I just checked the mail and got a birthday card (and $25 check) from my crazy aunt!!! Now, when I say crazy, I don't mean in a wacky, flower hat wearing way. I mean I haven't heard from her since she was commited when I was 11 after she physically attacked my grandmother, and stole her car. I noticed on the return address that she's still got her married name even though she divorced over 15 years ago. Also, she wished me a happy 25th birthday. I'm 26. She signed the card “love as always”. I really want to know who gave her my address because none of my family members admit to speaking to her
WEIRD.
Anyway, I'm gonna go watch “The Office” until it's party time.
Holy Weirdness!
obnoxious ravish hitherto
Today is my unofficial birthday and I'm very excited about it! Even though Marilyn woke us up at 8:30 because she thought we were late for work. (Or that she shouldn't be the only one awake). I've had some caffeine! After I do my exercises, I will be ready to go on our little Seattle Mini-Birthday adventure which will include the Seattle Underground Tour, lunch at the Crocodile, and Mini Golf. And then, of course, tonight is the party at the Canterbury and I'm VERY excited for that. The whole gang will be there (including some people I haven't seen in a long time). I plan to drink as much Strongbow as I can fit into my stomach.
So last night the office went to Emerald Downs with the people we get referrals from for a little relationship strengthening activity. On the way there (and back) I got a little taste of what the car ride to Portland is going to be like next week. We didn't have any CD's so it was radio city. And as they scrolled through the channels, Boss heard a Matchbox 20 song he liked on Star 101.5. Lil D was pretty stoked about it too. And there we stayed listening to Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, No Doubt, and -gasp- Dave Mathews Band. The most painful part came when Lil D sang along LOUDLY to Avril. You can tell she's one of those people who thinks she has a good voice because she was doing those little “voice tricks” that female vocalists do to make the songs sound more complicated. It was pretty awful. So then I suggested that when we drive down to Portland, we each bring a CD and that way everyone's happy for a little while. Boss liked it, but I think Lil D wanted to make sure that she was happy the WHOLE TIME because she kept asking people if they liked things she liked. “Do you guys like Usher? Hip Hop? Creed?” Oh my god. I'm going to bring a blunt object to hit myself over the head with.
ANYWAY, when we got to the track, it was pretty boring at first because I derive no pleasure from losing money. But because Boss Man felt so bad about forgetting my birthday (my buddy in Portland slyly broke the news to him), he bought me a couple of races. Turns out I'm absolutely rubbish about picking horses so it's a damned good thing I didn't put any of my own money on the line.
We got back here about 10:00 and I slept like a baby. Until Marilyn…
Anywho, Dom and I have to get going now. See many of you tonight!
Your penis on call instantly
I had a great time last night at mine and Dom's birthday dinner. Thank you all for your kind gifts and great company. The food was delicious too and my leftover daal beckons me from the office refrigerator. I can't wait till tomorrow! I get to take the day off and spend it wandering around Seattle with Dom. And then, of course, tomorrow night I will be tossing 'em back at the Canterbury! Wahoo!
But in the meantime I have to get through today which will be trying because I have a (possibly Indian wine induced) headache and I have a billion things to do BECAUSE I'm not going to be here tomorrow. Which is why I'm bloging now instead of working. Ha ha. After I do my billion things, I have to spend the evening with my co-workers doing one of our “Appreciation Events” with the people who send us our business. It would ordinarily be fine, but I'm sure the Lil'est Dictator will find some way to make things needlessly complicated. Although tonight will be nothing compared to having to spend SIX HOURS in a cramped car with her next week, when we drive down to Portland for our quarterly meeting. Maybe I'll keep a hip flask with me…
I am excited, though, because I finally have a friend at work! Of course, he is in the Portland office, but I feel I have an ally nonetheless and it's nice. (Hello P!:) I found out yesterday that he also has experienced the evilness (evilocity?) of the Lil'est Dictator and is not a fan. Hooray for solidarity! Also, hooray for knowing in advance that I will have someone to talk to at the Christmas Party (I didn't meet P last year because I skipped the X-mas party to see Return of the King on opening day with you lot).
Anywhosel, I should get to work now. Right after I raid the ibuprofen…
Something In Common
I got a birthday wish from the gang at E! online. They wanted me to know that I share my birthday with the following celebrities:
Pink 1979 Doylestown, Pennslyvania
David Arquette 1971 Winchester, Virginia
Heather Thomas 1957 Greenwich, CT
Henry Thomas 1972 San Antonio, TX
Jonathan Taylor Thomas 1981 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Larenz Tate 1975 Chicago, Illinois
Patsy Cline 1932 Winchester, VA
Peter Sellers 1925 Portsmouth, England
Sid Caesar 1922 Yonkers, New York
I'm most excited about Pink.
midget it all worked out
So far today I have gotten birthday wishes from Dom and the All Things Zombie.com Forum Moderator. I have a feeling they all forgot at work which means no free lunch. And I'm not ABOUT to whinge about it like Lil' D. did. So…Oh well. When they figure it out, maybe I'll get another day off.
I'm looking forward to dinner tonight with my very good friends. I love you guys.
I gotta go make a billion brochures now.
23034
So I was going to write a long recount of yesterday, but Dom beat me to it. Not complaining though. I would like to add a few things though.
I had a good time waiting in line for the comedy thing. I played Gin with some high school kids who actually weren't that annoying. And they knew who they were going to see which was nice. Kinda reminded me of my youth. But with more friends. Ha ha.
