Some Gorilla Magic YO!

So maybe you're having a crappy day....if you're me, maybe you got a stupid parking ticket when you weren't even the one driving and there are so no signs saying you can't park there (Damn right I'm contesting it )!

But then something just a bit fricking magical happens...and your shipment comes in with your order that just so happens to include A Gorilla set (mask, hands, feet). Pretty cool all in and of itself, right? Even if you paid for it, getting you're own Gorilla set is just pretty fricking fantastic ! BUT....then comes the magic! As you start to unwrap the contents, you realize that you got not two, but THREE gorilla hands!!

Yes my homies!! I now have THREE FRIZNATCHING FRACKING GORILLA HANDS? Jealous? I bet you are!

Today!

Happy Today to MEEEEEEEEE =-)! Since I haven't had a day off since last Wednesday, I actually have today off - Woohoo =-)!!! Viva la Yay!! I need to make an exhilarating trip to Costco in a bit, in preparation for a little gathering tomorrow, so it is piecing together to be an exciting day ;-p. A call came in on my cell and I eagerly reached over to grab it thinking it might be someone passing along well wishes, but when I saw that is was my boss, I immediately let it go to Voice Mail. No thank you! You cannot call me into work today!! I got semi-jokingly asked to cover a graveyard shift yesterday by the woman who scheduled 12 people to attend something she forgot was canceled, and I said NO, NO, NO!!! So when I saw my boss's number I feared that's what it was about. As he went to voice-mail I found my work cell phone, which I had on vibrate, to make sure they hadn't been trying to call me. They hadn't, so I was perplexed at why he was calling my personal cell. When I listened to his message he started out with "No, I'm not trying to call you in to work a graveyard shift...". He goes on to say he had heard it was my day and that he "Just wanted to let you know I think you are a fabulous person and I am glad you're on my team." Wow. Who knew? You don't always have to dread calls from the boss!

Here I come next year of my life. Let's make it a good one!

I still exist!

Wow - it's been a million years (or like 8 months more specifically =-/). Damn. Lameness, I know. We all know I am lazy and unmotivated, no surprise there ;-). I am also currently full. Too much yogurt and grapenuts.....it tasted so damned good I just kept going. Bah - FULL!!

Soooooooo....the last 8 months. Our boss got FIRED and we got put under someone else who inherited a GIANT, SINKING SHIP - so wouldn't want to be him! I do find it kind of humorous that poor, insecure Backstab Bitch had nuzzled her way into the good graces of our last UGH of a boss, and all that brown-nosery was for nothing =-). Hehe!! We did the next deployment location, and, as a total anomaly, there were no swing or graveyard shifts, so that was nice but it will probably never happen again =-/. Once we got the new boss we shouted from the rooftops over how desperately we needed more employees, and he did not listen to our plea's, so this deployment has been very challenging and draining. Tomorrow I will be working until almost 1 in the morning and soon I get to do graveyard. Woohoo - what fun =-[. Plus, not only do we have Saturday's scheduled, but we also have Sunday's. Tada! They pay us decently because our job sucks!

The good news is I am certainly better at my job than I was several months ago, even if I still don't like it. I just had my annual review today and I got good ratings =-). I would suggest that maybe the fact that I came in wearing my happy face ring swayed him, but he had it all typed up before he even saw the ring ;-). Although some people familiar with the new boss had advised me not to vocalize as many things as I have up to this point, he actually thanked me for my straight-shooting and commended me for it. Kapow baby! It was a calculated risk to be as honest and blunt as I have, but turns out homeboy likes that. I rock =-).

I did move into a new place and I love being the lone person on the lease! The move was at the end of June, and all these months later, of course, I still don't have everything situated and in place. But it is a groovy apartment, and nice and spacious. I hate not having washer/dryer hookup though and could do without the stupid key-entry building thing. I have an out-of-country visitor coming soon and would have no way for her to enter and leave without me there. Boo! And the key places yell at you if you try to get those "DO NOT DUPLICATE" keys copied. Bastards.

More reasons this place is good though is I so have spectacular friends nearby =-)! And I live close to the home office, so when I have to travel for work I get mileage reimbursement after only a few miles - whooppee! This is my first full year where I will only have one w-2 (or w-4 whatever they are) from a "real" job. And looking at my paycheck and trying to figure my taxes that way, it doesn't look like I will get back NEAR as much as I feel I deserve. Grrrrrr =-(. It seriously almost makes you want to spend time behind bars so you can feel like you are actually getting something in return for all those tax dollars! Bastards!!

