comedy gold

So much going on to talk about...but I found this...and I have to share.

I don't know if you remember Sarah Silverman--she's been Fucking Matt Damon. Well...her hubby, Jimmy Kimmel, is up to no good of his own.

And what a way to get even!

*heh*

Well.

Long story on how I got here, but I really don't have a lot of time before I have to be at the hall for day 2 of the meetings. I just wanted to pop in and say that at the banquet last night, I won a door prize.

It was a GPS. Which was pretty nice.

But then I traded with Luke. For this.

Woot.

p.s.

I hit 10,000 unique visitors today.

Even though #1o,000 appears to have been a drive-by mis-google, I want to say Thanks to the rest of you for visiting. I never expected anybody to find my little corner of the interweb when I started this thing, and I'm still amazed every day that any of you come back. So thanks for letting me vent, and reading about my day. I appreciate you.

Oh yeah, and Me and Barack Obama wanted you to have some cupcakes.

(I just can't get enough of that link! *snicker*)

Sunshiney sunday

Today was lovely. An absolutely gorgeous day for driving back to Amherst, which is what I spent my late afternoon doing.

I went into Halifax last night to meet up with some old friends from the store for a house-party, and then a trip to the Penny. It was a really good time. I was going to stay at Randy & D's house, but ended up at Alicia's instead. We stayed up talking until 6:45 this morning though, so I'm absolutely exhausted.

Had coffee with Billy this afternoon, and it was quite lovely. We get along so very well when we're in the same room. We even had a very pleasant MSN chat tonight. I was best pleased about it. Not in the least because I didn't really feel much of anything. I wasn't pining, I wasn't twingeing. I was just having a nice chat with a friend.

I want us to be friends, because I can't be acquaintances, and I am not really interested in writing off the last 2 years of friendship as an experiment in poor judgement. I'm never going to be involved with the man in any real way again, so I really have nothing to lose by being his friend.

Actually, I think one of the things that made me realize that I was okay with stuff, was that I went up to his apartment to drop off his replacement gift (one was slightly defective--they sent a new one) and sat for a few minutes to admire his new banjo. I got to pluck the strings and hold it (it was HEAVY!) for a bit. I had him play me some things he was learning to do. It's COOL! Then I admired his new mandolin. It's about a month old now, but it's new to me as I hadn't seen it yet. I held that too, and it was sooooo light compared to his old one. He played me a song on that too, because I asked him to. The point being (yes, I'll get to it eventually) that when he was playing, and from the minute I got there, he was jittery. His hands were kinda shaky and he looked nervous. It was a wee bit odd. Endearing, and mildly comforting to know that he was slightly anxious to see me.
(Possibly in case I was going to hit him again *heh*) Or it could have been that he drank a pot of coffee on his own that morning. Who knows. But he was shaky, and I was fine. It wasn't weird being in his space, it didn't feel too casual, and it didn't feel too awkward. It was just 'hanging out at a buddy's place' normal. It was good. Anyway, that's a really long paragraph to say a whole lot of 'I think I'm fine with it now'. But I do. And I am. And it's Good.

I've had a really hectic week all told, actually. Most of it fun, but even fun can wear you down.

I posted on Wednesday about DD coming by last Sunday for a visit and staying until the wee hours of the morning. Well...Thursday it happened again. It's nice to have the company, and he's a really nice man. But I don't know if I'm interested in starting something that involves a co-worker, no matter how far removed from my specific day-to-day job.

There was a very legitimate reason for DD to be in my store on Friday--and he had committed to doing that last week when the 'situation' arose. So he headed into town on Thursday night. He knew that I was closing, so showed up at the store to fix my surveillance camera at about 8:30 pm. After work he invited me out to eat, but I was pooped. Thursday was a VERY stressful day at work, and Friday was promising to be worse--so I didn't actually feel like going out.

I had some work to do, so told him he was welcome to come to the house and have a drink/eat food/chat while I did work for a little bit. He did. He brought both my favourite beer, and the beer that I always order when we go to the pub. Woot for a man with keen observation skills.

