AMAZING. This is just like magic.

Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. ~ Steven Wright

Posting madness today. My very christian (as in married to a pastor) co-worker believes in prophecy and interpreting dreams. Dabbling in the occult, a bit, are we? Maybe I should tell her I dreamt of being attacked by empty ink cartridge zombies, and see what she thinks that means? And I wonder what her feeling is on such things as tarot and contacting spirits with ouija boards? Now she's talking to someone about "spiritual warfare"...

This is the full pantheon of the Hello Kitty tarot .

The mice will play

The bosses are gone - all three of them. And even though another boss has been put in charge for the week, that person is in another office way out of our line of fire. A good thing too.
So, it's nice and relaxed and casual right now. Of course, I'm doing my best to keep slacking to a minimum and actaully get work done - I'm right on target for my self-assigned projects for the day, and damn proud of it. Hopefully, I will be able to catch up on some (long) overdue projects here at the workfront, since I don't have bosses shoving more work at me on a daily basis because they don't seem to think I have more than enough to do already. I keep thinking
"Cinder-elly, Cinder-elly!!" in little mouse voices...
I don't think a certain someone is very happy that we've scrapped the typewriter for good. As I said just a few minutes ago "It's gone the way of the dodo". I bought that department a new (and not terribly cheap) label maker that comes with software that enables you to make the labels in word and print them at your desk. She has never bothered to learn how to use it. Well, now she doesn't have much choice. Welcome to the technological age, hon. This is the same clerical support person who had to be taught by her boss last week 1) how to make a proper spreadsheet in Excel and 2) how to do a simple mail merge to make labels and address blocks on letters. The humanity!!

Music. Turn it up. Put that tape on.

I thought I'd stop being a greedy, selfish bastard and share some of my favorite websites and blogs. Just a few at a time. Wouldn't want anyone to blow a mental curcuit due to the overflowing bounty of awesome to be served up hot in this fresh from the oven post. And by anyone, of course I mean Megi. Since she is my only reader. But at least that's consistant. Tonight's theme will be music. Observe - oh, and enjoy:

• This Tofu Hut post is a massive resource for blogs that post MP3's and focus on music. Just massive I tells ya!
• Also Ear Farm - another blospot blog.
• And Looking at Them - yet another blogspot blog...
• One of my very favorite blogs - Sterogum

And a couple of my favorite musical acts/bands/artists of the moment:

• Margot and the Nuclear So & So's - defies any attempts at description from me.
• Imogen Heap - Imogen is (was??) the other half of Frou Frou, for those who may not be aware...
• And Kate Havnevik, who is featured on the fabulous Grey's Anatomy soundtrack quite frequently, along with innumerable others that would be worth mentioning if I had the time.

Existentialism on weeknights

Tonight was dinner and a play night. Dinner was fish and chips at a local pub - sadly, no beverages of the alcoholic variety this time, and no dessert, since their fridge went on the fritz. Unfortunate. And we probably did have plenty of time to go to Cold Stone for ice cream, but thought we didn't. Doubly unfortunate. The play was No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre, at The Palladium, which is a great play in a beautiful theater. What we did not realize when we made these plans was that the play would be put on by a group of local students enrolled in a high school arts program. It was quite better than I expected, to be honest. The girl who played Inez was particularly good, and probably made the whole play with her performance. It was a nice diversion. I needed it.

l'enfer, c'est les autres

Of dirt marks and bruises

I was feeling mighty industrious today, so I decided to go through some files left over from the previous regime. All was going well until I went to move a filing cabinet locking mechanism/medieval torture device and managed to get a heavy metal bar slamming down on top of my thumb. Now, my whole thumb is bruised. It's not pretty (I'd post a picture, but my digi cam is being held hostage by another office...). And I got something on my shirt. So much for productivity - it causes injuries and ruins clothing.


As a day brightener, here's a doggy in a silly costume. And if you need more of the same, go to Cuteoverload.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

My boss may or may not have gotten a new job this week - I feel pretty ambivalent at the moment, so this revelation today didn't cause much of a reaction. It's not that I dislike my boss, exactly. Indifferent? Sure. That works. He has these favorite words, like "guru". He says it every opportunity he gets, constantly appointing someone as the "guru" of this or that project. I'm sorry, but naming someone as the guru for mass mailings is taking things a little bit far. And the word always makes me think of yogis (no, not Yogi the Bear...). The boss also manages to misuse the term "SNAFU". Only he ends up saying "snufu" most of the time. Did I mention that has a PhD (psst - that doesn't mean he's a real doctor, though - he just has a doctoral degree in "higher education and leadership" or some other idiocy...)? I'm not sure he even knows what the acronym stands for. I'm partial to FUBAR, myself. He's also fond of these strange phrases, his latest being "Like trying to kill a bear with a broom". What the hell does that mean? Can someone maybe clear this up for me? It's been a nice break since he's been out, though.

