Salmon, Bananas, and Sushi...Oh My & About that Job Thing...

With rain on the horizon, Andy and I trekked out to into the sea of people that were "ready to rumble..." or, er, whatever you do at a Soap Box Derby.

Red Bull is hosting a series of Soap Box Derbies, it seems, and didn't realize where they were; that is the only way to explain it when the announcer was getting the crowd ready for the races, pumping them up to cheer for anything and everything. Only, well, this is Fremont, and so when he asked if there were any NASCAR fans in the crowd? I'll not say you could hear a pin drop, but the roars and the hollerings and the cheers of the previous minutes were, um, missing. Hadn't he just been going on and on and on about how soap box derbies were all about people and gravity power? Hadn't he realized how excited the crowd of PNWers were to be a part of a NON-dinosaur burning exercise?

Then they started the actual NASCAR race car and people were even quieter. Of course that may have something to do with the tremendous roaring of the car itself. The car powered down the course and did it's thing, as fast as a NASCAR race car will; pretty much making any of the "human/gravity" contestants look slow and sloppy in comparison. WAY TO GO RED BULL...

Does "know your audience" ring a bell?

But you all want pictures, so here are the few shots, in no particular order, that we got in before running away as the water started falling out of the sky. "Sugar melts, honey!"

There was a very decent-sized crowd there, this really and truly is only the "starting line" crowd. The course ran for .5 mile down the hill and the place was packed. Yet another reason for me to leave earlier than later. People in that quantity make me nervous.
What you see, way back there is the starting ramp. The first test of the soap box machines was to TURN A CORNER. It was quite a way to weed out a number of vehicles.

Speaking of such:
"Captain Running Man" lost his soap box on said turn. That didn't deter him from finishing the course. The problem I have with this purple-wonder is that all I can hear in my head is "Captain Caaaave Maaaaan!" The powers of television, people, are stronger than anyone ever imagined.

Speaking of TV, or maybe just my twisted childhood...each team had to do a "skit" and take off to their own theme music...case in point, there was an A-Team, and yes, they shook their money-makers to the A-Team theme. These guys? I totally thought they would do something to that "Abba Dabba Dabba" song a la "Laverne and Shirley." Alas, they did not:Monkey Power!

Here's where you could tell that the sponsors were a little out of touch with the PNW. They actually thought it was above and beyond weird that someone should make their vehicle look like a Salmon. In fact, this guy got the lowest score of the day! I wish I was kidding...A bit odd that the Salmon is going down hill as it's that time of year when they're desperately trying to go upstream...ah well, we all have some odd balls in every community.

What derby with a Salmon vehicle not be complete with a Salmon Roe vehicle?

YUM!

And that's all she wrote for me. I was hungry, tired, cold, and then the skies started opening up. Umbrella-less like a good Seattle-ite, I was ready to go get lunch somewhere warm and dry. I know! How silly I am!

So this was a great way for me to start my last unemployed weekend.

Yep. I took it.

I already gave my reasons to a number of individuals, but now I'll tell the world, cuz yeah, I know you're all interested in my boring life...

It came down to that whole "changing careers"/experience/ability/coolness problem/wall I've been running into since I hung up my teaching hat. If I was in it for the money, I probably wouldn't have gone into teaching in the first place, duh!

So the more I interviewed and spoke with people, the more I resolved that whatever I want to do with my life right now should pay the bills and not make my neck and back ache or turn my hair gray. That kind of job is not going to have me rolling in money.

The goal is to be in a business that doesn't make me cringe at the way it is negatively affecting the world, as well as doesn't make me want to cry cuz I have to go and deal with my coworkers that don't think I'm cool enough to be in their presence every day. (You get to see and experience a whole lot as a temp, lemme tell ya.)

I was kinda shocked that I found both of the positives in one place. I'm literally starting at the bottom of the totem pole again, but the beauty of that is, of course there is nowhere to go but up. (Which is why this position was actually more attractive than the higher paying one...why go from one pigeon-hole career to another???)

