long time no BLOG

Greetings earthlings. Just a quickie to letchya know that I still draw breath. As always -after a posting hiatus- I need to rebuild momentum with a series of substandard junk posts.





Here's a few bullet points to catch you up on the latest...





*Had my last day of work on 4/18; got a free lunch at Koto. It was hellah yummy. I need to go to Koto more often, methinks.

*Have verbally accepted a job offer w/ the VNA (a general office bitch position- doing mail, phones, reception, etc); have an appt. to go in this Wednesday to fill out new hire paperwork ; my starting day has been pushed back to the 5/19 new employee orientation, but this delay is fine by me because.. .

*Had 2 interviews last week at DHMC one with the supervisor of the secretarial float pool (to be a "floater" --even though that title makes me think of inner-toilet debris that won't quite flush down, this gig is the one I want more) and the other with the pediatric dept. I think they went well, but you never know, ya know? Your fellow applicant pool is a total unknown, there's no telling what you're up against. That's why, even though I want the DHMC gig, there's no way I could turn down the job w/ the visiting nurses. So I'm glad my VNA start date has been postponed...just in case DHMC does make an offer. It will be bad enough to accept a job and then back out, but I think it would be worse to have to quit after having started work there. So hopefully DHMC will call with good news prior to 5/19 (cross your fingers por moi!) but, y'know, if they don't things will turn out OK.

*My folks got a widescreen LCD TV (Samsung). It's pretty trippendicular...a fact I shall only concede in this forum here. The most I will admit to my Dad is that "Hmm...'s pretty cool" and this I say with a shrug in the most unenthusiastic manner ever. The thing is, it's Dad's favorite topic of conversation nowadays: "HOW AWESOME is my new TV??" So, obviously, I cannot reveal how truly impressed I am.

*Have been watching a buttload of The Electric Company with my Sadie-kins. She knows all her letters and is very eager to start reading.

*Watched "I am Legend" (in the wondrous panoramic splendor of a widescreen LCD!! Booyah!) I was NOT happy with the ending. I was even less pleased with Sam's fate. As soon as I saw that adorable li'l pup onscreen, I totally called that. SUCH a predictable (and horrible) plot device!!

ZOINKS!

Yowza...am wrapping up an insane coupla days. I don't have time to give you a rehash, but for now suffice it to say that my last day at work was not as bleak as I'd been anticipating and I am considerably less despondent. Full 411 to follow...

healing slumber

So I had my doc's appt on Tues afternoon. After looking at my throat w/ a flashlight, my doc said it didn't look like strep, (no white bumpies) but she'd take a throat culture anyways. Now THAT was a comical endeavor there. I not only gagged, but I CONVULSED & DOUBLED OVER. Consequently my doctor jumped back a full two feet like she was ready for a spray of projectile vomit. She somehow managed to get a sufficient sample. But from what she'd said I didn't think I had strep, instead I thought I was plagued with some mystery throat ailment (she seemed to think I might have THRUSH) so I was a bit shocked when, after coming into work Wed. (feeling thoroughly miserable, I might add) the doc's office called me around 9:30 and said "Congrats!! You tested positive for strep!" She told me to take the next 2 days off but I didn't wanna leave work. First off, I didn't wanna miss such a big chunk of my last week. Secondly (and I probably shoulda put this as firstly) we were getting lunch bought for us and it absolutely PAINS me to miss free lunch. Thirdly, I knew if I went home I'd just zonk out and I need to be productive (and by "be productive" I more specifically mean I need to find a *&^%$$ing job!) And lastly, I have a lot of sh*t to pack up here.

So ultimately , I compromised and took 3/4 of a day off. I picked up my prescription and took my first pill at about 10:30am yesterday. I do recall the nurse (the one who called with the happy news) saying that I would become uncontagious about 24 hrs after I started on the penicillin. And I rolled in to the office at about 10 of 11 this a.m.(w/ three penicillin doses in my system) So I'm cutting it close, but technically, I'm not endangering anybody.

