Yes, I am back
and my time off was swell.
What happened last week –
I couldn’t really tell.
funny
This is Not Going to be a Good Day
On paper and in my head it sure sounded like a good idea. When the HR rep informed me I had to 48 hours of annual leave and 16 hours of PTO to take by December 31 I was excited. Who wouldn’t be? With no place to go I decided to treat myself to a couple of stay-cations. It worked out that I’d get a whole week off for Thanksgiving and with the two holidays, a week and a half for Christmas.
Who in their right mind would argue with that?
Not me.
The Monday after Thanksgiving was not a productive day. In fact, that whole week my mind felt like mush. The simplest of tasks about did me in. And that was only after one week.
I haven’t worked since Friday, December 21. Today may very well be the death of me.
Only kidding. Well, only mostly kidding.
There have been flags already. Monday, December 24 (yes, as if in Christmas Eve) I couldn’t remember which day it was. I almost OD’d on my medication because I could have sworn Christmas was on Wednesday making Christmas Eve a Tuesday. Luckily, after about five minutes of seriously trying to figure out what day of the week it was, I did not take more pills than prescribed.
While watching a movie late Thursday night I realized I did not have a blog ready for Friday. How can I disappoint my fans (okay, fan)? 1:30 Friday morning I stared at the create a post window. It was blank. I had no idea how to fill it up. At 1:30 in the morning I was afraid of what I would produce. So I chickened out and reposted an old one. I was on vacation! I was supposed to be letting the creative juices flow free. Instead, the hamster on the wheel took a snooze. Way to let me (and my two fans) down, hamster, way to go.
Friday I totally forgot to do laundry. Not a big deal? I’ve done laundry every Friday for – let’s just say a whole lotta years. I remembered at midnight. Not cool.
By Sunday evening I realized I would in fact have to return to work on Wednesday. This caused me to slump into a depression. My Christmas miracle has eluded me once again. Come on Santa, I’ve watched enough Hallmark Christmas movies to know I have the perfect circumstances to receive some Christmas magic. I’m not asking for much. A new job. A new life. Your single son falling in love with me would be nice. Just sayin.
Is it too soon to count down to the weekend? How about MLK Day?
Yay for Me!
I’ve stated it before and I’ll say it again. I’m not big on goals. So this whole New Year Resolution thing is not really my forte. There have been a few times I wanted to become a better person by resolving to do better. Be better. Come February, however, I make an important discovery. And that is this – I like me! Or at least, I’m comfortable with me. Why change?
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Dear Ancient Mayan Calendar Makers,
I realize your job may have gotten a bit boring filled with a whole lot of repetition. It couldn’t have been easy to carve those little symbols into stone. I imagine hand cramps were a hazard of the job. Hopefully, you received a just compensation for all your effort.
When you made your calendar, you probably had no idea the chaos you’d cause. The worry. I mean, making a calendar that lasted thousands of years was going above and beyond the call of duty. Perhaps you figured it was good enough. After all, you covered your days, your children’s days, your grandchildren’s days, and even your great-grandchildren’s days – what more could we want?
I don’t blame you for choosing the first day of winter as the final day. It is one short, bleak, dark day. If I were to choose a day to end all days it would probably be the same.
My only beef with this whole thing is the fact the last, final, ultimate day will be on a Friday. Was this a conspiracy with your CEO of calendars? Make sure us peons finish the work week before being wiped off the face of the planet. To top it off, it happens to be my last day of work before I start a vacation for the rest of the year.
Not cool, Mayans, not cool.
Here’s what the smarty-pants at NASA have to say about all this hub-bub.
What Your Holiday Viewing Says About You
Okay, we are going to mix it up a bit here at ck’s days. We are going to take a very unscientific poll of your favorite Christmas movie. Choose your answer wisely because it will speak volumes of your personality. Uh, 😉 😉
Ready?
Christmas Salsa
I’m an odd duck. This I know. (sigh) This I’ve always known. There are many facets and many levels of my peculiarity. One major factor I get a lot of grief for is my lack of a sweet tooth. Considering I am my mother’s child, this is an even bigger oddity. One my mother either didn’t believe or couldn’t understand. One of her ways to express love was to share goodies. I still have the last chocolate Easter Bunny she gave me sitting on my shelf. If you have read this blog for any amount of time you’ll get the drift. That bunny is a bit old.
Buddies
My cell phone buzzed at work the other day. It was a call from my oldest niece, Lyn. I hesitated to answer it because every single time I check my phone, my boss walks in. Cell phones are a no-no at work. But Lyn rarely calls me and I remembered the time when she called and it was an emergency. I decided to be brave (family trumps work after all) and answered.
If I Were to Cave-In to Passing Fads and have a Bucket List…
Last Tuesday we took the girls caroling. One nearly-almost-14-year-old excitedly confided, “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“Ah, get to cross something off your bucket list,” I said in a humorous tone.
“Exactly!” she agreed and didn’t appreciate my wit.
photo courtesy the web
Wow. If only all bucket lists were that easy to accomplish. A few years ago when that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman movie came out bucket lists became in vogue. So, of course, I didn’t make one. I’ve never been good at making goals. Too much pressure. I prefer to make what I call “bite-sized steps.” Mini-goals if you will. Things that I’m sure I’ll accomplish and can cross off my daily list. Because I really like crossing things off my list. It just feels so good.
But after Tuesday night I’ve been thinking about it. Perhaps I do have a list of what I want to achieve before I die. No, I’m not falling in line with a popular fad. This is totally different than the fashionable bucket list, mind you. A bucket list consists of goals to cross off before one dies. My personal list consists of goals I want to cross off before I die. See the difference? There are just a few things I thought I’d share.
One: I want to write the words to a song. Not just any song. A song that gets played ad nauseam on the radio. One that the mass majority relates to and if that majority wants to show their affection with their pocketbook, well, I wouldn’t complain. But I’d settle for a song that speaks to the heart. Maybe one to help the Young Women when they are faced with dark days.
Two: I want to make a million people laugh simultaneously. What? Too much? Okay, I want to be able to cause laughter – in a positive way (in other words, not laughing at me) for an audience. If I were a braver person, I’d admit I want to be a standup comic. But I don’t want to pay my dues with the small venues, flat jokes, and hecklers. I want to skip to the Ellen Degeneres sized shows.
Three: I want to save a life. Not in the physical sense with CPR and first aid. In fact, I’d prefer not to be around someone in medical need. Unless, passing out myself will help someone with a medical issue, I better not be around a medical emergency. But I want to help snatch someone from the dark abyss and help that person find the light. To give hope to a hopeless situation. To rescue a soul.
Yeah, I think those are my current to-do’s on my life’s list. I don’t think I’m asking too much. Do you? What’s on your list?
The Same Song Over and Over Again
photo courtesy the web
photo courtesy the web
On the way home from work the other day
Taylor Swift’s song, you know the one, “We Are Never Getting Back Together”
played for the gazillionth time (I know because I counted).
It’s her song about a romance breaking-up and love lost.
So, I switched it to the other non-country, contemporary music station in town.
Pink’s “Blow Me One Last Kiss” played.
It’s her song about a romance breaking-up and love lost.
Ugh! I hate when both stations play the same song at the same time.
On-Line Christmas Shopping Made Hard
photo courtesy the web
Okay, my effort to unplug this weekend did not go as planned. Chalk it up to poor planning on my part. I have never used my phone so much in one weekend as I did Friday night through Saturday. By that time I figured, what the heck, and used it Sunday also. At one point, I had two computers and my phone going at the same time. Kind of the opposite of a unplugged weekend, huh? There’s always next weekend right?
ck's days 