I realized I haven't updated this in months, and I don't honestly plan to for awhile, but I had to share with you all this Facebook post I saw on my wall.
One of my FB friends posted a rant about how some 'idiot' thought that chickens could come with ALL dark meat. Why someone felt so strongly about people's thoughts on chicken meat that they felt they needed to update their FB status is an entirely different story, perhaps to be addressed at another time.
Regardless, someone commented on his post and said the following (I copied and pasted):
dear *****, if your calling someone an idiot can you please use correct grammer and say "chickens do" instead of "chickens does" that way you can make yourself look smarter when trying to correct someone :)
....................................
Aaaaaand that, my friends, is what is wrong with our education system.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Racism against Citizens
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/29/opinion/valencia-racism-latino/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
There's a great article on CNN today about racism against Latinos - not just racism against illegal immigrants, but against US citizens as well. The article got me pretty emotional, because I know this is happening in cities all over the US every.single.day. Specifically, it happens to my grandma in Texas all the time.
My grandma is Nicaraguan. She was born in a village near Managua and moved to the US in the 1950s. Her father was a doctor in the village and was very well-respected. She met my opa (who is clearly German) and they had 5 boys. My dad is the 4th in line.
My grandparents have been divorced since the 1980s and my grandma has lived several places... she was in Charleston, SC for a looong time, then she was in Orlando for awhile, and just within the last few years has moved to Texas. Since moving there, she's encountered absolutely unbelievable racism. A few examples:
1) Within a few weeks of moving into her house, my grandma put in a new fence around her house. The next day, her neighbors tore it down purely out of spite. I am not making this up.
2) She has repeatedly had letters/notes left on her door or in her mailbox telling her to go back to Mexico. This absolutely infuriates me. Uhhh, #1, she's not Mexican, so she can't go 'back' to Mexico, considering she never lived there. #2, That's digusting. I'm sure YOUR parents or grandparents were legal immigrants, too, so what makes them any better than MY grandmother?
3) She has had people throw things at her house, thus damaging her siding.
She eventually called the cops about all of this... their advice? "Buy a gun." Aka they can't do a damn thing to protect her.
The ironic part is that my grandmother is the most vocal person I know when it comes to illegal immigration. She HATES the fact that there are illegal immigrants in the US. HATES it. Yet here she is, being accused of being one and being told to leave. When, in reality, if people took two seconds to look past her dark skin, they'd realize they actually feel the same way about the issue. Absolutely absurd.
Another hilarious thing to me is that she's been a citizen since 1951, I believe. Which means she's been a US citizen longer than most of the people who are tormenting her. Funny how that works.
I also wonder why my dad doesn't have the same issues as my grandma. His skin is pretty much just as dark as hers... he has brown hair and brown eyes, too. I mean, he's been called Egyptian and Greek and Turkish and who knows what else, just purely out of ignorance, but he's never been distinctly targeted like she has. No one's ever thrown things or yelled at him because of his skin color. At least not that I know of. Weird.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that I literally feel nauseous when I think about the fact that things like this are happening all over the US. To all sorts of people. Including 77 year old GRANDMOTHERS. Like... at what point did our country become so dumb that our citizens now think that anyone that speaks Spanish and has dark skin is cleaaaaarly a Mexican? And that they're illegal? Just... what? Seriously, how did that happen?
Not a fan. Not a fan at all.
There's a great article on CNN today about racism against Latinos - not just racism against illegal immigrants, but against US citizens as well. The article got me pretty emotional, because I know this is happening in cities all over the US every.single.day. Specifically, it happens to my grandma in Texas all the time.
My grandma is Nicaraguan. She was born in a village near Managua and moved to the US in the 1950s. Her father was a doctor in the village and was very well-respected. She met my opa (who is clearly German) and they had 5 boys. My dad is the 4th in line.
My grandparents have been divorced since the 1980s and my grandma has lived several places... she was in Charleston, SC for a looong time, then she was in Orlando for awhile, and just within the last few years has moved to Texas. Since moving there, she's encountered absolutely unbelievable racism. A few examples:
1) Within a few weeks of moving into her house, my grandma put in a new fence around her house. The next day, her neighbors tore it down purely out of spite. I am not making this up.
2) She has repeatedly had letters/notes left on her door or in her mailbox telling her to go back to Mexico. This absolutely infuriates me. Uhhh, #1, she's not Mexican, so she can't go 'back' to Mexico, considering she never lived there. #2, That's digusting. I'm sure YOUR parents or grandparents were legal immigrants, too, so what makes them any better than MY grandmother?
3) She has had people throw things at her house, thus damaging her siding.
She eventually called the cops about all of this... their advice? "Buy a gun." Aka they can't do a damn thing to protect her.
The ironic part is that my grandmother is the most vocal person I know when it comes to illegal immigration. She HATES the fact that there are illegal immigrants in the US. HATES it. Yet here she is, being accused of being one and being told to leave. When, in reality, if people took two seconds to look past her dark skin, they'd realize they actually feel the same way about the issue. Absolutely absurd.
Another hilarious thing to me is that she's been a citizen since 1951, I believe. Which means she's been a US citizen longer than most of the people who are tormenting her. Funny how that works.
I also wonder why my dad doesn't have the same issues as my grandma. His skin is pretty much just as dark as hers... he has brown hair and brown eyes, too. I mean, he's been called Egyptian and Greek and Turkish and who knows what else, just purely out of ignorance, but he's never been distinctly targeted like she has. No one's ever thrown things or yelled at him because of his skin color. At least not that I know of. Weird.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that I literally feel nauseous when I think about the fact that things like this are happening all over the US. To all sorts of people. Including 77 year old GRANDMOTHERS. Like... at what point did our country become so dumb that our citizens now think that anyone that speaks Spanish and has dark skin is cleaaaaarly a Mexican? And that they're illegal? Just... what? Seriously, how did that happen?
Not a fan. Not a fan at all.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Traveling for Work
As I'm currently traveling for work and bored out of my mind, I figured I'd write a little something on the perks and drawbacks of traveling. I know that some of my very few followers likely don't travel a lot (or at all) for work, so here you go.
I'm currently staying at the Westin in Cincinnati right on Fountain Square (aka in the heart of downtown). It's a GREAT location, and I'd definitely recommend the hotel - very nice. Maybe just avoid staying here during the summer - I'm only staying here two nights and both nights have had concerts from 7 to 10 pm on the square (like... right outside my window). Luckily I haven't had any work to do, but it's VERY loud and not all that enjoyable. It's kind of like sex boy is in the apartment next door all over again. Bummer.
Anyway, here's a few things I've noticed about traveling:
PERKS
1. Hotel points. Hands down the #1 perk. If you're going to start traveling for work anytime soon, BE SURE to sign up for like, every hotel rewards program you can think of. Marriott, Hilton, Starwood (they're the ones that have Westin), Choice... everything. It's basically free money, so why would you not?
2. Mileage. Making $0.55/mile is amazing. For example, my round trip to/from Cincinnati is banking me about $132. Considering it probably only cost me $30-40 in gas... that's awesome. Granted, yes, it's also paying for the depreciation on my car, which is actually pretty huge since my car is so new but... still. My car is kind of a sunk cost so... YAY PROFIT!
3. FREE MEALS. Oh my gosh, meal allowances are amazing. I'm even MORE jealous of people who have per diems but... you know. Can't complain. My company allows me to spend I think $20/day on breakfast and $45/day on dinner while traveling in Cincinnati. Awesomeeeeee. It's especially nice when you're with other people, so you can get some drinks or a bottle or two of wine and it's a great time. It's not so nice when you're by yourself because ordering a steak and bottle of wine and not having anyone to share it with gets pretty old pretty fast. Like... today I got Skyline. And wasted $34 of basically free dinner money. Meh. Anyway, it's awesome when you can spend it on alcohol/really nice dinners. Every night.
4. Variety. Traveling mixes everything up and is a nice break from the mundane work schedule. The days seem to go a lot faster and work doesn't seem quite as bad, for some reason.
CONS
5. Being away. Let's be honest, no one would rather be in a random city where they know no one by themselves for an extended period of time than be at home with people they love. When I'm traveling it feels like I'm back in college, doing the whole long-distance thing with Donny, only being able to catch up by phone every so often. Ugh. Enough said.
6. Access to the familiar. You just don't have the amenities you're used to having at home. For example, this hotel doesn't have Lifetime or E!. Who has the NatGeo channel but NOT Lifetime or E! ?? Slash... WHY would you have NatGeo and not those two channels? Blows my mind. I realllly wanted to watch some Project Runway reruns tonight but... alas. Always using travel-sized shampoo/conditioner is just sad, too.
7. Forgetfulness. You inevitably forget something important almost every single time. I haven't discovered anything I've forgotten yet during this trip, so that's good. Last time I left an entire drawer full of clothes in my hotel room. Thank goodness they found them and I was coming back the next week anyway, so I was able to pick them up. Phew. I've also forgotten contact solution, glasses, a toothbrush, and once I even forgot underwear. So horrible. Luckily a Walmart was close by. Eek.
8. Being alone. It's incredibly lonely if you're traveling by yourself. I just ate dinner by myself at Skyline Chili. How humbling/depressing. And now I'm going to sit in my bed for the next 4 hours, minus maybe a half hour to work out. Boringgggggggg. I'd leave and go exploring, but I would have to pay for parking twice and that just sounds like a pain.
All in all, I really like traveling if it's every once in awhile, and it's not for an extended period of time. Last busy season I had to drive to middle-of-nowhere Indiana every week for 5 weeks. It was terrible. Really terrible.
But these 1.5 week stints in places like Cincinnati really aren't too terrible :)
I'm currently staying at the Westin in Cincinnati right on Fountain Square (aka in the heart of downtown). It's a GREAT location, and I'd definitely recommend the hotel - very nice. Maybe just avoid staying here during the summer - I'm only staying here two nights and both nights have had concerts from 7 to 10 pm on the square (like... right outside my window). Luckily I haven't had any work to do, but it's VERY loud and not all that enjoyable. It's kind of like sex boy is in the apartment next door all over again. Bummer.
Anyway, here's a few things I've noticed about traveling:
PERKS
1. Hotel points. Hands down the #1 perk. If you're going to start traveling for work anytime soon, BE SURE to sign up for like, every hotel rewards program you can think of. Marriott, Hilton, Starwood (they're the ones that have Westin), Choice... everything. It's basically free money, so why would you not?
2. Mileage. Making $0.55/mile is amazing. For example, my round trip to/from Cincinnati is banking me about $132. Considering it probably only cost me $30-40 in gas... that's awesome. Granted, yes, it's also paying for the depreciation on my car, which is actually pretty huge since my car is so new but... still. My car is kind of a sunk cost so... YAY PROFIT!
3. FREE MEALS. Oh my gosh, meal allowances are amazing. I'm even MORE jealous of people who have per diems but... you know. Can't complain. My company allows me to spend I think $20/day on breakfast and $45/day on dinner while traveling in Cincinnati. Awesomeeeeee. It's especially nice when you're with other people, so you can get some drinks or a bottle or two of wine and it's a great time. It's not so nice when you're by yourself because ordering a steak and bottle of wine and not having anyone to share it with gets pretty old pretty fast. Like... today I got Skyline. And wasted $34 of basically free dinner money. Meh. Anyway, it's awesome when you can spend it on alcohol/really nice dinners. Every night.
4. Variety. Traveling mixes everything up and is a nice break from the mundane work schedule. The days seem to go a lot faster and work doesn't seem quite as bad, for some reason.
CONS
5. Being away. Let's be honest, no one would rather be in a random city where they know no one by themselves for an extended period of time than be at home with people they love. When I'm traveling it feels like I'm back in college, doing the whole long-distance thing with Donny, only being able to catch up by phone every so often. Ugh. Enough said.
6. Access to the familiar. You just don't have the amenities you're used to having at home. For example, this hotel doesn't have Lifetime or E!. Who has the NatGeo channel but NOT Lifetime or E! ?? Slash... WHY would you have NatGeo and not those two channels? Blows my mind. I realllly wanted to watch some Project Runway reruns tonight but... alas. Always using travel-sized shampoo/conditioner is just sad, too.
7. Forgetfulness. You inevitably forget something important almost every single time. I haven't discovered anything I've forgotten yet during this trip, so that's good. Last time I left an entire drawer full of clothes in my hotel room. Thank goodness they found them and I was coming back the next week anyway, so I was able to pick them up. Phew. I've also forgotten contact solution, glasses, a toothbrush, and once I even forgot underwear. So horrible. Luckily a Walmart was close by. Eek.
8. Being alone. It's incredibly lonely if you're traveling by yourself. I just ate dinner by myself at Skyline Chili. How humbling/depressing. And now I'm going to sit in my bed for the next 4 hours, minus maybe a half hour to work out. Boringgggggggg. I'd leave and go exploring, but I would have to pay for parking twice and that just sounds like a pain.
All in all, I really like traveling if it's every once in awhile, and it's not for an extended period of time. Last busy season I had to drive to middle-of-nowhere Indiana every week for 5 weeks. It was terrible. Really terrible.
But these 1.5 week stints in places like Cincinnati really aren't too terrible :)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Due to a severe downturn in working hours for me this summer (yay!), I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sense of accomplishment I feel in my job, and how starkly it compares to how relevant my job REALLY is. This is what I mean: I, as does any other person in their job, feel incredibly proud and relieved when I figure out an issue at work, regardless of how small. When I finish auditing an account (like inventory, accounts receivable, etc.), it’s a REALLY big accomplishment and I’m ecstatic.