I feel much better today. I don't know if it was the penicillin or the Advil or the 16 hrs of sleep but I feel LOADS better. Still stressing about $$ and my utter lack of employment, but not so depressed about it as I was on Tuesday. Unemployment is not going to kill me. Worst case scenario, I will go on unemployment, lose my apartment, and have to move back in with my parents. Yeah, that would suck ass (badger ass, if you want specifics) but 'tis not a fate worse than death. You know, my ousting from GDT was very abrupt and I don't recall stressing over it 24/7 back then. Why was I so much cooler then? The big 3-0 has made me a worrier.
Today's status: still worried, not despairing.

CALGON--TAKE ME AWAAAY!

I am not in the best of moods today. I had a job interview and I really don't think it went well. I'm feeling like I might have strep (swollen glands, tight sore throat; I'm thinking strep since Chloe had it last week, but am going to the doc for an official diagnosis at 2:30 today) I was all fixated on trying to sound like I was not sick and my throat was not closing up and I think I botched the interview. I don't know.. it was hard to gage.

And then Robin comes back from an interview and I have to listen to her yammer on about how GREAT it went and I should just be happy for her but I want to tell her to piss off and leave me the F alone. What really vexes me is that she input an application to DHMC via their website --as did I -- and she was called right in to interview with the department head of the dept that was hiring. Whereas I had to go through this pre-interview crap with their HR. I think my pre-interview went well, but still, I don't know why *I* had extra hoops to jump through. I would expect a big organization like DHMC would be consistent in their hiring procedures. I did have a 2nd interview at the Community Health Center (a division of DHMC & one of two clinical secretary positions this HR broad was **supposedly** submitting my name for ) but I know I didn't get that. But where is my second second interview? What the hell? Probably Robin is snagging that very job while I think I'm going through proper channels but DHMC HR is actually sitting around with their thumbs up their collective arse.

This lack of a new gig is driving me MAD. I've been having dreams about it...dreams about working weird new jobs or about stalking people to coerce them into hiring me. Friday is my last day here and I've been packing up my shit today (alternating packing with e-filing my taxes) and I am so fucking stressed I could EXPLODE. And actually, explosion doesn't seem all that terrible...because if I don't explode, I get the feeling that I'm going to succumb to weepiness and there's nothing I hate more than well-meaning folk trying to console me when my eyes get leaky.

I shouldn't have gone to TX. It wound up being as thoroughly pointless as I thought it would be and that was a week I could've spent finding a new job.

I'm never going to find anything. I feel under-qualified for everything.

Life is SO shitty today.

MOBY NEWS (not very newsworthy, really..)

This article amused me.

Moby is either hetero or he's joking here.

Methinks the latter....

very nearly woke up in Oz

Last night Bonnie was bothered by the T-storms, but I was much more nervous about the wind.
I went to bed around quarter after midnight, but at 3:00 I was woken by the wind rattling my window. Felt to me like my room was shaking but my perception mighta been influenced (probably was influenced) by a customer warning me earlier about tornado warnings for Denton County. So at 3 am when the wind was shaking my windows (the windows were undoubtedly shaking...as for the walls, I dunno) I'm lying there thinkin'-- The ROOF is gonna fly off this motha-effing hotel!! I tried for a while to calm the hell down and go back to sleep but I just kept getting more nervous and finally at 3:30 I went down to the lobby to drink cold coffee and read my book a bit (am right now in the early chapters of Flashman )

I took the stairs to the lobby, as that seemed like a safer place to be (when the top flew off the building) than the elevator. As I got to the lobby, I met the front desk guy, headed into the elevator with a monster stack of USA Todays. He said, "Before I leave the front desk, is there anything that you need?" And I said "I scared. Just. . .just.hold me"

Ok, that is all true except for that last part. The quote from yours truly was totally fabricated.

I was in the lobby , trying to read Flashman, but both my eyelids and my head were tres droopy. I YEEEEARNED for slumber. So at 4am I headed back up to my room (via elevator...mustering up my every scrap o' courage). It seemed, at this point, the wind had died down somewhat so I was able to get back to sleep. Not your primo Stage 4 sleep, but I did sleep from 4:10 or so until 7am.

But I showed up to breakfast this a.m., so hagged out and weary looking that Laurel took over chaffeur detail without argument. Much to my shame...she got us to work in about 5 minutes.

