No apologies

I am tired of apologizing for who I am and what I believe.

Life is way too short. I'm not going to spend it apologizing for being me. And I'm not going to change it either.

Breakdown, not Breaking Dawn

I wrote this review for my book club, so I thought I should publish it here as well. BTW, spoilers galore below. If you haven't read the book and will be mad at me for spoiling it, don't read this - although I think I may be doing you a favor, saving your time and $$$$.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

Great! My son has learned to lie - really well, may I add. So well, he duped his father into believing it.

He told his father I had allowed him to take my Nintendo DS to before/after care school. I was never asked anything. My husband, knowing the elementary school wouldn't allow video games on the premises, left the device on the daycare cubby. What a genius idea, no?

Little guy is very sneaky. He knows that, at home, he has to ask every time he wants to get his hands on it.

When I arrived to pick him up, I found the DS and was furious. I picked it up and immediately noticed the game cartridge was missing. Of course, he didn't take a regular game cartridge, it had to be the R4 with all my games in it. There were games in there it took me weeks of practice to get where I was and I bet it's all lost now.

When I picked up the console, I noticed the label with my name on had been wiped clean, as if someone had tried to take it off. But I can't bluntly accuse anyone of stealing it, so I have to be polite and just ask if everyone happened to see if it *fell* somewhere (virtually impossible, since you have to push the game inward in order to come out).

Long story short, T has been grounded for 2 months without video games or TV. I just hung up on my mother, who said this is exaggerated, he's only 6, bla bla bla. Riiight....

And the husband was grounded too...

Snowmaggedon 2010

The DC area is buried in snow. During the past 7 days, we've had roughly 4ft of snow.
Hundreds of thousands of people were without power, and people are still stranded at home since the streets weren't properly plowed until today.

Our deck is completely covered! I don't know if we'll be able to grill anything before the 4th of July. It took us 3 days to shovel the driveway.

Oh, how much I hate this white sh!t...

Goldman case update

TRF-2 will judge the appeal tomorrow. A panel of 3 judges will decide.

I'm freaking out just a little bit. I'm not concerned about the outcome, I'm pretty sure the judges will rule Sean to return to his Dad. I just want to know whether the ruling will be enforced and the kid will be allowed to go home.

AP story - Ruling Due Wednesday In Brazil-US Custody Dispute

Exhausted

I'm really tired of everything.

If I put an effort to do something nice, people overlook the good in it and quickly point out the "mistakes". One can have many qualities but it's the one little defect that stands out.

You know what? I'm done. I'd rather do the bare minimum - or nothing at all - and get the same treatment.

Run, Liesl, Run

My life has been so frantic. I have been working my butt off, planning T's 6th birthday party, having my mother as a guest and preparing to go away during the holidays.

I am so glad I've read a lot this year. I have no books in my queue, which is so unlikely...

So, how about "V", huh? I'm a little disappointed, not nearly as good as the original... It may get better, we'll see.

PTA Meeting

Yesterday I had my first PTA meeting. I was excited to go and contribute as much as I could (since I work full-time there's not much availability). Plus my neighbors are heading the PTA this year. In the end, I was very ticked off.

It happens that the meeting took too long for the fact that every paragraph said needed to be translated into Spanish. 37% of the kids in my son's school are Hispanic and the parents don't speak English. Now, seriously, why do we have to accommodate them? They came into the US, they have to learn English. They're not going to make any effort to do it since the school makes it easier for them.

I have learned English, so can you!

Should I demand PTA meetings in Portuguese, Chinese and Russian as well?

I found this video on youtube. It's supposed to be the answering machine of an Aussie school, but it's been attributed to different sources. It doesn't matter. It's brilliant and the example should be followed.

Things I don't understand

A few weeks ago, my friend had invited me to go see TS1 & 2 with the kids this past weekend. It was my husband's 20-year HS reunion weekend (I have to write a post about that). So I told her I couldn't come and asked if we could go next weekend. So we set the date.

She just posted something on a social networking website forum (that we're both part of) that she was proud of her daughter, who did not complain about the 3-D glasses during the 2 movies. Uh, weren't we supposed to go together? And, uh, if she were going to see it this weekend, wouldn't it be nice to drop me a line and say "hey, we decided to go by ourselves" instead of announcing it publicly?

