WorldWideWaterCooler

I had the sneaking suspicion that when I decided I really REALLY needed that extra 2 hours of sleep this morning, I would also really REALLY need to go the hell home at 5pm, whether I wanted to or not.

But today is my last chance to get in any OT before the Christmas break, and I could really REALLY use the extra cash.

So I will really REALLY try to stick it out here for another hour. Then I will gauge whether or not I can make it one more hour after that.

But I have my doubts.

I really REALLY want to kick my own ass right now.

Update (5:26pm): SCREW THIS. I think I would almost rather shoot myself in the face than stay here another 30 minutes. I can’t handle it anymore. Hopefully I can work in a bit of extra time on Thursday. Oy. I’m outta here.

I am clearly an idiot for not finding this roommate earlier in my life.

First off, boys tend to have stuff girls don’t, and vice versa - and I’m not talking biology here.

For instance, the bathroom. I am a girl - a girly girl even. In the shower I’ve got shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving gel, two kinds of razors, a pouf, another body exfoliator, a facial exfoliator, facial soap & a pumice stone. Not much room for anything else. So what did the roomie add to that? A solitary bottle of 2-in-1 and a bar of soap.

And what about the living room? I have the necessary couch, chair, coffee table. I also possess a modest 27″ TV and DVD player. Clearly this is a room that has space for more impressive furnishings. The roomie delivered. It now holds a 47″ Projection TV, A surround sound system, VCR, DVD player & 100 Disc DVD changer. Even more miraculously - he consolidated it all onto one remote control that even a dolt like me can figure out!

Also? (And I do believe this is specific to this particular human being) When I got home last night (after being away for the weekend) he APOLOGIZED for not having put the clean dishes away, because he wasn’t sure where it all went yet!!!! Obviously his mother/girlfriend has trained him well.

Yes, yes this is definitely shaping up to be a Good Thing.

The things you learn when you get to work at 6am. Like how the cafeteria doesn’t open (and therefore DOES NOT SERVE COFFEE) until SEVEN AM! I am dying slowly.

I spent 9 hours on Sunday baking with my momma. That could perhaps be the best thing to curb the usual cookie binge this year, because at this point the mere thought of baked goods is enough to make me nauseous. I also made the best brownies on earth (recipe courtesy of my favourite peanut), and after gorging myself on them performing a few essential quality checks, I think I have a sugar hangover.

Only 31 minutes until coffee….

I am the Christmas Superhero. Sometimes I wonder what the rest of my family would do without me, considering not one major gift-giving occasion goes by without me locating and usually acquiring the receiver’s ideal present. What happens when it’s time to give gifts to me? The family gets a detailed list, and my best wishes for easy purchasing. 99% of the time I end up getting cash.

I’ve dropped off the dating radar for the rest of this year. I guess I’ll pick it up again once things settle down a bit after the holidays. Fresh slate and all that. Perhaps during the down time I can reflect on how to stop attracting only mean people and virgins and rebounders. Either that, or tweak my impossibly high standards - because it’s been four months, and Orlando Bloom still hasn’t come knockin’ on my door.

When I arrived home last night, there was stuff here. I no longer live alone. His girlfriend seems nice, as does his TV and home theater. It’ll be nice to have people around again. Perhaps prod me to be social and leave the house every once in a while. Maybe once I catch up on the sleep I’ve been missing I’ll be more motivated to venture out past 7pm.

I think once Christmas is over, I’ll buy an MP3 player. I really like having a radio option available on it, preferably AM/FM, though I’ll take just FM too. Does anyone have any recommendations? Only other criteria - it must be available at Future Shop, because I have some gift certificates to spend there.

Despite the cranky nature of my posts lately (proving again, blogging is more cathartic than anything), I’m actually really enjoying the season. I’ve put a strict policy in place of not actually making plans for any evening, and judging on a day-by-day basis whether I have the time and energy to go out or not (these days it’s obviously leaning toward the “not”).

