The Chinaman Is Not The Issue

My Little Rascal

Seven months later, I finally get off my lazy bum and provide all the kitty fans who have waited long enough pictures of my one and only. Here he is...(drum roll please)...TITO!!

This is Tito when I first got him:

This is Tito when he discovered the wonders of my bathroom sink:

This is Tito now that he's gotten big. Lord of the Castle as it were:

Things I *Love* About My Job

In times of difficulty, it is always important to count one's blessings. So to prevent myself from going quietly mad, here is a list of things I wish I could be grateful for:

1. I love all the emails I get telling me the fridge will be emptied at 5 pm on Friday, the coffee pot was left on again, and that someone has absconded with a highlighter.
2. I love all the people who so generously avoid me completely when I need something, and are considerate enough to call me every 10 mintues when they need something.
3. I love that I have a boss to watch over me and make sure I have enough to do. Actually, come to think of it...I have 3 bosses so I'm super-duper lucky.
4. I love that I spend roughly an hour and a half in traffic every day. It really helps me cut back on my bad sleeping habit and gives me time instead to stew in my own thoughts. I really don't get enough of that otherwise.
5. I love that it is in the richer, more shallow sector of Orange County so that I can pretend to fit in.
6. I love the two delivery guys who always try to hit on me, especially when I'm on the phone with a client and obviously cannot flirt back with the endearing response: "Fuck Off".
7. I love how one of the sales reps always calls me and announces himself with his full name, complete with sing-song intonation. This really helps, because after almost a year of working closely with him, I still haven't figured out who the fuck he is.
8. I also love how he gives me a detailed explanation of every task I'm supposed to help him with, even though I trained him on how to do it in the first place. You never know when I may suddenly forget those simple procedures.
9. I love the magazine readers who call to complain about something, leave a 5 minute voicemail, and neglect to leave a phone number to call them back. It's always important to hear their thoughts and not be able to respond properly.
and...
10. I love how they recognize they give me way too much to do in a 40 hour week, and pledge to be more conscious of doing so then promptly assign me more projects when I'm on deadline for the magazines to go to press.

I Need A Vacation

I just got back from a totally relaxing week in South Carolina, where I went to meet Toby's parents for the first time. They were truly sweet people with interesting stories and a great sense of humour. I spent the whole week doing absolutely nothing that required more than minimal effort.

On my flight there, I had a 1-hour layover before my connecting flight in Denver. As my plane was pulling out of the gate at LAX to leave for Denver, some passenger decided they were too sick to fly, so we had to pull back into the terminal, let them deboard, get all their luggage off, and then try again. We left an hour late. I had about 10 minutes to get off my plane, scurry through the Denver airport and get on my next flight. I luckily made it, just as they were closing the doors. The rest of the trip there was, thankfully, without mishap.

Then in South Carolina, the weather was nice and mild. I toured downtown Columbia a bit, saw a nice Edward Hopper exhibit in the museum, saw the capitol building, some neat architecture, and such. I spent most of my days sleeping until noon, reading some Dumas, watching movies (Lord of the Rings--so awesome!!), eating Christmas cookies, making curried eggrolls, lazing about the hot tub, and just generally getting to know Toby's parents and friends better. They even have a parrot named Turk, who climbed up onto my shoulder and blew me kisses.

(And I got this really pretty opal necklace from Toby for Christmas..kee hee!! spaaarkly! =) YAY! ....And everyone seemed to like what I got them: I had gotten Toby's parents a pretty little crystal bowl, and I got Toby a super soft, sexy turtleneck and a stainless steel flask set.)

On New Year's Eve, we got a bunch of fireworks and shot them off around a lake by their house. I was a bit timid at first, having never set off fireworks before, but I eventually overcame it enough to set off a couple bottle rockets and a mortar. Kee hee! Such fun!! Now I wanna do more! Then we went to his friends' house to play pool and drink beer and we were counting down to midnight when we realized the clock we'd been watching was slow and it had already turned 2004. Whoops.

Then, all too quickly it was time to go back home. Toby's flight was 2 hours after mine, but we worked things out so that he could catch the same flight back. It wasn't until we got to LAX at noon, however, that we found out his luggage had not made the same flight. His luggage wasn't due to arrive until 5 pm. So we went home and then had to come back to LAX again at 5.

When I got settled in back home, my roommate was trying to deal with her girlfriend all upset and crying hysterically for no apparent reason. Now you must understand, my roommate is about as clueless to feminine emotions as your typical straight male would be, while her girlfriend is totally emotional in a passive-aggressive sort of way...rather like me. So as my roommate and I made a little trip to Blockbuster (so we could rent the entire Batman series) I took the liberty of telling my roommate to get her girlfriend a little box of candy and give her a bit of TLC (Tender Love and Care for those who, like my roommate, have no clue what that is) and I promised her that her girlfriend will come around like sunshine after rain. So she followed my sage advice. Worked like a charm. Her girl's mood flipped on a dime and has been in excellent humour ever since. ::Sigh:: We are so predictable and so easy to manipulate (with so little effort) if only they had a clue...Well. At least with the little things.

All in all I couldn't have asked for a better, more relaxing vacation. I really needed to just do nothing for awhile, so this vacation was exactly the kind of pampering I needed. Now I'm back at work and can barely breathe under the to-do pile of shit that has been waiting anxiously for my return...and I keep wishing I was back in Columbia.