Then I compare that to what my job is REALLY doing and I get incredibly depressed. My job provides such little meaning to the world in general. I mean, I spend weeks auditing what essentially boils down to ONE NUMBER on an annual report that NO ONE reads. The worst is when I am on a non-SEC job (aka a client that does not have stock that’s traded on the stock market)… because literally no one reads those, because they’re not available to the public usually. So recap: I spend my life auditing numbers no one looks at.
So then you’re probably thinking, ‘what’s the point of auditing if no one reads this stuff?’ yeah, great question. Sometimes I’m not convinced there is a point. But technically, auditing is really important, especially for business that ARE publicly traded, because we provide assurance to you, the public who are investing in the stock market, that the companies you’re investing in are telling the truth about how much they’re making (because that, in turn, changes the stock price of the stocks you own). If you have a 401k, you should care about auditing because everything in your 401k is invested in stock. If the stock you’re invested in is for companies that are saying they’re making 2093480239482 million dollars, their stock price is going to keep climbing (making you money), but then turns out they’re actually only making 20 million dollars, your money is at risk. The stock for that price will plummet, losing you tons of money. So that’s why my job is important – we come in and make sure that they’re telling the truth about how much money they have and how much money they make/spend.
But really, when it comes down to it, I still just audit ONE or TWO stupid numbers in a sometimes 300 page report that no one reads. So really… fml. It’s just not gratifying. Slightly unfortunate.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Post Office Encounter
Well hellooo, everyone. Time for my quarterly update (or so it seems). But I don't really feel like updating so I'll just tell you all a story instead.
Today I had an especially awkward encounter with a gentleman at my local post office. I returned from vacation on Sunday, expecting to receive my mail on Tuesday (I had requested it be delivered to me on Tuesday). Tuesday comes and goes, no mail. Ditto with Wednesday and Thursday. I get incredibly annoyed by today and call them. They inform me that they are not allowed to deliver it to me - I must pick it up. Keep in mind that when I filled out my 'hold mail' request online, usps.com gave me the option to have it delivered to my doorstep. Silly me, clicking the 'deliver to me' button. Silly, silly me.
Anywho, guy at the post office tells me that I have to now come in to pick it up. GRRR. Slash... FINE BY ME if that means I can leave work early to do so. Thank you, government work hours.
So I make my way to the post office this afternoon. The following ensued:
Guy: Let me guess, your postal carrier didn't deliver the mail to you.
Me: No.... the person I talked to earlier today said that you're not allowed to deliver it to me anyway.
Guy: Oh well... I was going to have someone come take it out to you.
Me: Oh... Well... um... I'm here now.
[guy takes my ID]
Guy: Westerville, huh? (Note: I haven't changed my address on my ID... it's still my parents' address. Oops.)
Me: that's where I'm from.
Guy: So you're a richie, huh?
Me: Um... nope.
Guy: You don't have to lie to me.
Me: ................
[Guy awkwardly pauses, then goes to get my mail and returns]
Guy: Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. Your carrier's on vacation and the two people filling in for him don't have a single brain between the two of them.
Me: [awkward laugh #1]
Guy: Let me guess, you probably haven't gotten any mail at all this week, even though your hold was only through Tuesday, right?
Me: Right...
[Guy shakes his head in sadness]
Me: Okay... well... thanks!
Guy: You aren't wearing a ring. I'm very observant.
Me: ... nope, I'm not wearing a ring.
Guy: Let me guess, you're probably too good for me. Some brainy genius engineer or something.
Me: [awkward laugh #2] um... nope! I'm an accountant.
Guy: See I was close. Is that your Hyundai out there?
Me: Yep...
Guy: That's a brand new Hyundai. That's probably a 6 cylinder too. Is it?
Me: Um... I literally have no idea.
Guy: You don't know how many cylinders your car has?
Me: Nope.
Guy: Well it looks like a nice car, richie. So you going to be married sometime in the next year?
Me: Uh... maybe? Soonish?
Guy: You got a candidate lined up?
Me: [awkward laugh #3] I hope so!
Guy: Well that's just too bad. You remember me if things don't go well between you two, I'll be here.
Me: [awkward laugh #4]
Guy: Or hey, how about this - if he does something to hurt you, I've also got me a dark black ninja suit...
Me: [incredibly awkward laugh... like... what!?!?!?]
Guy: ... and a Louisville Slugger if you need me to whap him upside the head.
Me: You will be the first person I inform if he does something to hurt me.
Guy: Good, good.
Me: Okay... thanks... BYE!
[i run quickly out the door]
So. Bizarre.
In other news, I have my mail. I just got finished going through it. Apparently that brand new possibly 6-cylinder Hyundai of mine has a recall. FML.
Today I had an especially awkward encounter with a gentleman at my local post office. I returned from vacation on Sunday, expecting to receive my mail on Tuesday (I had requested it be delivered to me on Tuesday). Tuesday comes and goes, no mail. Ditto with Wednesday and Thursday. I get incredibly annoyed by today and call them. They inform me that they are not allowed to deliver it to me - I must pick it up. Keep in mind that when I filled out my 'hold mail' request online, usps.com gave me the option to have it delivered to my doorstep. Silly me, clicking the 'deliver to me' button. Silly, silly me.
Anywho, guy at the post office tells me that I have to now come in to pick it up. GRRR. Slash... FINE BY ME if that means I can leave work early to do so. Thank you, government work hours.
So I make my way to the post office this afternoon. The following ensued:
Guy: Let me guess, your postal carrier didn't deliver the mail to you.
Me: No.... the person I talked to earlier today said that you're not allowed to deliver it to me anyway.
Guy: Oh well... I was going to have someone come take it out to you.
Me: Oh... Well... um... I'm here now.
[guy takes my ID]
Guy: Westerville, huh? (Note: I haven't changed my address on my ID... it's still my parents' address. Oops.)
Me: that's where I'm from.
Guy: So you're a richie, huh?
Me: Um... nope.
Guy: You don't have to lie to me.
Me: ................
[Guy awkwardly pauses, then goes to get my mail and returns]
Guy: Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. Your carrier's on vacation and the two people filling in for him don't have a single brain between the two of them.
Me: [awkward laugh #1]
Guy: Let me guess, you probably haven't gotten any mail at all this week, even though your hold was only through Tuesday, right?
Me: Right...
[Guy shakes his head in sadness]
Me: Okay... well... thanks!
Guy: You aren't wearing a ring. I'm very observant.
Me: ... nope, I'm not wearing a ring.
Guy: Let me guess, you're probably too good for me. Some brainy genius engineer or something.
Me: [awkward laugh #2] um... nope! I'm an accountant.
Guy: See I was close. Is that your Hyundai out there?
Me: Yep...
Guy: That's a brand new Hyundai. That's probably a 6 cylinder too. Is it?
Me: Um... I literally have no idea.
Guy: You don't know how many cylinders your car has?
Me: Nope.
Guy: Well it looks like a nice car, richie. So you going to be married sometime in the next year?
Me: Uh... maybe? Soonish?
Guy: You got a candidate lined up?
Me: [awkward laugh #3] I hope so!
Guy: Well that's just too bad. You remember me if things don't go well between you two, I'll be here.
Me: [awkward laugh #4]
Guy: Or hey, how about this - if he does something to hurt you, I've also got me a dark black ninja suit...
Me: [incredibly awkward laugh... like... what!?!?!?]
Guy: ... and a Louisville Slugger if you need me to whap him upside the head.
Me: You will be the first person I inform if he does something to hurt me.
Guy: Good, good.
Me: Okay... thanks... BYE!
[i run quickly out the door]
So. Bizarre.
In other news, I have my mail. I just got finished going through it. Apparently that brand new possibly 6-cylinder Hyundai of mine has a recall. FML.
Monday, April 25, 2011
This may be a doozy.
Turns out I haven't updated my blog in awhile. And by awhile I mean it's been over 4 months. Oops.
Let's see. I last updated January 4. What's happened since then?
1. I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. Work. I went through my first-ever "busy season" this January-March (even though I had one October-December... whatever). This entailed 5 weeks of traveling to random middle of nowhere Indiana, as well as some weeks spent in town. Unfortunately, those weeks spent in town required me to work 60+ hours for about 5 weeks straight. My record is now 74 hours worked in one week (7 days straight... Monday-Sunday). Of course, I also worked the next Monday-Friday, but who's counting? It was, to put it bluntly, absolutely miserable. I CANNOT (and will not) do this for the rest of my life. I can't even do this for the next five years. I have no idea how people stick around long enough to progress to a manager role. Like... I'm a staff 1. I'm the first to get sent home. When I go home, everyone else stays for another 1-3 hours. People go home and work until 2 AM. Every day. Like... no. I am NEVER doing that. Which means I will NEVER be successful at this job. Which is fine, it really is. I never thought I would stick around for more than a few years. However, this does kind of bring up the bad part - I have absolutely no freaking clue what I want to do with my life after I leave this job. Accounting is all I know how to do. I like it, but I want to work 40-45 hours a week. I also want to make the same amount of money I do now, if not more. There are like, 10 accounting jobs like that in the entire world that fit those criteria. I just don't have anything else I'm good at. Like... I can organize things sometimes. So... I'll be a professional organizer? But wait, I don't really have any awesome organizing skills that could change people's lives. Cross that off the list. I like to read. So... I'll... read to people? No, thanks. I love learning. I'll be a professional student for the rest of my life. Oh wait, that requires me to SPEND money, not MAKE money. You see where I'm going. It's a disaster. Oh well. My backup plan (if I don't find the world's most perfect accounting job) is to simply find a 9-5 job that pays the bills because honestly, at least I'll have a life. I'll be bored out of my mind but... at least I can have a family and friends. Womp. Depressing.
2. In the past few months I've been able to visit both of my frooms! I first went to Chapel Hill, NC to visit Kiley in March. I got to see her roommate Lauren's BEAUTIFUL house, play with her psycho dog Izzie, and just enjoy some quality one-on-one time with Ki :) We went to Duke Gardens, which was so beautiful and it was SO nice out. Pollen wasn't really an issue yet, so I got to enjoy nature for once!!!! So exciting. I was sad to leave!
But I did have something to look forward to, because less than a month later I went to Atlanta! I was able to see Jamie, Zach, AND Monica, which is awesome. They took me to this AMAAAAAAZING place called Tin Lizzy's where you get the most delicious chips and salsa/queso I've ever had in my life, plus some daaangerous drink called a 'sangrita' (a mix between Sangria and a margarita... yes please). We ended that night at a bar called Flip Flops (?) which is apparently owned by Dunbar and Ace from Real World.. crazy! I definitely attempted to talk to Dunbar... horrible experience. I just said the first thing that came to my mind, which was 'What kind of fish is that?' and I pointed to a giant stuffed marlin on the wall. Like, okay. Nice one, Britney. So ridiculous haha. At least I was a few drinks in and didn't really care. The next day Jamie and I went shopping (paper-source.com... such bad news), Jamie made us a delicious fajita dinner, and we went out to Blake's, which is the same gay bar we went to last time I was in Atlanta. Not QUITE as awesome as it was last time, but still a pretty great night :)
I was sad to leave both of my frooms, but it's never THAT sad, because I know I'll always see them again. I don't always know when, but never is never an option :)
3. Still living with Donny (thankfully!)! Things are going well! We're looking into moving to Victorian Village or the Brewery District this fall, so that will start taking up some of our time this May-July. I was hesitant about moving downtown (I have a hard time rationalizing paying WAY more money for WAY less space), but I think everyone's convinced me that I have to at least try 'city living' for a year. Which I can do. Donny keeps telling me that we have our whole lives to live in the suburbs, which is true. I just really like our place now and don't want to move! Oh well. It's not really fair to him to live here... he drives 45 minutes each way to work every day, which is just horrible. Living downtown would cut that in half. I work all over the place in Columbus, so it doesn't really matter where I live. I'm excited about looking for a new place, though, now that we've pretty much decided that we are definitely moving!
4. I've started weightwatchers, which is a whole new thing for me. I'm still struggling with it, but overall it's really worked! I've lost about 12 pounds to date. I have been fluctuating up and down by a pound or two the last few weeks, but that probably has something to do with 1) The copious amounts of Easter candy I've been eating, 2) the copious amounts of alcohol I've consumed lately and 3) the fact that I'm still not exercising like I should be. Once I get a constant workout schedule, I'm sure I'll lose even more weight, but for now, I'm just pumped it's working!
Not sure what else there is to say! I've got a few things to look forward to in the coming months:
- Kiley moving home!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh, finally someone to be nerdy with again! I can't wait!
- Random vacation days I've scheduled from now until August, just because I can!
- My cousin's wedding in Colorado in August
- The annual EY bus party. Omg. Yes. So excited already. This is all you need to know: literally hundreds of jello shots.
- and um, DUH BEACH HOUSE! My high school friends and I rented a beach house for a week in the Outer Banks, NC in June and I am just so freaking pumped.
Yay! :) Lots to look forward to!
Let's see. I last updated January 4. What's happened since then?