Also, remember that list from the beginning of the month? I’ve gotten a good 80% of the things on it done.

Here’s how the last week before Christmas looks:
Dec. 17 - Bree’s book exchange
Dec. 18 - Doctor’s appointment / Ray Moves in
Dec. 19 - Quick jaunt out to Mom’s to help her with her baking
Dec. 20/21 - Dinners & Coffees with friends to exchange gifts / Finish my baking
Dec. 22 - See Financial Advisor / Contact lens check @ optometrist / Hair appointment
Dec. 23 - Pack & get any last-minute things taken care of. Mani-Pedi if I have time.
Dec. 24 - get in and out of work early and get the heck outta dodge!

Notice how I haven’t mentioned the gym at all? Yah. That’s the one thing that’s fallen off the radar the past couple weeks. I’ve managed to get out for exactly one run in two weeks, then came home and died. I have high ambitions for getting some exercise in over the 5 or so days I’m at my parents’ place, but with all the family and food around, I highly doubt that will happen. It’s a good thing I haven’t gotten rid of my fat pants yet!

It’s days like these I wish I worked downtown again, instead of on a corporate campus in the middle of an industrial park.

When things got intense at the old job, I was able to get out in the fresh air, wander down the block to the local coffee shop, breathe the aroma, stand in line, shoot the (non work-related) shit with the barista, wait for my order, and wander back in the fresh air. The whole process didn’t take more than 15 minutes, but it was exactly the break I needed to clear my head and refocus on the task at hand.

Now, the closest thing to the office is a McDonald’s which is still a 10 minute walk away. The best I could do right now is head downstairs to the cafeteria for some rank office coffee, and a Snickers from the vending machine.

If it weren’t for the fact that they’re over $8/pack, and that whole black lung tar death thing - well it’s almost enough for me to consider taking up smoking again, just for the fresh air break.

Well, I still have a job. But 650 people across the country at the company I work for do not. In the interest of not revealing anything more about where I work (though I suppose it’s not hard to figure out - I just don’t want to put the google-able clues on the interweb), I shall stop here and just say that it sucks. Also, the elimination of that much work means that a cull in my department is likely not too far behind. Now it’ sjust a matter of whether they’ll drop any contract employees, or keep our low-paid butts in chairs and try to buy out the employees who have longer tenure, higher wages, and fat pension plans.

Counsellors were on hand if anyone wanted to talk, and we were all given the rest of the day off to absorb the news. It’s making my workplace a pretty depressing place to be these days, and it’s making me reconsider how long I want to stay there. If things keep going the way they have been - my answer is “not very much longer.”

Also, you don’t make the corporate decision to shut down essentially 50% of your business overnight, and waiting until 10 days before Christmas to break the news is a pretty shitty way to treat people as far as I’m concerned. Severance packages or not.

I may think better of putting this part out there later - but for now I’ll say that I really can’t think very highly of a company that has so little disregard for the people that make it run on a daily basis. If I don’t respect my employer, I have a hard time feeling good about going in to do my job every day just to put money in their pockets. I have enough personal pride that I won’t do a bad job - but in this situation, I doubt I’d do my best job, and I’d rather do my best for a company that I feel respects me, even a little. So if anyone has any leads… send them my way. I think my time at my current workplace is going to end sooner rather than later - by my choice or theirs.

I’m in the process of registering for a class at BCIT in January. You’d think I’ve never done the whole “online shopping” or “course registration” thing before. I’m a complete retard about it all.

Of course, it’s a little more complicated than usual, because I need to pick up a cheque next week to pay for the class - but apparrently (according to the BCIT interface) I’m registered for Introduction to Human Resource Management on Monday nights. For some reason, I thought it should be harder.

I guess I’ll just see if they drop my not-yet-paid course in their overnight database cleanup or something.

Translink has just expanded their Night Bus service. Good news for those of us out in the ‘burbs who aren’t super keen on forking out $20 for a cab every time we party downtown a little past 1:00am.

