Oy Vey

The smell of fried oil in my office is starting to make me queasy.

I can't decide if my aversion to everyone's disgusting habits is a product of my being overly attuned to what's going on around me or if my superhuman powers of scent and hearing aren't my fault.

So...

I'd write more if I had a laptop. What with the straddling the two jobs it's been difficult to find spare time (at work - where my only internet access comes from) to write. I'm putting laptop (or netbook, as I've been informed I should invest in that direction) on the top of the list for my tax return. It's about time I had a computer and internet access at home and raised my techonological age to about ten (almost pubescent!). I really love that word, "pubescent."
So, yes. I'm transitioning into the new position nicely. Finally started actually doing stuff pertaining to the new job, instead of interim/sort-of-but-not-really work. And I'm glad for that.
My holidays were good. Some parts of it even great, I'd say. I spent a lot of time with people that I love, that love me, that have a positive influence in my life.
I have goals for this year that pretty much involve that - doing new things, meeting new people, cultivating new relationships, making time for those who are already important to me, and no longer sweating those who aren't. It sounds easy. We'll see, I suppose.
Anyway. Today was a good day. Today I felt better than I have in a while. A little bit of sunshine. A ray of hope through the 10 degree clouds we've been having. I don't know where this optimism has come from (maybe the pounds I've gained over the aforementioned holidays?), but I'm grateful for it (the optimism, anyway).

The New New New

I haven't said much about it (with the exception of a few people), but I applied for a different position within my company last month. Wednesday they informed me that I got the job. I started training this morning.

Whew. A lot more emailing goes into label copy than I realized. I'm excited. And nervous. And ready to put my brain to new tasks and information.

I've been at my current company for four years now, doing the same thing in the same position. And while I'm pretty good at it, I decided back in September that it was time for a change. I mean, I've changed everything else in my life over the past six months, why not this area too?

So. Here I go. Wish me luck.

Turns Out

That I'm an idiot. The perfume was coming from my new shirt. Which had been enclosed in a gift box with a sample scent prior to my wearing it. No wonder I couldn't get away from the smell. Ha.

Perfumania

There are too many scented people in my office today. I think that they are trying to kill me. I'm getting a headache from the competing sweets and florals. Gah.

Don't Do This

Um...so if you see your bowl of 1+ week-old black beans sitting innocently in their bowl in the work fridge, don't, under any circumstances, dump them into the garbage disposal. Should you follow this unsuspecting path, you will, instead of trapping the sulfuric (read: fart) smell of the beans into the pipes, be spreading it out into the office. It will take about 2.5 minutes for the entire floor to start muttering about the awful smell and wondering aloud about its origin. It will seep its stinky way into the offices at the other end of the building. People coming from other floors will ask in disgust, "What is that awful smell?"
You will be forced to confess that you are its origin. This is not the kind of shame that you want to subject yourself to. Take it from me.
In attempts to cover up your shame, some co-workers might spray Oust and Febreze into the atmosphere, which instead of making the smell better, simply give you a headache on top of the sewage smell. Oh, happy day.
Diffusion* took no time to humiliate me, but is taking its sweet time in remedying the 1st floor stink.
Don't do it.

*Movement of a fluid from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. Thank you, Mrs. Royal, 10th grade biology.

I'm a...

Yep. That's me. Chickened out on the cardio kickboxing class. I had several excuses, the first of which being my heinous gas and the second, and most compelling, that my boyfriend was at home waiting for me and promised we could make quesadillas together. So no, I can't report on the ass-kicking I got from the exercise class, or say that I've finally conquered my fears of public, synchronized exercise. Maybe next week?

But my quesadillas did turn out deliciously, and we watched the season finale of The Office, which was quite entertaining. I'll take an hour of Jim Halpert any day of my life. It was a good episode. They managed to bring back a little of that bittersweet twinge that used to be found in every single episode. I like how everything's been going well for Jim and Pam, but I knew it couldn't last. Also, how about this new Holly character? And Dwight's comment at the end? I can't wait for next season. And uh, God, I love the summer, but I hate summer programming, all the more reason to join that exercise class.

Disappearing Knife Trick

I put the dishes away this morning, at work, which sometimes pisses me off when I think about how some people here don't do it at all and just leave it to others to take care of things that they use just as much as anyone else. But ooh, let's not get me started on that one. The point is that I noticed our knives are disappearing. We used to have a lot. Today we had two. It's been kind of an issue with all of our silverware for the last few months.
Today it made me wonder whether people are hoarding them now that they've noticed our supply is shrinking, like the gas shortage in the 70's. I can just see people furtively hiding "their" knife in their desk drawers for future use. If only I'd used this method to remain in possession of my cool Starbucks mug, which disappeared after 1.5 weeks here in the office. And no one will fess up to stealing it, even though I know that's what happened.