Juliebird, you need to channel your sternest teacher when the talking-over happens. Sit up straight, organize your paper or whatever, and say in that teacher voice "We're getting off track and need to focus on _____." Just keep repeating that until you've regained the floor.

Now, I grant this might be easy for me to do*, but if you have a script, you can use it as a mantra when the frustration mounts.

* as the head of the dev team, who is definitely senior to me, said at a party a couple weeks ago "Oh, but Sara is such a wallflower. Never can get a word out of her" and as I smiled demurely and batted my lashes, everyone cracked up and one of the new people was thoroughly confused. Yes, I've shut down one of his temper-tantrums (his wife was amazed I survived getting lost with him driving. I was all buh? Apparently they get into a lot of fights about directions. Shut up and drive worked for me.) Yes, I'm known to un-derailing meetings rather forcefully, but without drama. I don't have time for drama.

Oh god, that reminds me, next week is a 3 day in house conference. Same as Spain last year. Except the new team lead, omigod. He is the most rambling and easily diverted and oh god, his meeting just ...you remember those stupid Family Circus cartoons with the kids' wanderings? That is a meeting with him. I had the misfortune of a year+ of meeting with him on a project and holy hell, it wasn't herding cats. It was herding fleas. With a rake. In a windstorm. Mission head privately complimented me when they gave me an award on it for my 'ability to keep the XXX team on focus, it's not easily done and was a sight to behold...'

But I don't have a lot of pull on the agenda for the meeting this time, I'm there as a resource. It's going to be painful.

It's awkward, because that really should have been a one on one conversation between me and the DD, but another coworker broached the subject and I saw the opportunity to follow up where she (the DD) couldn't squirrel out. And then keyed-up coworker started mouthing off, and I just shut down. My brain melts, and I was actually mentally lost as to what was going on, what conversation we were having, and what I was supposed to be responding to. Keyed-up coworker then started laughingly asking why I was looking at her like that (I have no idea what look was on my face, hopefully it was poker-blank, as it was when the DD said I could make a sample of a workshop wardian case or flower arrangement to advertise our adult workshops. Oh, why, yes, thank you for finally inputting thoughts as to preparations for the Daffodil Festival two days prior to it happening, and oh yeah, we don't do those kind of workshops anymore, thanks for being aware of what is on offer at our organisation).

Just give yourself tools to deal with this sort of derailment that you can fall back on.

Yay money, flea? I hope it works out well for you.

ION: mmm, wine is tasty. There was a while there when I was not all that sure about fermented grape juice, but I have come back around. Ten year old Pinot Noir is good stuff.

I want wine!

I also have wine, but it's all the way in the other room.

(plus I've been trying not to drink much at home)

SO, no word on the job....BUT... a friend overheard an HR convo that was very positive about me and the position and it be " a new start for me". pleaseohpleaseohplease.

ION - tomorrow is my first 5K. I will walk most of it due to not running or even working out at ALL over the last month or 2. I will finish though.

GO YOU, MSBELLE.

The woman I've been trying to get in touch with since Wednesday emailed me at like 6. She wants to chat over the weekend. (This is for her work, but not mine.) @@

Thanks, sara.

I'm realizing more and more that the person I am livid with is the DD, and my coworker got the brunt of it, and I really need to apologize to her, because it wasn't her, but the situation, that was CAUSED by the Development Director who doesn't read her fracking emails and thereby forces me to communicate with her in inappropriate situations. I feel better now that I can more properly express myself when I do apologize, rather than "I was a dick and I don't know why, let's blame my lady problems".

There's value in apologizing, but don't undermine yourself. Cw didn't mean harm, but she didn't help.

There's plenty at work I suck at, but managing personalities and defusing drama is not one of 'em.

I need to vent but I can't even put this amount of irritation into words. I am this close to ending a six-year friendship, except we're still going to live in the same building and send our kids to the same daycare and see each other every fucking day in the lobby, so...yeah.

But holy shit, I am so angry right now I can barely type. I was over at their place for the weekly potluck and since all the adults there tonight have kids in the 5-6 range the conversation turned to schools and he says, standing right the fuck next to me, "Oh if we hadn't gotten into [new school] we would have had to move. There's no way in hell I was going to send my kids to our local school. No offense, Jess."

NO FUCKING OFFENSE YOU GODDAMN JUDGMENTAL ASSHOLE? The only reason I didn't leave right then was our kids were having a great time together, and I couldn't see myself explaining to them the reason we were leaving. "Sorry kids, Mommy doesn't want to be in the same room with our good friend J right now because he apparently thinks your school isn't good enough for your best friend."

And we're supposed to be going on vacation with this family later in the summer, but I think I'm going to have to call it off. The kids will be crushed. I don't know, I'm seeing red right now. And DH is out of town for the weekend so I have nobody to talk me down.