Winter slipped in with little notice

I had yesterday off.  Today also.  But I was able to walk around and get some pictures.  For those of you who follow my life here or elsewhere you know I like to snap pictures.  I don't care if they are amazingly great pictures I just like snapping what I see.  This was one I found representative of where I live.  Winter mixes with the tropical bits and pieces that come up from beyond our country.  California was 'sub tropics' and here they can't even put the sub in front.  It's the tropics mostly.  We get exotic bits from other countries that escape from the zoos during hurricanes or are smuggled and dumped in the local glades deep in the night. 

This year flew by.  Not a bunch of good mostly sheer survival.  But I did survive.  Chaos is the new change and I keep my mouth shut and work.  I work too much but I have to say I have a wonderful safety net once I clock out.  I have friends and loved ones by my side.  I can text or call or just walk down the street to remember how cool other humans can me.  Work is to pay bills.  Life is what I do when not clocked in to work.  That said I still battle the changes that are being done without anyone asking if what they are doing is structurally sound.  Sucky but tis what tis.

I had a blessed year.  My family survived cancer and other assorted bumps in the road.  My friends survived other horrific things.  I was able to write and walk around and take pictures of the beauty that surrounds me.  I thank all of you for being my friends and taking time out of you lives to pop in and read if nothing else. 

For 2014 I wish the best to you and yours!

Oct? Really?

Okay, so I sucked blogging lately since I see my last post was Oct 25th.  My parents 55th wedding anniversary.  Brother and I got them dinner to a fancy restaurant mom loves.  She thanked me with a thank you note after thanking me on the phone.  Needless to say her birthday is Saturday and bro and I are repeating that gift.  She said to me, "Finally someone listened to me about what I wanted."  Noted!!!

Yeah I know picture is slanted but it was best I could do while taking picture inside with cell phone.

Another NaNo under my belt.  I barely was in forums but I liked what I wrote until the last week.  That's all been trash canned already.  I got at least 10 weeks of tale so I am happy. 

Just got car out of shop.  Ouch.  But needed.  Toyota cleared 80,000 miles so there were things that had to be done.  Happy days paid the bill in full and know that I am safer now.  Well as safe as you can be on the highways.

Work got even more interesting.  Came back from Thanksgiving to find the new 'lead' was fired.  He'd been shoved into the job when they demoted my lead.  She's now same level as me and took a $3.00 an hour pay cut.  She says it is all good.  Uhuh but she's over sixty so what else can she say?  That means heading into holidays with short staff and tons of vacations.  Joy ...

Hope you are all well.

Fall is falling

I didn't bother to crop this pic but I love this shot of local flora and fauna. 

The temperature dipped a bit here and everyone I see is wearing sweaters and boots.  It's mid-seventies???? hello...that is NOT cold.  Granted the local paper ran a nice little tale how once you are down south your body begins to shed off the 'comfort layer' (aka fat) and you get cold easier but come on...seventy is seriously not winter weather.  I've lived in icy regions and this isn't one. 

That said...it's nice to have a cool breeze and not have to shower twice a day.

Work is still horrific but now I am thinking...NaNoWriMo....a week away...am I going to cave?  I don't have Word on new laptop but a freeware program ...that said gremlins are chewing at my soul.

Fall slowly arriving

One of those odd studies came out this past week saying that rats found Oreo Cookies more favorable than cocaine or morphine.  Had they offered the rats pot first wasn't mentioned to explain the jonsing for cookies.  I didn't have any 'normal' Oreo cookies to picture but oddly enough the new vanilla ones...so there may be something to the story.

As my frequent readers know my life tends to flow in odd circles.  My co-workers die or get fired and as of Thursday get demoted and docked $3 an hour and given a month to become perfect.  Cap it off with a sudden call into a 'meeting' for me at nearly 5 on Friday to say I am not nice enough.  Nothing was said about the JOB I am PAID to do.  Just that I get snippy?  Anyone else find that totally stupid?
I already am privy to some of the changes coming up this week so I figure it is a preemptive strike in case I get upset.  I didn't do the stupid things that resulted in the changes causing these folks to be fired and demoted and actually warned the folks it was going to get ugly so I can't speak to that.  I was asked by one of the gals in the mix to head to HR and tell them how horrid my working environment was.  Ah, hello to the no?  I lived through more than one bad job.  Granted I need to add in that it didn't end well for any of the others who've done that in the past four months.  I like my job it pays my bills but this is pretty ugly.

