Sunday, April 18, 2010

Goodnight ya'll

I had a great weekend. Hosted a party with my neighbors--they brought the army hazmat folks; I brought the industrial hygiene folks.
It was great to chat to different people who all had stuff in common.
Sunday was spent doing cleanup, chillin', reassuring my dogs we weren't keeping that rottweiler puppy the other folks brought (no matter HOW FRICKEN' CUTE she was and she was snuggly and had that cuddly puppy belly...but I digress ;) ) and put stuff away.
All in all a successful fun time. Wish I could have brought everyone.
Oooh--irrelevant sidenote: any CIH out there looking for a challenging job in the VI. Contact me for details. A new position just opened up.
Muah!
-H.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

So...

I know I owe you all the rest of my story. So I've been trying to find some time....and if I had brought my netbook to THE BAR where I'm waiting for my ACCOUNTANT I would have been able to update you.
Sadly, I am only here with a beer and some depressing tax info.
Thankfully there is beer.
I'm over here on the east side of the island. VERY different vibe over here. So, here's the haps:
Still no job security.
Still no money.
Still no husband here.
and I owe way more in taxes than I have.
~shrugs~ but there is beer. Oh tasty beer.
All will be well; I am not concerned (anymore--had a fun few days of panic). So soon this accountant meeting shall occur. I shall hand him checks. Then home and bed. :)
Hugs to ya'll. Happy tax day!!!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Oh Woe Is Me...

People...I am basically a puddle of eeyore today. Seriously, my first full week back and it has basically sucked my will to live right out of my body. So, while the only thing more pathetic than being a blogger is being a whiney emo blogger, I am still going to explain my week in intricite detail which I am sure will be quite funny to anyone NOT me.

My friend Erin came to visit and with her she brought millions and millions of wee virusy beasties that given our excessive sharing of beverages, food, space, pillows, etc. soon launched themselves into a happy new environment I like to call my body. mmmmm, delicious coughing, sneezing, snuffling. It REALLY didn't help myself that I spent the week drinking like I was on vacation on a tropical island. So, week 1 of the cold goes by....not too bad. Week 2, start to get better...Week 3--getting worse. dammit. feel like crap, know it is a sinus infection. Know that my chicago doctor will not give me anything over the phone because, well, they don't often do that. This led me to do 2 of the 3 things I have been afraid to do because I was certain it would seal my fate and get me voted off this island once and for all. The three things are as follows:



  • get a primary doctor


  • get an on-island dentist


  • buy new fire retardant coveralls

Why these three things in my mind assured me of getting booted off this rock I do not know. I'm superstitious by nature. *shrugs*. So, on monday when my pounding head and fever FINALLY got me down I called and made an appointment with an "internist". Then fearing the spiral was already in effect on Tuesday I went to the safety store and bought 3 new pairs of fire retardant coveralls. Because really, why not go out in style? and No. I did not get a dentist. Because board certified dentists who give me nitrous to clean my teeth in the states scare me, let alone some dude with a coconut and a chisel (no, this is not accurate, yes, this is anti-island, I don't feel good and am whiney, WAH!) My appointment was for Wednesday.


So fast forwarding through the mental breakdown that was Tuesday (didn't get paid, freaked out, wrote an incredibly long email to HR which literally included the fact that I was getting made fun of in my worn out coveralls (fashion matters EVERYWHERE people) but because I hadn't been paid I could not afford new ones), they wired me the money, I went and bought coveralls, tuesday over, went home and went to bed before the sun went down. Have I mentioned that I am a touch dramatic when I am sick? Cause I am. And I am well aware it is not pretty.


Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early (cause you know, went to sleep at like 7PM) and grabbed a new shiny pair of coveralls, donned them and looked like a 4 year old in her mother's pajamas because I hadn't washed (aka shrunk) them yet. Whatever, new coveralls...off to work.


And here is where I have to stop for a minute, lay my head down, and remember....because this is so embarassingly awkward. Folks, I don't know if you have noticed...but I'm a talker. And sometimes I'm....mmmm, how do you say, an inappropriately sarcastic talker. So, put me in a meeting (and feverish) and you get....well, "awkward Heather". I wanted to write about the horror of this meeting moment earlier this week, I just wasn't ready to face it yet.


Okay, I'm ready. So, there is this thing going on, they were talking about handshakes with a lot of people. I asked the occupational nurse with a sarcastic little head tilt...."so, flu season's over right? maybe we should just switch to fist bumping". ahaha haha ha. I'm soooo witty. *blink* This turned into a 20 minute argument regarding hand sanitzation, breaks to wash hands, would it be offensive to hand sanitize after each handshake...(expletive!). I couldn't even look at my boss. It was horrific. It was all my fault. It was silly. GACK! Sarcastic co-worker looked at me and mouthed, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?". It was horrible. Like a train wreck. Started a new mantra that morning. Must. Shut. Up. it's simple, to the point, and so very very true.


