64 posts tagged “me”
If you're not sure what the HST is, then lucky you. It means you're not currently or soon to be charged it (thanks to Peter Bobberly, whoever you are!):
::cough:: I started this and when I finished, it was freaking long. This is a warning; you might want to settle in for a little bit.
Do you mind if I rant just a little bit? But first, some history:
I work for this company, this big box electronics company and I’m part of the employee wellness/complaints committee. Basically, if you’re having problems, you come to me or any of my compatriots (I don’t know why but I love “compatriots”; it feels like we’re forming a revolution), you tell us the problem you’re having and then we help you deal with it.
I was volun-told that I was joining this committee in February or March. Oddly enough, the committee has become one of my favourite things about working for this company. I actually feel like we’re helping some people by bringing things to management’s attention and making sure they’re dealing with this in some way. It’s weird and quite cool that they listen to us.
ANYWAY, part of this committee is also directing donations from the store. For our new general manager, he had two requests for donations. He wants:
- Money or products to go to the local hospital, directed to children.
- Money to go to a local children’s sports team.
That was the job parceled out by the committee chair to me, her co-chair.
Hee hee, “co-chair.” I sound like comfy furniture. Sorry, digression.
The first part was surprisingly easy. I didn’t realize our local hospital had a children’s wing; I thought all the children were directed to the more specialized children’s hospital about 30 minutes away. I emailed them for a list, they emailed me back the same way with a detailed list that made my job (for that section, at least) super easy.
Lovely! I like easy.
… I have a joke I could make but it’s probably inappropriate considering what I’m writing about right now. ::sigh:: I’m getting appropriate in my old age.
The second request? Yeah, that one’s a little more involved.
First, I emailed my other job’s office mates to see if they had children in a local sports team that was desperately looking for sponsors. SCORE! Yes, this woman I work with, her daughter is part of a girls’ under 15 softball team. The team is fairly new, they need money for uniforms, equipment and traveling (to tournaments) plus they would be willing to put their picture up in our store and display our logo whenever they play.
They also desperately need funding because it’s hard for girls’ sports teams to find donors willing to help them out. Boys’ teams tend to be a little more established with a better, consistent donor base.
I thought my worries were through! They’re perfect!
Would I be writing this if everything was perfect? Come on.
Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the girls’ team. They are perfect. They’ll look cute on our wall, they’re local and they came in fourth in the province this year in their age bracket.
Hook yourself to a star, that’s what I always say. Okay, no, I never say that because it sounds stupid and I’m not a Depression-era shyster.
But.
Did you know the funding for sports has been cut for elementary schools throughout my province? Did you know there are schools, considered “core” schools, in a lower income area that are having problems providing enough equipment for children to play sports? Do you wonder why the federal government keeps offering tax initiatives to families to enroll their children in to sports teams when all they have to do to effect actual change is to fund schools better?
My library has been told to expect funding cuts. I’m not completely sure what that means. How are libraries facing funding cuts? Why isn’t their service essential to the government? The purpose of the library is to encourage people (especially children) to READ. We don’t want children reading? Okay, maybe they’ll stop providing movies and music in order to keep providing books.
You know, head back into the days before recorded information. Because why would we want our institutions to stay up-to-date when we could just create a strategy where they’ll fail?
And ambulances. You would think they would be considered an essential service and the province would guarantee that a contract would be in place before a previous union contract ends. You would think.
However, rather than sit at the table LIKE ADULTS and hammer out the issues and try to figure out how to do what’s best for the PROVINCE (you know, the idiots that voted them in?), they’re too busy preening and posturing and forcing men and women who work in a very stressful situation, life and death situations, to work overtime, to work on their days off. Where is the recovery time? Where’s the emotional recharge time? How many days in a row do you think someone in this situation can work before they are entirely burned out? Why are you willing to lose experience and compassionate ambulance attendants? Why aren’t you willing to create more full-time positions so that there is adequate recovery time between shift blocks? Does someone need to die because an attendant gets punchy from working too many hours and too many days without a break before they’re willing to think of the province before they think of their own wallets?
How is it that all this can go on but they’ll still justify a large (say 55%) pay raise for the Premier and his staff?
Do I believe they should be paid a decent wage for the job they do? Of course I do. I believe government officials should be paid as though they are CEOs because unless we’re willing to pay them better, we’re stuck with lame ducks who either can’t cut it in the real business world or who’ll sit on their butts, doing the bare minimum.
But justify TO ME why you think you deserve that large a raise when, typically, most people earn a 1%, 2%, 3% raise yearly? Justify to me why you deserve that kind of a raise when so many people in my province are jobless? What kind of job do you believe you are doing that this large a raise is justified?
How DARE you? How dare you cut money from the children of our province while lining your own wallets with OUR MONEY? How dare you ask us for more money while patting us on our heads, telling us that it’s for our own good? How dare you treat us like we’re slow-witted children, spinning us a line of bullshit so rank that it smells up our communities?
