Back to the Blogosphere

Heya.

Yeah, so it's been awhile. Nine months, to be exact. A lot can happen in nine months. You know, like carrying a pregnancy to term. Not that that's the case. I'm just saying...

I make no apologies for my absence. Granted, there've been so many blog-worthy events over the past several months that I felt truly inspired to write about (guaranteed, getting knocked up would have been a big one) - and sometimes I started - but that fact of the matter is I always wound up getting sidetracked... And there is a specific thought and subsequent event that's brought me online, but I think I'll hold off on it for another day. Instead, why don't we run through a quick recap, shall we?

1. I got my heart broken - again - back in March. (Really, what else is new?)
   
   
2. My beloved Tercel (that I bought used, 14 years ago, in high school) finally kicked the bucket. Suffice to say that I decided to upgrade on the car front - with a 2000 Nissan Maxima. It wasn't my 1st choice; if I had the funds, I would've opted for a Mazda 3, but a) you can't go wrong with a Nissan and b) I got a steal of a deal.
   
   
3. My company decided to expand. I got a promotion. And then the recession (plus a whole boatload of crap with ICBC and North American automakers) hit. And we had to scale our operation back. And I got a demotion. Lucky for me, though - unlike a lot of my co-workers - I still have a job.
   
   
4. Inna went far, far away to Thailand and I won't get to see her again until the Spring. She's working at an orphanage, teaching the kids English (with a Russian accent) and introducing them to Western traditions such as campfires (although they roasted fishballs, because you can't get hot dogs there).
   
   
5. A couple weeks ago I rejoined my old gym to lose the weight that I put on a couple of years ago when I got sick. At this point, I've been back at work for over a year and it's been a full six months since I've had elevated levels of mercury in my system. It's time. There's no excuse to still be carrying it around. Besides, I miss all my funky skinny clothes. And my old energy levels. Okay, okay, and my voluptuous figure, too.
   
   
6. I've experienced far, far, far too many insane days at work to recount.
   
   
7. I've thrown myself headfirst back into the dating scene and decided to try out Lavalife. Even with my current shape, I have no problems finding men. Unfortunately, I get a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of creepy emails from strange men declaring their undying love and devotion to me. I have to admit that some of them are rather creative. Of course, most of them are deeply disturbing, but every now and then I read one and I think that I might have been tempted to meet the fellow if I wasn't worried that he might tie me up and gag me, stuff me in a trunk and whisk me away to the fallout shelter under his house, where he'd force me to wear a wedding dress 24/7 and I'd never see any of my loved ones (or have a shower) ever again.
   
   
8. My hair's growing back nicely. I always knew that it grew pretty quickly, but I never realized just how quickly. I've actually had it cut 4 times since I shaved it all off. It's gotten to the point now where I can once again wear one of my signature wrap-around combs in it. Sure, it doesn't have the same sort of length or volume that I'm used to yet, but it's getting there.
   
   
9. I went to Winnipeg for 4 fun-filled (and exhausting) days for my cousin Matt's wedding and a casual family reunion. Oh, how I love it there. Wouldn't want to live there - I'm a West Coast wuss through and through - but it's always a pleasure to visit.
   
   
10. The day before I left for Winnipeg I had a little mishap at work. We're renovating after the office flooded. And the non-slip carpet's been pulled up, so it doesn't get destroyed with the drywall repairs going on... And the floor's been consistently covered in a fine layer of dust... And I sit on a backless stool with casters... Do you see where I'm going with this? Well, if you guessed that I fell off said stool, slammed my head into the wall (where it left a dent) and then had to be taken to the hospital - you were right! I also gave myself the biggest, darkest bruise I've ever seen in my life on my butt, plus bursitis on my hip, from where it connected with the base of the stool on my way down. Everything's all good now, though.

Oh, and on a final note, I recently started looking for a new roommate again. Apparently, it was a good time to advertise. Within a few hours, I'd had numerous responses. Within a day, I had a roomie lined up. She's moving in on the Labour Day long weekend. It'll be nice to have some company around the house again.