I'm no Amerigo Vespucci, folks...

I got us lost this a.m. getting to work. We came in a half hour late. Not that I gave a calf-fry about being late (what are they gonna do? FIRE ME??) but I was appalled at my utter lack of navigational prowess. But, in my defense, it's a confusing damn city to drive in AND I was totally relying on the co-piloting input of Bonnie & Laurel. So just 'cause I was the one driving, that does not mean that *I* SINGLEHANDEDLY got us lost. At nearly every intersection I bellowed at the gals "Right, left, or straight...TELL ME NOWWW!" Which is further proof of the shittiness of my navigational skills. Just don't pin it ALL on moi. That's all I'm sayin' here.

After, the first time we got misrouted (we got headed the wrong way twice) we stopped back at the hotel and B ran inside to grab the Google driving directions Mags had printed for us for the hotel-to-office commute. The total mileage of that trip (according to Google)?? 2.9 MILES!!

Yep, I had less than 3 miles to go and somehow managed to get hopelessly turned around...TWICE. Brilliant....

And still I am unable to pawn off the driving duties!! DAAANG.

Greetings from a very THUNDERY Lone Star state...

Am currently blogging LIVE ON LOCATION from this splendid hotel.

I was pondering a little while ago what to leave for a tip for housekeeping or if I should leave a tip at all. It's not a question of whether or not I'm satisfied with the service /amenities, but..well for one, I am unsure: is housekeeper-tipping the norm in ALL hotels or just at seedier ones where the staff gets very measly wages? I suppose the idea behind tipping is that it's a monetary show of appreciation and the weekly salary of the recipient shouldn't enter into it...right?? And I'm definitely appreciative--not only of the bed making & daily towel replenishment, but also for my complimentary USA Today and also for the tremendous attention to detail involved in making sure that the end sheet of my TP is folded into a point everyday (that means A LOT to me!) So, OK, then the only reason I'm conflicted re: tipping or not is because one of the reasons I signed on for this trip is that Maggie hyped it as being "ALL EXPENSES PAID" And sure, I've had a few out-of-the-pocket expenses (not very many) but have been conscientious (if you can believe it--ME, conscientious) about saving receipts for future reimbursement. I don't know if you can get a receipt for a housekeeping tip ( methinks it would be tricky to do so) and therefore if I were to tip housekeeping, it'd be a dousing of rain on the all-expenses-paidness of my parade. Maybe I'll just leave a thoughtful, hand-written thank-you note,eh?

Speaking of rain (a coupla lines back), I didn't feel like driving us (although Bonnie drove us to the CT airport, I have been the driver here in TX--ever since obtaining the co. van ) around tonight in the rain & T-storms and LORDY KNOWS the other chicks won't do it (B is dead set against it....just 'cause she schlepped us down to CT. Sheesh!) So we wound up ordering from this place called Black Eyed Peas and had it delivered to the Fairfield. Blackeyed Peas actually doesn't have delivery service, but we used this nifty-ass service called Entrees-on-Trays that goes and picks up your take-out (from selected restaurants) and delivers it to you. I'm sure such businesses are commonplace in every metro area across the US, but was the first time I'd used such a service and I was like, inordinately impressed. I mean, nevermind the invalubleness of the service provided...that NAME alone struck me as rather brilliant. SOO punny--haa!

We made it a point to ask for a damned itemized receipt when we ordered but do ya think they remembered?? They forgot that and Laurel's side of mac 'n' cheese. The mac 'n' cheese was hardly missed, we had such an overabundance of grub as it was. But we called the restaurant back and requested the receipt be faxed to us. Wonder if that fax ever came in?

Anyways we each got an appetizer to share and then our meals.. the food was good, but I kinda wish I'd gone with my first instinct ..to order Mexican from El Guapo's. I SWEAR, every where you dine out in TX, they give you an ASSLOAD of bread and/or biscuits and your choice of two sides. There's no way this isn't the fattest state in the nation. I'm finding it next to impossible to eat sensibly here. When I hit the scale a week from tonight, I think I might scream the Fbomb and/or cry. I ate soooo much tonight I'm fucking ACHEY. Oy.

