragon''  web browsers for her the day before, but screamed, ''Death to Firefox!'' for my own system when after several attempts to uninstall/reinstall the program (including acquiescing to ''upgrading'' to the latest version) it kept incessantly refusing to retain my configuration preferences! So in response to the lack of cooperation from ''Fire-FUX,'' I switched it out with the  ''SeaMonkey''  Gecko-based browser suite.

August 10 - 12, 2012 (Friday-Sunday)
''Weekend in Review''

Our internet/telephone service went down Friday morning (Aug. 10), not being able to call out or get online. Eventually, the telephone service was restored, but Internet still proved unavailable, so taking advantage of the phone's connection I called ''tech support'' who informed me that the problems (as they diagnosed things on their end) were due to a faulty modem, and I was instructed to replace it, which I did a short time later, en route to the place where I'd hoped to gain employment so that I could ''in person'' inform them of my updated information and to also make an additional ''impression'' upon them (which did later in the day result in their giving me a call back, asking me to come in for the next phase in the ''application process'' on Monday morning).

After the job info update visit and the modem replacement I again rode out to ''Salem'' to purchase the  ''Carol's Daughter''  hair care products I'd intended to get Gracie earlier in the week, also receiving a few samples of skin cream/gel from the same brand line, then stopped in on the ''farmer's market" in the area looking for fresh garlic and not finding any, so I settled for a couple of cucumbers, a couple of squash, a couple of fresh tomatoes, and about a pound of fresh green beans.

From Salem I rode back onto ''Brambleton Road'' to get the garlic and a few other items ((at the  ''Kroger''  supermarket there)), stopping first at the ''drug store'' ((next door)) to look for ''female condoms,'' since Gracie was nearing her ''fertility'' period, and not finding them I opted for a box of ''Noxy-9'' contraceptive films; I also purchased a couple of packages of menstrual pads which we would later return to the store by the house because they were too small for her.

My last stop involved my going into ''Radio Shack'' at ''Towers Shopping Center'' to get a replacement battery for the cordless phone I'd reclaimed from my mother's junk room.

Hooking up the replacement modem also showed signs of problems, doing the exact opposite of what had occurred earlier: eventually granting Internet access but not permitting phone access. I again called ''tech support'' (on my mother's cell phone) and arranged for a technician to come out and investigate the problem. Shortly after hanging up I switched a few cords and managed to get the phone working again. Not long afterward I received a call from ''Tech Support'' who asked if I was still experiencing problems; I said no, but still insisted that I be allowed to continue monitoring performance before I would decide to cancel the technician appointment scheduled for Saturday afternoon (which I eventually did cancel early that morning).

On our way to returning the menstrual pads, we stopped into the ''Goodwill'' store where I purchased a set of replacement ''about-the-house pants to take the place of the ones I'd normally been wearing but whose elastic band had outlived its usefulness.

We all went out to ''Lowe's'' Saturday (Aug. 11) for my mother's replacement propane tank, and I said I wanted to go along so I could try to find a shelving unit for my books.

Gracie's computer had also been experiencing problems throughout the weekend, which became particularly prominent whenever I kept trying to launch & run antivirus programs on her laptop (''Windows 7'' based), eventually leading to her inability to get online via normal start-up (while experiencing no such problems whenever she accessed her computer in ''safe mode''), so in response I'd established a ''second'' account on my desktop (''Windows XP'' based) so she could enjoy some functionality & flexibility.

August 13 - 16, 2012 (Monday-Thursday)
''Week in Review''

Kept my appointment with the potential employer Monday morning (Aug. 13) as scheduled, but eventually found this phase of the ''application'' process far too  intrusive  for it to be just another ''pre-employment'' questionnaire, so as soon as I saw that I would be hitting an inconvenient snag (their inflexible requirement that I provide eight personal references, when I could only reasonably and realistically provide no more than four) ((--not to mention that they claimed that they wanted me to provide my *COMPLETE* employment history even after reiterating that they would only conduct background verifications of work history for just the past decade!)) I took that as my opportunity to bolt, taking some of the more ''personal'' (''extended family'') information with me ((ripping those pages out of the application booklet when I put on a pretense of needing to use the washroom and taking all of that paperwork in with me)), as I was certain ((and correct)) that they would insist that I leave the unfinished application in the office with them.

