sigelphoenix

On the one hand, work made me want to cry today.

On the other hand, I went to salsa class and one of the leads told me I was the best dancer he'd danced with all night.*

I also bought my first yarn (I've been learning to knit on tools donated to me by shadawyn) for my first scarf, which I'm knitting for ratzeo.

Now if only I could be as happy at work as I am outside of it.

*Unfortunately, because he was trying not to announce it to the rest of the class, he sort of said it into the back of my hair, which made my personal space sensors go off. Lucky for him, my reaction to being startled like that was not to headbutt the offender.

There is a lot (a looooot) I could complain about regarding the temporary office space we moved in to, as well as the remodeled office space that will await us at - supposedly - the end of the year. But rather than dwell on that, I want to talk about the good things and revive my defunct happy-5 list practice:

1. I have office plants! I never really got the appeal/need for them, until we moved into this depressing basement cubicle farm (oops ... no complaining, right). kiwikiwi started making plans for decorating off the bat, and that's definitely more productive than wallowing, so I followed her example. I now have a peace lily, a bromeliad, and a pink quill, all in adorable teacup-shaped pots. They're supposed to be good in low-light conditions, so I'm crossing my fingers that they'll survive the basement.

2. Someone brought in an espresso machine. I'm pretty happy with the makeshift lattes I make using this and this, but it might be fun to learn how to make real espresso and real steamed milk.

3. It's kind of (really) annoying that the open cubicle farm layout means I can hear everyone talking ... But, on the other hand, I've had two conversations this morning that involved me overhearing a conversation and being able to jump in and say, "wait, I know something that will help!"

4. Due to various events (graduation, orientation, retreat), we have a plethora of leftover bagels and cream cheese. I loooooove bagels and cream cheese. And yes, this one is temporary, but food makes me happy so it's going on the list.

5. I found out that we have herons nesting on campus, and I'm going to go see them on my lunch break. ♥

This morning I had to call tech support for the second time to remove malware from my computer. *sigh* I don't get it - I'm normally such a responsible surfer, and the only links I click on are from the (major, trusted) websites I frequent. It goes without saying that I don't download programs or anything (especially when I'm at work) ... So, yeah, started off this morning feeling pretty dumb.

I decided to splurge a bit and go to the hospital cafeteria for lunch, even though I have food here I could eat, and got pizza and soda. Then on my way back to the office I knocked my tray against the door and spilled my soda. -_- (Luckily the spill was on the outside-side of the door, so I just wiped it up and didn't fret about staining the concrete.)

Partially because I didn't get my caffeine fix, and partially because tech support was in my office again this afternoon (not my fault this time), I went on a coffee break. And I'd filled up my "buy 10 get 1 free" card, so I splurged and got a bigass iced latte, with hazelnut and caramel goodness. It's pretty tasty.

... My life is pretty boring. XD Not every day can be a "live music downtown" day, I suppose.

... Though tonight is my weekly night of watching Dancing With the Stars with lunapome and starbird, which sorta (not really) counts. 8D

So I'm back at work from a weekend in Vegas. As you might imagine, I'm not particularly excited to be here.

However, I did just find out that I got my annual raise, which I thought was going to be skipped this year because of the budget cuts. Woo for that!

Every so often (more often in the summer, less in other parts of the year), my job requires me to work a 12-hour day. Which wouldn't be so bad, if at the end of today I didn't need to be presentable for the public and recordable for (online) posterity. >_<

However, this does mean I get to leave a couple of hours early tomorrow, right before the 3-day weekend for the Fourth of July. That's what I'm clinging to in order to get through the day.

(I keep meaning to be more active with this journal, but I didn't intend to bring it back just for wangsting. Oops.)

I should remember to do this more often!

1. Recognizing the music coming from a co-worker's office as the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana ... because it was used in an episode of Rurouni Kenshin. 8D

2. I'm the only one in my office-pod this morning, because both of my co-workers are at a workshop. That means I get to play my music without wearing headphones. \o/

3. Last night, I awoke multiple times to hear ratzeo tell Kershach to stop grooming his head. XD This is probably not such a happy thing for ratzeo himself (particularly since Kershach got him right in the ear once), but I still find it absolutely adorable. ♥

4. Rediscovering my love of hair jewelry! When I was trying to look all nice and professional for the Accreditation visit, I broke out my collection for the first time in weeks, or months. Which is sad, because I have a rather massive amount of it! (I seem to forget about things like jewelry and my BPAL during the winter, because in the mornings I'm usually stumbling around in the cold and dark, looking for just the essentials of "pants and shirt" before running out the door.) Of course, this also means I just plunked down a bunch of money ordering even more hair jewelry online ...

5. Spring, spring, spring! Seattle is finally giving in to the change of the season, and I'm so happy to get the sun back.

Between work and dashing off to a meeting with my old Women Studies classmates -

1. OUR APARTMENT IS BACK!!! The work was completed on Friday(-ish ... the carpet was shampooed, and it wasn't really dry until the end of the weekend), but on top of that we were faced with the prospect of cleaning up the detritus of the repairs, re-assembling our apartment, and moving out of our campsite in the empty unit. But we did it! And we're back home!!

2. ratzeo and I did the bulk of the work on Saturday. Well, correction - ratzeo did a big-ass load of the work on Friday night, while I was taking a nap. (Sneaky wonderful bastard. :P) But anyway, by the time we were done it was past 8:00 in the evening, I was tired and didn't want to cook, but I was starving and also wanted to get the hell out of our apartment for a bit. We ended up going to the Sand Point Grill to try it out. Not only was the food delicious, they have a Saturday special where a fixed price gets you a three-course meal made from local ingredients. A nice little place, and we plan to go back when we have another reason for a fancy-ish (read: pricey) dinner.

