Happy Leap Day or whatever...

Today started off so craptastically, that I swear I’m almost convinced that “leap day” translates into tool of the devil.

Someecards are the best :)

From the moment I got up and my morning routine was thrown out of wack, the day has been a twisted avalanche of suck.

Unfortunately, each day here at Project X (that's what I'm choosing to call the workplace today) is getting progressively more difficult to get through with a level head. The tension and animosity jumped up significantly yesterday, and I only see it degrading further from here.

I’ve got too many working years left before I reach this wall, to trap myself in such an ulcer-inducing environment.

The day needs to either get better (please), or hurry up and just get gone. I would prefer the former (and I think the leap year babies and leaplings of the world would agree. Personally, I love having good days, and for your leapers, why rush the day you all only get every four years? Happy Birthday to you all by the way :)

Hope everyone if having a good day. If not, and your morning also sucked, then join me in hoping that our days take a turn for the best this afternoon :)

Witches and Zombies and Cookies...

Yesterday, I overheard two of my co-workers talking about the new books they are reading. One is wading her way through some Ernest Hemingway ('because I've just never read it, and why not?'), and the other is drowning in Gregory Maguire's Wicked.


I thought I was the only one who hated that book! My sister powered through it (better her than me, really), and gave it a solid "C+/B-" rating, but I positively hated it. I think I had about 100 or so pages left when I gave up on it altogether. So, hearing co-worker #2 follow up "I'm reading Wicked on my nook right now" with "It is so dense. I can't take it!" brought a book-pain-misery-loves-company smile to my face. Sidenote: Nooks are awesome :)

Just as I was, co-worker #2 is fighting Maguire's constant rambling, and the repetitive 'let's drive your mind off the beaten path into the boring wilderness' nature of the book. It's just too...blah. She's about 300 pages in, and wants to toss the book aside (well, really gently place her nook in a safe spot) and never glance at the book again; but, like my sister, she's powering through. Again, better her than me.

I did recently finish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies though. They weren't kidding about the ultraviolent zombie mayhem. Gory and violent, but a fun read. Infinitely more fun than Ms. Austen's original - sorry Jane.


I hate zombies - they freak me out - but I do love a good book :) This one has A LOT of disturbing scenes, but one in particular made me actually put the book down for a while and try to wipe the images from my mind. Of course, I later dissolved into laughter when I read the passage to my sisters. It was just so crazy and gory, we had to laugh.

Thanks to that book, I'm definitely interested in reading another of Seth Grahame-Smith's books, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Why not? 1) It sounds twisted and interesting. Honest Abe, a rugged vampire hunter? I am intrigued. 2) I've heard good reviews from friends; and 3) with a cover like this, how could I not want to read it?


I am also hooked on The Hollows series, by Amanda Hocking. I blazed a post-apocalyptic zombie littered trail through the first book, Hollowland, and immediately downloaded book 2, Hollowmen.


However, while I do enjoy juggling a couple of books at a time, I'm pretty into what I'm reading right now (Angela Benson's Awakening Mercy) so beginning book 2 will have to wait :(


But yes, I am super excited to see where book 2 takes the main characters - even will (or maybe especially with) all the zombie creepiness. Man, I love diving into a good, well-written book :)

On another topic, some evil person put Girl Scout cookies out at work today.

I don't even like Girl Scout cookies all that much (stop the boos and hisses. They are okay, but not my favorites!), but any workday here creates a need for chocolate. Almost like the need for oxygen. Almost. I managed to escape unharmed with two Thin Mints. As I sat at my desk, I overheard a co-worker say that she had just been shoved out of the way so others could reach the box. Madness. Tasty madness.

Happy Hump Day everybody!

Happy Heart Day :)

Thanks for the image Google images :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

It's my first Valentine's Day as a married woman! Holy crap (or something more beautiful for Love Day) - Holy Rose Petals! My honey and I don't have anything planned. The fact that it's a Tuesday sucks, but the fact that we are oh-so broke sucks more. It's fine though :) We'll probably have a nice dinner at home, and try to do something over the weekend. It's strange that I don't feel that much different than I did the other 15 Valentine's Days we've had together. Well, that's not exactly true.

I feel more in love.

I simply feel happier than I ever have. Even when we are angry with each other, or frustrated with each other, or deliriously happy with each other, O makes me so wonderfully happy. I also have an amazing family, and sweet in-laws...yep, I'm lucky - I realize it and am thankful for it.

15 years ago we were in high school, teenagers in love, and now I am married to the man I love; the man I am in love with, and who loves and is in love with me.

Wow!

It's a pretty spectacular feeling, and being with him and spending time with him - even if we decide to just veg out and watch some TV - is the best Valentine's Day gift I could ask for.

Happy Love Day everyone!

Is it 5:30 yet?

My job is killing me. That's what it feels like.

The paperwork.

The in-fighting.

The high school style cliques and drama.

