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08.28.02
Nothing much going on, except that I broke the 'C' key on my computer. Don't even ask. I've offered my humble services to Valerie on her forum, so if you're a member there and need help with a profile pic or anything else please feel free to email me.

The boyfriend and I are watching this show called 'Incredible But True' on the History Channel. This episode is about this area in Alaska where an average of one person per month disappear. The region is called the 'Alaskan triangle', even though both the boy and I agreed that it's really more of a parallelogram.

08.27.02
WARNING WARNING WARNING This Blog entry is really more of a personal vent session. Not that you aren't welcome to read, since, you know...I posted it on the Internet and everything. But I just need to get some stuff out of my system, and it's not going to be pretty or nice. (But it will be prettier and nicer than today's topic.)

To the girl I work with all day long: Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be employed at a company like this? Almost everyone (with the exception of you and possibly the assistant you're trying to mold in your image) is incredibly considerate, helpful and laid-back. Our boss will do just about anything to keep you satisfied, despite the fact that yesterday you called him retarded in front of all his subordinates. Flouncing off to your office added a lovely professional touch to the exchange.
I've had a short but colorful career history, and I'm not going to get involved in your whacked head games. I don't get paid enough to be sulky, harried or short-tempered. And frankly, I doubt you do either. But yeah, it does bother me when you make my new job a lot harder than it needs to be. I'm not gunning for your position, okay? You've been at this firm for fifteen years. If you want to hear that you're indispensable, then let me be the first to assure you that that is the case -- a cautionary tale in itself.
As unnecessarily rude as you are to me I will continue to paste a smile on my face and get my work done at my own pace (which is not precisely glacial, despite your intimations). But if you give me the beady eye when I go to the bathroom again, I swear I'll spend fifteen minutes in there just counting the tiles. Look, we've all got problems. You can go ahead and assume that I'm some kind of kept woman because of a tiny bit of information you gleaned from someone else -- but I guarantee you that if we laid everything on the table you'd take your 'difficulties' over mine any day of the week. So, back off.
And be nice.

Wow! That felt good. Waaaay better than that whole 'deep, cleansing breath' shit I keep hearing about. How are you all? If you want I'll write a bitter, virulent manifesto about the subject of your choice. I think I'm good at it.

Seriously, that really did help (I know; a sad commentary on me). In more palatable news, thanks to everyone for the really sweet feedback on the latest chapters of 'Roundabout'. You guys rock.

08.26.02
This Blog entry brought to you by Sisabet, stalker extraordinaire
Guess what? I was productive today too. I brought my boy home a new XBox game, and I am putting the finishing touches on new 'Roundabout' chapters. And this morning I got up early and worked out. I have to go to a wedding on Friday, and I want to be in shape. Today isn't too late to start exercising, is it?

Today there was yelling and confrontation at the new job. I was not involved, but I did form an opinion regarding the behavior of some of the participants. You can really tell a lot about people from how they act at work, and my boss impressed me today. I met my boyfriend through a previous job, and as time went on he stood out in the way he took responsibility for the people under him, how he wanted his employees to learn and grow, how he cared about what he produced, and how he understood the importance of late-night Quake tournaments.

I just received an email from a friend, and she mentioned how she is trying to replace her washer and dryer units. She said she wanted to get rid of her 'laughable stackables'. That brought the biggest smile to my face.

08.25.02
I'm so proud of myself. I did three things today and it's not even noon:

  • I cleaned up the guest room, so that it looks more like a room and less like an al-Qaeda hideout.
  • I returned something to Best Buy. If you've ever had to stand in the Returns and Exchanges line there, you'll know why I'm so pleased with myself. It's the tenth level of Hell and I am so totally not exaggerating.
  • I sent off the next two chapters of 'Roundabout' for beta-ing. I'm not convinced they don't suck ass, but they're finished after a fashion.

    08.23.02
    So for a while there I was all depressed and convinced that nobody loves me, but upon further reflection I think that stemmed from me listening to a song called 'Nobody Loves Me'. I'm listening to Elton John now and I feel much better.

    Today I brought Krispy Kreme into work, and it was like the heavens opened up. To anyone who ever begins a new job: Krispy Kreme is the key.

    I have to get up early tomorrow -- like, really early -- because my 'little fingers' are needed behind some server racks. The things I do for love. Well, also the boys promised to feed me. They know the way to my heart.

    I swear to God I'm working on 'Roundabout'. As soon as I stop yawning and menstruating, I will finish the latest chapter. Really.

    Did you know what I just found out? My boyfriend makes really good peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Who knew? See, I went grocery shopping the other night when I was really hungry, which is always a mistake. So I came home with a bunch of stuff I didn't need, including the aforementioned PB&J. But then the boy made me a couple (Hey! I could still be growing! You don't know. Shut up.) to take to work, and they were damn good. Maybe it's that indefinable quality that food made by someone else has. He says the same thing about the roast beef sandwiches I make him. And then I tell him that I know how he likes the hot beef injection, and then he says "Oi!" and then I laugh and laugh.

    08.19.02
    It was a mighty struggle, but I decided to (briefly) stop spreeing at Valerie's forum -- especially after my vociferous complaining about not having time to update The Fic That Will Not Die. So, I'm working on that now.

