I feel like 20 miles of bad road, but that's a good thing. Today was a lot of fun, and I'm tired and achy as a result.

First, you have to know that my last job turned me into a cubicle zombie. The glassy stare, the shuffling feet, the gray-pallored expression, the complete inability to either get or make a joke... yup, I had ALL the symptoms. I plugged my brain into the company's network and they took over from there.

As a result, I ceased to have a life outside work. When I came home every night, Elise would ask me to play, and I had to tell her, "Nope, honey, gotta work."

It's actually a bit disturbing how I keep meeting people I haven't seen in a long time, and the first words out of their mouths, generally, are "Wow, you look really happy".

So... Today I went to Elise's 2nd grade class, fixed a couple of computers for the teacher, and taught the first kid how to do basic research on the internet. I helped the teacher, and played with the kids, and now all my muscles ache and my face is a bit red from being in the sun at recess.

I need to get through the whole class of kids, and there's only eleven days of school left, which means I'll probably have to start taking them two at a time. I'm going back tomorrow, and then I'm going to take off early for the trailer, and spend Friday night, Saturday night and part of Sunday there as well. I've got a bunch of work to do to polish the pieces that are going into my portfolio.

I'll leave you with a song I really like - oddly enough, one of two that Marilyn Manson has done that I've enjoyed: This is Halloween

Toodles

Another Wonderful Day in LaLa Land

Not a lot to report today. The job hunt is going well, and the portfolio moves along. I have two novella-length stories and one short story completed and ready to go, the first 20 pages of a full-length manuscript, the first 20 pages of a creative non-fiction work, and I have two more manuscripts that still need some development and polishing before they're ready. If the muse continues to smile down on me and I'm diligent, that's about a month's worth of work.

I'm really enjoying getting to be a mom again. I'm going to be teaching keyboarding skills to Elise's 2nd grade class beginning on Thursday. I still need to find a giant keyboard map, and do a bit of web-searching to come up with the best approach for kids that age, but I'm really excited about it -it's going to be a blast.

I'm having lunch today with two of my tech writer friends, people I really liked and have missed: Colleen, a now-ex-coworker at Atypon, and Joanne, who used to work at Atypon and moved on to something better a while ago.

What I'm listening to today: The soundtrack for Angels and Demons. I loved the soundtrack for The Davinci Code, and Hans Zimmer has done it again with this one. My favorite track so far: "Science and Religion". I personally believe that anyone who has truly studied any of the physical sciences can't help but believe in a higher power, and this track kind of sums that up for me.

Actually, this may give you a laugh: I'm sitting here listening to Angels and Demons, writing my blog, and painting my fingernails and toenails black. Sometimes I can't believe I'm actually 45 years old...

Okay, last but not least:

Super Stooges vs The Wonder Women

For sheer mind-numbing WTF-ness!

Ciao!

The Hiatt Household - Nearly a Year On...

I haven't written much of anything in the last year. Work has been too stressful, and I've been struggling with a lot of illness.

I got incredibly sick after my knee surgery, and really didn't start to get better until recently. All kinds of little things (and some not so little). I had surgery again, this time on my sinuses, as it turns out I had a congenital defect that left me almost unable to breath through my nose. All this time I thought it was allergies...

I was already struggling at work, but this really threw me over the edge - I hadn't wanted to be an account manager, as I really preferred the technical bits and the behind-the-scenes bits, but got promoted anyway, and for a while I was able to keep up with it. Finally, a little earlier this year, I called my manager and told him I didn't think I could keep going with the job, and could he move me to another position? As it turns out, they couldn't, and I've now left Atypon, quicker than I wanted to, but the universe has a funny way of showing you where you need to go, and this was one of those times.

Enough of that. Yesterday, also for the first time in months, I got out my beading stuff and took up a necklace project I'd started back around Christmas. I finished it finally, and then I took one of my favorite necklaces, which I'd originally made with the stretchy clear rubber-esque string. I've been afraid it would break for some time now, as it's getting old, so I took it apart and remade it with nylon-coated steel, only I lengthened it, and then decided it's way too long. I'm going to take it apart and re-do it one more time, a little later on today... and wow, I've got the time to do that now. I've also got a bunch of cool pendants that I'd like to try to make into necklaces, and I think I'll try that later on today as well.

Nothing planned except job search - my (now ex) bosses were extremely cool - I really can't say enough about all the things they did to help out as I was leaving), and paid for me to see a career consultant. I've got the first of my seminars on Monday, and my first meeting with my consultant on Friday.