M and I invited the new coworker to go out to lunch. We got to bond a little, and the food was great. Of course, Greek food is always good, isn't it?

I'm really not looking forward to head honcho's return on Monday. My job might actually be tolerable if it weren't for Dr. Big Cheese always getting in the way with his mailings and last minute lunch meetings where I have to pay out of my own freaking pocket for food. And the desk tapping and pen clicking. But I'll save that for another time.

Wait. How do I always seem to end up on the topic of work? Oh, that's right - because I'm not allowed to talk about work at home. So I guess I'll just turn to the cold, anonymous void that is the internet for solace and understanding. Orrr...maybe not.

The school of hard knocks don't give you no paper, fool

Today was the second time in as many weeks that someone in a position of power at work (an overling, as it were) has questioned why I never sought any advanced education (i.e. college - community or otherwise). Now, the reasons why are multiple and very personal - let's just simply say I never felt the need to put my parents or myself into debt for something I wasn't sure I could fully dedicate myself to, and leave it at that. I'm totally flattered that they think I'm smart. I work hard at that. It's certainly better than everyone thinking I'm clueless. I guess it shouldn't be so weird to me that higher-ups in higher education would value that piece of paper that says you got some learning done inbetween those raging keggers at the frat house [hey, I work in higher ed - unnecessary stereotypes are fun, no?!]. I'd like to take classes, but I work full time and have a preschooler. How do I find the time and what good is a degree in Liberal Arts to a clerical worker drone like myself? Not having a degree doesn't negate my innate intelligence. In fact, who's to say that going to college wouldn't have dulled my ability to be such an independent learner? Sometimes I'm sure I made the right choice. But other times, seeing how much value others place on that little certificate makes me wonder if I'm missing out on something. Then I go home and sit in front of the tv with some ice cream and I realize that I'm totally without term papers or homework and (relatively) debt free - and I laugh. Just a little.

Customer...?? I'll boil the customer in hot oil!

I don't understand the whole "the boss isn't here, so we can't provide the service we normally would had he been here" way of some businesses. This kind of nonsense just drives me crazy. It shortens my temper and makes me snappy. And I take it out on other people. Because I'm a jerk that way.

In other news, I'm starving and someone else's delicious-smelling lunch is sitting on my desk.

Flotsam, meet jetsam

I'm feeling rather random, so here are some bits plucked from the detritus of my mind today.

• So, apparently my new quasi-boss has taken it upon herself to champion my cause. Que? you may ask. Yeah, I ask the same thing. It can't hurt, though. This whole fiasco has gone on long enough. Good thing I have the patience of a saint. Or maybe I'm just lazy and nonconfrontational. Hey - whatever works. Update: more work plus less money equals plummeting job performance. How hard is that to understand?
• Let the demolition commence! The books are all packed up. The bookshelves will get junked. Then the old console tv that doesn't work. Then the megalomart entertainment center (hellllooo flat screen!). After that the carpet gets ripped up, the drop ceiling comes out, the leaky bay window meets its maker, and some various other construction takes place. Finally.
• So, the list of summer movie must see's is getting longer. So far we have A Scanner Darkly some time this month, then Snakes on a (mothereffing) Plane next month. And then there's The Prestige, which is coming out this fall. Never heard of it you say? Well here, let me help you with that.
• Some shows I'm looking forward to coming up in the fall: the new show Eureka, on Sci-fi (starts tomorrow night) and the return of Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Office and Grey's Anatomy. My TiVo will be busy, busy! ( See http://www.tvguide.com/default for listings, fool)
  

Oh, and...
I need to go to the beach! The surf and sand - it beckons me!!

There you go princess, you were leaking some stupid.

"I don't know what to do...I don't know where to start...no one ever trained me..."

I hear these whiny excuses all day, every day. Guess what - when I started, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to start, and no one sure as hell bothered to train me. It's called a job, not babysitting. I shouldn't have to tell people with more education and supposedly more experience and qualifications than I have how to do the job they were hired to do. Figure it out, you dithering, lazy bastards! It's not even hard work, like manual labor or engineering. It's clerical work. Sitting on your asses all day, answering the phone and doing paperwork is sooo difficult.

My descent into administrative hell continues unabated. Next stop: The third circle, which is reserved for those who misguidedly use the office printer for stunning, full-color 8 1/2 x 11 inch reproductions of their friends' and relatives' mediocre digital photos. At about $10.00 a pop. Because that ink is not cheap. Bastards.