The fake smiles disguised as friendliness.

The nosiness disguised as concern.

The constant fear that the other shoe is going to drop.

It's. Too. Much. I'm not averse to hard work, but work should not be this hard - not in this sense.

I feel like I'm drowning sometimes. Too often I wake up in the morning, before my alarm goes off, (hubby leaves extra early in the am so he's already enjoying his work day by then :) and just stare at the clock silently enjoying my me time until I have to get up, get ready, make my two hour commute, work in the shark jaws of Hell's high school's sweatiest gym locker and make my two hour trek back home (and yes I had the whole 'Gotta get up. Gotta get going. Gonna see a friend of mine' Winnie the Pooh theme in my head as I wrote that). As much as my feet drag as I walk to work (shoulders hunched over, scowl firmly in place), they rush me home with the apparent speed of light at the end of the day. I am so consistently elated to leave the pit - to leave the City - at the end of the day I can hardly stand it.

Some ridiculous bullsh*t-label worthy nonsense was initiated at my job yesterday. When I say BS worthy, I almost want to have a solid gold trophy made up and handed to this person during the first annual BS parade. With the stuff that goes on here, we'd have a parade every other day. It was insanity that began late in the workday. Thinking that it would be a dead issue today, I actually came to work in a somewhat pleasant mood. I'd decorated P's office for her birthday (office luau) before I left, gone out for Chinese-Indian cuisine last night, had an insane amount of laughs, headed home to my sweetie, and even gotten a good night's sleep - and today is Friday! All was well...until I get here.

I was told to do something yesterday that I did not feel comfortable doing until I had facts in place for myself (instead of relying on information from others), and apparently that turned into a huge 'with me or against me' campaign. Just because I choose to handle things a different way, does not mean that I am 'with' or 'against' anyone. I'm sick of this workplace faction crap. When did it not become enough to just come to work to work? To be respectful and personable to people, regardless of whether you like them or not, because you're supposed to be a grownup in a professional environment. This is a job. It's not called happy, fun playtime because it's not recess, it's f'ing work.

I'm just so frustrated. It's silly and more than a little distressing that some people can't seem to grow up and not simply just grow older.

Seriously, is it 5:30, yet? I need a movie marathon weekend. I really want to see "Haywire", "The Grey", "Underworld: Awakening", and "The Artist", but I also want to see "Contraband", "Man on a Ledge", and "One for the Money" (even though the casting for that is 100% wrong. Katherine Heigl? Seriously?). I may have to construct a make-shift dart board and toss a few darts. Three back to back movies with my hubby should be enough to get me out of the funk of this week. Maybe. We'll see. Next week has to be better. Maybe I'll be the lucky Powerball winner tomorrow (oh how I wish upon wishes). That would be exactly what I need :)

Hope you all had a better week than I did. Feel free to vent or rave in a comment :) Either way, have a great weekend everyone.

Oh, and tomorrow's "Thank a Mailman (or woman) Day", so be sure you do that :)

What's with the shoes?

If anyone was looking to play an impromptu game of detective - Whose shoe is this? Edition - you could have had a field day at the corner of 46th and Madison yesterday afternoon. These two pairs of mens shoes were lined up in such a way that it looked like the previous owners stepped out of them and kept going, or disappeared altogether. For all I know, the mystery shoes are still there, patiently waiting. I commented to P that perhaps Marty McFly simply didn't right the wrongs in those two people's pasts quick enough, but she just gave me a quirky look and didn't respond.

How she could have held a response back, I have no clue. BTTF humor is too good to be ignored :) That movie series is so great. My husband and I even had a Back to the Future table at our wedding. (So you don't think it was some random DeLorean-esque table on the dance floor, each of our guest tables was actually named after and tailored toward one of our favorite movies. I'll include the full movie list at the end, if anyone's interested.) What with the DeLorean time machine (yes, I know it's no 'bigger on the inside, multi-room, yes, it even has a swimming pool' Tardis - and yes, I do love Doctor Who too), great story, and Michael J. Fox, this movie is a classic. And it even has a crazy old Doctor who, while not as adorable as any of Dr. Who's recent regenerations, definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer.

I got off topic a bit, I think. Shoes. Yes. What is with all the abandoned shoes I'm seeing in the city? I understand seeing one sad and broken or lost shoe, but when it's one, two or three pairs placed together, neatly on the edge of the sidewalk - is that some art thing?

Anyway, back to work. This paperwork pile isn't going to stare at itself.

Have an excellent Hump Day everyone; and it's February 1st - Happy National Freedom Day!

Oh, the list :) The tables at our wedding were Jerry MaGuire, Clue, With Honors, Stardust, Jurassic Park, The 10th Kingdom (yes, I know it's a mini-series and not a movie, but it is the BEST!), Top Gun, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Bad Boys, and Back to the Future. It was amazing, and everyone got it and loved it. Simply amazing :)