So, one of the things I had told my boss (the new one) early on is that I am looking for a new job. A very slow, slow process because I don't really know what I want to do and I'm not going to jump ship for just anything. Anyways, I've recently had the opportunity to do a couple things that aren't in my normal job description and I actually, gasp, enjoyed them =-O. Good Lord - who knew? You mean there can actually be stuff at work that I don't hate?!?!?! Promising! So hopefully I will have a chance to seek and discover more things that don't make me dread work =-).

All in all, outside of work, I would say 2007 was a pretty damned good year for me. And work allowed me to meet more people and to move out to where I wanted to live, so it hasn't been all bad either. The last song I heard in 2007 was "Love Shack" and the first one in 2008 was "Let the Good Times Roll" by B.B. King. Neither of which is a bad thing =-).

So I am a happy and content Shababbler on many fronts, which is pretty damned awesome. My main goal is to get out of this 24/7 type of job, but then I'd be DAMN content, and that might be too strange to know what to do with ;-).

Trudging Along...

Almost a month since I've been here. The area's great, but I've been so wiped out or busy most of the time that I haven't really taken the time to explore it. Have made friends with the crazy wild turkey's though. Caught myself one time as I was calling out, "Well hello Mr. Wild Turkey" after he had gobbled my way, but realized some people might decide I'm crazy, which I prefer to keep to myself ;-p.

The area continues to be pretty, some of my coworkers continue to be groovy people, my housing continues to be lovely, and my roommate is still awesome - Yay for all of those things =-). However, my boss has cartwheeled her way into the "How in the Hell did this person ever land in management" club, and a couple people are still those people you have to watch your back around. This job is full of long and draining hours, and I think our boss has a vacuum pump set to suck our souls straight out of us and into the dark, dusty chamber in her shoe. The shoe, in theory, would be a stilletto heal set to spear our jugulars. Joy, joy, joy. And I learned today that there will be a couple of weeks in June where I will be blessed with pretty much the crappiest schedule possible. Yippee.

I have tomorrow off, which will be LOVELY. But I only have it off because I have to work on Saturday. I was just down in Southern California this weekend for the wedding of a friend. I think it's so awesome when fantastic people find each other and do that whole falling in love thing! Hahaha. Gee, love, what's that?! No, seriously, he's a great guy and I'm so glad he found a fabulous girl. Plus he used to be married to a psycho ex-friend of mine, so the fact that he came through that to find a terrific girl is a wonderful, much deserved thing. On Saturday I went to Disneyland with my lovely pal who also was my date to the wedding. He was my +1! I hadn't been to Disneyland in 11 years, so it was actually pretty groovy. I got the coolest Mickey ears - Yay! They are pirate Mickey ears with the bandanna and the earring =-)!!

So I have to believe life in general is still good. It's just so easy to get so gosh darn consumed by the one or two things in your life that weigh on you. Just need to start pumping Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" into my head on a constant feed while at work =-).

Backstabbery!!!

So it turns out one of the coworkers that I had been friendly with IS AN EVIL WENCH!!! Woohoo....day two in the new spot and I'm already staring at someone and wishing they would implode. This is someone I have been friendly with, and turns out bitch is a backstabber. Hello? When did I go back to Junior High?!?!

Basically there was something I was doing that she evidently thought was a problem (funny how it was only a problem when I was doing it but not when anyone else was doing it....hmmmmm), and she told me not to do it. Please know that I am NOT that person that does crap I am not supposed to when it's not appropriate! The fact that she tried to make the situation into something it wasn't PISSES me off. Fine, whatever. I thought she was being a bit ridiculous, but whatever. Done. Until the next morning when another coworker pulls me aside to give me a heads up......lt turns out evil coworker ho had decided to tell the boss in a meeting (that only had the longer term staff) that, she didn't want to name any names, but "THE SHABABBLER was doing such and such." (Ya, I don't say my real name on this thing, but she said my real name right away). DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!??! You DID NOT just go there!!!! I don't think there was a problem w/my behavior, but when you call me out on it and tell me not to do it, and I stop doing it, ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO GO TO OUR FREAKING BOSS AND TRY TO MAKE ME LOOK BAD BEHIND MY BACK?!?!?! At least have a meeting w/me there so I can share my side!

