I'll never forget the moment I really started to understand what the phrase "these are not my people" means. I was standing around with 3 coworkers and two were talking about going to Mammoth, as in Mammoth Mountain, as in snow and exercising outdoors. They paused at one point in the middle of their gushing about Mammoth to ask "What is the highway you take into Mammoth again? It's been so long..." and I looked at the other coworker who hadn't said a word since the beginning of the conversation and we both shrugged: Our people do not vacation in Mammoth. We take road trips and make things. While you are discovering the freshest snow, we are discovering the freshest pies. No judgement, it's just not our thing.
Lately I feel like I've been joining a lot of organizations that are filled with people who are not mine. Loud and lazy volunteer club, sorority-infused women's networking group etc. When we meet I want to be focused on what you're saying and the work we're doing and not on how meticulous your eye makeup is and how many times you've pretended not to hear someone calling your name for help with something heavy.
Maybe I've just become more of a hermit or maybe I'm displeased with the fact that these people, the ones I have a hard time getting motivated to being around, are the ones who will get me my next job. I feel like I'm not listening to my heart when I agree to spend more time with them but I also feel like I need to commit to these programs so I can truly decide if it's for me or not. I usually approach these situations like I did dating: we meet, I don't care for you, I don't try to force it, a second date is never set. But now I feel like I'm an adult and I will always have to work with people I don't care for so, might as well give it a try.
I met with someone from the sorority-infused women's networking group this morning who let me know our next conference call would be during my vacation - the only vacation I will likely take this year. I said "oh darn, I'll be out..." and she replied "CALL IN! Lots of people call in during vacation and travel because it's not really work!"
REALLY? The only time I've had off of work AND school since August of 2010 you're going to tell me that I should totally spend an hour plus talking about hot topics affecting women in the public sector? No offense...but I plan to be at Disneyland.
Little does she know how hard it was to even get excited about meeting and that I purposely dressed a little weird (business casual weird?) so she'd get the hint that I'm not her people. But maybe I sort of am?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Released into the wild
Upon commenting to my BFF that finals are over and that I now feel like a caged tiger released into the wild, I was sent an email with the subject: "Is this you?" and the following photo:
It's good to have friends.
It's good to have friends.
Medjool Dates are the new Sno-Cones
I like writing about my embarrassing moments. Not because I like reliving them but because I feel like a lot of the time we're all working to look like we've never peed or pants or made mistakes or done something weird and that maybe my sharing will make everyone want to share too. Because let's face it, f-ups are funny.
My story begins in the summer of 2004 when I was a junior at UCI. I moved directly from the equivalent of a sorority house (mine was co-ed for those in my major) to an apartment on-campus. Filled with social awkwardness and the anxiety that my previous living situation was less than zesty, my mom took me to sign in and set up my room.
As we checked in the girl behind the table exclaimed "HEY! We're in the same building!!!" To which I replied:
"I have a sno-cone machine; you should come over and we can have sno-cones."
I forget her reply but I'm sure she was confused and likely had a moment of reflection wherein she reminded herself to stay FAR away from me and avoid me when she saw me approach the building we unfortunately shared.
I have never lived this moment down and my mom and Todd still remind me of it now and again. To me, friendship is about sharing. I like being able to help someone find a new dentist or to feed people or to bring someone a little token I know they'll appreciate.
I've tried to forget it but a couple nights ago I was on the other end of the awkwardness. I went to a mixer after turning in my term paper and met some very nice women in a sister program. We chatted, I think there were 6 of us. At the end of the mixer this girl points at me and a professor and exclaims "HEY! You two should come get dates! I'll bring them in at 4 tomorrow!"
It was....adorable. Totally socially awkward but filled with the love of wanting to share and make new friendships. Her parents own a date farm and she often is sent back to school with lots of organic, fresh, amazing medjool dates. I have a feeling we'll be fast friends.
My story begins in the summer of 2004 when I was a junior at UCI. I moved directly from the equivalent of a sorority house (mine was co-ed for those in my major) to an apartment on-campus. Filled with social awkwardness and the anxiety that my previous living situation was less than zesty, my mom took me to sign in and set up my room.
As we checked in the girl behind the table exclaimed "HEY! We're in the same building!!!" To which I replied:
"I have a sno-cone machine; you should come over and we can have sno-cones."
