Why We Have Stereotypes

This lady in her 70s walked in a little while ago. She announced that she was from Massachusetts. She then proceeded to pace around the lobby while informing me of the dreadful and disgraceful state of repair into which a certain set of historical markers had fallen.

Now, I can tell with a fair degree of certainty that she was not from Boston. (Her accent did not involve pahking cahs in Hahvahd Yahd.) I must also admit that I have never been to that particular state. However, she was precisely the brand of hoity-toity that I somehow expect from that part of the country. Her air of superiority, coupled with the incessant pacing, was most unnerving.

Anyway, it just struck me that stereotypes don't come from nowhere. She was a reasonably good caricature of the "typical" citizen of Massachusetts.

This, of course, is only worth noting if it then makes me take a good look at myself. I certainly have no desire to be the "typical" California girl!

Playing With Expensive Toys

We got to gaze longingly at this beauty at Civic Academy last night. We were learning about the fire department, and they brought in all the cool toys. We got to see all the gear on a ladder truck, a regular truck, a paramedic truck, and this piece of high tech surveillance type gadgetry. Paramedics and firemen answered all our questions, except no one really knew what this truck could do. I tried to get a ride-along, but no dice. Maybe later.

AAAAHHHH!!!!

Big event this Thursday.

Classes start tomorrow.

Not the greatest day at work.

Trying to find a human at the university to answer some questions.

No human in admissions, registration, or extended learning.

Not surprising.

Still haven't gotten that essay written.

Again, not surprising. Can't even think in complete sentences.

Is it Friday Yet?

An open letter to sociopathic megalomaniacs everywhere:

Dear Friendly Neighborhood Sociopathic Megalomaniac,

Stop calling. Stop trying to take over the world. Leave your local Chamber of Commerce alone. Get over your colossal sense of entitlement; I and the rest of the universe do not owe you anything.

And for the love of all that is good, take a shower!

Thank you.

Just Because

Charles and Sly both came by to help. It's 1:30 and none of us has had lunch yet.

Sly's out picking up a pizza. It should be here soon.

Mmmmmmmm cheesy goodness.

EDIT: I think I ate too much.

What Gives?

I seem to have developed a taste for red wine. Never liked the stuff before. At all. As recently as last April, I found reds of all kinds completely undrinkable. However, I acquired a bottle of red not long ago, and I drank a glass of it today. What in the world!

Also, what is the deal with the stalwart Evangelical Christian leaders and Ann Coulter(!) bailing on the GOP to back Hillary? Clearly, I am not one of their minions. (Though I must say I've always distrusted the bandwagon.) Hillary frightens me. Not that McCain is any better. Still, I have to wonder how in the world they came to that conclusion. Politics truly makes strange bedfellows.

Honestly, I know that plenty of people like her, and that's fine. I don't trust her. Neither do I trust McCain. That leaves Obama. I guess I'm outting myself here, because (having no tv) what little I've seen of him makes him look a heckuva lot better than the other two. But there's still eight months and change until the election. I guess I'm one of those much sought after Undecideds (though there are definite leanings).

My parents would freak out if they knew.

Crazy Times

I got one evening to play online this week. Tuesday night belonged to work, last night I went to a friend's house for a non-halloween party, today is Thursday (OH CRAP I haven't studied my verses!), and I'm skipping town this weekend for a friend's wedding. I'll be back Sundayish, probably in the wee hours.

My clock says 3:39 pm. I have been awake for at least twelve hours today. Yeah. I don't know why. I simply woke up at 3 something, and my brain was so busy that nothing could get me back to sleep. Today was also the monthly breakfast, so I at least had free breakfast, courtesy of Tri-Tip Mike. And coffee, courtesy of the other coffee place in town. Coffee was a profoundly bad idea, for I have been high strung and shaky all day. Woohoo.

The newsletter finally arrived yesterday at closing. It should have been out last week, but we were waiting on some articles. Oh well. So I had to get it out the door today. After breakfast. I didn't get to the office until 9:30. I still had copies to run. I had no helpers and no collating done. I started the copies and made a few phone calls. Voicemail. I left a message on the first, but not the others. I finally got two people who would arrive around 12:30. The Boss was headed to a meeting where I knew some of our people would be, so I asked him to ask one of them.

