Closing Time

#5. I'm spending five days in Vegas next week...

...this quickly morphed into a week and half when I wasn't looking. Not that I'm complaining, but I'm suspicious that my husband is trying to get rid of me. So here I am working my little fingers to the bone so I can maybe have some fun before the week runs out.

I will be having a late dinner on the Strip tomorrow night - outside, on the patio of Mon Ami Gabi. Which, if you're unfamiliar, is directly on Las Vegas Blvd. - fortunately it's slightly elevated so the drunks won't be spilling on my steak frites. And yes, I will have a blanket with me because DUDE - Vegas is cold. I was firmly instructed yesterday that once I made my reservation for the patio I could not change it for inside. But suffering through the cold will be worth it for the fireworks at midnight...although we may not get back home for a few hours because oh yeah - the Strip is closed and that means there's only one way out of the parking garage.

But it's Vegas, baby - slot machines and free drinks make a little wait alright. And it seems a fitting ending to a pretty out of control year to spend time in the city of the biggest excesses.

Maybe next year I'll spend it on a warm island.

Seven Things

#1. Facebook is like a weird random reunion of your entire life. And everyone has kids.

#2. I really need to decorate my house - I'm hosting Christmas Eve and my tree is tied up in the corner. The decorations are in the corner in a heap and the dog is suspicious of the lights.

#3. I sure got a lot of hooch for Christmas. My husband says it's because people like me when I drink. That makes me think that people ONLY like me when I'm drinking. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

#4. I thought I might not have to work during my vacation from my day job...ha! I have to put together a presentation for a side project by January 5th. But it pays.

#5. I'm spending five days in Vegas next week. That makes having to work a little better. I hope it doesn't snow.

#6. I have a holiday spare tire that might be getting more difficult to conceal. But I get to eat for two more weeks before I think about that.

#7. Things might actually be coming together at the close of one hell of a year. We've limped along this far and we just might be out of the woods.

I have probably jinxed that now.

So back to finishing up my second job, and wondering how everyone ended up with so many children while I wasn't looking.

Pluses and Minuses

Yes, I am alive. I spend a lot of my time thinking instead of writing these days.

One of the biggest pluses of having longevity with an organization is the confidence that people have in you. Having been with my company for six years, I can do most anything outside of actual design. And if I sat down long enough I probably could learn to draw.

Not really.

I spent a good deal of time in the last year working to get out of being a generalist, so that I could focus on the information side of our business. I've been able to put some things in motion and get stuff organized.

And we all know what's coming...the minus.

I will be back to functioning as a generalist in January because we have to lay off most of our contractors. For the first time, I'm REALLY upset. I've been through a lot of lay offs in every company I've worked for, and have closed more than one office. I'm a pretty pragmatic person, and just accept things for what they are and move on. I've always made it through as the generalist, and have said good-bye to a lot of great people. This time is no different, except that I don't want to be that person anymore. And I'm safe because of that fact - I know my company better than almost everyone and can step in to any role. Except that's the LAST thing I want to do.

But I have to keep my job. Now more than ever.

The biggest minus is that I know who's going. I hate knowing that, and knowing that some of it could have been prevented, but now that's neither here nor there. So I have to sit here and pretend that everything is okay, that I'm clueless, while people file out at the end of next week for what could be the last time.

And on the 5th of January, I'll come back to an empty office and figure out how to move forward when all I want to do is curl into a ball. I just hope January doesn't bring a move in my personal life, because I honestly don't know how much I have left.

Who needs a retirement fund anyway?