I typically work 6 to 2:30, so I'm home when the kids get out of school. When I need to put in OT, I come in at 5.

Aunt Flo - *heeee*, I haven't heard that term in a long time. Though am all to familiar with her presence right now.

I need more tea.

Laura, are you around? In which part of Florida do you live?

SE Florida. Alas, quite a long way from Tampa, about 4 hours. Good for me because I wouldn't want to live in Tampa, but sad making that I won't be able to hook up with your DH.

It might be quiet in here because I'm trying to work. I'm restricting my board visiting until I tackle some more of The List.

UGH.

I just cannot even handle the amount of dysfunction at work with my mother. I forget sometimes, because she's very good at deflecting attention to it. But I just want to rinse my mouth with soap, sterilize my memories, knock myself unconcious till amnesia sets in, run away to another country and never talk to them again.

What set this off was a very small issue, but it's opened stuff up and is just reducing me into tears right now.

Right. Time to sell some cards. We got into Magic at Day One, and we've got some Alphas kicking around. I wonder where our Twiddle and the Moxes are.

Ugh is right Nora. I'm sorry you are dealing with stuff today. You do run away tomorrow, right?

You do run away tomorrow, right?

t perks up

You're RIGHT! Damn, you're good.

(comes in thread, begins to juggle, drops tennis balls) Crap. I can't even do that on the internets. Dag. But that was a little entertaining, right? We watched "Black on Broadway" last night. I am never pissed off at all by Lewis Black standards...we both love him in the longer, f-bomb format...feeling happy and healthy today, but may never drink Aguafina ever ever again.

I love my office right now.

Every other Friday they have "Payday Socials" which basically means beer in the conference room at 4:30. Well, as mentioned, I leave at 2:30 so I miss these gatherings.

Today, they switched it up to "Payday Breakfast" in the conference room right next to me. There are bagels, a variety of spreads, cereal, bananas, cut fruit, juice, various flavors of coffee, orange juice - and other stuff. Nice way to kill some time and fill up the tummy.....

Timelies, Bitches! Our union is voting on an offer from the U. today -- the email messages (Vote YES! Vote NO!) are making me crazier (than I usually am) and I still don't know how to vote. I want to vote no because the offer is an insult (okay, really, I want to slap the motherfuckers that made the offer), but more negotiations aren't going to get us anything if history is anything to go by. If I vote yes, the email messages will stop.

I just cannot even handle the amount of dysfunction at work with my mother

Oh, Nora. I totally, TOTALLY get that.

Everything that's going on with my granddad is stirring up deep, deep-rooted dysfunction in the larger extended family and everything is just sort of going to hell while I watch. My mom and non-caretaker!aunt (as well as my dad and uncle [non-caretaker!aunt's DH]) have hated Grandpa for decades, because of what an alcoholic bastard he was when the girls were growing up. Though as Grandpa got older and more senile, the hatred kind of evaporated and just turned into pity. But certainly not love.

So they don't want to deal with him now. Which is understandable.

It's pinged my own dysfunction in non-Granddad-related ways (I have no bad history with him) that I didn't even recognize until this morning, when I dug out a 20-year-old Violent Femmes cassette to listen to in the car on the way to work. (That tape, of course, being the Teenage Fuck Off! Rebellion tape I blasted constantly when I was 14-17 and needed to get my rebellion on.) I feel 14 again, like I have to take care of things because my irresponsible family -- the "adults" -- won't deal. I didn't make the connection until a few songs into the tape. I just woke up this morning inexplicably needing to listen to the Violent Femmes.

Well, YEAH. If I'm going to drag the dysfunction out of the mothballs, it needs the authentic soundtrack.

Though now that I've recognized what my lizard brain is doing, I feel much better, and I can reason it through. I'm NOT 14 any more, and I'm not responsible for my damn family. So there!

And the Femmes still rock.