Numerous Updates, And Feeling Hopeful

When I'd written my last blog entry on Saturday I didn't mention the fact that I'd had an awful headache for the entire day. Like, on one hand I knew that I had an awful headache but for the longest time it didn't dawn on me to use the peppermint oil I have, to help lessen my headache. So when I'd actually started writing that particular blog entry the different things I'd talked about were so out of order. Then to make things worse my MacBook Pro wasn't allowing me to copy and paste things in the right places. So after several hours of suffering a horrible headache I finally thought to use my peppermint oil to lessen my headache. Once I'd used some peppermint oil I found it much easier to put things in order in the last blog entry that I'd written that day. Still though I'm left wondering how I was able to have an articulate conversation with the Senior Advisor from Apple, given the fact my head was pounding. I'm not complaining one bit though because I was able to pull it off. Later that evening I received an email from Amazon.com Music saying that my Amazon.com Unlimited Music subscription would expire soon if I didn't pay Amazon.com. Given the fact I knew that I always updated my information with companies as soon as something changed I found it puzzling that my payment didn't go through for that particular service. Sunday I started reading a book called Getting Past Your Past. The book is about EMDR therapy and the ways in which that particular therapy could help people with PTSD and other traumas, experience relief from the symptoms he or she has. The book also gives suggestions on how people can try to work through his or her traumas his or herself but I think I'm better off waiting until I can have guidance from an actual therapist. Because as things stand right now I don't feel that I have the necessary skills to know how to calm myself down if I accidentally bring up an unpleasant memory that causes me extreme distress in the present. I'm not sure when I'll be able to continue therapy but hopefully in the meantime I can continue using the tools I learned from my therapists who are in San Antonio. Later in the day Sunday I received an email from the electric company in San Antonio saying that I had a bill to pay. However something told me that I should speak with that particular electric company before I paid anything. So that's just what I did: yesterday morning I called the electric company in San Antonio. I explained to the employee who took my call that I'd spoken with someone from that particular electric company around the 31st of January to tell that particular company to turn my service off on the first of February. The guy then told me that there was no record that I'd even spoken with the electric company within the past few days. As he was looking at my most recent bill he discovered that I'd been billed for these first few days in February. So he talked with a Supervisor who helped him set the service to be turned off on the first of February like I'd originally requested it be. He then told me not to pay this current bill since there were charges on it that were incorrect. Since the guy had also told me that my billing address hadn't been changed I made sure that he changed it so that I wouldn't have any problems in the future. Hopefully things were straightened out this time around. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with San Antonio's electric company I received a call from the Senior Advisor at Apple to let me know that she still doesn't have a resolution yet. She then asked me when I wanted her to call me back with another progress report and I said that Friday would work. That way she'd have a few days to do whatever she needs to do and whoever else she needs to get involved has a few days to make some moves. I feel great because even though I don't have control over how this situation is resolved, the Senior Advisor at Apple is keeping me in the loop every step of the way. Before this point I honestly never realized how much I value just being told "I still don't have an answer for you yet" but those few words make a huge difference in keeping my anxiety non-existent. I mean I knew that people being direct with me is what I prefer over not being kept in the loop at all or only being called when the particular company has found a resolution to my situation or determined that there's no way they can resolve my situation. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with the Senior Advisor at Apple I looked up Samsung on Twitter because I needed that particular company to give me a refund on a charging pad I'd purchased that had become defective after only two month's use. The charging pad was originally purchased from T-Mobile but the amount of time that I'd had to exchange the accessory with T-Mobile had already passed which is why I ended up having to call Samsung about the charging pad being defective. Well needless to say I spoke with Samsung representatives several times and each time I spoke with someone from Samsung I was told that that particular company would send me a refund. However the first time I'd contacted Samsung about this issue was in early October of last year. It's now February of the next year and I've still not received anything. So I decided to tweet Samsung yesterday and see if I could actually get some results now. After I'd tweeted Samsung I called Amazon.com to ask that particular company why my last charge for the unlimited music service didn't go through. While I waited on hold for an Amazon.com customer service representative to come on the line I heard Alexa's voice on the line talking about Amazon.com products. I thought it was kind of neat to hear Alexa's voice on the line. While I was on the phone with an Amazon.com representative it dawned on me that maybe my bank records weren't all updated with my new address. The guy said that he couldn't tell what the problem was but that what I'd thought the problem was, was probably accurate. So he then told me to tell Alexa "Amazon.com unlimited music" or something similar. Once I gave Alexa that particular command she told me about Amazon.com Unlimited Music and asked if I wanted her to sign me up with that particular service. I told her that yes I'd like to sign up for said service. From there I had no more problems. I officially have Amazon.com Unlimited Music