Duty Calls...

And calls... And calls again... And then calls just a little bit more...

Wow. It's been a while since I updated. I know I always say I'm busy, but the fact of the matter is that I always am.

I had today off and took the opportunity to sleep in 'til 9, relax (and cuddle with my much-neglected Glossy) in bed until 3pm, then I had dinner with Kass and ran errands all evening.

So I'd just made my last stop of the evening and was walking back out to my car. It was dark and rainy out. I parked next to a work van when I pulled in (I recognized it because that company did work for strata a couple weeks ago), so I looked for that. I spotted my car, unlocked it and got in. I put the key in the ignition and my purse and bag on the passenger seat. Then I realized that my other bag, which I'd left in the car, was missing. As was my stereo. As I'm groping on the floor, hoping it just fell down - and that I haven't been robbed - I feel rubber floor mats.

Yeah. My car doesn't have rubber floor mats. Then I spotted a stack of tapes tucked into the cubby hole in the console (I replaced my tape player with a CD player 10 years ago), the air freshener beside the gear shift and all the little bits of garbage strewn everywhere.

And it hit me: this was not my car. I quickly collected my things, got out of the car and, sure enough, there was my car (for reals this time, I double-checked the license plate, just to be on the safe side) parked on the other side of the van.

What are the chances of that? A car identical to mine, with the same interior and my key worked in it?!

Hmmm... Let's see, what all's happened since my last post?:

• I turned 30 on September 3rd. Yay me!
  
  
• I made a daytrip to the island August 31st to celebrate Evvy's 1st birthday. I bought her a rocking horse. I buy the best presents.
  
  
• I met a guy (the afore-mentioned "coffee guy"), quickly because inseperable and then got (very suddenly and completely unexpectedly) dumped last week. I don't get it, I guess it's one of those male pride things. It actually sounded like he was asking for more of a break, but the fact of the matter is that I'm 30, would like to settle down and start a family and have neither the time nor the energy to play games. He's still been trying to keep in touch, but I need my space right now.
  
  
• I received business cards at work, so I now have 2 separate sets (the other is for my consultation business). *Sigh* Now I feel like I have to be a responsible adult...
  
  
• I saw Eagle Eye twice - the one time in IMAX (which rocked!). I highly recommend it. Not much of a plot, but the action sequences are incredible. Imagine the following: a military bomber plane, several expensive SUVs, a semi and a tunnel chock full of cars...
  
  
• The Canadian government spent $300,000,000 on an election, which didn't change the face of Parliament all that much, ticked a lot of people off and saw the lowest voter turn-out ever. Regardless, I voted. I hope you did, too.
  
  
• I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, Inna and several family friends (and discovered that we can cram 16 people into my folks' new dining room in the process).
  
  
• We've finally found some proficient, new staff at work (which is a very good thing, because at the time of my last post, only 4 people were staffing an office that's supposed to employ 6-7).
  
  
• I had a very unpleasant experience where I thought that my UTI had come back (BTW, I recently had my 1st UTI in several months, which was a new personal record) and, upon being admitted to the hospital, waitied several hours to see a doctor, who never did examine me, because they not only threw out my sample by accident, but they also lost my chart. Frustrated and in pain (and tears), I finally got fed up and left, while the doctor pressed a prescription on me (just to be on the safe side) as I walked out the door.
  
  
• I shaved my head! Speaking of which, our franchise owner (whom I love and think is a great guy) was sadly diagnosed with cancer the day before I did so. I didn't know until I came back after the weekend. His prognosis is good for the most part, although the doctors say he'll never be cured, there's a good chance they can force it into remission with chemo (and a bone marrow transplant, God willing). Of course, that's been an issue at work, because Martin (his son and our Regional Manager's) been doing his job, while George has have to cover elements of Martin's job, so Chad and I have been given more responsibilities around the office. Plus everyone's obviously worried and wants to see him beat this.