At 11, I had one couple who came because of the voicemail I left. I had Charles, because he just showed up. Another couple came after the meeting. A half hour after that, the person I asked for from the meeting was there, as was the first of the phone contacts. Mr. Historical Society and The Boss were also helping. The conference room was in chaos. The work spilled into the front room. At 1, the whole mess was done, and all I had to do was the paperwork.

Wow.

Golf Cart

Sam & Flip had lots of fun with the golf cart at the Big Event.

A Bit of Happy

• Yesterday morning , one of my vendors from The Event came by with a one pound box of See's Candy.

• I got paid yesterday. All the overtime & double time adds up to a haircut yesterday, an oil change and a brake job later this week, and maybe even pants that fit! (Of course, with all that chocolate, I might want to hold off on the pants...)

• Today, the Boss went through the accounting for the fair tickets that I was in charge of selling last month. I had it dead on. He said that in the past, we've generally lost ten dollars or more. But I had it dead on.
  

• The sky looks like it's trying to rain.
  

So, Wow

The call I seem to be getting the most often this week is, "Hey, what's with all the old cars downtown?"

The answer has been that there is a movie being filmed. The movie is set in LA in the '20s, and our downtown just looks right.

Especially if Clint Eastwood is involved. Which, I've just been told, he is. So is Angelina Jolie. You don't give the Google Queen details like that. She might just find what she's looking for.

I think it's time to, uh, walk home for lunch. ;)

Generally Speaking

A picture from the parade on the 6th.

Big Event in Review (Part 2)

I walked to work in the dark on Saturday. 4 am. I spent the day running on 4 hours of sleep and coffee. The volunteers for the morning were at the office at 5. I sent Postmaster to the food court. Dad watched for arrivals at the powwow. Predecessor-neighbor checked in the non profits, and four others helped me with the sixty or so crafters. A chamber member security company lent us radios, so my team was stationed with them throughout the craft section to help vendors find their spots. The whole process went off almost without a hitch. There were two difficulties, but my awesome team smoothed them out easily. When the dust settled and the cars were off the street, I only had one no-show. Sadly, it was the vendor I most looked forward to seeing, but what can you do.

By then, sc0tlas and our thirteen-year-old cousin Flip were there to pass out programs at the parade. Our parade, by the way, featured an orange Dodge Charger. You might be familiar with this car. It is generally (ahem) known as the General Lee. I missed it, but one of the photographers I hired caught a picture.

Sc0tlas left Flip with me (such was the arrangement), so of course the Health Department chose that moment to appear. Again, it was almost perfect. The glitches here, though, were enough to cause some stress. There was a flurry of discussion on the radios among those of us who were still on them. The sink had no hot water. The Health Department didn't like that. Bob fixed it. We lacked soap and paper towels. The Boss took care of that, after a quick call to Tony the Toilet Man. (I'm not making this one up!) Had these two issues been uncorrected, we would have been shut down. All this time, we were loitering in the general vicinity of my friends, the Tri-tip brothers. Joe Tri-tip gave us each a piece of chicken and a sample of beef to munch. Mmmmm.

About this time, everyone suddenly wanted to borrow my golf cart. First, the beer truck guy needed to transport wine. (His helper at that moment was someone who was part of my parents' circle of friends when I was little. I grew up going to her house every year for Superbowl Sunday.) After Richard was done moving wine, Bill needed to move food from the office to the powwow grounds. Then I got a call on the radio saying Erik was to have my cart the rest of the day. Flip and I prepared to proceed on foot.

First, it was lunch time. We split a Philly cheesesteak from my cheesesteak vendor, and we each got a smoothie from my smoothie vendor. With twelve vendors in the food court, two at the powwow, and kettle korn and roasted nuts on the street with the crafters, I wasn't particularly planning to get to everyone, but I figured I'd get to what I could. Flip and I decided we'd split a funnel cake later. I called my aunt to tell her that I was spoiling the boy's dinner. Heehee.

