Week 1: Survived

It was tough, but I managed to survive week 1 of being once again gainfully employed. Not only did I get up for 4 days in a row at or prior to 6am and spending 8.5 hours at my place of employment..... I even managed to sort through the chaos that is benefits..... health, pharmacy, dental, vision, retirement (401k-esque), life insurance, union membership...... I am relatively sure that after getting all that taken care of I will receive some money when I eventually get paid.... If I get paid! The only thing it seems that I haven't taken care of is getting myself a new checking account - one that isn't located at a bank over 400 miles away. Hopefully the USPS will be kind to me today so that I can get that set up on Monday and then ensure that I will get whatever money is due after all the above mentioned items are paid for since Federal employees have to use direct deposit.

I have to admit that it was nice to go back and see so many people that I haven't seen in so long. I think the only question that surprised me was how many asked if my last name was still the same. What the heck is with that? These people spent 40+ hours a week with me for over 6 years; what about me ever made them think that even if I got married I would change my last name? Did I manage to hide my ultra-feminist streak from them for all those years? I will be the first to admit that I can be difficult to get to know and that I often vigorously protect my privacy. However I didn't think, but I must admit that I don't remember, even I could have kept my opinion on the subject quiet for all that time.

For me the worst thing about being back at work, even though I turned off my alarm clock, is waking up at 6 am on Saturday and not being able to fall back asleep. Though it's still dark out and I haven't yet had coffee, I've managed to clean the house and give the cat a lot of attention - hopefully making up for my being gone so much this week. So far it seems that I have - my former cat induced injuries are healing and have not been joined by any others. She did just wake up though and is giving me the evil eye - perhaps the keyboard is making too much noise as I type this.....

I may have to be ambitious today and actually put the Christmas tree away - if not I may have to be really ambitious and decorate it for either Presidents Day or Valentines Day.

Since it is Saturday - I'm going to have to mention what I am not going to be doing tonight. I am not going to be getting together with my Mount Pleasant family. So far Saturday night has proved to be the hardest evening not to be in Mount Pleasant. I miss the game, we had a real interesting cast of characters developing and we had a world to explore that was well created. What I really miss though are the people. It was often the only time during the week that I saw some of them. Even though I could easily get frustrated when it felt like our game was disintegrating into an evening of chaos and out of character side conversations; I now find myself missing some of that. It makes me look forward to being there in a few weeks; to see and listen to everyone.

Have a great weekend everyone. I am off to spend some QT with my spectacular niece. Last night I got to pick her up after work and she is spending the weekend with my parents. She was working on a story last night. I believe she had written 20 pages by the time I left. She wouldn't let me read any of it while she was working on it - hopefully today she will let me take a peek at it. Being around her tonight will more than make up for not being at my favorite house on Elm St.