Some days...

Some days I feel like I am damn good at my job. This is not one of those days.
I have been riding that roller coaster of I am great, I suck, I am great again, oh crap...
It does (and doesn't) help that I have the most subtle boss in the world. A slight waver in his voice could spell doom...or it could be he just shotgunned some soda. So, If he suggests something I for SURE do it. Today I am very tired due to travelling for HOURS yesterday and I was going to leave work early and make up the time later in the week. He said to me, "you know, people look at your gate times...",I stayed and worked. We also got the news that my boss' boss is quitting. It's one of those moments where 1. I am sad to see him go cause I liked him and 2. oh crap--does he know something I don't.
Nothing too catastrophic today. I will attempt to update more.
Today I got to work early enough to beat angry jazz hands lady (crossing guard) and that always leads to a good day.

Hello....

So, Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll. I'm back on the island. I've learned a few things in the past week of "vacation".
1. get home before the day before you have to go back to work. Getting home late and then having to go to work the next morning is unpleasant (aka sucks).
2. don't travel somewhere colder on vacation; make people come to you.
3. don't take a taxi home from the stx airport. It was really expensive and took forever.
4. don't be suprised when you arrive at the stx airport if someone forgot to unlock the airport doors so two plane loads of people stand there looking at the terminal but are unable to get to the terminal. And then (this part really made me giggle) when you do unlock a door only unlock one of the 4 available doors so the people bottleneck trying to get through.
5. I'm tired, and when I am tired I get grumpy.
6. My landlord is still unpleasant. My electric bill (which was in my door when I returned home along with my rent invoice) was ri-freakin-diculous. That on top of the over-priced cab fare filled me with an impotent rage.
7. Regardless of how grumpy I am my dogs (and cat) still missed me a lot and all piled on top of me (to hold me in place?) when I got home last night.
8. It was nice to see as many people as I did; unfortunately there is never enough time to see everyone.
9. Besides people some of the things I missed the most were giant target stores (where I danced down the aisles smiling at people); giant bookstores where I raided the clearance racks repeatedly; and a lot of the food.
10. Some of the things I didn't like about the mainland was that strangers don't look you in the face, everyone goes out of their way to *not* look at you. A friendly greeting causes mistrust, and speed and anonymity is prized over politeness.

My Thanksgiving Plans o' Wonder...

Thanks to the generosity of an un-named family member I'm flyin' home for Thanksgiving. Well, flying, flying, driving, driving, flying, and then flying. But who cares! I'm going to see people! People that I love! And my family! (Kidding! Ha! I totally love my family--I just cannot resist a cheap joke) So, here is the itinerary for my midwest tour '09. After work on Friday I sucker some poor bastard into driving me to the airport, or I park at the airport, or something along those lines. Then I awkward my way through customs...I always mess up the form or something. Then I settle in for my first nap...I mean flight to Miami. Arrive at Miami, eat something....then either run for my gate or wait a *really* long time. Depending on how close the gate is. If I'm feeling especially cruel I will order something to go, something with extra onions and garlic so I can stink up the cabin of my next flight....nah, wait--thats every other person I end up flying with...*sigh*. Then I arrive in Chicag where I will either wait for Wilkes to pick me up (we *never* time it right) or I wait for a cab to drive me home. Haven't decided yet.
Then home. Then some packing and meeting with friends. then some doctors appointments on monday--then swingin' by the old office to drop off my work computer which was *DENIED BY CUSTOMS (W.T.H.)* when I tried to ship it back and say hello to people at the company of which I quit. I will cry.
Then, if I can, I will convince them to take me drinking somewhere with wings. You know where...:) Failing that, I will go by myself. The "someone just quit lets go eat at RAM thing"...it needs to happen with me too, dammit.
Then tuesday--well, I'm sleeping in...and then packing some more stuff at the house. Then wednesday-the great migration to OH/MI. Where I get to see my family, I'm sure my mom will cry (I get my emotional state from her you know. :) ) and there will be much rejoicing as I get to see everyone. :) Then thursday there will be the eating....then friday, friday will be the shopping (and I will remember why I moved to a tropical island). Saturday we check out of the hotel and commute our way back to the windy city...Sunday I fly back to St. Croix. Monday back at work.
And, since it is 72 degrees here today and not sunny (rainy) I am freezing! like, need to get a long sleeved shirt on cold--so I am pretty sure once I land in Chicago I am going to turn into a popsicle and shatter anyway and all this planning will be moot.
Much love to ya'll.
-H.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday

Cold Rainy Day...

A cold rainy 76 degree day...you gotta admit, still beautiful.
:)

Ya ever wonder...

Ya ever wonder, maybe its okay to just be a bitch? Maybe I *don't* have to rationalize away my emotions every single time? Maybe the other people *are* just wrong and I can just not like people.
Now, maybe you all think that just feeling what you feel is normal...I usually have an entire mental discussion every time I have an emotion. "Why do I feel this way, what was that person doing, did I cause this....blah blah blah blah blah ad nauseum"
So. Anywhoodle, there is some info on how and why I may be as nuts as I am. ;)
Happy Sunday.

Why Communism Doesn't Work...

