too many irritations
2004-05-04, 12:00 p.m.

Urgh. Vacation scheduling is difficult enough when there is only me and Spouse to consider. Factor in visiting relatives from out West, and military reunions, and it gets too difficult to plan. Spouse's Air Force reunion is in August, and I think I'll get the time off okay for that one, but naturally, I submitted my request for specific days, and he submitted his for different specific days, so now I have to finagle at work to get my approval tweaked. And we also have the western contingent, who we can only seem to pin down to the vague and mysterious "sometime in June". Try telling that one to your boss. (I gotta call Dr. Cousin later and see if she knows anything.)

Speaking of the boss--not my favorite person at the moment. Mid-year appraisal time is saturated with chewy wax-tadpole goodness. Since this malignant, soulless corporation follows the "you stick out your neck, then we drop the axe" approach to reviews, it goes thus: I get a list of the various components of my job description, and I grade myself on them, add comments supporting my choice of grade, and return the list to the boss. Then he gets to grade me and add his comments supporting his decision that I suck at everything and will never have a raise or promotion. Ain't work swell?

Another fine point that I love is that each job should have no more than 20 grading points. Average should be 15. I have 22. Can you say over-extended?

I'm a crabby, raggy witch today, but the world doesn't suck because I have my period. It just sucks worse because I have my period. On a positive note, Spouse has cleverly once more managed to be out of town for the worst of it. He may think is doing himself a favor, but he has no idea what a huge blessing it is for me not to have to deal with him during the monthly trip to hell. Thanks, babe.

Well, I finally got Dad his gift. Two books that I sincerely hope he won't take the wrong way. PCs for Dummies, & The Internet for Dummies. I really think he'll benefit from reading them, if he isn't too put off by the whole "for Dummies" title-thing. I got the guaranteed in time for Mother's day delivery from Amazon, so the bastiges better show up before Sunday, dammit. (Note to self, get M-day card and wrap!)

I can't get around it anymore--I need new pants. Sturdy, durable, well-fitting, easy-care, conservative pants. Work pants. Reasonably priced pants. oh, god. The impossibility of it makes me weary.

I have a new free game obsession, I think...I still love Cubis, but Zuma is really catching up. I love that little ball-spittin' frog. I also like Glinx, but I hate the yahoo game site, so I don't play it often. I'd like yahoo games a lot more if I could just figure out why Gem Drop won't load on my computer. Not that gamezone is any better--only with them, it is Be-spelled that won't load. Lately, the puzzles are soothing and relaxing for my mind. I know I'll never be the super-high scoring type, but I need my brain to function on that level for an hour or so a day. Very therapeutic. Every night, between seven and nine---getting to be a habit. Television is too passive. Even when I'm watching the forensic science shows, I need something to do with my hands. So I turn off the box and go play silly little games. Sue me--life is short and the pleasures therein are mostly small-scale.

I'll take 'em where I find 'em.