If you are one of these people, stay out of Dr. No's way. He's pissed, and it's one of the funniest things I've read this week.
We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
April 2005 Archives
It feels like I'm losing you, but not to another woman or a job;
I'm losing you to nothing as you change to make me happy.
I watch as you slowly fade away
day by day more of you is erased.
At first you were behind glass - visible, but out of reach;
now you're a ghost, a shadow on the wall.
I feel your touch, see your smile, but it's not you behind them anymore -
your laugh, your eyes, your songs,
yet not your heart behind them.
It's just a matter of time before you vanish completely,
sand slipping through my fingers,
smoke drifting away on the wind,
and I've lost you
to nothing
Why is it that time isn't consistent? Some parts of a day can go by before I finish blinking while other parts make seconds seem like hours, and I don't understand why. At first I thought it had something to do with being bored - that if I didn't have anything to do, time would seem to go by slower. That turned out not to be the case though; I can be in the middle of a project and time still seems to crawl by like a sloth, although if I can figure out how this works, it can actually be used to make the workday better. The Monday morning meetings would start flying by, but the moments I enjoy will feel like they stretch out endlessly. I'm pretty sure that would make it a bit easier to come in to work, don't you?
While I was walking to the metro this afternoon, a lady was asking people if they wanted to take a free stress test. When she got to me, I just shook my head and kept walking, chuckling because I have a stress test of my own. It varies somewhat, but the mental dialogue usually goes something like this: Tight neck? Check. Tension headache? Check. Shoulder pain? Check. Yep, looks like I'm stressed. Once I've determined whether or not I'm stressed, the next step is to figure out why. That one always begins with "Am I at work?" If the answer to that is 'yes,' then I need go no further with the questions. However, if the answer is 'no,' the questionnaire continues, usually with the time-saving "Well, where am I then?" If I'm on the train/metro, that instantly explains my current stress level; if I'm at home, the next step is to figure out why I'm stressed when I should be relaxing and decompressing. And to think I used to believe that stress wasn't something you had to think about.
It's been a hard day, baby, so come here to me
let me wrap you in my arms and hold you close.
Let me kiss away your frustrations,
watch the tension slip away,
let me try to make it better tonight.
I bought AFI's Sing the Sorrow album when it came out in 2003, and was quickly addicted to the songs "Girl's Not Grey" and "The Leaving Song, Part 2". I half-heartedly listened to the rest of the album, but didn't enjoy it much because I wasn't really given the other songs a chance. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was scrolling through my music library; I noticed AFI, decided to give them another listen, and was amazed that I didn't fall in love with the album when I first bought it. There's a grand total of one song on it that I'm not too crazy about, and even that one's not bad, just not one I'm likely to put on repeat play. "The Leaving Song" is my current favorite track because the music is so gripping. The melody is fluid, a bit melancholy, but kind of sweet at the same time. Normally I'll pick up the lyrics to a song by the third or fourth time I've listened to it, but not this one. I've been paying so much attention to the music that I only have a vague idea of what they're singing. I'm such a girl sometimes.
While I was walking to get a bagel this morning, I passed a guy in his mid-to-late 60's, early 70's, and apparently he liked what he saw because he gave me a huge wink as he went by with what appeared to be his wife and daughter following behind him. Now, while there may be girls who dig guys three times their age winking at them, I am not one of them, so I thought it was pretty damn creepy.
I went to Wal-Mart to buy cereal and milk last night, and in my wanderings throughout the grocery section, stumbled across this gem: 
I don't know if you've ever tried this stuff, but it is awesome. My favorite kind of popcorn, in fact, not that that matters. It's buttery, but spicy too, which makes for an awesome combination. It does make my nose run, but I think that's because I'm such a pussy when it comes to spices and all things spicy.
The branch's Admin Staff (that's just me, Supervisor, and BofC, now that 007 has left) went on our annual retreat today. We were supposed to go on Tuesday, but BofC called in, so we postponed it to today. We went to a convention of sorts nearby, and had a surprisingly good time. I entered in several contests (one for an Xbox, a PSP, some MP3 player that I can't remember the name of, a desktop scanner, and two different ones for iPods), got tons of freebies and candy (Hershey's caramel kisses and hugs, yay), and got a free flash drive. BofC won it, but she didn't want it, so she gave it to me. We walked around for a while, during which time I ran into Hot Karl, then decided it was time for lunch. We thought about Fuddruckers, Hooters, Chipotle', and others, but decided on...McDonalds. Very high class, yes? At any rate, we had a good lunch, and had did some talking about work, specifically what Supervisor's plans were to try to help raise morale. She's very results-oriented, which is just one of the reasons she's the best boss I've ever worked with. It also helped to find out that she isn't too fond of her job and was also recently at a point where she didn't care about coming in anymore. Regardless of that, though, she did, and made some very good points about how to not let the job/stress/frustration/etc. get to you. I wasn't looking forward to this retreat, but I'm glad I went after all, although my feet aren't too happy about it.
This "spring forward" business can kiss my ass. While I enjoyed the sunlight hanging around till 7:30 or so last night, getting up at what felt like 3 this morning absolutely sucked. Also, I was getting rather fond of seeing daylight when I walked into my building each morning; now that it's dark again when I go in, it feels more like the wee hours of the morning (which it is), and I really don't need any more reminders of that, thankyouverymuch.
Yesterday I took the Metro to meet Mikeafter work and encountered a tidal wave of fuckwits along the way, all obnoxious in their own individual ways, almost unbelievably so in some cases. The deluge began with the three elderly people slowly hobbling their way down the stairs, completely blocking said stairs and preventing anyone from passing by, and continued with the lady who gave me a flat tire on the escalator, then had the nerve to give me a shitty look when I turned around to look (read: glare) at her. Two little, withered old ladies completely took me by surprise when they pushed in front of me on the platform, then managed to surprise me again when they almost ran me over trying to get to "[their] seats before anyone [stole] them". The guy videotaping the Metro experience as he got on the train received no slack from me whatsoever. It's just a metro - it's not that fascinating. The fat guy firmly planted on the left side of the escalator (completely oblivious to the ever-growing line of people behind him that wanted to walk down) should have taken a lesson from the kid behind him. I mean, if a kid that is 9 years old at most knows to move himself and his baggage over to the right and let people pass, then you, someone a good 10 years his senior, should know this too. Several other people earned a nod for their stupidity, but since I've lost that lovin' feeling and don't feel like writing any more today, their stories will go untold for now.
* thanks to Hot Karl for introducing me to the above terms