I'm not going to lie; a lot of me wants to be the free and easy lets all just put money in the pot and take what we need kind of person. But it turns out I'm not that. I am, instead, kind of a heartless selfish bitch. So, while part of me has always wanted to go live on a hippie commune and grow my own food the realist part of me says, yeah, but how do I pay for pizza? And you know there would be a SMACK DOWN on the first hairy-armpit that tried to steal my last slice. So, while generosity is a trait I strive for, it turns out about certain things I get snatchy and snarly:

• diet coke: do *not* take my diet coke. Do not even look at my last diet coke. I will fly over my kitchen island and smack that shit right out of your hand in a kung fu move normally only seen on television.
• netflix: If I lend you a movie; get that shit in the mail the next day. maybe 2. Because otherwise--what. the. hell. I'm paying for shit to sit at your house. gee, that's satisfying.
• books: not all books, not even most books--but I have about a dozen books that I do *not* like to lend and if you are on the list of people who are lucky enough to borrow them you better believe I am going to check up on your progress, interest, and health and well being of my book--possibly daily.
• caps/lids: I am aware that this is some fucked up shit. I am. But if I lend you something, please do not lose the cap or lid from it. I don't know why, but receiving something back without the cap/lid (you know, like the plastic thing over the spray nozzle?) completely ruins that product for me and I want to throw it away. An example of this is some dog stuff I lent someone to cure a dog owie. It was a spray bottle, it came back without the cap. I had to hide it in a cabinet. Also, my husbands man-hands overtightened the cap on a bottle of mouthwash, cracking it. I am desperately trying to use this mouthwash before I freak out and throw it all away. Yes, I *am* this nuts.

I'm sure there are more things; this is just all that came to me this morning. In case you haven't noticed, there is a slight tone to this post. In the past I have tried *so* hard to keep the posts all sweetness and light; but cripes folks...I've been here 10 months and 8 days, that's a lot of friggin sweetness and light.

So, prepare for a few sarcastic, grumpy, and probably hoo-larious postings. Because what it all comes down to is I'm me. And I sure as hell ain't all sweetness and light.

Hugs & Kisses!

-H.

Uh. so, November happened.

It just kind of hit me, I wasn't prepared, ya know. But today I just realized that it is freak'n November. Then I looked at the last time I had updated and that was LAST MONTH. Wowsa, I'm a slacker. If it makes you all feel any better I haven't been writing as much because I have been *doing* stuff.
Also, I now have a Wii; turns out that is a hell of a lot of fun. Just saying.
Let's see, having become a devoted fan of some other blogs (these things happen when you don't have tv) I know that I love the minutae of other people's lives. So, here ya go...random crap (yet again).

I am pale. Like--live in Chicago pale. I will be flying in on the 20th of this month and I *know* I am going to hear about it. I don't know how to explain any further that I live here, I am not vacationing here. There are limited amounts of time I can spend sunbathing while performing daily stuff. But, for the sake of everyone's expectations I will try to crisp myself this weekend.

Saturday night I went to a thing. Well, crap. I'm going to have to start from the beginning. You ever meet someone, someone who seems *so* happy with their life and with who they are that they are both inspiring and intimidating at the same time? That's Elizabeth. I do not have her full story but she is a lovely retired woman who is a friend of some friends and we all get along very well. She is part of a group of painters called the "Palleteers". They had an art showing saturday night. Free wine, food...and best of all--fun people.
In fact, I seem to have found my soul mates of obnoxiousness. I know, I know...a lady shouldn't be obnoixous. Here's the thing. In this world--there are assholes. You all know it. I know you do. If you are at a party or gathering and you end up trapped in a conversation with such an asshole and can't find a way out--well, you signal your friend and they rescue you. One of my friends Tabra got herself caught in such a pickle on saturday, and a group of us stared at her trying to figure out if she was stuck, or just expounding her point by waiving her arms. Turns out she was in fact stuck. whoops. So as a table we decided we needed a better signaling system. After going through a few; someone suggested whooping. You know, car alarm "whoop, whoop, whoop!" while not subtle, this certainly became h00-fucking-larious and became the theme song of the evening.
But then, then I got stuck with a lechery old italian dude who was like, "is your name Heather or Leather...bwahhahhah..how very sexual." Immediately I stared at him and sent out the call, "whooop whooop whooop!!!" and as friends started whooping along I yelled, "this is NOT a drill--Whooop, whoop!". Thankfully, this scared off the old lechery italian dude. So, I'm not sure--but this may be my new thing.

I *really* should tell ya'll about Halloween. Needless to say, I went to a party. And holy CRAP did I have fun. And in all honesty I could have used the whoop whoop a few times, but it hadn't been invented yet.

Work is going well, nothing too exciting (she says, hopefully not causing some sort of explosion by saying that).

Apartment living, well, honestly...I need a stand alone apartment. My neighbors are lovely people, I like them and their cats. But we are excessively close and share a wall, and one day I really thought if I heard Margaritaville one more time I was going to cry. But, that *did* get me up and out of the house. :) I torture them in the same manner for I have downloaded all of the Glee songs and have a tendency towards belting that out at full volume.

Dogs are doing fine, my new cat is decimating the local ecosystem and he goes in and out and has a disturbing habit where he goes out, kills a rat/mouse/lizard/elk, runs up to the screen door dragging its corpse to show me...then drags it away again. Bless his insane little ass--he still cuddles me at night. What more could I want in a cat? :) The dogs are occasionally underwhelmed with his existence.

Alrighty. This was a half-assed posting, but hey, they have to start somewhere.
Much love!
-H.