It's been growing back rather quickly and is over 3/4" long now. Not bad for a month's growth (hair, on average, grow's at a rate of 1/2" per month)! The guys at Big O, next door, have been calling me Jane (as in GI Jane), while the guys at Carter, one of our largest accounts, have been calling me Sinead. Truth be told, I haven't gotten nearly as much of that as I thought I would. Gotten a lot of head rubs, though. Plus I've been getting hit on like crazy. Don't know why, but I'm certainly not about to look a gift horse in the mouth...

Beanie's Dreary Weekend of Work

I wasn't supposed to work this weekend. Unfortunately, Jeff at Ridge sprained his ankle on Thursday, which meant that Chad (who was supposed to be on duty at our location) had to be sent out there to cover his shifts. Unfortunately, I didn't find all this out until after I got off work on Thursday.

Yesterday was a horrible, stressful day. Revenue was good, commissionable sales were good and customers were pretty happy and easy-going in general, but we experienced some technical issues with our POS machine (meaning I had to call George in on his day off) and I found the DBR was chock-full of billing errors when I attempted to process the daily paperwork. Then there was the small matter of the mentally-ill customer (seriously, he has some kind of anxiety disorder and is medicated) going off and assaulting a co-worker, a couple of business associates, stiffing us (and the body shop) on our bills, trashing the office at the body shop and then stealing his car from their lot. Then he came by as I was closing up, because we still have all his tools and work gear, so I had to lock up the office and hide until he left. Oh, and did I mention that it was so incredibly busy all day long that I never got the opportunity to eat? We CSRs don't get breaks on Saturdays - we have to eat at our desk whenever we get the chance. Which never came...

At one point, I found myself saying to one of our regulars (a la the movie Clerks), "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

After work, I drove out to Steveston with Inna and Irina and, while it was too late to do any shopping, we spent the evening walking around the village and settled on a park bench to eat a late dinner of gourmet pizza. There was a particularly cute adolescent seagull wandering around and I couldn't resist sharing my meal with her. Of course, I have no factual basis for calling her a "her", but for some reason, we all agreed that we thought of her as female.

Anyways, I was very worried about this obviously disturbed fellow coming back today, when it was just Paul and I on staff (and Paul off the lot a lot of the time), but I think he probably didn't realize that we're open Sundays. I'm not worried about him coming back tomorrow, because George will be in and he's a big guy (6'5" big). And frankly, as much as I love the guy, he's not someone you want to mess with.

But today wasn't a complete wash-out. Sammy came over after work to watch DVDs and eat sushi. Plus, had I not been working today, I would've had a date. Of course, it sucked that my schedule changed at the last minute and I found myself stuck at work (in crappy, hot, humid, wet, sometimes rainy, thunderstormy, lighting-filled weather, none the less), but the neat part is that he swung by the office to say hi and brought me a chocolate-loaded frappe. Which was very sweet of him and, by far, the best part of my day.

Bad Beanie

Okay, so maybe I lied in my last post. Work has been crazy busy (as usual), so I've been feeling both mentally and physically drained. And while I did have last weekend off, I decided to use my time to do nothing. Literally. I spent almost every waking moment catching up on my reading and cat petting. Of course, I experienced many non-waking moments, as well...

Workaholic

I've been remiss in my blogging duties as of late. Mainly because I haven't been home. And when I am home, I'm usually doing one of the following:

1. Sleeping
2. Showering/dressing for work
3. Attempting to appease my neglected cat
4. Cooking
5. Laundry
6. Talking to friends (that I don't see as often as I should) over the phone
7. Reading (in bed)
8. Hey, did I mention that I only thing I really get to do at home these days is sleep?

I love my bed. It's all pretty and comfy, with its gothic-inspired pewter frame and plush, high-coil, memory foam-topped mattress, as well as cozy cluster-fibre bedding and soft, 300+ threadcount linens (in shades of white, back and purple). And my kitty. No sleep is complete without my soft and fuzzy, little Glossy curled up beside me.

