Debbie Does Drivel

My life since I last wrote can be summed up thusly:

Barstow, E-Bay, Suzanne Somers, ElderHelp, Sake, Whole Foods, Work Avoidance, Panic Room, Bitterness, Disappointment, Subsequent Getting Back on the Horse, Character Development (both literal and figurative), High Protein, Toxic Pork, Living Room Dancing, Short Hair, Cramps.

Long freaking sigh.
Lots of stuff happening. But none of it to me.
And what has happened is not worth repeating in a blog.
So, I'll do it anyway. Judge for yourself.

Weekend: fine.
Except for one misstep on E-Bay Friday night as I waited patiently until the last second to bid on an auction, and instead of entering "$26.99," I input "$2,699.00" (wine, loud girls, and a pasta salad accident were involved). Thankfully, the highest bid came in at $53.00, which meant that I need only pay $53.50 (to beat the highest bid). Except I'm buying used clothes, and as a rule, I do not pay higher than $26.99 for used clothes (should be closer to $2.69, Debbie, you fool! you do not need a pair of platform slip-ons in a size that is not even your own! When, oh when will you stop convincing yourself you need lame items, like a rubber skirt, to feel fashion-forward?). This is a lesson in not being obsessive. As I recently have purchased 31 items on E-Bay in the last month, slowing down is advised.

Saw my MU friends on Sat. night. They're in from Milwaukee and I had a really good salad at dinner (cornmeal-dusted chicken, currants, blue cheese). Uh. Other than that, spent three hours yesterday visiting with my ElderHelp assignment (her name is Rebecca, and I do not mean to dehumanize her by calling her an assignment, it's just better explained that way).
She told me all about Haight Ashbury since she lived in the area in the '60s. She's a Christian Scientist, is 87, and made me some rice during my visit. She also asked me, "What direction do you see us heading?" kinda like we were going out and she needed to know if we were serious or not.

Today, I attended a staff meeting to have my boss tell us that there will be no raises for awhile as times are lean. Later, I went into his office to ask him if he still considered me "assetantious" to the organization. A Debbie word morphing asset and advantageous. They all pretty much think I'm crazy here and that made-up word seemed to cement the impression. Anyway, as you can see, I'm not caring too much.

There's been an overrun of spiders at my house. A lot like if my home were TJ Maxx, and Liz Claibourne had over-produced their Spring collection and dumped the extras in the store. God over-created spiders this spring and had dropped off the excess at 4026 Conrad.
(Don't even ask "what?" please. Just allow yourself to be caught up in the gentle waves of my nonsense. I am at high tide.).

Tonight, I'd like to take a walk. Well...I sorta want to take a walk. I'd actually like to do nothing, but feel pressured to exercise by the unyielding good weather. I don't think I can take a walk though. I'm quite convinced my toe is broken. A door did it.

Beside that, my hair has been cut short, like above my shoulders. I also decided to grow out my old, fake blonde color. Meaning half of my hair is now brown, and half old, fake blonde. As you can see, I'm not caring too much.

This has been my life, and I'd like to really ask my head, "What direction do you see us heading?"

Why is it so hard to find good customer service these days? There's got to be a socio-cultural/geo-political/demo-economic study somewhere that points to the decline of the service industry.
The following happens more and more frequently these days:
#1 -- Rude, indifferent counterhelp/service persons
#2 -- Uninformed salespeople
#3 -- Lack of "make-goods" if product/service sucks beyond repair
#4 -- Increasing inability to make product or provide a service that does not suck beyond repair
#5 -- No follow-through or follow-up once you've been "hooked" by a sale
#6 -- Outright lying about the non-suckiness of product or service

Why don't people take more pride in their work? I know I don't. BUT I am not technically a service person dealing with the public at large. Well, I guess technically I do, but it's a small public at large. Hmmm, maybe I should explore why I don't take more pride in my work......perhaps I can find some kernel of thought which will solve the customer service suck-a-thon.

Whoa! Heavy!
And all I really wanted to do was bitch about how I ordered a turkey sandwich today and got a ham one instead, and about how this same deli consistently delivers screwed-up orders -- leaving something off here, mucking something up there -- I certainly did not intend to self-examine. Something actually might change.
I'm not here to start a revolution...I'm here to kvetch about there not being a revolution, then not do anything about it in the end.
(Sorry, self. Didn't mean to scare you into change...)
That was a close-y....

I'm in high school again.
I'm highly irritated with my best friend, and being a passive-aggressive girl, I cannot tell her outright why I am mad at her...
so, I've been avoiding her (i.e. not calling all week, not e-mailing, etc.), and now I find that she is coming to a book club event tonight. No matter that I've asked her again and again to join us for a book club meeting and she's always been "busy," but now that I'm not talking to her, she's coming.
So now visions of snide, side-long glances, and uncomfortable silences are dancing through my petty head. I wonder who will be on "her side" and who "on mine."

Let me tell you why I'm annoyed:
She has drama after drama with guys that are bad for her. She consistently picks the type of guy who is image-conscious (to a fault), and overly preoccupied with material things. So, it stands to reason that this sort of man will not be a stand-up guy when it comes to non-durable goods, like people (i.e. her). Since, the man she tends to date is also very into the going out thing (mainly with the guys), he puts the going-out-with-the-guys activities above her. Meaning, she is always upset in every single one of these relationships (she's had 5 since 1997) when the guy doesn't spend enough time with her and puts his friends first. Plus, there's always trust issues. She gets the feeling that these guys aren't being up-front with her about their going-out activities (and she's always been right). Then, she rearranges her schedule to accommodate them, and they NEVER do the same for her.
So, she's upset a lot in these relationships. She's stressed, angry, and off-kilter.
In every case, she's broken up at least once with all these guys, and then resumes the relationship about a week later -- and then, it's even more unhealthy then before. And she remains in this hyper state of unhappiness and self-destruction until the Big Bang, when something happens that even she can't deny (like, unrefuted cheating proof) to end it once and for all.

In every one of these relationships, I've been there. I've listened and commiserated, and dissed the guy after the break-up. And frankly, I'm wondering when she's going to stop the pattern.
When she's out of the relationship, she always expects me to be there (and I want to be), but when she's back in it, I don't hear from her for days upon days. She breaks plans with me, is generally unavailable, and is never up-front with me about her activities.

So, I don't want to judge -- even though I know I am -- but the real why-I'm-mad-issue is I feel used. She puts these bad guys first every time; they are her focus, her priority, her over-riding compulsion, and I am not to be seen or heard from until she needs to talk. Maybe that's not a valid reason to be angry. Maybe it's selfish. Why can't I be Jesus?