1. I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. Work. I went through my first-ever "busy season" this January-March (even though I had one October-December... whatever). This entailed 5 weeks of traveling to random middle of nowhere Indiana, as well as some weeks spent in town. Unfortunately, those weeks spent in town required me to work 60+ hours for about 5 weeks straight. My record is now 74 hours worked in one week (7 days straight... Monday-Sunday). Of course, I also worked the next Monday-Friday, but who's counting? It was, to put it bluntly, absolutely miserable. I CANNOT (and will not) do this for the rest of my life. I can't even do this for the next five years. I have no idea how people stick around long enough to progress to a manager role. Like... I'm a staff 1. I'm the first to get sent home. When I go home, everyone else stays for another 1-3 hours. People go home and work until 2 AM. Every day. Like... no. I am NEVER doing that. Which means I will NEVER be successful at this job. Which is fine, it really is. I never thought I would stick around for more than a few years. However, this does kind of bring up the bad part - I have absolutely no freaking clue what I want to do with my life after I leave this job. Accounting is all I know how to do. I like it, but I want to work 40-45 hours a week. I also want to make the same amount of money I do now, if not more. There are like, 10 accounting jobs like that in the entire world that fit those criteria. I just don't have anything else I'm good at. Like... I can organize things sometimes. So... I'll be a professional organizer? But wait, I don't really have any awesome organizing skills that could change people's lives. Cross that off the list. I like to read. So... I'll... read to people? No, thanks. I love learning. I'll be a professional student for the rest of my life. Oh wait, that requires me to SPEND money, not MAKE money. You see where I'm going. It's a disaster. Oh well. My backup plan (if I don't find the world's most perfect accounting job) is to simply find a 9-5 job that pays the bills because honestly, at least I'll have a life. I'll be bored out of my mind but... at least I can have a family and friends. Womp. Depressing.
2. In the past few months I've been able to visit both of my frooms! I first went to Chapel Hill, NC to visit Kiley in March. I got to see her roommate Lauren's BEAUTIFUL house, play with her psycho dog Izzie, and just enjoy some quality one-on-one time with Ki :) We went to Duke Gardens, which was so beautiful and it was SO nice out. Pollen wasn't really an issue yet, so I got to enjoy nature for once!!!! So exciting. I was sad to leave!
But I did have something to look forward to, because less than a month later I went to Atlanta! I was able to see Jamie, Zach, AND Monica, which is awesome. They took me to this AMAAAAAAZING place called Tin Lizzy's where you get the most delicious chips and salsa/queso I've ever had in my life, plus some daaangerous drink called a 'sangrita' (a mix between Sangria and a margarita... yes please). We ended that night at a bar called Flip Flops (?) which is apparently owned by Dunbar and Ace from Real World.. crazy! I definitely attempted to talk to Dunbar... horrible experience. I just said the first thing that came to my mind, which was 'What kind of fish is that?' and I pointed to a giant stuffed marlin on the wall. Like, okay. Nice one, Britney. So ridiculous haha. At least I was a few drinks in and didn't really care. The next day Jamie and I went shopping (paper-source.com... such bad news), Jamie made us a delicious fajita dinner, and we went out to Blake's, which is the same gay bar we went to last time I was in Atlanta. Not QUITE as awesome as it was last time, but still a pretty great night :)
I was sad to leave both of my frooms, but it's never THAT sad, because I know I'll always see them again. I don't always know when, but never is never an option :)
3. Still living with Donny (thankfully!)! Things are going well! We're looking into moving to Victorian Village or the Brewery District this fall, so that will start taking up some of our time this May-July. I was hesitant about moving downtown (I have a hard time rationalizing paying WAY more money for WAY less space), but I think everyone's convinced me that I have to at least try 'city living' for a year. Which I can do. Donny keeps telling me that we have our whole lives to live in the suburbs, which is true. I just really like our place now and don't want to move! Oh well. It's not really fair to him to live here... he drives 45 minutes each way to work every day, which is just horrible. Living downtown would cut that in half. I work all over the place in Columbus, so it doesn't really matter where I live. I'm excited about looking for a new place, though, now that we've pretty much decided that we are definitely moving!
4. I've started weightwatchers, which is a whole new thing for me. I'm still struggling with it, but overall it's really worked! I've lost about 12 pounds to date. I have been fluctuating up and down by a pound or two the last few weeks, but that probably has something to do with 1) The copious amounts of Easter candy I've been eating, 2) the copious amounts of alcohol I've consumed lately and 3) the fact that I'm still not exercising like I should be. Once I get a constant workout schedule, I'm sure I'll lose even more weight, but for now, I'm just pumped it's working!
Not sure what else there is to say! I've got a few things to look forward to in the coming months:
- Kiley moving home!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh, finally someone to be nerdy with again! I can't wait!
- Random vacation days I've scheduled from now until August, just because I can!
- My cousin's wedding in Colorado in August
- The annual EY bus party. Omg. Yes. So excited already. This is all you need to know: literally hundreds of jello shots.
- and um, DUH BEACH HOUSE! My high school friends and I rented a beach house for a week in the Outer Banks, NC in June and I am just so freaking pumped.
Yay! :) Lots to look forward to!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Update: Dallas
I no longer like Dallas.
Reasons:
1. The people here are weird. I realize this is a huge generalization. Let me revise. The people I'm in training with, all of whom are from the Dallas office, are weird. Maybe I just got stuck at a table with the weirdest, but they are all just... so intense. I feel like at the trainings I've been to with other Ohioans, we generally try to make it through the trainings without a lot of exertion. That is, we don't try incredibly hard to complete our tasks. We'll DO them, but we won't try to overachieve. Dallas? Slightly different story. These people are INTENT on finishing everything to the best of their ability, even if it's a stupid game or something we've already done 10 times. Again, maybe it's just the table I'm sitting with but... sigh. They wear me out. And I feel like I probably look like a bitch, because I just sit there and watch this all go down and don't offer to help in group assignments. Why? 1) I don't care 2) they seem to have enough trouble deciding among the 4 of them. Adding my opinion would only complicate things. They also like to tell stories about absolutely nothing. I'm sorry, I really don't care that your boyfriend is going to Mardi Gras and you're paying for his hotel room with your Marriott points and now you think his friends should pay you for part of it since you're essentially paying for their portions of the room too, but then that made your boyfriend mad. I DONT CARE!
2. Another reason I don't like Dallas is that it creeps me out. Granted, I've been confined to about 5 blocks of Dallas. It's just... empty. It's creepy. There are skyscrapers, but barely anyone going into them in the morning. My walk to the office was about 3-4 blocks today, and I passed two people. At 8 in the morning. Just... bizarre. When I walked home today, I felt kind of unsafe. I got honked at twice and someone told me 'I like your walk.' Who even knows.
3. Oh, and I got hit by a car.
Yes. I literally got hit by a car today. NBD.
I was walking home from the office and was crossing the street to get into my hotel (like... the door was right in front of this crosswalk). There was a guy turning left. Obviously I have the right of way. He was not paying attention AT ALL. When I realized he had no intention of stopping, I started running but he hit me in the hip/butt. Seriously? How do you not notice a person until after you've hit them? In the split second before he hit me, I put my hands out to slam down on his hood, as if to say 'um, what the fuck.' I had a bag from CVS in one of my hands. It was hanging down from my wrist so when the car actually hit me, the bag got hit and broke open and everything went flying. The guy stopped his car, but never got out. That's right. He never got out. He never asked if I was okay, he never even rolled down his window. Some random guy down the street came running, asking if I was okay. I was terrified and mostly just overwhelmed so I just burst into tears, gathered my scattered belongings, and ran to my hotel haha. The people in the hotel had luckily seen it all happen, and they came running out. One scary black guy went up to the car, which was still parked, and got the license plate and everything. Not until I was INSIDE THE HOTEL did the guy get out of his car and asked the scary black guy if I was okay. Heaven forbid you ask ME if I'm okay. What a douche. Anyway, the hotel employees were incredibly nice and kept asking me if I needed anything, and if I wanted to go find the guy, and if I wanted to press charges, etc. I told them no and went to go get on the elevator just because I wanted to get back to my room to compose myself. When I was waiting for the elevator, the guy who hit me came walking into the lobby, so I just bolted. I had no desire to speak to him. A few minutes later, one of the managers came up to my room. They had collected the guy's info and gave it to me in case I did want to press charges, which was nice of them. A few minutes after that I got a call from the front desk asking if I needed anything, or if I wanted any freshly baked cookies hahaha. I declined. I am somehow not hungry at the moment.
Aaaand then here I am, writing this. This literally happened like 15 minutes ago. My heart is still racing.
Sooo.. I don't know that I want to go out in Dallas tonight haha. I was going to go about a mile away to what I think is a Buckeye Bar to watch the OSU game but... I don't know how I feel about that anymore. There's a TGIF about 20 yards from my hotel, so maybe I'll wander over there if I feel like getting a drink and watching the game but it's completely possible I'll just sit in my hotel room now. Womp.
I want to come home :(
Reasons:
1. The people here are weird. I realize this is a huge generalization. Let me revise. The people I'm in training with, all of whom are from the Dallas office, are weird. Maybe I just got stuck at a table with the weirdest, but they are all just... so intense. I feel like at the trainings I've been to with other Ohioans, we generally try to make it through the trainings without a lot of exertion. That is, we don't try incredibly hard to complete our tasks. We'll DO them, but we won't try to overachieve. Dallas? Slightly different story. These people are INTENT on finishing everything to the best of their ability, even if it's a stupid game or something we've already done 10 times. Again, maybe it's just the table I'm sitting with but... sigh. They wear me out. And I feel like I probably look like a bitch, because I just sit there and watch this all go down and don't offer to help in group assignments. Why? 1) I don't care 2) they seem to have enough trouble deciding among the 4 of them. Adding my opinion would only complicate things. They also like to tell stories about absolutely nothing. I'm sorry, I really don't care that your boyfriend is going to Mardi Gras and you're paying for his hotel room with your Marriott points and now you think his friends should pay you for part of it since you're essentially paying for their portions of the room too, but then that made your boyfriend mad. I DONT CARE!
2. Another reason I don't like Dallas is that it creeps me out. Granted, I've been confined to about 5 blocks of Dallas. It's just... empty. It's creepy. There are skyscrapers, but barely anyone going into them in the morning. My walk to the office was about 3-4 blocks today, and I passed two people. At 8 in the morning. Just... bizarre. When I walked home today, I felt kind of unsafe. I got honked at twice and someone told me 'I like your walk.' Who even knows.
3. Oh, and I got hit by a car.
Yes. I literally got hit by a car today. NBD.
I was walking home from the office and was crossing the street to get into my hotel (like... the door was right in front of this crosswalk). There was a guy turning left. Obviously I have the right of way. He was not paying attention AT ALL. When I realized he had no intention of stopping, I started running but he hit me in the hip/butt. Seriously? How do you not notice a person until after you've hit them? In the split second before he hit me, I put my hands out to slam down on his hood, as if to say 'um, what the fuck.' I had a bag from CVS in one of my hands. It was hanging down from my wrist so when the car actually hit me, the bag got hit and broke open and everything went flying. The guy stopped his car, but never got out. That's right. He never got out. He never asked if I was okay, he never even rolled down his window. Some random guy down the street came running, asking if I was okay. I was terrified and mostly just overwhelmed so I just burst into tears, gathered my scattered belongings, and ran to my hotel haha. The people in the hotel had luckily seen it all happen, and they came running out. One scary black guy went up to the car, which was still parked, and got the license plate and everything. Not until I was INSIDE THE HOTEL did the guy get out of his car and asked the scary black guy if I was okay. Heaven forbid you ask ME if I'm okay. What a douche. Anyway, the hotel employees were incredibly nice and kept asking me if I needed anything, and if I wanted to go find the guy, and if I wanted to press charges, etc. I told them no and went to go get on the elevator just because I wanted to get back to my room to compose myself. When I was waiting for the elevator, the guy who hit me came walking into the lobby, so I just bolted. I had no desire to speak to him. A few minutes later, one of the managers came up to my room. They had collected the guy's info and gave it to me in case I did want to press charges, which was nice of them. A few minutes after that I got a call from the front desk asking if I needed anything, or if I wanted any freshly baked cookies hahaha. I declined. I am somehow not hungry at the moment.
Aaaand then here I am, writing this. This literally happened like 15 minutes ago. My heart is still racing.
Sooo.. I don't know that I want to go out in Dallas tonight haha. I was going to go about a mile away to what I think is a Buckeye Bar to watch the OSU game but... I don't know how I feel about that anymore. There's a TGIF about 20 yards from my hotel, so maybe I'll wander over there if I feel like getting a drink and watching the game but it's completely possible I'll just sit in my hotel room now. Womp.
I want to come home :(
Monday, January 3, 2011
Dallas
Well friends. It seems it's been awhile since my last post. Sorry about that! Things have been a little crazy with work and then the holidays. I was lucky enough to have a few days off in late December, and although they were jam-packed with other things, it was still great to get almost two full weeks off.
New Years was wonderful, but I had almost no time to rest after that. After my iPhone failed to wake me up on New Years' Day, I feel like I've constantly been running late. I was late to my grandparents' on the 1st because of the iPhone alarm glitch, and it seems like I haven't stopped. There is always just so much to DO now that I'm working.
Yesterday (Sunday) I flew into Dallas for more auditing training. Believe me, I'm beyond excited to be somewhere with a high of 60. However, I'm completely by myself and it's a little lonely! That is, no one from my office or the Cincinnati office is here (they're the ones I've gotten to know through other trainings). There are about 30-40 people in my training class, and EVERY single one of them is from Dallas except one other girl from Witchita. This is just very sad to me. Usually trainings include people from multiple offices, and you go out to eat with other people and hang out all night. But all of these people are just... going home every night. Hence I will be spending 4:30 PM - bedtime alone every night. I'll be eating by myself, which is maybe the worst part of it. Guess I'll get room service every night? I'm not really one to just go to a restaurant and eat by myself at a table. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that but... I'm not there yet. Luckily there's a TGIFridays nearby so I can walk there and get carryout if I get sick of room service.
