Another day, another dollar.
You know, I've got some pretty solid views on life and living in general. I try not to be too strident about 'em, because I also hold with the idea that I can change my mind any damned minute I want to, and that's all right, too.
But I'm a firm believer that diets are bad... and not just bad for the body, but bad for the brain. The girl who lives across the way from me is currently on the Atkins diet, but has tried a variety of fad diets in the past, all with the usual results. A few pounds (or even many pounds lost), a hungering for missed foods, and the re-gaining of the weight plus a few more pounds. I'm irrated when she tells me of her successes of the day, because what I really want to do is just point out that once she starts eating bread again, it's all over. (Or protein, or sugar, or charbohydrates...) Because that just sounds snide, bitchy and extreme. I gently advocate exercise, and maybe a reduction in portion sizes, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Yet who am I to be a spokeswoman for better health when I've got a fat ass, too?
Work is work. Yes, I'm a full-time employee, but I've been suckered, lead astray, bamboozled into believing that my job is all that. The reality of the situation is that I don't get benefits, and instead of working for the university directly, I'm signed with an affiliate company. The promise, the lure, the wish/hope/dream is that the powers-that-be within the university will realize my contributions and grant me employment through them, but it's a fool's dream. Even my employment within the affiliate company is questionable, as I'm being paid by an employment 'training' agency that pays the whole of my salary, with the premise that I will be hired after the program ends. And while all this sounds negative (and parts of it are), there still is that blind hope within me. Stranger things have happened, and, in understanding the workings of the department and this brand new program I'm involved with, it would seem highly probable that I will, one day, be employed through the school itself. Time. Wait-and-see. Patience. I'm not good with it, for sure.
Do I like it? I have good days and bad days at work. Most is just frustration at not understanding everything all at once. I find that I'm also pretty slow at some tasks, because I want to get it right, and quick at others, not believing that I'm scheduled a full day doing a chore that takes only an hour or so. We're into the paper side of productions; grantwriting, organizing, cataloguing. It's headachey, tedious work. But I keep reminding myself that this time three months ago I had wished it would all slow down. That's the way it is in theatre... rush, rush, rush while in production, and chained to the computer during the downtime. I do like my job, but I just wish I knew it all, and then things would be much easier.
My sister got a new job, through the same university. And yes, she is a real university employee, now making twice the amount that I am, and with all the benefits I desire. She got hired full-time, no temp contract for her. I'm overjoyed, because our schedules will be more in tune with each other: 8:30 to 4:30 for her, 10 to 6 for me. It gives me enough time to drop her off and take the kids to school, get a coffee and head back up, find a temporary parking spot midway between our sprawling campus, and hike to my building to get to work. She will pick the girls up afterschool at my parents' and then cook dinner, and come pick me up at the end of my day. Bonuses are that she will probably do much of the cooking. Since starting my job, I've been living on a mainly toast or bagel and coffee existence. I hate cooking for one. (Kole currently gets fed at my parents' place.)
I'm happy with the changes that are about to take place, and this weekend, we are going to celebrate it all. A little bingo at the Piggy (a dank, wood-panelled dive), a little dancing (at a converted theatre) and a lot of martinis (at my favorite place with my favorite people). That's the plan, at least. The rest of the weekend sees more tobagganing, and maybe some skating at the Lock. I'm also looking to rent some tv episodes of The Office. I've seen a bit, and I couldn't stop laughing. Sunday sees me cleaning and catching up on household duties.
It's just a normal life. Some good, some bad, but generally just run-of-the-mill from a long-winded girl.