First Day…

Okay, so it’s only 10:00 a.m. and probably too early to tell what it’s going to be like.  Kind of like writing an autobiography when you’re still a teenager.  What’s the point?  But this is all completely different from my old job and therefore feels a little bit strange.  For starters, I miss my work-mom like crazy.  Besides my sister, Work-mom is the probably the only person I know who will accept me no matter what.  Maybe it has to do with life experience?  Maybe it has to do with the fact the she’s abnormally mellow?  I don’t know.  But I never have felt judged by her even when she straight up tells me I’m wrong about something.  There aren’t many people in the world like her, so you have to cherish that kind of person when you find them.  So I miss her a lot.  I also miss my other friends and coworkers there and they know who they are.  There are a couple there that I won’t miss and they probably know who they are, too.  I know I will probably meet very nice people here also (luckily there are nice people just about everywhere), but it’s not the same. 

It’s very quiet here, which is also different.  SSW classrooms and offices were kind of all together like a big mixed salad.  Here, the classrooms are separate from the offices–not just different ends of the hallways, but separate floors altogether.  I share an office with a young woman who seems nice, but is feeling very sick and therefore, not very talkative.  I’m sure I’ll get to know her better later.  But it kind of adds the general silence of the building.  I can’t think of any job I’ve ever had that was this quiet.  It’s a little disconcerting.  I don’t think I like it very much.

The two people who are to train me still haven’t come into work.  They allow you to flex hours here and a lot of staff start at times other than your traditional 8:00 a.m.  So I haven’t done much this morning.  Have gone online to review some of the coursework.  I changed my office telephone number and mailing address on the central computer.  I clicked on facebook for a few minutes.  I’ve emailed my three favorites at Social Work to whine a little bit.  Other than that?  Not much.  I’m sure once they’re here to train, I’ll be really busy, but I feel sort of out-of-sorts right now.  I don’t like having nothing to do.  It’s boring. 

On a not-related-to-work note, I found a new book series that is nothing but pure cheese–the junk food of books.  It’s the Dream Chaser series by Sherrilyn Kenyon, which apparently  kind of pours into a ton of other series she’s written.  In her world, the gods of Olympus do, in fact, exist and interfere in the lives of mortals.  It’s very goofy, lots of god-magic, steamy dream scenes involving a river of chocolate and hot sex.  They’re the kinds of books I would read  over and over and then deny later that I’d ever even picked up at the library, much less devoured in one sitting.  I think she’s a new guilty addiction, along the lines of Charlaine Harris and her Sookie Stackhouse novels.  Perfect for dreary days that desperately need some kind of pick-me-up.  I reserved about four other of her books from the library, along with a “money makeover” book I read about online. 

Okay, I think I’m going to go explore the building some more or something.  It’s so quiet in here….

The Times, They Are’A Changin’

So I got a new job.  Yes, that was fast; faster than I thought it would be anyway.  As soon as I heard I was being laid off, I started applying for administrative jobs in different departments in the university.  The first department that called me back was Nursing.  The interview went very well and I felt an immediate connect to the staff and the department.  I felt pretty confident that I was going to get the job, and they did, in fact, offer me the position two days later.  I am taking a hit on pay, which sucks.  But the bonus is that the job sounds really intriguing and is much more than your typical budget/travel/accounting type of administrative position I expected.  So that’s good. 

The bad?  Well, it turns out I’m having a hard time leaving Social Work.  I was really excited all last weekend for the new opportunity, but the moment I started typing my resignation letter, the tears started pouring and they’ve been pouring intermittently ever since.  I just got out of a conversation with the director of my current department and I started crying right in the middle of it, making me feel extra stupid and dorky.  But I have been here almost eleven years.  I have good friends in this department that I hate knowing I won’t be seeing them on a daily basis, plus I have my work-mom.  Ever had a work-mom?  I highly recommend them.  Mine is exceptionally wise and kind and loving, not to mention super understanding.  She’s one of the best parts about coming to work every day and I will miss her so much.  So I’m having this bizarre mixture of genuine sadness coupled with excitement about my new job.

Aside from that, there are some changes with my personal life.  I’ve been “not-dating” an old friend, but it’s slowly turning into something more and I have a feeling he’ll be around for a while.  I’m happy about that and also scared to death that I’ll do something to screw it up.  My record=not so good.

