Procrastination

I miss procrastinating. Now that I'm out of school, there are so few opportunities to slack off. I mean, sometimes I let the garbage fill up a few days longer than I should -- but that's not really procrastinating. That's just being lazy. And disgusting. Ew.

When I was still in grad school, procrastination was an art form. One night in particular stands out. I had a massive paper due the next day, and while it was pretty far along, it was far from complete. But I didn't care. I decided that it was completely necessary that I list every book I owned. At least, the books that I had here with me in D.C. Who actually knows how many are stashed at my parents' house. (I did donate my prized Babysitter's Club collection to my mom's school, along with any other pre-teen masterpieces like Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, but I know that there a ton there from my first two years of undergrad).

I have 276 books here. 276. Who has that many books, seriously?

And Awesome Roommate wonders why I am dreading moving.

Work is Stoopid

Interesting thing: I got promoted, and they gave me more work. What's that about? It kind of blows, I'm not gonna lie. Therefore, I have not had time to write. Well, that and the article that Waayers sent. So now, I'm flippin' pissed that I have to actually "do" work, AND can't work on my delicious blog because I'm scared that someone will find it offensive and I'll be fired.

Isn't that the whole reason that people write these things, though? For the fucking obscenities?

What's Going On???

So there I am at work. Working. La di dah. The power goes out. Everyone's all "wtf?"

We are evacuated. And let me tell you - being on the top floor is great for bragging rights, but when the fire alarms are activated all flashy-style and the fat asses in front of you haven't seen stairs in years, you start to wish you weren't so high and mighty.

That's the thing - I get soooo annoyed when people cram onto the elevator in the morning and proceed to hit every floor Elf-style, because the people that work on the second and third floors are clearly the people that should be taking the stairs whenever possible.

So we get down the first few flights quickly, and then get stuck behind this ginormous woman who is placing both feet on each step. Like she's TWO and just learning to walk. ARGH.

We get outside. It's sleeting. We wait outside for an hour and a half. Then we are herded back into the building and have to conquer THE STAIRS. It literally took 20 minutes to get back to the ninth floor because of all the land monsters.

Got back to the office and the power is still out and the phones have headed to no-man's land as well. They expect us to work? Why are we back in the building at all? Why didn't they send everyone home? People, please. This is the government. Half the building had semi-power. If they sent us home, we'd be wasting money. But giving every federal employee the day off for Inauguration Day? Well, that's just being patriotic!

I got sent home anyway.

Ashes

I know that I won't make it to mass today, as I haven't been to mass since the Friday after September 11, 2001. Perhaps I'm a little jaded with organized religion - maybe I'm just scared that it will be too weird to jump back in. Maybe I just get annoyed with all of the people just going through the motions, because then I start to wonder if I am one of them. I don't know. But I do know that I am going to get on the metro this evening, see all the people with smudged foreheads, and I am going to want to be one of them. But is that fair - show up at church for the first time in years, just to get ashes to be part of a clique? I don't think so.

What I do know is that I am surging ahead full speed with Lent. I figure, if I can't make myself go to mass this year, I am giving up pop. Soda. Soda pop. This is huge.

I gave up pop for lent during my senior year of college. I seriously went through withdrawal - I had headaches and I got the shakes the first week. But that was because I never replaced the caffeine. I made it all the way to Easter, and at my aunt's house, I cracked open a Coke, and couldn't finish it because it tasted so foreign.

Then a week later, I was back on the sauce.

So I am giving it up this year too, but now I can drink green tea (caffeine!) like I have been, and everything will be peachy keen. At least, that's the plan. Just because while I feel more spiritual walking in the woods than I do in mass doesn't mean I can't participate in some way.

Blank Canvas

It's amazing what a new canvas and new acrylics can do for your mood after a horrendously bad day. Painting is so therapeutic. I never really understood what The Lady meant when she brought out the watercolors to "calm down" - but she was right. Plus, I guess it helped that she actually has talent :)

Talking to a long-lost beau (get it? Some might...) helped the situation immensely. Why does he have to live in Ypsi-ghetto?

So if I extract the good things from the events of the day, they definitely outweigh the bad things. And it could always be worse, right? Like, I could have actually lost an arm to the elevator land monster. Oh, the horrors!

