Never a Dull Moment

So, so much going on that I’m amazed I can keep my schedule straight these days. I don’t like that I have no time to write but I can’t dwell on this fact or else I’ll lose the time that I have right now! Let’s see, well we officially start selling product on May 31st. We will be open for business. That’s some scary-ass shit. Someone’s head is undoubtedly going to roll, maybe even two or three, for not delaying this day. Testing has not completed successfully once. What makes the executives think it will suddenly just because we’re in production is well over my head. All I can do is shake my head and keep forging forward. I’m doing more than I ever thought possible and I’m barely not going completely under. Every day that goes by only gets me further behind despite the fact that I’m basically working around the clock, literally. I rarely shut the laptop down unless it’s to transport it to the office and back. I’m really beginning to believe I’m warped because I’m loving my job more and more every day. I guess I’m just baffled because this is such a foreign feeling to me today. If I think far back though, back to the old training days before the Mouse came along, I used to operate like this and make a hell-of-a lot less money. So I come home from work, exhausted yet needing to do something other than get right back on the computer. What do I do? I work on my house. Hanging stuff on the wall, organizing things, and even (yes me!) planting a garden. I have my plants back from Laura’s finally but beyond that I germinated three different flowers, four herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers. Most are now planted in pots and are well on their way to full leaves and roots. The remainder have sprouted but aren’t quite mature enough to be repotted. I never realized just how relaxing this can be. I’ve always had plants and have been able to grow them successfully. Never flowers though and certainly never vegetables and herbs. I can’t wait until I take a big juicy bite out my first home-grown tomato. How cool will that be? Next comes the extra-curricular stuff. LEAGUE is alive and well; our membership continues to grow and it now looks like I might finally have a little help as I have a member who wants to help. Darol has also now become a full-fledged Disney Cast Member and has expressed an interest in helping to keep the events going. Two weeks ago was the fourth annual Jeff Griffith Youth Center Volunteer Day. I love this benefit as its purpose is to help out a center designed to help homeless gay teenagers and young adults. If it’s possible, it was even more rewarding this year than in the past because a handful of friends joined me. I was on the committee and was assigned a room in the center to paint and clean. My friends, along with a couple of other volunteers, were assigned to me and we knocked out that big dining room. It is now bright, cheery and clean. This weekend, I donated some time to another entirely different cause. Operation Gratitude is an organization that puts together care packages for soldiers in Iraq. Again a group of friends joined me in the National Guard assembly lines where we packed boxes with goodies donated from companies like the Girl Scouts, Wrigley’s, Dr. Schoal’s, Target, AT&T, Fruit of the Loom, Sunkist and many, many others. It was the best way I could think to honor the meaning of Memorial Day. It was rewarding but also made me sad thinking about how excited these people get just to receive a box with a deck of cards and a Simpson’s Comic book. How many of these people who will be eating the Tiger’s Milk bar have seen some horrendous sights that will haunt them for the remainder of their lives? That is, assuming they do make it home. I definitely don’t want to get political right now but I really don’t see how anyone could have been working yesterday and not had similar thoughts. Probably the biggest news I have at the moment is that I am now officially the Secretary on the Coldwater-Ardmore Co-op Board! Yep, I’ve been saying I wanted to get involved for a while to work on changing some things and lo and behold, I’m approached by the Vice-President to run for this newly vacated seat. She came to my house on a Saturday while I was home working and just point blank told me my name had been the buzz around the building because they think I’m a responsible, courteous and a smart member of the Co-op. These seats rarely change hands because the board is made up almost entirely of older people who have held their positions for probably longer than I’ve been driving! One of the ladies was forced to step down as her husband is very ill and she needs to be with him. I was elected to my chair as of a week ago. My seat is for one year and then elections happen again. I attended my first Board meeting on Wednesday and was astounded to witness how archaic some of their practices are. The president is the only person under 60 and she couldn’t stop telling me how grateful she was to have me on the Board. They asked for my ideas for the Co-op. I had a list prepared: recycling bins, replacing all electrical sidewalk lighting with solar lights, adding a call-in notification system for the washers and dryers, automating our monthly financials (i.e. electricity, gas and water bill payments). They were excited and wanted to hear more details about all of them. Great. I always seem to do this to myself. How is it that I’m so good at creating more work for myself? Anyway, the main reason for my interest in the first place was to find a way to get the Co-op rules changed to allow shareholders the option of renting their unit. Enough new and younger shareholders have moved in over the past year – fifteen in all. I can’t imagine if this trend continues that people would be opposed to this idea. Assuming any prospective tenant is put through the same background check and interview process by the Board, I really don’t see why this would not be allowed. I have a great unit and I don’t relish the thought of selling it nor do I have any desire to live in it for more than a few years. Whew. I truly just did a complete brain dump. I really needed that. Now I can go back to working. Well, maybe just a little bit of The Godfather. I haven’t played in over two weeks! Ugh, my Manager just texted me. When will I actually have a day off?? I’ve forgotten what that is anymore. Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Let’s see if I can get through one entire day without doing anything work-related. Good frickin’ luck!