And To All A Good Night

We all have our own way.



This should go up tomorrow, but I'm done now and I already know this is what I'll be doing.

Not

It has been revealed to me, through my extensive network of secretive sources, that the person I was told had been hired to fill the empty OT slot informed my supervisor by letter, last week, that he will not be joining us.

Part of me is upset because him not coming means me doing more work for other people who claim the workload is too heavy and they just can't complete it (in the two hours a day they don't spend speaking with coworkers or browsing the 'net).

Most of me is okay because it doesn't matter. We can all get our work done quickly and on time if they actually buckle-down and do the work.

And now it's almost time to go.

They're Heeeeeere

Well, nearly everyone is here today. That's good because I won't have to work at full power and still not get all of my work done for the day. It's bad because these people are all standing around chatting about... whatever. I'm so looking forward to the day after tomorrow. And I don't mean the shitty movie.

Dashed Out

I have decided to do no more work today. What does that make me?

So far, this week has not been a good one. The woman who was gone all of last week, but to the best of my knowledge only asked for last Monday off, hasn't been here this week and hasn't, also to the best of my knowledge, called to say she's not/wasn't going to be in. (Some of the other people who work here think it has to do with her mother, but I think that even if I was taking care of my mother I could find two minutes to call work and leave a messages saying that I won't be in for two weeks.) One lady had scheduled yesterday and today off two weeks ago. And another one called in sick yesterday and said that she was hoping to make it in on Thursday.

Yesterday, that left me, the one office assistant we have, and my supervisor. Yesterday evening my supervisor told me that she wasn't going to be in for the rest of the week.

Today, there was only me and the one office assistant.

Today was also the busiest day on the schedule for the week.

I've spent my whole day, up until a few minutes ago and my breaks, doing almost all the work. Office assistants are not supposed to deal with the paperwork that requires files to be pulled or are money documents. I'm a fortunate person who gets to do it all.

Last night, I had my in basket empty (because I had all the things that needed files pulled piled on my desk waiting for this morning). When I got here this morning there was a huge stack waiting for me. Why? I asked myself. Because, I replied, your supervisor said she'd help by doing some of the gigantic pile of mail that you had to sort and stamp earlier today. I guess she couldn't finish or didn't try to finish the chunk she gave herself while she was chatting up the PJ's secretary on their two hour lunch.

At this moment, I'm at the same point I was when I left yesterday. Files that needed to be pulled are pulled. The sit on my desk waiting for me to go through them. Put loose papers in their proper order. Check the address record. Drain the blood of ten virgin chickens over them to help with the prayer for a quick and just decision when they reach the hands of the judges.

I don't want to do it though. I want to get up and walk out. Or, since that'd probably get me fired, at least put on my music. I can't, though. I have to be alert for when someone comes through the door and needs my help because I'm the only one here who's at the proper level to deal with real people be they in person or on the phone.

And so far eleven minutes have been spent writing/whining.

Maybe I'll look up Atlantis at Wikipedia, that should be interesting.

Keepin' Up

I forgot I wouldn't be able to put it up yesterday, but here it is today.

Strippin'

There is a new comic strip for today. However, I thought that since I'll be seeing family on Sunday that I'd post here on Monday. It has been posted elsewhere, for those who know where to look.

Have a nice weekend.

Regret

One of my biggest regrets, right now, is that I can't reach through the computer and throttle a person.

Something I'll Never Say To My Coworkers Ever Again

Yesterday, I was asked by a coworker, "When it's raining, like it is today, do you still walk to work?"

"Sure," I said. "I keep an umbrella in my bag all the time, just in case."

"Aren't you worried?"

"About what?"

"Getting hit by a car?"

"Nah," I said, smiling. "The only way a car is gonna hit me is if it hits a large puddle of water causing it to hydroplane out of control and once the wheels hit the pavement again it's pointing toward me and the idiot driver had slammed his foot onto the gas so it catches the road really well and bucks the car over the curb then races forward and slams me into a wall pinning me there where I whimper in the cold and rain as the driver fiddles with his cell phone and other cars slow down to see what happens, but don't stop to help. But I don't see that happening."

