This Christmas season has me thinking. I'm in metamorphous still. I don't like my job and I want to go back to the casino to work Right now I am working as a Rental Manager with Highlands Cove Realty. Even though I have a week off at Christmas and I enjoy going to the office and I enjoy everyone I work with, I don't like being on call for people. I just don't like it. I want a job where I don't have to deal with people.

I am going back into TR which means I have to deal with people, but I eventually want to get in a position that allows me to not deal with people. I don't want to say I don't like people, because I do. I really do. I have genuine curiosity in people's lives and what they are like or how their lives are going. 

I am baffled by how people live their lives and why they are in the situations they are in. Why would anyone want a boring, mundane life. Or why would someone want to create or always want drama in their life. Sad, but that might be what keeps people going. 

Denoumont- My favorite word

Denouement - This is my favorite word. I have used it alot over the years and keep it in mind when I write a story, but a lot of people do not know what it is. I just heard Aaron Sorkin say it again and believe now that I am not crazy. It does exist.

 

Dictionary.com says this word is defined as "the final part of a play, movie or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved." My acting professor always said it was the "untying of the knot."

 

 

1.  

   
   

   finale, final scene, epilogue, coda, end, ending, finish, close;More

   • the climax of a chain of events, usually when something is decided or made clear.

     
     "I waited by the eighteenth green to see the denouement"
     

     synonyms:

     outcome, upshot, consequence, result, end;  informalpayoff "the debate had an unexpected denouement"

The Rental Department

January 17, 2018

I have to believe that every rental department in any real estate business is different, but also the same. I work as a Rental Manager right now and I am chomping at the bit to get out. I have given notice and I'm training my replacement and they just hired someone to come in to replace her position (office manager) that that girl is leaving to come into my position. So I have to stay to train her.

The good part is I still get a hefty pay check while I'm training and I can sit back and let them do the work while I guide them, but now the work is getting a little complicated. I have been in the position since late June, early July and it has been a whirlwind. The old rental manager who was there for eight years, left without training me and the BIC (Broker in Charge) didn't know everything about the new software, so it has been a slow crawl on learning the system while renters have been coming in and out, cleanings happening, refunds paid, owners paid, deposits, and paperwork backing up while I try to catch up. Everyone has been forgiving because I jumped in while it was crazy, but that doesn't help the fact that I have to get up to speed now before I go.

So now it is January 2018 and we are trying to close out the year, but have a lot of maintenance to do before we can print out those 1099's for owners. One of the issues is taxes. As a rental department you have to pay sales and use tax by the 20th of every month. I have done that diligently without fail or late penalty and the reports have matched every time. But now that we are at the end, there are taxes that are showing up as not being paid for various months. This has been because there have been various things done to the reservations over the last three five months that have effected the taxes paid. And with it being new software and an accounting issue, it has become a nightmare.

Now the Broker in Charge wants me to print out two reports (the original report when we paid the taxes) and the current report and create a Excel spreadsheet to show why we don't or do owe taxes. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Anyway, I will attempt to do that next week then get all the 1099's out, then get all the marketing collateral and new owners contracts with the new rental guidelines out before January 25, before Jennifer (the Broker in Charge) goes into surgery for her eye. She has basil cell cancer and may have to have reconstructive surgery.

I have promised to stay until March 1st, but they think we'll have everyone hired and trained by Feb. 15. I am also going to sell real estate part-time there since Highlands Cove Realty has paid for my Board dues, my CE and my license renewal.

In the meantime, I have been trying to get back into the Total Rewards department at the casino so I can have some income to replace my hefty paycheck now, but they are sick and tired of me moving in and out of that department so they may not let me back in.

I work now as a Guest Services Representative in the Promotions department and that position only works on Thursdays for the free slot tournament and two nights a month for concerts or any other drawings or promotional event that might come up throughout the year.

So my alternative plan is to start acting again and doing extra work to stay busy until I can get more hours at the casino. Years ago, when I was acting in Los Angeles,  I got into SAG ,but when we moved back to North Carolina I decided to take a break from it in 2012. I didn't want to have to pay the yearly dues of $200 and SAG and AFTRA were getting ready to merge so I thought the dues might be higher. What's great is, since I wrote them a letter asking to be go inactive and I was in good standing, all I have to do is to pay the dues for the year ($105.06) and I'm reactivated. This might be a hindrance to me when trying to get an acting job, since I don't have an agent, but we'll see. At least, I'll get the chance to see the movies that will be reviewed for the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and eventually the Academy Awards. I love movies!!!