The other not so exciting parts of this trip:
- my return flight gets in at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only that, my training will be over by 3 PM at the latest. Which means LOTS of time sitting in the airport on Friday. Lame.
- My room's heater makes TERRIBLY loud noises but I'm too lazy to pack up all of my stuff and request a new room
- I have no car which means I'll have to request a shuttle to/from training every single day. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that we have no idea when we'll get out on any given day.
- I have no one to watch the OSU game with. This is perhaps the most depressing aspect of the trip.
- Everything is an hour off. I'm terrified I'm going to miss SVU on Wednesday. Or the OSU game.
However. Several good things about Dallas/this week:
- I am allowed to spend $45 a night for dinner. Yes, please.
- The employees at this hotel are super friendly and are so chatty whenever I am in the lobby
- Diet Dr. Pepper is in the pop lineup for training. This is awesome. Usually it's just your standard Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water. Diet Dr. Pepper is just... nuts. This is really all I have to get excited about during training.
- Southern people are hilarious to me. Not all of them in this office are Southern-born. You can definitely tell who was born and raised in Texas and it's awesome. So many 'y'alls' and silly phrases like 'holy smokes.' There is one girl who also says 'um' really oddly but it's fascinating. MANY of them are married/engaged, which is bizarre to me. Not a single person in my class in Columbus is engaged. I'm the only one that's even in a long-term relationship. Also, there are multiple guys with the Southern Boy Swoop as I like to call it. See below for an example.
New Years was wonderful, but I had almost no time to rest after that. After my iPhone failed to wake me up on New Years' Day, I feel like I've constantly been running late. I was late to my grandparents' on the 1st because of the iPhone alarm glitch, and it seems like I haven't stopped. There is always just so much to DO now that I'm working.
Yesterday (Sunday) I flew into Dallas for more auditing training. Believe me, I'm beyond excited to be somewhere with a high of 60. However, I'm completely by myself and it's a little lonely! That is, no one from my office or the Cincinnati office is here (they're the ones I've gotten to know through other trainings). There are about 30-40 people in my training class, and EVERY single one of them is from Dallas except one other girl from Witchita. This is just very sad to me. Usually trainings include people from multiple offices, and you go out to eat with other people and hang out all night. But all of these people are just... going home every night. Hence I will be spending 4:30 PM - bedtime alone every night. I'll be eating by myself, which is maybe the worst part of it. Guess I'll get room service every night? I'm not really one to just go to a restaurant and eat by myself at a table. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that but... I'm not there yet. Luckily there's a TGIFridays nearby so I can walk there and get carryout if I get sick of room service.
The other not so exciting parts of this trip:
- my return flight gets in at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only that, my training will be over by 3 PM at the latest. Which means LOTS of time sitting in the airport on Friday. Lame.
- My room's heater makes TERRIBLY loud noises but I'm too lazy to pack up all of my stuff and request a new room
- I have no car which means I'll have to request a shuttle to/from training every single day. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that we have no idea when we'll get out on any given day.
- I have no one to watch the OSU game with. This is perhaps the most depressing aspect of the trip.
- Everything is an hour off. I'm terrified I'm going to miss SVU on Wednesday. Or the OSU game.
However. Several good things about Dallas/this week:
- I am allowed to spend $45 a night for dinner. Yes, please.
- The employees at this hotel are super friendly and are so chatty whenever I am in the lobby
- Diet Dr. Pepper is in the pop lineup for training. This is awesome. Usually it's just your standard Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water. Diet Dr. Pepper is just... nuts. This is really all I have to get excited about during training.
- Southern people are hilarious to me. Not all of them in this office are Southern-born. You can definitely tell who was born and raised in Texas and it's awesome. So many 'y'alls' and silly phrases like 'holy smokes.' There is one girl who also says 'um' really oddly but it's fascinating. MANY of them are married/engaged, which is bizarre to me. Not a single person in my class in Columbus is engaged. I'm the only one that's even in a long-term relationship. Also, there are multiple guys with the Southern Boy Swoop as I like to call it. See below for an example.
The other thing I've seen that I am PRETTY sure is a Southern thing (but I could be wrong) was when I drove by a GIANT building on my way from the airport that said in HUGE letters formed by Christmas lights 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.' I mean, really, I've never seen anything like that in Columbus.
Amazing.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Life update!
Not so fun stuff first: work is fine. Long hours still to come (I'm working on average until about 7 PM every night now... next week will turn into 9/10 PM), but it's all going well so far. I feel like I've learned a LOT in the past month and a half, but I know I still have 23094820823 things to learn. I've got my own parts of the audit that I'm in charge of, which is terrifying but also nice to have my own thing to work on. Granted, my senior is basically doing the work with me because I don't know how to do any of it on my own, but still. It's nice to 'own' something. I also have a lot more things on my plate now, which is both good and bad. Before, I would finish my assigned task and then just sit around waiting for another. Now I have enough tasks that I'm never really sitting around waiting. It makes the day go by a LOT faster. Getting food is also going well... I haven't terribly messed up anything yet. I'm also not getting food two times a day anymore, because a staff 2 has generously offered to trade off with me every meal. Yay! And finally, I think I'm starting to slooooowwwllyyyyy build some client contacts, which is nice. I received my first phone call from a client today (eeeeeek), so that was fun. I had to be like, 'Um... I'll have to talk with Jen about that..." because I didn't know what the answer was but still. I felt like kind of a big deal. Plus, I was able to answer PART of the question, so I don't think the client thought I was a complete idiot. And my coworkers are SO NICE. I just love them. It makes having to stay late SO MUCH more enjoyable.
Slight worry that came up today, though. My senior on this engagement I'll be on in bufu Indiana from January-February IM-ed me and told me that they are going to put us in a room that basically has no heat. Um, hi. That will not work for me. She said she spent last winter there and literally spent the entire day in her coat, scarf, boots, and GLOVES. She did work in her GLOVES. Also, they wouldn't let her bring a space heater. I'm so screwed. I asked her if she thought it'd be okay if I brought an electric blanket, and she said she'd have to ask. FML. Oh, and this is ALSO the town in bufu Indiana whose only claim to fame is MAKING CASKETS. I kid you not. I really kid you not. Caskets. Alsoooo, they have three places to eat in town, one of which is a deli inside a gas station. Sweet. .....send me care packages?
Other not-so-fun thing in life... I randomly have bronchitis. Who knows. All I know is that Wednesday night I turned deathly ill and could barely move. Friday I went to see a nurse practitioner who tried to diagnose me with like 18 things I was NOT there about, and finally told me i MAY have bronchitis and prescribed me amoxicilin. It's taking me forever to recover, but I'm finally feeling better! I have basically every flu/ear infection/sinus infection/bronchitis symptom you can think of (except stomach issues), so I'm pretty worn out still. I left work early both Thursday and Friday, which was kind of frustrating. I hate feeling like a slacker after only being there a month. Boo.
Onto the better things in life. Aka everything but work and being sick!
Donny and I early-celebrated my birthday on Sunday! We went to Las Margaritas so I could get my staple of beef and cheese nachos :) No margarita, though, since I felt like death and am on antibiotics :( So sad I couldn't get one. Then we came back to our place and he gave me my present, which was this AWESOME wine cooler!!!!! I'm SO excited. I've wanted one of these forever. Wine and cheese night SOON!!!
The blue light is the coolest part fo sho.
I get another birthday celebration next Sunday with my family, too! My mom's lasagna = best birthday meal EVER. Mmmm. Also, possible funfetti cake... it's going to be amazing.
Then, somewhere in the midst of working 60+ hour weeks, there will be Thanksgiving and Megan's bridal shower and the OSU/Michigan game and maybe the 05 reunion and MIAMI FRIENDS!!!! :) Soooo excited.
Okay. Laundry time. Ugh, I'm so domestic now.
Slight worry that came up today, though. My senior on this engagement I'll be on in bufu Indiana from January-February IM-ed me and told me that they are going to put us in a room that basically has no heat. Um, hi. That will not work for me. She said she spent last winter there and literally spent the entire day in her coat, scarf, boots, and GLOVES. She did work in her GLOVES. Also, they wouldn't let her bring a space heater. I'm so screwed. I asked her if she thought it'd be okay if I brought an electric blanket, and she said she'd have to ask. FML. Oh, and this is ALSO the town in bufu Indiana whose only claim to fame is MAKING CASKETS. I kid you not. I really kid you not. Caskets. Alsoooo, they have three places to eat in town, one of which is a deli inside a gas station. Sweet. .....send me care packages?
Other not-so-fun thing in life... I randomly have bronchitis. Who knows. All I know is that Wednesday night I turned deathly ill and could barely move. Friday I went to see a nurse practitioner who tried to diagnose me with like 18 things I was NOT there about, and finally told me i MAY have bronchitis and prescribed me amoxicilin. It's taking me forever to recover, but I'm finally feeling better! I have basically every flu/ear infection/sinus infection/bronchitis symptom you can think of (except stomach issues), so I'm pretty worn out still. I left work early both Thursday and Friday, which was kind of frustrating. I hate feeling like a slacker after only being there a month. Boo.
Onto the better things in life. Aka everything but work and being sick!
Donny and I early-celebrated my birthday on Sunday! We went to Las Margaritas so I could get my staple of beef and cheese nachos :) No margarita, though, since I felt like death and am on antibiotics :( So sad I couldn't get one. Then we came back to our place and he gave me my present, which was this AWESOME wine cooler!!!!! I'm SO excited. I've wanted one of these forever. Wine and cheese night SOON!!!
The blue light is the coolest part fo sho.
I get another birthday celebration next Sunday with my family, too! My mom's lasagna = best birthday meal EVER. Mmmm. Also, possible funfetti cake... it's going to be amazing.
Then, somewhere in the midst of working 60+ hour weeks, there will be Thanksgiving and Megan's bridal shower and the OSU/Michigan game and maybe the 05 reunion and MIAMI FRIENDS!!!! :) Soooo excited.
Okay. Laundry time. Ugh, I'm so domestic now.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Newbie mistakes this past week:
1. Well, this isn't completely my fault. But it made me feel like shit. Sooo I was supposed to be filling in an excel file... pulling info from ANOTHER excel file... but the numbers weren't really matching up... long story short, my senior told me (i thought) to change the format of one of the excel files. this ended up taking me 3-4 hours. afterwards, he told me i shouldn't have done it. i had to undo it. and since it took me 3-4 hours, i had clearly saved multiple times and there was just no undoing (or control-z-ing) the whole thing. he wasn't being a jerk about it or anything, but i legitimately was about to punch someone. there was just a clear miscommunication that happened somewhere.
2. We're having a happy hour for my engagement team tomorrow night. I was told today to send out an email to the whole team (about 15-20 people) about it. I sent it to everyone, including the partner. My SENIOR MANAGER (so like... right below partner status) comes out and asks me to please resend the email with the correct address this time. Apparently there is a NEW bar by the SAME NAME that is JUST DOWN THE ROAD from the bar I thought I was looking up. This new bar also does not exist on the internet, so googling it did not pull up anything except the OLD bar, which I obviously put in the email. Sigh. So now I have to send an 'oops!' email to everyone. Including the partner. I also have to somehow find the new bar's location, even though it does not exist on Google. Bahhhh.
That's about it. Sigh. Newbie mistakes. They are so annoying. Not that I'd rather be making REAL mistakes, but these mistakes are just stupiddddd.
In happier news, I am pumped for SVU tonight. Work isn't terrible as long as there is something to look forward to every night!
1. Well, this isn't completely my fault. But it made me feel like shit. Sooo I was supposed to be filling in an excel file... pulling info from ANOTHER excel file... but the numbers weren't really matching up... long story short, my senior told me (i thought) to change the format of one of the excel files. this ended up taking me 3-4 hours. afterwards, he told me i shouldn't have done it. i had to undo it. and since it took me 3-4 hours, i had clearly saved multiple times and there was just no undoing (or control-z-ing) the whole thing. he wasn't being a jerk about it or anything, but i legitimately was about to punch someone. there was just a clear miscommunication that happened somewhere.
2. We're having a happy hour for my engagement team tomorrow night. I was told today to send out an email to the whole team (about 15-20 people) about it. I sent it to everyone, including the partner. My SENIOR MANAGER (so like... right below partner status) comes out and asks me to please resend the email with the correct address this time. Apparently there is a NEW bar by the SAME NAME that is JUST DOWN THE ROAD from the bar I thought I was looking up. This new bar also does not exist on the internet, so googling it did not pull up anything except the OLD bar, which I obviously put in the email. Sigh. So now I have to send an 'oops!' email to everyone. Including the partner. I also have to somehow find the new bar's location, even though it does not exist on Google. Bahhhh.
That's about it. Sigh. Newbie mistakes. They are so annoying. Not that I'd rather be making REAL mistakes, but these mistakes are just stupiddddd.
In happier news, I am pumped for SVU tonight. Work isn't terrible as long as there is something to look forward to every night!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Work, Volume II
Another post about work – apologies. However, it’s the majority whatl I do these days so… oh well!