So it’s all very new and exciting and terrifying and depressing and I don’t actually know what to do with myself.  I’m in the process of cleaning out 10 and 1/2 years of accumulated junk from my desk drawers.  Work-mom keeps cracking up as I exclaim things like “Wow! I forgot I had this!!!” or “Dude.  I was wondering where that was.”  Not to mention crystal light in my bottom drawer that’s probably about ten years old.  That’s not the extent of the grossness hidden in the bottom of my desk drawers, but I’ll leave it at that anyway.  It’s looking empty already.  But I’m feeling a little empty in a weird way, so it fits, I guess.

Little Bit of Badness

I just found out the state is not renewing our organization’s contract into the 2010/2011 fiscal year.  As of August, I won’t have a job anymore.  On the whole, I’ve been very spoiled where I work.  I get free insurance.  My boss is very good to me and flexible with my schedule.  I like most of my co-workers very much.  So I’m kind of depressed about all this.  At least I have 8 months to find a new job…

Peeping Santas and Other Randomness

A few years ago I gave my parents a set of old-world Santas.  They’re incredibly detailed and beautiful.  One is wearing red and gold robes and holding a wicker basket filled with holly.  The other is wearing ivory and gold robes and holding a carved ivory staff with a crystal atop.  For some reason I cannot fathom, my parents always choose to place these Santas in the hall bath during the Christmas season.  They’re very festive, true.  But I use the hall bath.  And when I get out of the shower, it’s always very unsettling to look over and see the two Santas staring at me.  I get embarrassed.  Terribly.  I know it’s silly, but I can’t help it.  I have taken to turning them the opposite direction when I shower and then moving them back when I’m all dressed.  Peeping Santas are creepy.

In other news, it’s cold today.  I wouldn’t mind the cold so much, except it was absolutely gorgeous yesterday and most of last weekend–sunny, blue skies, in the upper 60s and lower 70s.  I usually enjoy the cold because…sweaters.  And boots.  But it was soooo pretty yesterday…

They’re doing construction in my building right now.  It’s kind of giving me a headache.  I wonder if it would be bad form to wear earplugs at work.  I’m strongly considering going out and buying a pair at lunch.  Because basically, it’s like a jackhammer going off right next door.  It’s LOUD.  And my head is aching.  And it’s only 10:00 a.m.  Blah.  That’s what I say.

I have people coming to visit me in the new year and I’m very excited about that!  First, M is coming for a few days.  He’ll be here super bowl weekend.  It’s the first time I’ve ever looked forward to a football event.  That will be very fun.  And then mom and P&K will be here in March.  Mom wants to go to East TX to visit our Uncle L, which is always fun, ’cause he’s snarky and funny and brilliant.  I’m looking forward to it.

Okay, break’s over and I should return to this thing we call work.  Be good, ya’ll.  Or at least have fun being bad…

An Open Letter to Lying Liars Who Lie

Dear Lying Liars Who Lie-

You know who you are, so I’m not naming any names.  At this point in time, I am thinking of a specific one amongst your numbers, yet he is typical of your entire breed.  So let me ’splain a few things.  I will try to go slowly so you can take it all in.

  1. It’s much easier to tell the truth than tell a lie.  Do you know why?  Because then you aren’t stuck remembering which lie it was you actually told and don’t have to worry about getting stories straight.
  2. Most people would rather you told the truth, even if it would hurt their feelings, because that way they don’t go around assuming things that are in fact, not true and then wind up making humungous idiots out of themselves.
  3. Sometimes you can actually sneak in the truth in casual conversation.  For example, let’s say you don’t like football and someone is discussing how awesome (not) the Cowboys are–and see how I just did that…with that little “not” you now know exactly how I feel about the Dallas Cowboys–you might say, “Oh, I’m not a big fan of football, but, dude, the Dallas Stars hockey team is freakin’ awesome!”  You see how that works?  It’s nice.  And it is also the truth.
  4. Lying makes you break out in hives and has been known to cause impotency.  That may not actually be true, but it should be, and in the world I will eventually rule, I will make it so.

That is all.  Just think about it is all I’m saying.  And be glad I don’t rule the world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, faithie!!