This is the pretty side of my job.  The right hand side of the monopole cell tower my company owns has an osprey nest.  With the protection laws there is limited time to remove the nest.  They missed the window this year from what I heard and the Sprint network rents that platform and can't do any work on it.  You can't see but there are small green parrots called Quaker Birds here that were pelting us with seeds below.  I like that my company keeps track of nature.

October Falling around

With the current state of my job I am taking Fridays off when I get a chance.  This morning I actually went outside before dawn and went two blocks over to catch the sunrise.  Naturally I took a ton of pictures and peppered Sand with them as well as putting them in cyber.  The rest of the day I spent cleaning the house.  Yeah, silly me wasting such a gorgeous day inside - but I still have Saturday and Sunday!  Cleaning hardwood floors and the bathroom and kitchen takes time. 

Still don't think I am doing NaNo but then I've said that before and November first hits and I can't resist.  So we will see.  Until then let's see if that Tropical Storm is going to rain out the rest of my weekend.

Blue sort of day

Work is going along like work does.  It's not called 'fun' or 'play' now is it?  I actually caught up on a few chores that I rarely have time to do so I knew that something would happen to derail the buzz.

Then I saw the head of Finance (ie my bosses, bosses, boss...I think there may be another boss in there) coming down from upstairs where HR roosts to be more specific.  About ten minutes later two women from HR were closed door with our department manager for a while.  Naturally I knew something was up.  I was thinking that one of the middle level managers gave notice.  Sadly that wasn't the case.

The third person from my department to die.

Yup.  I've been with this company a little over three years and the core group of seven I started with are down drastically.  A few quit.  Now three have died.  Only one other guy and myself are left from a picture we took back in October 2010.  I am going to convert it and hopefully post here soon.  Still so weird.  Diane was fun and had a great sense of humor.  A cancer survivor and a sardonic lady.  She caught pneumonia and died last night.

This aging thing is really strange.  

So she's in the center and I am unable to rotate this fricken picture!!!

Friday the 13th pic

I found an Eagle or an Angel in the sky. Depends on your point of view.

Yom Kippur.  The day of atonement the beginning of a new year.

Lately my life has been more than a bit chaotic.  And for those of you who know me you realize that's an understatement.  My friend Suzanne and I decided today over wine and sushi in my backyard to consider this the beginning of a new year.  She had a rough few weeks as I did.  Some of my best decisions were made over sushi.

I keep trying to remember some of the nasty stuff that happens is 'character' building.  Or grist for the mill in a future tale.  Either way I am taking Monday off as 'vacation' day since I found out all of our vacation and sick days are disappearing as of December 31st and I have no desire to donate time to the company.

My current story in http://www.pikerpress.com is going well I just need MORE time to write. 

So humor for today.  I went to 7/11 to buy my lotto ticket for tonight's MegaLotto game.  My total purchase was $7.11.  The cashier selling the ticket was born on 7/11.  And Suzanne's child was 7 pounds 11 ounces.  Hopefully that is good.

Anyway.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

August leaving

Well it's been tumultuous to say the least.  Work has been a box of mixed messages tossed in with some extra notes just to screw with our heads.  As of today we have not been restructured like 'promised' in a meeting a few weeks ago.  It's nothing that I have any influence over nor any choice other than changing of jobs.  I like the folks I work with and actually do a good job.  Change is inevitable but then it's my choice how I handle it.  Right now I am cruising along and trying to see the sunsets and sunrises with a serene air.   Yeah we all know how that works out for me.  I feed the mosquitoes and end up mumbling things about how best to slaughter - my characters yeah - mumble.