I start Monday, but will be transitioning out of my department and into the current one over a two week time period. I actually get to train the new temp! Yes, I am weirded out, but hello benefits and vacation time...sure, I won't actually be able to afford to go anywhere, but that's not really the point, or something. My mom said it in a way I was happy hearing, but um, it gets lost in translation.

A Call for Votes

Yarn-A-Go-Go chica, Rachel, needs everyone's help. She entered a competition back in August, wherein you send in a manuscript and chapters you've written get voted on all American Idol style.

Chapter 1 came and went, and Rachel was able to move on to the second round.

Now she's at Chapter 2 and is in 4th place. Please go to her page and read all about it. Hopefully you will go on to register with Gather and give her a 10, cuz the winners of this round get their manuscript read by a real publishing company!

I did it, registered, voted, then a few days later made sure I declined Gather's daily mailings. Use your "junk mail" email address if you are wary or lazy like me and aren't going to bother with the "settings" of your account until you realize they will indeed send you your daily Gather and something about orange juice.

Whatever, go, register, and please give Rachel a 10!

And tomorrow I'll post about jobs and soap box derbies.

Tired, but I Can't Sleep

They've offered me a job. The lesser paying of the two I applied for.

Now I have to figure out if I can afford to take it. Back when I applied for it, this was not an issue. One new-and-improved root canal/"bling" crown later, I'm feeling rather poor and stretched to my monetary limits.

But it's a real job. Bennies. It's been years since I had those! Though I will lose my doctor...I can't afford to do the PPO thing. I have to check on my dentist. Lord help me if he's not on the list, I will cry.

Vacation time! Though as I told my mom, great! I'll have time off, but not be able to afford to go anywhere! And my do I love my mom, she said something like, "So you stay home! You can sort though your junk and really clean up!" Ah mamacita, my "junk" lives in her storage room...she was channeling the pit that was my childhood bedroom I think. Messy I will always be, but not so much the pack rat I used to be.

I make more as a temp., technically. But as I never actually accepted the fact that I got a raise a little while ago (to help with the aforementioned bling/lessen the stretched out feeling), I really won't miss it, much. I really liked seeing the fatter checks I guess.

What is it that is keeping me waffling here...

The job is not as hard as what I've been up to these last few weeks. WAAAAY fewer responsibilities, more of a chance that I'll learn a new trade. I really should just go for it. The guilt is that I start on Monday. What about my huge to-do list?

I've been told I should just be selfish and damn them all. I need to sleep on it.

Ah, I think I know...it's that feeling of first tendrils of a root maybe? Yep, that may be it. I've been transitory for so long that this is kinda scary. Next thing you know I'll have lived in a place for 2 xmases in a row or something...

And how many times can I reknit the crown of a hat without going bonkers??? 3rd try is the charm, please?

Because of My Wide Readership...

So Purrrl-Plexed (I love the name of her blog) is holding a contest for her friend Nikki.
Part of it involves linking to her page AFTER voting for Nikki's kids book illustration. Link on and vote for Nikki!

She's hoping someone with a strong "readership" will come along and spread the word. As we all know, I, um, don't resemble that remark, but hey, worth the try.

The link to the book site: abcbookcompetition Go to the 3rd book competition, it should be the biggest link.

The book: "What's Wrong With Mud?"

If you link and blog about the competition, and vote, let Purrl-Plexed know and you too can be entered into the yarn raffle.

How Many Licks Does it Take to get to the Center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

That's the best way to describe the feeling I'm having regarding how many times I can rip Noro Kureyon yarn before it's in no condition to be used for knitting a hat or any other knit-purposes.

Non-felted knitting purposes at least, cuz nothing gets tossed in Tactlesslandia if I can help it.

At least, not when it is yarn and I am poor and the dollar is sinking so low that soon I'll be out of that whole "affording new yarn" market and will, as the Yarn Harlot described in her talk a couple Friday's back, be in my own little yarn apocalypse, with only the current yarn I have on-hand as the only yarn I'll ever have, knitting something, getting to the point where you are almost done, then taking that end and pulling it all apart and winding it all back into a ball only to knit something new and almost finish it, pull the needles out and, yeah, there's that end again....unraveling it all into a pile on my lap and winding it back into a ball as my Autistic cousin would, no matter how much new yarn I bought her...