For the next few hours, my trusty sidekick and I walked through the craft fair. We talked to every single vendor, making sure everything was going well. Mostly, I was hoping they were happy with the things that were mine to deal with, like the layout and check in. By 5:00, I had a tired cousin, a bum leg (the one I tweaked on Wednesday), a really nice walking stick, and a street full of happy vendors. And a funnel cake buried in powdered sugar, strawberries, and whipped cream. Flip was wearing his powdered sugar.

We bailed at 5:30. I had nothing else required of me for the day, and Flip needed to get home. On the way, I called his mom to alert her to our imminent arrival, and she invited me to stay for dinner. When we got to Grandma's house, I sat on the couch and didn't move for four hours. I was so tired!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning. Call time was a wonderful 8:30 am. Much better than the 4 or 6:30 of the two previous days. Even better, we drove golf carts to the diner down the street for breakfast. On the Chamber. W00t! Grilled cheese. Mmmm.

It was the day to distribute evaluations to all my vendors. When I say all, I mean sixty crafters, fourteen food booths, and two dozen powwow vendors. And I still didn't have a golf cart. Well, I took the evaluations to the food court first, and wouldn't you know it, I was a bit rumbly in my tumbly. First stop was the roasted almonds. This guy sent us a sample back in July. Almonds, pecans, peanuts, and cashews, all roasted and coated in a cinnamon/sugar/vanilla concoction. So good. I was not going to miss the chance to buy a pack. Except that Jim the Almond Guy decided to give me one. Of each. The potato guy decided I needed a stuffed potato. For free. (This job has seriously tasty perks.) It took quite a while to finish with the food court, for a few of the vendors wanted to talk, so by the time I got back to Joe Tri-tip, the potato was long gone. Before I knew it, I had a piece of tri-tip to munch. The beer truck was between me and the exit, and the Chamber President from Town Next Door was working, so I said hi. He got me a glass of wine. (Woohoo!)

Before I managed to hand out any more evaluations, I realized there was no way I was going to make it without my walking stick. I was pretty beat up and limping badly. (I have to say, standing on pvc pipe is a bad plan, unless you wish to dislocate something.)

I went through the powwow next. I figured that would be shorter and easier, since it was on grass. Lower impact. It was also next door to my house, so it was convenient after I picked up the stick. I gave a bag of almonds to a friend I ran into there. Of course, to get to the crafters from the powwow, one must walk through the food court.

I have no idea how, but I was hungry again, so I stopped by the sausage place. I pulled out my wallet as the grill dude buried a sausage in grilled onions and peppers, but the lady at the register shook her head. Are we picking up on a theme? I didn't pay for a single scrap of food on Sunday, and I haven't yet gotten to the lemonade I got after all the evaluations were out, or the kettle korn that I ended up taking home, or the two pieces of chicken that Joe gave me as we were tearing down!

By midday Sunday, the comments flying across the radios were pretty crazy. There were nine of us, and we were all tired. There was reference to the dead squirrel that Karen had to deal with last year. Someone was talking about diarrhea. Supervisor asked at one point if anyone could hear her, and we all answered no. Erik signed off saying he had to go bowling. Three people responded with a highly incredulous "Bowling?!" It was all exceptionally silly.

Tear down started at 5. I have no idea how we did it, but all the vendors were out, signs were down, and trash was picked up by 7:30. The Boss, Supervisor and I were in the office. He looked at me and decided it was time for me to go home. I guess my eyes were glazing over. Supervisor decided she'd finish what she was working on and drive me home. In a golf cart. At 8 pm.

My brain was gone well before I finally gave up and went to sleep at 10. How wonderful it was to know that I had nothing to do and nowhere to go on Monday! (The office is closed the day after The Event.) I slept straight through until 11 am, and even when I did wake up, all I did that day was read. It was great!






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Now playing: The Hill Valley Preservation Society - Dukes of Hazzard
via FoxyTunes

Big Event in Review (Part 1)

The Event of the Year is over.