Sister-in-law completed her third chemo treatment this week.  Her sister runs the 'family' blog and hadn't posted for over two weeks since saying my SIL was home from 'the spa' (the cute way they refer to going to the hospital and not being able to visit with anyone unless they are in a hazmat suit).  I nearly called my brother to find out what was going on but then figured bad news travels fast so she was probably okay. 

And speaking of bad news my cousin's husband passed away last night.  He was a cop in VA/DC area for decades when he got leukemia.  He had a long nasty battle and last night I was online and caught up with one of my other cousins so at least I heard it was likely before seeing my aunt's rather stark email this morning reporting his death.  Not that I hadn't already realized he was that ill it just is sucky news with breakfast. 

Long holiday weekend ahead.  We used to have challenges in Piker Press http://www.pikerpress.com with the theme 10K for Labor Day.  I don't see that happening but did get in a nice 1,100 words this morning that I liked.  I have some nice twists and curves in the road ahead for my character Emma that keep spilling onto the page. 

Hope you all are well.

Rain and expecting more rain

This was probably the last good sunset shot I got. Woke at O Dark to the sounds of rain pounding on the bedroom window pane (East facing side of house usually doesn't get much of anything).  Only drawback for all this rain is it really kicks the mosquitoes into overdrive and the humidity is pretty much 90%.

Last weekend had a 'pop up party' as a friend of mine wanted to introduce us to her latest boyfriend.  I sorta remember his name and took no pictures of him.  This is the third guy I've met in her life in past year.  They seem to have an expiration date from what I've observed.  This one seems nice but has more baggage than she needs given she's pulling around a two year old in her life.  He wants to 'take her all away' because he has a possible job in Nicaragua. Nicaragua where they don't speak English but Spanish.  Right smack dab between Honduras and Costa Rica.  That could be a tad bit of a challenge.  As all my friends showed up (some I invited others just found their way over) most of them agreed he wouldn't last a month and we had fun anyways.

Back to the grind.  Hope you all are doing well.

Dog days of Summer

Yes, this is the sky for most evenings.  Drizzly rain at times and then thunder accented by lightning and sudden downfalls.  August is hot and nasty so naturally the A/C shut off Wednesday.  I came home to nearly 90 degrees inside the house.  The landlord said it would be fixed on Thursday.  It was but late Thursday.  Two days of hot, muggy weather and I am exhausted.  Add in naturally I had to cook.  My friend's mother in her 90s passed last month so a group of us had a celebration of life party for her last night.  I was the volunteer for desserts. 

Cream puffs and eclairs - which thankfully I had baked the puffs on Tuesday - but had to whip the cream when I got home yesterday in only high 80s temp.  The bitch of it was I'd promised to make banana cream pie with meringue topping.  I had bought all the ingredients before I got home on Wednesday or I would have wiggled out of it.  So at 10 pm I baked the pie since it wasn't like I could sleep in that heat. 

Now the skies are filled with the dust of Africa.  Seriously.  The dust blows across the Atlantic Ocean and onto US soil.  Plus side is the fabulous sunrises and sunsets because of all the particles in the air.  Also pushed hurricane patterns away from us.  Major minus is my house was open and the pollen count is through the roof and most of my life.  *cough cough *

Work is still "peachy" (ie hard pit in the middle surrounded by rotting fruit).  Changes in the wind from everything I am hearing and seeing.  The mid August bonuses have been delayed which is causing more and more rumors to swirl. 

That's about all I have the energy for now.  I hope you are all well.

Into the Sun

What seems like a million years ago now on this day I was married.  I was lucky enough to find myself surrounded by family and friends who adored me and I adored.  The day before there had been a sudden downpour that soaked the lawn and gave rise to fears my wedding and reception were going to be a total wash out.  It was July in Southern California.  It really doesn't rain in July.  Have to love foreshadowing. 

Nobody protested at the proper point in the wedding so I found myself married.  The family reception back at my folks was a huge sprawling full house and most of the block party.  I was wearing a hand made silk dress that my Aunt had made for me in San Fransisco.  I had the traditional old, borrowed, new and blue.  I am told I was radiant.  Naturally tears happened at the reception.  I found out my other Aunt had a secret...her mother had just passed.  I loved her mom whole heartedly.  But still the reception went on.  I left with my groom and went off into the sunset to stay at a very nice upscale La Jolla hotel for the night. 