Aaauuuummmm. I think I may need a wee bit of a break here.

It's 10 p.m. on a Sunday night and I have absolutely nothing to show for the 10+ hours of knitting I've done since Friday night. Why so much couch time?

I am fighting a bug. Andy came back from visiting his family in Cali with "gifts!" By Friday he was bed-ridden and sure enough, come yesterday afternoon I was napping in between reading, knitting and napping, as my body said, "Uh-uh, uh-uh, no way" to anything that involved such things as getting up, living life, eating, you know, silly things like that.

I think I'm winning. I'll know for sure by tomorrow after work. If I caught whatever bubonic plague Andy brought with him, I'll be running a fever by then. I usually shrug these bugs off like yesterday's pestilences, but I think I'm a little overworked and underhealthy right now. Something about working those 9 hour days. As much as I love the overtime pay, I think I'd rather have my health, silly rabbit that I am.

On a completely different train of thought, I had my last dental appointment for a bit, the final crown placing, as well as a cleaning.

HURRAY GENETICS!

Hate me all you want, I am proof positive that tartar does not build up on everyone. (Thanks dad!) 2 years since my last cleaning and I am not a candidate for a "deep clean." Nor did she have to scrape for two years' worth of build-up. Though I did finally get the last of my braces cement taken off my teeth...19 years later.

Yeah, we were all kinda surprised that all my other hygienists just kinda never said anything or went so far as to ask about my braces and stuff. Though, benefit of the doubt and all, maybe it takes a couple decades for the cement to show itself? Could be. I wouldn't know, as a society we don't really go around asking people about their teeth, braces, and decades old stains that might be cement, and stuff, right?

Okay, so all you crown people...how long before I get used to having a tooth again? I think it's because it's been over 4 months and some gum surgery since I had a full-on tooth back there, but I can "feel" it. I'm going to give my gums more time to heal, but I'm not supposed to feel anything there, right? I mean, I push down and it is sore! My jaw, that is. But just in that spot. I'm supposed to let my dentist know if it feels "weird." Does that qualify?

Okay, I need to go see if the latest cast-on and style works for the Noro. And yes, I do have that tootsie pop commercial stuck in my head. Would you like it? I aim to please.

"The world may never know."

I Miss Tahoe, and Moss Landing, and Hilo, and...

So I've been asked to gather some references...yes, things are getting kinda official.

I was kinda caught off guard!

No really! See, I've been so caught up filling-in for so many people that it didn't dawn on me that things were still happening in the "getting a real job" world. So all of a sudden I had to remember where my list of "peeps who have nothing but good things to say about me" was. And make sure their information was still up-to-date!

Finding the list was easy. Striking out was easy too.

Lord knows I have moved more times in the last decade than anyone else I know, except maybe Andy who seems to be competing with me. But email? I've kept one email the same since...ummm well, 1996 when my undergrad email was taken away and my grad school email was too temporary for me to feel like I could give it to employers. I've added other addresses over the last decade +1. So now-a-days it's my "junk mail" catch-all. Not spam, no, these are the "weekly flier" kind of emails. The coupons and ads and all that bother that comes from signing up to places where your "log in" isn't your email. Or you know, the email address you use for complaint letters to store managers and such. And of course, for people to always be able to find me.

I was getting kinda nervous after my second "Mail Delivery Subsystems" response. It hadn't been that long since the last time I used my list, after all. But I persevered and dug deep into the bowels of my 3000+ emails hoping for a trail to follow.

Boy did I fall into the nostalgia pit. I really must learn to delete emails. There were quick snippets from a co-teacher in Moss Landing, awful humor from Tahoe, rants and complaints from my students in Hilo, letters from my mom when I was in Mexico. I'm amazed at all the stuff I've been able to keep.

Then I really flipped...I have 4 in-boxes worth of stuff that I still have, by pure chance. I have lost more to hard drive failure than I really care to think about, but as all these emails are web-based, it's all still there (for now, knock on wood, salt over shoulder, touch iron, etc. and so forth).

So yeah, I think I've found everyone, again. The down-side is that I'm weirding out about the job situation now. Looking back at all the places I've been and all the people I've met...I want to go back so badly. I want to slip back into that life and those friends...and yet...I know I'm not that same person anymore, similar, yes, but not the same.

