2002-04-24

Dreadfully, dreadfully slow day today here at work. I have maybe 5 minutes of work to do and about three hours to do it in. And it's not even work that's due today. I delivered everything for the Powerpoint presentation I was working on yesterday in crazy-busy-panic-get-it-finished fashion. Afterwards I went and washed my hands. I hate Powerpoint. I confess that I purposefully try to make ugly yet acceptable Powerpoint slides (harder than you might expect, but not as impossible as making an attractive presentation) so that they don't ask me to work on their next presentation.

It's not like my boss doesn't know this. Hell, it's not like every Graphic Designer in America (and possibly abroad) doesn't know this. Asking a designer to work in Powerpoint is a little like asking a chef to cook a gourmet menu using only an easy-bake oven.

But now, frankly, I'm a little bored. Nobody else on my not-so-short list of favorite sites is updating fast enough for me. So yes, I'm the one who appeared in your site traffic logs checking compulsively today.

Yes, just today, thank you very much. I heard that in the back, there.

I suppose this is what I get for not speaking up during the status meeting on Monday. The big projects I was working on last week launched, with much fanfare and public recognition at the company sales meeting. Interesting Edits to those big projects now trickle in to somebody else, and I'm trying to figure out what the "next big win" is. No, not really. At the status meeting, the question was posed, do we want to sail along for the next few months and just take whatever work is given to us, or do we want to be proactive and come up with projects that will bring glory and renown to our group and work above and beyond the call of duty? I'm glad I didn't say anything out loud, because I seemed to hold the minority opinion on that one.

Whoops...I seem to have accidently finished my work for the day. My hand must have slipped.

It's been what most people call "beautiful" outside for the past few days. I'm still not quite sure what to do about it. I get a few funny looks from people in short sleeves as I walk to work with my black leather coat on, sweating and grimacing, listening to the test disk I burned with what would have been my Burn, Baby, Burn playlist, had I submitted my entry in time. Today I'm feeling sassy in an Eaton-collared shirt open a couple of buttons, sunglasses, boots, and my new short haircut; the leather jacket lets me pretend that I look meaner and butcher and sleeker than I really am.

Sweatier, too.

I've been bitten by the photography bug, so I've been walking around the past couple of days with my Holga camera, looking to all the world like a Returning Student at the Academy of Art. I walked past there today on my way to buy a burrito from the Greek-owned deli (the one with the cute, shy young man with hairy arms who smiles at me and knows my order by heart) (and yes, I like their burritos more than at the Chipotle next door, though their burritos aren't bad either) and I realized that I was hiding my camera from the kids out front smoking between classes. I'm not sure whether I was embarrassed that they'd think I was some art-school wanna-be (been there, done that, lost the indie cred already) or that they'd laugh at the pretentiousness of some "artiste" shooting with a toy camera. Actually, I think I was most embarrassed that I looked at college-age students and thought they looked like "kids."

Which reminds me, I never signed up for that art class which I selected within an hour under pressure, the one which I didn't really want to take but that management thought would be a good growth experience to offer to its employees. Darn.

Next I'll have to take pictures for the Weblogger Film Exchange. I think it should be fun, as long as they don't all laugh at me too. (Thank you, Carrie. Your ride to the Prom is here.)

Whoops...that would be burrito now dripping down the inseam of my pants. Even with a paper towel and some water, it's left a whitish crusty stain there on my inner thigh, which compliments my wanna-be art school outfit so well, not to mention how suspicious that will look when I walk home past the adult bookstore later.

Won't that be a pretty picture?

2003-03-29 - Moving Notice
2002-06-04 - Accordians and Ambassadors (Diary Fragment)
2002-05-24 - Manias (Diary Fragment)
2002-05-09 - See this little island here?
2002-04-24 - Bored and Drippy.