Pink Balloons
They decorated the top of her cubicle with white and pink balloons and draped a silver curtain along one of the sides. On top of the silver curtain was a sign that read quite simply, “Happy Birthday”. It’s a simple enough display to show her that they were thinking about her and her birthday, but I can’t help but think that they could have done a little bit more for her. I probably shouldn’t be as critical as I am, being that I’m usually terrible when it comes to organizing these kinds of decorating schemes, but because this is HER cubicle, maybe I would have been inclined to make a bigger spectacle out of her workspace than some of her immediate co-workers did. Still, at least I can applaud their efforts and recognize that they exerted themselves in some way to show her that they care. I just think that I would have done more. Maybe some pyrotechnics? Or just douse her desk and surrounding area with glitter, which I know can be a pain to clean off. It’s all in the name of fun, I suppose, but I know that I would have gone all out for her. That’s just the way I am, especially when it comes to her.
I worked again this weekend, both days, for a total of nine hours. I hate that I have to work such ungodly amounts of overtime just to stay afloat and not be overwhelmed by the previous week’s work, but it has become a necessary evil. I have even taken to helping some of my co-workers with writing some of their reports, being that I love writing that much and truly I don’t mind taking on the added assignments. I am even helping her with some of her writing and reports because she was inundated with work back in January and she is still drowning in March. Of course, I had told her back in January that I would do my best to help her and so far, I think that I’ve upheld that promise. I know that she appreciates it and I don’t mind doing it. As it stands right now, I am doing a minimum of 20 hours of overtime a week, excluding weekends. I am getting to the office at 5am during the week, which requires that I wake up just before 4am. I don’t know how I have been able to maintain this kind of schedule for nearly six months, but so far, I’m managing it. Again, this has become a necessary evil. Sadly enough, management doesn’t seem to care that I’m getting work done. It seems that no matter how hard we work, they’ll always find something else to complain about. Such is life, work life anyway, and I don’t complain because in the end, it doesn’t change a damn thing. I just have to keep grinding.
In the gaming world, Rise of the Ronin (PS5) released on Friday. Per my usual, I have installed the game, but have yet to play it. I also picked up Robocop: Rogue City (PS5), being that it was on sale at Amazon. I wanted to get this game much sooner, but I didn’t feel that it was worth more than the $47 I paid for it. I’m not a huge fan of first-person shooters, but I am a fan of damn near anything Robocop, so I made the concession and bought the game once it reached my preferred price point. As I write this, that game remains on the shelf and is still sealed. One day, I’ll play it. Of course, I could say that about a lot of the games I own. I guess you could say that I have quite the gaming backlog. Of course, with all the work I’m doing in the office, clearly, I could make more time for gaming. Maybe I start gaming at my desk with that Steam Deck that I have yet to use and devote any time to? I can see that going over well should management happen to walk by my cubicle while I’m nonchalantly playing Street Fighter 6.
It rained here today. I think there was an 80% chance of rain today, but what I hadn’t expected was the torrent of hail that ensued not long after the rain first struck. I resisted the urge to go outside when the hail came down, mostly out of laziness, but also because I didn’t want to be hit by any of the falling hail. It wasn’t quite golf ball-sized hail, but it still looked like it could do some damage to the unsuspecting human body. If I had to guess as far as size, I’d say the hail reminded me of the crunch ice that you get at the AM/PM fountain. I will enjoy all this rain, hail, and general cold that comes with these sporadic storms, especially at this time of the year, because I know that in the next few weeks, the temperatures are going to gradually increase and before we know it, summer will be in full swing. I’ll take the rain any day, but I can definitely do without that damn hail.
Early last week, I sneezed wrong and tweaked my right shoulder. Actually, that’s not accurate, although I think I would have preferred to have injured my shoulder that way, rather than how I actually did. I was at work sitting at my desk, when the urge to stretch hit me. I usually don’t stretch, much less at work at 6am or whatever time it was. As I was in midst of said stretch, she texted me out of the blue and rather than finish stretching, I immediately went for my phone to see who it was. She and I would get into a phone call some minutes later, to where I would temporarily forget that I had hurt my shoulder in the first place. Not long after we hung up, I was soon reminded by a dull, throbbing pain that I had hurt my shoulder in one of the dumbest ways possible. I think that happened on Monday and here I am on Sunday and for the most part, my shoulder has stopped hurting.
As I look towards the coming week, I know that she’s going to be out of the office until Thursday. We rarely go more than a day without seeing each other, so this could be rough for me. Of course, this means that I’ll have to rely on our phone calls and text messages to get me through the proverbial hump. We’ll be all right, but I know that I’m going to miss her during the three days that she’s going to be gone.
As has been the case for the past three weeks, I’ll be meeting with management on Tuesday to discuss my progress with all the reports that I’m writing. Apparently, they’re becoming stricter with regards to my meeting deadlines. I’m working as fast as I can and I told them that I do not want to rush and compromise my quality of work. We’ll see how that continues to go over. So far, I think management is being respectful of this, but I wonder for how long they’ll continue to give me this grace.
That’ll do it for now. Besides, I’m tired. My feet hurt and it’s still pretty damn cold outside. I think my hands are getting numb too.