Slack attack

Yeah, I’ve been a big slacker when it comes to this blog over the past week. Had a few reasons, but it’s my blog dammit, if I want to be slack, I will. I am also going to jump around a lot while writing this, you’ve been warned.

Today's goal is not falling asleep at work. After a particularly stressful episode late last night, I went to bed and woke up feeling as though I needed another week of sleep. I would love to pull a George Costanza under my desk, except for the fact that's where the mice hang out.

Vag arrived last Friday and spent the week at my place. He left this morning, unfortunately I was not coherent enough to get up and say goodbye... but I am not very good at goodbyes anyway. Have a safe trip back, Vag, and I'm glad you had a good time and were able to relax and not have a rushed vacation. It was nice to have someone around for a change, especially someone who also cooks dinner (I appreciated that very much) :) Come back anytime!

Last week I spent furiously planning for the luau. Seemingly so much to do for what was supposed to be (and did indeed turn out to be) a fun party. Decorations, music, drives, plans… all very stressful but ensured a great time. I’m glad everyone came, drank, danced, drank, ate, drank, talked, drank, tried to stand up but couldn’t, and drank. Did I mention there was a lot of drinking at this party? It had been a while since I was the lone sober person in a room full of people who were quite trashed. When it gets to that level, Sober Girl tries to figure out why people are having so much more fun… but never regrets her alcohol-free lifestyle. Can’t be without the West Side Shuttle, ¿verdad?

So I think the luau turned out to be a great time had by all. I had a bit of trouble with someone else’s misconceptions, and my mother was apprently staked out in front of my house while I was gone, but other than that I had a good time. Jody took one of the best pics of me that I’ve seen in a long time… and that’s saying a lot because I am extremely hard on myself when it comes to seeing my own pictures, so yay for me. I sent a huge batch of pics to Chris since he kindly offered to host them. Look for them soon [read: once he is done theatre and has free time again :) ]

Karaoke last Friday was very fun, as usual. It was finally our time to have Vag get up with Mare & I to do Love Shack. Good times, good times. After that we headed to Boston Pizza. You know, I like the place, but I still think they charge too much for the portion of food you’re ordering. A petite rack of ribs, fries, pop and tip and $25 later I feel like I could have gotten a lot more for a lot less somewhere else. It was good, but delicious enough to be worth that much. I’ll go back, but not regularly. I think I’ll stick with Swiss Chalet for expensive ribs – they’re my favorite.

I am finding this week particularly difficult at work. I desperately need a vacation. Wednesday I was so overtired and stressed out about work and personal issues that I sat at my desk and quietly cried while I spewed an email out to someone. I am stuck in this odd position of liking to work alone, but need another person with different expertise to fill in the gaps of my knowledge (and take over so I can go on vacation). I am feeling a lot more tied down again now that I am a department of one. I just really need a break so I can get away and refocus. I am really looking forward to the Portland trip, but it is still only 3 days off, then the next time I get away is Tucson, where all but a couple of days will be spent traveling or attending the conference. In the meantime, I placate myself with little things – going for walks at lunch, and yesterday I took a break around 2:45 and went to DQ, sat outside and ate a sundae while the sun finally made an appearance. I wish the break could have been longer.

On the landscaping front, everything is all set for the last week of August for hydroseeding. In the meantime, Dad is going to build me a retaining wall outside the basement door to hopefully ward off any flooding next winter. This also involves moving the large rock that is sitting right by the back door. I don’t know where to put that rock when he moves it. I looked around the front yard but couldn’t decide on a good place amongst the other rocks of where to place it. Suggestions welcome.

I also reminded myself this morning of how badly I need to remove the weeds around the existing rocks. [sigh] I really don’t enjoy outdoor work. Give me vacuuming, laundry, anything indoors and I don’t mind doing it. I just can’t bring myself to do any work outside the house. I do need to get this weeding done though. There are weeds so high in front of the living room window that they blow in the wind and I find them distracting. The hard part for me will be trying to dig through the real plants and weeds and figure out which are which… something I am not all that good at, but I trust my intelligence will help me get it straight. Plants = good. Weeds = not good. Weeds that are also flowers = ?

Monday night saw me headed to the Valley for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I thoroughly enjoyed it, great performances by all. Gilbert shows anger very well [he got very noticably red :) ] Jay’s constant face-stuffing as Starveling was hilarious, I loved it! Scott was at his comedic best playing the manic Bottom. Kudos to everyone on a great show. I really enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere of being able to bring your own chair and food while enjoying a great performance. I hope this idea will stick around in the future. I will also have to remember to bring bug spray.

Wednesday night I met up with friends for dinner at the Alehouse. Upon reflection, what ended up to be a $29 meal after all was said and done, was disappointing. Not enough to make me never go there again, but again another case of poor service. The waitress actually said out loud to Scum, “I wonder what I need to ask you for that” [meaning what choices he had for that meal]. If you’re working there, you should know. She also seemed like she really didn’t want to be there. Note to all the food service industry people out there: I know it sucks to be a waiter/waitress when you really want to make your living some other way. The thing is, you accepted this job. Don’t punish me for the fact you don’t want to be there. I expect courteous service, not a lethargic, can’t-be-bothered person taking my order. I left her a tip anyway, mainly because I knew we'd be headed there after Theatre On The Edge and didn’t want to be “pssst, there’s that girl who didn’t tip me last night… better give her crappy service!”

I’ve had the prime rib at the Alehouse a couple of times, and with the exception of prime rib cooked by my mom, it was the tastiest I’ve had. Last night apparently the definition of “medium” took on a new meaning. I guess all pink with a touch of blood is the new “medium”. [sigh] Definitions of the well done-ness of meat are pretty widely known… do they expect people to not send things back, or not put up a fuss? In the end I didn’t, but should have. I don’t like their fries either.

Before heading to Theatre On The Edge, Vag and I met up with T-L and Van at D'Amico for supper. I had a bowl of spaghetti... or should I say, a bowl of mushrooms with some spaghetti in it. [sigh] Should have gone for the lasagna instead. I'll know for next time. Again, the waitress seemed good at first, but then apparently didn't care if we paid. We were starting to run late and had to go track her down to pay our bills. Why is good service such a difficult concept around here?

A big congrats to everyone involved in Theatre On The Edge, you guys put in a lot of effort [insert Kermit's wildly waving arms and saying yay!] I will be glad to see you all with more free time now, though. I've been invited by many people to attend the cast party, and I think I will go. I won't be wearing the required trashy shirt though, sorry to disappoint. I seem to be attracting the wrong kind of attention to myself lately, and trashy shirt may just continue that trend, so I've decided to go as normal. I do coincidentally have a hair appointment tomorrow morning, so at least there's one thing I won't have to worry about appearance-wise. Now I just need to figure out specifically what to wear (no, I am not asking for suggestions).

With Theatre On The Edge continuing tonight, I won't have my usual routine of karaoke after work. I'm looking forward to an evening alone though, to spend some time relaxing and thinking. Or maybe just plain passing out.