Homegirl messed with the wrong person. Those of you in my "real" world that know it's best for people not to mess with me may have trouble believing that in the "work" world I actually keep myself rather contained. Homegirl is not going to realize that I know she practically waved a banner in our boss's face trying to get me in trouble so she could look good, she will just assume I'm a little less friendly because she said something to me. But when you try to freaking throw me in a ditch, I'm not going to be your friend. Wow. What a day. And the day before she had evidently said some things that really pissed off another coworker, so she has a way of burning ties as she tries to manipulate and connive her way into favor with the boss. It's a trip when you get a glimpse of someone's true colors. And at the same time, I feel sorry for her because it makes it obvious, although she is evil and conniving, she's evidently really insecure too. Whatever. I'm done with her and now I know! Thank Goodness for a great living situation, an awesome roommate, and some cool coworkers that don't make the words "Skank" and "bitch" glide through my mind whenever they walk past me!!!

In the New Land!

Can you believe it dear readers? Two entries in less than two weeks - wow! All 3 or so of you should be shocked and amazed, hehe ;-p. So moving out of one place and into another a day later is complete! Yay! Well, I guess I shouldn't say complete, because I have tons of unpacking to do, but hey. And shame on my brother for tattling to our Pop that his daughter had been blogging away when she should have been packing, hehe.

So ya, moving out was a several hour process. My peeps arrived and my Dad immediately came down to ask if I had done anything. I showed him my car, which was just about filled to the BRIM, and he asked, "Was all of this stuff in your closet?!?!" Ummm...ya....hehe.....I am a stuff whore. I am seriously never allowed to buy anything AGAIN! But dude - I so have a stuff addiction! I just need to transfer it to only buying stuff for other people, hehe.....I'm just a consumer, I like to buy.

When all was said and done there were three cars, two with seats removed or set down, moving me out of my sublet. Ya, three. Seriously. And the only place I had stuff was pretty much in my room! But it was good - the roommate there was a really good guy =-). Yay for non-psycho strangers that you find online! So my Love Lobster was rocking shotgun in my car and the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile pillow was doing so in the car my pop was driving. Perfect.

And the next day we managed to whittle it down to only two cars, because this place is furnished. One of my coworkers came over today and was floored by how much crap I had.

The new place is NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEEE!! Hell ya baby boy!! I scored the Master Bedroom and have a huge fricking bathtub and a lovely and enormous closet - WOOHOO!!! Yay for big baths and big closets!! Hot damn! My one little Pirate Devil Rubber Duckie looks lonely in such a big space. And I LOVE the floorplan of the apt.! Each room is on opposite sides of the living/dining room areas, so if someone is up for hours listening to music, ain't no thang!! Woohoo! Ya baby!!

Speaking of music, I FINALLY found some of my Remy Zero, which I have been searching for for ages, and I am stoked because those boys rock! I hate it when groovy groups break up, but supposedly they are potentially reuniting....we shall see.

My roommate came in today and I think we are just going to have a great time together. She's awesome and so am I so we are a good match ;-p! Hehe.

Work today was okay....I have some assessments, but won't bore you with them. I'm looking forward to when I finally get to the point where I have the knowledge down and can appear all knowledgeable and spiffy and all that crud, and hopefully at least a smidgeon entertaining! I find being entertaining much more fulfilling than being knowledgeable, but somehow that's not what's in my job description - bummer, hehe. I don't lead anything these first couple weeks, and will probably be lame to start out with, but will hopefully rock before I'm done here!

Since I have a lot of unpacking to go I couldn't find my work appropriate belt today =-/. So my next closest one has a studded star in the belt buckle, but I figured that was a much better choice than any of the three with the skull belt buckles, hehe.

This area is pretty. I went to the store yesterday evening and was blown away by the beauty from the parking lot. Standing there on top of a hill looking out as the sun was setting....it seemed like more of a scenic viewpoint off a highway, or a makeout lookout (not that I would know anything about those ;-P) than a grocery store parking lot. Wow. I love finding beauty in unexpected places. And this is the second time I have been blown away by the view from a grocery store parking lot! Back in 2005 I was prancing into a store when living in Tacoma and just stopped in my tracks when I realized that was Mt. Ranier above the store top. You just don't get views like that in my hometown! And tonight when my roommate and I were coming home from where we had been, I had to break for Deer!! Two of them!