I tried fried pickles ...that was Laurel's pick for appetizer. I probably ate more of 'em than L did, they really weren't as nasty as you'd think they might be. Fairly tasty. O' course, I was liberally dunking them in ranch ... ranch makes everything better. It's magical in that way (just like bacon). I am --in general-- a big believer in trying new things, and I feel one should make an extra effort to do so when on vaca. Well, I'm not exactly on vaca, but I'm on an UTTERLY POINTLESS business trip and that's not far off from being a vaca. So anyways, Monday night's thing was turnip greens, tonight it's fried pickles. I know it don't sound like it, but my make-an-effort-to-try-new-things policy is not a purely epicurean policy. It surely would behoove me (& my fat ass) to extend the policy towards non-edibles.

Before we got our food delivered, L & I walked down the Racetrac (local mini mart) and I bought beer (a 40 of Tecate and a 40 of Miller Chill --'tis a light lime-enhanced kinda beer..excellent for the beach, I've found) and I was astonished to discover, in my perusal of Racetrac, that they have at least a half dozen different brands of pork rinds. I had to call Laurel over as a witness. The pork rinds took up about half of the chip aisle. It was INSANE. I shall not be trying pork rinds. I am quite adamant on that point. Will also be passing on the calf fries like I watched Guy Fiere chow down on when he visited OK .

the stars at night (clap clap)are big and bright?(greetings from the Lone Star state)

Actually it's been kinda overcast, so I've not taken note of star size or brilliance. But it's been warm. That's nice anyways.


I tried turnip greens at the Cracker Barrel last night (they're OK) We have Cracker Barrels kinda near me (in MA), but I've never been to one. It was sort of HeeHaw as far as atmosphere goes, but the food was good. No booze though and I coulda used a nip. Our limo driver who picked us up @ the Dallas Fort Worth airport debriefed us (without any prompting) about the alcohol policies of the city of Denton (apparently Denton is what is called a "damp" city. It ain't making me damp as yet, but...) (sorry, grody of me...couldn't help it) I don't know if we just came off like some gaggle of lushes, or if he'd been debriefed on us.

I wanna be open-minded and all, but my overall impression has been one of...meh. This place has no character . By "this place" I should specify Denton, as I certainly don't mean ALL OF TEXAS. Jinkies, there must be some character somewheres in TX, I mean, I dunno if you know but it's a biggish sorta state.

CONS-- it's flat, almost totally flat, so you can see for miles (or at least a mile) but then there's nothing to see. It's all highways and highways and strips of franchises and highways and service roads. Like I said..mmmeh.

PROS-- It's 82 degrees. I was sooo sick of wintery weather. I like staying in a hotel..where they pick up my soggy towels and replace 'em with fresh 'n' fluffy ones..and make my bed. Don't get me started on complimentary breakfast buffet-- I could rave all day! TRES bon. I could LIVE in a hotel. Even though this particular destination is underwhelming, this whole experience is making me feel like I oughtta do more travelling...
And y'know, even though I was sorta nervous at the prospect of flying, I actually enjoyed yesterday (abridged recap of 4/7/08: 7:20am depart NH ;flew out of Bradley Airport at about 11:30am; brief layover in Charlotte NC {only 35 minutes!! NOT long to make it to another terminal & make a potty stop} and then arrival in Dallas at about quarter of 5 CST; 'bout an hour of downtime at the hotel then dinner at the Cracker Barrel; back to the Fairfield, then an episode of Diners, Drive-ins,& Dives then BED)

all good things must come to an end...

It's unlikely that the originator of that nugget o' wisdom had Subway in mind when he/she came up with it, but, nevertheless it felt mighty applicable when I went to order my lunch and found that the Chicken Florentine sami had been discontinued indefinitely. DID I NOT URGE YOU TO CONSUME THESE?? I said, if y'all don't support the product, Subway honchos are gonna yank it off the market!! ARRGH!! I need to look into acquiring some more obedient minions for my legions of minions.

Ahhh well, que sera sera, comme ci comme ca...etc. je m'appelle baguette. I'm coping.

