Nothing is going my way these days. Yesterday I called the DMV to ask if I could drive in Wisconsin over Christmas since their limitation is only three months, not six like here. The resounding answer: no, since I am licensed here, not there. Well great. Then I called the neurologist's office to set up an appointment for January 8th, the six month anniversary, and they're booked until January 21st. I begged and pleaded for her to squeeze me in since this will probably be a five minute thing; when I had the full, new patient exam it was less than a half hour. She said she would pull my chart and leave a note for Dr. Fosmire, who is on vacation until Monday, because she couldn't make that decision without his permission. This morning I called the DMV back to ask if I could see my regular physician instead of the neurologist, and again, they said no. Do they ever reply in the affirmative? I am extremely frustrated. Usually only a couple things go wrong for me before some things in succession eventually go right. But nothing is going right.
I found my birth certificate, after a lot of searching. It was in a photo album. Thank goodness I thought to look there. That's an odd place for it to be.
Sometime about two weeks ago I forgot to stop biting my nails. I must have literally forgot because I remember looking down and being amazed that I could see tips. Usually I have to mentally prepare myself for it, complete with painting them so that I don't bite them. But I still haven't done anything more than file the edges last night. I like having longish nails.
I started this new television season declaring that I would not pick up any new shows to replace those from my palette that ended last season: Roswell, Felicity. And I don't think that I really have, yet it seems like I still watch as much tv as I ever have. On Monday I watch Seventh Heaven, Tuesday is a smorgasboard with Gilmore Girls, Real World, and now the new Osbournes, Wednesday is open since I have nothing concrete but I can choose from Dawson's Creek (hardly ever), West Wing, and Ed, Thursday is the best night with Friends and ER, and the weekend is a smattering of whatever I can find should I be stuck at home. These are just the shows that I always watch. When they're not on, I look for things, channel surf. I really should be utilizing my time better since I have a million things to do. It's kind of like last year at this time when I was on my 100 day break and pretty soon it was over and I hadn't really accomplished much. I went into thinking I could write a book in that amount of time (I didn't really even try, I just thought that it would be possible) but I didn't do much writing at all. Most of what I did accomplish (Erich's blanket, the Zine style guide .chm, and the ACCESS manual) I did in the last three weeks, working fiendishly. I rarely am motivated to do things until the last minute. How did I get here from talking about tv shows? Anyway, my pre-Thanksgiving resolution (I make this about every other month, though so it's a work in progress) is to only watch tv when one of my programs is actually on. Can someone move in with me to enforce this please?
Work is achingly slow. Many people are already gone and it's freakishly quiet.
This weekend I am probably leaving the country. Better find my birth certificate!
You know what's good for soothing a disappointed soul? Two things actually: venting on a blog and retail therapy. I went to Mervins on Friday night and indulged a little. I bought a pink angora (it may be fake angora at the price I paid for it) sweater and a pretty nightgown. I am trying to segue from wearing sweatpants and t-shirts to bed to more woman-like things. The sweater is a little itchy and extremely warm, but pink, so I've been told, is a flattering color for me and since most of my wardrobe is either black, red, or blue, I thought it was high time to branch out. Plus, I have a pink bra that matches just lovely. I love it when everything matches. :-) I know, more information than you probably wanted. At least I'm not still stuck on matching my fingernail polish and bra like I was last year!
On Saturday night, Keely, Judy, and I went to see The Emperor's Club. I was excited because, from the trailer and commercials, it looked like a close imitation of my favorite movie, Dead Poets Society. However, while it was okay, it was nowhere near up to par with DPS. It wasn't a totally disappointing movie, though.
Yesterday was so lovely that I trekked, by bus, down to Kirkland and wrote for awhile. Now that I have my writing pen in working order again, I hope to become more disciplined. I also need to tell myself that I don't need the Triple J to write. I can write at home. Anyway, I started a new story but with old characters: Maya and Devon. I hope I stick with it.
Yesterday was also the anniversary of the last date Rolf and I had as boyfriend/girlfriend. In my writing journal I wrote all the details that I could remember about the day; I was amazed at how much I remembered. I even remembered how I did my hair! I am not sure why I was surprised that I remembered so many details, though, since I am plagued with a good memory for such things. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of when things fell apart. Wednesday of the actual breakup. I'm okay...I'm not torturing myself, really. lol :)
Well, it's official. I was rejected once again by Microsoft as FTE material. Why is it that I am good enough to work here as a contractor for nearly three years, yet I lack whatever skills necessary to be permanent? It's extremely frustrating. They gave the position to an internal candidate. The good news is that the HR person said the team said I did really well and that they really liked me, they just wanted someone with more experience. A contractor is never going to win a battle against an internal person. What's also frustrating is that I have been doing so much production work lately: my own site, Seattle Live Literature, the Zine style guide...yet it isn't enough. Granted it is a lot but it's all fairly recent. How long do I have to wait? I am trying to be my usual cheerful, optimistic self, saying "This wasn't the right job. There is some better job out there." But this job seemed so right. It was good timing. I liked the people in the group. They were moving to MSDN which is where I already am. I just keep wondering when something, anything will go right. Can't drive, still a contractor, no boyfriend...the list goes on and on. The weird part is, the team is moving over here next week, which means that I will have the pleasure of seeing and interacting with this job thief. That will be so much fun.