So I think this place will be scenically stimulating for sure, and I have some really groovy coworkers (along with ones who aren't, hehe) at my fingertips, and a fabulous mall! Not that I am ever allowed to buy anything again, hehe =-).

So I'm sitting here typing away with my dollar-sign bling ring (because that's how I roll, yo!), and before I started typing this I made sure to test out how fun it was to bounce on this bed. I figured that was an appropriate way to celebrate my first day out of the cast. But ya, ankle wasn't really completely happy today, so I was bouncing more on the other foot.....kind of flamingo style if they ever took a lot of uppers or really had to pee and were waiting in line, hehe.

But now I must off, off and away. Things are good right now! And I wanted to give a special shout out to my amazing parents who are headed abroad for the first time ever tomorrow!!! Yay! And they better not be reading this tonight because neither of them had packed yet (gee, maybe that's where I get it from, hehe). It's awesome when you are able to be a part of making something amazing happen for people who are so unbelievable and deserving =-). And I'm not just saying that to get a fantastic souvenir, hehe.

I'm in a good mood - I hope you are too =-)!

Almost Go Time

Hey Folks!! Here I am.....once again writing because it enables me to put something else off....in this case, packing up to MOVE! Hmmmm....life is pretty good right now. Cool. But let me catch you up...

I went on my trip, which was a little cruise that hit San Diego, Catalina Island and Ensenada. I was looking forward to being away from work and having a good time with my wonderful self....and I'm glad I got away, but it definitely wasn't the vacation of a lifetime or anything. To be honest, I kind of felt like a big loner the whole time =-(. There are several zones in the land of me, and one of those zones is the "Wheeeeeeee! I love people let me make friends with lots of them!" The only thing is....I was never in that zone on this trip. Instead I was in the place where I was constantly noticing that, on a cruise, pretty much EVERYONE comes with other people. Whether it's families, friends, significant others, whatever! So I just felt like the "Hey can you take our picture" girl or what-have-you, which made me kinda sad, because I hate it when I turn out not to be that person who can happily prance around the planet and feel totally content by myself. I have done the solo travel thing before and been fine, but it's really because I have made friends along the way, and, as it turns out....I'm a freaking people person, hehe. I would have to say the single moment that probably embodies how I felt that whole time was when I was sitting and enjoying the dueling pianos in one of the crowded lounges and this hot guy walked up and asked if the seat next to me was taken.....mind you, I didn't think he was going to hit on me, it was crowded and he wanted a seat, however, I completely did not expect him to hoist this heavy chair over his head and walk out of sight with it, leaving me sitting in the isolated chair all by myself, and breaking any illusion that I might have been with someone (anyone). Ya, how do you make the solo traveler feel like even MORE of a loner?? Why don'tcha haul ass as you take the chair away....mmmmmm, ya, mission accomplished!!!

I did snorkel for the first time at Catalina Island and that was cool. It was wetsuit snorkeling, but the water was cold enough that my brain was freezing, hehe. My room was really cool though....I had a big window on the 8th deck and a really comfy bed, and the whole place all to myself =-). I would totally do one again, but not by myself. If I had had someone else with me I would have had a blast. Next time.

The Saturday after the cruise was St. Patty's Day and I met up with a bunch of fabulous people for festivities in the Bay Area. Had loads and loads of fun (was so stoked to be rocking the friend time after 5 days of being Loner Girl). My outfit was super cute (Yay for cute outfits!), but I determined that one accessory was probably a mistake. Turns out if you wear a button that says "Luck Off" the leprechauns take that pretty seriously!! Even if you are also wearing Shamrock earrings and Beedely-Boppers....don't wear the "Luck Off" button!!!!!! The leprechauns attacked me during the night and by the time I went to the doctor a couple of nights later I left with a walking cast and crutches!! I didn't break anything, but I seriously irritated a certain tendon that caused major swelling and lots of bruising that gave people that "Ewww!" reaction. I'm still in the walking cast (which means that I can take it on and off), but I ditched the crutches a couple of days ago because I hated them. I only have to wear it probably through this week, but there is this rather large bump on my foot that doesn't seem to be planning on leaving anytime soon. I tried on my pink go-go boots to see if they would fit, and my foot practically bitchslapped me for even thinking that was a good idea =-/. Ho hum, ho hum, ho hum. Freaking leprechauns!!!

