Stop this train, I need off, for just a bit

I just signed my baby up for school. My BABY. For SCHOOL. How did this happen? It seems like yesterday that I was rocking her to sleep in the middle of the night after a feeding.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm also happy about this. Our local school offers full-day kindergarten which means $$$ in daycare savings. Looking forward to that! I can't wait for parent-teacher interviews, and class performances, and homework (eventually) around the kitchen table, and hearing about her new friends, and what she's learned, and what she wants to be when she grows up (right now she's pretty focused on being Dora). It's all so exciting. But it's also just a little bit too fast for me.

I'll be spending the next few months focusing on the positive, and trying not to imagine how I'll be putting my 4 year old baby girl on a school bus by herself that first day of school :(

Happy New Year!

All right, so it's the midway point of February. Sue me. I've been very busy. OK OK, no I haven't been. I got laid off January 26th, and since then, I haven't been that busy at all, other than Facebook. According to my friends, that doesn't count as a productive use of my (now substantial) free time, but what the hell do they know? They're probably just jealous I don't have to get out of my pyjamas, ever. Although you would think I could have written a post or two.....

Looking for work sucks, although truth be told, it's crazy busy out there with open positions. I seem to get an interview for every job I apply to. Guess I should apply to more, but I think I found my dream job right away, and now I lack motivation while I wait for them to make the right decision and hire me.

I've had three interviews, and need to have a fourth, but it's this fourth one that's been elusive. It's been cancelled two times now, but we're on for tomorrow. Fingers crossed it goes well. Looks like a great job in a new industry (for me) and I'll be working from home. Yahoo!

Still, I'll miss actually being encouraged to blog, and surf the net at work. This last job will stay with me for many, many years.....

The Hangover

I'm an idiot. Oh, so cocky in my post on Friday wasn't I? Well, I went to the party, I saw the bar, it conquered me. Huge. What was I thinking?

You see, I don't really drink anymore. Oh, I'm up for a few wobbly pops when I'm with friends, but I don't "drink" anymore. Well, I did on Friday. A lot. Didn't do a striptease on the buffet table, didn't vomit in the punch bowl, but the repercussions of an evening like that are felt more the next morning, when wee girl woke up ready and raring to go. Oy vey.

I'm too old for this nonsense. I now vividly remember why it is I don't drink anymore. And I swear, this time it's true - I'll never drink that much again!

Free Booze!

Tonight is our company Christmas party. It's been awhile since I've worked for a company that cared enough about employee morale to throw a party and offer up the opportunity for socializing with that guy you hate in Accounting outside of office hours. Mark me down as officially excited. Except about that Accounting guy, but whatever - perhaps we'll bound over tequila shots.

Which leads me to the age-old advice: don't get drunk at the company Christmas party! I'm sure you've heard it all - it might be career-limiting, you might commit a firing-worthy offence (like this chick - check it out) My response to you? Bring it on!

You see, I'm old. I'm old enough to know better, and I have age and experience on my side. If I got hammered tonight really, what's the worse thing that can happen? I'm old enough to know that no matter how drunk I get, I won't perform a strip tease on the buffet table. It hasn't happened to date, so odds are it won't happen tonight. I won't start a cat fight with the CEO's wife - I don't start fights when I'm drinking. I'm not a puker, so there will be no vomiting in the punch bowl. I have age and experience on my side. And it's an open bar. Game on.....

Lazy Saturday

It's 4pm, and I'm still in my pyjamas. I love this. You can't do this in the summer. In the summer, the pressure is on to maximize the good weather and "get things done". But now that the weather is cooling, small child and I are bundled in our fleecy jammies, the woodstove is on, we've got one nap under our belt, and all is good with the world.

The enormous bucket of Hallowe'en candy is just icing on the cake. Heck, I have MONTHS before I'll be seen in a bathing suit. And curling is on tv.

Heaven....

Passive-Aggresive BS

This post is somewhat ironic, because I came here to bitch about passive-aggressive behaviour via the most passive-aggressive forum known to mankind - the Blog.

Blogs are the perfect fodder for Passive-Aggressive people. The internet is full of the ravings of angry (*cough* bitchy *cough*) people who like to complain rather than confront. This realization has taken the edge off of the irrirtation I feel at being confronted by this type of person. I'm actually kinda laughing right now.

The blog - free therapy for the bitchy amongst us. Well, that and Facebook status updates. That is a bitch session for another day.

Oom Pah Pah

Is there anything better than an Oom Pah Pah band? I don’t think so, unless it’s an Oom Pah Pah band and a large tent full of people all drinking beer and doing the polka! Yes folks, it’s time for Oktoberfest! And to celebrate, I’m heading to Kitchener-Waterloo for the biggest and best Oktoberfest outside of Munich. My locale of choice? The Concordia Club, of course!

I just did the math, and I have been going to Family Day at the Concordia Club on Thanksgiving Sunday for the last 24 years. Not only does that make me very, very old, it makes me very, very predictable.

Oh sure, there have been a few years that I’ve missed, for one reason or another (living on the other side of the continent for 6+ years did somewhat affect my attendance), but it’s still a constant in my life, as are the friends that have this has a tradition as well. While new friends are always welcome and encouraged, it’s great to know that there are certain people you are bound to see at least once a year. And their parents. And their children, all now adorably clad in wee leiderhosen.

The experience has changed over the years. In University, the coal was to get there early, stay there late, and drink as much as humanely possible. I believe these antics are part of the reason the Concordia Club now closes its doors at 7pm on this infamous day (I’m not sure what time they closed previously – I rarely made it past midnight, although that was still an impressive 12 hour span). There are fewer drunk people there now; it’s much more family-oriented. Which fits perfectly for me and my young family. My daughter already appreciates the accordion far more than I did at her age, and can dance a mean polka.

But I plan on raising quite a few glasses with my friends to toast this ongoing and wonderful occasion. Prosit!