The Circus Has Left Town

Cavalia has finally packed up and moved on. It was a Cirque du Soleil production involving typical Cirque pagentry and acrobatics and...horses. They have been here since roughly the beginning of the year, and their tents on the grounds of the Princess Resort had become something of a fixture for me as I drove by them every day on my way to work. They were visible for miles, much to my delight, although this does make me something of a hypocrite, I suppose.

We finally went to see the show last week when my parents were in town. I wasn't sure what the show entailed, as the website is VERY vague, but knowing it was associated with Cirque and that my favourite scratch and sniff critters were involved was enough for me. It's a young show--only 18 months on the ground--and there were moments that dragged on forever, but on the whole, it was a great experience. Gorgeous animals, beautiful music, amazing feats of agility, balance, and daring--fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) atmosphere... The fact that my folks sincerely enjoyed it made it that much better. They don't go out much (save for boat races!), and see shows...well, never that I know of, so I was really hoping this would be a nice treat. My dad tried chatting up the sound/light technician who was in a "box" near our seats. We caught him playing solitaire before the show, and dad thought to give him a few pointers. He was, of course, French-Canadian however, and I think only nodded and grinned out of politeness.

At any rate, as I was driving to work last night, the huge white tents were down and all that remained were the scaffolds upon which they had been anchored. By 6am, everthing was gone save the workers' tents.

Now what will I dream of on my way to work?

dark ages

Blogger is having some issues today and I'm uncertain whether this post will ever see the masses. I've been trying to log in for about 15 minutes now, and what I've finally gotten into looks, at best, like a poor Beta version of a blogging engine. This does not happen infrequently--I usually just give up before now. I may look into other blogoptions.

So. It's 12:18pm on Monday afternoon and I need to stay awake until about 7am tomorrow morning. Perhaps a nap is in order for later this evening, think? Here's the nutshell:

Four weeks ago I was told that I had been volunteered two work three weeks of overnights. Wahoo.
On the last day of the second week of overnights we were told that we would go back to days for one week and then back to nights. Damn.
On the second DAY back to days, I was told that I would NOT be going back to overnights the following week.
Two days later, I was told that I would be going BACK TO OVERNIGHTS this week.
The week after I come back from working 10pm-6am (a week in which I will sleep from roughly 7am-3pm), I will be working M-F 7AM to 3PM!!!!

Can you see my frustration at the scheduling going on? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

However, the happy bottom line of it all is that for the next two weeks I'll get to be home in the evenings and on the weekends with my honey! That is the most best news in a long time!

Overall, the past few weeks have allowed me more time to spend with him on the weekends and evenings, and has made me all the more aware of the fact that, although I *do* enjoy my job (most of the time), it's far more important to me and to our relationship that I get to spend more time with Russell. So I'm looking, I'm looking.

Good Friday

I don't know exactly what that means--"Good Friday". Shouldn't it be "Bad Friday" in the views of Christians? Perhaps I have my facts skewed, but to call it Good Friday seems a bit contradictory. Anyway.

It is Friday, isn't it? My schedule--as always--has got me all befuddled in regards to what day of the week it is. I'm back on days at least, and I'm still adjusting to that. Can't say I'm overjoyed to be back in the mayhem of the store and dealing with all of that customer stuff. At one point yesterday I was dealing with one couple in the store about furniture, another irate "lady" at the counter complaining about the fact that she was an idiot and couldn't interpret one of our signs (i.e. she wanted the discount on something that was CLEARLY not part of the sale), had two calls on hold and an employee who wanted to go on lunch. All this while I was ringing up customers at the register. I'm not kidding. Nor am I exaggerating. I wish like hell I was.

Anyway. That's why, instead of blogging, I should be working on my resume. I've started looking in earnest for a nice, boring, M-F 8-5 kinda job. So I'll have to deal with some traffic. So I'll have to dress up a bit. At this point I SO don't mind any of those things. I want a regular schedule every week. I want to be able to make appointments and not have to change them at the last minute because when I go into work the next day my schedule has changed. I want to be able to plan to go places with Russell on the weekends, and have time to spend with him in the evenings. It would be nice to have dinner with him from time to time!

Oh hell. It's 10:15 and I have to leave in 15 minutes to go to work. Bleh. Later.

OMG OMG OMG

I SOOOOOO don't want to go back to work today. They have switched us around so that we are working days again this week and going back to overnights next week. It's been nice in that I've had some nice time to spend with my folks, but they are leaving this evening, and I have to work all day today.

Plus I just dread being in that madhouse of a store again and dealing with all the crazy customers and I haven't been there in two weeks and won't know what the hell is going on anymore and there are at least 4 new employees that I've never even met.

phew.

So yeah. I don't want my folks to leave (they've been in town for a week but I feel as though I've hardly seen them) and I don't want to go back to work. Waaah waaah waaaah.... I know, I know.

Funk

I'm in it. A funk. Not sure what the deal is, but I'm just not feeling cheery and vivacious. I'm pissed of that I work my ass off and go above and beyond, and I ask for ONE DAY off and not only did I not get the day off, but I'm working overnights this week so that while my folks (and other family members) are here, I will see them even LESS because I'll be sleeping during the day.

