I haven't updated the site for twelve days now. I got on a roll when I had some time off from school, but I lost the momentum again. I had good intentions this past week, but instead of being productive, I just about turned into Brian Wilson. And not productive, hard working Brian Wilson. Stay-in-bed-for-several-years Brian Wilson. Things were just not in my favor this week.
Monday
I got to work, and there was an email stating there was a meeting for the entire department. The Evil Queen and I got to spend an hour speculating on the topic. We figured either they were going to revoke mandatory overtime, or we were all fired. We were kind of hoping to be fired. Turns out they had unloaded one of the useless supervisors, and life was good.
Then we got word that we would have a 2.5 hour long meeting the next day, and my good mood vanished. I don't like meetings. I'm a trained monkey! They don't listen to my suggestions anyway! So why do they even drag me into a meeting and pretend they will take my suggestions about how to improve the job I do every day?! They are just going to blow me off! Save a step and let me keep working!
So, with the impending doom of a meeting the next day, I was very cranky that night during Raw. The matches sucked, Triple H is ruining wrestling, and one of LCG's peculiar cats bit me! Hey, cat! If you are going to sit on my collarbone and purr and periodically lick my face, don't be surprised when I toss you onto the floor after you bite my face! I have a meeting tomorrow! Go bite the person who scheduled my meeting!
Tuesday
I got an important call on the Bat Phone. It was Izzy Stradlin's forty-first birthday! I got to giggle over Izzy while I thought about how I used to wear vests and a leather cap because of him. But the thrill of Izzy didn't last long, because I had to go to the horrible meeting, where none of my suggestions (or EQ's suggestions) were taken. But since EQ and I knew that was coming, we spent most of Monday implementing our suggestions in advance. Hee!Then I went to see Cheap Trick with Jeff J. That helped me to forget the fact that thanks to the Tuesday meeting, I was now going to be stuck in a meeting on Wednesday.
Wednesday
Hello, worst day ever. I woke up all tired since I had been enjoying rock and roll the night before, and then my mom tells me that my aunt has the cancer. My aunt who is thirty-eight. This is the third person I know under forty who has gotten the cancer in the past three years. I don't like those odds! So, my day was shot as of 7:30 in the morning, and I still had a meeting that day.
At work, I listen to talk radio all day, because local music radio isn't very good and they (my employer) have taken away my beloved VH1 radio. Plus, I like my news combined with entertaining commentary. The bumper music used for one segment was some Martha and The Vandellas, and my fog cleared. It became oh-so-obvious what would make my day better. I thought, "I should go home and hide under the covers and listen to girl groups. Something produced by Phil Spector!"
But then I realized that is what Brian Wilson did when he stayed in bed. Great. It only took two days with meetings and I have become an isolated nutcase. That could work, but I can't reach my computer from my bed. I told LCG about my controversial new plan.
Me: "I'm just going to be Brian Wilson."
LCG: "A weird recluse in a robe?"
Me: "I don't have a robe."
LCG: "We can get you a robe."
Me: "It has to be stripey."
LCG: "Okay."
I didn't expect him to endorse that plan, but I was a little cheerier. Then I had to go to a meeting.
The meeting was horrible, and afterward, the head supervisor dumped a stack of work on my desk. A six-inch thick stack of mysterious manila folders pulled out of the office of the fired supervisor. The fired supervisor who had been there for eleven years. Why I am in charge of that shit all of a sudden? I gave it to EQ, but she didn't mind. But did you notice? Since EQ and I are competent, we are having to clean up the work of someone who had been there eleven years and, well, we are not making been there eleven years pay. Nor do we experience perks such as respect.
Ten minutes before I had to leave, head supervisor wanted me to learn something new. "I'm leaving in ten minutes." "We can do this in ten minutes." I glowered and grumbled and then she issued to me the, "We all need to be team players," statement in the talking to a surly toddler voice. Um, maybe she should have thought of that before she fired someone who hid all of her activities so we didn't have to figure it out after the fact!
I went home in tears. She is giving us orders like, "I don't want to see any of this on my desk." We are a team with a leader who wants to do nothing to help us.
And my cassette deck was surly on my way home! When I wrote my Bay City Rollers thing, I got so excited about the record I taped a copy for in-car use. And there was room at the end of the cassette, so I added A Quarter To Three by Bill Wyman, and Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen, which is the greatest of all songs from side two of A Day At The Races that was not written by Roger Taylor. So I was all geared up to keep on dancing to the rock and roll by listening to Saturday Night. Suh-suh-suh-sat-ur-day ni-ight! Suh-suh-suh-sat-ur-day ni-ight! Follow that up with a little Bill Wyman and a little Queen, and I would have been right as rain. But my cassette deck was on break.
I should have found me some Morrissey, because that would have cheered me right up, but instead I went home and hid under the covers until it was time to go back to work.
Thursday
Head supervisor was in meetings all day, so EQ and I could work in peace. Then I went to school to start my Career Skills class. The Career Placement Guy teaches it, and the point of the class is to give us maximum assistance in finding a job. Whee! Things are looking right up. Although I did take a career interest test that was not unlike the one that they took at Springfield Elementary. Remember the question Miss Hoover read? "I prefer the smell of A) Gasoline, B) French Fries, or C) Bank Customers." It was like that.
I am pleased to announce that I should be a writer, editor, landscape gardener, or astronomer.
None of those have anything to do with my Information Systems/E-Commerce program, but I am not concerned. I would have checked the box with "web designer" if it had been a choice. It wasn't! So I checked "farmer," because I was thinking of the slick straw hat I would be able to wear if I had a farm.
I did leave class fully confident in my ability to get a job in my field, so I should take Bono's advice and not let the bastards grind me down. (I forget which song that is from. I know that it's on Achtung Baby.) My employer can't bring me down! I don't have the Mr. Burns-provided plaque. You know, "Don't Forget, You're Here Forever." No, I am there for maybe two more months. Whee!
Friday
I met LCG for lunch at the record store, and I got a Jack Bruce record that I don't have and a copy of the Ace Frehley solo album for my car. I love Jack Bruce! Things are looking way, way up. Then I discovered that I still need LCG's computer for homework this quarter, but for only about 20% of it. Whee!
I finished most of my homework Friday night, and still had time to go out for a nice cocktail with LCG, and he started a delightful game of, "Which of your friends do you think is the cutest?" I had to go by looks only, because people who like Queen always end up being the best looking in my mind no matter what they actually look like. He knows that, and the Queen Fan Factor was eliminated. Thanks to that, Aaaahj was undefeated in every contest.
Saturday
LCG and I went to visit Aaaahj, and told him that he is my cutest friend. He blushed, thereby making him even cuter.
Then I finished more homework.
Sunday
This week's homework is complete. I am wearing an attractive green mud mask while updating the site. I am listening to my favorite radio show, Cosmic Slop, the most important radio show ever produced. I had a cool dream that involved a bunch of WWE Superstars going to the grocery store in a rusty Toyota. And I started reading a book about the history of British Rock Guitar. The Simpsons are on later, and then maybe I will go buy some hair dye. Life is back to normal. With any luck, I will be updating regularly again. I have a meeting tomorrow, but I am paying attention to Bono. I will not let the bastards grind me down.