I Feel Like Such a Badass Right Now.

I could be silly and say "and the reason is you" (quoting Hoobastank, of course), but I think that's an awful song, and while you are awesome, just for sticking around to read my stuff, or wait, that might be all me setting off the view counter, in which case I am brought back to my original point, that I am a badass.
The real reason is because I caught a shoplifter today. Red-handed. By myself. Okay, my boss helped a little, but mostly by myself. Here is the story about how I caught a thief, and my first ride in a police car:
I was working with my boss, HC, and this lady came in with a big coat and a backpack on. She was wandering around gathering items, and I was watching her to make sure she didnt steal anything, because usually people who take backpacks shopping are shoplifting, and same with heavy coats. As she shopped, she raised several red flags, so HC and I were both trailing her. I started her a fitting room, and she brought back a few more items to try on. She went in, and I checked on her twice, both times bringing back more product. By this point, she has five pairs of jeans, two red sweatshirts, and three black vests. So I ask her if I could take the stuff that didnt fit, and she agreed, and handed over two pairs of jeans, two vests and one of the red sweatshirts. Anyway, I knew she had a sweatshirt, a vest and two pairs of jeans left in the room with her. That's about $150 worth of product. A few minutes later, I heard a zipper close and she came out, looks surprised that I'm standing there, then closes the door behind her and books it out of the fitting room hallway. I immediately looked in her room, and saw she just left one pair of jeans, and she's booking it to the front door.
I told my HC, and she tried to stop her and asked for the stuff back three times, then we called the police. HC watched her cross the parking lot into the parking lot of an adjacent building, and within ten minutes or so, a police officer came into the store to ask us to come identify the suspect. I accompanied him to the car, got in the back seat (which was very uncomfortable, by the way. Don't get arrested.) and we drove to the parking lot. We stop, and the other police officer pulls the woman out of the car, and sure enough, it is the woman who stole. He also brings the black vest from my store to the window and asked me to verify the product, and sure enough, it was our product. Shortly after the incident, the other police officer brought the clothing the woman had taken back to the store, and HC and I received statement sheets that we need to fill out for them to pick up tomorrow. It was a very exciting night.

So I have a few new updates to share. First off, I did not get the Assistant Manager job at EB, as expected/promised. This was due to nepotism. Yes, I am bitter. However, I won't dwell on it. ...Who am I kidding? Yes I will, but only until my life gets better than the life of the person who got the job, because I truly deserved it, and I was the best candidate for the job (according to my boss, who was supposed to make the decision, but was strong armed into choosing the other guy). Anyway, this has led me to a variety of things. I will be going to grad school sooner than planned, I will be trying to find a better job elsewhere (as in screw my current company, they don't deserve me anyway) as an assistant manager, because believe it or not, there are other companies hiring for that position, and I received a traveling red dress. I've also started attending church again. That's a big step for me, since I've spent the last three years or so questioning God's existence and being angry at Him when I did believe in him. Firstly, I guess I should start by saying that I have decided to go to grad school to be an attorney, a mediator, or a clinical psychologist. This means either law school or basic grad school. Woohoo! If I choose to go to law school, I'll probably end up back at WU. They are less expensive than Berkeley, even if I was a California resident. If I go for clinical psychology, it will be at UW, which is kind of ironic, seeing as it's the opposite of WU. lol.
Second and only other piece of information that needs other explanation: The Red Dress. Think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but with a Red Strapless ball gown. Basically, Jenny the Bloggess at www.thebloggess.com is a badass, and started this trend of taking pictures in a red ball gown, simply because she wanted to, and because it would make her happy. She had to share the dress with other women in need of confidence, strength, hope, faith, self-esteem, and empowerment. Needless to say, the dress was worn by many amazing women of different shapes and sizes, and it started to wear out, so Jenny has purchased two more red dresses from the proceeds of her store, and she tweeted about it. This sparked a flood of offers from random strangers to other strangers, giving their strapless red dresses to women in need. This happened right about the time that I was denied that job, when my hopes were crushed. Miraculously, I found a dress on flickr in my size (18 if you need it). The lady who found the dress at Goodwill was not too far from where I live, and she just shipped it to me, no payment or shipping reimbursement requested. It arrived right before I returned from California, and  aside from my chest being too heavy for the boning in the dress, it fit perfectly! I had no idea what I wanted to do in the dress. I thought about going snowboarding, but I didn't want to ruin it for the next girl. Then it snowed. A beautiful bland background to emphasize the color of the dress. So we drove to the nearest waterfall, took some pictures, then I played on some trains in a train museum in the same town. It was a wonderful day, and I had a blast, in part because of the red dress, but also because I had the two people I love most in the world, and I was able to let loose and enjoy myself, because I was a badass for a day. Here are some pictures:

Possibly one of my favorites

The uncomfortable-looking guy standing next to me was a Chinese tourist who wasn't sure about having his picture taken with a crazy American girl who decided she liked running around in fancy dress clothes when it's freezing out. But his wife wanted the picture, so whateve. I figure that's what he had to say about it too, only the Chinese equivalent.

Also, we happened to start a trend, because the place we were standing was closed (as in roped off with a sign that said "Closed due to ice. But nobody ever got good pictures without breaking the rules. So we were rebels. And apparently leaders of other rebels. We could have started a cult.

Finally, one of my favorites (this is saying a lot because my mom gets photo happy when she gets to take her camera out and she took 107 pictures that day. So four is a small piece of the pie). I love this picture because it is so daring, and I am wearing something else that makes me furiously happy: My pointy, pink high heels. They're kind of like Cruella deVille's shoes. I always told myself that I would never buy shoes like that because they look so uncomfortable, and I am all about comfort over fashion. However, I found these in a thrift store, and they are hot pink (same color as they are in the picture) and they made me so happy that I HAD to have them. Especially because they were basically free, compared to other shoes that are similar.

So that's my red dress story. If you need this dress, and you are a size 18, please leave a comment with your email and I will get in touch. I promise it will bring you as much joy as it has brought me.