If I knew she was so eager to go and didn't want to wait, I would have taken my son on Friday night (her daughter is younger and goes to sleep earlier). The reason I didn't do it was because I had scheduled it with her in the first place.

I know it's stupid and I shouldn't make a fuss about it, but it's Monday, and I'm not in a good mood.

Has anyone seen Mary Poppins?

I haven't been well... I need Mary Poppins to teach me how to snap my fingers and fix everything.

I alternate really good times with feeling bad, rock bottom. I'm often overwhelmed and irritated. Is this what depression feels like? I just want to stay in bed...

Hating my job doesn't make anything easier. I wish I could have a break...

Since I'm venting, I might as well talk about some "friends" I have that don't know what boundaries mean. They just *have* to keep tabs on you. Seriously, if you post something on a social networking site, they always want to know more. As in "going on a road trip" "oh, where are you going? so jealous!" bla bla bla. Well, if I wanted you to know where I was going, I would have posted it, right?

Since they don't get a life, I can't even stop with the freaking updates, since they will start asking what's going on, what's wrong, and even prompting calls from my family. Ugh!

It's just getting worse...

Since the huge metro accident last month, service - that was already poor - just went downhill.

Last night the commute was especially bad since I took off work 10 minutes earlier to avoid the usual mess.

- Got to the station. There was a train leaving the platform and the sign said another one would come in 4 min.
- I wait. The 4 min appear and disappear from the sign, for about 10 min. Then finally changes to 3, 2 and 1. And it doesn't show up.
- It gets more and more crowded. I look angrily at the metro employee. On the other side, 3-4 trains pass by.
- A few minutes later, the train passes by the station, empty, lights still on. It stops. People get to the doors. Train resumes the trip (wtf?)...
- Sign says next train will be in 3 min. We wait. It gets more crowded.
- Train finally comes, fully packed with people Only 6 cars instead of 8.
- A few individuals come out. Then everyone just shove themselves in. No A/C. No space to breathe.
- 2 Russian young ladies read a book together (which is hard cover and kept hitting me on the shoulder) and giggle, like it's the ride of a lifetime.
- 2 kids (10 years old maybe) roughhouse on the seats, right next to their Mom, who does nothing
- Trip goes on, and I finally reach my destination at 6:00PM, 40 minutes later than it should have been. Considering it's a 30-minute trip (in theory), it took more than twice the time.

And it was short, considering it's taken me more than 90 min at times.

A few considerations about metro:

- a mild delay is about 15 min (for me, a mild delay is about 5 min)
- a delay is about 30 min
- a severe delay is about an hour
- if there's a delay, there's an 80% chance it's on the red line
- e-mail metroalerts will not come out until 20 min after the event occured, which means most of the time you're already at the platform waiting
- if they tell you to "add 30 min to your commuting", add 60
- if they tell you "find alternate means of transportation", you're screwed. Buses only take you to metro stations, never home. You will have to spend $$$$ in a cab
- rush hour fare is 4.50 each way (even when you're late to work and never get home on time), plus 4.75 parking. If they cut service, they won't discount your fare.
- if metro's ridership is up, they raise the fares. If the ridership is down, they have to raise the fares too. The fact that bananas are yellow also causes metro to raise their fares.
- metro employees are extremely rude and think they're there just doing you a favor. If I acted that way at my workplace I wouldn't have a job anymore.
- metro employees don't use metro system. They know it's unreliable. There was a fire in the red line a few years ago and metro personnel was late to work, stuck in traffic on Connecticut Avenue
- metro is unreliable and dangerous - per the Washington Post. The General Manager, obviously, denied.

I have ridden subway systems in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, New York, Paris and London. DC metro is - by far - the worst and more unreliable of all.

Shocked!

Seriously, I think I've seen everything now.

There's a couple, they're friends with my Dad and it's the guy's third marriage. My Mom was telling me the things they say about each other.

First, he told his wife "you're not the wife I loved the most but I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you".

Pretty sweet, huh? Especially for a guy who's been divorced twice.

Now it's the wife's turn, talking about her husband.

"He's my master and I do everything he says, I'm here to please him".

That was my queue to start whistling the theme from "I dream of Genie"... This is 2009, people!!!!! How can someone act like that????

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones

There is this woman I know, who is very quickly to point out the problems in everyone's marriages (we'll call her "B"). B goes out of her way to pass the gossip to everyone - and embellish quite a bit to make it more dramatic - about what goes on in other couples' lives.

