Update? Update.

At work we're smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. And we're severely understaffed. Not necessarily for lack of trying to hire people before the holidays started, of course, although the reluctance to hire has not exactly helped the situation at work. Needless to say, tensions are a bit high, especially as we're being stretched thin as we try to cover all the different events and stuff that is being done by the hotel staff.

It would not be so bad if we had the same hotel team that we did last year at this time, but we also were not as booked with events. And I was not working at the spa at that time either so I was much more relaxed than I have been lately.

Right now I am on day 6 of 6 working - four days were at the spa and the last two have been at the hotel. Honestly, working at the hotel has felt like a break. I am not being run off my feet with having to take clients to various waiting rooms, no having to run up and down stairs, no having to try to answer phones that are ringing off the hook, no trying to answer emails, messages, and voice mails between customers coming to the desk to pay for their services or products or buying gift certificates.

I have the next two days off and I am not answering my phone if work calls me. Unless it's to cover a hotel shift, and even then I might not say yes to working it. I need my days off something fierce right now so I do not run the risk of completely burning out before the end of the holiday season. I can already feel the creep of burn out and I would rather avoid it hitting me super hard...the last time I let that happen I ended up going on medical leave from the job and never going back. I would rather not do that if I have a choice. For the most part I love working here, but I really wish that communication between the different departments was a lot better.

In other news, I have decided to stop stretching my ear lobes. I have taken out my plugs - partially because I lost one and I find that I can't wear the o-rings to keep them in due to allergies - and have just been letting them be free. Well, other than when I wear dangly earrings in them. They've closed to about 3mm and I have a feeling that they will not get much smaller than that, but such is life. And there is always a chance that I will start stretching them again.

The writing class I started back in October is coming to an end soon, and it has helps me so much in my writing! I'm actually working on something that is entirely original and I have been getting loads of good feed back. Considering that I had been scared shitless to let anybody see my fiction writing for a lot of years, this class has done wonders for my self-esteem. The person teaching it own sand operates a local publishing company and he has been making sounds about being very interested in me submitting the finished work for publishing when his publishing company opens up submissions in March. And I plan on taking the class again in January, but this time more for working on getting the first book finished. Then, once that first book has been accepted and polished I will start on the next book in the series, probably by taking the course yet again.

Why would I take the same course over and over again? Repetition will only help create better writing habits and skills. And the teacher does allow us to submit chapters for our word count instead of doing the weekly assignments. It keeps us writing! And so far I have only completely missed one submission due in a very large part to having a shitty week prior to the Friday midnight deadline and crashing after my shift on Friday and not waking up until my morning alarm on Saturday. 

I *had* set an alarm for a two hour nap with the intention of getting up, pushing out my weekly submission to send in before midnight before going back to bed, but I slept through that alarm. And rather than trying to get it written up the next day I simply gave myself permission to not sweat it and make up for my word count next time. Which I didn't hit and I was a day late getting the assignment in because I metaphorically hit a wall this past Thursday and couldn't think of what to write. Until sometime Friday evening, knowing that I would not get enough words churned out to hand in. At least I sent an email to my teacher saying I would get it in Saturday. And I did, after my hotel shift...during which, once I got through all the stuff I had to do for work, I worked on my late submission. Next up is making up my word count for my submission this coming Friday.

But first is my two days off and hopefully I will get some much needed cleaning done. Particularily in the living room and kitchen. I still have to clean and put away my bird's cage but grief and guilt have kept from touching it after he passed away a little over a month ago. However, I know that I can't just let it sit there and essentially rot. No, his body is not still in it - he was wrapped gently and put into a ziploc baggie before being put into the freezer. I will likely bury him in a plant pot at some point so he will always be with me in some way, or perhaps bury him outside long enough for decomp to do its magic and expose his bones, and then display his bones in a mounting case. I still don't know.

Either way, I want to get to some serious cleaning on my days off. And maybe some rearranging of things so that I can get my new bookcase finally put together and into my living room. Oh, and maybe finally get around to painting the ugly set of book ends I bought at a thrift store several months ago.

Meh. In the meantime I should really do something work related and let my Chromebook charge up a bit before it dies on me.