After Sunday's photo shoot, because I felt I looked somewhat decent, I took a few pics of myself with my digital camera. Most of them I deleted right from the camera. Some of them are okay. This one I actually liked. I was dodging Mika during this because she thought it was great fun to swat at the camera's strap.
Marie, I answered your comment; go look.
This morning my officemate and I moved all of our stuff from our current office to our new office. We were promised a cart but since none appeared, we used our desk chairs instead. My pop can tipped over into the monitor and since I figured it probably wasn't a good idea to then plug it in, I left it in the hallway and picked up someone else's discarded monitor farther up the hallway. That's the way it is around here at Microsoft sometimes. We have to scavenge to get things. I remember when I first started working in the PRS group and for the longest time I didn't have a mousepad. I was quiet about it for a long time and then I quietly asked around. No one had one. Finally, the guy in the cubicle next to me and I went looking around the building in the empty buildings. Unfortunately we didn't find one. I can't remember how I did finally manage to get one, only that two weeks after I did, in came Erich with one and I told him, "You snooze you lose." And that was even before I knew him really. lol
I have felt so lazy lately. The house is a wreck and I have so much laundry to do yet every night I just go home and watch tv. There's nothing on tonight I don't think so I should get to work.
The sun is out!!
Last night when I got the mail, I noticed an official looking letter from the government. When I opened it, I was surprised to see that it was a summons for jury duty. On December 16th at 8 am I have to appear at the court house in Kent. Getting there at that time by bus should be lots of fun. I just talked to a coworker that recently served and she explained the whole process to me. Argh. Mom says it might be interesting. I would rather just go to work.
If Mika doesn't stop sticking her face in mine in the mornings...
Last night I decided to make homemade bread. I've never made the kind with yeast, always sweet breads like banana, pumpkin, or zucchini. I was going to use my roommate's bread machine but then decided to do it the old fashioned way. The dough made two loaves and they turned out pretty good actually. I thought that they would raise higher than they did, which makes me wonder if I didn't do something quite right or if the bread you buy at the grocery store has skewed my perception somehow.
I had a pretty full weekend. On Friday night, Tim and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was quite good. We only had to go to two theatres in order to get in to a not sold out showing. Since it's been nearly a year since I read the series, I had a foggy idea of the storyline but there were several times during the movie when I tried to remember if this was the book where this or that happened only to remember that it must have happened in a subsequent book because there was no mention of it. I thought it was a great movie. The boy who plays Ron is a great comic side-kick. The only thing that I can see as an embelishment is that I don't think that the attraction between Hermione and Ron is really introduced until the fourth book. It was foreshadowed in this movie, though. It was very slight, as it is in the book, but all the while fairly obvious. No big deal, though.
On Saturday, Keely, Judy, and I went to a hockey game of someone from her church. It was my first hockey game and it was a lot of fun. :-) Suganthi joined us later at Keely's and we had a slumber party. Then on Sunday was the photoshoot in Kirkland at the waterfront. It started out great. Actually, it was all good, but towards the end we were quite cold. I was a little worried about having left Mika alone for so long for the first time but she seems to have faired well.
The interview went well. I felt relaxed and comfortable during the six grueling hours. Now I just wait. That's the difficult part.
Last night there was a thunder storm, an unusual occurrence in this area. Back home we had them often, sometimes without the rain even. It was a peaceful feeling, hearing the rain crash and splash against the window. This morning, although it was wet, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. No drenched Nikki today at the bus stop.
Tomorrow is the big day!! Erich instructed me to read Calvin and Hobbes in preparation.
Seattle Live Literature is shaping up quickly. I had some trouble with the menu bar; the first one didn't render correctly on a Mac and didn't appear at all in Netscape. The latest one seems to function properly on the Mac although I haven't yet tried it in Netscape since that hideous program is not at my disposal. Here it is the middle of the month, which means that soon I will have to start building the December calendar. Yikes! The perils of Web production. :-)
Fortunately it hasn't gotten that bad. But my mind swirls with HTML code. When I use Word or even when I type e-mail and want to bold something, I have a second of trying to remember how to do that non-HTML style. "Oh that's right! There's a button for that!" is what I think. If only it were that easy in HTML...not that it is difficult. The switching back and forth is just getting to me. :-).
It appears the rainy season is back. It was inevitable, but I was spoiled by the lengthy summer and autumn. Walking in the rain isn't so bad right now...but give it a few weeks. I don't think it's going to be so refreshing and contemplation inspiring soon.
What is happening to Luka on ER? He started out as this hot, awesome, sensitive doctor a couple years ago and now he's harrassing nurses and sleeping with a patient's mother in a supply closet? I don't get this. This wasn't supposed to happen. I am going to appeal to the writers and tell them to straighten him up and make him a good guy again. Carter can't be the only good guy on the show.