Anyway, we chilled in the living room, both on our laptops doing personnel performance reviews. We chatted, and beveraged a little bit. It was really quite pleasant and low-key. He informed me that The Proclaimers are coming to town in April. Not my town, but one town that I love, and another that I have to visit periodically for work. He invited me to attend the show at the second town (the one where he lives). I said 'sure! I love a good show! Fun!'

I then thought 'uh-oh--I think you just made a date. For a time 2 months from now. Shee-it.'

We chatted and chatted. I had an insane day planned for Friday--and was quite concerned about not getting all my homework done. But not concerned enough to stop the chatting and give him the boot before 2:30 am. Yeah, I know. I'm an idiot. He's NICE though. And a big fat coward. Heh. That makes me a little bit safer, I think.

Anyway. I don't know what I want to do. I don't know him THAT well, but I don't think we'd ever set the world on fire as a couple. But he's really nice, seems to be pretty into me, and he's kinda cute. And tall. Did I mention the tall? Because I REALLY dig The Tall. BUT...corporate ink and all. I know better. At least it's his nature to be secretive about his private life, and discrete in all his dealings. We'll see. I figure I've got at least 1 more uneventful visit before I have to actually have a conversation involving whether or not I want to kiss him. To be honest, it's kind of a nice problem to have for a change.

Friday at work was INSANE. Mainly because I had to be there at 6:30 to open up. So with my 3 hours of sleep, that was a great time. I then had Head Office visitors all day long, in a steady parade of people coming through my office.

I have a whole lot of staffing issues going on right now--the COB pulled one last cunty move before she went out on sick-leave, and one of the sales people is out with bronchitis for at least 2 weeks. One of the salesmen is being all passive-aggressive and approaching district sales managers behind my back and telling tales out of school. I have to discipline him for that, and I don't really want to. I mean, it's annoying--but there's got to be a REASON and I'd rather figure out what it is than give him shit for doing an end-run. However, I don't think he'll understand my 'kinder, gentler' method. I think he'll only stop his bullshit if I call him on it and lay down the law--complete with yelling and possibly some bad words. So I guess that's what I'm going to have to do.

I was supposed to have all my performance reviews completed, the interviews done, and then have everything submitted by Friday past. I don't. I'm about 6 short. And I'm out of the office Monday and Tuesday of this week. Argh.

I'm heading out to SJ tomorrow morning for a 9 am meeting...which means leaving here by 6 in order to make sure I'm there on time. Blech. I'm pooped, but really wanted to post, so I am.

I wonder if I'm going to get a phone call tomorrow night asking if I want to do something in SJ. Heh. I think it's likely to happen if he's in town at all. Which is kinda funny, kinda cute, and kinda sad all at once. I don't know whether to hope he's in town, or hope that he's not.

They DO say that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else...and whoever They are, I'm sure They're fucking brilliant!

Well, it's 12:25 am, and I have to be up in 5 hours. I haven't had a lot of sleep all week, and tomorrow's bound to be a long day so I'm off to bed. Have a lovely week, poppets. More from the hotel tomorrow, I'm sure.

heh...

are YOU on the bandwagon yet? This made me giggle so much.

EDIT: Keep clicking for new ones.

Man, time flies.

It's already Wednesday? Where has the time gone?!

I'm completely overwhelmed at work right now, so this will/should be shorter than usual.

Where've I been? What've I been doing? I'm glad you asked!

I closed on Friday, so stayed home Friday night. This was a good thing. I was pooped. Saturday, I worked all day. At 3, Devo (the POF boy I have known for a long while) called me at work to see if I wanted to do something that night. Having no plans, I did. I worked until 7:30, got some groceries, and was home by 8.

We went bowling! In Dieppe! Yes, I really know how to party. It was actually kinda fun. For the first game or so. But he doesn't talk much. He's funny as hell when he does, but I tire very quickly of having to carry ALLLL the conversation. Feels too much like work. Anyway, it was fun.

I got to witness some of the young leaders of tomorrow having social time at the bowling alley--all I have to say is that I'm damned glad to not be a kid today. I couldn't wait for high school to be over, and I'm pretty sure all the kids in the herd we were watching feel the same way.