The comedy show itself was pretty cool too. Fred Armisen came out and did a hilarious act as Sadam Husein as a british musician. Pretty brilliant, actually. Next was the comedic musical stylings of Hard N Phirm who are best known for doing a bluegrass medly of Radiohead songs called “Rodeohead”. They sang a song about Patriotic Dinasaurs, complete with slideshow. Very funny. Finally, our man Zach Galifianakis came out. He was hilarious as always, but I think he underestimates his audience. He seems to assume that he doesn't have any hardcore fans and therefore, even though there are a few new jokes, we hear the same act each time. Zach, I know TV's Tru Calling keeps you pretty busy, but we want a new act! How much harder do we have to support you before you give us new jokes?
After that we putzed around the festival. We went to an ok beer garden where I saw the drummer for Alice In Chains. When I was 14, that would have made my day. Now it's not that big of a deal. But it does surprise me that I don't see more people wandering around Seattle. I mean, come on Mark Arm and Kim Thayil. No one's gonna mob you or anything.
The Pixies were aight. They seemed to be going through the motions though. I can't imagine they've resolved too many of the issues that caused their breakup. It's a Cash Cow tour. But it was neat to be able to say I saw them.
Today I am back at work. I feel SOMEWHAT rested but the stress is starting all over again. There's a ton of work to catch up on, and the cleaning people threw away everything in my boss's in-box. (What the fuck?!) so I've had to deal with “describing the papers” and things all morning while they fish through the garbage looking for this stuff. The really bad news that comes along with that is that it's the last straw for Ken. He's been wanting to move our office for a while because a lot of little fucked up things like that happen in this building. Also, the rest of our floor is empty and clients think it's “weird”. We've actually had potential clients decline to sign up with us because of it. So boss man wanted to move when our lease was up. But now he wants to sublet and move ASAP. And he wants to move AWAY from downtown. I DON'T want that. It's not up to me, of course. But I WILL be the one looking for places, so hopefully I will be able to find better deals downtown than in South Lake Union where he (and Lil' Dictator) want to move. I LIKE WORKING DOWNTOWN! It's one of the only things that keeps my days interesting. No more daily trips to the library. No more lunches with Roxy. No more running errands at lunch time or trying lots of different places to eat. I don't know what is around South Lake Union but I'm pretty sure there's not as many food choices or shopping. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
But we'll see what happens, I guess. We'll see. At least we're not moving to Bellevue. That's what boss wanted originally. I would definitely quit were we to move to Bellevue. That is a bus ride in hell that I could not take.
behind 53 because
So far this labor day weekend, I've done pretty much NOTHING. Saturday, I putzed around the apartment until 5:00 or so at which time Faye, Dom and I headed down to the Center to see ONE comedy show. That was the ONLY reason we bought a ticket for Saturday. But we didn't leave early enough so by the time we got there and got in line, we wouldn't have made it in to see the performance that we wanted. So we called it a forfeit day. I bought a 5 pound Strawberry Shortcake, Dom and Faye got milkshakes, and Faye got a roasted corn stick and we ate them in the Center House and then left. We were going to go out later, but by the time we got back to my house, we were so tired (from doing what?!) that we ended up just staying in, drinking wine, and watching Frailty (dumb!). So today hopefully SOMETHING will happen because I think my body is atrophying from lack of activity. I AM going to yoga today so at least there's some gauranteed movement. And then, of course, tomorrow we are going BACK to Bumbershoot to give the comedy show a second try and to get in line ass early for the Pixies. Yesterday wasn't a total bust, I guess. We DID see several Best Week Ever commentators traipsing about. So that was kind of exciting. And yes, I realise how much that makes me sound like such a comedy groupie!
If I was a Billionaire…
I could afford to buy Noel Gallagher's car off ebay. It's a sign of the times, people.
It doesn't get any easier than this
Today is my first day of getting paid to do what I love. I woke up at 9:00, ate breakfast and began editing and getting things ready to go out to festivals. It has been a blast. Now I am going to shower, and go buy some more DVDs for festival submission, after which I will come back, make dinner, and later, finish up Faye's short in time to send it out to the Bellingham Projections Festival tomorrow. It has been a good day. I still have a LOT more to do, but the good news is that tomorrow, my company has decided to close at noon! So I can come home and edit some more! All on the company dime. They don't KNOW they're paying me for this, but I'm getting paid for it nonetheless and it's a WONDERFUL feeling. I can't wait until the day when it's official.
@floppy `ones. che!ck it %out `
So I just spent over an hour in the most horrible meeting ever. Basically, it was just me sitting there trying to not make eye contact with everybody while my boss and the Lil'est Dictator argued. Yelling was involved, almost exclusively coming from the L.D. It would have gone on for ages had my boss not conceded and ended the meeting. I am relieved to be back here at my desk and ever MORE relieved to know that I have tomorrow off.
All this after a similarly distressing afternoon yesterday when L.D. argued needlessly about whether or not she should have to answer the phone when I'm in the bathroom or at lunch. The argument was long and stupid because she was the only one arguing anything. The short of it is that my boss said we should all be responsible for making sure the phone gets answered and that, contrary to L.D.'s assessment, a client MIGHT NOT call back, even if it IS important because we are there to serve them (duh). The result of all this is that I have to have my phone on maximum volume so that Wenchypoo can hear it in her office with the door closed (even though her office is RIGHT NEXT to my desk and I can hear the damned thing when I'm in the copy room which is as far away from the phone as you can get and still be in the office). Therefore, every time the phone rings, it scares the living poop out of me.
-sigh-
Effed by the Wind 