Over worked and under paid

Have you ever agreed to something you thought would be easy, fun, and maybe even fulfilling, only to find you get stretched to the breaking point? I'm over worked, under paid (a volunteer), and need some recognition!!! That's my ego talking. I'l get over it. I know that you have no idea what I'm talking about, but oh well.

I'm Thankful!

I am thankful that the Holiday weekend is over!! I'm not looking forward to the freakishly early morning tomorrow, but let me tall ya, I'm glad to be home. I do love hanging with my mom and friends from ptown, but Thanksgiving dinner made me a little sour.
Okay, so the gradparents come over for dinner. Not only did they show up an hour early, and then proceed to wonder why I was not dressed up, but my grandmother drove me nuts. Well, she was better than normal, but the highlight of the evening was when she told me that my parents were on drugs when I was a baby, because no one would live in an old church bus if they weren't on drugs. Hmmmm. Raise your hand if your parents were crazy hippies and if at least one person you kno or knew lives/lived in alternative housing (composting toilet/outhouse/no electricity/etc)/. Yeah. Thats what I thought. Well, that part of the evening was delightful. Then she told me how my cousins are learning the value of a dollar. Yeah, try to talk to ME about reality and knowing how to work for what you want. Needless to say, I was miffed. In addition, she kept playing with her hearing aid and asking me to repeat myself, then told my aunt the next night that I was talking too loud and probably had a hearing problem, and that my aunt should try to get my attention when I wasn't looking by calling my name softly to see if I was deaf. Yeah. My uncle said "how the hell would she know if you were talking too loud?" Yeah, so now I have a hearing problem, am getting older and should start thinking about a husband, and, oh yeah, she also asked about my teeth so she could get mad that I haven't been to the dentist in the recent past (no insurance is my fault). AGGGGHHHHH!!!! Will I ever be good enough? However, in Gma's defense, she will be 87 in a couple weeks and I luv her.
So I did get to visit with other family, (none of whom would blame me for telling the old lady off), and friends and had a really good time. The only thing that's really hard is the fact that I never seem to stop running around when I'm in the city.
So here I am, trying to figure out what I have to do to get ready for the work week, after already having scraped the 2" of iced over snow off the work truck. Fun!
This should be an interesting week. I will make sure to call my grandmother and tell her what a good time mom and I had at T-day dinner and that I can't wait for Christmas.

Whew! It's over!!

Well, I've spent every wednesday noon hour since September sitting through lectures of my contemporaries' research proposals, or piles of crap as they are sometimes referred to. Yesterday it was my turn to share the crap with them. I wasn't nervous, but really excited for 1pm. After it was over and the crown wasn't just staring at me, but actually asking questions - good questions, I felt okay about it and no longer felt like puking. I'm definately not looking forward to my ext presentation. I haven't mastered the skill of picturing people naked or in their underwear, or whatever the hell else you're supposed to do. I just look right at them, and really concentrate on the people who are looking bored, so they'll feel uncomfortable!! How dare they not care about what I'm saying. I don't CARE if it's lunch time! I'm talking about MONKEYS for crying out loud!! Who doesn't love to hear about monkeys?? They can just sit there and at least pretend to like it, since I've sat through all their lectures on dirt, rocks, fish, and for Christ Sake SOIL CRUSTS! What the Hell is a soil crust? Everyone knows what a monkey is! Sorry.
I did find it interesting that there was enough restraint in the room that no one asked me whether the monkeys threw poop at me. That was nice of them.