Saturday night I was up very late. Sunday I slept in a bit--until 10 am. It was delicious.

I then cleaned up a storm--first time since I've moved in, really. I scrubbed light-plates, and wiped baseboards. I even swept the floor. But only in 4 rooms. The rest of the house is still a dumpsite. I emptied 2 more boxes, moved my bookshelf, relocated the books from the front hallway into the actual bookshelf. I even moved my laundry from the chair. I was Productive.

I then avoided going in to work by making carrot soup, and banana bread. I couldn't find my recipe book, so I used a banana bread recipe off the internet. I didn't like it. I'm eating it, and I fed it to company, but I don't enjoy it much.

So Company. While I was making the soup, my phone rang. It was DD. Corporate security. Calling on his way home from PEI. To chat. (tell me I don't know how to read people--HA!) We chatted a bit. I was friendly, but not terribly encouraging. We talked for 17 minutes *boggle* and then I hung up.

I moved on with my day/life. About an hour later, the phone rang again. Apparently DD was too tired to drive all the way back to SJ, so was coming my way to get an hotel and crash, and did I want to be a good samaritan and go eat with him when he got to town. I said okay, and thought to myself--either this guy is a much better surveillance guy than I'm giving him credit for, or he's waaaaay more transparent at the boy-girl stuff than I had given him credit for. Either way....ugh.

At 7:30 we went to eat--I just had fries because I'd already had copious amounts of soup earlier. We chatted, it was nice. When he came to drop me off, I stopped at the store to pick up some work for a report that I HAD to have done for Monday morning. I was quite clear about my deadline.

I invited him in for banana bread and tea, which we had. And we chatted in my kitchen. For far too many hours. I finally said 'okay, you have to leave now.' at 1:30 am. Because I still had work to do. So he left, looking exhausted and slightly awkward.

I didn't stay up to finish my report. I should have, but I did not.

Monday morning, I was up early to finish it. I did not. Yesterday at work? I did not finish it. Yesterday afternoon? I got busted for not having it finished. Oops.

Last night I worked late. I did not finish it. This morning, I got up early. I have not finished it. I have an hour still--assuming I stop blogging right....NOW. I have no intention of doing so.

Work has gotten back to a stage of overwhelmingness. People are unhappy at work right now; and I'm trying so hard to fix THAT that I'm having a hard time keeping up with the meaningless TASKS that I'm burdened with. I have no less than 6 checklists I'm responsible to fill out and complete daily. Some of the items on the checklists are simple 3 minute jobs. Some of them are 50 minute jobs. Added together, the tasks equal about 10 hours of work. Some of it I can delegate, but right now that's more work than just doing it myself. But that doesn't leave me any time to engage my staff in things that are pleasant or cheerful. So Bleh. If I didn't care about the people, it would be a lot easier to do my job.

Oh well. 'tis life.

I'm soooo tired these days. I haven't caught up from the weekend yet--and even though I've been able to sleep in each day, my body has decided that 6:50 am is the best time to wake up. I keep trying to go back to sleep, but pretty much the second I wake up my mind begins racing with all the work-stuff I have to get done.

I'm looking forward to this weekend--some peripheral friends in Halifax are throwing a party so that I get to go down and hang out with them. I'm looking forward to it, because a) I miss that particular bunch of people, and b) it'll be a fun thing to do. (That, and it will hopefully distract me from being disgruntled about not being invited out with the Gaelic bunch for Pat's b-day.)

Okay...one hour to finish this report and get my arse to work. It's the COB's last day for 2 months. And the DM tells me it's the plan to make sure the COB doesn't come back. They're trying to find her a new job that doesn't involve working near me. Which will make my life much, much better. I hope.

Have a great day, poppets! See you tonight!

Oopsie.

So much for going in to work early today. heh.

There's been a lot of stuff going on lately--with the COB going out for surgery for 2 months. My assistant is going to be filling in, and they're planning to send me another loaner assistant for the duration.