Justify to me why this is okay, why the HST is a god-send, why you deserve to sit at the head of our provincial government for any longer. Tell me why we have no money for children but we have money to pay for your haircuts.
Tell us why you’re not advocating for the people in the province. Tell us all.
Dudes, I had a freaking migraine today. This (and two Tylenol) made me feel better:
To do yourself (hahahahaaaa!), go here.
Why must you plague me with women who watch their weight AND food? Who are SO vocal about calories and whatnot? You're putting me off my food! And I know, you're looking pointedly at the size of my butt. Well, you can shut it, GOD, my butt is FINE. It's round, it's bodacious and it's ... okay, so in that one dress, it looked like something you would put tchochkes on.
But Beyonce wore a dress that gave her square hips one time so, once again, you can shut it. Plus? The sweater top made me look hot so yeah, I'm going back to buy the sweater when it comes in ::sticks out tongue::
And put down that lightning bolt. I'm not calling you names; I'm just calling you OUT. If you didn't want me to eat, you shouldn't have made food so delicious. Really? I'm supposed to turn down chocolate cake? Really?! Or, wait, did you want me to eat the cake but only have a slice so thin, no one could tell a piece was taken?
Whatever. It's chocolate cake; give me a normal sized piece. I'd like to enjoy it with some coffee. WITH MILK.
All right, fine, I might give up milk. But only because I think it's causing my weird skin condition.
But seriously, what's wrong with you? What's up with making women who are always so worried and unhappy with how they look that they aren't able to acknowledge how GOOD they actually do look? Where's the self-esteem jar, God? Did you forget to give us some? What about the self-worth one? Are you skimping on that one with women too? Or are you just starting to forget to include that one in for everyone? Cause I've noticed some people sadly lacking in both and it's starting to piss me off.
And please, can you make celebutards go away? I don't think they're helping us any.
Amen.
Eh, you're afraid to be rude because you're a nice person. That's not a problem with me and my black soul. It's like blacked cajun chicken: black and spicy.
... no seriously, where the hell does this come from?
It's for my allergies but...
My nose is freaking itching! And not just the outside, which is annoying enough. INSIDE MY NOSE! The inside of my nose is itching!
Dear god. I'm hiding in my room, playing on the computer, watching tv, SCRATCHING THE INSIDE OF MY NOSE!
... no, not PICKING my nose. I'm actually scratching the inner lining because it itches so much!
My face itches, mostly on the apple of my cheeks and around the eyes and my throat is starting to get scratchy. I know the homeopathy will work. I know it will but since I've just started today, it's going to drive me nuts until it starts to work.
... but my NOSE itches! ::boo hoo::
Okay, so I'm really into quizzes and things today. This one just told me things about my birthdate:
Your birthstone is Garnet
The Mystical properties of Garnet
Garnet is used as a power stone
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Emerald, Rose Quartz
Your birth tree is
Elm Tree, the noble-mindedness
Pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.
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Makes me want to go out and buy an emerald bracelet, a hunk of rose quartz then plant an elm tree :)
Oddly enough, the elm tree explanation is pretty close.
... all right, fine, it's basically spot on.
I ganked this from JennyExiled who ganked it from Jillzey (which reminds me, if you're in the Baltimore area, drop by her bar and buy a drink for me! When I get down there [hopefully in September], I'll buy the first pitcher).
I know this probably won't be interesting for anyone else but it's eerie how close this is:
Your number is: 4
The characteristics of #4 are: A foundation, order, service, struggle against limits, steady growth.
The expression or destiny for #4:
Order, service, and management are the cornerstones of the number 4 Expression. Your destiny is to express wonderful organization skills with your ever practical, down-to-earth approach. You are the kind of person who is always willing to work those long, hard hours to push a project through to completion. A patience with detail allows you to become expert in fields such as building, engineering, and all forms of craftsmanship. Your abilities to write and teach may lean toward the more technical and detailed. In the arts, music will likely be your choice. Artistic talents may also appear in such fields as horiculture and floral arrangement, as well. Many skilled physicians and especially surgeons have the 4 Expression.
The positive attitudes of the 4 Expression yield responsibility; you are one who no doubt, fulfills obligations, and is highly systematic and orderly. You are serious and sincere, honest and faithful. It is your role to help and you are required to do a good job at everything you undertake.
If there is too much 4 energies present in your makeup, you may express some of the negative attitudes of the number 4. The obligations that you face may tend to create frustration and feelings of limitation or restriction. You may sometimes find yourself nursing negative attitudes in this regard and these can keep you in a rather low mood. Avoid becoming too rigid, stubborn, dogmatic, and fixed in your opinions. You may have a tendency to develop and hold very strong likes and dislikes, and some of these may border on the classification of prejudice. The negative side of 4 often produces dominant and bossy individuals who use disciplinarian to an excess. These tendencies must be avoided. Finally, like nearly all with 4 Expression, you must keep your eye on the big picture and not get overly wrapped up in detail and routine.