You may have noticed that I was pretty quiet last week. Let me tell you a bit about that.

Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal days, though the frenzied state of the office increased by the hour. We had an extra person helping us keep up. While the three of us scurried to try to get details into place, Sly answered phones, ran copies, and opened mail, among other things. This was a tremendous help, for without her, I would never have been ready for Saturday. It was also good for her, since it gave her the inside track on everything. You see, she runs the Info Booth at The Event.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday was decidedly not normal. We all worked straight through the day. There was just too much to do. Lunch was eaten at the desks, if at all. Supervisor brought crackers. I brought chips and guacamole. Sly left shortly after 5. At 6, the rest of us were still there. We took the wheel that measures things, and we walked the length of the street that we planned to use for The Event, measuring it so we'd know how to space the layout. We stopped at the local Italian place, which is run by a family from India, and worked out logistics over dinner (for which the Chamber picked up the tab). We stopped at the 99 cent store for goofy door prizes for Thursday. Then we marked the streets.

My job in preparation for The Event is to find crafters to sell their items in the street fair section. Our goal on Wednesday night was to mark where each booth would be. On a street open for traffic, and at 9 pm, this was no easy task. We had a pvc pipe form that measured for us, spray cans of white chalk, and good walking shoes. So while The Boss posted No Parking signs, Supervisor and I sprayed chalk-paint along both sides of the street. And all over our own jeans. And shoes. The center row was a bit trickier. For that, we had The Boss follow us down the middle of the street in his car with lights flashing.

At one point, Supervisor was at Boss's car talking to him, and I was trying to get stuff done. It was about 11 pm by then. I stepped on the pipe to try to move it down, while still measuring the space, my foot slid, and I crashed onto the asphalt. I think I slightly dislodged my hip in the fall, but otherwise, I was fine. We finally wrapped things up and I got home at 11:30.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning was our monthly breakfast, so we were at work at 7 am. Yeehaw! Supervisor and I could barely walk from all the work of the previous night. It was another work-through-lunch day, and at the end of the day came the annual Western Days/Rodeo mixer. Dinner was on the Hyundai dealership that hosted. Meanwhile, Supervisor was marking spaces for the Food Court and Business Expo. We all got off work at 7:15 Thursday night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I met my predecessor-neighbor at the park at 6:30 Friday morning. The marking of the Powwow was done by 8 am. By noon, we all had serious cabin fever. Not one of us stayed around for lunch. The Boss and Supervisor left first, and I held down the fort while Sly took a break. About that moment, an old woman, probably about 75-80, came to the door. Our door is remarkably difficult to open, so Charles, who happened to be in for a few minutes, opened it for her. She walked in fuming.

When are you open! Why is your door locked! There was definite ire in her tone. Why is there a camper in your parking lot!

Well, The Event of the Year is this weekend, and we have a guy from out of town helping us, and that's where he parks.

Well, it's not fair! Those spaces should be kept open! I was lucky that I found a spot. (You found a spot? Then what the crap are you so angry about?) She spoke not a word in five minutes but what she spoke in anger. She was angry that I couldn't help her. She was angry that the Historical Society doesn't work on Fridays. If they had been, she probably would have been angry about having to go upstairs. I told her that they'd have a booth on the street all weekend.

Oh, I don't go to that. I have too much else to do. I managed not to unleash on her the string of expletives that wanted badly to escape. By the time she left, my blood was boiling.

I should point out at this point that we have a grand total of 6 parking spaces, one of which is painted blue. Any day that the Historical Society is in or we have a meeting, the lot is full. On Friday, it was filled with Bob's trailer and several golf carts that we were borrowing for the weekend. We were all parked next door or across the street.

When I got back from my lunch, I found a note from Sly on my desk. She thought it would be funny to tell me that one of my vendors wanted a last minute relocation in the layout. I may have half screamed. Again, I was able to withhold the expletives. Barely.

Supervisor asked me at one point to step into the conference room. This made me nervous. But she told me that I had been doing a very good job so far. Yeehaw!