THEN....


I had to leave work to make it to my doctors appointment. Holy crap. I will finish this post later. It gets worse. so very very much worse.

**okay, it's 2 days later, in a much better mood, but still struggling with how to write up this doctor visit**

You should all know that there are two sides to me...there is the hippie spiritual earthy Heather. This is the Heather that used to want to work as an outdoorsie researcher, live in a tent, bathe in cattle ponds. Hippie Heather (HH for short) is very spiritual and big into long flowy skirts and recycling.

Then there is the wry, sarcastic, kinda bitchy, practical, and anxious side of me. This side of me is completely at odds with the other one.

So imagine the non-hippie Heather meeting up with a doctor for the first time who is studying (or so it turns out) to be a Shaman. I had a serious devil/angel on my shoulder. The devil version of me said, "don't encourage the hippie crackpot--HOLY hell! she wants to take away our anti anxiety medication-aaaaaaaaahhhhh" The angel side said, "explain to her that you know all about Chakras and that it is more the hearth/home yellow Chakra that...." next thing I know the shoulder angel/devils are in a knock down drag out of doom.

And there I was, just trying to get something to knock out the sinus infection...

sadly (yes, sadly) the story continues....

but for now, have an awesome night.
Muah!
-H



Monday, April 5, 2010

Monday

Hiyaz! Holy crap am I tired. Not (sadly) physically tired more I administrated my butt off today answering emails and scheduling crap....and by crap I mean C.R.A.P.--Completely Relevant And 'Portant
So now I'm laying here in bed ready to sleep and my mind is racing although (sadly) with nothing of profound interest.
This is sad, but I just literally looked around on my nightstand looking for something of interest to say....cripes. I got nuthin tonight folks.
Have a great night, work and drive safe, eat fiber, take vitamin D, and joke 'em if they can't take a f#*k.
;)
Muah!
-H.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Welcome Back Slackah!

Sorry everyone, I have ever so much to say but I took a much needed vacation from my own life. It was great. But, as ever, by putting off feelings, projects, and stressors when it's time to face them again it is a touch overwhelming. Color me overwhelmed.
Let's see, where to begin...the wednesday before vacation. I was innocently (sure, we can call it that) busting my butt trying to get work done and organized before my vacation. My boss says, hey, you should go to this meeting. mmm'kay. Meetings are spiffy. Sometimes I'm lonely and like to sit in a room where none of us are as dumb as all of us. There was a dude a chatterin' up front and he started going on (and on and on) about his hatred of (imagine darth vader marching music) consultants. After a good long rant where I felt like I should shrink into my own skin he said--oh, I hope there are no consultants in here...I raised my hand and awkward laughter ensued. Following that the "acknowledgements" occurred. They went out of their way to thank people for all their work on the turnaround specifically my coworker and boss. *blink* I sighed, and if I am going to be honest I felt kinda woobly inside--now at this point my boss totally knee'd me under the table. This knee thump meant 2 very specific things to me 1. Don't freak out and 2. I know how hard you worked and it is very appreciated. The knee thump meant more than any printed certificate ever could. However, that didn't mean I didn't start making a list of "people who my ass needs to contact ASAP to find a new job (and then for some reason my brain switched to a ghetto accent) 'cause theze biatches' don't 'preciate me an if they wanna hate on me-suck it-i'm out." My boss then like made a big deal about well, we couldn't have done it without Heather...blah blah blah. Good Boss! and no, you can't say that without sounding condescending. I totally tried.

So, then thursday (my last day before vacation-wooo!) I worked until like 6pm zipping around then I got home officially on vacation and babysat for the neighbors. Yup, I am not so good at kids. Whenever she got annoying I told her that her parents said I was a babysitter and I think that means I am supposed to sit on you until you behave. That seemed to work.

Then Friday, blessed Friday....Started drinking as soon as I picked up my friends, bought a mattress...then there was a week of debauched funnery. Came up for air at one point when I realized I had not been paid (wtf?) and it turns out there was an error in banking. I tell you about this blip that caused me to be paid 4 days late for a reason.

Fast forward to the last days of March. Yet again not paid. hrmmm, they said they forgot to pay me my per diem (the thing that pays my rent) ruh-roh. They said no worries it would be paid by thursday. mmmkay.

Back to work on Wednesday--as I'm blearily putting on my boots in the parking lot (had not been up that early in a VERY long time) this little dude says, Hey--you have been picked again for the Random Urine Test. As my eyes rolled farther back into my head that I may have seen my own brain I thought. Of course I did. This magical random system has randomly picked me every week (- the one week I was on vacation) for the last month. Sure. Random. Whatever.