Life shortly there after went horribly sideways.  My groom had a few secrets of his own he'd kept involving his fondness for alcohol and drugs.  Four months later I was sobbing and out the door.  I didn't stop loving him I just didn't see how I could live with him.  We didn't part angry we just parted. 

Now and then I thought of him but not in any way that made me want to look him up or even find out if he was happy.  I had made my way in life and considered the 'starter' marriage as just that.  My folks still refer to the major reception afterwards as 'that hell of a party'.  Yesterday for some odd reason his name kept pushing into my brain.  His full name.  His birthday.  Stuff I hadn't even thought I remembered.  Lunch time I googled it just on a lark because today would have been an anniversary.  I expected to find links to a Facebook page with either tons of photos of his present day family - kids and such with a dog or a page full of rock and roll band stuff (we'd been in bands on and off during time together).  Even a link to a corporate professional site was playing through my mind.

Instead I found out he passed away October 2, 2005.  Eight years ago.  There was no mistake from the information I saw, his brother and sister mentioned and his various homes.  I hadn't a clue.  I still don't quite know what I am feeling. RIP my dear.  I hope you are safe at home.

July is just heating up for Hurricanes

Spectacular skies lately which also means there have been nasty thunderstorms and intense heat waves.  All adding into the weather brew for hurricanes.  This year maybe the year I have more experiences with the tropical storm pattern than the past.

Haven't talked much about work lately for a reason.  Put it this way plenty of vampire and werewolf fodder for my muse.  I've been here at this job over 3 years now and hate to give up some of the perks but those are getting few and far between.

New laptop is still very 'new' to me.  Windows 8 which seems to confuse people is rather intuitive if you have battled a 'smart' phone for a few years.  I know I won't use over half the functions on the computer but it runs.  Haven't bought Office anything yet but used Sand's recommendation of OfficeLibre??  Still quirky but was able to get my ep in for Monday.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July weekend. 

Wild weather and its sky

This is the sunsets I get with summer.  The heavy air and the impending thunderstorms gift these.

Sigh.

Change Change Change

Mentally I am hearing the song "Chain of fools" while remembering the movie "Michael" with John Travolta dancing with all the people whose lives he was going to directly 'change'.  I always thought that song rang more about change than chains...but then I am odd.

2013 has definitely fallen off the wall and well into that chaotic feeling of constant change.  The new work management style is very familiar.  About 1983 to be exact.  The micro managing style with rules for no rational reasons being imposed constantly.  That was big in the 80s.  As were padded shoulders and garish colored suits.  I'm waiting for that 'new rule' to show up next.  Part of the stress comes from changing rules and regulations that aren't coming from our HR department but emails sents willy-nilly to us poor slobs in the cubes.  They've hired many new folks - not to helps us in the cubes but to fill offices - aka more management.  Tomorrow brings about departmental cube moves.  Not like one or two of us but I think we are uprooting 25 folks in the next two days.  Happy Happy Joy Joy...NOT.

On the plus side?? No more overtime will be allowed (well, what given with all the new hires that money has to be pulled from somewhere) unless it's written in email well in advance.  That doesn't work so well for me.  I am not staying late to cover mistakes made by the changes. 

So this little worker bee will buzz along and find a new garden soon if this continues.  Well, after the hurricanes hit right?  No need to buzz off before free days off of work.  Right??  And yes I am predicting another series of hurricanes to directly change my corner of the globe.  I was right last year.....

Summer is a coming

Here on the coast there are afternoon showers nearly every day.  This week has gone above and beyond and given torrential rainstorms that last for a while.  Naturally knocking me offline and out of power on and off.  Nevertheless it gives me great shots and some writing time. 