She looked at me like I had just died and walked away.

The rest of the day I had lots of coworkers take me aside and ask if everything was okay in that calm voice that is supposed to make them sound like they care about me and my state of being.

And that, dear peoples, is why I try not to say anything at work. Especially things that I think are funny.

Comic Dump

Got to work early to do this.

So Many Boxes

I was/am not boxing files today.

There were/are two reasons for this:
Reason the First -- Today was/is our holiday or Christmas (depending on which employee you ask) potluck. I knew it was today. I brought toffee. I was ready. The problem was/is that boxes needed/need to be built so I can file. I would/will use the counter that the food was (eventually) put on to stack empty boxes. Therefore, no boxing.

Reason the Second -- The person who doesn't know how to get her work done isn't here today. When a person is missing, I'm not allowed out of my little area unless it's for a break or to find a file. Therefore, no boxing.

Tomorrow's not looking like a good day for boxing either. Maybe not any day this week.

I'll surivive, even though I'd rather not be at my desk.

At least I get off work at noon on Friday. I'll be at my parent's house five hours earlier than I would have been. Hooray!

Christmas Stories

I'm trying to do this every year and hopefully build upon these great stories.

Here's the first one:
Grinch's True End, first heard on 8 December 2003 on NPR, about 3 minutes long.
Best line: "Now I'm not sure what kind of inverted Stockholm Syndrom took place while I waited on the roof, but I do know it all could have been solved with a hard shove and a quick exit."

And here's last years:
A Fool for Christmas, first heard on 24 December 2005 on NPR about 23 minutes long.
Best Line: "Well, at the food court over fried dumplins and Butter-Bean, I'm askin' what I usually ask my dates: who kids real father is."

I'm still on the listen for this years. I have five more days.

4:46

It's 9:57 and I'm finished with my work. I would have been done a half hour ago, but I spent the first thirty minutes or work dicking around on the internet. I read my e-mail. I read other people's blogs. I checked out some comic news and movie/TV news. I looked at the "What's New" on Snopes.com. I screwed around with that Google Local thing; I really wish that I could zoom in really close to Cowtown, but the satellite image won't let me.

Now it's 10:00 and I'm going on my break. I'll be back in fifteen or so minutes.

And now it's 10:22. Yes, I came back late from my break. Does it really matter? I'm not second this week. That means I don't have to come back to relieve the woman who's first up. So I took some extra time reading. I took that extra time to make up for the five minutes I had to spend chit-chatting with my supervisor when she came into the break room (which is also when she came into work) at 10:08ish. Silly chit-chat about her getting her shopping done, looking for more stocking stuffers, baking cookies, and stringing popcorn. My time is better spent, I think, reading than making pleasantries with those whom I don't socialize with. Oh well.

I finished a book last night. It was Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel, by Douglas Coupland. Buying this book was probably the best $3.99 I've ever spent at Barnes and Noble. The only reason I picked it up is because I really enjoyed Microserfs, which Coupland also wrote. Nostradamus is not much like Microserfs, though. Sure, there's humor and quirky characters, but the tone is different. Sad. It's not really a story. There's no specific plot, but there are these characters who exist wholly in the real world and in a world of their own creation. The book is very sad and a little sweet and the beginning is surprisingly violent. I don't want to write a "real" review of it because all the reviews that I've read (this morning, thank goodness) give away the beginning, which, in my opinion (I just figured out what IMHO stands for. I hate l33t.), is more important to this book than the end. I bought this book, probably, two months ago without really reading the blurb about the story and when I picked it up to read (only because I forgot that I have a book that my mom loaned me) I didn't read the blurb again, and I'm glad that I didn't because the beginning shocked me and I would have lost that shock if I had read anything about the book.