I forget her reply but I'm sure she was confused and likely had a moment of reflection wherein she reminded herself to stay FAR away from me and avoid me when she saw me approach the building we unfortunately shared.
I have never lived this moment down and my mom and Todd still remind me of it now and again. To me, friendship is about sharing. I like being able to help someone find a new dentist or to feed people or to bring someone a little token I know they'll appreciate.
I've tried to forget it but a couple nights ago I was on the other end of the awkwardness. I went to a mixer after turning in my term paper and met some very nice women in a sister program. We chatted, I think there were 6 of us. At the end of the mixer this girl points at me and a professor and exclaims "HEY! You two should come get dates! I'll bring them in at 4 tomorrow!"
It was....adorable. Totally socially awkward but filled with the love of wanting to share and make new friendships. Her parents own a date farm and she often is sent back to school with lots of organic, fresh, amazing medjool dates. I have a feeling we'll be fast friends.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Turn off the idiot box
You likely won't hear me talk much about what my political views are. Not becasue I don't have any but because I feel, like religion, it's personal and I certainly don't want to hear about yours. I am more interested in POLICY than I am in politics. The policy of taking care of the elderly is not a partisan issue, thank you very much. But I digress...
My boss forwarded this weekly email to me from PR land and I quite enjoy it and will be subscribing soon. Last week had a feature on common grammar mistakes and this week had a feature on Fox News. I realize saying 'here is a dig at Fox News' is akin to sharing my political views but it's worth it in this case.
From http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10128.aspx:
Fox News viewers are ill-informed.
That’s the gist of the PublicMind poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University, which found that Fox News viewers know less about certain current events than people who don’t watch the news at all.
According the study, Fox News viewers were 18 points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who don’t watch TV news. People who watch Fox News were also six points less likely to know Syrians have not yet overthrown their government.
Fairleigh Dickinson polled more than 600 adult residents of New Jersey and accounted for education and partisanship.
"Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. "Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."
Charles Seife, a journalist and New York University professor, tweeted his skepticism of the poll (in two parts):
“Latest ‘Fox News makes you stupid’ poll is deeply flawed. Tiny sample size, “esp. subdivided …and the poll's measure of ‘well informed’ has leftist bias.”
He also noted that Fox News viewers scored higher than NPR listeners on a question about which Republican candidate is leading in the polls.
NPR listeners, according to the study, are among the best-informed news consumers, along with those who read daily newspapers, such as USA Today and The New York Times, and, to the greatest extent, those who watch Sunday morning news programs.
Speaking of NPR, former Poynter blogger Jim Romenesko uncovered some statistics about listeners of the radio network, although the data don’t shed light on those listeners’ knowledge of current events.
Here are a few examples, which Romenesko credits to the @nprresearch Twitter feed:
• NPR News listeners were 94 percent more likely to have signed a petition in the past 12 month.
• 15 percent of its listeners view their cell phone as an extension of their personality.
• They’re 108 percent more likely than the average adult to go to live theater.
• They’re 42 percent more likely to drive a car with a manual transmission.
For more on NPR stats, visit JimRomenesko.com. To read the entire PublicMinds poll, click here.
---------
I thought many of you might enjoy this and it makes me wonder how well those who read fake news sites (Onion News Network) or watch fake news shows (Daily Show/Colbert Report) do in comparison to the Fox crowd. If in doubt about which network to watch, it seems just avoiding the news all together is your best bet.
My boss forwarded this weekly email to me from PR land and I quite enjoy it and will be subscribing soon. Last week had a feature on common grammar mistakes and this week had a feature on Fox News. I realize saying 'here is a dig at Fox News' is akin to sharing my political views but it's worth it in this case.
From http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10128.aspx:
Study: Fox News viewers know less than people who don’t watch the news
Fox News viewers are ill-informed.
That’s the gist of the PublicMind poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University, which found that Fox News viewers know less about certain current events than people who don’t watch the news at all.
According the study, Fox News viewers were 18 points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who don’t watch TV news. People who watch Fox News were also six points less likely to know Syrians have not yet overthrown their government.
Fairleigh Dickinson polled more than 600 adult residents of New Jersey and accounted for education and partisanship.
"Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. "Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."
Charles Seife, a journalist and New York University professor, tweeted his skepticism of the poll (in two parts):
“Latest ‘Fox News makes you stupid’ poll is deeply flawed. Tiny sample size, “esp. subdivided …and the poll's measure of ‘well informed’ has leftist bias.”
He also noted that Fox News viewers scored higher than NPR listeners on a question about which Republican candidate is leading in the polls.
NPR listeners, according to the study, are among the best-informed news consumers, along with those who read daily newspapers, such as USA Today and The New York Times, and, to the greatest extent, those who watch Sunday morning news programs.
Speaking of NPR, former Poynter blogger Jim Romenesko uncovered some statistics about listeners of the radio network, although the data don’t shed light on those listeners’ knowledge of current events.
Here are a few examples, which Romenesko credits to the @nprresearch Twitter feed:
• NPR News listeners were 94 percent more likely to have signed a petition in the past 12 month.
• 15 percent of its listeners view their cell phone as an extension of their personality.
• They’re 108 percent more likely than the average adult to go to live theater.
• They’re 42 percent more likely to drive a car with a manual transmission.
For more on NPR stats, visit JimRomenesko.com. To read the entire PublicMinds poll, click here.
---------
I thought many of you might enjoy this and it makes me wonder how well those who read fake news sites (Onion News Network) or watch fake news shows (Daily Show/Colbert Report) do in comparison to the Fox crowd. If in doubt about which network to watch, it seems just avoiding the news all together is your best bet.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
A-choo!
I'm usually a 3-sneezer and I always know when they're coming. The most common triggers are smoke and perfume. Once those things crawl up there, it's all over.
So, sitting in the super nice echo-y busines building last week, I could feel them coming on. And instead of holding them in and feeling like I ate a canary, I let them fly: "1!-2!-3!" sneezes. While I'm sneezing I notice a well-dressed gentleman sitting across from me holding up a finger for each sneeze. Each time I sneeze he adds a finger and counts out loud "one! two! three!" and I realize the sounds of his counting are muffled.
A deaf man counted my sneezes because, why not?
So, sitting in the super nice echo-y busines building last week, I could feel them coming on. And instead of holding them in and feeling like I ate a canary, I let them fly: "1!-2!-3!" sneezes. While I'm sneezing I notice a well-dressed gentleman sitting across from me holding up a finger for each sneeze. Each time I sneeze he adds a finger and counts out loud "one! two! three!" and I realize the sounds of his counting are muffled.
A deaf man counted my sneezes because, why not?
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.
I don't think there's much else to say about that. Thank you, Ms. Albright, for putting that so very succinctly.
Anxiety through the roof, anger off the charts, will bite if provoked.
Anxiety through the roof, anger off the charts, will bite if provoked.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
PG version of a drunk dial
Last night, in a sugary haze of pixie stix and emergen-c, I posted on facebook. I posted about a gripe of mine: when people come to work sick. There is this lady in my department who's been HACKING for a week and it really bugs me. Part of it is an old-school mentality about our managers needing to see "butts in seats" and part of it is an incentive system we've developed that encourages people to come to work even when they're sick because they can "cash out" sick time at the end of the year.
So, last night before class I wrote something like:
"I've drank 3 glasses of water infused with Emergen-C not because I feel sick but because the lady (generous) who sits near me has been coughing like a seal. Now I feel like I can fly and like my face is purple. Maybe a cough wouldn't have been so bad."
In just three sentences I'd chastised a coworker for being sick and managed to insult her personally for not being "a lady."
This morning, right after I woke up, I remembered: I'd accepted her friend request on facebook a few months ago so there is a solid chance she saw my post.
I am truly a jerk.
So, last night before class I wrote something like:
"I've drank 3 glasses of water infused with Emergen-C not because I feel sick but because the lady (generous) who sits near me has been coughing like a seal. Now I feel like I can fly and like my face is purple. Maybe a cough wouldn't have been so bad."
In just three sentences I'd chastised a coworker for being sick and managed to insult her personally for not being "a lady."
This morning, right after I woke up, I remembered: I'd accepted her friend request on facebook a few months ago so there is a solid chance she saw my post.
I am truly a jerk.
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