I think the most awkward thing about working in a large company like mine is that I never know who to go to about anything. So many examples:
I think the most awkward thing about working in a large company like mine is that I never know who to go to about anything. So many examples:
- I was in charge of ordering/picking up the food for 20 people for a big meeting yesterday. I was told multiple times that I should not mess this up because these people are serious about their food. Okay, no pressure. I was told Panera would be a good idea – fine with me. I get online and go to their catering menu. There are like a million options. How am I supposed to know what these people want? Is there a budget? I have no idea. WHO DO I ASK?!
- We have an office-wide event next Friday morning that’s pretty much designed solely to have people meet with their ‘counselors’ to go over our yearly goals. For new hires this is pretty important because we haven’t set ours at all, and goals are a HUGE DEAL here. My counselor is pretty insistent that I go, but I’m scheduled to be in Indiana that week. My counselor wants me to go to the meeting, but how do I do that? Do I talk to the counselor and tell him I can’t come? Do I talk to my senior on my engagement in Indiana and tell her I need to leave a day early, even though I’ve been here like 3 weeks and have no power to say something like that whatsoever? Yet again, WHO DO I ASK?!
Other slight annoyances:
- I’ll try to make this as short as possible. Basically we keep our prior year work just to have as a reference. In order to signify that it’s prior year work, we go through all the files and put ‘zz’ in front of them. That was my task one morning last week. To go through 200+ files, right click on them, hit ‘rename,’ and type ‘zz’ at the beginning. Seriously. Now, no one told me that the zz needed to be lowercase. I did them all uppercase. Now, literally as I’m typing this, I was told to go through them all and change them to lowercase. Jlskfjw;oierjasf. Seriously?
- I don’t get enough email. I’m sure I won’t be saying that in a year, but like… when I have NOTHING to do, I check my email every 10 seconds. Ugh.
- I have to LEAVE my house at 5:30 AM on Saturday to do an inventory. Enough said. I also have to purchase steel-toed boots to do this inventory. Granted, I get reimbursed since they’re a ‘business expense’ (aka no way in hell would I own them if it weren’t for this inventory), but it’s still an obnoxious thing I have to do in the next few days.
- We aren’t allowed to take vacation from January to March because that’s generally our busy season. However, I am going to be on a busy season in November-December, NOT at the beginning of January. I want to take a couple of days off in mid-January to go to LA, but the scheduler is telling me I can’t without a good reason. Like… that’s not fair. I don’t have the same busy season, therefore, I shouldn’t have to follow that rule. That means I can’t take ANY vacation November-December (because I’ll be in busy season) OR January – March. NOT FAIR. I’m still working with her to get it sorted out but… ugh. The even MORE annoying part is that I’m not scheduled for an engagement those days I want off. No one has picked up my time yet. Therefore I think I should be able to take vacation!!!!!!!! Blah!
- I’m supposed to be in Indiana all next week. Today is Thursday. I still have not heard whether or not we’re actually going. People are supposed to be getting back to me but like… I have to book a hotel. I would also just kind of like to know where I’m going to be next week. If we’re NOT going, I need to find something to do all week which means sending out tons of emails asking for stuff to do.
But there seem to be tradeoffs for everything. As annoying as the ‘zz’s were, I also do pretty legit work, like testing fixed asset additions and disposals and preparing flux analyses from quarter to quarter. I realize this means nothing to you if you’re not an auditor, but whatevs. The gist of it is that I’m also getting some good experiences.
I also am realizing that, at least at my lowly level, there are tradeoffs in regards to time worked. I know busy season is going to be balls. I’m talking 55+ hour weeks for multiple weeks. However, I have some downtime now. Even if I’m in the office 8-5 every day, I don’t always have work to do so I get to kind of just hang out. Other days I’ve left a little bit early. So I’m working less than I should be now, but it’ll kind of balance out with busy season. Although it’s not necessarily the ideal work schedule, I’d rather have this than work 55+ hour weeks every single week, which is what I’ll be doing in about 2 years :(
PS if I haven’t said it enough already… don’t plan on seeing me from Thanksgiving to roughly mid-March. FML.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Work summary
Here's a summary about how I feel about work:
1) I am torn about how I feel about being the food bitch. By this I mean the 'new girl' who is sent to get food for everyone else. Sometimes I'm a little offended, because really, I have a Masters degree and shouldn't be going on food runs. However, I also get kind of excited because it's a nice little break in the day when I get to go pick up the food. I get to be by myself for 20 or so minutes, and that's always nice.
2) I have been insanely spoiled since I've been at work. My classmates (aka the people who started with me) have been working 12 hour days, even on Saturdays. I get out at 5 every day because I happen to be on a tiny client who isn't really getting us the stuff we need to work on... therefore there's not much to do. I know I'm going to be hit really hard with busy season, which kind of sucks, but I'm trying to enjoy my easy hours while I can!
3) I'm going to get so fat. There is just no way around that. I eat out every day for lunch. It's basically required that you eat with your teams. I don't really want to be difficult and bring a sack lunch to Applebees, so... guess I'll eat out every day. And then when busy season starts, you eat dinner at work, too, which is ALSO a required team event... meaning I'll be eating bad food then, too. Not to say that I'm the healthiest person in the world, but I definitely do NOT want to eat out 5+ times a week. And on top of eating horribly, I'll also not be able to work out during busy season, since that entails 8 am - 10 pm days six days a week. Sigh.
4) I actually think I like the work so far. So far. I don't think I'll like how MUCH of it I'll be doing soon enough, but at least I like the work. Hopefully this gets me through busy season!
5) I LOVE the people I work with. They are just so friendly and helpful. I ask my senior questions 029380375 times a day and he doesn't care. It makes being a newbie a lot easier.
Welp, time for said work. More later!
1) I am torn about how I feel about being the food bitch. By this I mean the 'new girl' who is sent to get food for everyone else. Sometimes I'm a little offended, because really, I have a Masters degree and shouldn't be going on food runs. However, I also get kind of excited because it's a nice little break in the day when I get to go pick up the food. I get to be by myself for 20 or so minutes, and that's always nice.
2) I have been insanely spoiled since I've been at work. My classmates (aka the people who started with me) have been working 12 hour days, even on Saturdays. I get out at 5 every day because I happen to be on a tiny client who isn't really getting us the stuff we need to work on... therefore there's not much to do. I know I'm going to be hit really hard with busy season, which kind of sucks, but I'm trying to enjoy my easy hours while I can!
3) I'm going to get so fat. There is just no way around that. I eat out every day for lunch. It's basically required that you eat with your teams. I don't really want to be difficult and bring a sack lunch to Applebees, so... guess I'll eat out every day. And then when busy season starts, you eat dinner at work, too, which is ALSO a required team event... meaning I'll be eating bad food then, too. Not to say that I'm the healthiest person in the world, but I definitely do NOT want to eat out 5+ times a week. And on top of eating horribly, I'll also not be able to work out during busy season, since that entails 8 am - 10 pm days six days a week. Sigh.
4) I actually think I like the work so far. So far. I don't think I'll like how MUCH of it I'll be doing soon enough, but at least I like the work. Hopefully this gets me through busy season!
5) I LOVE the people I work with. They are just so friendly and helpful. I ask my senior questions 029380375 times a day and he doesn't care. It makes being a newbie a lot easier.
Welp, time for said work. More later!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Job
Well. It's been awhile! I just got back from my first day of big-girl work, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to update.
First things first: I passed all sections of my CPA exam. There's really nothing else to say about this except that the day I found out I passed the last one was probably one of the top 5 happiest days of my life. Also, I cannot WAIT for my CPA bonus. Holy crap. It will be awesome.
Donny and I have moved in together and it's wonderful!! Nothing TOO horrible yet... just minor spats here and there :) It's difficult to be around ANYONE 24/7, let alone someone of the opposite sex... yikes. But we're making it work and it's been awesome so far!
Onto my job.
We had to show up at the Columbus office this morning at 9 AM. Of course I'm an idiot and forgot we had to wear pantyhose if we want to wear skirts. Because clearly it's still 1950. I had already decided what I was wearing and I did NOT want to deal with picking out a new outfit (because that would add at least another 10 minutes onto my getting ready time), so I decided to go to Walmart to purchase some pantyhose. I then had to put on my pantyhose IN the Walmart parking lot, because duh, I had to be wearing them when I walked in. I wasn't going to get to the office and be like, "Hi. Can you show me the bathroom so I can put on my pantyhose? Thanks." So yeah, my professional career got off to a wonderfully sophisticated start.
I got to the office right on time. It's nice, because I know two of the guys starting with me. One was in the MAcc program with me and the other guy interned with me in 2008, so it was nice to see him again, too. We basically just spent the morning hearing about random stuff and taking a tour of the office, etc. We had a conference call with the woman in charge of our schedules. We also got our schedules from now until the first week in February. Let me just have a chat about my schedule.
So it's pretty much expected that you'll work at least one busy season as an auditor. Generally this means January-March, since most clients have a December 31 year end. However, the Columbus office has all these random year end clients, so our busy seasons are all over the place. SOMEHOW I got scheduled two busy seasons back-to-back, which will be just... amazing (note the sarcasm). I'm the only new hire assigned to the first of my two clients, and they need me during the week that all the other new hires are having another week of training. Somehow this means that I'll be attending training in Dallas with other random Texans. Like... what? How on earth did you pick Dallas, Texas as my training spot?! Bizarre. So yeah, that will be interesting. I've also been assigned a couple of inventories already. This basically means I'll be going BY MYSELF to random warehouses and acting like I know what I'm talking about... and I'll be counting stuff. Lots of stuff. As in... just... opening boxes and counting. And if a box is wrong (aka it says there's 25 shirts and there's only 24), then I'll have to choose another FIVE boxes to count. Oh, did I mention these are done on the weekend? YAY MY LIFE!
What this means for me is that I will be MIA from around the time of my birthday (ugh) through at least Valentine's Day. I was told I would probably be expected to work the weekend of Megan and Jake's wedding, but have no fear, I put a stop to that. And I don't really think they can force me to take a vacation day on a SATURDAY, so that's good. I just have to clear it with my engagement team, but I'm sure it'll be okay. Thank goodness. I'm going to need to DRINK that weekend for sure.
This means that the entire holiday season for me will be slightly less than holiday-like. I'll be working at least 50-55 hours a week. In January, they've got me scheduled for 55 hours a week for 3 weeks. You know when you already know 3 months in advance that you'll be working 15 hours of overtime a week it's going to be a FUN job.
Sigh. I'm trying not to stress about this. I just REALLY love the holidays and now I'm not even going to get to enjoy them. Aside from the inventories I already know about, I'm 'on-call' 12/17 to 1/7 (on the weekends) to run to whatever inventory needs done. It's not just me, it's all 8 of the people I'm starting with, but still. Like... this means I could be called New Year's Eve to go do an inventory. And that's actually VERY likely, because tons of companies take inventory on December 31 or January 1. I'll also not be allowed to take off any days the week of Thanksgiving (except the day of, obviously), because my first client's busy season kind of peaks that week.
So goodbye to my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve and Day, and Valentine's Day. I'll hopefully see you next year.
Anyway. As I said, I'm trying not to stress but it's not working very well.
Perks of my job? Many. Great benefits, a pretty good 401(k) plan, awesome people (seriously, they're all so fun and friendly), lots of office activities (happy hours, sports leagues, community service), a pretty decent salary, aaaaaaaaand my CPA bonus. As soon as I submit my paperwork showing that I passed the tests, I will get a pretty freaking awesome bonus. Yayayayay I CANNOT wait!!!
So in summary, I'm going to despise the hours I'll be working, but I'll be working with really great people, so hopefully it'll go by quickly. Apparently I lucked out and got on an AWESOME team for my first big client so thank goodness for that.
I'm off to Cleveland tonight for two days of orientation (getting our laptops, explaining benefits, etc), and then back here for the weekend, then to Cincinnati for a week of audit training, and then onto my first job! Eeek!
First things first: I passed all sections of my CPA exam. There's really nothing else to say about this except that the day I found out I passed the last one was probably one of the top 5 happiest days of my life. Also, I cannot WAIT for my CPA bonus. Holy crap. It will be awesome.
Donny and I have moved in together and it's wonderful!! Nothing TOO horrible yet... just minor spats here and there :) It's difficult to be around ANYONE 24/7, let alone someone of the opposite sex... yikes. But we're making it work and it's been awesome so far!
Onto my job.
We had to show up at the Columbus office this morning at 9 AM. Of course I'm an idiot and forgot we had to wear pantyhose if we want to wear skirts. Because clearly it's still 1950. I had already decided what I was wearing and I did NOT want to deal with picking out a new outfit (because that would add at least another 10 minutes onto my getting ready time), so I decided to go to Walmart to purchase some pantyhose. I then had to put on my pantyhose IN the Walmart parking lot, because duh, I had to be wearing them when I walked in. I wasn't going to get to the office and be like, "Hi. Can you show me the bathroom so I can put on my pantyhose? Thanks." So yeah, my professional career got off to a wonderfully sophisticated start.
I got to the office right on time. It's nice, because I know two of the guys starting with me. One was in the MAcc program with me and the other guy interned with me in 2008, so it was nice to see him again, too. We basically just spent the morning hearing about random stuff and taking a tour of the office, etc. We had a conference call with the woman in charge of our schedules. We also got our schedules from now until the first week in February. Let me just have a chat about my schedule.