All the same, I dread going back to days because I'll be working that frenetic store with no chance to start and finish a project and the ever changing schedule that my Tauren heart so loathes. I keep thinking about trying to find a new job and then I get depressed thinking about the fact that I'm going to be 35 this year and I still don't have a "career". 5 more years to 40 and I still haven't grown up yet. What the hell is wrong with me?

So yeah, I'm PMSing and all this stuff will be out of my head in about a week, but until then I'm going to wallow in my funk and probably eat a lot of chocolate. I need a vacation. And some good news!

Arrived

It's Friday, and although I don't know what the date is, the fact that it's finally Friday in so ingrained in my subconscious that nothing else really matters. It's so nice to be faced with a weekend during which I don't have to subject myself to snooty old Scottsdale people who haggle over a 10% off sign for an $8 item and then hand me a $100 bill to pay.

I was awakened by Bucket's whining at about 11:30 this morning, and I *tried* to stay awake since it was obvious that both dogs intended to report me to animal cruelty if I forced them to sleep any longer, but it just wasn't happening. They are so mistreated! I brought them up to the dark coolness of the bedroom and we all snoozed for another 2.5 hours. Whee.

Since awakening, I've been at work cleaning the kitchen. Eventually the rest of the house will fall in line, as my parents are coming to town on Tuesday and, although they are fully aware of what a slob I am, I don't intend to subject them to it.

It's 4:30 now and I haven't even finished the kitchen. I did stop to watch "Driven: Jennifer Garner" because she is so damn cute and I was eating lunch (breakfast?) anyway, but still you'd think I'd have gotten more done in 2 hours. I'm telling you, we are filthy slobs. Doesn't help that we live in the dustiest place on the face of the planet. If I don't dust every single day there is a 1/4 inch layer of desert on everything. *sigh*

On an up note, Russell will be home from work relatively soon, and I'll get to hang out with him ALL WEEKEND! What a treat! I've got to get a new job so I can do this "weekend" thing more often. :)

Still Standing

So I was admonished-by Russell!-yesterday for not updating my blog. Maybe some folks thought I fell over the side of a mountain on my ride last Friday. Not so. I'm still upright and breathing, no bumps or bruises to show for the outing. Only, in fact, a mild soreness in my neck and shoulders from absorbing all of the shock *not* absorbed by my rigid framed bike.

So yeah, it was a nice ride. South Mountain was a bit daunting on the approach in my truck. I really thought I might die that day. Thankfully my guides knew of some flat and easy bits, with blessedly few drops and climbs. There were, however, rocks and boulders galore and my desire--nay, NEED--for a suspension bike was jolted into my scrambled brain at every turn. I rode sandwiched between the two ladies, who used to ride cross country (my preferred ride), but now race downhill. I actually got a compliment from one of them, who said I have really good bike skills "...you just need a better bike..." No kidding. Ya think? My Giant Cadex has served me over-well, but it *is* 13 years old. So the search for a new two-wheeled ride has been added to my agenda as well.

Anyway.

I started working overnights this week, as I was volunteered for a Store Reset Project. So far it hasn't really been that bad; I stayed up late Saturday night so I would sleep Sunday, and the rest has been cake. Today, however, I forced myself to roll out of bed at what I thought was 2pm. I had to pee so bad I thought I'd rupture something if I didn't answer the call. I figured that 2pm had given me 7 hours of sleep, and that's not bad, so what the hell, right? (I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to bed on account of the dogs jumping at the chance to NOT be asleep anymore) So I got up and did my business, let the dogs out and chilled with them for a bit. Went into the kitchen to do something and looked at the clock on the microwave. 1:15. WTF?? Yeah. Apparently the bedroom clock has been shifted a bit, which is easy enough to do if you hit the wrong button while fumbling for the snooze--I've done it countless times myself. So now that I know I only got six hours of sleep I'm suddenly exhausted again. Prolly need to nap a bit this evening. Prolly won't.

It's all good though, because I'm *really* enjoying being able to be in the store and get stuff DONE without all those interruptions from pesky customers. :P

So now you know what's what and I'm going to go get some grub and see what mischief the dogs are in. It's blazing hot right now, so I think walkies will wait til later this evening (okay, hon?).

Whereupon I Gush About My Playdate...

So I was putzing around on the computer the other day, and finally stumbled across the MBAA (Mt. Biking Association of Arizona--or something) website. And from there I found a link to a women's riding group. And from there I found a link to some forums where these ladies post rides and such. And now I have a ride date scheduled with complete strangers at South Mountain, which is about 45 minutes from here.

Now, before everyone goes and gets all worked up about what a potential danger this is let me just say this: "Pipe down and let me enjoy this!"

I'm so excited about riding again I can hardly wait. I'm even MORE excited about meeting some new people and possibly making some new friends. There are two ladies meeting me--and they both race downhill so I fully expect to feel like a big dork smushing my out-of-shape pudge into bike shorts and a jersey and cruising up on my now 13 year old rigid bike... But they seem pretty nice and hopefully they can point me to a nice shop around where I can finally realise my age-old dream of upgrading (the bike--the body is mine to figure out!).

Anyway. I need to go clean up and lube the bike--it's been sitting dormant in the dusty garage for 6 months down. Would suck to have a chain die on the trail tomorrow! After that, a dog walk or two and I'm off to work where I have been warned I will get an earful from a pompous and pissy customer. Whoohoo.