Hope you have the BESTEST birthday yet…

Trust me…she hasn’t changed a bit.  :D

Randomness 12/5/2009 Issue

  • Peppermint Mocha coffee with an extra espresso shot.  Tasty.
  • Playing wingwoman to bestie and all of us getting drinks sent by cute bartender.  Hell, yeah.
  • Flirtatious texting. Sweet!
  • Losing a bet.  Strangely enough, I’m happy about that too.  Spend my money well, L.  Or you could just spend it on me when you’re in Mexico.  You know.  Whatevs.
  • Winter.  I’m sorry, sun-lovers, but winter kicks ass.  Sweaters.  Pea Coats. Boots. Winter only lasts like 20 minutes here in Texas so I plan on enjoying it while it’s here.
  • Animated stuffed animals.  Creepy.
  • The end of the kids’ show at TA.  Halli*&^%((&leuiah (edited for any of my parental units who have found their way to my blog).
  • Christmas trees.  That’s right.  That was plural.  There’s more than one Christmas tree in my house.  Suck it, if you think that’s excessive.  I think it’s festive.
  • Shiraz.  I had some.  I hated it. 
  • Losing access to my database at work for an entire week.  Like getting paid to play solitaire.
  • Gaining access to my database on Friday.  Dude, couldn’t that have been reversed, so I played all day Friday and worked my ass off Monday through Thursday?

Yeah, okay, that’s enough randomness for now.

Friday Fill In

And…here we go!

fridayfillin.gif

1. The last band I saw live was The Killdaire’s at the Texas State Fair.
2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is the monster’s pecan pie. 
3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is not even close to done.
4. Thoughts of please-let-me-keep-my-job fill my head.
5. I wish I could wear short skirts, but I kind of have cankles.  Great eyes, though.  My eyes are awesome.
6. Bagpipes remind me of the cute guy from The Killdaires.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to perhaps a movie, tomorrow my plans include working at the theatre and Sunday, I want to take it easy, read the newspaper, and play with my dogs!

Randomness 11/13/09 Edition

I’m one of those people who generally looks forward to Friday the 13th.  I seem to have really good days on Friday the 13th.  I don’t know if it’s fate or just some underlying stubbornness in me that’s like “screw-you-bad-luck-day-I’m-having-a-good-day-anyway” or what.  Today has failed me.  Utterly and miserably.  It’s only 9:00 a.m. and I’ve already managed to upset a good friend by buying for myself what she went to great effort to procure for me for my upcoming birthday.  I know how frustrating that is as the gift-giver because it’s happened to me before.  It’s so exasperating and it sucks because you know you are giving someone the perfect gift and then they up and screw it all over.  So I’m having massive guilt feelings.  Not the way to start a day.  I wish I hadn’t told her so enthusastically about my purchase–I could have found a way to return it and we’d all be happier.

And then there are other friend issues (different friend) I’m having to work out and it’s just all…bleh.  I want to crawl back into bed and forget today ever happened.

Then I found out that my job is *again* in jeopordy.  We have our contract signed through next August and it’s really iffy as to whether the contract will be renewed next year.  It almost wasn’t this year.  But now, the entity we contract with is conducting a “fact-finding” meeting with my specific department in order to determine whether our department is something they can replicate in-house.  So even if our contract is renewed next year, I may not have a place in the organization.  It’s all very tenuous and very stressful.

And then, after my trip to AZ and the money it cost, I just got the first of my hospital bills–the parts insurance won’t cover.  I have to somehow come up with $600.  I could completely empty out my savings account, but that’s a depressing thought.  And also depressing that the entire Internet now knows I’m a terrible saver.  It’s just I’m still trying to dig out of the financial hole I got into during school, so it’s hard to save while trying to pay other stuff off.  Whatever.  Money sucks.  Or, to be more honest, not having it sucks.

There’s just too much going on right now and I feel really overwhelmed.  So I guess the only thing to do is to go back to work and try to do the best job I can.