However, there will be a new post, if not tonight, then by the weekend. I work long hours, so work's been taking up the lion's share of my time, followed by errand-running and my half-hearted attempts to both rest and maintain a social life. Three weeks ago I got the keys to the office, plus a code to the alarm system and other things needed to run the store every second weekend. Considering that I'm still on probation for another 2 days, I've actually found my new-found responsibilities to be fairly funny (in an "I'm honoured that you trust me, but that kind of responsibility scares me just a wee bit senseless" kind of way).

This weekend was my 2nd in charge and I think all the local crazies came out to raise some kind of fuss. From the fellow who got a suspension for driving under the influence in one of our ($60K) trucks (which was subsequently towed and impounded), to the one who put diesel in one of our 2-1/2 ton trucks (which seized up the engine) or the one who came in off the street wanting to rent a car (we were sold out), then left, called central bookings to reserve a compact, came back 20 minutes later and got mad when we still didn't have any on the lot (which is a story in and of itself) - I got to deal with them all (and many, many more).

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that somewhere there was a billboard posted with my photo, work address and a command to all the less-than-sane people in the Tri-Cities area to come and rent a car this past weekend...

Me No Brain, No Smart, No Work Good

This is pretty much how I've been feeling the past couple days. I have a killer head cold. So, in honour of my new found condition, I've decided to develop an addiction to NyQuil. I figure it should go rather nicely with my addiction to coffee. Fortunately for me, I can quit anytime I want. Okay, I can quit the cold syrup. Coffee, on the other hand, is another matter entirely...

Once my head clears up and my brain redevelops its ability to think, I am going to write a proper post. A kick-ass one. It shall be about many things, including:

1. How Glossy got her pic published in a UK newspaper (I'm desperately trying to get my hands on a copy, but it turns out it's not that easy).
2. The freakiest car accident story I've heard at work thus far (even my boss, who's worked in the car industry in one capacity or another for well over a decade says it's new to him). I'll give you a hint: it involves an anchor. Yup, an anchor. One of those heavy iron things that holds boats in place.
3. My sprained ankle, how I injured it and the very painful days that I spent hobbling around at work on it.
4. My new, multi-functional, kitchen faucet. Which is soon to be joined by my two new bathroom faucets. I'm waiting to have them all installed at the same time, though.
5. Work. And my sweet July bonus. And the fact that they're giving me more responsibilities... Like keys...

Ouch!

I'm trying to kill some time and occupy my mind while I ice my ankle. I think I've sprained it. Although I'm not too sure, because a) I haven't yet received the opinion of a medical professional, and b) I don't remember what the heck I did to injure it.

But it was like this when I woke up yesterday morning. Actually, that's not entirely true. Yesterday it hurt and was a bit swollen, but I could still put weight on it without any real problems. And aside from the small amount of walking that was necessary to get in and out of the mall to buy bras and exchange my coffee pot, I pretty much stayed off my feet all day long.

However, when I woke up this morning and stepped out of bed, pain shot up my leg and I nearly fell over. And I saw it had gone a sickly, greeny-purple bruisy colour. Not good. Still, I figured I'd be a trooper and get ready to go in to work as usual anyway. I didn't want to take the time off to see a doctor, considering we're short-staffed right now, plus I've only been there for 2 months. While it wouldn't be pleasant, I figured it would at least be manageable.

Unfortunately, it gave out on me as I stepped out of the shower. *Sigh* I felt like the world's worst employee as I called Martin to ask if I could go see a doctor before I go in today. I'm guessing/hoping that it's something that can be appeased with a tensor wrap and some anti-inflammatories. If not - well, then I'm just going to have to bear with it and hope that a good bandage job will give it enough support that I won't have any real problems. And painkillers. Lots and lots of painkillers. I will dose myself into oblivion (or at least as close to oblivion as I can get to and still be able to drive).

If all goes well, I should only be a couple hours late.