Who's Grouchy?

Apparently, I've been irritating lots of people at work. But I think it's mostly been the people who annoyed me first. I'm getting tired of all these people slacking and making six figures, especially "management." What on earth do these people do all day? I ask the question and get no answer. One of the guys used to be my friend but now he pisses me off so much that I find it difficult at times to contain myself. Need to find a little restraint but I won't really see them a whole lot anymore. I'm starting mids again tomorrow and then moving to a different office. I'm going to work on finding some Zen and calming myself down.

Sorry about the slacking but I've been busy. Mids are always good for blogging, especially this month because they're taking away the tv and movies. No 2am Dr. Phil or 3am Oprah. Grrr.

Let it Snow

I awoke this morning to a thin blanket of snow covering my Christmas village. Picturesque and beautiful. I love snow but hate being cold, unfortunate because I keep losing my mittens. I'm a huge fan of Thinsulate mittens but they're hard to find.

That reminds me, it's time to dig out all the Christmas decorations and go shopping for a tree. My stupid car and plane tickets are costing me a fortune at the worst time of the year. I'm afraid I don't have much money to spare for Sammy's presents. Why does this stuff always happen at the end of the year? Last year I was PCSing and was stressed about money and life. This year my car is robbing me of happiness. I have plunked down $1,000 over the last week or so and I still have to pay labor and disposal fees for the tires.

Oops, got a little sidetracked there... Back to happy thoughts. Christmas decorations and Sam helping me make cookies. Emailing my parents for cookie recipes because I lose them every single year. Reminds me, Sam has a project to decorate a paper gingerbreadman with his family. We still have glueing to do. We got the coloring and glitter part done. It's very cute, he gave it a Spider-Man head. That's my boy!

Thanksgiving was terrific. The only thing that would have made it better is if I hadn't had to work. Even so, it was an outstanding Thanksgiving. I meant to take some pictures but forgot once I got home.

Happy Thanksgiving

This will be a very happy Thanks- giving. Yago came down last night after work and is spending the day cooking while I work. He could have gone to his friend's house and mooched free food and watched football. Instead, he did all the shopping and drove two hours to my house with a turkey and all the fixin's. I love him and how hard he works to make me happy.

I wish June 1st would hurry up and get here so I could figure out what I'm going to do. I'm spending too much time thinking about the upcoming board that will decide my fate. I have absolutely no control over it and should forget about it until Memorial Day. I know my record is mediocre at best, as I've never tried to blaze a trail. I also know slacker Lts that have won quarterly and annual awards. I've never won anything. Ever. I don't need a lot, just want Sam to go to a good school and don't want to work long hours and leave him with someone else anymore.

Sam's probably having fun today with Yago. I think I'll have to get out of here for a little bit to check on them. Have to make sure they're not doing anything too manly.

My Non-Blogging Self

I've been slacking on the blogging. I got my heat fixed so I haven't had much to gripe about lately. Mmm, hot showers.

Oh, here's something. I had the 50,000 miles maintenance done on my car. Almost €600! Holy crap. I still have to buy tires which is not easy unless I want to spent another €1,000. I called AAFES at 3:15 yesterday afternoon and the guy put me on hold and forgot about me. I tried calling back and the phone was off the hook until they closed (4:00), at which point they were no longer answering. I was so mad. I'm still kind of irritated.

Sam's learning things I'm not too happy about. He called something Chinese the other day, as if it were derrogatory. Later, he said something about Jewish. He has no idea what either mean. I asked where he learned the words and he wasn't really able to answer me. Then a few days ago he asked if I knew that all people with brown skin were from Africa. What? He's aware we're white, I liked it more when he was completely unaware that we had white skin.

Feier?

Anyone know how to say Fire! in German? Here's a picture of Zephyr trying ridiculously hard to light 33 candles. I went out and ran a few errands while she finished up. It was no easy task!

The Heat is on

Yea!! I went to the housing office this morning and they got a repairman to come out and fix my thingy-ma-bob! I'm so happy. I warmed up and celebrated with a pint of strawberry ice cream and now I'm cold again. There's no off position on the ol' genius switch. More good news, Sam gets to have a bath tonight. I have two minutes until I gotta leave for the bus stop so I'll sum up my weekend with one word... miserable. I don't know how poor people live like that. Jeezy creezy.

What Else?

I came home from work and it's freezing in my apartment. It's only about 40 degrees outside and I have no heat or hot water. I have no idea why and of course the housing office won't be open until Monday. I'll have to go to the housing office because those punks NEVER answer their phones or return calls so that'll be awesome too.

We're going to spend the next 2 1/2 days shivering and showering at the gym. What the heck? Why does this always happen to me? I'm irritated and cold.

Before and After

This is me before and after my phone call last night. Thank you.

