OMG, y'all...

I didn't book any work for today (obvi) but also haven't booked any work for tomorrow, yet (altho I did submit myself for rush calls and will update my admin resume at the temp agency tomorrow if not otherwise engaged). So once Stephen headed off to work, I looked in the DVR queue for any movies he wants me to watch first.

I watched Maleficent and was left with a feeling that the story could have used a good trim before committing to film. Not that it wasn't interesting or well done; it just seemed like they wanted to tell too big of a piece of the puzzle.

Then I looked for the oldest thing in the queue, which happened to be The Book Thief. OMG, y'all. I cried my eyes out. The damn thing's set in Germany during WWI, and I cried my eyes out. I counted at least five places where they could have ended it, and I cried my eyes out.

I'm not saying it's a good film or well-made or anything like that. The story could have seriously used a tighter edit. But I cried my eyes out.

Now I gotta put sheets on the bed so I can sleep in it, 'cuz I'm about wasted.

My days are returning to "normal"

Stephen went to work; I went to Trader Joe's.

Picked up almost all the groceries we need at this point... came home and built a good salad.

Stephen came home, and as I was finishing salad prep, the fan jumped out of the window (it does that). I re-set it and went back to the salad.

Went to set the table, and my flowers jumped off the shelf. Caught them all and the vase, but not before all of the water dumped all over me and everything on the shelf. Stephen stepped in to help clean up the wet everything, while I finished setting the table and tossing the salad.

We ate; re-set the flowers on the shelf and started cleaning up the dinner stuff. Opened the refrigerator for some wine, and Stephen's salad dressing jumped off the shelf. That one did NOT get caught. So I stood exactly where I was and picked up glass shards to drop into the trash, while Stephen pulled out the vacuum.

Dishwasher's running; we're drinking wine and watching Marvel's Agents of Shield. Nothing else jumping off shelves at this point. I'm back!

WELCOME, Namibia!

I didn't know where you were before today, but by process of elimination, I've determined that you're that decent chunk of green near the bottom of Africa. Also, to India and Spain, Welcome Back! And to the rest of you, I love having you all here - I will definitely be posting with more regularity going forward, now that I've left my most recent job.

What a #FirstWorldProblem, huh? I haven't blogged enough because I've been burdened with employment that was less than perfect. And now I'm moving back into the uncertainty realm, #OnPurpose and #ByMyOwnChoice. You readers in these green countries who have boosted my stats this week have just now made me aware of how blessed and privileged I am to live in the dark green country on this map.

Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you for logging in from all points of the globe. Thank you for reminding me of my status on this planet. I hope that your lives are as blessed as mine.

It has been my honor and pleasure to know you

Yesterday marked the end of my dance studio career. It was both a long and short tenure, and this past week was also both long and short, and also quite bittersweet.

Me and my replacement ;)

I've been training the new girl, who didn't like it when I called her my "replacement" (because she thought it sounded like she was kicking me out) so we kept using phrases like "picking up the mantle" and "passing the torch". It's all good - semantics - potato, potahto. She's going to be great, but she has a little fear about her first day without me. I have faith; she'll be fine. She's got my contact info if she needs it, but I doubt I'll hear from her right away. I had a good week to train her, and anything we didn't quite get to, she'll figure out. Or, she'll be given an unclear task with unclear instructions, she'll muddle through it and end up fucking it up, and then they'll be clear in how she could have done it right the first time, which, as I've said before, is the SOP for that place. Then I'll hear from her! ;)

My last week was short in the "train the new girl" aspects of it and long in the "students are hugging her goodbye and giving her gifts and acting like they've been best friends all this time, and won't she just go home already?" vibe I felt from certain members of the staff. Tough noogies. I did make a lot of good friends, and no, we did not "fraternize" offsite while I was employed there, but yes, I did honestly say to just about every student who needed a goodbye hug, "It has been my honor and pleasure to know you".

I had wanted to take a lot of selfies yesterday. Most everyone didn't get a selfie with me, just hugs. Thanks to Julie for playing the waltz so that Dr. Joel and I could dance our goodbye.

Sweet Melissa had crocheted a lovely scarf for me, so I did get a selfie of the two of us plus scarf.