So it's pretty much expected that you'll work at least one busy season as an auditor. Generally this means January-March, since most clients have a December 31 year end. However, the Columbus office has all these random year end clients, so our busy seasons are all over the place. SOMEHOW I got scheduled two busy seasons back-to-back, which will be just... amazing (note the sarcasm). I'm the only new hire assigned to the first of my two clients, and they need me during the week that all the other new hires are having another week of training. Somehow this means that I'll be attending training in Dallas with other random Texans. Like... what? How on earth did you pick Dallas, Texas as my training spot?! Bizarre. So yeah, that will be interesting. I've also been assigned a couple of inventories already. This basically means I'll be going BY MYSELF to random warehouses and acting like I know what I'm talking about... and I'll be counting stuff. Lots of stuff. As in... just... opening boxes and counting. And if a box is wrong (aka it says there's 25 shirts and there's only 24), then I'll have to choose another FIVE boxes to count. Oh, did I mention these are done on the weekend? YAY MY LIFE!
What this means for me is that I will be MIA from around the time of my birthday (ugh) through at least Valentine's Day. I was told I would probably be expected to work the weekend of Megan and Jake's wedding, but have no fear, I put a stop to that. And I don't really think they can force me to take a vacation day on a SATURDAY, so that's good. I just have to clear it with my engagement team, but I'm sure it'll be okay. Thank goodness. I'm going to need to DRINK that weekend for sure.
This means that the entire holiday season for me will be slightly less than holiday-like. I'll be working at least 50-55 hours a week. In January, they've got me scheduled for 55 hours a week for 3 weeks. You know when you already know 3 months in advance that you'll be working 15 hours of overtime a week it's going to be a FUN job.
Sigh. I'm trying not to stress about this. I just REALLY love the holidays and now I'm not even going to get to enjoy them. Aside from the inventories I already know about, I'm 'on-call' 12/17 to 1/7 (on the weekends) to run to whatever inventory needs done. It's not just me, it's all 8 of the people I'm starting with, but still. Like... this means I could be called New Year's Eve to go do an inventory. And that's actually VERY likely, because tons of companies take inventory on December 31 or January 1. I'll also not be allowed to take off any days the week of Thanksgiving (except the day of, obviously), because my first client's busy season kind of peaks that week.
So goodbye to my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve and Day, and Valentine's Day. I'll hopefully see you next year.
Anyway. As I said, I'm trying not to stress but it's not working very well.
Perks of my job? Many. Great benefits, a pretty good 401(k) plan, awesome people (seriously, they're all so fun and friendly), lots of office activities (happy hours, sports leagues, community service), a pretty decent salary, aaaaaaaaand my CPA bonus. As soon as I submit my paperwork showing that I passed the tests, I will get a pretty freaking awesome bonus. Yayayayay I CANNOT wait!!!
So in summary, I'm going to despise the hours I'll be working, but I'll be working with really great people, so hopefully it'll go by quickly. Apparently I lucked out and got on an AWESOME team for my first big client so thank goodness for that.
I'm off to Cleveland tonight for two days of orientation (getting our laptops, explaining benefits, etc), and then back here for the weekend, then to Cincinnati for a week of audit training, and then onto my first job! Eeek!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friends
Today was great :) I was able to spend time with Kiley this afternoon, just sitting and talking which is pretty much all we do when we're together haha. Although this afternoon we mixed it up a bit and went DRIVING while talking. I just drove us in circles though haha meh. Anyway, I just am obsessed with the fact that we're able to not see each other for months at a time and then just pick up like we were still at Miami and saw each other for hours every day. Love. love. love. it. Plus there was the bonus of having Jamie call WHILE I was with Kiley so we got to all be on speakerphone together... sigh. So wonderful. Those girls just make my life.
Then I went to Chipotle and to see Charlie St. Cloud with Megan, Katie, and Shelley tonight! (PS Charlie St. Cloud is dumb. Don't see it. And this is coming from a girl who likes pretty much every movie she sees.) It's just so nice to be able to go out with the girls and just chat about all sorts of different life topics :) It probably makes me happier than it should haha. Like, I just really really love girl talk. And I feel like we're growing up now, so we have more grown-up discussions and it's so nice to have people to grow up with, if that makes any sense. We're going through the same things so it's nice to have people to relate to.
Then after I got home, Shelley and Katie were still hanging out and I realized I shouldn't be lame even though I have to get up for work in like less than 7 hours haha. Oh well. So I went back out to meet up with them at Johnny Rockets and we just stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. It's just nice to be able to talk about your feelings with people, as mundane as that sounds. But think about it - do you really have people that LISTEN to you on a day to day basis? Who are REALLY interested in what you're doing or saying? If so, I think you're lucky because I think that we've all become so self-absorbed that we don't pay attention to other people as much as we should. So when I get to have moments where people DO listen to me, and not just my stupid stories about my day-to-day events, but my actual feelings, it gives me hope for the world haha. And it makes me feel loved. It's just little moments like these that get me through :) It was nice to be able to open up to Shelley and Katie in a more intimate discussion (as opposed to a large group setting) and to actually talk about our feelings and our fears and what we're going through in life. It's just so refreshing to be able to get stuff off your chest like that, and I think girls nights are an absolute must. But small girls nights... not like 15 girl girls nights haha. 15 girls is like... go out to the club girls night. Which is ALSO enjoyable, but I'm getting completely off topic. My point is that I think everyone should get together with 1-3 girlfriends every once in awhile and just spill your guts. It's pretty therapeutic.
I still wish I had like ONE girlfriend that was my BEST friend and I was her BEST friend, though, you know? I've always wanted that. Like, just one person who ALWAYS had your back and who didn't have any other best friends, if that makes sense haha. I realize that sounds selfish lol but... it's true! I've just never had that. Obviously I have several wonderful awesome girlfriends, but I haven't ever had one that was just MY best friend. That might sound petty, but growing up it's what I always wanted. A girlfriend with whom you didn't have to discuss what you were doing that night, because it was clear that the two of you would be hanging out... a girlfriend who you could just always count on for everything. And a girlfriend who didn't have a bunch of other best friends. But I guess as much as it might make you want to puke, Donny's kind of become that person for me, which I guess is okay too :) He just came a little later on in life. And I, of course, still have my friends, and hopefully always will!
Okay I really do need to get to bed, yikes. But in summary: today was full of girlfriends and I loved it :)
Then I went to Chipotle and to see Charlie St. Cloud with Megan, Katie, and Shelley tonight! (PS Charlie St. Cloud is dumb. Don't see it. And this is coming from a girl who likes pretty much every movie she sees.) It's just so nice to be able to go out with the girls and just chat about all sorts of different life topics :) It probably makes me happier than it should haha. Like, I just really really love girl talk. And I feel like we're growing up now, so we have more grown-up discussions and it's so nice to have people to grow up with, if that makes any sense. We're going through the same things so it's nice to have people to relate to.
Then after I got home, Shelley and Katie were still hanging out and I realized I shouldn't be lame even though I have to get up for work in like less than 7 hours haha. Oh well. So I went back out to meet up with them at Johnny Rockets and we just stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. It's just nice to be able to talk about your feelings with people, as mundane as that sounds. But think about it - do you really have people that LISTEN to you on a day to day basis? Who are REALLY interested in what you're doing or saying? If so, I think you're lucky because I think that we've all become so self-absorbed that we don't pay attention to other people as much as we should. So when I get to have moments where people DO listen to me, and not just my stupid stories about my day-to-day events, but my actual feelings, it gives me hope for the world haha. And it makes me feel loved. It's just little moments like these that get me through :) It was nice to be able to open up to Shelley and Katie in a more intimate discussion (as opposed to a large group setting) and to actually talk about our feelings and our fears and what we're going through in life. It's just so refreshing to be able to get stuff off your chest like that, and I think girls nights are an absolute must. But small girls nights... not like 15 girl girls nights haha. 15 girls is like... go out to the club girls night. Which is ALSO enjoyable, but I'm getting completely off topic. My point is that I think everyone should get together with 1-3 girlfriends every once in awhile and just spill your guts. It's pretty therapeutic.
I still wish I had like ONE girlfriend that was my BEST friend and I was her BEST friend, though, you know? I've always wanted that. Like, just one person who ALWAYS had your back and who didn't have any other best friends, if that makes sense haha. I realize that sounds selfish lol but... it's true! I've just never had that. Obviously I have several wonderful awesome girlfriends, but I haven't ever had one that was just MY best friend. That might sound petty, but growing up it's what I always wanted. A girlfriend with whom you didn't have to discuss what you were doing that night, because it was clear that the two of you would be hanging out... a girlfriend who you could just always count on for everything. And a girlfriend who didn't have a bunch of other best friends. But I guess as much as it might make you want to puke, Donny's kind of become that person for me, which I guess is okay too :) He just came a little later on in life. And I, of course, still have my friends, and hopefully always will!
Okay I really do need to get to bed, yikes. But in summary: today was full of girlfriends and I loved it :)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Blah
Fingers crossed that after Friday, I will have NO MORE UPDATES about the stupid CPA exam... meaning hopefully I pass the section I'm taking on Friday. If I can pass this one, and if I passed the one I took in July, then I'll be FINISHED!
Oh wait, no I won't be, because then I still can't call myself a CPA until I've had 2 years of experience. UGHHHH. It never ends!!
Anyway, studying sucks even more than usual. I've just completely lost any and all energy I once had for studying. And now that Donny's home for GOOD (!!!!), I have even less motivation. Hang out with my boyfriend who I haven't been in the same city with for more than 3 months at a time since 2005... or study? FML.
In other news, I cannot WAIT to be done at the call center, either! It's getting to be that hectic time when kids are about to start leaving for college... and of course people wait until like, the DAY before their student moves to be like 'Hey, I need to order linens... also, I need them here tomorrow at 6 AM because that's when we're leaving." Like... no. Sorry. That can't happen. Today was especially bad. I had a lady cry on the phone within the first 45 minutes of my shift. Seriously. People get REALLY REALLY upset about linens for some reason. Don't they know they can just drive to Bed, Bath, and Beyond??!?! and on top of that lady, I had three sup calls (short for 'supervisor'... ones where they ask for my supervisor because apparently I'm incompetent) and our systems just completely shut down for about an hour. Phew. Like I said, can't wait to be finished!
Donny's back and it's basically the greatest. I haven't actually been able to see him a ton because I've been studying so much, but the few times I've seen him have just been great. However, as we had predicted, we ended up hating each other yesterday. We were completely right!!! We predicted we'd despise each other by August 3 hahah. Meh. We're better now. We just aren't very good at being physically near each other haha. It will work itself out.
Other than that... let's see. Moving's coming up soon, HOORAY! Donny and I have been discussing cable/internet packages, etc, and figuring out utilities. I forgot that we're moving into a place thats exactly twice the square footage of my current apartment, which means twice the gas/electric bills :( Boooo spending money.
Also, August 21 is coming up, which will be a blast! We're getting a cabin in Hocking Hills with some of the Westerville crew to celebrate Donny and Jake's birthdays! Can't waaaaaaittt, it'll be so nice to get together with everyone before we move in!
Other exciting August things:
Kiley's in town (but I can't see her until I'm done studying, boo)
Jamie's ALMOST in town
probably going to see the Titanic exhibit at COSI with the fam!
Wicked with Donny and the fam!!!!!!!
Yayayay Friday at 2pm will be the start of a great month :)
Oh wait, no I won't be, because then I still can't call myself a CPA until I've had 2 years of experience. UGHHHH. It never ends!!
Anyway, studying sucks even more than usual. I've just completely lost any and all energy I once had for studying. And now that Donny's home for GOOD (!!!!), I have even less motivation. Hang out with my boyfriend who I haven't been in the same city with for more than 3 months at a time since 2005... or study? FML.
In other news, I cannot WAIT to be done at the call center, either! It's getting to be that hectic time when kids are about to start leaving for college... and of course people wait until like, the DAY before their student moves to be like 'Hey, I need to order linens... also, I need them here tomorrow at 6 AM because that's when we're leaving." Like... no. Sorry. That can't happen. Today was especially bad. I had a lady cry on the phone within the first 45 minutes of my shift. Seriously. People get REALLY REALLY upset about linens for some reason. Don't they know they can just drive to Bed, Bath, and Beyond??!?! and on top of that lady, I had three sup calls (short for 'supervisor'... ones where they ask for my supervisor because apparently I'm incompetent) and our systems just completely shut down for about an hour. Phew. Like I said, can't wait to be finished!
Donny's back and it's basically the greatest. I haven't actually been able to see him a ton because I've been studying so much, but the few times I've seen him have just been great. However, as we had predicted, we ended up hating each other yesterday. We were completely right!!! We predicted we'd despise each other by August 3 hahah. Meh. We're better now. We just aren't very good at being physically near each other haha. It will work itself out.
Other than that... let's see. Moving's coming up soon, HOORAY! Donny and I have been discussing cable/internet packages, etc, and figuring out utilities. I forgot that we're moving into a place thats exactly twice the square footage of my current apartment, which means twice the gas/electric bills :( Boooo spending money.
Also, August 21 is coming up, which will be a blast! We're getting a cabin in Hocking Hills with some of the Westerville crew to celebrate Donny and Jake's birthdays! Can't waaaaaaittt, it'll be so nice to get together with everyone before we move in!
Other exciting August things:
Kiley's in town (but I can't see her until I'm done studying, boo)
Jamie's ALMOST in town
probably going to see the Titanic exhibit at COSI with the fam!
Wicked with Donny and the fam!!!!!!!
