Was that the longest month ever or what?! High point: celebrating my three year anniversary with Husband. Low point: just about everything else.
By now, my adoring public should know that a month of no- or minimal-bloggage means only one thing: Submittal. Correct assessment. True to form, the engineers managed to amaze even this jaded individual with exactly how far behind schedule they could fall, and how little respect or regard they could show for the time, patience, and personal lives of people without an engineering degree (and in some cases, of people with one!) My head is pounding, my wrist aches, and I'm developing Smoker's Lips from how I keep mine pursed in frustration all day.
But the submittal is gone, with only one more to go, and since I had lots and lots of hours to burn since they won't pay me overtime, I took Friday off and gave myself not only two 3-day weekends in a row, but a 3-day week as well. Allow me to title the sum-up in alliteration.
Relaxation. The recycling truck woke me up pitifully early (since when do they recycle at 6:45 in the morning??) but that only ensured that I was awake and the bed was stripped when the mattress delivery people called to ask if an earlier delivery time was okay. So we got a new mattress, ending the threat of mornings in which I wake up with my shoulder locked way the hell up next to my ear and I look like Quasimodo staggering into work. Which I've done in the recent past. I also watched Bridget Jones's Diary for some mindless fluff, and enjoyed my directionless day immensely.
Reunion. On Saturday, I had lunch with Friend Leah, whom I hadn't seen since her 27th birthday in 2006, and we spent the vastly better part of 4 hours talking and catching up and taking up space in Sunflower Vegetarian Kitchen, and that was very much fun! I also got tapped to be her Maid of Honor in November! Hooray! And *blush!* I'd like to thank the Academy... I'm still all squishy inside over it.
Robbed. I also watched Atonement, which, might I add, was ROBBED for Best Picture last year. I saw No Country for Old Men, and while the Coens are still up to their old tricks, making deep and intense movies, I think I missed something. I got the morality play, and the predator-vs-prey aspect, and the right-vs-wrong aspect, and the fatalistic overtones. The scenery was stark, and the acting was good. But Atonement wiped the floor with it, I thought. Keira Knightley actually has talent (kudos to her for reminding us) (and holy crap I want that green dress!) (or at least one that would look good on me, but no one works in emerald anymore and they should!) (yet I digress), and James McAvoy is my latest obsession, and everyone played their part fantastically and the ending was chilling, startling,... and perfect, especially from a writer's perspective. I'll stop before I become a spoiler in case you haven't seen it too. But I haven't sent the DVD back to The Mighty Netflix yet because I think it needs another viewing to catch the nuances. After which, I may write a review in which I let loose the spoiler fury.
Redemption. On Sunday, I subjected Husband to my playing catch-up with this season's final three episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Last season was a complete shambles and I was not impressed at all with what I saw during the fall. Then the writer's strike hit and I lost track of most of the story lines and actually ended up deleting the episodes from Tivo because I had lost interest. For whatever reason, I saved these last three episodes and decided to use them as a barometer for next season: if I liked them, I'd stay on for the 2008-2009 season; if I was bored or hated them, I'd delete my Tivo season pass. Four hours(ish) later, survey says I'll be watching next season. Meredith grew a pair, which made me happy because I want to like her. The writers bolstered Callie's character, which made me happy because she's a hella-fun character. George developed a spine, which made me happy because he always gets shit on. Christina got props from the Chief and regenerated some confidence, which made me happy because Christina eats her fellow characters for breakfast. Bailey's marriage isn't dead yet, which made me happy because Bailey kicks ass. Izzie and Karev are a sorta-kinda thing again, which made me downright ecstatic (been waiting three years for that! Now if they can just work on giving her back the personality she had in Season One...) because Izzie used to be an interesting character, and Karev is hot (!!) and and still is an interesting character. However, as Friend Merideth pointed out, they need to lose Lexie. She's a failing character. She worked as a plot device last season, and she could have worked as a real live character. But it's like the writers didn't know what to do with her once she had served her dramatic-twist purpose. She isn't developed, she doesn't bring anything, her dialogue is annoying, and they're about to send George down another "stupid relationship" avenue (as in, it's stupid of him to be in this relationship) with her and... isn't that storyline dead by now? Can't you leave poor Georgie alone for just a little while?
This weekend I felt good, and genuinely relaxed, which was such a foreign sensation to me that I didn't know what to do with it most of the time. I shouldn't get too chill though: we're going into our final submittal, and it's the biggie. But after that, I'm changing jobs again. I don't care whether it's a multinational corporation or the Dollar General. I've got to get the hell out of here. This is ridiculous.