Now it's 10:45 and my supervisor decided that I need to do some filing for the woman who I keep having to do work for.

It's 12:02 by the clock in the corner of my computer. I had about 200 documents to be dropped off in files ranging in dates from May, the month she started working here, to December. About two-thirds of them went into files that are on the shelf. I had to check the other third in the computer. Of that third, about two-thirds of those went to judges who are holding the files for trials or hearing or other reasons that I'm not meant to understand because I'm not a judge, nor am I a judge's secretary.

So, here I sit writing this, to the few of you who visit, because I am once again out of work that I can complete. (I do have some other work, but the system is down that I need to finish that work, so it sits in a neat stack on my desk, waiting for tomorrow when the system may be up again.) In between sentences, I'm e-mailing with my mom about stuff. Nothing important, just stuff.

Oh, the book that I just started this morning, on my break, is Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Magurire, the guy who wrote the novel of Wicked. (Have I mentioned, recently, how much I really liked the play and wish that I could go and see it again?) This one's about Snow White, if you didn't guess from the title of the book. I'm hoping to have it finished by Friday so I can return it to my mom. If it's half as good as Wicked, I should be.

What else... What else...

My comic strip.

Nobody's written to say that they want new comics wondering why I haven't updated in a long time, which probably means that none of you visit this site for the comics. Which is okay by me. I have all the ones from Halloween to New Years written (on time to get them out on the date that's at the top of the frame); I just haven't actually sat down to finish them. I think my biggest problem is that I work when I used to do the comic. Sure, I'd scribble out some ideas on a piece of paper, maybe even sketch, very roughly, the panels at any other time of day, but the time I'd actually sit down and make the strip on my computer would be between noon and 5PM. I did some of them earlier and some of them later than that, but very few. And, for some reason, I rarely made them on weekends. Now I think I have to buckle down and get them finished. I'm not exactly sure why I think that, but I do. So, look for a whole s-lode of them later this week, hopefully.

It's 12:26 and my supervisor just got out of a meeting and gave me a look of evil, probably because I'm sitting here typing away like... something that types a lot, and fast... instead of searching out work. I've asked this before, I think, and I'm sure I'll ask it again but why if I've finished my work and I've finished other people's work in a short amount of time should I be glared at as if I've done something wrong.

People are crazy and sometimes huge jerks and it seems to be that way everywhere.

The problem with being good at what you do and doing what you're supposed to do is that when, for a brief moment, you come down to the level of everyone else you work with is that you get caught and told off for slacking. Then when you point out that you're working at the same level as everyone else, they get even madder because you've just pointed out a double standard and to most people that means you've called them a hypocrite. And I've yet to meet anyone who likes to be called a hypocrite. It happened to me when I worked at 'Bucks a lot more than it should have. It's happening to my brother who works for Pete's. And it's happening here, just not in that I'm gonna take you aside and yell at you sort of way. Here, the supervisor is much more passive-aggressive about it. She gives me looks with a frown that's trying to reach the floor or one with thin lips and squinty eyes. She comes to my desk and asks, "What should you be doing now?" I step away from my desk and when I come back I find a new pile of work in my once empty basket and all the documents are dated from a week ago, or more.

*ugh*

I've been away for a while. My mom just gave me a link to my aunt's MySpace thingy, which is linked to brother's and cousin's thingies and my may-be-sister-in-law-one-day. Best quote found on them, so far, is "Was that comment about you being sarcastic ... sarcastic? Ah, the age old question, 'how can you trust a liar to be honest?'..." Excellent.

Lunch time. I'll be back in an hourish.

I'm back. It's 2:03. There's a pile of work in my basket. Big surprise. Before I get to work here's something that made my day a little brighter: Someone brought in a huge pile of Ghiradelli chocolate. Among the chocolate are dark chocolates. The ingredients for the dark chocolates are: "Unsweetened Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin - An Emulsifier, Vanilla." Chocolate is the number one ingredient. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Back to work.