The COB then comes back for a couple of weeks (healing permitting) and then is out again for another 2 months for the same surgery on the other side. Again with my assistant filling in for her, and a loaner being sent in her stead.

I worked a looooong day yesterday, and had to skip Gaelic because I was working until almost midnight here at home. I'd have gotten more accomplished had I stayed at the store, but meh. I wanted to have a cup of tea.

I'm expecting a royal drop-in visit either today or tomorrow--I'm hoping tomorrow--so that means I won't get a lot of my own stuff done today either. Blargle.

I should go back to the tail end of my weekend story, but I don't think I will at this point--perhaps later. Suffice to say, I stayed at Steve's, we drank at Duffy's, then headed to the Old Triangle. The more time I spend with Duffy, the more I like him. He's a riot. I need to pull back on the Steve-time though, I think. He's projecting again. Luckily, I'm good at DE-flecting and ignoring.

The lighting story only gets funnier though. So I'll come back to it, I promise.

Tonight is Guitar-Hero at a local bar. I've never been to this place, nor have I ever played GH. It should be interesting. I'm going with my new friend Nancy from POF, and my old friend Dev from POF. Should be fun. I hope. It's nice to be making a new set of friends.

I am feeling a bit sad and left out of my old group of friends. My friends from the store are fantastic, and were so happy to see me this past weekend when I stopped in to visit. Hell, Randy's throwing a party this weekend so that I get to see everybody (well, I'm sure it's not the only reason, but we planned it back when I was in SJ last month!) and will still have a place to stay. But I miss my Gaelic friends. They're moving on and leaving me far, far behind.

I can only assume that part of the reason is that they witnessed my public melt-down back in January the last time we were all out together. I knew then that they didn't know me well enough to know that is just not who I am. That worried me then. It makes me sad now.

I know that part of it is that they all get to see each other at class, in person, once a week. And I don't.

I know that absence makes the heart grow fungus.

I know that when I'm there and we're all together we have fun, but that it's not enough for me to show up once in a blue moon, crash their fun, and expect to be included as part of the usual Clan.

But even knowing all that, it still makes me very sad to not be included in stuff. To not even be invited--even if I can't attend.

Padraig's having a birthday fest next weekend--a brewery tour and then a night out at a local Irish pub. It's a Facebook event. Everybody from the group was invited except me.

'A mistake!' you cry. 'A simple oversight,' you comfort.

No.

Deliberate.

Because the invitations went out a week and a half ago. And everyone replied. And nobody said 'hey, maybe we should invite Sadie'. And I know it was deliberate, because last week when I offered to help Padraig move (he just bought a new home) he was all over that, but didn't mention his birthday fest.

So yeah, I'm a bit sad about that. I hate when acts in your life come to a close. It's hard enough to leave a relationship behind, but to leave an entire branch of your life--it's very hard.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I have never felt such a strong attachment to a place when I've moved away before. I've never wanted to cling so much to the previous place--I've always just embraced the new adventure.

Things here in A'herst are getting so much better--but I still wish like hell that I was in the old place, surrounded by my old friends, living my old life. I know that things would be different--and that in some cases it's much easier to be far away right now...but I'm homesick, and I'm feeling hurt. And I'm really not used to that.

Wow, I didn't actually realize how much my feelings were hurt. I'm going to need to get over this shit.

Anyway--time to get ready for work. I was aiming to be in at 10, now I'll be lucky to make it on time for noon. Woopsie!

This was supposed to be a cheery post, so wish me luck at Guitar Hero! Maybe I'm a musical genius and I just never knew it! *heh*

So here's the thing...

...the longer you stay away, the easier it gets.

I've written a dozen posts in the last two weeks--but none of them have managed to make it to actual written text. I've composed a billion of them in my head...but that hasn't helped you lot very much, now has it?

So this may be long, this may be short. It's late, so hopefully the latter.