I went to the eye doc today for my final check up. She said the contacts look to be fitting nicely, I hadn't come down with eyeball gangrene nor developed any retinal scabies. SCORE! And so I ordered 4 boxes of contacts. I am intending to stroll to the store on my lunchbreak tomorrow and buy some shades. I'm stoked. In advance. Honestly, it's silly how stoked I am about it.

dream a little dream of. . . . .

I had a wiggity-wiggity-WHACK dream last night, kids. One that I must impart to y'all before I forget.. . .

I dreamt I somehow was acquainted with Eric Roberts. Both Laura and I were...he was like a new friend of the family or something (search me on how the f*** THAT happened...like maybe we saw him at Borders and we were like "Dude, I was STOKED to see you pop up on Heroes--too bad they killed ya off so quickly. Do you wanna come over for Sunday dinner??" Eric Roberts seems like he just might be nutty enough to say "yes" to that) Anyways..it's preestablished in the dream that both Laura and I know Eric Roberts. And dreamEricRoberts has this adult son that he's estranged from. L& I find this terribly sad and we arrange this meeting between them that's aimed at mending the relationship. But the meeting goes awry and ends up in a father-son argument. This angers dreamEricRoberts and he in turn starts yelling at us, Laura in particular (because, realistically, if we two were teaming up to meddle in someone's life she would be the chief perpetrator and I would be more of an accomplice) and then, whilest yelling at her he calls her a BITCH and some other nasty things and I, at this juncture, attack him and commence to KICKING HIS ASS.

So ok, ok, it wasn't a wiggity-wiggity-whack dream on par with saaay, a backwards-talking midget Agent Cooper dream but it was a surprising celebrity cameo though. It's not as if I'd seen anything lately with Eric Roberts in it, so I was slightly befuddled. I think the plotline of him having a familial rift came from the fact that everytime I think of E, I ponder "What exactly went down between him & his sis that they don't talk? That's harsh! There's like, NOOO dirt on that out there..." So the familial rift sprang to mind but I am apt to have blacklisted Julia Roberts from my dreams because I'm not all that fond of her--- used to like her, but she kinda just overstayed her welcome with me. So I substituted a son but then threw in my sister for good measure. But I've no idea why I'd kick Eric Roberts' ass. I LIKE Eric Roberts, dang it!!

Hmmm.. I suppose the whole thing mighta just been an self-help PSA from my subconscious just to illustrate the fact that I DO have an inner badass that I can tap into. See, if I can whup The Best of the Best who knows what wonders I can achieve???

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while.. I had to share the guffaws...

oopsie

I totally spaced and forgot to report on Monday morning's interview. I'm not exactly sure how it went. I got up extra early and took meself out to breakfast at The Fort beforehand, and while I ate (poached eggs & corned beef hash-- MMMmmm!! Though most o' those "m"s are for the hash...the poached eggs were okay but I poach 'em better) I read over my sheet of "commonly asked interview questions" and contemplated how I would answer those ???s .

I got to the interview and... she covered NOTHING I had studied up on . In fact, it seemed like she didn't ask me many questions at all! I think I did alright, but am not entirely sure. Definitely not as confident as I was coming out of that 1st DHMC interview. I don't know though. I don't feel I did badly, really. I kept the stammering at bay pretty capably, displayed a fair amount of eloquence, attempted to link my past work experience to the prospective job. But I had a lot of good answers for questions she never asked me!! I feel like 45 or 50% of my success might be based on how assured I was in my nods of comprehension. I felt like my nods were rather poised & polished, but I cannot possibly say how they appeared to Maria (the interviewer broad).

I kinda wish I knew something about my co-applicant pool-- how many ?? and how many (if any) of them are already in the DHMC organization??

I had soo wanted to have a new gig secured before going to TX next week. That seems HIGHLY unlikely. Maria told me she'd be doing interviews all this week. So results from that interview won't be available until--at the earliest--next Monday. And I don't have any other interviews scheduled for this week. I'm so *&^#@ing frustrated.

Am not really looking forward to this Texas trip either. Ohhhhhhhhh, bollocks.

Somebody remembered! Yay!