At the same time that I want to go into the way-back machine, I want to stop living in the past and really look at where I am in the here and now. Which sounds so very grown up of me, doesn't it? So very progressive and stuff? Almost grounded? Yeah, I'm not fooling myself, either. This is probably why I DON'T delete any of those emails...aside from being rather useful when I have to track someone down? I'm far too susceptible to the "what would have happened ifs."

Big sigh....

Losing It...

My nerves are fried. Frayed? Whatever. I can tell because I have a letter to write:
***
Dear Fish Guy at Ballard Market,

There is a term in the retail world that they never taught you. What for? I am obviously a dime a dozen customer, and this neighborhood and the quality of the food in this store gives you the leisure of having the "one-horse-town" kind of feeling in this little city of Seattle.

YET, never, not even once in my real one-horse-town experiences have I ever had anyone treat me the way you did today at 6:05 p.m. this evening.

I was the woman standing there listening to you explain crab cake cooking to the lady with the tiny package of I'm not sure what. Fish of some sort, I suppose. I was the one who, when I asked for 1/2 a pound of the salmon right in front of me, the very piece you were adjusting to look nicer, yes that one, you said, "Ummm, for that amount we have the pre-wrapped self-serve fish in the cooler over there, and you pointed, as if I was not aware that there was a section of fish that lived on Styrofoam and cellophane. As if maybe I was new to your store and did not know the secret rule that you must order a certain amount of fish in order to make it worth your while. (There isn't one by the way.)

Did you even look at me? Did you even see that I was pointing to a particular fish? One I'd been eying as you explained your crab cake secrets to that woman there? No, you didn't. I know you didn't because instead of following your finger to the pre-cut fish that weren't even the same kind as that behind the fancy glass of yours? I was looking right at you. Dumbfounded.

You didn't once look at me and realize that maybe you'd made a mistake and I knew perfectly well that there were plastic covered Cohos over yonder that people had been sorting through all day. That maybe I was pointing at a particular piece for a reason? That maybe the customer is always right and you should shut up and cut 1/2 a pound for her? No, instead you looked over to the guy behind me and began taking his order for 1 pound of whatever it was he wanted, I didn't hear, I'd stopped listening. Was this really happening?

So I walked over to the pre-cut fish. Verified that no, these were not the salmon I was looking for, and stepped back to double check. It's always good to double-check. You were gone, off going above and beyond for some other customer that probably asked for 5 pounds of something. You then saw me standing there and it was confirmed that you didn't give a rat's ass who your customers were because you asked again, "How can I help you?" Cuz you didn't even realize it was still me. 1/2 pound of fish girl.

"I doubt you can help me, seeing as you didn't want to earlier," I said. And your reaction? Was it one of, "Oh no I've offended her somehow I need to find out how?" Was it, "Oh god, she's gonna tell the boss I pissed her off?" Or even, "I don't know who this lady thinks she is, but I'll get rid of her by giving her what she wants?" No. Not as such. Instead you blatantly deny your actions! "I didn't do that! I was just telling you where you could get fish in that amount, ma'am."

And maybe I should have kept my mouth shut as I was shaking my head, but hi, I'm me, "That's not the fish I wanted, and that's not really the point." I could have said more, but that's when you're friends ran up to you and started talking about the mussels they had/wanted/etc. and I was once again a forgotten bother.

That's about the time, Fish Guy, that I walked away and put back everything I'd had in my basket. You guys obviously don't need my money.

I hope the mussels you got are rotten and they give you a wretched case of explosive diarrhea. Not to mention I hope a fish scale embeds itself so deep under a fingernail that it causes you pain and anguish and that nail falls off for calling me ma'am in that tone, you ass.

Sincerely Yours,

1/2 lb. Salmon Girl

***
Aaaahh... That feels so very much better! Blog ranting is so much more the "new Yoga" than anything else I've heard.

Where did the Weekend Go?

Right, so it's Monday morning already...whaah I dona wanna go to school!

I mean, um, work? Sheesh, I guess it really is that bad.