At 7 pm, the copier went on strike. We weren't done with it, but it was not willing to reconsider or compromise. I had to resort to sending cardstock through my printer. I finally was off work at 7:45, with another hour or so of prep work to do at home.

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Now playing: Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
via FoxyTunes

Golf Carts!

Hey. If you happen to be in the area on Saturday & Sunday, October 6th & 7th, stop by Western Days! It's taking over downtown for two days. We'll have a parade, craft fair, food court, powwow, casino night, pancake breakfast, live bands, etc. Oh! And a cowboy shootout! How fun is that?

Oh yeah, and there's this rodeo thing up in Horsethief Canyon, too. ;)

Anywho, if you happen to drop by Western Days, look for the golf carts, cause I'll be driving one of them around.

The Things I Do for Work

Today is Opening Day for this big annual local event. Now, when I say big, what I really mean is ginormous. The event is held in a sprawling area that covers several acres. The crowds will be overwhelming, the parking will be a nightmare, the freeways will magically transform into veritable parking lots, and at least one of the next three weeks will be hot as blazes, because that's just how things go during the LA County Fair.

Well, a few of the surrounding towns are lucky enough to have their own designated Day at the Fair. I've never attended [fill in the town] Day at the Fair, but apparently there's a parade and all manner of special activities geared for that town, especially for the kids.

I've been warned that the whole town will be up in arms next Friday, because it's our town's Day, and the Chamber office will be closed. All day. We'll be at the fair. Working, of course. We have panning for gold to run, a Native American flutist to keep company, a VIP lunch to attend... Tragic way to spend a Friday, I know. But what's there to do? This is my job.

The Boss gets a comp ticket for his wife. Supervisor gets a comp ticket for her #1 daughter. I also get a comp ticket, if I can find someone to give it to. I'm working until after lunch, but once lunch is over, I've been told I can meet up with a friend.

Anyone want a free ticket to the fair for Friday, September 14? I get one, so the first viable call, email, or comment wins. The winner would have to deal with their own parking, of course, and we'll make arrangements for meeting when I know better what I'm doing.

*****************************
EDIT

Friday night: Please, someone go to the fair with me.

Getting Out

Marco does a concert, the line's around the block
the girls are there with their midriffs bare
and the boys in a state of shock
They sell t-shirts and posters
and autographed coasters
they're raking in the bucks
with everyone so happy why complain that the music sucks?

I'm getting out!

-Jason Robert Brown,
Wearing Someone Else's Clothes, "Getting Out"

Again, I say, Enough! Slacker Boy at Coffee Place has a perfect record. Every time he shows up while I am playing one of my cd's, he turns my cd off and plays utter crap.

Today it was Jars of Clay's Good Monsters that got axed in favor of some chick with a decent voice who can carry a tune, but she's wasting it on bubble gum music. I am irritated. But it's my last day, so whatever.

Jars was almost through. JRB's Wearing Someone Else's Clothes was next.

*sigh*

EDIT: Shh... Don't tell Slacker Boy. After he left, I switched to JRB. *grin*

I Quit

Again.

This gig at Coffee Place is so over. The plan was to work Saturdays through September. The plan has changed.

I'm exhausted. I can't keep up on other stuff I have to do. And now the Real Job has handed me an after-hours overtime assignment. Enough, already!

Of course, the real reason was because the local Orthodox church has Vespers on Saturday nights, which would ease the transition. A sudden departure from the church I've called home for 14.5 years would be a bad idea. Stalling on something I know I need to do is an even worse idea.

The manager doesn't know it yet, but today is my last day. I'll sub on occasion, if they ask nicely and promise not to sneak me back into the schedule. But I'm done being a slave to that schedule.

It's just too much.

On the Seventh Day...

God rested. Why can't I?

I told the new manager that I'm done working Sundays at the end of August.

And I'm done working Saturdays at the end of September.

The last few weeks have been so very hard. I've gotten to work at Coffee Place, and people have told me that I look like I don't want to be there. And they're mostly right. I hate that it's an obligation. It's not fun now. And I'm so tired!