again. My world is restored! LOL. A little while after I'd gotten off the phone with the Amazon.com representative I checked Twitter to see whether Samsung had responded to the earlier tweet I'd sent that particular company. Fortunately they'd responded. The person who responded said that he or she was sorry that I'd been given so much trouble by that particular company and asked for my information so that the situation could be rectified. So I immediately gave him or her my information and made sure that my address was updated as well. I went back and forth throughout the day with Samsung on Twitter. Again this particular situation was a situation where in the past I wouldn't have showed myself feeling pissed off because as a woman that sort of expression "isn't lady-like" or some other similar thing that society believes to be true. Well I'm a human who happens to be a woman. There are certain things that I'm sure some people think of when a lady comes to mind. And honestly I'm probably not even representative of one of the things that people think of when the word "lady" comes to mind. I'm direct, sometimes brutally honest, not religious, not a follower for any reason. I'm especially not a follower just because society tries to dictate how I should or shouldn't live and act in the world. This morning a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) who I met a couple months ago, put me in contact with another VRC who oversees the area that I currently live in. Once the first VRC had emailed the other VRC an introduction about me the VRC in this area called me to talk about the kinds of services I'd need from that particular agency. During his and my conversation I told him that I want to work for Apple and that I'd purchased AppleCare Technician Training. He then told me something along the lines of "Well I don't think there's really a market for Apple or Apple products nowadays. Most businesses use PC." What does it matter whether the world as a whole uses Apple products or not? He then said that I should try to find out from Apple whether that particular company actively hires people with disabilities as well as whether the AppleCare Technician Training I'd purchased will likely get me hired by Apple. Well I know for a fact that no employer (whether it's Apple we're talking about, Microsoft we're talking about, AT&T we're talking about or whoever else one can think to mention) not one of those companies tells people "We really like what you have to offer. We're likely to hire you." That just is not how things work in the job world...whether a person is blind or sighted. Although I've been told by Apple before that that particular company does hire people with disabilities. However the people may have said that just because they didn't want to discourage me in continuing to apply at Apple. Who knows. I don't know if I'll have any luck getting the kinds of answers that this particular VRC asked me to get for him but I'm hopeful that things will work themselves out in the end. One thing I told him was that I'm not going to give up easily because I spent a lot of money on this training. So I not only want to see the training through but I wholeheartedly believe that once I'm Apple certified it will be easier for me to become employed with Apple. Because as I understand this training, once a person passes the exams he or she will be qualified to do anything from customer service work, to hardware and software work. In other words a person passing this AppleCare Technician Training will mean that the sky is the limit for him or her in terms of what he or she'll be capable of doing at that point. Words can't begin to express how excited I feel in just thinking about the fact the sky can be the limit for me. Of course maybe I'm understanding the AppleCare Technician Training wrong at which point someone should correct me. You know, I really don't understand this mentality of "if you are not a sheep who's following in everyone else's footsteps then you're doing things wrong. Like, seriously! What happened to people being supported for exactly what he or she wants to do? What happened to people saying "I really respect you for wanting to do things your way, I wish more people would think that way?" Although I don't need people's approval that I'm on the right path it's the principle of the matter: that when a person comes to someone with a different way of doing things and when that person doesn't want to settle for just anything, why is that sort of thing frowned upon? Like, that's bas-acwards if you ask me. Like, the VRC literally told me "We don't want to reinvent the wheel here." I say "Why the fuck not?" Because that would mean that person would have to work harder? Because that person thinks that I or anyone else who isn't a follower, is setting his or herself up for failure? Because that person is scared of new situations, new things, ETC? Because he thinks I'm wrong for switching from PC to Mac? All the above? I'd venture to say that it's all of the above. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with the VRC in the area I live in I emailed the other VRC because I remembered that when I'd met with him a couple months ago he'd said that he knew a blind person who'd worked for Apple. So in my email to that VRC I asked if he's still in contact with the person he knew who worked for Apple and if he is then would he mind putting me in contact with him or her. A while after I'd sent him an email I called the Social Security Administration (SSA) to let them know I'd recently moved. I was on hold though for over an hour. It's weird to me that sometimes when a person calls the SSA he or she's given the option to be called back at a later time by the SSA. However other times when a person calls the SSA the automated system doesn't give him or her an option to be called back. It's frustrating to just sit there waiting and waiting and waiting. Anyway once I was connected to a person from the SSA I provided the representative with the necessary information regarding my move. He then told me that he'd forward the information I'd given him to the local SSA office. From there if the local SSA office has any questions for me someone who works there would contact me. I'm kind of nervous about the fact I won't get food stamps but I have to believe that things will work out as they need to in order for me to be successful.