Bite it sideways, pal.

Ahhh – Happy Bunny – how you summarize so well. I made a cd the other night – MMM, aka Mood Modifying Music. It is a cd I can play at work which has a lot of my favorite songs that make me want to sing along, dance, bop – all things that make me happy. Oh yes, there are some songs relating to my attitude at work when I am frustrated, but most are just fun songs that keep me motivated to keep going. I had to listen to it twice this week. It really does work. It was hard though to come up with 20 songs I liked, that modified my mood, and that I wouldn’t get sick of. The last one is the toughy. And most of the songs are fairly new, which was interesting. Here is my song list:

For Your Entertainment – Adam Lambert
I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
Bootylicious – Destiny’s Child
Dance, Dance – Fall Out Boy
Uprising – Muse
Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash
I Will Survive (Phil Kelsey Mix) – Gloria Gaynor
Not Ready to Make Nice – Dixie Chicks
Never Again – Kelly Clarkson
Mr. Brightside – The Killers
Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
Hot in Herre – Nelly
Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado
Womanizer – Britney Spears
Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
Sexyback – Justin Timberlake
Rockstar – Nickelback
So What – Pink
Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna

Work has just been so overwhelming and it’s stupid things. On Monday, I have to talk to little boss and remind her to include me in emails. There is so much information flying through the office, it is hard to keep up. Add in missing emails and people wonder why I feel lost sometimes. Hard to be an advisor if you don’t know what you are talking about.

The other two day crisis was a new person is coming onto our floor who has an orange allergy. Yep, you read that right. According to the memo we got, no one on our floor is allowed to eat oranges, wear orange scents, or use orange scented cleaners. I understand allergies – I have several. But WTF?!?! According to several medical websites I found, orange allergies are rare, are contact based, and a severe reaction is very rare. I try to be considerate of people and their idiosyncrasies, but there has to be a line where one person does not affect the lives of everyone else. We don’t know how long this person will be on our floor or who it is. There are a lot of us who are eating healthier, which means we eat fruit, including oranges. And when oranges are in season – I am all over that, especially mandarins. Come November when the baby oranges are in season, I eat like 6 a day – it’s all I bring for snacking. So this caused a whole big uproar. People were cleaning the fridge out, removing the empties, and whining up a storm. I won’t deny, I had an opinion and I stated it several times.

Another thing driving me nuts at work is basic grammar rules. Oh My Gosh – our headquarters people don’t know how to use a comma if their life depended on it. I tend to follow Eat, Shoots and Leaves – the British way, otherwise known as the formal way. I just think it is consistent, easy to read, and logical. Orca, who unfortunately has returned, was whining she had recently took a course at our local University and they taught her the proper way. Yeah – her first comment was when you have a list with:
- several things on it;
- a colon preceding it;
- semi-colons ending each comment; and
- the final comment ending in a period.

According to her teachings, the ‘and’ shouldn’t be in the above list. It is not required. And people wonder why my first thought for her is “has risen to the level of her incompetence.”

In case you didn’t figure it out, I have been doing a LOT of proofing lately at work. Joy. Going through 40 mostly identical letters to find spelling and other errors. The admin assistant in our office figured out what we doing on day two (yep, she is that self-absorbed) and caused most of our crises regarding the letters. When they were done, she was like “if I had known you were working on those letters, I would have set up a mail merge.” So when I mentioned we would be doing more letters within the next couple of months, she was all “oh, it’s a lot of work.” If something is her fault, she blames everyone else. If she finds an error, she harps on it for, like, ever! I am SOOOOOO happy I decided not to move into the desk near her. Yeah me!