I've heard comments that I take a lot of sky shots and such from Facebook family and friends.  There's a reason.  One of my friend's has a son who is dying by inches.  He has a severe case of MS and is allergic to most of the medications that can give him any relief or normalcy.  But every morning his dad puts up Facebook and looks at his family and friends pages.  I take pictures many times just for Nick Jr.  I saw Nick Sr last weekend and he said that his son still enjoys them.  Jr talks in mere whispers now if at all.  Heartbreaking.

Sunset

My cousin's husband makes comments about my pictures on Facebook all the time.  Mostly about how there always seems to be telephone lines and power lines in them.  I don't edit them out with any of the programs like photoshop and such like.  He wanted to know why there are so many here.  I told him they were for hurricanes to launch through cars, houses and assorted scenery.

Hurricane season is a week away.  I've not been 'in' one yet.  They have brushed pretty dang close but not hit us directly.  One of the big ones last season took most of the beach sand and part of the end of the newly refurbished pier.  Piers get hit pretty much first and that adds to the flying debris along the coast.

Getting some writing in but never as much as I'd like.  Part of the trouble with living in such a lovely place is I tend to go outside and walk or friends visit.  Lately it's been raining but that still gave me chores.  Weeds tend to spring up a foot tall overnight.  I planted my basic veggie garden last weekend but with all the pounding rains this week not sure how well it'll go.  90 plus degrees today so that ought to weed out the good from the bad on my tomatoes.  Creole, Early Girl and Big something - beefsteak hybrid I think.  A few peppers, chives, parsley and basil round out the space with marigolds in between to keep the bugs down.  Time will tell.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

April rains??? hello????

I'll drop the picture in later.  I am tired of fighting with computers.  Full moon has passed but dang if it hasn't still been bouncing around and interfering with my life.  I took Friday off as personal day because if I didn't I wouldn't be just writing about slaughter but in jail.  Work has been brutal and I know when to use my free money time.  5 or 6 hours of overtime every week and still treated less than dirt.  Enough said - no energy.

So my work polluted me and I was sick on and off with nasty scary illness bouncing between 100 and 101.6 degrees for fun. I think Dan mentioned having something like this a week ago...Dan...I get it...argghghghgh.

I did get garden started.  It was supposed to rain massively tonight so naturally not a drop.

Work this morning only 88 emails.  Most were okay but then the wheel turned and it went sideways.  Nothing to do with me being off Friday but stuff I didn't have anything to do with but had to deal.  Sigh.

Good news got some writing in and with weird nightmares over weekend some fun ahead.

Evening sky

This was taken a few nights ago.  The setting sun letting us know that the weather would turn soon.  It did.  The office BBQ happened without a hitch on Friday.  Of course we weren't paid for the time we had to spend outside 'being nice' to other departments.  The food wasn't bad but it wasn't anything particularly spectacular by my rather picky standards.  If you serve corn on the cob please cook it completely...maybe have butter, fake butter or even salt and pepper for anything you serve?  Slotted spoons for the oddly flavored baked beans (I think they dumped a half cup of liquid smoke in it).  The shredded beef was good, the chicken too dry and I didn't bother with the pork.  Sadly I did something I rarely do - I threw out food.  I have a hard core belief that is a bad thing to do.  No choice.  Inedible.  

The rain did come middle of Friday night and on and off on Saturday.  Sprinkles and threats today but nothing like promised.  It didn't matter.  My latest neighbor in the little compound of 4 units rents the efficiency on the shared wall of my place.  She was a quiet little Brazilian woman with 'no friends' when she house sat for the lifeguard who smoked out there (not kidding - I never walked past his side of the complex cause contact high possible).  Two days after she moved in she suddenly had an older boyfriend with two small boys.  Small noisy boys...in an efficiency!  Oh, who are in the pool all hours without supervision. 

I've had someone I know died by drowning I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  Here are two boys at risk!  They toss in the small fakey life preservers to the boys to play with - horrifying no?  This morning after the gal partied all day with her friends on Saturday the boys were out unsupervised before 8 am yelling and screaming.  So loudly I could hear them outside the backyard and on the street.  I am unhappy but love the rest of the area.  The good thing is eventually one of the many neighbors these screaming boys are waking up will call child protective services and report them.  In my state it is illegal for unmarried couples to have children living without their own rooms.  There are no 'rooms' in that small place.  The gal is a sweetie but still. 