Yayayay Friday at 2pm will be the start of a great month :)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Laughing gas
I just got back from my second dentist appointment, to finish the last of the fillings. Let me just say right now that I truly wish they put me on laughing gas from the moment I enter that building and only take off the gas when I step out. Not necessarily just because of the procedures they do, but because of the stupid, stupid things my dentist says. When I'm on laughing gas, I don't want to punch her as much. I mean, I do, but I at least think it's amusing. Today she was getting a good chuckle out of the fact that the federal government is trying to get rid of the Arizona immigration law but we are also making mortgage brokers get fingerprinted. She then began talking about how terrorists are coming into the US from the southern border because they can pass off as Mexican. In her words: "They can't come in from Canada anymore, because, well, they don't look like Canadians." I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. Then she said that Connecticut or another eastern state has the same laws already in place and no one's making a big deal of that... then she said, "But I mean, they probably don't have to enforce it like they do in Arizona... because like, they're not going to try to get rid of Canadians coming over the border into Connecticut." Who gives these people medical licenses?
But truly, laughing gas is the greatest. I kind of wish I could get my hands on some to use recreationally. While on laughing gas for like, 25-30 minutes straight today, I decided that laughing gas would be my drug of choice. Some people choose weed, some people choose coke, I choose laughing gas. While the dentist was busy annihilating my teeth, I decided that laughing gas gets me to the point where I feel like I'm drunk. But a good drunk. The kind of drunk where you go to the bathroom and all of a sudden you're like, "Holy crap. I'm drunk!" and it just comes on really quickly and in full force. Like... you're pretty drunk but not to the point of being miserable and/or sick. When I close my eyes when I'm on laughing gas, I feel the feeling like when I'm drunk and I finally get to go to bed and I just lay in my bed and think how happy I am to be laying down and not in heels and a dress anymore. THAT kind of drunk.
Well, I suppose that ends my ode to laughing gas.
The poor hygenist from last time was assigned to me again today. She was like, "Are you going to want laughing gas?" And then she realized who I was and said, "Oh yeah. You'll want laughing gas." Hahaha. Oops. Apparently I was memorable last time. What was it, I wonder? The tears? The bitchiness that came out after I had been waiting 50 minutes to get a damn filling? Who knows. Either way, I'm excited that they're so willing to give me laughing gas.
I sound super creepy, I realize, but I have been through more than one traumatizing dentist experience in these past couple of weeks. Let me have my laughing gas, at least.
But truly, laughing gas is the greatest. I kind of wish I could get my hands on some to use recreationally. While on laughing gas for like, 25-30 minutes straight today, I decided that laughing gas would be my drug of choice. Some people choose weed, some people choose coke, I choose laughing gas. While the dentist was busy annihilating my teeth, I decided that laughing gas gets me to the point where I feel like I'm drunk. But a good drunk. The kind of drunk where you go to the bathroom and all of a sudden you're like, "Holy crap. I'm drunk!" and it just comes on really quickly and in full force. Like... you're pretty drunk but not to the point of being miserable and/or sick. When I close my eyes when I'm on laughing gas, I feel the feeling like when I'm drunk and I finally get to go to bed and I just lay in my bed and think how happy I am to be laying down and not in heels and a dress anymore. THAT kind of drunk.
Well, I suppose that ends my ode to laughing gas.
The poor hygenist from last time was assigned to me again today. She was like, "Are you going to want laughing gas?" And then she realized who I was and said, "Oh yeah. You'll want laughing gas." Hahaha. Oops. Apparently I was memorable last time. What was it, I wonder? The tears? The bitchiness that came out after I had been waiting 50 minutes to get a damn filling? Who knows. Either way, I'm excited that they're so willing to give me laughing gas.
I sound super creepy, I realize, but I have been through more than one traumatizing dentist experience in these past couple of weeks. Let me have my laughing gas, at least.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Oh my slash yay?
Oh dear.
Update on the whole thing on how I'm suddenly going to be a teaching assistant at OSU for a few days in September.
So the last thing I heard about this, I would be leading sessions from 1:30-5 PM on seven separate days in September. Basically the students will be doing problems in teams for half the session, then I'll bring them all together and go over the problems for the second half. This already makes me want to cry. It seems like a lot of pressure. Plus these people are my age, if not older. Sooo... I will have absolutely no authority over these people. Yikes.
Then today I received an email just confirming that I'd be available, etc. The professor in charge ALSO just informed me that I will likely need to prepare 4-6 HOURS for EACH DAY of teaching. OMG. Whaaaat??! Seriously?!?!? This is becoming a MUCH more intense thing than I thought. Keep in mind that I was originally asked if I'd like to 'grade papers.'
...
So I mean, there's that. They DID say they'd pay me for my preparation, so... that's a perk. I'm going to be getting WAY more money than I'd previously thought. I'm thinking this 7 day gig will land me about $650 (pre-tax). So... holler. Still. I'm getting more nervous now.
Update on the whole thing on how I'm suddenly going to be a teaching assistant at OSU for a few days in September.
So the last thing I heard about this, I would be leading sessions from 1:30-5 PM on seven separate days in September. Basically the students will be doing problems in teams for half the session, then I'll bring them all together and go over the problems for the second half. This already makes me want to cry. It seems like a lot of pressure. Plus these people are my age, if not older. Sooo... I will have absolutely no authority over these people. Yikes.
Then today I received an email just confirming that I'd be available, etc. The professor in charge ALSO just informed me that I will likely need to prepare 4-6 HOURS for EACH DAY of teaching. OMG. Whaaaat??! Seriously?!?!? This is becoming a MUCH more intense thing than I thought. Keep in mind that I was originally asked if I'd like to 'grade papers.'
...
So I mean, there's that. They DID say they'd pay me for my preparation, so... that's a perk. I'm going to be getting WAY more money than I'd previously thought. I'm thinking this 7 day gig will land me about $650 (pre-tax). So... holler. Still. I'm getting more nervous now.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Even more snippets.
Another gem from the girls at the call center. This is word for word, because I wrote it down soon after it happened. I have started to be on the lookout for more dumb things they say. Too bad it's illegal to record someone without them knowing. Hearing them speak is really the only way to get the full effect. Anyway:
Girl 1: yeah so unfortunately Ryan and Amy both got me the new Usher cd for my birthday.
Girl 2: Um, I'll take one!
Girl 1: I mean you can totally have it if I can't get any money back for it.
Girl 2: Do you have a receipt?
Girl 1: No...
Girl 2: Then you probably can't get a refund...
Girl 1: Oh my God that's so retarded.
Girl 2: I know right...
This girl also got a $75 Forever 21 gift card from her boyfriend (Ryan). He ALSO took her to the Melting Pot... their bill was $90. Oh, rich kids.
Then today there were two guys sitting hear me, which was a TINY bit better than listening to girls until they pulled this:
Guy 1: Dude bro [seriously, he said both of these together], at Lake Erie this weekend I saw the hottest chick I've ever seen in my life.
Guy 2: Dude, I don't really like, know your type of girls, so I can't really know if she's hot or not if you describe her.
Guy 1: Dude, seriously, though... she's so hot. Anyone would think she was hot. So I was just sitting there and she walked onto the beach and I was straight up staring at her, and she saw me so she gave me like this little wave. It was cute as fuck. So I was like, 'Ok, she's like, an inviting person.' So I just went up to her and started chatting with her, and got the digits, so we hung out the rest of the time I was there. Like... she's seriously a perfect 10. She is so hot. She's got like a perfect body, because she runs track, so her stomach is flat and she has nice legs and a nice ass and... she's so great on top. I'm thinking like, a high C cup. And her teeth are like perfect and she has pretty eyes.
Guy 2: So like, does she have a 6 pack or something?
Guy 1: There's a little definition there.
Guy 2: I mean, really you just want a flat stomach. You don't really want it too flabby or too muscle-y though.
Guy 1: Yeah she might have like a two-pack. But dude, seriously.. so hot. I would just do the most terrible things to that girl.
Guy 2: Dude then why are you even back at work? Why aren't you still hanging out with her?
Guy 1: Dude I have to work if I'm scheduled! But listen, she totally lives in Hillard! So I'm gonna try to get with that.
Guy 2: Duuuude seriously she is like RIGHT HERE! You should not even be at work right now.
Omg. This is seriously what I listen to ALLLLL DAAAAYYY.
Girl 1: yeah so unfortunately Ryan and Amy both got me the new Usher cd for my birthday.
Girl 2: Um, I'll take one!
Girl 1: I mean you can totally have it if I can't get any money back for it.
Girl 2: Do you have a receipt?
Girl 1: No...
Girl 2: Then you probably can't get a refund...
Girl 1: Oh my God that's so retarded.
Girl 2: I know right...
This girl also got a $75 Forever 21 gift card from her boyfriend (Ryan). He ALSO took her to the Melting Pot... their bill was $90. Oh, rich kids.
Then today there were two guys sitting hear me, which was a TINY bit better than listening to girls until they pulled this:
Guy 1: Dude bro [seriously, he said both of these together], at Lake Erie this weekend I saw the hottest chick I've ever seen in my life.
Guy 2: Dude, I don't really like, know your type of girls, so I can't really know if she's hot or not if you describe her.
Guy 1: Dude, seriously, though... she's so hot. Anyone would think she was hot. So I was just sitting there and she walked onto the beach and I was straight up staring at her, and she saw me so she gave me like this little wave. It was cute as fuck. So I was like, 'Ok, she's like, an inviting person.' So I just went up to her and started chatting with her, and got the digits, so we hung out the rest of the time I was there. Like... she's seriously a perfect 10. She is so hot. She's got like a perfect body, because she runs track, so her stomach is flat and she has nice legs and a nice ass and... she's so great on top. I'm thinking like, a high C cup. And her teeth are like perfect and she has pretty eyes.
Guy 2: So like, does she have a 6 pack or something?
Guy 1: There's a little definition there.
Guy 2: I mean, really you just want a flat stomach. You don't really want it too flabby or too muscle-y though.
Guy 1: Yeah she might have like a two-pack. But dude, seriously.. so hot. I would just do the most terrible things to that girl.
Guy 2: Dude then why are you even back at work? Why aren't you still hanging out with her?
Guy 1: Dude I have to work if I'm scheduled! But listen, she totally lives in Hillard! So I'm gonna try to get with that.
Guy 2: Duuuude seriously she is like RIGHT HERE! You should not even be at work right now.
Omg. This is seriously what I listen to ALLLLL DAAAAYYY.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Worst Dentist Experience of my Life
Well. I have just returned from the worst dentist trip of my entire life. Let's start at the beginning.
I was told last week at the dentist that magically, in the course of 6 months, I had 4 cavities develop, two of which were one level away from being root canals. A few problems with this. One, nothing in my dental hygiene has changed in any way, shape, or form in the past 6 months. So... that's odd. Two, I really just think it means that they missed it the last time I was in. Because I really don't think a cavity that severe develops in a matter of a couple of months. Maybe I'm wrong; I'm not exactly a dental expert, but whatever. It seemed fishy. So then they told me I needed to get them filled, and they suggested breaking it into two appointments. I was like um, false, I hate your office more than anything else in the world... I'm not coming back TWICE. Do it all in one appointment. They rolled their eyes (literally) and scheduled the appointment for today.
So I freak out all day today about getting these cavities filled. I get to the dentist's office at 2:45. They immediately ask how I'm going to pay for these. I just stare at them and say, "Um, you always just bill my parents, and they pay the balance when they're in..." And the lady just glared at me and was like, "Ummm... nooo... that's not how it works. You need to pay the balance the day you get work done." And I'm like... bitch you are crazy. I have been coming here BY MYSELF since I was 16, and I've never ONCE paid myself. So, no, you're wrong. And she was like [BIG SIGH] Well.... I guess JUST THIS ONCE we can let you go without paying..." Like... just get over yourself, please. I am not making this up. I don't have hundreds of dollars just laying around to pay you, and I never have. The hygienist was standing there to take me back, and as we were walking, she told me the policy just changed. Like.. okay. Do NOT act like I'm a freaking nut job when YOU just changed your policy!! what on earth.
So we go back, I sit in the chair. The hygienist is being super nice, and offered me a blanket because they keep the office at approximately 40 degrees (slight exaggeration but still). I wait about 5-10 minutes before someone comes in. It's the hygienist and the dentist. They ask me if I want laughing gas - clearly the answer to that question is ALWAYS going to be yes. So all they were apparently doing was numbing me. It seemed kind of dumb to give me laughing gas for a shot in my cheek... like, I get shots in my arm once a week, I get millions of shots in my back for allergy testing, I used to have shots in my cheek at my old dentist all the time. So it really is not a big deal for me. Then they tell me that they need to wait 10 minutes for the numbing stuff to set in, and they'll be back.
.... 50 minutes go by. I am getting FURIOUS. I text my mom, who tells me that numbing takes 30 minutes. That's fine, but they probably should have said 'thirty' instead of 'ten.' And there's no way I mixed up the numbers, because, well, ten sounds nothing like thirty. I finally get up and ask a hygienist how much longer it's going to take and she just says 'soon.' Okay, great. Soon. So I've been waiting for 50 minutes, and I'm already TERRIFIED about getting these fillings. So letting me sit in a chair for 50 minutes to ponder this is definitely making things better...?