I could entertain you all with the fact that during the repeated testing and due to the fact I have no modesty whatsoever I continued to maintain conversations as I attempted to pee in a tiny cup (btw--I will never be able to write my name in the snow--no accuracy whatsoever) I feel it more important to let you some things *not* to do. Do not bring up interesting studies about how undiagnosed diabetics can actually create ethanol which would cause them to blow positive on a breathalyser. No matter how interesting I think that is, the drug nurse people then ask terse questions like--so does that mean you are letting me know you are going to fail? uh, no. I just thought it was an interesting study that given it's pertinence to your career of playing with my urine and breath I thought you would be interested in. Turns out that went over as well as that time I got a speeding ticket and asked the cop when the last time they calibrated their radar because it seemed horribly inaccurate. Three breathalysers later the nurse finally agreed that zero was my result. I'm learning not everyone is interested in everything I am interested in.

Thursday comes along and I didn't get my per diem. Red Rage Descends. So with the entire lack of power that I have I whined to the one person I know in the company I work for.
Which got me basically no-where (shocking) and then I found out that (insert law and order Dun-Dun) where I work really DOES hate consultants and I should start looking for a new job.

White Hot Panic Descends....so then I spent the rest of the day working, panicking, working, panicking, getting pissed, getting sad, and then working some more.

And now here I am, Saturday night with a decided attitude of meh. I have to go into work tomorrow for a short time to check some stuff...but not for long.
Again, meh.

So Thursday was my panic day, Friday was my stay in bed all day F my life day (until I realized I was nearly outa diet coke and was like holy crap--gotta leave the house), and now Saturday is I need to update my blog real bad.
and now it is done.
Hope everyone feels updated on my life thus far. No, I don't really know what is happening but this life has been pretty interesting so far! :)
muah!
-H.

StayCation

Hi. I’m sorry, I ‘vacated’ for a while there. It was awesome. Any boy oh boy does the real world SUCK. I shall tell you why soon enough but for a quick re-cap of my “stay-cation” two close friends came down to visit and we had much fun. Sure, they dragged me out of bed in the mornings to, as they say, “do stuff” but it turns out that doing stuff—even if that is only sleeping at the beach—is kinda fun.

So, happy vacation and soon I will have new pics showing on the blog.

In the interim here are my friend’s pics:

http://s1036.photobucket.com/albums/a444/e_hohler/Saint%20Croix%202010/

and here are mine:

Hi. I’m sorry, I ‘vacated’ for a while there. It was awesome. Any boy oh boy does the real world SUCK. I shall tell you why soon enough but for a quick re-cap of my “stay-cation” two close friends came down to visit and we had much fun. Sure, they dragged me out of bed in the mornings to, as they say, “do stuff” but it turns out that doing stuff—even if that is only sleeping at the beach—is kinda fun.

So, happy vacation and soon I will have new pics showing on the blog.

In the interim here are links to my pics and my friend's:

http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/heathea/STX%202010/

http://s1036.photobucket.com/albums/a444/e_hohler/Saint%20Croix%202010/



3-10-2010

Darn you Doctor Radio! Darn you all to heck!

Do you know I was drifting off to sleep, listening to the sounds of strangers’ medical problems. Enjoying a bit of schadenfreude on things I didn’t have, seeing if there was some new knowledge on things I did have, and feeling a little bitter at the braggarts (I lost 50lbs blah blah blah—shadddup)…

Then, it happened. That program ended—Goodbye guy in Texas with heart problems, Goodbye hypothyroid lady in Colorado, and Goodbye erectile dysfunction man in New York—I loved you all.

The next program started and filled me with a cold fear unlike any I have ever had before. All of a sudden I am sitting up in bed in the dark listening intently and all I can wonder is

ARE MY BITS FALLING OUT!!!??!??!!!

Yes, for those of you women (and men) out there I got sucked into the terrifying nightmare of vaginal, cervical, and uterine prolapse. Now, to be fair, the doctor giving the talk was very clear, concise, intelligent, and just downright good. She explained the biomechanics of how it can happen (women are made to be more elastic than men—kinda cool, but then again, kinda not), the genetic component (did any of your relatives have bits hanging out of them? Chances are you will too), and how many women have to be counseled that this is something that is not their fault (I get it—I would be wiggin’ out myself—but really, medical shit happens and since we humans are surviving well past our sell by dates these days it just looks like we are going to have to spackle ourselves together as best we can). The host of this particular show (may that melodramatic fear monger rot, and let me tell you why) had one catch phrase that she kept saying over and over and over and over and over, “…and sometimes women just feel stuff hanging between their legs…” This farkin’ sentence has got me squeezing my thighs together like a nun on a high holy day. What. The. Hell?!?! If my cervix ever falls out I surely hope I notice something is amiss before I suddenly have a new appendage just a’danglin.

So, on that charming note of new appendagry I shall leave you to enjoy the rest of your day.

Muah!

-H.

(and ladies—keep it together. *snicker*)