Let it out, baby.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Answers

My boyfriend is pissing me off!

We take turns going straight home to take care of *our* puppy and last night was his turn. He wasn't as lucky as I was the night before and he found a huge mess. Puppy is not feeling well and has diarrhea and went all over herself and the bathroom.

He was *mad* at her about it, like it was her fault. And he felt the need to yell at me about it the minute I got home. She's a puppy, it's not her fault that she's sick. He was mad that he had to clean it up.

What's he going to do when it's a baby?

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Let's see, I have this dopey colleague who has been following me around all day, wanting me to explain in the finest detail why I think 'The Mummy' is a piece of shit. No matter what I say or do, he just won't quit. I thought about killing him, slowly and painfully, but that won't help - the guy is into John Woo movies, you see? And the fact is, he'll probably be coming after me again when I catch my train home tonight.

But you, dear Xeney, brightened my day - I'm a fan, I've been missing you and I'm glad your site is back. Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do to catch up. So thanks very very much. Bet you never thought a guy from the Netherlands would find the stuff you write so captivating. ;-)

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Well, my mom's coming out to visit a week from Friday, and she's going to be here for 10 days. That's not what is pissing me off, however. What's pissing me off is that my best friend, David, has decided to take a week's vacation RIGHT BEFORE she gets here. I was counting on him not only for emotional support, but also to help me run errands (he has a car, I don't) etc. He's coming back 2 days after she arrives.

I had just gotten over most of my anger at him for deciding to do this (I know, I'm just being a baby) when I find out that pretty much the rest of the people I'm close to and was counting on to hang out with have decided to take long-weekend vacations both this weekend and next. I'm not so much mad about this as bummed. Not only do I not get to go on a cool camping/canoeing trip, but I won't have anyone here to hang out with to help divert my tendency to worry myself into a fit.

ARGH.

The most depressing thing is that this just reminds me that I don't have anyone in my life who will stand by me when I'm stressed like this. David had SAID he'd be here to help me when Mom arrived, but retracted that offer when another friend needed a 12 hour ride back home (thus the impromptu vacation). I hate not being able to count on people. And I hate the resentment this breeds.

Well, maybe I'll get some writing done, finally, if I can stop worryiing long enough to sit down and do so.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

I'm all grouchy because Pat's sister and her kids are coming today to stay overnight with us after a day at the amusement park. And he was all, we'd better get some food to have for them. I'm like, why don't we eat out? He looks at me like I'm crazy. I look at him like =he's= crazy. Isn't eating out just more fun and more convenient and better in every way?

Nope, he doesn't agree. He gets on his little bike and rides over to return some movies and buys some chicken. He thinks he'll do some chicken on skewers on the BBQ. This, irrationally, fills me with irritation because although he does nearly all the cooking, I always feel like he secretly resents me not helping. And doing BBQ always seems like a big nuisance to me, much more than just microwaving something.

So we get into a big discussion of this and how when he BBQd dinner on Saturday, I was convinced he was irritated at me because he took a book outside and sat with it, and then when we ate he seemed sort of cranky. He says he wasn't, and I guess I have to believe him.

but I still don't want to help him cook. Let's go out.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Beth,

I'm one of the drivers that wait for the pedestrians crossing the street (I swear I am!) while I'm getting honked at by the idiots behind me. That AM/PM intersection is madness and all I have to say about today's entry is ...amen sister! oh and happy belated bday!

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

My sister-in-law who doesn't want to drop off my mother-in-law's car (my mother-in-law rocks, and is lending me her car for 2 weeks while she's away) because IT WOULD BE INCONVENIENT. Well, sure, it's inconvenient... but we just spent ten days housesitting and looking after her goldarn still-a-puppy-but-big-as-an-adult BORDER COLLIE / SAINT BERNARD mix. Out of the goodness of our hearts. And she can't be bothered to inconvenience herself. Nevermind that I got up at 4 am every frickin' morning so the dumb (lovable) dog wouldn't piss on her carpets.

Sigh.

I feel better now.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Gotta let it all out Beth. It's the only way to stay sane. Oh, and avoid an ulcer attack.

Better than Valium!!

Long live the venomous rant.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Ha ha, the nephews wanted pizza so we had it while the grownups had the BBQd chicken that smelled funny.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999

the weather is pissing me off... if i see one more flake of that cold white stuff here today i am packing up and moving to florida!!!!!!!!!!!!

we got 30 cms yesterday on top of freezing rain and ice pellets and i shovelled my deck, my stairs, path to driveway, pathway into clinic at least 6 times each, scraped my truck off 4 times, and trudged through slush til i was so wet and cold i couldn't warm up. then to add insult to injury, save for a short break to let the dogs out i had to work all day (12 hours) cause some of the staff were snowbound and couldn't make it in/had to go home early...