So last weekend, I noticed that my watch band was GROSS. You know those Timex sport watches? I've been wearing one of those for something like 13 years. I occasionally change the band, but I basically never take off the watch. It's become an addiction. I'm like a FedEx freak. I live by the clock. This creates gross watchbands. It has also given me a very well defined watch tan. My wrist is pasty white. Pretty sad, really. I decided that it was a good plan to unchain myself. So I got rid of the disgusting watchband, and I have not worn a watch since. I'm experiencing symptoms of withdrawal. And my wrist looks ridiculous.

Last Sunday was week two or three in a series on spiritual disciplines. Big Brother talked about silence. And Solitude. He mentioned the disease that is epidemic here in SoCal- busy-ness. He talked about how we drown things out by filling the schedules and about how we're always rushing off to the next thing. I sat there looking at my white wrist and decided at that moment that I would not replace the watchband. I also decided it was time to not be working 7 days a week.

Of course, Coffee Place is understaffed. There was recently a change in management, and the new manager is just learning. Four of the eight on staff are flakes. The four of us who do work are constantly picking up the slack for the other four. I can't just quit under such circumstances. However, I did give Manager a timeline. By the end of August I will have Sundays off again. By the end of September, I will have Saturdays off.

It will be wonderful to have weekends again.

Review Review

I have quite a history with job reviews. Today's, for example. It didn't happen. In the course of 40 minutes, I heard about it, mentally prepared for it, told BossMan I was scared cause my supervisor scares me, waited around, and finally was sent home. Without being reviewed.

Reviews at Coffee Place consist of Steve rambling in generally unintelligible Engrish. And yes, I do mean Engrish. He's Korean. He has a decent vocabulary, but his syntax is broken. So that was always fun, and rarely anything more than Good work, and why doesn't anyone listen to me?

At The School, I never received a review as a librarian. Just as well. I was a wreck that year, and Mrs. Principal hated me. When I was teaching, Mr. VP observed me twice, and both observations went well. One of them involved a beanie lizard, but that's better than my friend's which involved a live lizard. But two good observations and a contract offer didn't prevent me from being shuffled off to the library with the claim that there'd only be one 6th grade the next year. It didn't prevent me from having to sign a new contract that summer saying I'd be librarian so they could hire a new 6th grade teacher in the three weeks I was out of the country.

The other school kept me as a sub/librarian/electives teacher for three years. I watched 5 English teacher openings at the 6th-8th grade level come and go. I watched them hire youth ministers and art majors over the linguist/writer/grammar freak who was regularly recommended by the outgoing teachers. Why? Because I hadn't ever been observed. They kept saying they would. They never did. Finally, the decision was made that I would never have a classroom there. Based on zero observations.

Before that was a restaurant. The only times I ever got feedback from supervisors there were the time Jen called me insubordinate because I forgot to do something, and when Joe told me that my personality grated on some of the servers.

The person who ended up supervising me at my last office job was a real gem. She decided that if my computer crashed (a frequent occurrence on Windows 98), I had to inform her and inform Craig the tech guy before doing anything else. In that order. I got in trouble if I just rebooted my computer without going through both of them first. Problem was, it happened at least once a week when one of them was at lunch, and I had to wait. Just so Craig could literally read the error message (which was always the Blue Screen of Death) and tell me to reboot. That supervisor eventually pulled me into the conference room and told me I wasn't "producing enough." Oh, whatever, Crazy Woman.

But my favorite of all was my library job at Greenville. I was there fall semester and interterm of '97 and '98. In January of '98, I got strep throat. It was bad. I was out of commission for a week. Now, toward the beginning of that week, I called in sick. The other worker on my shift was very pregnant. I was really sick. I was not going to expose her to whatever nasty bug I had. The head librarian took exception to this way of thinking. She decided I should resign my library job. My only review was the one where she made this "suggestion."

Gee. The nervousness today makes a little more sense now.

Nervous Again

I'm finally getting reviewed in a few minutes. It's been 7 months next Wednesday, and I'm finally getting reviewed. Supervisor just told me ten minutes ago.

I'm a little scared.

