Leading by WHAT Example?

Good Heavens! Where have I been? Oh, that's right, looking for employment. It's certainly been a roller coaster (the least fun kind--the kind they have at the kiddie parks that just goes in a glorified circle and is shaped like a snake or a dragon and you feel mortified by the mere thought that someone might see you on it and recognize you).

Ultimately, my struggle for the acquisition of money meant that I couldn't very well turn down a job offer, even if it was a crap job with no benefits, poor pay, and a mean-spirited boss. A job in the hand and all that.

Meanwhile I keep looking for something significantly better. To give you an idea of the range of pay scales I've been offered, I'll tell you that the hourly salary of the highest-paying job was 10 times greater than the lowest paying job. That is a SIGNIFICANT difference, even when you don't consider statistical significance.

My current job suffers from a great amount of apathy from all who work there, including the owner of the gift shop, where I now wrap gifts [while being heartily lectured on "girl" colors and "boy" colors for gift wrap ('where does green fall on this binary gender range,' I wondered? 'Don't use it,' the managers replied. But come ON! There's a whole stack of green tissue paper and several rolls of green ribbon! If you didn't want me to use it, don't put it out there to tempt me!).

The best option, at this point, is to just find something better. I will feel unreasonably guilty about quitting, but I'll certainly have a much happier outlook once I'm out of there.

My Boxwarming Party

This didn't come off as funny as it seemed in my head. But maybe that's because this comic took me a whole 2 weeks to get together. I'm a loser. This was the last day before I left California to go back to Jersey. It was starting to grow on me. Just a little.

Uh... Thanks?

In this season of gifting and giving and presents and delicious candy, I can't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of spending to be done. Thank goodness I don't live on my own. I'd waste a small fortune preparing for the holidays. As it was, I was stressed enough just trying to buy presents for my friends in the short space of time available. Ideally, I'd be looking ahead and see something in a store in May or September and say, "oh, that's something I should really get for so-and-so". Unfortunately, I lack that sort of foresight and often find myself scrambling in December to remember things I saw on sale in February or July. I also lack memory and money; these things being among the most important when finding gifts for other people. Did I get them this last year? Did I see this item at her house last week? Gah!

Skip back two years, and this was an issue not at all helped by the fact that the last day of finals at my school in my senior year was Dec. 22, with most students returning home on the 23rd. How could I do a whole year's worth of shopping within a 2 day period?

Luckily, although I lacked foresight, memory and money, I AM fortunately blessed with a great deal of creativity with which I am generally able to make up for the other issues. For instance, for my college boyfriend's mother, I bought a stark white apron and made an iron-on transfer with a picture of a bichon and the words, "I only cook for my dog... and occasionally for my other children." Which was well-received, thankfully.

And also luckily, although I lack funds, I am an incredibly savvy shopper, and managed to spend only about $140 on all the gifts I bought which includes my 3 best friends, boyfriend, boyfriend's parents, my own parents (all 4), step-brother, and close friends at school in addition to cards for all those who didn't get actual presents. I was so pleased by my abilities, I will now insert a mood icon here:


This is exactly how I felt.

But how do people deal with gifts that aren't quite what we expected? I try to accept them gracefully. If they're really wild and out there, I still accept them gracefully, but in my head I think about all the nefarious things I can do with the item. A set of decorative pens? I would string them together with ribbon and use it as a spiky lasso of death. Or put marshmallow Peep heads on the pointy ends and surround someone's house with them. Put the fear in 'em, I say!

But Paper? The most nefarious thing you can do with that, really is some really nasty papercuts.



Again, Happy Holidays, everyone!