The time is 3:13 and I'm off to my last break of the day. I'm finished with the work I was given, but I can see the pile over on the supervisors bar thing.

I'm off.

It's 3:45 and I'm sitting here with a pile of work to my left. It's all sorted into what I have to do with the documents. The top part is work that I need to screen on the computer because I have to pull the files to give to the judges or the calendar clerk and then I'll have to enter the data into the system after I pull the files and straighten then out; if I'm lucky, some of the documents will be given straight to the judges with me not having to do anything. The middle is work that I need to screen in the computer and enter anything that needs to be entered and then I get to drop the papers into the files. The bottom chunk is for the stuff that opens new files/cases, how ever you want to look at it. The stack I have isn't huge and if I was into doing my work today I could probably finish it all, but I feel like leaving some for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I plan on boxing up files. I'll spend the whole day, minus breaks and lunch, listening to music, writing with a stinky pen, and clearing off shelves. I won't have to deal with my coworkers. I won't have to deal with the few attorneys and injured workers and insurance attorneys that are coming.

(Apparently an accident just happened at the intersection near this building. My supervisor has pulled up all the blinds on her windows and is peering down into the street. I wonder what she's thinking. She keeps staring out the window and just asked the woman nearest her, the presiding judge's secretary, if she's seen this. Is there something wrong with me that I don't want to get up and see an accident? All I want to do is sit here typing this and I keep hoping that no one was hurt.)

Have I mentioned that we have almost no one coming in this week and next week? The calendar clerk, who's also my supervisor, blocked off these two weeks so the judges can play catch-up and make their records look good for the New Year. That means that tomorrow is the busiest day in these two weeks because two judges actually opened up their schedule and had the calendar clerk schedule stuff. Today, we've only had secretaries from law offices come in and drop off work for me and chat up the clerk who's always number one on the counter. It's nice because it's quiet. Those lawyers sit out there talking and try to out-voice each other so that their clients can hear them. The quiet is nice. If only my supervisor weren't here.

I just read, for the few of the few who are interested, that Watchmen has now been picked up by Warner Bros to be made into a movie. When it comes to movies made out of comics or books that I like I'm always worried. This one especially. Those who haven't read it need to understand that this comic is one of the tightest and best written comics, ever. To cut any scene would take away from the amazing characterization, since that is what this book is mostly about. And then there's the fact that the writer of the book hates the company whom he wrote it for and hates Warner Bros because they own the company that published the book. One interesting suggestion, from a fan, is that David Lynch should direct it. That, I think, is a good suggestion.

The fleshy area just below the bridge of my nose hurts. It feel like one of those pre-zit you get on you cheek that just ache and ache for many, many days before it finally rears it ugly redness and then it still hurts and you can't pop it because there's no head, so you just have to wait for a head or squeeze it so it hurts more but at least you get that moment of relief after the squeeze or just hope it goes away on its own. Yeah, that's what it feels like, but I've never felt it on my nose before. I'm very glad that I don't have glasses that sit directly on the bridge of my nose because if I did the glasses would be rubbing against the sore spot constantly causing me more and more pain. Does that make me a fortunate person?

It's now 4:29. I have screened all the work that needs to be screened. The screened stuff now sits to my right in four piles depending on what I have to do with each of them. To my left sits a pile that will create new files/cases. If I start them now, I'll have to finish them tomorrow because my supervisor hates it when new files sit at our desks with nothing happening to them. That's not the reason I don't want to do them, though. I just don't want to do them. I will though. I know I will. I'll get them done, get my desk cleared off, and come in tomorrow and, hopefully, box.

One more thing, I wrote that I hate l33t earlier and when I was looking over stuff on MySpace, it's like the only language there is l33t. One of my cousins seems to write everything in l33t and she doesn't capitalize. It makes me want to scream and bite. Most blog places have a spell check, use it people. And the shift key isn't that hard to use either. And for those of you who may try to be funny and put a comment in l33t, I expect it and I won't get angry. I'll just think you're an asshole and an idiot.

