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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Making Friends (with benefits ;-p)!

On Saturday a small group of us were all ready to tackle Oktoberfest in San Francisco, that is........until we saw the line that must have had at least a few hundred people in it! We debated it, and considering once we paid our admission and got in we'd still have to wait in line to get beer, we decided instead just to save the price of admission and hit up some bars in the area. First we went to a bar as a pitstop for some food, and then we headed off to another bar that happens to be a bit of a favorite. Mind you, I don't live in the city, so it's not like I've been there very often, but they have this oh-so-comfy couch with really cushy and lovely pillows and a great jukebox =-). Love the jukebox and the pillows =-).

So, to be honest, I'm totally not much of a beer girl, so the bar thing probably worked out better for me. I was talking to the bartender to try to figure out what I should try and he suggested a "Purple Hooter." YUM Purple Hooter =-)!!!! Never had one before - and damn, Chambord is tasty! Later I came up and spoke with Bryan the Bartender again and wanted to get a shot for me and my Nacho. This time we had "Sexy Alligators" - hehe. It looks really cool when it's sitting there waiting to be drunk =-). But let me tell ya, making friends with the bartender proved to be a damned fine move. He was stoked we were playing music and he brought over Mind Erasers for the four of us =-)! Made w/vanilla vodka, so I guess that made them a bit sweeter than usual. And later - after we had shifted to the lovely couch, he brought over another round for each of us. Yay for making friends with the Bartender - WOOHOO!!

When we left several hours later we went to Mel's Diner for late night grub. The Chocolate Malts were special delivered right from heaven =-). All four of us got shakey action and food-food. I think we all learned later though that mixing Malts and burgers and Beverage isn't such a good idea!!

The only bummer about the whole thing is that I realized the next day that I think I accidentally left my favorite pirate hook on the couch - I loved that pirate hook =-(. When I called to tell A-Dawg about it she lightened my heavy heart a bit by telling me that maybe one of it's last moves was to hook someone in the ass as they sat down on it =-)! Hey - it's plastic, it wouldn't hurt, hehehe =-).

Last on the List...

This week for work I was in a different city, and something addressed during the last day made me think it was time to call my best friend from high school. I had just talked to her a few weeks before, but she's due to have her first baby on November 1st, so I thought I should give a call. She picked up right away and I asked how she was doing, to which she responded that she was tired. I asked if she was any more tired than usual or just regular tired (she had been put on orders not to work for the last month of her pregnancy, so I didn't know if anything else had happened). She said she was a bit more tired than usual and I asked if there was any particular reason why. She asked me if I had talked to her sister (also a friend) and I said no.

"I had the baby." "WHAT?!?!?!" "I had him on Saturday." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Holy smokes!!!! So I was blown away and heartily congratulated her. I was just randomly calling and I thought she would still be a few weeks away from having a new little man in the house!!!!!!!! So wow! I was totally happy for her (yes folks, even though I sooooooooo don't want kids for myself, I can be happy for those other folks on the planet (the other 98% of you) who do want little ones).

But I have to admit that I'm just a bit floored. Because she had the baby on Saturday. Saturday......five days before Thursday. I was the one to call randomly on Thursday. She had the baby on Saturday. Every single family member (including the other two bridesmaid's from the wedding last year who happen to be related to the baby - but are also considered friends). But no one had bothered to try to tell me. No one even thought about giving me a call or sending an e-mail. Nobody. Not the grandparents to the new little guy (who consider me like a third daughter), not the sister to the Mom who is also a good friend and a former roommate, not the husband who has my e-mail. No one. No one thought to even try to notify me. For five days - and only then because I called. So it really kind of hurts my feelings, because wow - five days?!?! I mean, it's a case of slipping through the cracks, but still.......I don't matter enough for anyone to think to notify me =-(. I feel like I've been encountering this a lot lately. I found out an old friend (who I am still in touch with) got married only because I glanced at his myspace page, and my parents waited to tell me about one of my Uncle's having a heart attack just because they hadn't seen me. It's just depressing sometimes to think of who and what you share things with, especially things of such enormous magnitude, and to think that you don't even pop up on their radar, even if they are on yours =-/.

The Grass is always Greener.....

I asked my Dad today if he thought there was any chance I was close to retirement. Sadly, his answer was no =-(. I am grateful for my job, it has been a blessing. But the idea of retirement seems so damn cool! Too bad I don't have a penny saved for it yet =-/. I walked by a travel agency today so I could glance at the vacation deals that I can now actually afford (for the time being), but have no time to take. Ho hum, ho hum. I now have a whopping 38 hours of vacation time accrued! And I already know how they will be used.

I have a friend who is spending the next academic year in France (living "Paris adjacent," hehe) and teaching. I'm excited for her, although having to find her own housing once she got there proved to be rather overwhelming and she ended up in a place that is pretty darn pricey. But man! A year living in a different country - what an awesome opportunity! I'm somewhat envious of her, because it's not often we get to have life experiences like that. At this point in time I don't think I would want to live out of the country for a year - but four months or so might be nice!

I'm (still) at a point in my life where I don't know what I want. For the longest, longest time my focus has been on trying to find a job that I liked and that was stable and that enabled me to exist, which this one sorta does for the moment. But it's not permanent, and I know in the long run I need something different. I just don't know what is going to make me happy in life. In relation to the whole "big picture" thing. There's lots of little things that make me happy, and those are what I need to learn to focus on, because all of the tiny brush strokes make the painting turn into what it will become. Speaking of paintings - my Dad and I participated in the community mural painting this weekend! It felt so "Gilmore Girls" =-p. I told him he was Lorelei and I was Rory, hehe. He said we needed to talk faster. Anyways - so now there's a painted wall in this city that has our names on it =-). We painted the dirt - hehe! And a couple of other things. That was really cool to participate in, I had wanted to do it before but we had never pursued it. So now we are muralists....or at least paint-where-we're-told-ists ;-p.

I'm just rambling....trying to put off the end of another weekend....in about 15 minutes it will officially be Monday. Blah. Happy Columbus Day....the holiday only the Government gets off. Good night =-).