At the end of the day, most of the staff had to fly out to San Francisco for a big competition, so a handful of the students said, "hey, let's take emelle out for drinks, since it's no longer considered fraternization, since once she's off the clock, she's not employed here anymore!" to which I responded "Yee-Ha! Let's go!"

A friendly bunch

So we did. We were a small but lively group. I apologize to any present that my salty sailor talk may have offended. Ya didn't know I had a salty sailor's mouth when you only saw me behind the desk, didja? I do. I'm pretty unapologetic about having it, but last night, I may have shocked you, and for that, I am sorry.

(and thank you, Matt, for the foxtrot almost to the door.)

the lawsuit that's waiting to happen

So no more feeling like I'm going to be part of the "lawsuit waiting to happen". No more spending a day in my car for every week I work. No more feeling undervalued for the work I do. No more feeling like my position is not. actually. necessary. It was a good run; it really was. But it is time for me to move on.


When I got home last night (around midnight), I stopped in at the Chuck-E-Cheese parking lot to see if I could meet the 2nd AD of the production that's been base-camping there, and offer my services as a BG actor or PA or anything for the last two days of their shoot on Monday and Tuesday. She was in the production trailer, building her call sheet for Monday, so there obviously (or isn't it obvious? I guess only to those of us in that world), there wouldn't be room for me on Monday. But she did stop long enough to have a short, polite conversation with me, looking at me, and said that I was "EXACTLY" the sort of BG they needed for Tuesday, and wouldn't I just contact ____________ over at Central? (Yes, of course. That was exactly why I walked over to that production trailer in the first place!) So I might be working in the industry already by Tuesday, and I'll have to walk literally one hundred steps from my front door to the lot. Woo Hoo!

my apartment building on the left - base camp in the middle - Chuck-E-Cheese on the right

My last dance party was today

I've told you about how I get to dance on Saturdays, because the dance party (or "practice session") happens during my lunch break. Last week, we were closed on Saturday. Next week, we'll be closed on Saturday (which is why my notice runs through next Friday). Today, we closed early, so I only took a 30-minute lunch break rather than an hour. So I ate a little something during my first (on the clock) break, two hours into my day, and then I danced for 30 minutes of the 45-minute dance party (or "practice session").

The class beforehand was hustle, so I made sure to be on the floor when the party first started, so I could hustle with Hattie's husband, Matt. Then Natalya's husband, Moshe, asked me to dance a foxtrot. Then I sat out a swing. Then Diego waltzed me around before he had to leave. Then I led Melissa in a rumba. Then I salsa'd with Moshe. Then I sat out a Viennese Waltz. Then I led Mandana in a merengue. Then I had (what will likely be) my last good tango with George. Then I cha cha'd with Moshe and rumba'd with Matt, and Moshe waltzed me back to "on the clock". It was quite the bittersweet final Saturday.

I didn't get to dance with Janis' husband Yoram today, because he's been in Israel, I think. I got to dance with Theresa's husband, Mark, last night, and even though I usually have had to only dance non-travelling dances near the front desk on Friday nights, I had COVERAGE, so Mark foxtrotted me around the room. Oh, btw, I started training my replacement yesterday. Yay!

Only five more days at my dance studio job. They've made it clear that I will be working those last five days. It is also clear that this departure is a good move. My replacement is a bright girl who will learn as much as she possibly needs to in her first week. I'm glad to have the opportunity to give her a better start than I was given, but I'm also incredibly grateful to have only five more days.

Stephen knows that I'm moving towards better things. I know it, too. I'm grateful for the last four months at the dance studio, and I'm grateful to be able to leave there with the knowledge I've gained in that time. I just hope I manage to get to dance here and there, while I'm at all the rest of my fabulous life.

Some good, some bad, and some... meh

Yesterday, I had to go in to work early, because we were celebrating three staff birthdays with Chipotle take-out, and since it was on my way, I had to pick it up. No big deal; just part of the gig.

Got to work and tried to log in to the computer using my personal password for my laptop. I guess that means that mentally, my last day on my job was Wednesday. Hmm.

