Last week

Last week was rough. Walking into the office Monday morning, I knew of one big project I had to take care of. Much to my shock, there were about twenty jobs in front of it. At that moment, I knew I might have to rearrange my holiday plans.

As I got further along and more jobs got in my way, I decided to go ahead and abbreviate my holiday plans and skip the trip to Little Rock, opting to only go to Alma for the day and drive back home to work the rest of the weekend.

It was Tuesday afternoon before I even got onto the big project. I stayed a couple hours late that night, but burn-out was setting in. I went home, cooked some dinner, cleaned house a bit, got some rest and jumped back on it Wednesday morning. I worked my ass off, and still only managed to get about a third of the work done on the big project.

I arranged a meeting with my boss Wednesday afternoon to assess what I needed (or if I needed to do) this weekend. By the time this meeting came around, I was pissed. I had just crammed a week's worth of work into three days. This has been a bit of a trend the past few months. I haven't been able to work longer hours because of tight deadlines...a lot of due-at-end-of-day stuff. So, instead, I've been working harder hours; getting the same amount of work done without the benefit of overtime.

I talked to my boss, and explained my frustration over the matter. I told him I was going to take three days off for the holiday and I'd come in on Sunday for a bit. I also took the opportunity to tell him that I would like some time off at some point. I had four or five days of vacation left over from last year that I can't use and won't be compensated for. The last day of vacation I took was one day back in August, and even then I had to come in for a couple hours. I pleaded my case for a raise without mentioning the word itself, much less the fact that I haven't had one in close to two years. After that chat, I clocked out and went home.

I went to see a late show of Enchanted with some friends on Wednesday night. A welcome distraction and a pretty decent flick, particularly coming from Disney. Plus, it had Amy Adams in it, on whom my crush may be bordering on creepy restraining order territory. She's so pretty...

...Wait, were was I? Oh, yeah, reality.

I kept to my plan to just do the one family thing on Thursday. I felt like such an asshole for doing so, but I had my reasons: A) I'm trying to save up for a new car, and spending close to $150 in gas wasn't gonna help me with that goal. B) With as pissed as I was about my job, I didn't want to vent to my family about it and the only consolation I get is another plea to move down there and live with them. And C) I just wasn't in the holiday mood, and desperately needed some alone time.

Friday was a simple, shower-free day at home. My only venturing out was to pick up cat food and groceries and a DVD and coffee at Borders. Pathetic as it sounds, getting drunk alone on a Friday night watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 was an enjoyable experience.

Saturday was starting to be another day at home, but I got an invitation to the Jazz Depot for Annie Ellicott and Erin Austin. Great show, great music, good times, noodle salad. I noticed a woman hanging around the bar there that looked really familiar. It took me a little while to figure it out, and it hit me: She was one of the artists signed up for my show. I talked to her for a bit before I left to go to a party I had heard about earlier. I went to that party for all of ten minutes, where, oddly enough, I wound up meeting a couple more of the artists that had signed up for my show. Apparently, people have been doing a bit of talking about this show, and I'm a budding celebrity as a result. Feels kinda nice.

I was at the party so briefly because my friend who asked me to come was heading over to Caz's. I finished the night up there, getting a good little buzz, letting it subside and went home to get some sleep. I slept in this morning, went into the office for a bit and now I'm back home. There may be some hell to pay tomorrow morning, but I'll be at least more rested.