By now, my adoring public should know that a month of no- or minimal-bloggage means only one thing: Submittal. Correct assessment. True to form, the engineers managed to amaze even this jaded individual with exactly how far behind schedule they could fall, and how little respect or regard they could show for the time, patience, and personal lives of people without an engineering degree (and in some cases, of people with one!) My head is pounding, my wrist aches, and I'm developing Smoker's Lips from how I keep mine pursed in frustration all day.
But the submittal is gone, with only one more to go, and since I had lots and lots of hours to burn since they won't pay me overtime, I took Friday off and gave myself not only two 3-day weekends in a row, but a 3-day week as well. Allow me to title the sum-up in alliteration.
Relaxation. The recycling truck woke me up pitifully early (since when do they recycle at 6:45 in the morning??) but that only ensured that I was awake and the bed was stripped when the mattress delivery people called to ask if an earlier delivery time was okay. So we got a new mattress, ending the threat of mornings in which I wake up with my shoulder locked way the hell up next to my ear and I look like Quasimodo staggering into work. Which I've done in the recent past. I also watched Bridget Jones's Diary for some mindless fluff, and enjoyed my directionless day immensely.
Reunion. On Saturday, I had lunch with Friend Leah, whom I hadn't seen since her 27th birthday in 2006, and we spent the vastly better part of 4 hours talking and catching up and taking up space in Sunflower Vegetarian Kitchen, and that was very much fun! I also got tapped to be her Maid of Honor in November! Hooray! And *blush!* I'd like to thank the Academy... I'm still all squishy inside over it.
Robbed. I also watched Atonement, which, might I add, was ROBBED for Best Picture last year. I saw No Country for Old Men, and while the Coens are still up to their old tricks, making deep and intense movies, I think I missed something. I got the morality play, and the predator-vs-prey aspect, and the right-vs-wrong aspect, and the fatalistic overtones. The scenery was stark, and the acting was good. But Atonement wiped the floor with it, I thought. Keira Knightley actually has talent (kudos to her for reminding us) (and holy crap I want that green dress!) (or at least one that would look good on me, but no one works in emerald anymore and they should!) (yet I digress), and James McAvoy is my latest obsession, and everyone played their part fantastically and the ending was chilling, startling,... and perfect, especially from a writer's perspective. I'll stop before I become a spoiler in case you haven't seen it too. But I haven't sent the DVD back to The Mighty Netflix yet because I think it needs another viewing to catch the nuances. After which, I may write a review in which I let loose the spoiler fury.
Redemption. On Sunday, I subjected Husband to my playing catch-up with this season's final three episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Last season was a complete shambles and I was not impressed at all with what I saw during the fall. Then the writer's strike hit and I lost track of most of the story lines and actually ended up deleting the episodes from Tivo because I had lost interest. For whatever reason, I saved these last three episodes and decided to use them as a barometer for next season: if I liked them, I'd stay on for the 2008-2009 season; if I was bored or hated them, I'd delete my Tivo season pass. Four hours(ish) later, survey says I'll be watching next season. Meredith grew a pair, which made me happy because I want to like her. The writers bolstered Callie's character, which made me happy because she's a hella-fun character. George developed a spine, which made me happy because he always gets shit on. Christina got props from the Chief and regenerated some confidence, which made me happy because Christina eats her fellow characters for breakfast. Bailey's marriage isn't dead yet, which made me happy because Bailey kicks ass. Izzie and Karev are a sorta-kinda thing again, which made me downright ecstatic (been waiting three years for that! Now if they can just work on giving her back the personality she had in Season One...) because Izzie used to be an interesting character, and Karev is hot (!!) and and still is an interesting character. However, as Friend Merideth pointed out, they need to lose Lexie. She's a failing character. She worked as a plot device last season, and she could have worked as a real live character. But it's like the writers didn't know what to do with her once she had served her dramatic-twist purpose. She isn't developed, she doesn't bring anything, her dialogue is annoying, and they're about to send George down another "stupid relationship" avenue (as in, it's stupid of him to be in this relationship) with her and... isn't that storyline dead by now? Can't you leave poor Georgie alone for just a little while?
This weekend I felt good, and genuinely relaxed, which was such a foreign sensation to me that I didn't know what to do with it most of the time. I shouldn't get too chill though: we're going into our final submittal, and it's the biggie. But after that, I'm changing jobs again. I don't care whether it's a multinational corporation or the Dollar General. I've got to get the hell out of here. This is ridiculous.
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