I spent this afternoon at a wedding reception. Since I didn’t know how long it would last or if people would want to do anything afterwards, I left myself the rest of the day free.

 A free Saturday.

 There was a mountain of temptation to sneak off to Six Flaggs or Cherokee Park, but instead I decided it was high time to get my office unpacked. I end up writing from my comfy living room chair most of the time. Sometimes, if I want to avoid interruption, it’s good to have a closeable door.

I’ve cleaned the living room of crap, repaired the broken drawer on my desk, and unpacked another dozen boxes I’d allowed myself to work around for the last few months. It’s good to have a functional office again. Heck, if you ignore the carpets this place feels downright presentable right now.

Maybe I should experiment with more of this “unscheduled” time.

There are a lot of other things I ought to do tonight, but while Chaz and Shannon play Guitar Hero, I’m catching up on some blogging. I really need to consolidate these things. I never meant to have half a dozen.

On the good news front, I was invited to do a quick spot of guest blogging at The Big Picture. It’s not my best work as it felt a little stale writing about Indiana Jones so long after seeing the movie. Nevertheless, do feel free to abuse their comments by showering me with inordinate praise. Mayhap they’ll invite me back in the future.

After a craptastic day at work, I’m feeling more relaxed tonight than I have in weeks. I’ve been worried about how I was going to achieve that vaunted work/life balance I hear praised so highly. I’m the first salesperson into my office every morning. It’s not uncommon for me to work through lunch. I’ve been so damn determined to impress the hell out of my boss.

Today, I faced the realization that’s never going to happen. Luckily, it’s not my fault. He put himself in a bad situation which I suspect may leave him homeless & royally screwed in the next few years. This gets taken out on his employees, who he blames for his poor decisions. The last I heard, I was exceeding my benchmarks. This morning, I was flabbergasted by a set of personal attacks culminating with him saying I’m so incompetant he expects me to quit. (Incidentally, every salesperson he hired has quit in one year. He doesn’t see working with him as the one think they all have in common.) The rest of my office shrugged his tirade off. He gets in a mood sometimes, they said. Take everything he says with a grain of salt, they said. Learn to work around him, just like the rest of us.

I’ve been under tremendous stress trying to live up to his expectations. I haven’t left myself a lot of time for anything other than work. After my coworkers assured me this kind of treatment is his idea of motivation, the weight of all that pressure evaporated. It was an amazing feeling. I honestly didn’t realize how much I’d let work absorb me. With the right attitude, he could’ve harnessed my energies to make him a heck of a lot of money. Instead, he’s created another indifferent worker drone.

So tonight, instead of the usual stress and extra product study, I’m kicking back with some gaming and music. Okay, gaming, music, and a brief rant. Hopefully, you’ll be hearing a lot more about friends & family than work in the near future. I can thank my boss for one thing. He reminded me what’s important.

But I never would have guessed that it would still be around after the apocalypse.

A wave of lust hit me when I read about the new solid state Eee PC’s. They’re small, they’re cheap, and they’ll fit in a handbag. Oh, the shiny. All sorts of happy potentials danced in my brain until I was bitch slapped by a shocking realization. If the iPhone 2 really does have enterprise level features, all I need is a bluetooth keyboard and it’ll have everything I want in an ultraportable computer for a fraction the price and size.

I love my phone.

Because I fell asleep in the middle of the movie. I had a grand time before hand. Rum, costumes, rum, a caricature artist, rum, teaching small children to use a whip, and a bucket of rum. Alas, somewhere between bickering in trucks and the final credits, I found myself in a land of adventure wherein Marion rescued Indiana from falling into a pit of spikes outside the Tomb of Gilgamesh. As they descended into the bowels of the temple, some private secrets were revealed (none of which involved Shia LeBouf), several traps were cleverly disabled, and they were about to open the actual sarcophagus … when I was rudely elbowed back to wakey land.

Meanwhile, everyone else saw a bad remake of Cocoon.

My Indy was better.

June 7 - 8
Jello Wars / Boardgames Meetup
 
June 14
Jason & Laura’s Wedding
 
June 20 - 22
Chaz & Chris Rachael’s anniversary - we’ll be out of town
 
June 27 - 29
Origins?
 
July 4 - 6
Fireworks Xtravaganza
 
July 11 - 13
Boardgames Meetup
 
July 18 - 20
KY Ren Faire
 
July 25 - 27
CR Out of Town - you guys party down with Chaz
 
August 1 - 3
Open - POSSIBLE COMMUNAL AUGUST BIRTHDAY PARTY?
 
August 8 - 10
Boardgames Meetup
CR Out of Town (Business Training)
 
August 15 - 17
GenCon? 
 
August 22 - 24
Chaz’s Birthday Party - stay tuned!
 
August 29 - 31
DragonCon

Screw flying cars. I want my anti-sleep pills.

We pulled into town at 2:30 this morning after a festive weekend in Atlanta. Yes, we’d originally planned a trip to Chicago. HOORAY FOR SPONTANAITY! I was up again at 7:00. That’s less than five hours later. Now, I’m still adapting to this “waking up in the morning” nonsense. It was nice to see 2:30 again. I’ve missed it. Seven, though, is an hour I could go my entire life without ever visiting. EVER, I tell you!

Someday, my subject and predicate friends will snuggle up close and make happy sentence babies together. Tonight, though, I’m going to bed early so I can rise at an hour only fit for the undead. Lo shall I feast on the brains of my coworkers! Surely that’ll wake me up. Somewhere I read that a live human brain has about the same consistency as room temperature butter. I wonder if it spreads well on garlic bread?

Suffice it to say I’m going to bed early. Lucid writing can wait until tomorrow.

We planned on visiting Chicago this weekend. However, it’s gorgeous here. Chaz couldn’t bring himself to give up beautiful weather for something cold and windy. Instead, we’re heading south to Atlanta. It’s time to check out the neigh infamous Atlanta Ren Faire. Afterwards, dancing. Chaz already found a bar advertising a 32 oz bucket of rum.

Muskogee, OK just elected a 19 year old college student for mayor. That’s about a 45 minute drive from my dad’s home in Tahlequah. I know the life expectancy in rural Oklahoma is a lot lower than the national average, but geez, this is taking it to extremes.