From that experience in disillusionment I rode around trying to again relocate the motorcycle mechanics/dealership on ''Peter's Creek Road'' via the Freeway (as I'd managed to do my very first day into the city from the cross-country ride), and upon finding the location I stopped inside the facility, only this time not to schedule a maintenance appointment (which is still desperately needed) but to purchase a riding helmet for Gracie.

Went out to try again on the job-front Wednesday (Aug. 15) only to find one of the locations (in the Town of ''Vinton'') entirely non-existent, and the other one I was interested in (just off of ''Plantation Road'') identifying a corner of a huge building with signage associated with the company I was looking for, but the entire facility gave no indication of what I'd had in mind, and so I was ''confused'' away from the place, jotting down the posted telephone number before I left so I could call them later for clarification.

Because of the repeated disappointments, I spent Thursday (Aug. 16) trying to get phone numbers off of the Internet of the various companies located in the Valley so I could get ''accurate'' information about where their offices were located so I could avoid any further disappointments, but the lack of current/updated information (as well as miscategorized entries) frazzled my brain so much that I had to shut down after some time and ''bookmarked'' those numbers I'd intended to call later. After reaching this point of frustration I asked my mother if she could engage in some ''networking'' on my behalf, in order to help me find  any  type of work; shortly afterwards, at her suggestion, I went to the Internet for one of the local hospitals and filled in an online application for the position of ''Environmental Technician'' (yeah...) and was highly pissed with the application process' not allowing flexibility enough to leave off certain personal information which was either not relevant or not applicable, only amplified by a ''signature'' process which expected us to ''sign'' our names using a computer mouse, which would ''lock-up'' any time ''unclicking/reclicking'' was required, so I signed with a big gaudy ''X'' and explained the situation to the email of the person who was supposedly was the one who would be reviewing the submitted applications (this trashy online experience was also instrumental in my decision not to submit a second application for the same position with a different set of hours).

I tried to make something special and positive from such a crappy week by taking Gracie along with me for a test ride on the motorcycle ((--she'd never ridden on the back of a motorcycle before, and I wanted to get accustomed to riding with her on back also)). I was impressed with how well she rode as a passenger, considering that she had never ridden as a passenger on anyone's two-wheeled vehicle before nor had ever operated a free-standing bicycle. The problem arose from her paranoia in that she insisted on gripping the side-handles with a ''death lock'' which tortured her palms & fingers and cut the ride a little shorter than I'd have liked, but it was good for what it was -- my next step is to help her to be more ''trusting'' of scary situations.

August 17 - 19, 2012 (Friday-Saturday)
''Weekend in Review''

Friday (Aug. 17) I began calling several of the phone numbers I'd set aside, finding one whose ''listed'' number had been disconnected and another who called back later in the afternoon and arranged for me to come in to fill out an application on Monday.

Martha went to visit family in North Carolina Saturday morning (Aug. 18) and returned Sunday afternoon (Aug. 19). During the vacancy, Gracie made some obnoxiously salty inedible potato croquettes which I would salvage later -- the result of which would involve expanding the base by incorporating a mixture of rice and canned salmon, then forming them into small pan-fried patties, which were still excruciatingly salty but considerably more palatable, especially after I'd learned, quite by accident, that fresh raw tomato aided in masking/neutralizing much of the loudness of the spices.

The  ''Firefox''  web browser also redeemed itself after  ''SeaMonkey''  kept making it impossible for me to shut off those annoying ''auto-suggest'' drop-down panels any time I tried to use the ''search'' fields of various search engines, even after going through the whole  ''about:config''  malarky. It seemed as if ''Fire-Fux'' was going to continue this trend, especially now that this latest reinstallation appeared to be cooperating with me this time in preserving my ''toolbar customization'' preferences, until I finally managed to locate somewhere in the ''boolean'' lists the things I needed to switch-over in order to prevent this annoyance from happening.