By the time they come in, I'm like... near tears because I'm a mixture of utter frustration, anger, and fear. They pretty much begin drilling immediately. I have only felt worse pain twice in my life: when I had my ACL surgery, and when I had a ruptured ovarian cyst. It was just... complete agony. So I just start sobbing haha. Like... tears were FLOWING out of my eyes. They finally realize and finish up quickly. They THEN tell me that I should have TOLD them that it hurt. Right. Right. I was going to SPEAK while you had a drill against my tooth. Definitely. Then later the hygienist was like, 'You should have raised your hand!!' Right, again. I was going to hold up my right hand, risking hitting the dentist's hand, which is holding a drill inside my tooth, or hold up the left hand, risking hitting the hygienist's hand, which is holding the suck-y up-y tube against my tooth and could easily hit the drill. Right. Like... you've got to be joking. Somehow this all turned into my fault.
They asked if I wanted laughing gas. OBVIOUSLY. Like... you were going to give me laughing gas for a shot, but you weren't going to give it to me to DRILL INTO MY TEETH? Omg. So they put me on laughing gas again which was just fantastic. It's like being drunk but with no horrible side effects. So they finished up with the other cavity. But while they were working on it, they then took the time to start scolding me. "You really need to floss more." "You really need to pay more attention to between your teeth." Like... can you please stop? I'm sobbing, you are drilling my teeth in half, and you're scolding me? I think I understand that I need to floss more at this point. They then told me they highly suggested I come back later to get the other two, because I'm clearly in so much pain. At which point I agreed, because, well, I was drunk on laughing gas and just hated them so much that I just wanted to get out of there. And tears kept coming out of my eyes because, well, I'm still annoyed, and because once I start crying, it's hard for me to stop.
The dentist left, and left the hygienist to finish up doing whatever she was doing in my mouth. She then took my tears to mean I'm like, a gigantic baby, so she started treating me like I was 2 years old. Some of the various things she said:
-"You're going to smell a really stinky smell..."
-"Now I'm going to put water in your mouth.... now I'm going to suck the water up from your mouth... now I'm going to pull on your tooth a little bit... now I'm going to pull a little more..." Like... JUST DO IT. You don't need to walk me through every step!
-"You raise your hand if this hurts at all, okay?" (she literally just put the lamp in my mouth. The lamp. That dries the filling. ............ no, the light from the lamp does not hurt. Surprising, I know.
UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. So that was the dentist. Now my teeth don't feel like my teeth, and it stresses me out. The right side of my face is also still numb and does not seem to be getting any better any time soon. And I get to go through this all AGAIN next week for the other two cavities! HOORAY!
I was told last week at the dentist that magically, in the course of 6 months, I had 4 cavities develop, two of which were one level away from being root canals. A few problems with this. One, nothing in my dental hygiene has changed in any way, shape, or form in the past 6 months. So... that's odd. Two, I really just think it means that they missed it the last time I was in. Because I really don't think a cavity that severe develops in a matter of a couple of months. Maybe I'm wrong; I'm not exactly a dental expert, but whatever. It seemed fishy. So then they told me I needed to get them filled, and they suggested breaking it into two appointments. I was like um, false, I hate your office more than anything else in the world... I'm not coming back TWICE. Do it all in one appointment. They rolled their eyes (literally) and scheduled the appointment for today.
So I freak out all day today about getting these cavities filled. I get to the dentist's office at 2:45. They immediately ask how I'm going to pay for these. I just stare at them and say, "Um, you always just bill my parents, and they pay the balance when they're in..." And the lady just glared at me and was like, "Ummm... nooo... that's not how it works. You need to pay the balance the day you get work done." And I'm like... bitch you are crazy. I have been coming here BY MYSELF since I was 16, and I've never ONCE paid myself. So, no, you're wrong. And she was like [BIG SIGH] Well.... I guess JUST THIS ONCE we can let you go without paying..." Like... just get over yourself, please. I am not making this up. I don't have hundreds of dollars just laying around to pay you, and I never have. The hygienist was standing there to take me back, and as we were walking, she told me the policy just changed. Like.. okay. Do NOT act like I'm a freaking nut job when YOU just changed your policy!! what on earth.
So we go back, I sit in the chair. The hygienist is being super nice, and offered me a blanket because they keep the office at approximately 40 degrees (slight exaggeration but still). I wait about 5-10 minutes before someone comes in. It's the hygienist and the dentist. They ask me if I want laughing gas - clearly the answer to that question is ALWAYS going to be yes. So all they were apparently doing was numbing me. It seemed kind of dumb to give me laughing gas for a shot in my cheek... like, I get shots in my arm once a week, I get millions of shots in my back for allergy testing, I used to have shots in my cheek at my old dentist all the time. So it really is not a big deal for me. Then they tell me that they need to wait 10 minutes for the numbing stuff to set in, and they'll be back.
.... 50 minutes go by. I am getting FURIOUS. I text my mom, who tells me that numbing takes 30 minutes. That's fine, but they probably should have said 'thirty' instead of 'ten.' And there's no way I mixed up the numbers, because, well, ten sounds nothing like thirty. I finally get up and ask a hygienist how much longer it's going to take and she just says 'soon.' Okay, great. Soon. So I've been waiting for 50 minutes, and I'm already TERRIFIED about getting these fillings. So letting me sit in a chair for 50 minutes to ponder this is definitely making things better...?
By the time they come in, I'm like... near tears because I'm a mixture of utter frustration, anger, and fear. They pretty much begin drilling immediately. I have only felt worse pain twice in my life: when I had my ACL surgery, and when I had a ruptured ovarian cyst. It was just... complete agony. So I just start sobbing haha. Like... tears were FLOWING out of my eyes. They finally realize and finish up quickly. They THEN tell me that I should have TOLD them that it hurt. Right. Right. I was going to SPEAK while you had a drill against my tooth. Definitely. Then later the hygienist was like, 'You should have raised your hand!!' Right, again. I was going to hold up my right hand, risking hitting the dentist's hand, which is holding a drill inside my tooth, or hold up the left hand, risking hitting the hygienist's hand, which is holding the suck-y up-y tube against my tooth and could easily hit the drill. Right. Like... you've got to be joking. Somehow this all turned into my fault.
They asked if I wanted laughing gas. OBVIOUSLY. Like... you were going to give me laughing gas for a shot, but you weren't going to give it to me to DRILL INTO MY TEETH? Omg. So they put me on laughing gas again which was just fantastic. It's like being drunk but with no horrible side effects. So they finished up with the other cavity. But while they were working on it, they then took the time to start scolding me. "You really need to floss more." "You really need to pay more attention to between your teeth." Like... can you please stop? I'm sobbing, you are drilling my teeth in half, and you're scolding me? I think I understand that I need to floss more at this point. They then told me they highly suggested I come back later to get the other two, because I'm clearly in so much pain. At which point I agreed, because, well, I was drunk on laughing gas and just hated them so much that I just wanted to get out of there. And tears kept coming out of my eyes because, well, I'm still annoyed, and because once I start crying, it's hard for me to stop.
The dentist left, and left the hygienist to finish up doing whatever she was doing in my mouth. She then took my tears to mean I'm like, a gigantic baby, so she started treating me like I was 2 years old. Some of the various things she said:
-"You're going to smell a really stinky smell..."
-"Now I'm going to put water in your mouth.... now I'm going to suck the water up from your mouth... now I'm going to pull on your tooth a little bit... now I'm going to pull a little more..." Like... JUST DO IT. You don't need to walk me through every step!
-"You raise your hand if this hurts at all, okay?" (she literally just put the lamp in my mouth. The lamp. That dries the filling. ............ no, the light from the lamp does not hurt. Surprising, I know.
UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. So that was the dentist. Now my teeth don't feel like my teeth, and it stresses me out. The right side of my face is also still numb and does not seem to be getting any better any time soon. And I get to go through this all AGAIN next week for the other two cavities! HOORAY!
Monday, July 19, 2010
More snippets from work
I find that I work in a terribly boring place, yet it can sometimes produced some amusing anecdotes. I thought I would share some with you.
More on the recent Desales graduates:
[between one guy and one girl]
Guy: Dude, are you seriously reading Harry Potter right now?
Girl: Omg yesss, it's sooo good.
Guy: You are seriously the biggest dork ever. You are such a geek. It's kind of cute though.
Girl: Omg I know but I still love it. I don't like, go around telling people I love it though.
Guy: Yeah, people would think you're so weird.
Girl: Omg I know. Amy thinks its like the weirdest thing ever. She keeps calling me a freak whenever she sees me reading it.
Guy: Dude, I read the first three books and they're like, just so repetitive.
Girl: No, you TOTALLY have to read the last ones. They're SO much better.
Guy: Oh really? So I should like, read those?
Girl: Yeah, totally. I have them if you want to borrow them!!
Guy: [thinks is the funniest thing he's ever heard] Haha, okay. Do you like the books or movies better?
Girl: Omg, the books for sure.
Guy: Dude, yeah, Daniel Radcliffe is like, such an over-actor. He's so retarded. The movies are terrible. [slight exaggeration, but okay.]
I have found that their favorite words tend to be 'freak' (as in, 'omg you're such a freak!'), 'retarded' and 'gay'... clearly signs of their maturity level.
They also complain about how stupid customer service is, and how much it sucks, and how hard it is. They complain to the people who have been here for like 4+ years. Clearly they are going to get absolutely NO sympathy from us. Like... please. You just started. Shut up.
Another gem between a different guy and a different girl:
Girl: What are you doing tonight?
Guy: Going ouuuuut I can't wait [keep in mind that he's probably 20, tops]
Girl: Oh yeah? Are you drinking tonight?
Guy: A better question is will I be able to BREATHE tonight!! [chuckles to himself at the joke he just made]
Girl: What do you like to drink?
Guy: Um... beer?
Girl: Oh like what?
Guy: Bud light, Nati, whatever.
Girl: Ohh okay. So like is that the cheap stuff?
Guy: I mean, yeah. I used to drink Absolut like all the time because that stuff gets you fucked up but it's too expensive to drink all the time.
Girl: I like rum.
Oh my.
And then there's the customers:
Me: Okay ma'am, could I have you look in the bottom, right-hand corner of your order form? There should be a code in a box. Could you read that to me?
Woman: [long pause] ... do I have to unfold the order form?
Me: [equally long pause] ... yes. You would need to unfold the order form, if it's folded up. Otherwise you would not be able to see the order form, including the code.
Woman: [paper rustling] Oh, okay. I see the code now.
Or there's the similar conversation:
Me: Do you have your order form with you?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Could you read me the code that's located in the bottom right-hand corner of that order form?
Customer: I don't have the order form.
Me: ..... You just said you had the order form.
Customer: No, I just have the catalog.
Me: ... So you DON'T have the order form?
Customer: THAT'S WHAT I JUST SAID.
These are legitimate conversations that I have had MORE than once. Oh my gosh. Why do these people exist slash reproduce slash let their children go to school?
More on the recent Desales graduates:
[between one guy and one girl]
Guy: Dude, are you seriously reading Harry Potter right now?
Girl: Omg yesss, it's sooo good.
Guy: You are seriously the biggest dork ever. You are such a geek. It's kind of cute though.
Girl: Omg I know but I still love it. I don't like, go around telling people I love it though.
Guy: Yeah, people would think you're so weird.
Girl: Omg I know. Amy thinks its like the weirdest thing ever. She keeps calling me a freak whenever she sees me reading it.
Guy: Dude, I read the first three books and they're like, just so repetitive.
Girl: No, you TOTALLY have to read the last ones. They're SO much better.
Guy: Oh really? So I should like, read those?
Girl: Yeah, totally. I have them if you want to borrow them!!
Guy: [thinks is the funniest thing he's ever heard] Haha, okay. Do you like the books or movies better?
Girl: Omg, the books for sure.
Guy: Dude, yeah, Daniel Radcliffe is like, such an over-actor. He's so retarded. The movies are terrible. [slight exaggeration, but okay.]
I have found that their favorite words tend to be 'freak' (as in, 'omg you're such a freak!'), 'retarded' and 'gay'... clearly signs of their maturity level.
They also complain about how stupid customer service is, and how much it sucks, and how hard it is. They complain to the people who have been here for like 4+ years. Clearly they are going to get absolutely NO sympathy from us. Like... please. You just started. Shut up.
Another gem between a different guy and a different girl:
Girl: What are you doing tonight?
Guy: Going ouuuuut I can't wait [keep in mind that he's probably 20, tops]
Girl: Oh yeah? Are you drinking tonight?
Guy: A better question is will I be able to BREATHE tonight!! [chuckles to himself at the joke he just made]
Girl: What do you like to drink?
Guy: Um... beer?
Girl: Oh like what?
Guy: Bud light, Nati, whatever.
Girl: Ohh okay. So like is that the cheap stuff?
Guy: I mean, yeah. I used to drink Absolut like all the time because that stuff gets you fucked up but it's too expensive to drink all the time.
Girl: I like rum.
Oh my.
And then there's the customers:
Me: Okay ma'am, could I have you look in the bottom, right-hand corner of your order form? There should be a code in a box. Could you read that to me?
Woman: [long pause] ... do I have to unfold the order form?
Me: [equally long pause] ... yes. You would need to unfold the order form, if it's folded up. Otherwise you would not be able to see the order form, including the code.
Woman: [paper rustling] Oh, okay. I see the code now.
Or there's the similar conversation:
Me: Do you have your order form with you?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Could you read me the code that's located in the bottom right-hand corner of that order form?
Customer: I don't have the order form.
Me: ..... You just said you had the order form.
Customer: No, I just have the catalog.
Me: ... So you DON'T have the order form?
Customer: THAT'S WHAT I JUST SAID.
These are legitimate conversations that I have had MORE than once. Oh my gosh. Why do these people exist slash reproduce slash let their children go to school?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)