The staff that were there set up the tables and started distributing meals. The other admin asked me where all the "on the side" stuff was - I told her that all I got was the one big box. So no salsas or guacamoles or tortillas for anyone who'd ordered them. Rut-roh.

They had their party anyway; I stayed at the front desk and my meal got cold. Not that I was hungry for it yet, but there was never a moment that anyone said, "hey, shouldn't emelle get to partake in this levity? I'll go cover the front desk for a bit." See? I'm already non-existent.

Once they'd cleared the party, I went to get my meal. It was COMPLETELY wrong. Since I knew they hadn't gotten their sides, I showed the manager the email that confirmed the order she'd placed, and what pissed her off the most was that they'd been charged a couple bucks for every order of guacamole. I didn't WANT guac but got it as part of my COMPLETELY wrong meal. So the other admin called to get a credit on the credit card, since so many orders were at least a little bit wrong, and she embellished a bit (I think) about the food not being hot, etc. We were laughing about her phone impersonation of the boss, but she ended up taking the credit card physically to the store to get the credit. Meanwhile, my meal was inedible, and since I wasn't actually hungry yet, I just set it aside for my actual lunch break.

At which point, I drove it over to the store, with a printout of what I had ordered (making sure not to include any of the other orders or the total, in case they remembered having credited my meal already). Got in line; presented my WRONG meal with my printout, and the chick sent me to the end of the line to have a supervisor process it. Without even the slightest argument, they replaced my meal, and they threw in a drink and chips. "All that, and a bag of chips!" It was good. My patience paid off.

Got home last night so tired that I only had time to eat some of Stephen's excellent day-old (homemade) banana/coconut/chocolate chip ice cream and check one or two things in my personal internets before I fell asleep over my computer while sitting on the couch next to Geoff, our houseguest. Twice.

Finally went to bed by midnight, and was allowed to sleep in until 8:30-ish, and I'm much more coherent now. I've started creating "how to do this job" documents at work, since I have no idea if there will be an actual person for me to train before next Friday. But considering that I've been dog-tired and I didn't actually exist at work at all, I'm going to have to re-read yesterday's doc. Who knows what I said?

I've been saying good-bye to more and more of the students, most of whom have not heard through any grapevine that I'm leaving. I've been giving and getting lots of hugs. I may not exist for my boss or some of the staff, but at least I do for the students. It's getting more difficult to work my notice, not because the job's getting harder, but because of all of the "I'm/We're going to miss you"s and the heart-to-heart hugs I've been sharing.

Side note: a "heart-to-heart" hug is one where your face goes to the left shoulder of the other person, aligning your hearts. This is a VERY difficult thing for ballroom dancers to learn, because ballroom frame puts your head to your own left. Betcha didn't know that, didja?

A few nice things to say.

Started training my replacement today. Haven't yet met my replacement, but since I managed to get some pictures of the last event loaded onto the studio's website, I was tasked with "updating" the instructions. I didn't "update" anything. There were no instructions, ever, except in handwritten notes to myself. So today, I taught the newbie how to post anything to the website. One task down, eleventy-seven umpteen to go.

Started saying goodbye to more students and co-workers. I may be at the point where I'm repeating myself now. In fact, one of the students told me that she had asked me (at whatever point I had told her, last time) how I'd managed to be there so long. Then later, as I was saying goodnight to the newest-hired dance instructor, I discovered that she had managed to keep her ear off the grapevine, so it was a bittersweet moment.

Tomorrow, I'll hand out more flyers at Central, and I may or may not be "training" another gal on how, exactly, to do that gig. Then I get to drive in to the dance studio a tad early so I can stop and pick up our staff lunch on my way in. Once a month, we celebrate birthdays with Chipotle. It is EXACTLY on my way in; I may add all of 2/10 mile to my drive just dealing with the parking lot. Only reason to be early is so I won't be late getting in to work.

LOTS of "check your availability" emails coming my way lately for film industry stuff. So far, NO availability! But there will be, soon enough. Keep your positive vibes comin', kids!

Geoff the houseguest is trying to sleep off a new bug, so I think I'll let him. I gotta get up early tomorrow, anyway.