    08.18.02
    First off, thanks to k.d. mann for the title of the book I mentioned in my previous Blog: In The Company of Women, by Pat Heim and Susan Murphy. A description by the Barnes & Noble editors: "In their 20 years as consultants, authors Heim and Murphy gradually learned what gender studies have since confirmed: In the workplace, women frequently undermine one another. Real-world experience and recent research both show that when a goal comes into sight, men generally use direct action to attain it. Women, on the other hand, have been socialized to express aggressive actions through indirect means, such as shunning, stigmatizing, and gossiping. Such tendencies poison the work environment, reinforce "cat fight" stereotypes, and sabotage the efforts of women attempting to advance in male corporate environments."

    This was supposed to be my weekend to work on 'Roundabout', but it instead became my weekend to deal with a bunch of surprise issues of varying urgency. Now I have to leave for a party in a couple of hours, which scratches grocery shopping off the list. I can't tell you how desperately we need food. The only things edible in our house right now are ramen noodles, pretzel sticks and these frozen pot pies that you have to cook, not microwave so needless to say I can't eat them. They look good, though.

    In case you haven't been there yet, Valerie has created a Forum on her kick-ass site, We Band of Buggered. Go. Now. I can no longer access the Internet at work, so the rest of you must take up the gauntlet in my stead.

    08.14.02
    Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while. I've started a new job, and it's very stressful. On the one hand, I adore the guy who hired me. He's kind, straightforward, and laid-back. Unfortunately, I don't spend most of my time with him. Usually I work with two other women who clearly don't like the fact that I was hired at their level, since our boss hadn't actually been looking for someone to begin with. Right now I have to rely on them for a lot of my training, and it's pretty obvious what a hardship they consider this.

    I know I sound paranoid. I know that after I've been there for a while, I'll be much more comfortable and I won't have to interact with them as much anyway. But there's enough anxiety with being new someplace, that you'd think people would try to make it easier. I know I'm making a horrible blanket generalization here, but it is based on my own experience: working with women can really bite. Working with men can too, but in a different way. From what I've observed, women will more often be gossipy, catty, clique-ish, etc. It's like we feel threatened by other women. Newsweek recently reviewed a book on this subject, but I can't remember the name.

    Really, in another few days I'll be totally over this. On a more positive note, I just had a delicious meal of breadsticks dipped in ranch dressing. Yum!

    08.10.02
    I am posting the transcript below as proof: it's not my fault that my boyfriend's upper-upper-class, boarding school persona is being rapidly eroded by modern popular culture. He has no one to blame but himself, and possibly Howard Stern.

    The Scene: upon hearing shouts of "Daaaaammmmnnn!" from the living room, Piglet IMs her boyfriend. Yes, it would have been easier to get up and walk the twenty feet to where he was sitting. Yes, she's phenomenally lazy -- see the About page. Now shush.

    The Oinklet: What's going on out there?
    *********: hehehe I was watching this guy filming something and when accisenbt happened he shouted ooooh Deeeaaaaammmmm
    *********: accident
    The Oinklet: Who knew that after a few years in America, you'd become part of our nation's lowest common denominator?
    *********: deeeaaaammmmm

    This exchange was quoted verbatim. In case anyone is interested, said boyfriend has a master's degree and sits on the board of two corporations. Edited to add that in this economy, these qualifications does not precisely make him Warren Buffett. I mentioned them to indicate that at least in his professional life, he is articulate and clear-thinking. I'll just stop typing now.

    08.08.02
    My friend Ryan just left. He bought a new truck and wanted to show it to me, and then he stuck around for a couple hours and we talked. After six adolescent years spent in girls' school, I love having guy friends. And since I'm pretty guylike myself at times, it works out well. I made him promise to take me out dancing again, because I haven't been since...the last time we went out dancing, which was...March? Honestly, if it weren't for my friends I would spent all my free time squirreled away in the guest room, reading fanfic and listening to Luscious Jackson.

    I dreamed last night of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Bizarrely, there was no nudity. What a disappointment.

    I think my appetite is finally coming back. Ryan said I looked like I had lost weight, and I had -- about eight pounds. But today I had McDonald's and a piece of pizza. So the Piglet's rep is intact.

    08.04.02
    I'm in one of those moods right now, even though I shouldn't be. I got random hate mail in my Yahoo mailbox this morning -- totally unprovoked, probably misdirected, a drop in the bucket compared to the nice messages I get -- yadda, yadda, yadda. I know all this, but there's nothing quite like seeing the title 'fucker' at nine-thirty a.m. And I know I'm not making it better by listening to what I like to call "The Sounds of Eighties Heartbreak" -- Elton John's 'Sacrifice', 'And So It Goes' by Billy Joel, and of course the classic 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' by Poison. Because of this I'm nostalgic, and in addition to missing my mom and dad and brother and Cathy and the rest of my friends and my cats, I also miss hair bands. (Sniff) Sebastian Bach, where are you?

    Anyway, I filed away the creepy email and tried to distract myself by cleaning the guest room/office. I'm sure it would have worked if I'd put some effort into it. Now I think I'm going to harass the boy via Instant Messenger. What's a T1 line for if your girlfriend can't call you gay over it?

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