Next weekend is the last weekend for my local farmer's market as it gets too hot during summer.  Summer has pretty much already hit so I don't blame them but still.  I loved walking across the bridge and bringing my recyclable bag and picking up veggies.

March Madness

Last month I did a few things outside writing, working and worrying.  The usual "W" things I tend to do, not necessarily in that order.  I went to the Renaissance Festival nearby with some friends.  We had a fun time.  One of my friends had never been to one before so she was more than surprised by the chaos that made up the day.  She also didn't understand how pirates and Vikings fit into the mixture but then she went with it after the first pirate swaggered up and pretended to be Captain Jack.  Pretty little boy dressed well who flirted madly with all the girls and women.  The Vikings had Raggedy Ann orange wigs and thankfully didn't bother with us.  She was mildly interested in the costumes until she found out that a little cute steel ribbed corset ran nearly 150 bucks and that was just one piece of costumes that seemed to have a half dozen or more pieces to be 'authentic'.  I think that explained the pirates rather well.

I've been to Renaissance Festivals in California, Nevada, Michigan and Florida.  They have gone from free and fun to progressively more and more spendy.  I was proud to get away with just buying entrance ticket and gyros for lunch ('ye olde' gyros?? so not Renn Fair foods of old - used to be turkey legs and meat pies along with lots and lots of beer.  The beer is still there but the food is like any state fair now just as pricey too).  I gathered most folks spend on average $100.  I don't think so.  There was nothing I needed that much.  At all.

But I wasn't able to catch all the oddities on camera like the lady who was dressed as a belly dancer and I wasn't sure if she was pregnant or just looked like mid second trimester carrying triplets.  The Vikings and pirates eluded me because I was too busy snickering.  But this was one of the 'entertainers' that wander through the fair.  I kept teasing our other friend she just found a new boyfriend.  She didn't swear at me because her 21 month old boy tends to repeat all the 'new words' mommy says. 

He walked on stilts and did puppetry stuff that included 'pooping' candy and toys out along with silly string used as urine.  Low humor to say the least.  Naturally the kids all love him.  I on the other hand walked faster.

Okay...time to write.  Just looking at this month knowing it soon will disappear in the rear view mirror.

Wandering through my dreams

Tangled groves of trees line the waterways around my work.  They seem to work their way through my dreams weaving and wandering with little notice until suddenly I am surrounded.  It helps my writing but doesn't do much for the sleep.

The chaos of work hasn't been getting any better but I am learning to compartmentalize it much better - in theory.  Until my dreams. And we still haven't had our department reviews that were supposed to be done last December at the latest.   Not making anyone happy and most folks are too scared to question authority.  Grrr.....

So it goes.

February and changes

I know changes are coming.  What with the supervisor being 'terminated' (the difference from 'fired' seems to be some sort of check given upon her accepting her new lack of job status) and all the new folks in the office it is just a matter of time before things go to hell in a rather sizable hand basket.  My department has been experiencing some major growing pains.  The company is 60% larger than it was a year ago.  We are nearing the 20,000 tower mark.  The last week of 2011 we got plastic placards with the 10,000 tower milestone.  That's a lot of towers. 

That said, we haven't hired anymore people in my area.  Nah, why when we will work overtime if we have to?  My team leader put her foot down and demanded someone to take on some of the overload.  We got a kid right out of college with an empty resume.  Sweet kid.  I think she may even be twenty-one but not positive.  We will probably break her. My company is good at that.  Raises and reviews have not happened yet due to various questionable reasons.  Mostly it seems they are too busy buying up more stuff to see that we get told how hard we work.  There was talk about a computer crash but the month before the excuse was too many other people were involved so that was causing delays.  The stories don't match up. But any and all raises would be retroactively paid.  So that is supposed to make us feel happier?

