I'm back!

Sorry everyone, for dropping off the face of the earth for several weeks. My only excuse is that I was a completely miserable person to be around and I didn’t want to inflict that on anyone I didn’t have to.

Plus, my life has been EXTREMLY boring and I didn’t really have anything of interest to write about. However, I was reading Glamour at breakfast this morning and there was an article on some advice that dating coaches give. First of all. Dating coaches? Yes, I really do need one since I am the most socially awkward person ever, and probably will scare off 99% of people I ever meet. However, would I really pay someone over $500 an hour to tell me that I am awkward? No. I have been awkward for my whole life. I don’t really know what to do about this. I do have my funny moments and I am kind of fun to be around…but talking…to boys? Not so good. Probably comes from spending 7 years of my life in an all girls catholic school. However, I have managed to snag a (ex)boyfriend and many random college hookups. I have hope. Kind of. Maybe I will find my awkward soul mate. And the freckles in our eyes will align (I love that line). But anyway, I’m sure I will probably be signing up in a year or two. But for now, I can scoff at the idea of paying someone practically more than I make in a week.

Regardless, I will read their advice when it appears for free in Glamour. And one kernel of advice that was offered was to be positive. They were talking about dating profiles, but I am going to apply this advice to my whole life. I turned 24 last weekend (happy birthday me!) and my cousin and I decided that 24 is going to be an awesome year. So. Positive thinking people!

In light of this…

--I got a new pair of shoes this weekend. They are white Jessica Simpson wedges (I am not good at describing shoes but they are cute take my word for it). Yay!

--The weather is finally shaping up into something resembling spring and I didn’t have to wear my huge wool coat this morning.

--There was an awesome(ly awkward—probably why I liked it) new episode of the Office on Thursday, plus I got to watch some DVDed episodes this weekend, including the one where they make bets on how long Kelly can talk about Netflix for, which I love

--I am going to eat my lunch outside in the park (might be jumping the gun on the warm weather thing a little bit, but that’s ok)

In some not so positive, but just need to vent anyway news…

--Why don’t people in my office realize that they are no longer in high school, but actually are adults in their mid-thirties that need to act slightly more mature than their 15 year old daughters

--Why can’t I get over my ex-bf? Why do I miss him? Arg…

Anyway, my new motto…positive thinking (because if you think negatively than cute boys won’t read your online dating profile!) Woohoo!

The weirdest people work with me part 2

The mail man at my job is the creppiest person ever. I know that sounds really mean. But he is. He is about 70 years old, balding, with like 3 strands of hair left that he combs over the top. He wears the same outfit for each day of the week—he has a Monday outfit, a Tuesday outfit, and on and on.

Now I can hear you saying, well, just because he only has 5 outfits and bad hair, that doesn’t mean he’s creepy. He’s just old. And lonely. With poor fashion sense. Oh don’t worry, I have made all of these arguments in my head. I have tried to be nice. And patient. And feel sorry because he is old and should be playing with grandchildren instead of fixing the photocopier and delivering my mail.

Well. In addition to all of the above he is a LURKER. A quiet, sneaky lurker. I will be typing and I will turn my head and he will just be in my doorway. Creepy. How long have you been standing there Fred? (yes, his name really is Fred. Of course) And he nicknames people and mutters their nicknames under their breath as he lurkes in their office doorway. And if you smile kindly and say “Hi Fred, thanks for dropping this off” he looks taken aback and slowly backs out of my doorway muttering all of the ways he has abbreviated my name under his breath. I don’t like it.

And he makes every interaction you have with him super awkward. You could just be walking past him in the hall and smile and say “Hi Fred” and he will jump to the other side of the hall and mutter something about not getting in the way.

Dude. It’s a big hall. Two people can fit in it. Happens all the time.

Anyway. I dread interactions with him. I walk away feeling so awkward and terrible. I feel like a really mean person, even as I’m writing this. But I try to be nice in person!! I just had to get it out.

Hi I’m Tilda. And the mailman? He freaks me out.

Please pick someone! Anyone?

So I don’t want to make this blog all political, but since we are constantly inundated with news from the presidential election (slightly overshadowed, for the minute, by Eliot Spitzer, but sure to be back on track soon) it is hardly something I can avoid.

BTW, Eliot Spitzer? Way to go.

The presidential election is making me want to move to another country. I am SO sick of it, but I can’t stop paying attention, for fear that I might miss something important (like Hillary Clinton on SNL). This has been going on forever. I feel like, by the time the actual election rolls around, people will just be ready to throw up their hands and say “I don’t care just please fill our newspapers with something else!”.

And while I am a lifelong Democrat, I cannot help but be sort of embarrassed by the back and forth snipping by my party. If there is anytime the Democrats can stage a takeover, one would have thought that the time was now, but I feel that we are throwing away our chance by dragging this election out for months. The two candidates are both strong potential leaders, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. I am not going to go into which one I support, because, for me at least, the most important issue is moving on from these eight years of Bush presidency. At this point, neither candidate is going to have enough delegate votes to win the nomination. However, instead of trying to do what is best for the COUNTRY they are both solely interested in dragging out this primary season for as long as humanly possible. I thought that the point of moving so many primaries up was to speed up the nomination process, not drag it out over a period of decades months.