One of the websites (one of the many websites) I periodically visit is http://www.tv.com/ I went there today and all their featured headlines were utterly preposterous/ redunkulous. Redunkulously preposterous, to put it more concisely. For instance---










That second one is semi-believable but the fact that they're sportin' a feature news item on iCarly is highly suspect in & of itself.



I quizzically furrowed my brow over these "headlines" for like a nano-sec, and then remembered...it's APRIL 1!! I'm glad SOMEBODY remembered. Otherwise, my April Fool's Day has been rather glumly lacking in pranks. And when I say "pranks" in this lament, I should specify that by "pranks" I mean "pranks perpetrated by me on other people or by other people on other people who are NOT ME" (thems are the only worthy pranks I know of)



Lemme see... what hath transpired since my last posting?? Lemme lay it on ya in chronological order , eh??



FRIDAY: Became an official contact lens wearer as I aced my 2nd fit & dispense/contacts coaching session.

Not much went down on Fri... I bought some excellent pistachios and some salsa that was really too hot for my liking.

SATURDAY: On this day, it took me a staggering 35 MINUTES to get my contacts in. Oy. Other than that, lazed around for much of the day but went out to Salt Hill Sat night with Roxanny to celebrate her 3/30 birthday. Had some UFOs and some buffalo wings (the ones there are my faaaave)

SUNDAY: Hung out at Laura's . On this day it took me only 8 1/2 minutes to put in contacts. Yippy skippy.

MONDAY: Bah.. back to work. Contacts in in 2 minutes...at last I figured out what I'd been doing wrong. For aiming purposes, I had been gazing into a mirror as I put 'em in. However, it seems that watching my finger descend onto my grodily propped open eye makes my flinch/blink reflex exponentially stronger. So I learned on Monday that it's much easier to rely on my innate hand-eye coordination and install sans mirror...perhaps checking a mirror afterward to ensure that my eye's not bleeding.

Reading habits of yore

As a young pup, I was not one to pick up a Sweet Valley High book. I remember them being ridiculously popular but..nope, I never read a one. I didn't read the Babysitter's Club books or anything like that either. But what I was MAJORLY into was Christoper Pike books. From 5th grade through..I dunno, probably 10th grade, I voraciously devoured every Pike book I could git my mitts on.

For some odd reason tonight...I am wanting to know where the hell all my Christopher Pike books are. I wish to reread 'em. Maybe not ALL of them...but several. I sense that I'drecall by looking at the covers, which ones I liked the best. Y'know, I'm sure they're *somewhere* @ the parental casa. They's maaad packrats. But see, they're apt to be in the attic and I am kinda skittish about perambulating about up there. I have nightmare visions of my falling through the ceiling a'la Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation (although it wasn't all that nightmarish when he did it)

I found myself browsing through the Pike offerings on Amazon. It would be utter frivolity of me to buy most of these titles. Although I did see a circa 1997 title that I never got (promptly added to my wish list**) Quite the conundrum I gots-- I wanna reread most of these, can't buy them (in good conscience) and would rather not ransack my folks' attic for 'em. This might just move me to get a library card (as I've been meaning to do for, ohhh, about a decade now)

I do NOT like the new covers on the reissues of these novels. I think the covers I had, the oh-so 80's covers with the splashy neon writing, are VASTLY superior. But let us have a look, shall we? And you be the judge...

THE OLD STYLE COVERS--

SOME NEW STYLE COVERS--

the re-issue covers above are just HORRIBLY tepid. However, there were some re-reissues done by some other artist (below) that I kinda did like. (still prefer the original cover though...but I may be sentimentally biased)

3-2-1 CONTACTS

So I'm now a bona fide contact lens user. I had to have *TWO* sessions of what they call "fit & dispense" where the optician...optometrist...opthamologist (I don't f***ing know!! ONE of the above...) debriefs you on the wear &care of your contacts and then coaches you with insertion and extraction. Dr D. put in my lenses first (during session 1 on Wednesday) and then I sat for over an hour with this "contacts coach" in front of a magnifying mirror (and, by the way, how great are those things for wrecking one's self esteem? My dry skin made my face resemble the surface of a Drake's fruit pie --you know the ones I mean. My hair was looking a mite greasy that closeup. Add to all that that my whole already ginormo head was magnified X10) So in like, an hour and 15 min (roughly) I was able to take the contacts out, put them in, and take them out again. Yep, I was a wee bit skittish with the pokin' at my eyeball with my finger thang. I was SEVERELY flinchy/blinky. I was doubly frustrated...for myself and also Iwas empathizing with "coach". I imagine it was downright painful watching my snail-slow progress. And after all that, they wouldn't let me go home with 'em..deciding that they could not, in good conscience, release me into wild avec contact lenses without one more lesson.