The good news is, overall I am doing very well right now. This is evidently quite unusual because when I called my Dad recently and replied with "Really well" when asked how I was doing, he was shocked and perplexed as he let out his surprised "REALLY?!?!?!". Hehe. We got our roommate assignments for corporate housing, and the girl I am going to be with is really cool, so I am stoked =-)! There are quite a few people I would have been happy being placed with, but some that would have not been cool, so I'm quite pleased! Plus, the housing looks like it will be pretty swanky - yay!! I'm looking forward to taking neverending showers to make up for the quick-speed demon water-turns-cold-too-fast ones I get here. Bah!

Plus, we got our work schedule for the next couple months and it's not as bad as I imagined it would be. Definitely not great at all, but not as doom-and-destruction as I imagined. I will have to be at work on many days FAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR too freaking early, and we do have to work some weekends, but not all of them. Plus, the area we will be in is pretty, so once my ankle gets better it will be nice to explore it.

I've loved living in this area socially, so I've decided once this job deployment stint ends I think I will look for an actual apartment over here instead of just a sublet. The idea of living all by myself sends goosebumps of happiness through me over the thought of being able to be the Decoration Dictator - woohoo! There's a lot to do in this area, I'm near a nice bunch of good friends, and I've been lucky enough to make friends with some really cool new people. See, people make me happy, hehe! Unless they are pissing me off, then WATCH OUT! But groovy people rock my whirl =-).

On that note, time for bed....another week of the working world hullaballoo.

Night!

Saying Hello

Gosh........another month+ has passed. I have been enjoying my time here socially, but not so much on the work tip. Although, the funny thing is that there are now several new people on my team. This is humorous to me because, as it stands, I am now one of the folks who has been on the team for a longer amount of time. Hehe. The survival rate on this team is SLIM! Some of the new people are super groovy, and just as leery of the entire process, but it just goes to show that groovy people can certainly make the mindless work days more tolerable.

I only have a month to go before being stuck in the next realm.....fairly bummed, I have met some cool people. Ugh....I can't imagine moving all my crap again....I've never fully moved all my crap in (shocker, I know).

We had a party here over the 3 day weekend in February....that was a lot of fun =-). And the weather was perfect.

So next week I am going on a little trip.....YAY! Not the trip I originally wanted to do, but should be fun. Going by myself, but I'm good company ;-p. Speaking of that though......I'm just doing this to put off packing.....gotta get started!

YAY!!

Yay! What a great day I had, considering I had to work and all =-p. Today was that one day a year where it is supposed to be all about you......(and the zillions of other people around the world born on this day).....and it was just really nice =-). I treated myself to driving to work, an expensive treat when even the cheap lots are like $7.50, but way worth it for my birthday - a gift to avoid public transit and the crazy people that ride on it!! I also treated myself to doing very little on the productive side at work (oooops, hehe), and to answering my cell. And I got sooooooo many Happy Birthday, well-wishes calls =-)! Thank you so much to all of the people who remembered with e-mails, and e-cards, and phone calls! More people took the time to acknowledge me than I thought would even remember =-). Including an e-mail from someone who I would never expect to remember even though I have had birthday bashes at his house (Aubrey), and calls from people like my best friend from high school who was tremendously sick (and sounded so on the phone =-(), and from my friend Laura all the way from Paris! Plus, I had delivered to me the totally awesome and adorable specially-made card that was sent to my house (thanks Sam and Jon!!). I got to have dinner with my parents and my Lou-Dawg, and a couple of my coworker friends at work took me out to lunch.......yay for a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who helped make it special for me.....even the run in my pantyhose didn't ruin things =-). And no rain! That was really cool too ;-)!

Loads has happened since my last post. Moved in a few days later to my new sublet that is closer to work (since there is no flexibility on working elsewhere as there was on my last team). I don't mind as I prefer the area I am living in now to where I was living before....but this place IS SO FREAKING COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!! I am wearing fingertipless gloves as I type this. It's 56 right now according to the thermometer that I bought after I started freezing here. It is usually 48 in the morning.

Anyway, the person I am living with seems pretty nice. A self-professed workaholic, so I don't necessarily see him so much. Plus, the place he works is open 24 hours, so he often covers shifts that start at all hours. But the place is freaking cold and the heat is only downstairs and it doesn't really work all the time. Plus he is very frugal. So life is COLD!!!!

