Thursday Thirteen #103 -- Stolen from Snarky Pants

Yes, I'm stealing from you again, Lisa! I'm too distracted to come up with a real, original TT idea, so this week I continue to recycle from Snarky Pants and present 13 more previously undisclosed facts about moi.

AN ADDIITONAL THIRTEEN
FACTS ABOUT THE GAL
YOU WILL ONLY FIND
HERE

1) The movie character I relate to the most is Katie Morosky (The Way We Were) in that I believe everything we do matters to our fellow man in some way and so I can't not pay attention and I can't not care. I'm also very sure of everything I'm sure about. I've been told this makes me a wee bit too intense at times.

2) Janis Ian's "At 17" is still painful for me to hear. ("I heard the truth at 17 that love was meant for beauty queens …")

3) Kathie Lee Gifford ties with Madonna as the female celebrity who annoys me the most.

4) My legs are still good. If/when I get those varicose veins taken care of, I intend to wow the unsuspecting Midwest by showing off my gams.

5) I used to be a pretty fair tree climber, back in the day.

6) My most horrifying amusement park moment didn't involve a roller coaster. No, it was the bumper cars. I got stuck beside the empty tires and couldn't get out, and the pimply kid with the microphone kept yelling, "Come on, #3! Get out of there, #3!" Like I wouldn't if I could!

7) I'm really not as smart as I may seem. The first time I saw the headline, "BREAKING NEWS! Pirates Take Hostages," I actually thought that some of the Pittsburgh players sprung out of the dug out to confront rowdy fans. Really. I'm not kidding. Would I cop to such a ridiculous notion if it weren't true?

8) I'm inexplicably drawn to marathons on the USA Network. I have put my life on hold to indulge in episode afer episode of Law & Order: SVU, Monk, Psyche and NCIS.

9) I've been to Germany, France and Switzerland but really have no desire to return to Europe at all. If I had extra money to spend on a vacation, I'd rather go to the Grand Canyon (which I've never seen) or New York (which I loved).

10) Between the time I spend at my keyboard at work, and then while farting around online, I worry about getting carpal tunnel syndrome.

11) I'd much rather bake than cook (though I don't really enjoy either).

12) I'm sorry I never saw Elvis or Frank Sinatra in concert.

13) One of my favorite oldies to sing along with is "You Were on My Mind" by the We Five, even though the lyrics make no sense to me whatsoever.

To participate yourself,
or to look up more TT participants,
visit the new hub (thursday-13.com).

I won't be sorry when this work day ends

I've been busy today. I'm done taking lumps for my screw up, which wasn't as painful as I feared. Embarrassing? You bet. Humbling? Oh, no doubt about it. But not really painful.

Then I asked my boss if the lay-off rumors were true. He said they weren't. Just to make sure, I asked someone who has direct, daily client contact, and she said they weren't true either.

Then I called to check up on my mom. She still sounds weak as a kitten, but she's happy to be home, so that's good.

This stress (along with a nice, 35-minute cardio workout and a Xanax) have left me feeling pretty drained. I just can't wait to get home and flip back and forth between American Idol (go, Adam!) and the baseball game (go, Cubs!).

Poor, poor pitiful me

I screwed up at work a few weeks ago, and it's just now coming to light. Everyone is being very nice about it: "I understand how it happened," etc., but they would be well within their rights to not be. I screwed up.

I screwed up.

This is not a good time for screw ups. Not with the rumors flying that the client may be considering giving us less, not more, work. It was sloppy and ugly and irresponsible of me to give them a reason to place a black mark beside our name.

"It's not that big a deal." Yes, it is. The client shouldn't expect to have to do my job. Grammar and spelling are my job here. I must be more careful going forward.

We're having a meeting today at 2:00, in a small group, to discuss how to make sure this doesn't happen again. I'm not looking forward to it. I was told that the point of the meeting was to discsuss process, not to just "point a finger at you," but I'd be OK with it if they did.

I hate this.