The annual outing for last year still hasn't happened (picnic in park three years ago, two years ago the mini cruise and last year more work).  It was supposed to be next week but that's been cancelled for now.  Seriously?  Just give us 50 - 100 gift cards and we will all grin!

My writing time is suffering because of all the overtime.  Next week I am carving time out however I have to.  I need to write!

Didn't even get time to dig up any new pictures from my camera so this is probably a recycled one below. 

Haunting dawn

Nights stream together with effortless stealth.  I am awake and wandering down just after dawn to watch the clouds roll in with the sunrise.  The beams stream into the ocean and the rains behind soon cover the day.

Time is flowing so quickly.  As if the past decades were merely a blink I find myself recalling the names of childhood friends and foes.  My writing is pushed aside to make money to simply make ends meet.  I push away that thought and focus on feeding my muse.  If nothing else the pictures speak to my soul.

Vacation day

First of my two vacation days I spent walking down to ocean before the rains returned - which they did.  I did some laundry and cleaning.  Put away things I had been meaning to 'get to' and built one of those cheap bookshelves that naturally had spare parts and holes drilled in the wrong spot.  Since I cover all the shelves immediately after building the thing I didn't care. 

Now sipping a Mondovi Chardonnay and getting ready to write for a bit.  Hope you all have had a wonderful day.

Madness I say...with picture

The framing of the end of another crazy day.

Thursday only a day away (does NOT sing it like a small red headed urchin)

Madness I say

So I went to drop a picture into this post and nope the functionality of that seems to be gone.

Sigh.

I have been polishing bits and pieces and sending to Sand at Piker Press but I am taking Thursday and Friday off this week and hopefully will get to slay some of my nightmares.  I need to.

I'll try to add picture later. 

Sigh.

Scary

So I just walked into the kitchen on our floor at work to find a styrofoam box on top of a toaster oven.  Helloooooo OVEN.....nobody there.  I carefully removed the melting box and put in the sink stunned at the stupidity.  No clue who nearly caused a fire but wow.

Enough said.

It was here somewhere

Yes it was....2012...then poof it was gone.

I don't talk much about work because it is unbelievable at times.  As you know my director passed away in July the weekend I was in California...so it wasn't my fault!  But seriously. The upheaval that resulted went from bad to truly bad.  After going through a few new employees that screwed up whenever possible the company finally hired a new set of supposedly good working folks.  Naturally right before the annual reviews - it froze the process for the whole division.  So here it is nearly half way through January and I personally haven't been reviewed much less given the position I was promised back in October - not fun.  But then neither have any of the other twenty or thirty people working in my area.

Add in that from the week of Thanksgiving on anywhere from one to three people in my team have been on vacation or sick and I tended to get the fun roll of 'helping'.  The past two weeks my lead was out on vacation creating even more stress.  Fun fun....so there were disasters after disasters that I had the joy of unraveling and assisting in the mopping up of the carnage.  The upshot of all this was I have been way behind in my own writing and reading schedule.  Grrrr...but at least I get a few snapshots in now and then. 

Happy New Year to all my friends and family.

2013...Looks like we made it

The setting sunset last night on 2012.  The night was filled with well lubricated humans tripping down the street.  I was naturally firmly ensconced inside the house on my couch watching the fireworks fill the sky from dusk til well after midnight.  No gunshots from what I heard this year.  I didn't get a chance to wander to the beach today like I'd intended to get a snap or three of the ocean but I still had fun.

2012 was a fast-paced hectic year.  Many people joked about the Mayan doomsday clock and I am pretty sure a few were really waiting for the world to explode.  In some ways it did.  Small slices at the fabric of our society that concern me.  But there is nothing I can change other than being the best I can and hoping others will do the same.  The only way the world will change off the seemingly self-destructive pathway is for folks to to begin to share love and kindness.  Stop the harm at a personal level basically.

Oh, and I know I have probably only a half dozen folks reading my site but every little bit...helps.

I am trying to keep on that pathway of being an understanding human being for 2013 and as of today it was good.  I met up with some friends that had been out of my world for a few months and had a great meal and laughed ever so much.  Laughter is truly a gift.  I wish you all the best in 2013.