As for the new position...........well.........ugh!!! The irony is my boss seems so nice every time you talk to her. I mean, really nice.....but she is evidently a bit of a Hitler when it comes to her rigid interpretation of the rules (as compared to all of the other teams). This includes a black out on taking time off when we are actively positioned in a location. To the tune of like 3 months at a time! NOT COOL!!!! And not the way anyone else does it either =-(. I'm just going to try to stick in there until I make it to my one-year mark, but even that is going to be a challenge. And people on this new team are kinda lame!! Not all, but many! UGH!!! Counting......down.....the.....days!

Anyhow, I still have a lot of faith that 2007 is going to be a groovy year =-)! Let's hope that rings true =-).

Note to self...

....Just because you find it oddly humorous that during one of the most critical shopping days of the year (the day after Christmas), as you were in the wake of the DEMON illness that traveled the ranks of most of your extended family, and you just HAD to catch those day-after sales, only to end up spewing in the bushes outside of a major department store....doesn't mean that when your brand-new boss asks everyone on the team to share something funny that happened over the break, that you should share that when introducing yourself for the first time. Because, oddly enough, not everyone finds holiday spewing humorous. Hmmmmm. Will remember that next time =-p!

It wasn't that dreadful, but I do find certain humor in things that others do not. This fell into that general category, but I recovered nicely enough ;-p!

Ringing in the New Year with a Busted Zipper

HAPPY 2007 EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!

I have good feelings about this year -

I think it will be a groovy one =-)!

Let's hope so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent my New Year's Eve with one of my Lovely Pals and we headed out in search of something fun to do in a city that could never mistakenly be called "happening," haha. So we found a place and did our thing there, but, as is usually the case, it seems, when attempts are made to attend events on notable occasions, the festivities were just so-so. I was with a good friend though, which is always a stellar way to say goodbye to one year as you welcome the next, and we were dancing away as the countdown neared. About 10 minutes before 2006 said farewell I decided to take my final pee of the year......I completed the task and was about to be off to join my pal on the dance floor when - CRAP!!!!! My zipper was busted!@!#!*! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I didn't really think this sort of thing would seriously happen - especially not 10 minutes before 2007 danced into our lives!!! But it did, and I just couldn't fix it =-(! So I decided that I had no choice but to go with it! I was a bit upset with my zipper, because it's not like it had given me ANY warning that this would happen =-/!! But hey, whatever, it certainly makes things more memorable! So I met up again with my pal on the dance floor and I got my self-conscious groove on as I tried to make sure that no one could see my shiny gold busted zipper against my black pants. Lordy, Lordy!!!! But, I'm curious what sort of message was being sent my way by the various Gods-That-Be with my closing out one year and starting the next with my Busted Zipper! It could be the Gods of, "Girl-You-Gotta-Lose-Some-Weight!" but I prefer to think it is some more entertaining Gods that are giving me a shout-out through my busted zipper =-p! We shall see!!

2007 is already starting out with new things in store for me, I'll be renting a place closer to work and that will make my commute muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhh more manageable!!! Thank goodness for that!!! Sharing the place with someone I don't know, but the person seems pretty nice. I think it will be good! And I officially had my first (token) day in the new position, but won't really get a flavor for that until this week.

So goodbye 2006!!! You know what though? 2006 was actually pretty good to me when all was said and done, and no one in my life died! And sadly that's not always something you can count on being the case =-(. So thank you 2006, you were pretty good to me. BUT YAY FOR 2007!!! I have hopes that we will be GREAT friends!!!!!!!

I wish all of you (my dear 2 or 3 readers ;-p), a wonderful and fabulous 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ramblings of the evening...

Wow - it's been more than a month =-/....hello again! I still exist. Hanging out in a hotel room this week for work and there is CRAP on tv tonight, so time to write again I guess. Barbara Walters has a special on - she has big eyes. Doesn't she?

