Operation 23: Day 15

Brrrr. I'm laying in bed in my comforter and my feet are freezing! The heater doesn't reach my room, so I have to sleep with my door open in the winter. Boo.

Today flew by. . .which could be good and bad. I have a ton to do, and it feels like I have no time to accomplish everything. The downside to all this holiday merriment is that it takes hours out of my work day when we leave early to go to parties, or have holiday lunches. . .or whatnot. Today was holiday party #5 - the account team outing. We left around 4 (or 4:15 if you're me) and headed to Elephant and Castle for some appetizers and drinks (or Coke if you're me again, thanks to my loverly sinus infectch). Typically our account team outings are:

1) long
and
B) way out of hand

This one only lasted 2 hours and was pretty tame. Fun fact: They don't do slumber parties in England! I learned that tonight.

Got my new knee-length down coat. . .just in time! Stupid deep freeze. It also has a hood. So crucial. What's worse than 5-degree weather? 5-degree weather and Chicago winds off the lake. If you've never felt your sinuses freeze, it's quite the experience. Thank goodness I'll get to be in balmy, tropical Cleveland soon. . .where it's actually warm enough to snow!

Have holiday party #6 tomorrow. Until then. . .

Operation 23: Day 14

Today was improvriffic. Had my 3 hour class, which was the last class of the session. Some of my favorite classmates are taking different teachers next session, so that's always rough. With only 2 sessions left, I hope to have them in class again, but it may not work out that way.

Grabbed a Happy Meal and McDonalds totally changed their hot chocolate recipe. It used to be phenomenal, and now it takes like warm Hershey's chocolate milk. yuck! I threw it away. And they didn't give a My Little Pony toy, I got the Bionacle one instead Clearly I'm a girl! I demand ponies!

Had to head back to the theater by 6:30 for call time for our class show tonight. Jennifer, Melissa, and Jack came, so we headed out for a drink after. Basically, we do a 25 minute show that explores themes of a suggestion provided by the audience. The suggestion we got: gay people. Really? Ugh. Not an easy one. Also not a great show for me, but the nice thing about improv is that when you have a bad show, you never have to do that show again.

I just realized who Joel Osteen reminds me of (in looks only). . .Ed Grimley.


Going completely mental, they must say.

Operation 23: Day 13

Got to sleep in, which is always well-needed. Decided to be lazy and watch tv most of the day. I can't even tell you what I watched. . .I believe What Not to Wear was involved. Oh! And lots of my Office DVD extras.

Went to Shawn's Holiday Party (that's party #4 for those of you keeping score at home). Due to the antibiotics I'm on for my sinus infection, I'm not supposed to drink. It was a complete shame because they had gourmet jello shots that I hear were really good. I ended up getting a horrible migraine and having to leave early. Only with a migraine, does your head pound, you feel like puking, and you can't even have the pleasure of watching tv.

Also, how creepy is Joel Osteen? He's on Larry King Live right now and is creeping the crap out of me. Too much crooked smiling. I bet the Duggars love him.

Operation 23: Day 12

Feeling a little crappy today. . .went to the doctor to check out this sinus blockage situation. I met a woman who has some major heart problems and wanted to know if the doctor was nice. She was telling me about her heart deformity and mentioned that her friend who had it also had an aneurysm. As I talked to her, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. I can't imagine her fear.

Anyway, I do have a sinus infection (sounds fairly minor), so I had to get nasal spray and a Z-pack. awesome.

Lots going on at work, but I'm just kinda tired. Getting my stuff done, but still. . .

My appetite is funky. I'm hungry and then I eat and I'm like "Whoa. This is a lot of food." Seriously, I couldn't finish a Boca burger patty today. Not even a burger, just the patty. wtf?

Have you seen the Give Joy Give More commercial for Carson Pirie Scott? I hate it. They play it twice a commercial break. I tried to find it online to link here, but it's not available. tear.

Ok, getting a bit woozy. later-o!

Operation 23: Day 10

For a split second today, I thought XMas is next week. P.S. It's not.

A rare quiet day at work. . .rather nice! I felt kinda directionless as a result, but whatevs. Nasty sinus pressure, which I never get! I had used a Neti Pot earlier in the day (YouTube it), and I couldn't get the fluid to come out my other nostil, so I was convinced it was stuck in my face all day. Yuck!

Got home around 6 and Got about 3.5 hours worth of stuff off my DVR. Yay! Was gonna make salad for dinner, but my lettuce was gross. . .like liquid gross. So, instead I had waffles (Kashi Waffles, so I feel slightly less guilty).

Tried the Neti Pot again and almost got it to work. Saw some of the gunk in my nasal passages (hope you're eating right now!), so I count it an almost success. Everybody on YouTube makes it look so easy. I think my sinuses are layed out like the streets in Shaker Heights (Google Map it. It's f-ing impossible to get around there).

Also cleared Dad off my XMas list and found my mom and he the coolest gift. I'll need to remember to tell you about it after the holidays. . .in case they read my blog. If you leave a comment, I'll email you what it is. It's great for snowy locations and it's only $10!

Ok, time for sleepy. yay! Gonna start the process on my 3-day brownies tomorrow.

Operation 23: Day 9

How are we still in single-digit days on this operation? my oh my.

Had Holiday Party #3 last night. It was a function for advertising professionals who belong to a variety of different ad/mktg orgs at Rockit. Rockit is a bar downtown where if somebody famous is in town, odds are they are hanging out there. swank. Took some clients and there was actually substantial food (a carvery! yay!), and I didn't eat anything fried.

Work is calming down a little bit, which is nice. . .and it's also nice not to have any more work holiday parties for the rest of the week.

Ended up catching up with a couple of former coworkers at the event, and met the person who took over one of my accounts. Poor thing! I decided to schlep over to catch a bus (I just don't trust cab drivers in icy/slushy weather) and waited for about 10 minutes in a blizzard, and then the bus was full. At 9:30pm the bus was packed!! Some dude scooted by me (presumably to get off the bus), and then I see him seated in the back! It was all I could do not to march back there and go "Seriously? Are you serious? You knocked over a dozen people so YOU could sit DOWN?" But then he'd probably give me some story about how his leg hurt because a car hit it as he helped an elderly lady down the street, but he's ok with it, because at least it was him getting hurt and not her. Or everybody would look at me like I'm a crazy bitch with some major issues. Or. . .both.

Ended up getting home around 10. Watched last week's Top Chef and went to bed. sigh.

Operation 23: Day 8

How come none of these days feel like I'm getting any closer to 23? sigh.

Had to get to the Blue Line in the Loop this morning to visit a client for a morning meeting. Decided to plot out my trip the night before on the CTA Website, got to the stop early and then. . .no buses. I then saw the bus I needed pass the stop, completely bulging with people, with no buses behind it. Awesome. Got on this not-so-express bus that didn't really go near where I needed, and ended up almost knocking over a couple post-menopausal women to meet my coworkers.

There has to be little worse than a half day meeting to start off a Monday. I want some doctor to give me a medical condition that indicates my inability to focus throughout a 3 hour meeting. They're brutal. I'm also a little bitter because I had scheduled a vacay day for today. . .

Some weird vibes and defensiveness in the office, but I'm so past taking the blame for shit that isn't my fault. So annoying.

Got home around 6:15. . .downright early! Finished up my South Park script (actually formatted it. . .blech) and watched the uber creepy Duggar family.

Gift idea: www.wholesomewear.com. I recommend the culotte suit. hott.