That second session was this morning and I am very much improved. I'm still a li'l slow, but growing more comfortable. I'm a lot better at taking 'em out than putting 'em in for some reason. I wore them for four hours today. Tomorrow I'm to have 'em on for 6 hrs...then 8 hrs on Sunday...10 hrs from day 4-7. Then I have a quickie 15 min appt with the doc so she can peer at my contacts-clad peepers and make sure I haven't sprouted some grody eyeball rash or some such malady.

I don't know that I'm going to be a full-time wearer of contacts. I'm undecided. I basically wanted 'em for those occasional occasions where I do a boffo job at my make-up (so that my glasses don't detract from said boffo make-up artistry) and for the summertime...so's I can rock a pair of cool cheapie shades. I mean, I did get new glasses too (picked those up on Wednesday) and they ARE daaaamn foxy.

WOOO-HAA

Fo'get that email I was gonna compose, dudes. I just got a call for my 2nd interview. It's goin' down Monday at 10am.

Yippy skippy!!

trying to compose...baah

I am presently trying to write this "Thank you for your time/ it was nice meeting you/ interview follow up schpiel" email but everything is coming out too smarmy and/or hokey. AAARRGH. I might just give up altogether.

Somebody please write this for meeeee (waa)!

Extry! Extry!!

I gots news to impart.




First off, I promised I'd make with the 411 on Monday's DHMC interview, and (as I skipped on posting yesterday) I've yet to make good on that promise.


I think it went really well. I am reluctant to say that, because I am weird superstitious and always suspect I may jinx myself if I'm too self-congratulatory. But truthfully, I just regret that it was sort of a pre-interview and not THE interview. 'Cause it felt like I nailed it. But this interview was just with the HR dept and then she's going to submit my name for 2 different clinical secretary gigs and that would lead to another interview with the supervisor for those specific positions.


As I said before, the hospital is NOT my dream job (but this is f*cking git a JOB !! crunch time...not "follow my bliss" time) but it does have some sweet, sweet bennies attached. So I'm REALLY looking forward to hear back regarding a 2nd interview.


I also applied for some stuff at Dartmouth College, specifically at the University Press & the Hopkins Center. The Hop sent me a letter to simply acknowledge that they are in receipt of my application and are still in the early stages of hiring but uhhh.. STAY TUNED!! Laura thinks I should really jump @ the Hopkins gig, and yeah I'd like that, but she said I should respond to the letter. Which I think is nerdy and overkill. Or nerdy overkill. Y'know?? It would go somethin' like " Dear Sir/Madam...writing to acknowlege your acknowledgement...yadda yaddaaa....so damned enthusiastic about this opportunity...blah blah blaah...think I'd make such a STELLAR addition to your team...blahdee blaah...PICK ME! PICK ME! ..etc..closing comment...With Warmest Regards, SANDRA"

Yeeeahh, I'm not crazy about follow ups. I think I'll...not do that. However ... Andrea ( my interviewer from Monday) gave me her card with her contact info on it (including email address) and I was contemplating maybe emailing a quick "Thank you for your time" kinda email. I probably will do that. Andrea and I did have a moment of post-interview awkwardness though. Prior to leaving, I stopped off in the ladies' room and was washing my hands when she came in. I had this moment of indecision... do I acknowledge that this is a person I just met? Or do I respect bathroom anonymity? Because I feel that, contrary to what MEN think, women do not innately crave camaraderie in the can... not with people who are not already their friends anyway. So I wavered on this for a millisecond, but at last I blurted out "Hi again!" And Andrea was all "Hi" But I felt like mine had a geeky ring to it, as if there was some dorky "Pee here often?" implicit within my tone.And Andrea's "Hi" was cryptically terse, maybe only terse on account of her need to pee, but I was inclined to think it was in reaction to my dorkiness. Who f*cking knows. Regardless of this way-blown-outta-proportion mini-drama, I nailed the dang interview (*knock wood*) I don't think she's apt to yank me outta contention because I said hi to her in the bathroom...that would be tres unreasonable.