Your Soul Urge number is: 7
A Soul Urge number of 7 means:
With a number 7 Soul Urge you are very fond of reading, and retreating to periods of being alone and away from the disruptions of the outer world. You like to dream and develop you idealistic understandings, to study and analyze, to gain knowledge and wisdom. You may be too laid back and withdrawn to really succeed in the business world, and you will be much more comfortable in circumstances that are tolerant of your reserve, your analytical approach, and your desire to use your mind rather than your physical being.
You are very timid around people that you don't know very well, so much so at times that casual conversation and social situations can be strained. You tend to repress your emotions to the extend that some people have a good bit of difficult understanding you. You tend to be very selective with friends and you don't easily adapt to new environments or to new people very quickly.
The negative traits of the 7 include becoming too much the introvert and isolated from others.
Your Inner Dream number is: 6
An Inner Dream number of 6 means:
You dream of guiding and fostering the perfect family in the perfect home. You crave the devotion from offspring and a loving spouse. You picture yourself in the center of a successful domestic unit.
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If I highlighted everything I agreed with, pretty much all of this would be highlighted, except for the part about how I would make a good surgeon.
... what do you mean you don't know what job?
... what do you mean it's been a really long time since you last heard from me?
IT'S BEEN HOW LONG?!
Crap.
All righty, let's start from the beginning:
About a week and a half ago, I received a phone call from the head of a department at a place I really want to work (vague much?). At the time, I had no idea how she had gotten my resume (I've since found that a person in charge of one of my volunteer activities had passed my resume along like a superstar) but I was happy to hear from them (I'm not super into where I'm working right now).
I had to take the standardized test (passed with flying colours!) then was booked for an informal interview (where basically all the questions she had to ask was asked while we were walking from the elevator to the meeting room; it was kind of cool). Then on Friday, I got the call that she needed references so I emailed them along.
I never know what some of my references will say, especially those from the people I currently work for. But then today, I got the call that I'm hired! HIRED!
Has a more beautiful word ever been spoken?
... okay, RICH is pretty nice but I'll take "hired" right now.
I don't typically follow Astrology and whatnot. I'll read it when I need a laugh but I really like this one:
Please don't wear a t-shirt that says what I saw on the canary yellow t-shirt of the Japanese tourist at JFK airport: "Sorry, I'm a loser." I also beg you not to read Ethan Trex's book How to Seem Like a Better Person Without Actually Improving Yourself. It's very important, in my astrological opinion, that you not demean or underestimate yourself in the coming days. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that you have a sacred duty to exalt your beauty and exult in your talents. Now go read Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, and periodically murmur the first line all week long: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself."
So, yeah, I totally stole that from Free Will Astrology, but this has been something I've been struggling with as I've been struggling to find myself a new full-time job. I feel unworthy, unable to live up to someone else's expectations and just unable to do anything.
And it's bullshit. I am amazing.
Seriously. I created a new presentation package for a company I worked for that they use to this day when dealing with banks, finance companies and various large corporations. In doing so, I also cut the costs they were incurring by doing it another way. So I made something slick and beautiful, that presented our work in a clean, efficient way while also cutting costs.
I am amazing.
I entered in to a position where at least one person was hoping I would fail and instead was able to forge relationships with almost all my contacts (there were a few that I spoke to so infrequently, it was difficult to do much but remember their names) where, when I left, one (very important) contact actually emailed my bosses and told them they were losing someone irreplaceable. This contact also, before I left, made it clear to my boss and to the salesguys from our company who kept sniffing around him, that he was only willing to deal with me, that he didn't need them to buy him lunch, to leave him alone or he would take his business elsewhere completely.
I am awesome.
I was also able to forge relationships with some people in our sister office where, historically, there was a great deal of animosity and neglect, to the point where these people liked to speak to me every day. Literally every day. If I didn't speak to at least one of them, it meant one of us was sick or away on vacation. I was able to get them to do things for me that my counterpart (and supervisor) couldn't get them to do because they'd decided to have a dick measuring contest instead of a friendship.
I ROCK.
I left a stable job in order to find my limitations on change and found that I'm able and willing to adapt to another work environment without upsetting any of the original occupants. I'm willing to do the work exactly as they've done it previously in order to understand exactly what they're doing but I also engage my brain in order to see if there's an easier or more efficient way to do something BUT, and here's the kicker, I don't feel the need to force people to accept my opinion. I'm always willing to present an idea, let the department mull it over and have them refine it to suit their needs.
I? Kick some serious ass.
Why have I been letting outside forces make me feel like I'm less than? Because I forget to remind myself that. So here we go:
I am so amazing. I adapt, I change and I fill spaces that need it. I am willing to do more, work harder and be better in order to get whatever job done. I have a great sense of humour, I'm beautiful and I'm strong. Anyone who doesn't appreciate or recognize that can kiss my bodacious ass.
Now, what about you? What have you let yourself forget?