Also, in other ''computer-related'' news over the weekend, I fought my way back through trying to reinstall a full  ''Mandriva Linux''  suite on the hard drive I'd rescued from that trashed (...and ''trash'')  Apple ''iMac'',  which was something I wanted to do while ''online'' this time, because I was concerned that certain updated drivers and ''packages'' were missing and/or difficult to get installed because of not being connected to the Internet when I first installed the Operating System: so far, things seem to be working nicely, but it's still no less  confusing  as all hell.

August 20 - 23, 2012 (Monday-Thursday)
''Week in Review''

Kept the appointment for my job application & interview Monday afternoon (Aug. 20) and things seemed to go fairily well... they  seemed  to be somewhat promising, the interviewer said that I should've expected to hear something from them on Thursday.

On Tuesday (Aug. 21), after her job interview appointment with the clothing boutique for ''plus-sized women'' a few blocks from our house and learning that a ''family emergency'' had prevented her from speaking with the owner of the business until later in the week, I took Gracie on the motorcycle to get something to eat at the ''Hardee's'' fast-food restaurant in Salem which was the location of the very first job I'd ever gotten ((at 15-years of age, so I could earn the money to pay a $50 fine levied against me for  ''entering''  though a rear courtyard window at what was then ''William Rufner Junior High School'' that I ironically was not responsible for  ''breaking''  but for which I was charged & fined anyway)), when it was a brand new store which was just hiring what would be its very first work crew. I then took Gracie a block or so down to a park on ''Electric Road,'' just east of ''Apperson Drive,'' where we ate our lunch and afterward took a stroll along the river bank and foot trail.

Wednesday (Aug. 22) I took Gracie on another motorcycle ride, this time out along ''Hershberger Road'' to the shopping center once known as ''Crossroads Mall,'' in the corner of ''Williamson Road,'' where we went to lunch at the cafeteria-style restaurant in the area, then roamed about the business structure while I reminisced about all that had once been with the place, finally stopping inside the former ''Kroger'' supermarket which was now housing a mega-bookstore.

On Thursday (Aug. 23), while walking back from a visit to the drug store down from the house, I had us stop into the ''Jobs Center'' at the ''Goodwill Industries'' facility ((which had formerly been a ''KMart'' location)) to inquire about whether they had any sort of job assistance programs available for someone in her situation (having never held an outside job in her life and clearly ''unskilled'' at anything, including the most basic ''domestic'' chores) or if they could provide us with some ''networking'' information that would be able to help us out: they gave us the address of something called ''Workforce Virginia,'' which ironically was in the ''upper mall level'' section of ''Crossroads Mall,'' where she and I had been just the previous day.

After receiving their ''jobs-related'' information we went into the ''store'' portion of the campus so that I could purchase for her a couple of pair of pants. She became offended and upset when one of the staff there suggested that she try on pants hung in the ''maternity wear'' section of the store, but as I explained to her during our walk back to the house that she should instead be grateful for the fact that she actually did find a few items of clothing that actually did fit her shape when nothing else could, and that she should not have made the assumption that the employee was being either ''confuse'' or ''condescending'' when she made the suggestion, but that the worker, being a larger woman herself, perhaps understood women's fashion and the ''fitting'' process enough to be aware that certain larger women actually will fit better in clothing  presumably  designed with pregnant women in mind. I also felt (unspoken) that such an ''embarrassing'' experience might also spark a motivation in her to begin to take serious progressive steps to try to shed her excess fat & flab.

~ ''catch-up'' entry date: (December 8, 2013 - Sunday)

August 24 - 26, 2012 (Friday-Saturday)
''Weekend in Review''

On Friday (Aug. 24 ) Gracie and I accompanied my mother to ''Belk'' department store (formerly ''Leggett'' when I'd previously lived in the area) where we went shopping for more conservative / ''business-like'' attire to aid Gracie in her job searching. I had also mentioned the previous night that I was interested in going there because I was likewise in desperate need of pants myself. I had assumed that we would be going to the ''Tanglewood Mall'' location: instead, we went to the one at ''Valley View Mall'' out by the airport.