The reason I started this post was, I was complaining to my husband this morning about the rental business and how I can't wait for it to end. At the same time, I told him I loved the office and the people I work with. He asked me if I had told my boss that (hate the rental part, but love the office) and I said yes. I told him, I had tried to get Jennifer to eliminate the rental department all together because it was a time and money sucker. So if we (TA and I) can just keep the bills paid, I plan on having a little bit of fun in the next month or two by doing extra work, see if I can get started again in acting and work part-time in real estate.

I think the moral of the story is to work smarter not harder. Get an accountant to do your accounting for you. Do waste your time and money on things that actively work toward your goals. And your sole goal should not be to have a good paycheck so you can pay the bills. It should be more than that. Maybe that is why I don't like real estate because it's all about making the deal and the money. I guess some realtors enjoy the art of the deal, but I don't . I know I'm doing it for the wrong reasons, but I'm going to give it another year.

What was I thinking?

What was I thinking?

Here I am, a person with two degrees, and additional classes to my credit and I started working at Burger King because they offered a morning shift which would allow me to spend time with the boys during the day and I would have a little bit of income.

I thought it would be an easier job than waiting tables. Not! The customers are worse than any customers I've dealt with because they get rude when you don't get their order right on the first time they say it.

I think my problem is that if I'm sitting idol, then I have to be doing something. I have projects, but they don't make a steady income, so I feel I have to make some sort of income to justify my projects. I can't sit still. I could sit all day at my computer writing, but I can't sit still......actually...my brain can't sit still.
So, I went ahead and agreed to work at Burger King, to have somewhat of a steady income, but it turns out that $7.25 doesn't get me very far.

The only thing I like about it are some of the people I work with, talking on the headset and having to remember everything is a nice challenge and the morning schedule is good. I am a morning person so I can

I have worked three days one week and four days another week and I'm basically making one hundred dollars a week. Ridiculous when I can make almost $200 in one night at a fine dining restaurant.

Part of my problem is that I don't want to have to work with people who are difficult. I put up with a boss who was condescending, disparaging and talked behind people's backs for almost seven years and I am not going to take it anymore. I had a great salary at that job and I'm not about to put up with a similar person for less money. Please!

After working the drive through, I don't ever want to go to a fast food restaurant drive through again.

Traveler's Power Point Presentation on Maya Angelou

On 3/12/14 my oldest son, Traveler, put together a power point presentation on Maya Angelou in one evening. It was an assignment from his fourth grade teacher. I was so pleasantly surprised that he was able to do it so quickly. His teacher organized them well in that she had a check list of things they had to research and put in the presentation, but he is only 10 years old and can do things that middle graders can do.

Proud of my Son

I am so proud of my son who is 10 years old and in the Academically Gifted program at his elementary school. They had a assignment to come up with an invention. It will be displayed and judged at a county wide Invention Convention at the end of this month. The guidelines were that the invention had to be something not invented or an improvement on something that already exists.

My son had an idea right away and he finished the project yesterday. He and his Dad worked on the construction of it and he put together his display board. When I would look into his eyes while he was working on it, I saw how weary and tired he was getting, but he kept working on it. This morning when he got up he looked so tired. He really wore himself out on the project. Good boy.

Review for Seaside Inn on Isle of Palms, SC

Review for Seaside Inn on Isle of Palms, SC

The Seaside Inn 

Pros:

Right on the beach.

Has a pool 
Rooms are newly renovated (as of 2012).
Friendly staff.
Coupons and discounts offered and honored.

Cons:

Pool is very small and is not heated.
Rooms are small.

Are you the type to take vacations on the fly? Do you like to just take off with your family on weekend trips to the beach or to the mountains for a short two day get away?

We are and we just took a trip to Isle of Palms to spend two days at the beach. We spent less than $600. 

The meals that we had were at June and Olie’s, Windjammer and Dunleavey’s on Sullivan’s Island. We had time to go downtown Charleston to walk around the Waterside Park at Battery Park.

Wonderful time to explore this laid back place. Even though Mount Pleasant, the community right beside Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island have grown exponentially, the Islands have stayed the same. Wonderfully laid back area.