I have this problem with requesting time off.  I dunno if it is from my time teaching or at previous jobs, but regardless of the fact that I have LOADS of hours I have to use before the end of the year, I still feel guilty whenever I request time off.  Especially with a new job/boss where I'm not sure how he feels about time off on top of the fact that I just took 7 days off over the course of three weeks.

BUT I took my little time off forms to the boss man today, because I have this wedding coming up that I need to attend.  Family wedding.  Of a cousin I like.  Stuff like that.  And my boss gives me this eyebrows-up face as I put the form down in front of him, so I don't know what it means.  He doesn't believe me?  He... is amused by me?  (Probably)  Instead, I opt for... he thinks weddings are hilarious and to be mocked.

So I say, "I know, I know."  Maybe some hand flapping occurs.

More eyebrows (this guy... very expressive eyebrows).  He asks WHAT exactly I know, and I realize that I'm just making noises.  WHAT do I know?  I still have no clue what crap I fed him, but I think it had to do with my parents being a drag at weddings because my sister and I are older than this cousin and not married.  No clue.

But he assures me that "family weddings are FUN."

Clearly not a kindred spirit.

And instead of escaping with what little dignity I have left, instead of that, I tell him about the cousin who got married LAST year.  The one where the wedding party was inebriated even before entering the reception.  The one where the maid of honor broke her collarbone on the dance floor.

I may have come out even on this one, though, because as lame as I started out... I left him laughing.  Maybe at me, but still, I count it as a win.

Heeee HAWWWW

That's the noise a donkey makes. Or an ass. I didn't want to title my post with a BAD word, but the THEME for this post is: I'm an ass. This is likely not news to you, but here's a shining example of WHY.

I've never went and told you about the characters that work in the lab CONNECTED to mine. I'll introduce you to one, because it's relevant and necessary. So... we meet... sigh. We meet Stutters. He's really nice, would go out of his way to help you, your family,anything you'd need. But he. is. exhausting. And he never shuts up. Not ever. But in addition to exhaustive dialogue, he ACTS out all parts of the story he's telling. He'll act out his part, any other parts, then he'll act out YOUR reactions (even though I've usually stopped listening and have no reaction other than blank nodding...), and your POTENTIAL reactions, any other imaginary characters' reactions.

And he's named Stutters? You guessed it. Because if his style of talking wasn't exhausting enough, he also has... this Stutter.

SO everyday, several times a day - he comes over to talk to my lab. He'd come in early today, rambled through a long, confusing, ever-changing story about who knows what - then he left. Few hours later, I am on my laptop, headphones in, Incubus (this is a band, Ern) playing loooooudly in my ears to keep me awake. Stutters comes back. He starts talking.

I never took my headphones out. He talked and talked and talked,and I didn't hear a single word. I smiled and nodded for like 20 minutes.

Fast forward an hour - Skipper (who is my favorite in the lab) came back, and he's also a donkey like me, and I told him about the headphones. He laaaaaughed and, as he does, went back to his desk to leave me alone (we get along SO WELL). Five minutes later? Stutters comes back. My headphones are in and he's talking up a storm to me,with the Skipper cracking up cuz he KNOWS I have the volume turned up and I'm not hearing a word.

I'm a bad person. An Ass. HEEEHAAAWWW.