Unfortunately, and I only speak for myself here, those of us who are perhaps not as good at holding our liquor as we would like, aren’t exactly in any condition to navigate Translink if we’re out partying past 1:00am.

The new curtains have been hung, I am now in posession of a large stack of cash, and the keys have been passed along.

It is no longer safe for me to wander around naked.

There are worse things I suppose.

Have I mentioned that there are now officially less than 10 full days of work left in my contract, and I still have no confirmation whether or not it’s being renewed?

No point in worrying about what you can’t control, etc. But that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m so riddled with anxiety I could throw up. I wish I just knew one way or the other. Then at least I could get on with my life instead of living in limbo.

Update (3:15pm) - and just as I was about to toss my cookies tofu lo-mein, we were told that all contract employees have been extended for 6 months. Yay!

Exactly one other person will get that title. Don’t try to figure it out, you’ll hurt yourself.

Beer. Hockey. BERTUZZI. Hockey. Iginla. Beer. PEE. Giggles. Syncrhonized chair dancing. More Beer. Cutest baby. DID I MENTION BERTUZZI?!?!? Another beer. More Hockey. Not enough jumpin’ around. SPIT-ACTION!!! Greasy Meat. Home.

Best. Sunday. Night. Ever.

Oh - one more thing I thought I’d toss out there - the weirdass dream I had last night.

Preamble: I didn’t sleep in my own bed last night.

I’m dreaming that I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, and need to go to the bathroom. No Biggie. Up I get (in the dream) and make my way very carefully (I can’t see in the dark, fo’ real) to what I think is the bathroom. Somewhere along the way I must have made a wrong turn, because I walk into the “bathroom” and turn on the light. Nope - it’s another bedroom, and in one bed are three sales reps from where I work. All males - all very angry that I’ve just woken them up, because don’t I know they need their sleep because they have an assload of work to do before the office closes for Christmas???

I’m in the middle of trying to talk my way out of getting myself seriously physically harmed by 3 disheveled, angry men in boxers, when I wake up.

I just said “What the Fuck” to myself, and went back to sleep. What the Fuck indeed.

When you’ve been on two casual dates with someone (1 coffee, 1 lunch), have not yet broken the kiss threshold, and don’t even have their telephone number (email/msn correspondence only so far), is it appropriate to “dump” them via email?

I had almost forgotten what a crazy tempest of pressure and expectations Christmas can be. Colene is lamenting a little about her lack of significant other and family pressure. Vern is singing a slightly different tune - however he is obviously insane as well.

Nobody’s seemed to echo my sentiments on the holiday of late however - so I figure I’ll weigh in on the debate.

I. Love. Christmas. I always have, and likely always will. My family has a low enough dysfunction level, and enough common sense that it’s never been one of those huge be-all-end-all occasions with debt and pressure and not much fun. It’s only grown better as my cousins, brothers and I have grown up. Nobody spends exhorbitant amounts of money on anyone else. Gifts are either thoughtful or useful. No kitsch, no filler.

It’s even better now that there are no little kids around to impress or build grand illusions for. The presents live under the tree until Christmas morning, when we leisurely get up, have coffee (usually with liquor of some sort) and laugh while watching the dog go bezerk with his stocking and the wrapping paper. We drink a lot, eat a lot, and generally spend the day relaxing. The only exceptions to this are when we sober up long enough to go to Christmas mass, and about 15 minutes of hurrying as all the Christmas dinner dishes are finishing up cooking and need plating at the same time.

This will also be the first Christmas since I was bout 13 (can we say codependent?) that I’ve been single. It’s a HUGE weight off of my shoulders. Not only does it leave me with a nice extra chunk of cash in the Christmas budget, but it also means no juggling of families that, frankly, are not as cool as mine.

I understand everyone has different experiences that shape their personal feelings about the winter holiday season, but I wish the same for all of you: No matter what you choose to do with the holiday (whether it’s a whirlwind of everything or ignoring it and doing nothing), may it be rewarding and relaxing, and exactly what you want it to be.