I lied, kinda... I said I hadn't been writing. Actually, I've got my travel trailer stored at my in-laws' place in Morgan Hill (Thanks, John and Doris!) and I've been going down there every Saturday, spending the night, and writing all day Sunday. So, actually, I lied a lot. I've been writing most weekends. At this moment, I've got the selections picked out for my portfolio. They just need some polishing, and I can create the actual portfolio and start sending it off to agents.

And... this morning, I had the most fascinating dream - essentially, I dreamed out a whole story, as I've done once before. I wrote out the dream so I won't loose it - in it, I was a witch who could shapechange into a hawk. I won't bore you with all the little bits, but I dreamt a lovely conflict and a lovely nemesis, and a wonderful hero, and everything.

Okay, that's all for now. Toodles!

State of the Union, 'n Shit...

Okay, short and sweet cuz I always get too involved.

Had knee surgery finally. I got sick of gimping around,and finally bit the bullet, signed up for the whole bullride. The doctor shaved the meniscus a bit, cleaned up some crap floating around under my kneecap, and shortened the muscle on the outside of my knee, so that my kneecap will track better. Jeff says the two little holes with their jaunty little stitches make my plump little knee look like a smiley face. Guess I married the right guy. He gives spectacular "glass-is-half-full".

I've been on my butt, mostly in bed, for almost a week now. General anesthesia was every bit as horrible as it should be for a control freak. Tomorrow is the "all-clear" appointment, and then I'm off to physical therapy, and back to work.

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Elise has come in just now to tell me that "Elise" is actually her secret identity - in reality, she is SaberGirl, who has expert smelling, expert roaring, and expert hunting as her superpowers. It's easier, she assures me, to track down bad guys that way...

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Going to drive up to see my almost-90-year-old Auntie Irene at the end of July.

This is all about my dad's side of the family. My Uncle Ron (dad's brother) and Auntie Janet (siser-in-law) are coming, and their daughter Samantha, my cousin, whom I ain't seen in way too freakin' long. My sister Carla, her husband Jerry and their daughter Katie are also gonna be there. I'm hoping to borrow their tent and camp for a few nights at my favorite campground, Cassini Ranch. I may just give in and get a hotel room with Carla and Jerry, but I'm holding out my hopes for camping.

That's, of course, provided I can drive at all...

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Other side of the family, my mom's sister, my Auntie Dar, is moving back from Celina, TX about mid-Sept. I've said I'll fly out to meet her, and help her drive back. This is going to be part adventure for me and part assistance for her, both monetary and physical. She's not the spring chicken she once was, and aprox 1600 miles is more intimidating than it used to be... She wants to wind up somewhere near historic Cottonwood, California.

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As if the whole bad health thing weren't getting enough help, I'm now displaying all the symptoms of a sinus infection. What the hell? This is my fourth this year - I think caused by a bad tooth. Now I have to work up the courage to go to the dentist and submit to THAT kind of surgery. Freakin' A! Figures.

glassishalffullglassishalffullglassishalffullglassishalffullglassishalffull...

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Got Some Change?

Cuz we could all use a little change, as the song goes.

I love my job. I really do. I like everyone I work with - I've made some good friends there, and that was surprising. I had forgotten the friend factor that a good job can bring with it.

I love what I do. It's challenging, and there's room to grow, and my boss is supportive and stands up for us when we need him to. I get respect from my co-workers, and my boss, and my clients, the academic publishers I support.

But... (And you knew there was one of those, didn't you?)

But I'm doing the job of about 4.5 people. We've been asking for help since the beginning of this year, and the guys at the top of the food chain aren't listening. The president of the company is an engineer, and, like most engineers, thinks that everybody else in the company is just so much dead weight. He's been heard to say this at upper-level management meetings. We don't get bonuses, we don't get respect, and we don't get any help.

So, with a huge amount of regret, I'm sprucing up my resume. Probably should have done this a while ago, but you know how it is, hope springs eternal. Oh well.

Going to the Sabercats game tonight. They're playing the Tampa Bay Storm - some chick singer is going to be playing halftime, and the game is sold out, probably as a consequence. Ashanti? I have no idea who that is, but then I'm astoundingly unclued about such things. You'll have to forgive me.

On the "Ericka's Busted Bodily Parts" front, I'm finally getting an MRI next Wednesday. Thank God. I'm sick of being incapable of climbing stairs with both legs. I can't walk more than 10-15 yards before I start limping again. I can't ride a bike, I can't exercise, and as a consequence I can't lose weight. I've been really depressed, imagining the long years of my life stretching ahead, unable to get around without the aid of a motorized scooter. After a year of limping everywhere I go, I finally got the doctor to understand that I wanted to finish losing my weight and then go and finish my blackbelt, and that no, a cortizone shot in my knee was not going to assist in any way with these goals.

Okay, I'm off to go get groceries and some stuff to take to the game tonight.

Ciao!