Wednesday Feb 25, 2009

0
Well Gentle Readers, I've been naughty and left you without an update for awhile.

I will give you a quick run down, my little chickadees, with a bit of help from my health journal.

Around Feb. 6:

Thanks to everyone who checked out the blog about my department. The editor was rather mopey that his numbers weren't quite as high after that particular one. No one bothered to tell him I'd linked him. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much.

Saw Coraline. Loooooooved it. d23's puppy, Pancake, thought I had a great hand to hump. Um yay?

Speaking of dogs, our landlord got a complaint from the property management team that we aren't cleaning up after our dogs. I told him that was silly because a) we have one and b) my roommate is really good about cleaning up after him. He's since written back to them to say he wants dates and times for any further incidents reported so we can refute them if necessary.

Had a date with this guy from Blizzard. We saw Craig Robinson (Darrell from "The Office) at the Irvine Improve. I had some fun but I'm not feeing any great vibes. Our third date I had lunch with him at his work and met all of his coworkers. Blizzard is like woah. That's really all I can say. On our last date we hit up Javier's and saw "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans." He actually asked me when he'd get a first kiss. I told him three years.

Feb. 8

Spent a great day with baudot having root beer floats and looking at pretty cars at Petersen's Automotive Museum. We didn't make it to the Tar Pits, which made me sad, but my dear hubby promised we'd go soon (I'm holding you to that, mister!).

Weekend of Feb. 13

Drove up to Mammoth with a bunch of the SGOC crew. We certainly had a great time, or so I thought. It was 12 fucking degrees when we got there. We were supposed to have dinner at my dad's place in Bishop the first night but couldn't make it back down the hill so we moved it to a late lunch Saturday. We went sledding the first morning and poor Koleeta got attacked by a tree and then a family of busy bodies and then a really hot EMT (OK he didn't attack her, but I'm sure she wishes wink).

Lunch was fucking amazing. Dad made salsa, guacamole and ceviche (with halibut and ahi so I could have some) with homemade flour and corn tortilla chips as appetizers. Then we had chicken enchiladas and Swiss chard and caramelized onion tacos with some kind of tomatillo and somethingoranother chili sauce. I thought the tacos would be bitter but they were so good. I'm thinking the next time the family comes for a visit we should do a dinner party. If everyone chipped in $5 we could probably have a pretty good meal. Not to be out done my mom and sister made brownies and cupcakes.

I had a heart to heart with Mom after lunch. Topic under the spoiler.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
My cousin joined the Marines in December. I was hurt when I found out he'd been called in early and he called my brother to invite him to a going away dinner but no one told me until like a week after he left. It was certainly his night so if he didn't want me there fine, but why did they wait to tell me he'd left?

Any way, Mom called me not long after he was in boot camp to let me know he'd been put in the infirmary for pneumonia. She said she wanted to let me know right away. I really appreciated that.

Because of his illness he was held back from his graduating class (or whatever it's called). I guess they released him back too early and he relapsed and so now his graduation date is even further back (it was supposed to be the end of January and now it's like April?). This has depressed him to no end. Of course my aunt is incredibly worried and she's gone down there a couple times to visit and comfort him. He's an only child and yes rather spoiled, but he's also a big boy. I know this kid can handle himself and I understand his disappointment at being held back, probably more than anyone else in the family having missed a year of college by choice.

My aunt wanted to keep all this hush hush (so much for that, oops), which is my real problem. I lived with them for a month when I first moved here. At first it was awkward but then I became a part of their family. It just seems lately though that they don't want me around, which kills me.I want to be close to them, ya know? I've tried suggesting having lunch with my aunt but she's always too busy. OK fine, I get that, but at some point you just have to realize you're getting the brush off.

My mom thinks it's because way back, like a year ago, my old roommate had a bunch of SGOC kids over and my brother had my cousin and some friends over. Cousin asked me for a slice of roommate's pizza. Mom says that I said something like "Oh it's $5 ... but talk to Matt." And that's the thing. $5 is a complete fucking joke. I wouldn't charge my cousin for something like that if it were mine to give. Hell they practically ate all my food any way. But because my aunt and uncle are so protective of him they see it as some slight, like I should be far more grateful because they housed and fed me for a month (if I remember correctly, I did chores and cooked for them so it's not like I got a free ride there). I explained all this to Mom. She says she's only guessing why my aunt is upset. But it sounds like she's trying to keep the peace. I'm not really angry. I'm just incredibly hurt.

It just really hurts me that I feel like i have to keep this distance from all of them. Obviously my brother is an ass. My mom has a tendency to twist that knife that's in my heart (she still brings up RS and yes it's been two years and I still cry over him). My aunt and uncle are rather private and in some ways uppity. My sister and dad are about the only ones I can interact with. It's just ridiculous.



Thursday

This was the last day for my coworker before she quit to move to Peru. I made her an awesome cake. I'm so sad to see her go. We had good work flow. We had our tiffs, but that's normal. I think she'll have a great time teaching English to university students. She'll grow a lot.

The editor I don't care for tried getting the desk to fix this huge listing we do. By fix I mean update. It's a huge project. I told my boss and he suggested the intern do it. I hate to give her busy work but at the same time it might be good for her. My first journalism job was updating a fishing guide. Boring! We also had a problem with this editor deciding at the last minute after we'd waited for more than an hour that he wanted to squirm out of writing a brief for the front page. Then he turned in a novel for a story about spending a night among the homeless. I spoke to his boss about both problems Monday. He said he would talk to him. I ain't holding my breath.

Saturday

Made unravld's hot chocolate cupcakes for the coworker's going away party. So fucking good! I really do need a stand mixer though. Or at least some better mixing bowls.

Tuesday

Burbank had its primary elections. The precints were supposed to get results in by 9:30. Yeah that was morel like 11:30. We totally blew past deadline and worked over time. I didn't think we'd get paid for it, which is illegal, but how things seem to go, but low and behold the big boss approved it. Nice.

Today

A group of incredibly adorable boy scouts came in. We did the whole tour, explained how a story is born and lives, introduced them to the rest of the office. I think they had a great time. But I'm sure the coolest part for them was the giant wall fountain in our lobby. Oh well, what are you going to do with 6 to 10-year-olds?

Well Gentle Readers, I'll do my best to not neglect you for so long. This weekend requiem visits. Trouble is sure to abound, especially as we're hitting up Derby Dolls on Saturday. Maybe I'll see some of you hip cats there.

VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
toothpickmoe:
How do you feel about teamsters?
morningstar:
You rock so hard.

More Blogs