Land Monster

Okay, I know, I know, I know that this isn't nice. I know. But here it is anyway:

So I have to take something down to the Office of Contracting. A few
floors down. This woman sees me coming toward the elevators. I
smile. She gets in and doesn't hold it. I stick my arm in, but it
doesn't sense it. I am literally pushing the two doors apart with
both arms. She does nothing. I finally pry the doors open. This is
what she says, "The doors aren't supposed to do that."

Are you sure? How about if you had held the elevator for me like you
were supposed to, I wouldn't have come so close to losing my arms.

So I was like, "Yeah, it never senses me. Maybe I'm just too thin."

And she was a land monster. So it was funny.

Ed-GARRR

So Awesome Roommate's ex-boyfriend showed up at our door tonight. He drove here. From MICHIGAN. She broke up with him 2 months ago.

I don't think that he got the memo.

Hey, at least she keeps me entertained.

Eastern Market

I spent Saturday morning/afternoon at Eastern Market with Betsy, Merrick, and Sarah. It was a gorgeous day - 54 degrees and sunny. We went to Murky, got coffee and sticky buns ("hey, these sticky buns are... sticky"), and sat in the sun. Amazing. It just makes me want to live in Eastern Market even more!

I wanted to browse the used books for hours. What is my obsession, honestly? I have two large bookcases packed with books. In college, I could never sell my books back - what if I needed them? They're like my babies. I can't get rid of them, and every time I cut through the ghetto mall on the way home from work, I always ALWAYS want to go into B. Frickin' Dalton and buy something. I rarely do, mainly because I don't think I'd like to eat books instead of groceries.

And one funny thing about being out of school is that I actually want to read scholarly books. Go figure. I asked for - and received - a biography of William Shakespeare for Christmas. The author is great. I can't believe I'm saying this. What a nerd.

So yeah. Then I went to see Merrick's new apartment. Sooooo jealous. Old 1900s townhouse - original wallpaper, floors, staircase. I'm not a material culture historian, but sweet Lord, was that place awesome. It was perfect except for one thing: no built in bookcases. That, along with a washer/dryer in the unit (obviously), are our two top priorities while house searching. Well, maybe the washer/dryer more than the bookcases - but wouldn't that be cool?

Happy Friday!

The weekend is here at last!

I spent most of my Friday moving into my new office! Well, it's a cube - but I have a window! Also had my performance review today, and they are putting in a request for an increase in wages because I am so GD awesome! (It's about time someone realized that I have a masters degree and shouldn't be the front desk monkey). Score!

In other news, Happy Birthday to Waayers!

This is work? Ugh.

So this is what it's like to have a real job. Interesting... But ohhhhhh, I am so busy! (Yet apparently not too busy to write this). I'm all about the promotion and the added responsibilities, sure. I'm even okay with the lack of any monetary goodies. But sweet Lord, starting a new job while still performing all duties related to the old job while interviewing candidates for the former job is not a good combination. I'm surprised I haven't screwed up too badly yet.

Here was my schedule for this morning:

8:30 - Arrive at work
9:00 - Interview
9:30 - Interview
10:00 - New intern arrives from Gallaudet University
10:30 - Interview

Sooooo, just so we're clear - Gallaudet is a school (an excellent one, at that) for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. So communicating with her went as far as me spelling my name in American Sign Language before I picked up the notepad. Orientation took bloody forever. Though I was impressed with myself that I remembered the alphabet. Throw in all of the interviews (I liked ALL of the candidates, of course) and the fact that I didn't eat anything until about 2 p.m., you've got a very cranky Donut.

About twenty minutes ago, the copier did something very, very bad by eating a bunch of paper and then burning it. I don't know! I don't know how copiers do anything! So now I am getting very, very high on fumes and my stomach is relatively empty. I'm floating. Amazing!

Yet even after this ridiculous day, the few hours of sleep I yoinked last night, and the mound of laundry at home, I told S that I would meet him at Bailey's to cheer on the Fighting Illini. Forget for a moment that he badmouths my beloved Wolverines any chance he gets. I'm going because I am NICE, dammit! Oh I need some Coke.