Well, the other day I was chatting with a mutual friend (we'll call her "F"). So, F was at a party and saw B's husband hitting on a few ladies. Especially on a girl who happens to be F's cousin. Once he learned she was related to F, he backed out, very ashamed.

I'm wondering here how many times has B's husband cheated on her.

Everyone has problems and we never know what tomorrow may bring. We should just stay quiet and out of other people's lives.

Just saying...

Just tired

The past week has been really busy with work and stuff...

- Tue, Nov 25th - T's birthday/get to work early/sit in traffic/pick up friend @ BWI
- Wed, Nov 26th - get off work early/go to Dave & Busters
- Thu, Nov 27th - drive to Arlington Cemetery, Iwo Jima, Freedom Park/Thanksgiving dinner
- Fri, Nov 28th - drive to Philly/run Rocky steps/eat cheese steak/meet friends/sighseeing/drive back to DC/shop @ Target
- Sat, Nov 28th - drive to Baltimore/lunch, sightseeing & Ace of Cakes/drive friend to BWI/stop @ Ikea for returns
- Sun, Nov 30th - attend Flamenco show @ Strathmore/hurt my knee
- Mon, Dec 1st - stay home from work/limp my way up and down/take son to pediatrician/take son for ice cream treat/take son to take photo with Santa/shop therapy @ VS
- Tue, Dec 2nd - son stays home with temperature/wacky morning @ work/knee still hurts a bit

I'm still alive!

Global warming my....

It's mid-October in DC. Last night we had 32F and a frost. This morning I came into work shivering. It's 40F outside.

This is that time of the year that I wish I were anywhere south. 'Cause I know the white poop will be coming and I absolutely hate it.

I think I'll build myself a hurricane-proof home in Florida....

Overwhelmed

With work... and we're having our close today. Not good...

Overworked, exhausted and underpaid

Yesterday I worked from 7AM-8PM, which means I was out of the house from 6AM-9PM and didn't even see my son.

Today will likely be the same, just because I am going on vacation. BTW, I need 3 people to handle my work.

Enough said!

Mayday, Mayday

The girl I had started to train decided the work was way too much for her and went back to her department. So, that means I will have to do my old job and whatever new I have inherited.

To make matters worse, my boss is out of the office on vacation. Which is OK, because she hasn't taken time off for the past 3 years. But usually something really bad happens when she's gone. Hope it's not my nervous breakdown.

It's what they always say: "after a calm, comes the storm".

Oh, wait a minute...

She works hard for the money

I've been ticked off about work for quite some time now. I just need to vent - sorry.

The job search must restart. I think it's truly time to get a new job. I've been stressed out and I need some peace of mind (plus I'm totally taking a week off for myself between jobs, once I get one.

I've been in this company for 5 and a half years now. The first year I was in a different department. Then I had to take time off - maternity leave - and when I came back I landed into billing. In the beginning it was okay. The thing is I learn incredibly fast. Within a week, I already knew the job by heart. Which means the workload increased astronomically too.

The lowest paid of the so-called senior employees in my department, make, at least, 10K more than I do. The only have a couple more years on their backs. I asked for a promotion on my first review, and I was told it was on the basis of seniority. However, I do the exactly same job. I don't think it's fair I get paid much less.

HR says they cannot pay me more. On the other hand, the firm keeps hiring more people - who make way more than I do, by the way - for useless jobs.

My manager is a wonderful person, but seldomly takes time off or vacations, which means she gets upset when we have to take ours. I have the leave, I will take vacation. Simple as that. I have 28 days of leave in a year. I take 10 days to go home and visit my family, then I like to take an extra 5 days to do whatever (locally, or go to WDW with the family, etc.). And I still have to hear "how come you take so much vacation?". I work weekends, for crying out loud.

I'm out of here, hopefully sooner than later.

Just another manic monday....

...or would it be Rainy days & Mondays always get me down?

Worse: it's Monday, it's raining, it's the day after a week-long vacation and the first day I'm accumulating extra work.

There were 100+ emails in my inbox.
The escalator inside the metro station was broken, and 2 out of 3 escalators coming out the station were out of service.
The new hire in our department is annoying and spends all day on the phone. When she's not on the phone, she's on her cell. Her job function is already shady, no one knows for sure what she does; and nobody likes her because she's a royal pain.
Three co-workers lost a family member last week.

It truly sucks.