It's as if I live within a Seinfeld episode, sometimes. Seriously!!

I have to run to the Leddy group tomorrow and deliver them a copy of my birth cert. (consequently, I really hafta locate that tonight!!) I have been INSAAANE about procrastinating on that. I think I'm in like Flynn there. This (I should remind yous) is the job placement agency (job pimps) I interviewed with at the end of February. I haven't been so enthusiastic about a company pimping me out, and possibly pimping me out for a succession of temporary gigs. I would SOOO much rather obtain employment on my own. So although my procrastinating has been, like 80% due to my natural inclination to procrastinate, a small smidge of that was due to a reluctance to just fully hop aboard that Leddy train. But I think it's probably wise to have them as a sort of safety net. I know exactly what purse I left that birth cert. copy in. I just have to figure out where in the world that purse is. (with Waldo? Carmen Sandiego? Jimmy Hoffa?) Oh, speaking of long lost purses, I found one the other day (not the one I'm now needing to locate...obviously) and a lotta times I slack off about cleaning out purses when I transition to a new one and I'll just take the absolute essentials (wallet, checkbook, compact, lip balm, pad) and leave a lotta assorted crap behind (that doesn't *usually* include important documents, but uhh, there was that one time...) ANYWHOOZIE... found an old tan purse and it had quite a bit of makeup in it (no shocker there) and...a wee bottle of gin. Why the *&&%$#@ was I carrying around gin? I was simultaneously bemused & amused. 'Cause it IS kinda charming in an AbFab sorta way, right??

OK other news to dispense with... I have a BUSINESS TRIP in the not-so-distant future. I really don't know how I feel about it. Here's the email decree we got this a.m. I'm a-doin' a copy & paste because the whole image enlarging feature is SO fickle and I haven't the time to futz around, yo...
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We need to have three CCA's from NH spend the week of April 7th in Denton. The travel will be on Monday and Fridays - spending 3 days in Denton to assist with the phones. I am looking for volunteers so that I don't have to pick. This is necessary to make a smooth transition. This is not really an option so the sooner I have volunteers the better. You do not have to worry about credits cards - we will take care of all the expenses.
Please let me know asap.
Thanks


************************************
Maggie L. *&$#@
Customer Care Manager
Thermadyne -West Lebanon
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Yeeeeah, first off... I don't know when or (more importantly ) WHY this was deemed necessary. It sounds like Nance-conceived bullshit to me. I don't exactly fancy the notion of facilitating my replacement either. It's kinda of like salt on a not-quite-healed-up wound, y'know?? There are many reasons I DON'T want to go (the notion of the flight makes me a bit nervous, for one) but 2 reasons that made me volunteer. First off, she sez "This is necessary to make a smooth transition" ..that statement sends me into the irrational panic of "could refusal give them grounds to withhold my stay bonus??" I've since decided that is unlikely... but it was probably my immediate 1st response to this memo. The 2nd thing that got me was the phrase "we will take care of all the expenses". It sort of disgusts me how very powerless I am to resist freebies. It's apt to get me in to trouble someday!! Like, if I someday go missing, you might want to see if some sketchy dude in a van was trolling the area, offering wine or treats of some sort. I'm prone to fall prey to that sort of thing. Or WORSE...I could wind up in one of those timeshare sales pitch sessions. AAAAGGH!!

So yeah , basically what happened here is the lure of free meals & travel totally overwhelmed my principle-based indignation. Also, if I want to continue to keep my folks in the dark, this trip means I'm going to have to outright lie (vs. just not say anything as I have been)

ohh and by the way...

.. I didn't *only* f*ck off today. I had a fairly constructive morning, what with my JOB INTERVIEW, and all.

I think it went well...I'm gonna hoard the details for posting tomorrow...

Ciao!!