Randomness 10.7.09 Edition

I know, I know, it’s been a while.  I’m pretty much behind on everything.  So without further ado, some randomness and and some ’splaining:

  • I did not have a heart attack.  I had pericarditis.  Or something spelled similarly.  I spent about 14 hours in the ER with nothing to watch but the “Misery Loves Company” movie-thon on the Lifetime Network.  (couldn’t figure out how to change the channel with the remote thingie without accidentally calling the nurse instead; and the television was too high for me to reach to change it the old fashioned way).  The “Misery Loves Company” movie-thon could be an entire blogpost in and of itself.  Seriously.  Who enjoys watching overly melodramatic movies about predatory family members and raving lunatic murderers who enjoy first cutting up a woman’s face before the killin’ commences?  Honest, that’s some strange crap.  Anyway, I got an EKG (weird, but not painful), a CT scan (that contrast they inject gives off a weird I-think-I-just-peed-my-pants-even-though-I-know-I-didn’t feeling), a MRI (loud.  claustrophobic. also more of that weird contrast crap) and was sent home with some medication and instructions to come back right away if the pain doesn’t go away or gets worse.  The only truly painful part of the proceedings (the literal kind, not the metaphorical kind involving bad Lifetime movies) was when they ripped the tape off while they were removing the IV.  They took a nice chunk of skin along with it.  I still have a faint tape outline on my arm.  But truly, you would be AMAZED how a fake heart attack can be incentive enough to eat healthily and avoid fried stuff.  I should have had a fake heart attack right when I first started gaining the weight.  I’d have never had this problem to begin with!
  • I bought awesome fake jewelry at the theatre fundraiser last weekend.  A fake amethyst ring and another ring with a stone so fake that I don’t think the color actually exists in nature.  It’s a weird shade of green.  Anyway, I love them.  I have been wearing them every day this week.  I don’t wear jewelry very often so that’s saying something.
  • Cella got adopted!!!  Only her owner is going to rename her Bella because she has a niece with a very similar name to “Cella” and didn’t want there to be any confusion.  So I must call her Bella from here on out.  Bella’s new mom is out of town for a couple of weeks, but she’ll return on the 18th and will come and pick Bella up on the 19th.  They’re the perfect family for her.  Her new dad is retired and they don’t expect she’ll be alone during the day much more than 2 or 3 hours.  They like to go on daily walks and plan on taking Bella with them.  Their grandkids and nieces and nephews are always over at the house so Bella will have plenty of kids to get love from.  Plus they enjoy training dogs and Bella could sure use some training.  It’s like they were all made for each other.  I’m really happy for Bella, though I have to admit that even though she can be a stubborn little stinker, I’m still going to miss her.  She’s a great big cuddly, loving, sweetheart of a puppy dog.  She deserves this awesome family.
  • It’s very quiet in the office today.  Work-mom is out sick still so I have the entire office to myself.  I got the first-checking done in record time and still have to get the data-entry completed.  I’m taking a short lunch to do this post at the behest of my three favorite (only) blog readers.  I’ll shout out, just ’cause I love ya’ll so much…Foi!!!! Sunshine!!!!  Gypsy!!!!!!!  Consider yourselves shout-outed.
  • Found a new comic.  (like I need anymore to get addicted to…damn you Lone Star Comics)  This one is called Echo and it’s by Terry Moore.  I have a feeling I may be in the process of falling in a deep Joss Whedon kind of love with Terry Moore.  It’s got these gorgeous intertwined relationships that play out in the most ingenious way.  I thought at first it would be kind of like Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host” the way it was described to me (two conciousnesses–is that even a word–sharing one body), but it’s nothing like it.  Go check it out.    According to the bio, he’s written another comic series called Strangers in Paradise, which I will be checking out.  If he is indeed a Joss Whedon sort, I will probably wind up paying money for a copy of his Gap commercial, should he ever write one.
  • On the way to Houston last September for a training conference, I had this conversation with my co-worker about whether or not we would like to meet the people we idolize.  Co-worker was all for it, but I’m strangely hesitant.  I have to admit it would be cool to meet some of the writers/creative types who inspire me.  But I think I would be in such awe that I would have no idea what to say and would both look and feel stupid.  Plus, while I’m aware we’re all human and we all have faults and weaknesses, I’m not sure I want to know what their faults and weaknesses are besides what they choose to share in their creations.  If that makes any kind of sense.  It’s easier to suspend disbelief when I don’t know all that much about them.  However, I reserve the right to change my mind should any of the people who inspire me call up and ask me out for lunch.  :D  

Okay, the randomness ends here.  I have to get back to work.  Hopefully this satisfied the “where the hell have you been” emails I’ve been getting.

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