After we had set aside the various items we had decided upon (because the ''door buster'' promotional sale was not set to begin until 15:00), we did some running around trying to find out where Gracie's grandmother had wired her some money, only to learn that after several earlier stop-offs-- first at the ''kmart'' at ''Crossroads Mall,'' then at the nearby ''Kroger'' supermarket -- that the term ''moneygram'' was not a generalized description of what was sent, but was in fact a ''brand name'' belonging to the company through whom the funds were transmitted: ''Western Union'' -- so we only wound up going back to the ''wal-mart'' in the ''Valley View'' area in order to claim the funds.

While the pair had been inside of the kmart I'd gone over into the ''Workforce Virginia'' facility to ask about services in light of Gracie's situation, and was given an application and information about an ''orientation'' for classes intended to help people develop their ''job-searching skills'' ((the same sort of bullshit that led me to leave Virginia and return to Kansas in the first place)) and to help attendees with job-placement.

When we had arrived at ''wal-mart'' I'd decided to remain inside the car to rest off a headache. By the time the girls were ready to return to the vehicle, a sizable downpour had developed, so they remained inside the store to do some grocery shopping while trying to wait out the storm. By the time they returned it was about the time for the ''door buster'' sale at Belk to officially get started. And because Gracie now had ''her own'' money, courtesy of her grandmother, there was then no need for her to repay  ''me''  for making the purchases for her, but to instead repay my mother  who used her ''Belk Card'' in order to earn a few extra discounts for Gracie's purchases.

On the way back we stopped briefly at the consignment shop my mother had told me about the previous night, where she said she had placed a few items of clothing on reserve for Gracie to look at. While there I'd spied a flexible bracelet I fell in love with and purchased it for her, although she did end up making up the last dollar of the cost, as $4 I had on hand was the last bit of cash that I had left over from the ''date money'' I'd spent on her Tuesday.

The pants I'd bought sadly turned out to be less ''new'' than ''replacements,'' as a couple of pair of my best pants literally fell apart within the last couple of weeks -- my light olive khakis developing a whole along the outer edges of one of the back pockets which became a progressively larger and irreparable rip throughout the day.

As part of her promise to treat me to lunch whenever she got her money wired to her, Gracie and I went to a place on Melrose Ave. called ''El Charly y Familia'' on Saturday (Aug. 25), which turned out to be a combination restaurant / convenience store with a Foosball table and video game cabinet: it was reminiscent of something we'd normally see anywhere in New Jersey. I had a lamb burrito, which I'd enjoyed despite the (initially unaware) inclusion of sour cream.

Sunday (Aug. 26) Gracie wanted me to take her back out to ''Crossroads Mall'' so she could purchase one of the manga books she had taken an interest in when we were last there together, so again I insisted that she first look at the links from ''Amazon.com'' that I'd sent her several days prior before deciding to just drop her ''hard-to-come-by'' money at the first place where she sees something enticing. For what she would've spent for a single book at ''Books-a-Million'' (the store name), she was able to learn that both  that  book as well as its subsequent volume were available for purchase at the same time (whereas ''B.A.M.'' had only the ''first'' volume on the shelves), but also for the price that she would've paid at the store for the ''one'' book she could've received BOTH books  together!  But in order to allow her to order the books via my personal ''Amazon'' account, I asked her to compensate me with the amount of her purchase in cash (I allowed a $4 shortfall, since we could not make exact change right then & there, so I settled for a quick meal at a fast-food joint in the area to make-up the difference) while I tacked on a couple of new DVD purchases for myself in order to qualify for ''free shipping'' -- it was during this search that I became aware of the second installment of the  ''Spawn''  animated series DVD release.

August 27 - 30, 2012 (Monday-Thursday)
''Week in Review''

Monday (Aug. 27) I finally received the phone number of one of my mother's cousins, who is considered the ''family historian'' (on my ''maternal'' side of the family), whom I called later in the evening to let her know I was back in the area ((...the same one I called while I was still living in Hawaii, of whom I'd asked a number of questions regarding my maternal grandfather's lineage and family history)). During the call I did some more inquiring about the ''racial mixing'' that took place which (as I'd been informed) was the result of a ''white woman'' having become impregnated by a ''black man'' during the times of slavery: as it was explained to me, the resulting child became my grandfather's grandfather -- a man named either  ''Lewis''  or  ''Louis.''

