Potpourri

(I'm not sure what the title is supposed to mean, I just know that Jeopardy! uses it when they just throw a bunch of stuff together into one category, much like I'm about to do with this post.)

So this past month has been hell on my poor roommate. First, her 96 year old grandma (that her mother lives with and takes care of single-handedly, poor thing) fell in the bathtub and fractured her hip and ankle, facilitating the need for an operation. Her gran did well, though and pulled through. Seems she recovered like a woman in her 60s or 70s.

Next, she was driving to the mall on Valentine's Day and as she made a left-hand turn into the parking garage some jackass smashed into her one-year-old car (she was fine other than shaken, but her car was smashed up pretty good). She's had to deal with insurance agents and car quotes and rental cars and the normal trepidation that comes with driving after being smashed into by another car.

And, sadly, two days ago her grandmother, after recovering very well from a stressful operation, still as fiesty as ever (she wouldn't let the nurses touch her) finally succumbed to pneumonia. It of course wasn't a complete shock, and in some respects it was a blessing, but it of course is very sad nontheless.

Now some people would be upset by the passing of a grandma that you see once or twice a year and who you may remember baked brownies for you and let you dress up in goofy costumes when you visited them as a kid, but it's different for my roommate. She's Portuguese and her grandmother lived with her her whole life. She was there to make breakfast in the morning, there with dinner ready when she got home from school, and there to tell her she looked ridiculous in the victorian ruffle shirt and parachute pants she wore to her first highschool dance. The woman helped raise her and now she's gone. And even though it's been sort of expected for some time now, it's still hard to deal with.

Yup, this past month has been a hard one for my poor friend, but she's stood up to it really well. We can only do for her what we can, condole with her family, make sure her fish are fed while she's gone, fold her laundry and place it on her bed, make sure the house is clean and neat for when she gets home. Little things that don't sound like much but help make coming home and getting back into a routine easier. (My roommates have done it for me when I've needed it, and believe me it helps.)

Anyway, I've been thinking about my worklife a lot recently, as you know. My current job isn't that demanding, I don't do much all day except chat and surf the net and stuff, and my boss is pretty liberal. But I have certain problems with it such as:

1. It's far away and I have to commute. I know everyone hates commuting, but it's a concern. I quit my last job largely because of the unweildy travel time every day. It drags me down a lot and I become the crankiest woman alive.

2. I'm not getting paid as much as I could be. The last place I worked that I hated I got paid 1 1/2 times more. (I think it's safe to say that I shouldn't be looking for anything in the math sciences for my next job.) I was cool with the lower pay at first because I could walk to work and that extra two hours a day was worth it at the time. Also, it was supposed to be temporary.

3. I work with people who have completely different worldviews than myself. This makes casual conversation difficult, especially during the long ride into and from work everyday. For example, when my coworker says to me, "my car insurance comes out automatically of this one account I have that I haven't been paying attention to. So, the other day I get a notice of an NSF cheque... and my insurance cancelled me! Can you believe that?!" I know she wants me to say, "NO!! How could they?!" when what I really want to say is "No fuckin' d'uh. Also, how do you have automatic payments coming out of an account that you don't pay attention to? How is this turn of events surprising in any way? Also, does this mean I'm riding in a car without insurance?" Instead I just mumble some sort of comment and try to change the subject.

Or another example from an employee who helps out in the warehouse every once in a while. The one who got put in jail for smacking around his girlfriend (don't worry, she got put in jail for smacking him around, too, so they're even). He's been having money troubles lately. His story today, "my bike got stolen last night! That's $4000.00 down the drain. I was pissed!" (No that's not a typo. $4000.00 is what he said.) I asked where he was at the time. "The welfare office. I left it in the hall with a security guard watching it, I went in to get my cheque and when I came out it was gone!" (No, that wasn't a typo. A guy with a $4000.00 bike was at the welfare office picking up his cheque.) "You mean, you didn't have a lock on it?" I asked. "No, I just went in for a minute, I thought it would be fine with just the guard there. Can you believe that?" *sigh* There are many aspects of the story that I'm having trouble with, buddy. That part I might have guessed, though.

I don't wish to sound callous, but mostly I wish we could not talk on the way to work. I don't want to hear any more stupid personal stories that make my head hurt and make it hard for me to be polite.

4. I am very much an anal by-the-book sort of person and flighty disregard for deadlines, government regulations or legal documentation drives me up a frickin' wall. That is pretty much the atmosphere around here. Last year we had some trouble with copyright infringement so I thought I had drilled it into the boss' head that we get a copy of any legal documents regarding trademarks or copyrights before we proceed with anything. Just found out this week that THREE of our new products that we presented at the fair have copyright issues that were not addressed before we presented them. "Can you believe that?!"

Now, these things are aggravating to be sure. My first instinct (as it is with any unpleasant situation) is to flee. There is really nothing keeping me here except my feeling that I've done this whole "I hate it here, I'm leaving" thing a lot in my working life. Perhaps it behooves me to be a little more adult and try to put up with unpleasantness for it's own sake. Or at least try to find something else before I just quit.

Thing is, I'm impossibly fickle. Although I have hope there is something out there suitable for me. I mean, it's taken me about ten years to find a man who I feel I want to be with long enough that I don't mind working on or overlooking little issues that otherwise would be perfect scapegoats for me (e.g. his elbows are too pointy - he's got to go) It was worth it being picky, though, to find a man I like so much and get along so well with. Perhaps it will happen with a job one day, too.

Anyway, it's a beautiful, sunny day. Who wants to think about these depressing things on such a day? Not me, that's for sure! Hm, I should try to end this on an upbeat note.

Oh, I know! I'll tell you a cute thing that my roommate's grandma was known for. You know at the beginning of a 20th Century Fox movie when they play that little scene with the 20th Century Fox monument and the lights and the fanfare and the song they play just before the movie starts? Well, whenever my friend's grandma saw that she'd *tsk* and say in Portuguese, "I've already seen this one before!"

(Sad thing is, if it was the new Hugh Grant or Adam Sandler movie, the poor dear would have been right.)

Have a good weekend everyone!