My Thoughts Exactly

It's Friday. It's payday. The murmuring voices are predicting snow for sometime late this weekend. There is a buzz in the air that indicates that morons will be shopping for milk and bread tonight, in case we get snowed in this weekend. I would welcome some snow just for old times sake. Snow in Seattle usually creates what is known as a clusterfuck, especially if we get over two inches. Even if there is snow on the ground Monday I can still walk to work. So snow then...

Otherwise, I'm trying to stay busy here at the bookstore even if that means posting on my blog. I'm about 140 pages into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I wouldn't say that I'm sucked in yet, but I'm looking forward to reading more this weekend.

I get to enjoy some time with my son tonight. This week he goes back on Saturday, which means that I get to hang out with him less this weekend, but -- on the plus side -- I get some well-deserved quality time sans kids with my Significant Other this weekend. That's always good for the soul (or what passes for a soul these days.)

Mondays Damned Mondays

I feel like I'm back in high school, because I have the urge to take every Monday off. As it stands, I took half of last Monday off, and I only have one sick hour to use. Oh well. It's better to be (slightly) sane then to work because I don't have the sick time. What would I have done with today off? Well, I would have probably slept for another three hours. Then I would have scrounged up some lunch somewhere, probably somewhere lame like Subway. Then I may have lain on the couch all day begining the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That may have distracted me from my hatred for my job, and the dimwitted behavior of my ex-wife as of late. Then again, a measly one day off may not have even put a dent in my mid-winter blues. I'll never know, because I did go to work today. It feels a little like drudgery, but I'll get through it.

Holiday Fever

Here we are in the week between Christmas and New Year. Nobody wants to work. We all just want a break from the craziness of consumerism. I myself could use about a month in the wilderness with a tall stack of books by my bedside and my Significant Other under the blankets in the bed, waiting for me. These are the thoughts of hibernation that inhabit my head at this time of year. My wife was driving me to work on Monday morning, and all I could think of was continuing to drive until we were far away from any obligations or other annoying events in our lives.

A sabbatical is just what the doctor would order if I had a doctor that used wisdom rather than flow charts to help with his patients' health. What could possibly be healthy (and we're talking mental here) about continuing to work when burnout is just around the corner.
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On the other hand: Tomorrow is Friday and payday. My son is here through Sunday evening. His presence always brightens our household, even in the dead of winter. I still have two wall maps to put up in his room this weekend. I tried to get it done on Christmas eve, but apparently Justin's bedroom walls are made of concrete. I need to find some good adhesive to put up his maps this weekend.

Maybe if I'm lucky, my wife and I will get out to the movies this weekend. We were intending to do dim sum and a movie on Christmas, but our five-year-old was ready for his nap early. The movie selection seems to be lacking this season, but there are still 3 or 4 films I'd like to catch in the theater.

Today at Work

Wednesday is not my favorite day at work. For one thing...it's not Friday. And for another thing, I work with my two least favorite co-workers: The wastie princess, and the old schoolmarm, who still claims to be in her forties (I'm not buying it. She's at least sixty.) Their main problem is their conviction that they are somehow the hippest things in this store. They are sadly mistaken. A.)If one thinks one is hip, then one is automatically unhip. B.) There is no such thing as being hip. It's all just an overworked imagination and an excessive ego. These are people who spend their lives feeding on surface values. Depth is unknown to them. That's probably why they are happier than me. My depth causes me to sink to emotional depths sometimes. I get angered by stupidity and ill-treatment. In other words, I most often do not fit in here at work, even though I love books more than these hipster, and am better read than them. Being well-read just doesn't matter at the end of the day...at least not in this society.

Funkadelic for Y'all

Here's a bonus video. A little Funkadelic on hump day. Do you think I could get away with playing this at work?

What to Write

Oh, I've been wanting to post more...really I have. Part of it the time of the year. Working in retail always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth during the holidays. It's a bitterness that's hard to swallow. I've never bought into the Rockwellesque Christmas scene. In fact, there was a time when I thought I would go camping every Christmas, but when I ended up in retail it became impossible to escape the consumer madness every year. Now I help the bookstore bring in the big bucks at Christmastime, while us employees get used, used, used. If we're lucky, the powers-that-be will dole out some gift cards by the end of the year. Gift cards that I will probably let sit around until next year. I still have a Cupcake Royale gift card in my room somewhere.

There's been a wage freeze at my bookstore for as long as I can remember. Last week the owner came in with some of his contractor friends. They were examining our front door (a sliding door left over from the PCC.) They were obviously coming up with some idea to strike our owner's fancy. It will probably be some gaudy display made from fallen wood that customer will fawn over. Meanwhile the employees will struggle from payday to payday.

So, besides bitching about work, what's going on in my life? My son is coming over today. I'll see him at suppertime. He'll be here through Sunday evening, which is always a pleasure. I'm still head-over-heels in love with my Significant Other. That will not change before the sun dies. She makes life much easier. We're both filled with hate for ignorance and stupidity, and it bonds us. But we share so much more than a mutual hate for ridiculous people. A shared hatred only gets you so far.

Jeff Beck

Here's bonus video. Jeff Beck and lots of stars from the '80s.