3. I got an ergonomic keyboard at work to help with my tendonitis, and I'm totally in love with it. I think it's helping the pain - I have a brace that I've been wearing, so it's already been getting better, but I think the keyboard is helping on top of that. Plus it's got quieter keys than my old clacky keyboard. I kind of want to steal it for home on the weekends. :x

4. Vienna Teng's new CD, Inland Territory, is lovely. And I get to see her perform it live next week!

5. The aforementioned meeting. I haven't seen these ladies in months (or more!).

I didn't particularly want to go back to work today, because I still have the remnants of a head cold, and that makes dealing with work pressures particularly unappealing. But it was better to go and get things done than stay at home and let deadlines pile up, so I went.

And good things happened!

1. My department set up a laptop and projector in the conference room, so we could watch the inauguration ceremony. I was pretty much in a constant state of tearing-up-with-happiness (with the exception of Rick Warren's speech).

2. Some co-workers brought in food for the office, so we had bagels and salmon spread for a breakfasty snack, and hot wings for a lunchy snack.

3. One of our newly graduated doctoral students donated 10-minute massages to everyone in the office. While 10 minutes is hardly enough time to do any permanent damage to my shoulder knots, it's definitely enough to make me feel better.

4. Mail call! I got all three packages I was waiting for in today's mail: books, more books, and tea (which was part of my previous tea order, not a new purchase :P).

5. I'm spending the evening cooking meals so that I can have dinner for the week, as well as homemade lunches at work. The menu is spaghetti with ground turkey and mushrooms, and oven-baked salmon with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Simple dishes (that's all I cook, anyway), but tasty. :D~

I'm fighting off the remnants of a cold that laid me low on Thursday ... but, all things considered, my weekend is off to a good start.

1. Work: All things considered, work is going pretty well. I was out sick on Thursday, but I took the opportunity to work from home for a few hours and get some (easy but time-consuming) tasks done while I didn't have the distractions of the office. I was still only half-functional on Friday, but the office was closed for admissions, so I had more low-distraction work time. Plus, everyone being in the office together, with our doors closed to the outside, generates a stronger sense of camaraderie.

My work stress is just declining in general, though, and that's fantastic. Admittedly, a good chunk of that is because the high-stress period of the year (for my position) is winding down. However, I do think I'm doing a decent job of sticking to my resolutions and keeping my work stress in perspective.

2. Old friends: Last night after work I met some old friends from school (the group I went to the NWSA conference with) for the first time in several months. One of our friends hosted, and we put together a potluck dinner that turned out amazingly delicious (port, bread and cheese, couscous, samosas ...). Spending time with these friends is always such a positive, energizing experience, because they're funny, whip-smart, and passionate about justice.

I notice that this is something I really need to have in my life, even if it's just every couple of months. My closest friends are geek-types, and that's what I love on a day-to-day basis ... but at the same time, the things that get us really fired up (and "angry," if you want to say that, but not in a negative way) don't always overlap. And being fired up in a social context that doesn't match - that can turn into just feeling angry-in-a-negative-way. So being able to plop myself into a group of people who say "yes, we're angry about what you're angry about, and let's use that to generate ways to resist and rebuild" is valuable.

3. Kittens: The friend who hosted dinner last night has 4-month old kittens. XD They are absolutely adorable, little gray tabby boys whose stripes are more like splotches and make them look wild (they were, in fact, found abandoned in the woods). There was a little short-haired boy with a near-prehensile tail who sat in my lap after I stole his sleeping spot (a.k.a. sat in the chair he was on), and a fluffy long-haired boy with a face like a (tiny) bobcat. Like all kittens, they felt like they could fit in a single handful. Eeeeee~

4. Cuddles: I am lucky to live with two very cuddly boys who will give me snuggles after a long day at work. ♥ Kershach in particular is an excellent source of healing, when he is curled up into a kitty "C" and lets me just lay my head on his cushy fur and listen to him breathing (asleep) or purring (awake). He is also highly skilled in the art of the sleeping-in-on-a-weekend good-morning cuddle.

ratzeo is not a snorgleable fluffball, but he does a good job nonetheless. ;)

5. Tea: I continue to be addicted to Adagio tea, and decided to try their rooibos tea, even though my last experience with loose leaf rooibos from another tea company went poorly (the scent was so cloying it made me nauseous). Whether Adagio's rooibos is better, or my tastes have changed, or both, I am now smitten with their Rooibos Almond.

Although I guess this is both good and bad, because it makes me want to make another tea order ... even though I've made two large orders within the past month. *headdesk*

Boring tea babble: I've found myself gravitating toward flavored tea recently. Partly that's because I'm branching out as a tea nerdconnoisseur and just trying new things. But also, the flavored tea I've had the most experience with are the kinds you can find easily - which translates to bagged black teas from grocery stores. Flavored black teas tends to have a muted taste, I think, because black tea is so strong - or, conversely, the flavoring is overpowering and fake-tasting in order to compensate. On the other hand, herbal teas (which I've learned are called "tisanes" *The More You Know rainbow*) don't have to pit the flavoring against the strong taste of black tea, because they're just fruit pieces or flowers. I think that provides more of the actual flavor I'm looking for, and is a lot tastier - though of course YMMV.

*Last-minute #6: Junk email with a subject line of, "Your shlong can be shlonger."

Welcome to 2009! Here's hoping that, however well or poorly 2008 treated you, your 2009 will be better.

I'm going to use the New Year as a time to formalize the goals I've been developing over the past few months (and post them here in order to make myself accountable), so here we go:

( This gets long )

Here's to a good year.