I am sorry. I am usually all for the election process, and supportive of my party. But I am starting to get frustrated. Both candidates are looking worse and worse to me because I am so sick of seeing their faces over everything. Obama can’t sneeze without Clinton flipping out about it and it is driving me crazy. Just pick someone!!

The longer we take to pick someone, the more organized the Republican party looks. Instead, our process is entrenching people even further into their Obama/Clinton divide. Whichever person actually gets the nomination is going to have such a hard time swinging their own votes to their side that they will barely have time to run against the Republican. Which is bad news. We need a candidate. One that will unify. The more down and dirty this election gets the harder it will be for die hard Clinton supporters to get out there and rock the vote for Obama, or vice versa.

We need one candidate. And we need them soon.

Apologies for this long political rant. I am just frustrated that our party seems to be throwing away a golden opportunity

Cat-tastic

Ok so the whole cat in the ceiling thing is getting a little out of control. Now, I am NOT a cat person. So when someone suggested I open the ceiling above my bookcase “in case the cat is scared to jump all the way to the desk” I was not having any of it. I would not be happy if a cat came flying out of the ceiling toward my desk OR my bookcase. A. already has the ceiling open above her desk; can’t she open the part above her bookcase as well? That way the cat can have options. And when cats are stuck in ceilings, options are very important. I would much rather watch the flying cat from one office over.

And omg, if I had known that a cat in the ceiling would cause this much drama, maybe A. and I would have kept it to ourselves. Our offices are like a freak show. I am getting no work done. Everyone from the PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY on down has stopped by to stick their heads in the hole in the ceiling and make cat noises. Well if it didn’t come at the first cat noise it definitely isn’t going to come for you, no matter how much your cat at home loves when you make that noise. One of our scariest editors is apparently a HUGE cat fan, and bought in toys and treats and gross smelly cat food. If this lady was as nice to her assistants as she is (apparently) to cats, everyone at my job would be a whole lot happier.

People are expecting hourly emails keeping the apprised of the cat situation. Did you hear it? Was it loud? Do you think its scared? Is it stuck? Really, I’d just like to get some contracts sent out. Thanks. Apparently it is now okay to shout out from your office if you think you heard the cat. I HEARD A MEOW. DID ANYONE ELSE HEAR THAT? Wowzers. The cat is never going to get out of the ceiling because he is terrified of all of you people.

How do you get a cat out of a ceiling? Because it definitely isn’t coming down for any of the weirdos that I work with.

I just wanted to go home!

So this happened yesterday:

Which was awesome. And of course, it had to collapse right before the nighttime commute. Luckily, no one was hurt. But omg, getting home was a complete nightmare. They were only running limited trains, so they would combine three or four trains onto one. And these are trains that are usually jammed packed to begin with.

Every available spot was taken. I have never stood so close to people that I did not know before. I have been on rush hour subways that were less crowded than this train. I think my elbow was in some man’s ribs (sorry sir!) for the majority of the ride home.

And my nice little 20 minute train ride? Yea. Hello 2 and a half hours later. The trains INCHED our of grand central. I probably could have pushed the train faster than it was moving. I guess the fear was that the rumble of the trains would cause more of the building to collapse (on the tracks!!) so the only other alternative was to run one train on the track furthest away at turtle like speed.

Thank you, metro north, for ensuring that I didn’t get crushed by falling building! But for a rainy Tuesday night, this was not fun. Why can’t this stuff happen in the morning, so I can be late GOING to work, not coming home.

Oh, and there is a cat stuck in the ceiling above my office. Good times.

Can I do this?

So now that the weather is finally starting to not be freezing cold winter, I am going to *try* to start running in the mornings before work again. I really need to do something to get into shape again, because I have been feeling pretty crappy about my body lately.

I do go to the gym after work 3 or 4 times a week, but I really don’t feel like it is doing that much for me. Since I started going (last September) I have noticed some changes, but I would really like more. The problem is that I picked the gym for convenience, not for its awesome facilities. The gym is right at my train stop, so I can get off the train on my way home from work and just go. I seem to have problems getting myself motivated to leave the house again if I go home first.

And it has been working out pretty well—I get there on a fairly regular basis, and I work out for about 45 minutes. But the equipment that they have at the gym isn’t that fantastic. I try to get some circuit training in, but they don’t have any classes or anything to supplement my own workouts. Also, I am the youngest person there by oh, about, 20 years. It is an all women’s gym, which I like. I got a complex in college that guys in the gym were all staring at me, comparing me to the super skinny girls next to me. I would show up in a tee shirt and some old shorts and run on the treadmill, getting all sweaty and gross in the process. And these other girls would show up in some perfectly coordinated outfit, talk on their cell phones while walking on the treadmill, and never break a sweat. So yes, compared to them I probably looked pretty disgusting. EXCUSE ME FOR USING THE GYM FOR ITS PROPER PURPOSE.