Anyways, so before I was complaining about the freaking blizzard on my last out-of-state sojourn, but I must say that when all was said and done, I did have a good time. And I got to say hello to the ferretts who are illegal in my homestate. Well, we didn't actually hang out, but I visited them in the pet store. I've heard they're nasty little bastards though. Might be fun to be one in a future life =-). Visiting other places always makes you wonder about the place where you hang your hat. It's kind of crazy to think of how different your life might/can be if you choose/try to live it somewhere else. I wish there was an easy rotation option....kind of like co-ops (or internships, but paid) in college, where you can live and work in a totally different place for some risk-free period of time without having to worry about making sure you were doing (or attempting) all of the right things for your career and all that crap. Ho hum. Life just seems too short to stay stuck in one location/existence, but it is easy to lock oneself into such things, especially when you want to be near your people (and you aren't insanely rich =-/).

So, my job crap has settled. I will still be gainfully employed (three cheers for the continued paycheck yo!). Toward the end of the month I will be hopping over to a different ship, and that's going to be tedious. Will have to go into the office everyday it looks like (too much travel time), and I will ultimately have to work some waaaaaaaaay-not-cool shifts =-(. I'll hang with it for now though.....I like getting paid =-).

Last weekend was Vegas time =-). A couple of groovy friends were celebrating birthdays. Friday night started off slow, but I probably had more than my fair share of fun on Saturday night. Ah Vegas.....Vegas, Vegas, Vegas. Nothing like dialing your grandma on those wild nights and making all of your friends talk to her too....I'll have to give her a call and see what we chatted about. Politics maybe? Hehehe =-p. Good times.

One of these days I'd like to own a bulldog......or have a really good friend/neighbor who owns it and lets me play with and walk it but they happily pick up the poo. Ya, that might be better. Don't go out and buy me a bulldog though - too much committment right now. If you want to buy one for yourself and let me play with it that would be awesome though =-).

Voting (and lots of other stuff I don't have time to talk about yet)!

Soooooooooo much has been happening in the last few weeks and I feel like a chicken who's head has popped off and I'm trying to figure out exactly how to get it back on and how I should reposition it if I can get it back on! Good LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDD things have been busy and stressful!! So I don't have much time right now, but later I might do that thing where I write multiple blogs at once and my faithful reader or two will just have to remember to scroll down ;-p!

So, to quickly summarize the craziness, I flew out of state the other weekend timing my arrival on the day of a freaking blizzard!!!!!!! Grrrrrr..........it was only a long weekend to begin with and I hadn't been there in 2 1/2 years, but I just HAD to plan my trip on the worst weather day in 3 years!!!!!!!!!! I got in 6 hours late that night AND my flight home was delayed too =-(. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Other than that it was a great trip, after having missed connections, being let off one of the planes first so I could start running up ramps hoping I'd make the just gone connection, having tears involuntarily stream down my face as the nice airline guy told me I was screwed....NO FUN!!!!!!!!!

Then, last weekend was the first wedding photography gig me and my partner had. Talk about stressful! Overall things were good.....although the bride and bridesmaids "Didn't have time" for us to shoot them after the wedding, so I seriously have like 60+ shots of the groom and Groomsmen (who we met with beforehand) and 4 (YES FOUR!!!!) freaking shots of the bridesmaids. It was one of those, "You gotta be kidding me" moments, but nothing we could do. My partner did a better job of hiding he was annoyed, because if they don't want the shots well, they don't get them, but he wasn't thinking (until later) about the fact that that was our chance to build up our portfolio and so we got a little screwed over there. That and the father-of-the-bride was doing a bit of photographic-cock-blocking too. Definitely a good learning experience!!!! And it helps give us ideas of the types of things we need to put in a contract in the future. And yes, I know the Groom sometimes reads these shababblings, and you know I think you rock, but ya can't deny what I'm saying here - you know it's true!!!

Anyways - my FAVORITE moment of the day was when the Groom made sure to tell my partner (who thinks you are very cool by the way Mr. Groom ;-)), "You know she's allowed to drink, right?!" HEHE! The advantage of shooting a laid back friend's wedding =-)!!!!!!!!! He came back with, "Hey, what about me?!" Hehe. Well, I also thoroughly enjoyed it when my great-sport of a brother didn't even bat an eyelash when I (unbeknownst to him) put in for him to Karaoke "My Humps" by the Black-Eyed Peas - Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!! The night was fun - especially after the stress of worrying about getting the shots of the wedding was over! I think I prefer portraits - MUCH easier!!!!!

