March Misc.

I'm Free....

My Saturday class is over now, so I'm free.

Which is why, um, I spent three hours at work. And can you believe it? FF was online at the same time. When I sent an email (meant to be read on Monday) about attending an industry conference for one day in NY, he fired back, "Please review your commitments and make sure you can meet your deliverables."

Bite my deliverables.

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Going Home

I worked for MJ at Fezziwig Co. She was always the overachiever (we're exactly the same age, which is kind of weird), hard worker, innovative, seeing new opportunities. And she's been laid off three times in six years.

I met her last night for nibblies and a bit too much alcohol. (Honestly, it was only two glasses of wine.)

She told me about what had happened to her since her last lay-off. She is currently still unemployed. Here we go:

She decided she wanted to deal with the acne scarring on her face that she's always been very self-conscious of. I've never seen her without makeup. So she found the best guy in the city, got all doped up for "laser resurfacing" and she said it felt like someone was taking hot razors and slicing off about 1/4" deep into her face. She screamed. The doctor stopped. It turned out she'd been given her meds way, way too soon. They gave her another dose. The same thing happened. Her sister was with her, charged into the room, and helped her up from her bed of pain. For three weeks, she hid in her house, waiting for half of her face to grow back. And while she was waiting, she decided she was going to adopt a dog.

She ended up with the Bichon from Hell. She said everything was fine for the first four days, but suddenly, the dog went absolutely nuts, barking at her, growling at her son, and finally attacking her. She managed to get the dog crated and called the animal rescue group who said, "Well, yes, Sybil does have some behavioral issues." In the meantime, MJ had paid a fortune to get the dog up to date on medical stuff.

The next day, the animal rescue people came and took Sybil away.

MJ has been teased and tormented with interviews. The most recent one wanted a ten page presentation on how to increase their online sales as part of her interview. When she realized they wanted free consulting, she called to cancel.

MJ is from Rhode Island. Last night, she said, "I could sell my house here and for cash buy a place on the water in Rhode Island. I'd only have to work to pay for whatever I wanted." (Oh, and taxes, utilities, and retirement.) "I've had just about enough of this. Next month, I'm going looking."

I will miss her. But I can't blame her one tiny bit.

If I was fixed the same way, I might do it, too. However, in my heart of hearts, I suspect I am doomed to spend the rest of my life in the Great Garden State.
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Feets, Don't Fail Me Now

I took off the tape on my feet this morning. Ooh, happy feet! My feet didn't hurt! They didn't! I could walk on them. Oh, modern medical miracles. That lasted until about noon. Now my dogs are barking.
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Pocket Successfully Burned Through!

I got a nice tidbit of a bonus from Unnamed Co. I know I should save it, but in the past day or two, I've yearned to buy a new laptop, only to learn that the Windows Vista OS makes me queasy.

Now, here's proof that I'm a book person.

I spent a hundred bucks this morning.

On what? Oh - to replace the shredded jeans I'm wearing now? To take advantage of the clothing sales? To buy new shoes?

Heck, no. I went to Barnes & Noble, baby.

Because, you know, I just don't have enough freaking books.