Friday they almost had me, but I escaped! Buahahaha! I was so happy to be free and have just enough time to dash home and change then head for the bookstore/Harlot affair that I totally forgot I had not dug out my fisher price camera. Andy had been so good at lending me his camera that I have totally lost track of my 1.3 mini-pixel-no-good-for-indoor-shots camera since my most recent move. (Did you all know cell phones cameras have better cameras than this thing?) And Andy is in California right now, with his camera. Right. Well. Ummm... so no pictures.

The fact is/was that I had only enough adrenaline to actually get me to the bookstore. I headed straight for Lake Forest Park/Third Place Books, do not pass go, do not collect $200, and absolutely do not tear apart the apartment to find the crappy camera. Once there I dragged my feet straight to the coffee slingers; with a short mocha in hand, slumped down in the last chair in the last row (all else was pretty damned full) and sat and listened and sipped until all was well with my energy level.

I actually do not own a copy of the latest Harlot book. So there'd be no signing line for me. Instead, after the listening, which was rather funny, I spent the next couple hours looking at all the new new and new old (they sell used books) stuff on the shelves. I picked up three books for the price of one new one (well, one of those fancy soft-covers, not a mass media print or anything):

Mexico and Peru - Myths & Legends

Fantastic Alice--This is "fan" fiction by science fiction authors about Lewis Carrol's Alice. I think it'll go nicely with my very tee-tiny collection of Alice books...I've got "souvenir" Alice books in Spanish and Italian.

And a cool covered version of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

I usually don't buy books unless they are screaming at me to take them home...these definitely were. I almost got out of there for under $12. Then, right by the cash register? In their display of latest used book acquisitions...the latest Jasper Fforde novel stared right at me. USED. Hardcover. Impulse buy. Totally. I'll regret it later when I can't sell it. But right now? MINE!

So I spent the weekend finishing up my Philip Pullman re-reading of His Dark Materials series, and have PLENTY to keep me entertained in the reading department for a while. Ah escapist literature...

Can She Make It, Folks?

There is a light at the end of this tunnel!  Or is it a carrot at the end of the stick?

 

Stephanie Perl McPhee is going to be at Third Place Books tonight.  I know I don't need to advertise for this lady, I'm advertising the bookstore itself, really.

 

I love Third Place Books, the one in Lake Forest Park (I haven't been to the one on Ravenna yet).  Back when I could put holds on books in the King County Library System?*   I used to list  what I wanted by walking the shelves of Third Place and then going downstairs to the library and placing my order!  Cuz I am both poor AND cheap :).  And did I mention there is a library DOWNSTAIRS from the bookstore?  That's what I call convenient.

 

Since we moved way way way down closer to "the action" I don't get to Third Place Books very much at all now.  It's my treat for going to my dentist (he's just next door).  Except tonight?  There is a reason to leave work at a reasonable hour!  (We're talking over three hours of overtime this week, people.)  My brain was just about jelly last night and I don't really feel like a repeat performance.  So, we'll see.

 

Anyone else going?

 

*Long story, I ranted about this some time ago, basically I live in the Seattle Library System, but my nearest library was in the King County System, it didn't used to matter...but then money had to be saved so King county cut off it's biggest reciprocal privilege--putting things on hold.  No ILL, no ebooks, no Rosetta Stone, no nothing except being able to check out a book that was on the shelf.

"Not A Problem..."

I must remember to stop saying that.

 

You know it's bad, but really really bad, when you go to post a job on an online newspaper site that you've gotten really really good at using, and you nearly break down and cry when you see they've "upgraded" and all of your posts look like poopie.  As that wonderful tour guide that MJ and I had in Rome would say, "Willow!  Willow!  We must learn to bend with the winds and the currents!"

 

Deep breaths help too. 

 

I have miles of html to post before I sleep...but just wanted to check in and say I've still got my nose above water.  Sure, I'm standing on my tippie-toes, but really, I have not gotten to my 34th year of being alive without knowing when enough is enough.  Let them tremble before the stomping down of my foot!  Cuz it's come down twice already.  Yes, I even used my teacher voice.  It was not a friendly encounter and I didn't mean it to be.  And scowling at the monitor as people walk past wondering if they can dump more things into my inbox?  It works wonders.