Okay, now it's time to transfer this (4:42), which is being written in Notepad (I like the simplicity of it), into Word for a quick spell check and then to post it.

Have a good evening.

Good Eatin'

I go out to lunch about once a month.

It gets me away from the office and I get to eat something that’s not between two slices of bread.

Today, I went to the Mongolian BBQ place in the mall. They have an okay selection of stuff. I freaked the lady behind me out when I kept piling the cilantro on. I like that herb quite a bit.

After lunch I walked across the food court for a Blizzard(TM) because even when the temperature outside is below 50F, you can’t keep a fat man away from his ice cream. I added Reese’s to it. It was good and made my hands very cold on the walk back to work.

Right now, I should be doing my work. Going and pulling files. Looking up information on the computer. Dancing for my pennies. I don’t want to though. My supervisor has handed me a pile of work from the desk of a woman who isn’t here today. The work is over a week old. Is it my fault that she didn’t finish her work? Am I the one that causes her to be away from her desk for four hours a day speaking with the secretaries and court reporters? This woman has been gone for two days and hasn’t gotten an equal share of the work since last Friday.

*sigh*

Thank goodness I don’t have to be back here for 62 hours, in about 25 minutes that is.

Done.

I finished the new Wheel of Time last night. Those people who were saying that it was like reading the first books again haven't read the first books. Except for the fact that it ties up four (by my count) story lines and it confirms a theory I've had for the past -- uh, when did Rand form the Black Tower -- way too many books, it was pretty much like the last four. That means that almost nothing happens and the wait for the end seems even farther away.

A Joke A Lawyer Just Told Me

Him: Did you here that there's a lot of snow in Washington DC?

Me: No.

Him: There's so much snow that Dick Cheney had to take the chains off a detainee to move his car.

Is Funny Better?

Many of you, like me, have probably seen that commercial where Santa goes to a jewelry store and buys a gift for his wife. The lady at the counter asks if she's been nice this year and Santa says she has. And it ends with Santa giving the gift to his wife.

From the first time I saw it, I wish that they had gone for the joke.

What is the joke, some of you may be asking?

The commercial starts exactly the same. The lady asks Santa if Mrs. Claus has been nice. Santa looks at the lady, gives a sly smile, and says, "She's been a little naughty." And it ends with Santa giving the gift to his wife.

How funny would that be? If that's the way the commercial had been when I first saw it, I think I'd've laughed so hard I'd've wet myself.

Funny

Even if you don't take it, read the questions and the answers.

http://www.spacefem.com/quizzes/militantfeminist/

4 Days

On Saturday, I watched Shopgirl at the movie theater. Way back when the book came out there were a couple of you who wondered why I like it so much, well to those of you, who probably don’t remember who you are, I say go see the movie. It captures nearly everything that made the book… spectacular. Yeah, there are a few things that I wish hadn’t been changed. And I think that the few narration moments in the movie would have been better if a woman had done it, but that’s a small complaint. I highly recommend this movie.

On Sunday, I bought the newest Wheel of Time book. It’s called Knife of Dreams. I saw it. It was on sale. So I bought it. Now I’m reading it. From what I’ve read about it, it’s better than the last several. According to those people, it’s like Robert Jordan is actually telling a story again, rather than trying to tie up loose ends.

Today, I’ve spent most of my time at work reading things on the internet. I finished all my work on Friday expecting to box files today, but that can not happen.

Tomorrow, I’ll be doing work again.

Just A Short One

Thanks to the few of you who answered my question.

I'm off in about forty minutes. Tomorrow I'm going to the see a movie. Day after that is all about something else, but I don't know what.

Have a decent time this weekend.

Something I Shouldn’t Use Around My Supervisor, Again

"Will you resurrect this file for me?"