I’ll Take My Diet Sprite Shaken, Not Stirred

Current mood: blah
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

I've just returned from a four day weekend and I'm less than thrilled to be at work today. Not because I've just enjoyed being away from my cubicle nestled in the corner of my office in which I work, I'm not jumping up and down with excitement because today is our employee appreciation day. We aren't just getting together and having a meal as a department. Oh no, that would be too easy and pleasant. Today is Commerce Royale. It's a tricky and clever word play on Casino Royale, if you have not figured that part out yet.

So far today I've counted at least three people from my department (who are all women, only women seem to volunteer for these things) that are dressed like Las Vegas craps dealers and pit bosses. I just came back from taking a short break in our 10^th floor lobby trying to finish a book I've been reading for two months and these Annie Lennox look-alikes were scrambling between their offices and our event hall on the 6th floor. I am so not ready or excited in the least for Commerce Royale.

I suspect that we'll have some decent food catered in from some restaurant downtown and that there will be cheaply made casino-type games with even cheaper backgrounds set up behind them. I'm telling myself to bet on the fact that I will be bored with all the festivities within 3 minutes, much like Wesley Snipes informed Bruce Payne in Passenger 57 to "always bet on black."

Company picnics have never been, well, a picnic for me. I spend 40+ hours with all of my co-workers every week. To me, 40 hours has been an appropriate threshold for people you generally have nothing in common with and otherwise would not spend any time hanging around. Sure I'm being paid to gamble with pretend money, it's just that I'm also in the middle of a work environment nightmare. It's like going to the casinos on the river here in Kansas City, except that the Jack and Coke is replaced by apple juice, your boss is there reminding you of something you need to do by the end of the day, and the blackjack dealer is the fraud manager from the 8^th floor. It's almost equivalent to picking up a hot chick at the bar and making out with her, only to find out she's your cousin. It's sort of like that, only without all the worry of incest.

For now, I will tackle the folder on my desk that is labeled "Bankruptcy" and try to accomplish something before my lunch break I have decided to take at noon, which will last until one. One o'clock marks the beginning of Commerce Royale. If I do win any prizes, which will no doubt be all Commerce Bank paraphernalia, I'll probably give it to someone else. I generally don't like the color green. It's a good thing I work in a bank.

Currently listening : Neon Bible By Arcade Fire Release date: 06 March, 2007

Tuggin' One Out

I know I haven't posted on here in some time, but it's mainly because Stephanie and I have been spending a lot of time with each other and wrapping up all of the planning for our wedding. Married life is set to commence in nearly four weeks.

For all of you out there that are Catholic, and maybe some that are not and wished to get hitched in a church you may have had to go through a little something I like to call "Wedding Boot Camp." When Stephanie and I met with the priest that was going to marry us he said that in order to be married in a Catholic church type environment that we were to complete pre-marriage counseling.

We had our choice between meeting with a married couple each week for several weeks in a row, or we could take a highly concentrated dose of marriage know-how in one no holds barred weekend extravaganza. Guess which option we hopped on?

This weekend will mark our foray into the subject of learnin' about some marriage. As you can tell, I'm already critical of what we'll learn/study. I'm excited to do some things to maybe get to know Stephanie a bit more, but given our past, and the previous long distance format our relationship was in, we've done a lot of communicating.

We'll be sent away to a Catholic Compound somewhere in an undisclosed location in Kansas City, Kansas somewhere by our speedway. It will be miles away from Arrowhead Stadium, which is where the Kansas City Chiefs will be playing their home opener. Since we will be at a church stronghold, we will not be watching the contest. We will be at our retreat. I always thought it was cute that the word 'treat' is in the word 'retreat.'

We are not looking forward to this at all, I won't try and hide it. We will be rooming with people we don't know who are also pre-marriage material. It's really out of our comfort zone as Stephanie is generally shy and reserved around people she doesn't know and I know I just don't like people in general.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to God because I do believe in a God and in Jesus. It's just hard to get behind organized religion. I know what you're thinking and you can dispense with the Catholic priest jokes. I've been to one church retreat and that was for my confirmation about 11 years ago. It was a 24-hour fast/lock-in at the church and was an overnighter as well. It culminated with a pizza feast at the end, but overall the whole experience pretty much blew. Seriously, enough with the molestation jokes.

So, we are about to jump in with both feet not knowing how deep the water is. I think that is the most difficult part of it, the unknown. Will my roommate(s) suck? Will I buy in to what they are trying to teach? Will the food suck? All I know is that I don't want "Wedding Boot Camp" to be like this…

Currently listening : The Ba Ttle of Seala Nd By Airiel

9:12 PM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Brienne

I am amused by the title of this blog. Oh, and we did the classes. Well, we made it to 2 of 4 and they still married our dumb asses. That's all. Good day. Posted by Brienne on Monday, October 01, 2007 at 9:28 PM [Remove] [Reply to this]

Screw You, Work

Screw You, Work
Current mood: annoyed

Today I get to work and I log onto my computer. Nothing special, I get online and check my hotmail and MySpace. Come to find out an hour later MySpace is now blocked by our surf control. So now what am I supposed to do all day? Work?No big deal. I think it will be good to curb my monitoring of my page. If I really need to check on it (which is a goofy thing to say anyway) I can always do so from my mobile. In fact I'm posting in this blog from my phone at my desk. Fancy, yes?

Currently listening : Planet of Ice By Minus the Bear Release date: 21 August, 2007