Anyway. I like the fact that its all women. Everyone shows up kind of grungy looking because there are no guys to impress. So I can sweat away!

But I really need something to supplement my sad little gym workouts. So I decided that running in the mornings before work is it. I woke up yesterday and today about an hour earlier than I usually do (not to terrible). We will see how it goes. In high school I was a dedicated three-seasoner of track from 7^th grade until my senior year and I was in great pretty good shape. I would really like to get that back. Good luck me! (I'll keep you posted on how long this enthusiasm on waking up an hour earlier in the morning lasts)

Office Drinking

So on Friday I went out with a bunch of people from work. It was a lot of fun, and I’m really glad that I went. Because everyone in my office has such different tasks, it is hard to find time to interact during the day, and you don’t really get to know people that well. One of the other EAs organized everyone to go out for drinks. Everyone kind of went with the mentality that if it was terrible, they could just bail after one drink.

However, everyone ended up having an awesome time, and hanging out for a while. We all agreed that we have to make it, if not a weekly, then definitely a semi-monthly thing. Which will be cool, because it seems like a lot of the people I work with could be a lot of fun.

BUT. One kid got a little too drunk for the first office drinking function. E. and I were talking about how we need to find some people to date, and he was like “well, what’s the matter with dating someone from the office” wink, wink, inappropriate placement of arm around waist. Eek. He is nice enough, but really. That was the first time we have ever hung out. And while I am all for random making out in bars (obviously) I am not so much for random making out with SOMEONE YOU WORK WITH. That is not cool. And has the potential to be pretty awkward.

So I just kind of laughed it off, but still, a little weird. And once everyone started going off their own way, M. and I were going to get something to eat. We had not planned for food in the outing, which could have contributed to the general drunken feeling. And this boy was like “oh, I’m hungry, I’ll come”. And we couldn’t really say no. That would be mean. And while he was drunk, he is still a nice kid. And we do have to work with him.

So M. and I and the boy went off, and omg. He was being a little touchy and wayyyy drunk. And he started telling us about how he hates his roommate, and doesn’t have that many friends. And yes, I felt bad, because I know its hard to make friends. But getting drunk and creeping people out doesn’t really make them want to be friends with you. And then we decided to call it a night, even though he kept trying to get us to go out more with him. So then! He told us that he was just going to go drink alone. Oh boy. Not good.

So I eventually make it home, and around 2:30 (yup, that would be a.m.) my phone rings. And its him. I did not answer. I did text M. to see if she had gotten a phone call (she had not).

Oh my goodness. And I just passed him in the hallway, hence the reason for this post.

And my bosses are both gone all week. Expect many posts.

I need a new job

I want to preface this post by saying that I really like my job. The people I work with are awesome, and I have some really good friends there. The company is cool, and it is a nice easy commute for me. My two bosses are awesome, and really open. I am getting a lot of good experience and meeting new people.

However. The job is SO boring. omg. Basically (and yes, I realize that this makes me sound really self-confident, which I usually am not) I am a little too smart for the job. I find myself forcing myself to slow down at the different things that I do so that I will have enough work to last me the week. If I actually sat down and did the work at my normal pace I would be able to leave work every day at lunchtime.

I have talked to one of my bosses about this. He really likes me, and thinks that I do good work (He has told me this, it is not just wishful thinking on my part). He has, since our talk, been trying to pass more work my way, but there is really only so much stuff he can give me to do. And even the work that he gives me does not give me much of a challenge. I would like to have a job that makes me think a little more than I have to now. I want to be kept busy, and be challenged by the work that is keeping me busy.

Also, the job doesn’t pay that well. I would like to move out of my parent’s house sometime soon (yes, I’m only 23, so I know I have time, but still). My current job makes that hard to do, especially given the cost of living here in the NYC.

I have also been thinking about moving away from NY. As much as I love it, having grown up here, sometimes I think that it would be nice to live in a smaller town. (As a shameless fan of Gilmore Girls, for a while in high school Stars Hallow was my dream town). After working for a while, I don’t know if I could go as small as Stars Hallow, but a change of scene would be nice. It would also force me to meet new people and broaden my dating horizons. My family has another house upstate in NY, close to Vermont. Sometimes I think it would be nice to live there.

I am also thinking that it would be nice to get out of publishing. However, I am terribly indecisive, and I don't know too much about other career paths. As I look at the advancement paths in my industry, there is nothing that seems like it is something I would want to make a "career" out of. Anyone have any suggestions??

Apologies for the terribly long post, but this is just something that has been on my mind. So if anyone knows of jobs for sociology/English majors with sociological research experience and editorial skills who is looking for a change of career, let me know!