I'm working on the holiday, kind of sucks because there isn't anything to do. I'm not really too ambitious either. I have the weekend off and I don't know what to do with myself. I'd like to get out and do something though. I guess I could try to ride bikes with Sam if the weather is okay. Maybe I could finally drive to Switzerland although I don't feel like spending the whole day lost in my car. Maybe not a good idea. We'll see.

Holy Smokes

This was the view from my computer desk this morning. The picture doesn't capture the rate at which the smoke was billowing out. It stopped as suddenly as it started. I thought at first maybe we'd gotten a new pope or something.

St. Martin's Walk

For those who don't know the story I'll explain. I didn't know the story until Sam came home and told me... St. Martin was riding through town on horseback one cold night. He saw a woman who was cold and didn't have a cloak, he cut off a piece of his cloak and gave it to her. I'm sure there's more to the story but that's all that Sam has explained to me.

Now, for some reason, German children walk through the streets with lanterns to celebrate the holiday. I went to Sam's class last week and helped him make a lantern out of an old Gatorade bottle and tissue paper. We all met at the school this evening and they handed out glow sticks to put in the "lanterns." Then we walked the streets behind someone on horseback playing the part of St. Martin. Sam was so preoccupied with the ribs I had promised we didn't even stay for the re-enactment. I was more disappointed than he was that we missed it. I don't understand where the lanterns fit in to the story!

It was pretty interesting and hopefully next year we'll stay for the whole thing and I'll figure out what it's all about. Anyway, here's a picture of Sam outside of school with his lantern. I got a picture of the horse but it didn't turn out well and I was sick of the guy next to me making fun of my picture-taking abilities so I quit trying. You try taking a picture of a moving horse in the dark with a big ol' delay waiting for the flash, asswipe.

When we went for ribs (they were out) Sam and I ran in to an old aquaintance we'd met last Halloween right after we'd PCSed. I was very surprised he remembered us but he did, even though Sam wasn't dressed as Spider-Man tonight. It was funny.

One last thing, I made an appt to get my tail light fixed. I did accomplish something today.

He Had a Bad Day

I picked Sam up at the bus stop and the chaperone walked off the bus with him because he was crying. Details are sketchy but he fell down on the bus at one of the stops and somehow hurt his ear. The chaperone said he wasn't obeying and wasn't sitting down. Sam says he was play fighting and Sean pushed him out of his seat when Sean got off the bus. He cried all the way home, I carried him and tried to soothe him.

He told me Thomas said I wasn't his friend. I only loved him, I wasn't his friend. I reassured him I am also his friend. (Even though any good parenting book will tell you not to be your child's friend.) Today was Spencer's last day, "He's moving back to America." Sean pushed him down.

Reminds me that life isn't easy just because you're 5 and don't have to pay bills or work for a difficult boss.

Tonight we're going to walk with his lantern for St. Martin's Day and then go for ribs. He's so excited about ribs I think it diminished the wear of the day. $9.95 is a small price to pay for that.

Killing Time

I have wasted my entire day here. I did learn how to say small she donkey in Pashto so maybe it wasn't all a waste. Not sure if I'm pronouncing it right though. Why would you put small she donkey on page 8? Wouldn't a thousand other words come in handy before that one, like maybe the numbers?

My man is far away and I've just been sitting staring at Outlook for hours. Lucky for me and unfortunate for him, he has jet lag and was up emailing me all night long. I can't wait until he comes back. We're supposed to get together over New Year's, can't wait for that either. It will surely be better than the last time I made plans.

Hurry back.

March of the Penguins

I really wanted to take Sam to see this movie but of course it's only showing two days and I have to work. It looks so cute.

At least I'm back on days. No more working with the incredible sleeping analyst. Well, not until December anyway. Trying to figure out what to do with myself for the next 8 hrs. There's nothing going on here. I should work some more on the Pashto but I can't figure out the alphabet and it's ticking me off. My old roommate told me that once you learn the alphabet it's easy. She had stuff hanging on the walls written in Farsi and it blew my mind that she could read it. I just need to hear the sound and see the character that goes with it but the online course doesn't do that. I bought a couple books but they aren't talking books so it's not really helping.

Trying not to think of my upcoming board that will decide my fate. My OPR that was due in June still isn't done so I don't have much faith that my supervisor will have my PRF ready in time. I'm going to be one broke person on Sep 29th. I should be thinking about where I'm going to go, FL or NE? What am I going to do to earn a living? I have no idea. In FL I'd probably work on being a Spanish teacher and in NE I'd probably try to get a job as a contractor again. I hated being a contractor though. Maybe I could get a job working for my brother-in-law at Long John's Silver. That way I could smuggle out some fish for my boy.

That reminds me, what am I going to make for dinner? I forgot to get anything out of the freezer. Fish sticks probably.

Wondie Undie

I went to Yago's house for the first time Thursday night. It was a surprise, as all my coworkers now know because I can keep my mouth shut almost as well as he can. I was expecting tv tray end tables and mismatched furniture. Nope, he's way ahead of me. (I don't even have the tv trays.) I really don't know what he's doing with a slug like me but whatever. I guess I'm okay with a guy that has a nice, clean, well-furnished house. So far the worst I've seen from him is he salts his cantaloupe, eww.