Ack!

I am so nervous.

Well, That Was Interesting

We had a random extra mixer tonight. It was hosted by a local school district, and since that district overlaps three towns, all three Chambers were present. Very few members of our Chamber managed to get there, but it was still a pretty full house.

The mixer was held at one of the district's middle schools. In fact, it was held at the middle school where my church met for ten years or so. Pulling into that parking lot was like going back in time seven years for me.

My job at this mixer was really easy, but it had me chained to the table for the first hour. In that time, I noticed several people, not members of our Chamber, who I knew. The first one I spotted was one of my greeters eons ago when I was 16. Eventually I managed to escape to say hi. He knew he knew me from church, and he remembered me, but he didn't remember my name. I remembered his, though.

Then there was the guy who frequents Coffee Place. He knew he knew me, but I was out of context for him.

The real coup de grace, though, was the couple standing next to the Coffee Place guy. I was about 95% certain of who they were, but I told the man I think I know you. He started to say I taught at... and I stopped him.

What's your name?

He told me what I already knew, and I showed him my name tag. He turned to his wife. They both broke into huge smiles. You see, when I was two months old, my parents started going to this little church, and this woman worked in the nursery there. We left that church about this time in 1988. I haven't seen Mike and Marlene since then, but somehow I recognized them today.

AAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

The Event is tonight. In three hours. There will be about 350 people. We're scrambling here. I'm juggling the phone and the 350 programs I have to fold.

Mixed Reactions

A few stories from last night's mixer...

It's my job to sit at the check-in table and, um, check people in. I have their name tags. I sell their 50/50 tickets. I have the basket where they drop their business cards for the door prize drawings. I have a board member with me, and she sells the drink tickets for water, soda, beer and wine. The host company serves some type of food in the main area. I, however, am not particularly in the main area.

At this mixer, I was so far from the main area, I couldn't even see people. When the dust settled at our check-in post, Cool Board Member gathered herself to head over to the other room. While she did that, I mused, I wonder if my free beverage option includes wine? Now, it's Cool Board Member who brings me a plate of whatever the host has provided, so she said, Oh, I'll bring you some wine. What would you like?

Well, my plate of food ended up being a strawberry, a pineapple chunk, a cheese cube, and an inch thick slice of turkey wrap. What with my lunch having been at 11:30 and only half eaten... well, let's just say I felt a bit unsteady the rest of the evening. Good wine, though!

After the mixer, I stopped at Wendy's for some real food. It was two hours post-wine, and I was still foggy.

---------------------------------

HeadGuy was drawing business cards for the door prizes. The head of the business supplied several of his health related products for these prizes. The last of them was a canister of dried cranberries. These were special cranberries. They were infused with Omega 3 and orange juice.

As HeadGuy pulled the winning card out of the basket, I had a hunch my dad would win this one.

He did.

---------------------------------

Toward the end of the evening, after BossLady decided I needed to move into the main room, one of our members purchased tickets for a glass of wine. The bartender for the evening was none other than Snark Man, so of course he gave her a hard time. He was withholding wine. I rolled my eyes. He kept teasing her. Finally, I told him, Oh come on. She's a teacher. If anyone here deserves a glass of wine... At last, he relented.

Oh My

I'm not really getting anything done today. We had another slapstick meeting this morning to plan the next Big Event. My three favorite chamber members are on this particular committee. Two of them bring out the most bizarre in HeadGuy, and the other kept crossing her eyes at me.

At 1 pm, we had a ribbon cutting, except it was for a store called Knitwitz, so it was actually a yarn cutting. Anyway, since that was at 1, I had lunch at 11:30. Nice cheap lunch. Three dollar turkey wrap and sixty cent bottle of water from the supermarket next door.

Well, there was the usual collection of crazy men sitting around the fountain between the store and the office. They're friendly, and they seem harmless enough, but the fact remains. They are bloomin' NUTS.

Well, the office has a little park for a backyard, so I was sitting there out of sight of the loonies, eating my lunch and enjoying the really great weather. Yeah, that went well. One of the crazies, on one of these, rolled up to make small talk. Would have been fine, if he weren't fiftyish, creepy, and totally freaking hitting on me. I muttered something about the time and retreated back into the office.