 

At least, maybe, I've discovered yet another super power I posses.  I CAN be two people at once, no problem (that was last week).  Three people?  Well, we'll see what I look like at the end of the week.  Overtime has been approved, lists have been written, les'see just how much I can really accomplish!  Without cracking that is.

FO: A New Hat for Andy

So on one of our many walks into (or maybe out of, memory is such an iffy thing with me lately) Fremont, Andy mentioned that the hat I'd made him a couple years ago (here's a picture, I warn you it is scary-big and up close) this one, maybe needed some re-blocking or some-such magic as it didn't want to fit over his ears anymore. I didn't take a pre-re-blocked picture, but yeah, his lobes were poking out.

He said he didn't mind it much as he was tending to wear the brim folded up anyway, mostly to annoy Tim. Especially if they were out drinking. He kinda liked that "above the ear" style so much he wanted a new hat. Thus:

The I'm Not a Yarmulke, Really! Hat

I thought blue would set off his eyes some.
And the other random colors cuz one color would bore me so. I really like the way the colors pooled, or flashed or whatever you want to call it. It's like he has a wave or flames on the side of his head, tee hee.
The Pattern: Handmaiden Modified Half-Dome from Fey's blog.
Yes, of course I messed with it, can't leave well enough alone...as well as maybe followed the bits he crossed out...like having Andy try it on and realize it wasn't gonna fit so I had to rip back and make it deeper. Fun times, there, oh yeah, party, party, party. It was also a wee different gauge, and maybe the needles were not the same as called for, but it worked out. And of course I'm stalling here...ummmm...urg, can't find it so....

The Yarn: Right, that pesky ball-band thing...it is officially hiding from me. I think it's Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Lupine. Yes, I used sock yarn. It's super warm though, what with the mohair and all.

Needles: US 2s. It didn't take nearly as long as you think it would. I'm thinking mostly because US2s seem so much bigger than the US1s and 0s I use for socks. There's that pesky perspective again.

I'll verify the yarn if I ever find that ball-band. I don't know if I can happily knit with mohair though, even as little as this one has (15%), it does tend to find it's way up my nose and down my throat. I'm just glad I'm not allergic, I guess. That would have sucked so very much.

Hats are a nice break from socks as they don't require partners either. Yes, I have tons of yarn left over from this half-dome, but my friend Lev has solved that little dilemma. No, he does not want a matching hat. But he'd love a mis-matched pair of socks! He never matches his socks, it's a pet peeve of his to wear matching socks, actually. So I'm digging through my left-overs and am currently making him his first sock from the yarn left-over from Andy's first hat! If that works, and enough time and mohair has gotten out of my system, I'll cast on to complete his non-pair with this one!

Human Nature?

Sometimes I think I should have taken more sociology courses in college.  Maybe a few psychology classes might have helped me in my day to day observations of people.  I know what I see and hear from my awesome seating arrangement at work (in a closet across from the kitchenette) has given me a window into human nature that I really wish I could close sometimes.

 

Did you know most people will speak at full volume while washing dishes or hands, thinking their voice doesn't carry over the water?  And even though there has been someone in this closet for YEARS now, they seem shocked when you slide your door closed so you can conduct your telephone conversation/testing/one of the millions of things you have to do before 3:00 p.m. on a Friday.  Yet if you speak too loudly by their desks, these same voices make rather impatient noises giving you not-so-subtle hints that maybe you shouldn't be speaking so loud ABOUT WORK, near them.

 

If some small thing changes, I get to hear 50 different exclamations of the same shock and surprise, to no one!  Hello?  The room is empty!  Who is it you are talking to?  Yourself?  Cuz me?  If I am sitting across the way, with my door half closed and haven't even seen you, and maybe have my ear buds in?  I'm so not paying attention to your exclamation of shock, awe and surprise about the treats someone has left for our floor, the mess someone has left for us all to find, the new fridge, or (and especially so) the disappearance of the water cooler!