Item the first:

I went for a drink--okay several--with a man I met on POF. He's a cable-guy. I was quite clear about just wanting to be friends. He seemed fine with that. Later that week, we then went to the movies and had coffee. (We saw Juno--it was a lovely little film--the critics are all correct about this one. Not Oscar worthy as a film, but Ellen Page was fantastic--SHE deserves one...but I digress.) It was okay. I think he was confused about what I consider 'friends' to be. I think he gets it now. He hasn't called me since. I'm okay with that.


Item the second:

Lent began. I gave up coffee. I had a wee bit of an headache on the first day, but nothing much since. I didn't 'cheat' on Sunday, although most clerics say that Sundays don't count because they're officially Feast Days. But to me, it's cheating. So I don't do it. Unless I get desperate. And I'm not there yet. Maybe this Sunday. We shall see. I'm okay with Lent too.

Item the third:

I met a really nice lady on POF. We met for coffee. I had tea. I was okay with that. She seems really nice, if a bit gung-ho. She's from here. Always been from here. Got a bit of an issue with people's social status. She seemed a bit taken aback by my job. I'm thinking she's going to have to learn to be okay with that. That was last Wednesday. We're getting together on Thursday night a local pub to play Guitar Hero. Should be fun. I'd be okay with that.

Item the third:

That same night, DD--my corporate security guy-- came to town again. This time, his intent was entirely social. He met up with us for coffee, and then I went back to the hotel and we drank beer. I got the impression the last time he was in town that he was developing a bit of a crush. This time I was sure of it. He's lovely to talk to--and not unattractive. (I actually had unpure thoughts LOOKING at the guy--first time that's happened in YEARS. Could just be desperation talking, but hey...it was a pretty nifty feeling.) But you know...dipping the quill in the company ink. Not a game I want to play again. I learned my lesson about relationships on the down-low when I was with Luke. Even still, it was nice to be flirted with.

He actually managed to very subtly and very professionally sneak a 'you're a very attractive woman' into conversation. That's impressive. It's also the first time I've heard it from somebody whose opinion might matter to me in a VERY long time. So long, in fact, that I can't recall the last time. Well...I can. It was 2 years ago during the Summer Of Men. So I was due. I was actually VERY okay with that.

I was even okay with the very cheesy and half-hearted comment when I said 'okay, I have to go' and stood up and put my coat on. "Do you really?" *snicker* I mean really...who says that? *laugh* I pretended I hadn't heard him and talked about work as I walked to the door. It was kinda flattering. I needed that. I'm okay with being flattered in a sincere way.

Thing the third: (Am I at 3?)

Friday of last week I went for beer with a fellow I met on POF a looooooooooooong time ago. We'd been on MSN, but then we stopped talking because I started dating Billy...and then I deleted him. I added him as a Facebook friend when he asked me to a while back, and we've been joking around ever since. So when he saw me on POF again, he messaged me on MSN...and we've been chatting it up. He's very funny. We went for beer on Friday, and it was nice. He's very funny in person too, but a lot more reserved and shy than he is online. I didn't expect this. I'm finding that I probably should, but I'm pretty much exactly the same in person as I am online, so it never occurs to me that other people will not be. Anyway, he was fun. We chatted up a storm. We'll be pretty good friends, eventually, I think. I'm very okay with that.

Item the fifth: (I scrolled, that was actually 4 up there. Deal.)

**NOTE** I am absolutely in LOVE with the auto-draft feature. I just hit a mystery button and my post disappeared! I thought I was a goner in Old-Blogger-style fashion. But no! I was saved by the Auto-Draft! Wheee! I love you new-blogger! I love you Auto-draft! I am VERY okay with you! *HUGS*

Item the sixth: (that was not going to be an item, the auto-draft thing, but it was so special a moment to me that it deserved its own bullet point)

Saturday I drove in to Halifax, purportedly to pick up some goods for the store, but really to drink with Steven and Duffy. On the way there, I was taking a truckload of lights to a store along the way. It's a location that sounds like Bureau. I was partway there when the shrink-wrap on my load let go and my truck spewed light fixtures all over the Trans-Canada highway. It was a good time, let me tell you. I pulled over to the side of the road, the guy behind me did the same. He put on his 4-ways and backed up a bit to give the oncoming cars some extra warning. I very cautiously deked out onto the highway to rescue the fixtures from the masses of oncoming steel. I fetched them one at a time, and bolted back to the guardrail on my side of the road. I didn't pile them up at this point, just got them off the road. Once the lights were all over to the side, I then began to stack them neatly into a large pile. I gathered them all to the side, and then spoke to the man in the car behind me. I thanked him profusely for his help and consideration, and assured him I would telephone for assistance immediately.