So I said this was going to be short.........ooooops.....I suck at that sort of thing! My job crap is getting crappier as they pull our strings and toss us around like little ping-pong balls being chased by kittens by making us jump through hoops we shouldn't have to jump through for these freaking, supposed "transition" positions. They are making a game of giving us less than 24 hours notice on when we have to interview and telling us what we have to prep for our 20 minute presentation. The whole process is definitely tinged with evil and disrespect, not to mention kicking people while they are down. I hope things workout =-/.

And finally I get to the VOTING! You know what's weird? Whenever I go to the polls here they never check I.D. At all! I even popped mine into my pocket before I walked in just in case, but no one even asked to see it. It was the same thing last time I voted here (was out of state last year). So - if anyone wants to try to sneak in and fake vote like you are me next year you just might get away with it!

But I love getting my "I voted" sticker. Yay voting! And this time they had a new weird card reader thing. BUT, the cool thing about voting is you can do whatever the hell you want. I had some propositions I felt strongly about, but there were certain things that I wasn't too concerned about. After some deep consideration, I realized that instead of writing myself in for Governor (I don't have time for that shit right now ;-p), I would write in my best friend. She could certainly give Arnie a run for his money!! And we'd undoubtedly get a "Fat Tuesday's" in the Capitol building (YAY Fat Tuesday's!!! I will see you next month in Vegas!!!! I love you Fat Tuesday's =-)!!!!!!!). And, just to make sure it was a power team running the place, I wrote in her fiance for Lieutentant Governor!! Woohoo!! And as I told him, if I get my high-powered connections into the Big Building in Sac-Town, that means that if I ever got arrested for doing something like streaking across the Capitol lawn, I should have no problem getting "excused" for my behavior =-). Hehehehe - yay for totally unrealistic connections!!!! And ya......not the streaking type right now!!!!!

Anyways....how's that for "short"?! I seriously don't know what makes me think, with my serious history of endless babbling, that I have will ever have it in my skill-set to be succinct!!!! Not so much!!!! Back to the stupid job-searching/interview BS!!!! Oh....and about that......if anyone has a company looking for a well-paid "mascot" I totally have costumes =-).

Employment is overrated anyways, right?

I've been wondering for a while how my work situation could last through the month that my contract indicated it should. So on Friday, those wonders were definitively addressed as a huge gaggle of us received notice that our jobs would be gone, finished, removed from the charts of existence right before that popular holiday in December (the Friday before). Ahhhhhhhh what kind and generous timing for all of those folks who actually like to be employed around Christmas time. But the part that is so insane to me is something that doesn't effect me at all, since I would not have been on the job long enough to be eligible. With this notification that the job would be slipping away also came word that all of those people promised bonuses for being on the project x amount of time by the time it finished, (and we're talking FAT BONUSES for some of these people - HUGE percentages of their salary for the people who had been on the project for a while), well - guess what - they conveniently decided those retention bonuses would no longer be fiscally responsible. "Sorry, we just didn't think it was right considering we were having to cut positions =-)....we know you understand!". So all of these people who were expecting to receive several thousand dollars for sticking it through, are now kicked to the curb. And guess what, the "Retention Bonus" carrot worked because so many of these people didn't even consider other job offers because they knew they were getting a fat payout really soon. It seriously blows my mind that they can just take that away at the last minute! Mission accomplished - those people were retained. I was talking to someone who has worked for this company for a long time and she told me that it didn't surprise her at all that they would pull something like this. Unbelievable.

Now the good news is that they did give us two months warning, and they froze some positions within the project that the 78 of us will have priority consideration for as long as we follow the quick steps to apply. Mind you, we still have to be qualified for the jobs, and I don't think I've been on this boat long enough to be qualified for several of these things. So job search mode has to be kicked into total high gear, and that age old question of, "What the hell do I want to do with my life?" needs to be addressed again. Ho hum - I guess I don't get to be too picky. It's been nice having benefits for a minute! Knowing that if I got stabbed on the street I could go to a hospital and not worry that I would be in debt for the rest of my life to pay off my medical bills! (Mind you, I got the college debt thing locked down - BAH!). So we will see what the next course of employment will be for the Shababbler....hopefully it won't be back to what I was doing before and hopefully I won't have to take a huge pay cut =-/.

Okay - now a bit of happy, lovely news. A super cool career moment for someone who went to the same college as I did. The one and only Weird Al Yankovic (who is so fun to see in concert =-)), has finally made the Billboard Top 10 after all these years!! Way to go Weird Al!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!