 

And speaking about that water cooler? The sign is on the fridge.  ON. THE. FRIDGE. PEOPLE!  Opening the fridge to look for the water cooler is not even a sensible option if the SIGN?  Did I already mention it is ON! THE! FRIDGE!  Practice literacy!  It's amazing what wonderful things you will learn!  Like maybe the location of the water cooler?

 

But, really, can someone tell me why everyone keeps opening the fridge door to look for the missing water cooler?  I need to understood that little action.  I once had a housemate that would open the freezer every once in a while hoping to find that the ice cream fairy had left him a half-gallon of his favorite ice cream.  He was also the one who let me into the secret that guys will channel-surf with the hopes that they will see skin, girl skin preferably in his case, naked people even better.

 

Humans are weird.

It's Not Just Me...

When the receptionist wants to know exactly how I'm supposed to be three people at once next week?  I can finally justify my worry.  I am about to sound like a cocky SOB, but really now, this is where I would like to be less competent.  Where I want to be a flake of the utmost proportions.  Where people think my name and then shake their heads wondering why oh why did the temp agency send "her."

 

Cuz I am fearing losing my shit next week.  I keep telling myself it's just a temp gig, what do I care?  Except these same people just interviewed me yesterday for a position NOT in this department.  I maybe was too honest when I said I'd love to move into their department because numbers don't have this tendency to yell at me for them not having passed their tests, or call me to tell me they can't make such and such day and can I reschedule, while other numbers are dropping more and more into my inbox so that I can barely make it to the door of my closet.  But maybe I didn't use those words specifically.  But maybe close.  Cuz by yesterday afternoon as I waded through two peoples' worth of work, I was wondering how exactly I'd gotten into this mess?

 

Aaaauuuum.

 

Something Random, or LA LA LA Gonna Ignore it and Think of Something Else:

When I took my afternoon break I had some odd-ball thoughts in my head.  The one I could not shake is the artwork theme of this building.  The focus really is shown in the art.  It's very beautiful and very striking and yet I started to wonder if some of the pieces were made by the artisan to fool the tourists.  Cuz if someone came into my village and was looking for aboriginal-style/old-world/full-of-culture art pieces?  I could totally see me making up something to make fun of the tourists.  Isn't that just awful?

 

I'm also the kind of person to go and ask someone who knows Kanji and will not lie to me, exactly what the characters on this or that piece of crockery mean?  Cuz the store owner might have said, "Oh, this one is 'prosperity' and this one 'happiness'" but in reality it means "FOOLED YOU!" or "Got yer money, biatch!"

 

Yes, I did indeed make a knitting bag with Asian symbols all over it.  I have not a doubt in my mind that somewhere in all the characters something in the style of, "I am a big poo head" is spelled out.  I have reached "jadedness" in epic proportions here. 

Scheduling Breaks

I get it now...maybe...that whole "recess" and "lunchtime" and if you were unlucky enough to have a school day extend through 3 p.m., an "afternoon break."

 

Those bells and super scheduled days are exactly what I need to keep myself from working through such magically restful things as breaks.

 

Is that why my mom loved working at a school?  They took their daily break at 11:10 a.m.  That was the time 3rd period began....I think...but no matter what part of the school they were in, they could hear the bells.  Maybe that's why I was so enamored of the striking ship's clock?  You could figure out what time it was then as well and whether or not your watch-shift had begun or was about to end.  And my long-ago lost Casio digital watch with all the different timers, alarms, and stopwatches (possibly 2 or 3 of each).  I knew exactly how late I'd be to classes and how long I had until my work day was over...I'm not at all motivated to schedule in breaks via Outlook or any thing so goofy, get...but I may be getting there.

 

I have a number of posts I meant to put up a while ago...there's a hat to show off, an award I've been given, I just found out I won a contest!  But neither the time nor the motivation has been with me since my last entry/rant.  If I were not on a break right now, I'd add that I need to get back to those folks, but that would be talking about work, and we're on a break right now.  Did I mention break?

 

I am two people this week.  Maybe more like 1.75.  Next week, I'll be 2.5.  I will need to highly schedule myself so I don't go insane with work, cuz yesterday?  I put in 10 hours, and it still wasn't quite enough.  Yup, those bells seem like such a good idea right now.