Why do all the crazy men decide it's a good idea to just wander up and start flirting with me???? I fumed as I stormed past the other two. I spent the last ten minutes of my lunch, still fuming, in the conference room.

Now we're gearing up for our monthly mixer. This could potentially mean free dinner for me, depending on what the host gets catered. Woohoo!

So I'm Working on This Mailer

I'm sealing 485 envelopes to be sent to Chamber Members, and of course I zoned out. Something distracted me for a minute, and when I got back to the envelopes, I realized the top (most recently sealed) one was addressed to

Big Brother Pastor.

I smiled.

Marathon Thursday

10:00 am, and I'm ready for a nap.

Staff is supposed to arrive at the monthly breakfast location at 7 am. This means a 5:30 wake-up time. Of course, this morning I was awake at 4:30 for one reason or another. Leave it to me to wake up freakishly early on the longest day of the month.

Spring must be coming, though, because when I left home at 6:30, the sun was up! The last two months I watched the sunrise as I drove *cough* east to work. It felt good to walk out the door into a world that was not still cloaked in darkness. Then Jason let me get a mocha at Coffee Place before he opened. And I feel better than I have since Saturday. It's a good day.

But I've already been up almost six hours. Definitely nap time, and it's not even lunch yet!

I won't get home until 10:30ish tonight. That makes today an 18 hour non-stop adventure. I fully expect to fall into oblivion the moment I return home. It is on the first Thursday of the month that I most look forward to Saturday.

Wow

So I get back from lunch today, and an old lady walks into the office. I take care of her request, and she notices the sign with my name. She mentions that her name is similar, and that it's German.

Well, that explains your slight accent.

Yes, but it isn't slight!

And so began a five or ten minute conversation about languages, child language development, sociolinguistics, dialects, and neurolinguistics. There was much laughter. She cracked me up, and I cracked her up.

Do I even have to explain why this interaction was SO FREAKING COOL?

I hope she comes by again. She's fun!

Notes To Myself

Lest I forget before I see Counselor, or lest I forget in general...

Apparently I got over the not being brave thing. Yesterday at work I called six or seven people I didn't know to let them know their employment posters had arrived. I, who have heretofore had serious issues with making such calls, made all these calls without having to stop to breathe in between.

Also in the Chronicles of Bravery, I managed to make a phone call on Saturday that I had been afraid of for quite some time. And it went ok. Maybe even well.

On Friday, HeadGuy was on the phone with someone, and I heard him tell them about me. I got a glowing review in that conversation where no review was necessary. It's a lovely thing having a job where I am valued.

Today I did something completely out of character. Today I emailed someone I only vaguely know through an online community that I'm not even a part of. I watch this community from the sidelines, though, and this person turns out to be my neighbor, relatively speaking. Basically, she's close enough to meet for coffee, especially now that she's taking a class a block from where I work. Heh. So sometime soon I may be meeting a RevGal.

Everything has changed since June, except the one thing that doesn't ever change. God has been faithful. I know that now. I expected it all those months, yes, but I lack patience, and I am not particularly trusting. But here I am in February. It is nearly a year after counseling began. A year since the panic began. A year since all hell broke loose. And with the exception (at this point) of the housing situation, everything that was lost has been restored.

Everything.

And not just restored.

From my job to my health to various relationships, and everything else (except the housing, which I am still waiting on), I have been blessed abundantly. There were plenty of times when I felt like Job last year. More than one person mentioned the comparison to me as well. At least once I was admonished not to curse God and die. In the midst of my Job story, I remember looking up and reminding God that Job's tale ended in restoration, so I was expecting mine to do the same. It has, and then some.

I couldn't say this six months ago. Maybe someday I'll have that kind of faith. But better late than never, right?

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

What?!?

So, the newest part of my job is to put our events on the city's calendar. Meaning, I am now in the city's web administration panel. Not the Chamber's.

No.

The city's.

Oh, good grief.