Grrrrr!!!

thank doG for my canine kids! we all sat around last night in pyjamas (me) and puppy beds (all 7 of them) and watched da vinci's inquest and queer as folk until i had calmed down enough to finally get some sleep.

f%$k i hate winter!!!

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

Work. (ha!) Sunday, I started developing a bad cold... the kind I tell everyone at work to stay home if they have, because I don't want it.

But I have to go in Monday, because there's this Very Important Travel I need to arrange, that absolutely MUST be done on Monday. (This was stressed to me on Friday)

Arranging government travel means: 1. Figure out who the security point of contact is where they are going - get their name, number and fax. Chase down my own people to get them to tell me who they're going to see, and why. I have a form for them to fill out for this, but they never do until I beat them over the head with it. Once I have all this info, I then fill out a form for our security people with this info so they can send clearances to the other location. All security people want a five day turn around for getting these set up.

2. Reserve flights, rental cars and hotels. But before reserving a hotel (that is within government per diem rates), call the nearest base temporary quarters to see if they have a room. No matter where it is, that call is going to involve a minimum of an hours worth of redials trying to get past a busy signal, and dealing with some 1- striper who doesn't know anything once I do. If quarters are not available, I can go hunt for a civilian hotel. If they ARE available, and we have a contractor going as well as a gov't guy, it gets sticky... we have to do up a memo from our contracts office to the BOQ saying that the contractor is authorized to stay there by the government. (Tack on an hour or two of chasing her down for the letter, if she's in that day) Once the letter is faxed to them, call them back (more time trying to get past the busy signal) to make the reservations. No, our contracts officer will NOT create the letter until after availablity at the BOQ in question has been determined, nor will she write an open letter authorizing them to stay at BOQs as needed.

3. After I have all the reservations made, I fill out a travel request form, listing all this info, and take it down the hall, where it must be approved by our director, and then sent out with the courier to go up to Crystal City where our finance office is located. They do whatever it is they do at that point, and send back orders and plane tickets with the courier. How much time this takes depends on whether I catch the courier immediately or have to let it sit a couple days, and also depends on how fast the finance office deals with it, and whether *they* catch the courier come back our way on time. It ranges from 4-10 days.

So that's the process, and I dragged my sorry ass in on Monday to do it so I could go home and crawl in bed. Except, suddenly they aren't sure if the dates they plan are the ones they want. And I can't do anything until I know about the dates.

So I come in yesterday, feeling even more sick and more under the gun... and still no word. "We'll let you know...no worries..."

Yesterday I told them that if I didn't have it by 8am this morning, they might as well forget it, because the orders would never get back on time.

And dragged my sick self back to work today, knowing I'd be making all those calls with a voice that now sounds like Buster the Bullfrog. and NOTHING. And still they insist they want it, and don't get the time involved... so I'll be back yet again tomorrow.

The worst of all this? Odds are high that after I get it all done, something will come up (like, one of them will get sick) and I'll have to cancel it all.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

Oh, let me count the ways...

I am attempting to take a class (which I may drop at any second) in which we make clothes for the fashion show in April. I have been telling the teacher since before the class started that I don't have a huge amount of time to work on this stuff (why I'm not registered in the class and may drop), and lord knows everyone else is rushed too, yet she INSISTS that at least four full outfits be due by the last day of classes so she can take off on vacation. No, we can't have finals week to work on them, even. Gah.

Then there's the models. Now last year when I did the fashion show, how it worked is people signed up and went around trying on outfits and wore what fit them already in the show. Yet the aforementioned teacher insists that those doing the outfit collection class all find our own models and make our clothes fit them so we can learn cooperation. I spent nearly $200 on this fabric, and I do NOT want the clothes I make to fit someone else so I can't wear them after the show. But can I say this to her without getting a lecture on what a selfish snot I am? Nooooooo.

And to top that all off, not one of my friends will actually be a goddamn model in the first place, and they certainly can't keep coming to the classes for two months beforehand just to model clothes for the teacher either, assuming they could determine if they could be in the show in February when the show is in April. I am so sick of hearing about "get the models" every week I could puke. If I drop out, it will be because I can't get any. Why the hell can't we just have a few folks who fit size 12 that signed up do it, I ask ya?

My other gripe is that last night's hanging out with one of my friends went very badly. I wrote him an e-mail about it and begged him to respond to it soon. He hasn't. I'm even more pissed.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

Ah yes, and how could I forget this: Aforementioned friend told me last night that he deliberately didn't invite me to his birthday party last weekend, which I would have really wanted to go to. He had his reasons and I'll admit that they were good ones (mainly that someone else he knows I don't like was going to be there and he figured if I heard this person was there I wouldn't go), but to completely keep it a secret from me altogether? Ow.

Then I find out that his other friend in this town WAS invited (hmm, and she's not that fond of that person either), and she, who normally tells me everything she hears out of said friend, didn't tell me either. My friends suck.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001