Look at me, I am resorting to discussing television shows to fill up my blog. Is that any kind of indicator of my life? Lol. Actually, it's not that bad. I've been busy. Just not always doing the things I would like to do..or where I would like to be doing them...or with whom I would like to be doing them. But for the most part I can't complain too much. Well, I could. But that would just be silly.
Mika's education began last night. I am determined to train her not to sharpen her claws on things. I bought her a scratching post, complete with feathers even. I bought this double sided tape stuff and practically wrapped my couch in it. I sprayed her with water if she even thought about the leather sofa. Hopefully this all will work. Pets are expensive.
Well, I talked to the DMV yesterday and the answer was a big fat "no." I don't know what my neurologist was smoking when he gave me the false hope that I might be able to drive sooner than the six months. I could appeal and go to court, but since there are only 64ish more days left of my sentence, I will comply and not put up a struggle. Even though I had prepared myself for this, it was still a disappointment. I don't know what I will do about Christmas now. It seems pretty useless to go home if all I can do is sit at home staring at Mom, subjected to country music videos all day. The even crappier part is, even though the six months is up on January 8th, first I have to see my neurologist again and get the blood work done, all so I can submit the same damn results that I have already submitted. So after that then I have to wait for the DMV to give me the official word that it's okay to get my license. The bright glimmer of hope is that at least I don't have to take any exams over. It'll be just like renewing my license. I'm angry, but what can I do? I even told the lady, who I realize doesn't make the rules and probably has no real power at all, that if this ever happens again (which it won't since I will stay on the meds) that I won't report myself and I will just drive. I didn't like her tone so I started to get bitchy with her.
This morning I worked on the Seattle Live Literature site and was stuck on how to add this text that I wanted in the spot that I wanted. Nothing worked. So finally, I created the text in Paint and saved it as a picture, ported it over to PhotoDraw in order to make the background transparent and to change the dimensions, and then added it to the code as an image. It's a little on the small side, but at least it worked the way I wanted. Lord HTML will probably know of a much easier way, but I impressed myself for at least thinking of this workaround.
You've all been clamoring for another glimpse of Mika, so here it is. She's a good cat. She's a little on the naughty side, but it's permissible given that she is a kitten. Currently I am battling her sharpening her claws on things, especially my roommate's leather sofa. This morning was the first time she's been caught in the act, so since I didn't want to pen her up in my room all day, I covered the couch with blankets. Hopefully that will stop her for now. I will get a squirt bottle and begin the training. I wish I could somehow train her to not wake me up at six in the morning. All she does is demand to be pet and if I don't do it to her satisfaction then she meows at me. If I god-forbid stop, then she sticks her face in mine, which is really annoying. All in all, I love having her. I'm just not used to such a touchy-feelsy animal. Grey-kitty was a good lap cat, but he generally stayed at the end of the bed to sleep. Pudge stuck to the kitty chair or sleeping at the end of Mom's bed. Finally a cat that likes me!!!
For Halloween, Keely got it in her head that a bunch of us girls should dress up, as in formal attire, have dinner and then go out to dessert. So of course this is what we did. Since I neither have any formals here nor would I even fit into them (long gone are they days of size 5...sigh...) if I did, I borrowed Keely's navy blue dress. She wore her purple dress (which she didn't exactly still fit into anymore either, but a nice pair of butterfly wings covered that). Judy wore a white dress that hauntingly resembled a wedding dress. We gave her a lot of crap about that. :-) Lisa, Keely's friend from South Africa, found a dress at Value Village for six dollars that was so pretty and I so envied the fact she is still a size 3 and coud wear it (she's only 18...she will learn). Melissa wore a black dress that wasn't really a formal, but that's okay. We all brought food to Melissa's and had a grand time gabbing and getting ready. Suganthi visited us but was too tired to go out with us :-( Someone brought a bottle of champagn and since Melissa doesn't have fancy wine glasses, we drank the liquid from coffee mugs and Coke glasses. Not even a full mug of the stuff and my cheeks got all red. Man. I need to drink more and get used to it. After dinner we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue. I've been there a couple times, but since this was Lisa's first time in America, she was overwhelmed by the menu and the food, and also by the self flushing toilets in the bathroom. :-)
Work has been crazy busy this past week. I came in yesterday for five hours just to get caught up. I got most of it done but not everything that I'd wanted. However, by that time it was dark and since the bus schedule on Sundays is even worse than Saturdays, I decided to work a little longer, thus missing every bus I knew of, and walk home. Now, I didn't think it was going to be a very long walk. And it certainly wasn't a bad walk. But now I am thinking, after having talked to a few people about it, that is was more like a five mile walk. Wow. And I am not even sore today. It was a good night: clear, no rain, and crisp. I am glad that I did it, but I don't think that I will make a habit of it and opt to walk home every night instead of take a bus or shuttle.