He's back in the states now going through a difficult time, I hope he's doing okay.

adontwana

Schmitty had his first exposure to a religious cult last Wed night. A friend from his soccer team invited him to A W A N A and I said sure. We got there and every kid had a little red vest with patches and gems and a matching bible bag. You have to complete tasks to earn patches, similar to scouts. I can only sum up the 1 1/2 hours as eye opening. I got to see small children stand up and recite bible verses, pledge allegiance to the bible (not kidding, one kid stands with the bible and the others put a hand their heart and say, "I pledge allegiance to the bible..."), chant something to the ADONTWANA flag. That's right, they have a flag. Before we left Schmitty wanted to know how to get a red vest like everyone else. Eek, avoid answering.

The best part was when I saw the little boy getting a page in his book signed off stating he brought a friend (Schmitty). My little buckaroo was nothing more than a patch on a vest.

I'm not opposed to religion in my boy's life. I want him to know about religion and catholicism. We go to mass, he goes to CCD and we always stop and say hello to Father Passamonti. But...I don't want Schmitty mindlessly memorizing bible verses without knowing what any of it means. He needs to question things, not blindly follow. Listening to a 6-yr-old recite a verse creeps me out.

Getting My Butt Kicked

So tonight I'm getting my butt kicked at work with this stupid exercise. I have a ton to do which is very unusual working nights. Luckily, I'm off for a couple days and then the exercise should be almost over.

I have finally found a redeeming quality in our Director. He knows who Eddie Izzard is and recognized him on my background. Quite shocked was I. (A little Yoda grammar for ya.)

I'm tired and grouchy so I don't have much to write. I think I'm going to miss Phil and Oprah this morning.

Duh...

All afternoon I've been tiptoeing around my apartment because I fell asleep on the couch this morning and had a dream that Zephyr came home. I saw her bedroom door closed when I woke up and assumed she was napping. Finally, an hour before she gets home, I got the nerve to push her door open a little and saw she's not here. I could have had the music blaring and vacuuming all afternoon. I'm a dummy.

I have to work tonight and I'm not looking forward to it at all. I don't know who my analyst is but I know who I don't want it to be. It's my last mid for a while though. Saturday I start working days until December. That means I'll be passed out in a chair everynight by 9:00. Also means I won't see The Daily Show for a month. It's on at 11:30 and that's way too late when you have to get up at 4:00.

Time to do some more laundry... I gave Sam one of my famous haircuts yesterday. He took it like a man.

Happy Halloween

It's Batman and Robin! I checked my mail again today right before it closed and my package was in! So happy. It was very amusing walking around and Sam loved it. My favorite part was getting gas at the Shoppette afterward and buying a six pack.

As I was putting on my costume Sam decided he wanted to be Robin and I could be Batman. I had to talk up his utility belt and the design of his cape. We decided being Batman was better. The best Halloween in my whole life.

Goals for the Day

1. Wash my bedding.
2. Organize Sam's bookshelf.
3. Clean Sam's room.
4. Clean my room (fat chance).
5. Clean floors.
6. File paperwork at CYS.
7. Make pork tenderloin for dinner.
8. Already forgot what I was going to buy at PXtra. Drawing pad for Sam and something else...
9. Get mail and scream that my costume didn't get here in time.
10. Call Volvo and make an appt for service.
11. Order tires at AAFES before one of them blows out on the Autobahn.
12. Peel myself away from email.
13. Perform some sort of exercise today.

Almost noon and haven't managed to complete a task yet. I blame #12.

Where's Mickity?

Mickity, I've been looking all over for you. I'm checking your blog, my blog, yago's blog about every 20 mins waiting for you. Where's the sharp humor and bitter anger? How am I supposed to get through my shift?

I called Sammy to say goodnight but he was already asleep. Zephyr woke him and he kind of grumbled through the conversation but managed to mumble, "I love you, too," a couple times. I bought him some books online and am pretty excited to read them with him later tonight.

While I was getting ready for work yesterday afternoon he came and sat in the bathroom. I finished and turned out the light as I went in to my bedroom. I saw him still sitting in the bathroom alone and went back to ask what he was doing. "I'm trying to talk to God in some peace and quiet. But you're in here now." Hmmm, should I chastise his tone? No, I'm too curious. "Oh, what are you saying to God? ...or is it private?" "It's private." "Okay..."

Yagopuchae is going to get up early this morning and driving two hours to take Sam to his soccer game. I am quite astonished, don't know what to make of it. Makes me think of my whiny ex that agreed to take Sam to the POW/MIA ceremony while I stood in the formation. He bailed at the last minute because it was hot outside. Mickity saved my bacon on that one, and missed the ceremony due to an ill-timed potty break. I think I'll keep the new man around as long as he wants to stay.