After wimping-out on the job search again Tuesday (Aug. 28), calling only a few numbers to verify the address of janitorial contractors I'd found on the Internet (much of the info was either immediately unavailable or inaccurate), plus experiencing inconsistencies in the usage of various online ''classified ad'' posting/hosting sites, I proceeded in again trying to figure out how to install a fresh  ''Windows XP''  system on the salvaged hard drive, upon which I'd installed  ''Mandriva Linux'' -- which I'd also hoped to keep as a separate ''partition,'' but instead had to resort to a whole complete scrub.

I'd also called early that same morning to the only other location that I had to-date been able to do a ''walk-in'' application, asking for an update regarding my status: the person I needed to speak with was unavailable, but he did call back in the evening, asking me to come in the following day around Noon. When I did go in to keep the appointment the next day (Wed., Aug. 29) I went through all the necessary post-hire procedures, given all the necessary forms to fill out, was supplied with required work attire, and was immediately put on a schedule, being asked to report for work at Midnight.

After dropping off my work-related items, I went back out in search of a shoe store chain for which I had a 20% off coupon that was due to expire in a couple of days, but I was unable to find the location which was supposed to be somewhere near or around the shopping centers by the airport; on the way there I stopped at the house which was the last-known address of my  ''Little Sister,''  Vikki, but no one came to the door.

Arrived at the jobsite a little later than expected/wanted on Thursday at Midnight (Aug. 30) due to a missed turn. The job was very stressful and demanding on my psychology, but from earlier indications there may have been reasons to believe that this particular assignment may only be for this weekend and that something someplace else may be planned. After returning home from work late in the morning I received a call from the second trainer I'd had for the day who called to confirm that I'd indeed dropped my wallet on the jobsite, which I'd begun to suspect had happened when I could not find it anywhere in my motorcycle, on my person, or in the house -- so I rode back out to the worksite to retrieve my item only after I'd sufficiently refined the program environment of the ''rescued hard drive'' which I'd set aside for Gracie's use, which culminated in the replacement of the  ''Norton'' (Symantec)  antivirus/firewall suite which was refusing to operate fully & properly, so I replaced it the  ''Comodo'' free)  antivirus/firewall suite.

August 31 - September 2, 2012 (Friday-Sunday)
''Weekend in Review''

Friday evening (Aug. 31) began my second ''official'' day of work with the new company, receiving a ''refresher course'' with additional instructions & clarifications from the ''site supervisor,'' then I was left on my own; afterwards I was relieved for the day early the next morning (Sat., Sep. 1) only to come back 12 hours later.

Sunday (Sep. 2) was supposed to have been another 12-hour workday, but the person whom I'd been covering for over the weekend was also arriving on site, so we had to clear up which of us would be staying on for the night, and it was decided that I'd be returning home and that I'd be returning for another day-shift on Tuesday.

During the night Sunday, we received a crank call from the second worker I'd trained with, followed by a repetitious string of non-message phone calls. When I'd advised the scheduling manager of the unidentified calls coming from a cell phone, adding that I'd suspected that it was a number of one of the co-workers at our job site (whom I'd chosen not to identify), and asked if he could confirm if that same number matched the phone of the suspected co-worker, the manager called back saying that the number belonged to the other co-worker who had come back to work earlier than expected which resulted in my being sent home: the co-worker was supposedly trying to call me to ask if I could come in to cover the rest of his shift because his girlfriend was in the hospital. After playing the first message back for the manager to hear for himself, it was then discovered that the ''non-message'' string of calls had only started  after  the original ''crank'' message call had come from a  completely different  unidentified cell phone number. With this new information in hand, I speculated that the co-worker who had kept calling to have the rest of his shift covered had first called my second ''trainer'' (team supervisor) prior to calling me, and the ''trainer''-- who had already tried to ''crank'' me when he called to inform me about my dropped wallet --saw this as an opportunity to crank me ahead of the other (genuine) call. Determining this, I then did inform the manager that I suspected that it was this ''supervisor'' person who was responsible for the crank call, because the message he'd left was filled with information about things that only he and I had discussed before I left his presence after having been trained under him.

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