I haven't updated since the winter of this year, so I thought I should let everyone know about what's up, what's been going on, and why I haven't posted anything. One, first and foremost, let me talk about why I will not be posting my novels here.

After hearing about that new law that got passed, the one that allows people to adapt someone else's work without giving them credit if said work is protected only by a C.C. License or something like that, I have decided not to post anything I plan on publishing later in life. This does not mean I will not be posting anything here; quite the contrary, I am now working on something specifically for you freaks here on dA. Also, I'll be reading over the submission policy again to see if I can post some of my other works, ones that are up on other sites for...reasons that I will mention later.

Ignoring my writing, let's get back onto the topic at hand. My life. Which is what I'm sure you're all dying to hear about. To begin, shortly after I was fired from my job at Caribou Coffee, the store closed, which was the real reason I was fired. Regardless, they came up with an excuse to let me go, which resulted in me not being able to collect welfare to pay for my insurance, which was due that month. After spending about a month in debt and on the job market, I finally found a very cozy little shoppe in Old Town Herndon that would hire me for a few dollars an hour, plus tip. A cozy little spot.

After I joined, the owners of the place had promised me that once business had picked up for So Addictive, that they would increase my pay, hire more people to help, and get someone to train me in the kitchen. With that in mind, and on paper, I worked twelve hour days without breaks, making coffee, working as the only waiter, the busboy, and acting as the manager of the store. In essence, single-handedly running the place. It was like this for about a month before business started to really pick up, and we started having lines and people waiting just outside of the door.

None of their contractual obligations were met. Eventually, I started working a few fifteen hour shifts in a week where I never had a day off, and I was still the only person ever on my shift. With no increase in pay, customers started getting upset that it took so long for me to make their food and get it out to them, and as thus, stopped tipping me for their ridiculously over-priced sandwiches. Dealing with the stress alone was literally having physical consequences on my body; fresh cuts on my feet from running back and forth all day, burns on my hands, I started losing weight despite all the physical activity and healthy food I was partaking, and my hair even started to fall out.

Finally, last week, the place decided to purchase a giant Spongebob Squarepants suit for someone to wear outside. I told them that they couldn't do that, that using a copyrighted character to promote business was an infringement and they could lose the store. They responded by handing me some fliers that said to "Come on in! And try our Krabby Patties!" on them, and tried to make me wear the suit. At wits end, I finally told them my concerns about their failure to meet their obligations and threatened to quit if they didn't stop piling so much work upon me with such few dollars per hour. They responded by saying that they have evidence that I was stealing from the store, and that they were withholding my last paycheck.

I responded by quitting, and I am now filing a report in with the Department of Labor, since I just did the math and they failed to direct deposit any of my overtime for the past two months; they just gave me a paystub that said that they were going to, and that they never actually did pay me the full overtime. So, they owe me a little over a thousand dollars, and they aren't paying me for the last three weeks I was working.

My mood was cheered up, however, when I got a call from someone I used to work with at Caribou. They put in a good word for me, and as soon as they heard that I quit my job, lined me up for an interview at the Starbucks they were working at, and I've been hired. I start work on Monday.

So, my life is a bit...strenuous, right now. I will keep you all informed. Until we next meet.