Other than that, my feet are killing me. D and I went to the Art Walk today. It was very interesting, very busy, and I thought I would wear newish shoes since they would still have some cushioning, unlike my older shoes. I say newish because I have worn them a couple of times. This time was just like the last time I wore them – I have blisters on the back of my heels. Ow! And supposed walking from 100 street to 108 street and back (with a few side trips) is hardly any steps. How annoying. I bought 3 pieces of art (all prints). There were a few I really liked, but I have a limit to how much I will spend (hence, the prints!). D found a couple, but they were 3 to 4 digits. Then… I found the candy store!!!!! I spent more in there than I did on art. Teehee.

I am feeling much better about things than I was. Maybe it is because last weekend was awesome and this week was good - at home. Maybe it was just getting some sleep. Poor D is sleeping in the basement and is starting to get a cold. Guess D woke up last night, freezing (probably due to the fever). I have washed all the bedding and made up the basement bed all warm like tonight. I spoil D. I’m not sharing cause I will be in bed hours before D gets home.

Anyway, speaking of going to bed, I should head there soon. Nothing really planned tomorrow day – maybe I will get a few things like filing or working on In the Hat’s present. That should be good. I suppose I should weed some more… Sighhhh!

There is just one summer this year; make the most of it.

And so we are off – parties, weeding, catching up, trying to get some sleep, heat, thunder storms, running to close windows, unplugging computers, running to open windows to capture the elusive breeze, turning the table fan on, insect stings, heat exhaustion, debating on the degree of nakedness required, extra showers in cold water, bbqing, melting, freezies, slurpees, cravings for fruits/veggies/simple carbs. Yes – summer is here alright.

Take the July long weekend – yes, I took Friday off to make it a long weekend. My plans – a nice relaxing weekend. A couple opportunities to see some friends, some down time. Instead – less than a week’s notice for D’s parentals coming in means a less than a week of cleaning, then they arrive, bbq on Friday night, up early to spend time with them and make pancakes, 4 hours of shopping in used goods stores, bbq at another friend’s house, home early for cat, spend time with parentals, up early on Sunday to see them off, attempt to get more sleep, try to get energy to clean house and prep for people coming over Sunday night, people over, up late, Monday is back to work.

This week after work has been spent cleaning and vegging because I have no energy – I am not sleeping well, the heat is melting all of my energy, and I am craving food constantly to try to keep my energy up. Today, I gave up – I woke up with a headache after not sleeping well and I called in sick. I went back to sleep until the big thunderstorm let loose right overhead. That was nice, but now it is hot and humid and my energy is flagging again. I am debating taking nap. A friend is coming over for supper (haven’t prepped anything at all for that), then tomorrow is friends coming over at 1, then a bbq at another friend’s place at 4. Sunday will be spent weeding and catching up on all the outside chores – again. Every weekend this month is filled with something. And I want to attend all of them; I do. I just need to get some sleep – get some energy. I can’t depend on simple carbs to get me through the day. It doesn’t help around 9:30 each evening, the temperature cools and that is when I start getting more energy. I could be exhausted at 7:00, but if I am still up at 10, I am starting to get my second wind. Arghhhh!

My ‘getting in touch with your inner bitch’ calendar had the greatest line last Friday.

You can skip any and all of the parties on your schedule this weekend, unless you really want to attend – though it might be weird to not show up at a party you’re hosting.

Teehee.

New person started at work this week. I ran into her as we were both arriving on her second day and she asked me if Oko was a negative person. I got to explain to her that we are all quite negative right now at work – due to the stress, the lack of decent leadership, etc. I told her I was trying to stay positive, but I can honestly say, Monday afternoon I was ready to go to another department and say “please take me now.” It is so draining to be at work. The heat makes it draining at home. It would be $10K to get a new furnace and air conditioner. Right now, I am tempted to say screw the trip to Scotland/Ireland – let’s get the air conditioner. I know this will pass. I know it is partly brought on by not enough sleep. I just feel so tired.

Anyway, I should go finish the laundry I didn’t do yesterday and start prepping for supper. I am thinking something easy – bbq chicken, baby potatoes in oil and garlic on the bbq, some steamed carrots, and salad. Sounds easy and yummy. Whoot!