At this point two things happened. A second car pulled over, and the first man began to pull away. Before he could pull away entirely, I walked up to the passenger window of the second car to assure the newcomers that I was fine. Two young men were in the car, all blinged out and nowhere to go. They asked me for money. The driver got out of the car. His pants were nearly falling off, they were riding so low. He explained that they were having some trouble with their tire, and that their gas tank had a leak in it. He offered to give me one of his rings if I could part with $10 so they could be sure to have enough gas to get back to Halifax. I explained that I didn't even have a dollar fifty to buy myself a cup of coffee, let alone any cash for gas. I have to say, that I don't intimidate easily, but I was feeling quite a bit queasy at this point about the whole situation. Of course, at this point, the first guy decides it's a good time to drive away. Bastige. The car really did look like it was having issues, it was just not a good time for me to begin with--and being approached by two wanna-be thugs at the side of the road when you're already having a tough moment really doesn't make you feel all that Samaritan-like.

So buddy was disappointed, but I was being honest. I asked how far they were going--and they said Halifax. I explained how far away the exit was. I explained that I had to wait for the guy from the store to come and meet me to pick up my pile of lights from the side of the road, but that I too was headed to Halifax. (It was at this point that I realized that I recognized the would-be thugs from the Dome--didn't lend comfort to the situation, just FYI.) I told buddy that while I couldn't offer him gas money, I'd keep my eyes peeled for them, and that if I saw them at the side of the road, I'd pull over and pick them up at least. He looked quite relieved at that and said "Really? That'd be awesome. Even just to watch and make sure we're not stuck. My cell phone died while we were in Moncton--it's been a rough weekend already!"

That made me feel better. They then drove off. That made me feel even better yet.

I piled my lights at the side of the road, then sat in the truck to wait for the cube-van to come from the store to 'rescue' me. I didn't have to wait long, but it was long enough.

Another truck (with a ski-doo on a trailer) stopped up ahead and a really nice man walked back to check on me. I explained that I was fine, and that help was on the way. He was on his way to Newfoundland. I wished him snowy trails, and he went on his way.

Just after that, another car went past. Slowed...brake lights. It pulled over, then reversed up the shoulder to offer assistance. It was our VP of Human Resources. Argh. Not like I couldn't just have an embarrassingly fucked up afternoon in private. Nooooo....I had to do it in front of somebody important. Which meant that I had to confess it to EVERYBODY important. I was NOT okay with that, although he was more concerned about me than the lights, so that was nice.

Finally, the Cube van showed up, we loaded half the lights on the truck, left the other half on mine--(because who wants to play stock transfer at the side of the road at dusk? Really, not me.)-- and I was on my way again.

I got to the Bureau store (no, not furniture, merely a cleverly disguised location) at 6:18 pm. It closed at 6. There wasn't a soul around. Which left me with half a load of light fixtures, and some snow coming up. Argh! So I drove on to Halifax, dropped my load off at their store for the night, and went to Steve's. I REALLY needed a beer at this point! *grin*

Man, this story is getting long....and it's only going to get longer. I think that's it for tonight. I should be able to finish up tomorrow, if I don't make it to Gaelic. Which I likely won't. I'm so far behind at this point that I don't think I can ever catch up. It makes me sad, because I love the in person class, but I'm SOOOOO not good at online stuff. It's like university though, the classes I went to, I pulled of As...the ones that i skipped a lot? C+. Didn't do my GPA any favours, let me tell you.

Anyway--bedtime for this wee-sexy-thing. And you should go too. I'll fill you in on the rest of my rather eventful Un-eventful weekend tomorrow. Goodnight, Poppets!