Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

And damn, it is rough out there.  Which is why Pride is important.

And between that fucking fascist DeShithead and his ilk trying to make us disappear by criminalizing folks existence, and some seriously trash rainbow capitalism out there, it’s a bit disheartening.

Had to go to Target today (not happily, it was the only option) and my local store still has its pride display up front, but I don’t know if they took out the good stuff or it was always just a bunch of ugly assed shit.  Not sure what was more embarrassing, that collection or the fact that they caved to the RWNJs over it

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the right lose their shit when brands and sports teams and whatnot acknowledge that LGBTQIA+ folks just, ya know, exist.

And I know some are sincere!  I genuinely appreciated my San Diego Padres telling homophobes to get bent in years past.

But for too many, it’s just a box to check.  Hell, even my own company makes it fucking hard to believe they give a shit when they keep having conferences in red states.

But worse are these legislatures engaging in genocide.  They want everyone back in hiding and for younger generations to not have anyone they can connect with in the queer community.  And all you’re gonna end up with is kids that are still gay, trans, queer, non-conforming – they’ll just be sad and alone and some will end their lives over it.  Because a dead kid is somehow better than a queer kid.

And those connections for the younger generations to the larger community are so damn important.  Even my old ass knows that, even if I still don’t know where I fit in the queeriverse (it is so a word.)

I’m bisexual.  (Maybe to the exclusion of men altogether? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)  It took me so damn long to figure it out in the first place, and even then, I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it, no particularly queer friendly spaces around, etc, etc – it makes it hard.

I wouldn’t say that Fairfax County is LGBTQIA+ hostile, but at best I’d describe it as indifferent – and that is harmful in its own way. Like, when I got my car and put my Crouton pride sticker on it, I had zero idea if that was a safe thing to do in my neighborhood. Did it anyway, cause fuck the haters, but yeah, I was nervous about it.

But now isn’t the time to hang back. Gonna be out and about tomorrow and gonna wear my Starbucks Workers United pride shirt – cause we are also very pro union here, and I don’t have a lot of queer coded gear. And I’m absolutely gonna be looking to fix that gear problem tomorrow at the arts festival.

It’s not much, but I can at least say, “I’M HERE YOU FUCKERS.”

Happy Pride.

AND I DID, TOO, YAY!!!!

And it’s been a freakishly calm and quiet week, which is EXACTLY what I needed. Maybe we’re hitting that summer slowdown – I sure hope so.

Plus, it’s a half day Friday! I do have a client meeting at 9, but a) I am only a spectator and b) I think it’s gonna be more, “OK, let’s understand, what exactly are you expecting the software to do?” vs angry ranting.

And this weekend is the arts festival down on the river, WOOHOO!! Gonna go get some art and spiced nuts and have lunch at the wine bar that has the lovely outside seating!

I’m gonna go whip through this half day and get my weekend on!

You have an awesome day!

So, today at lunch, I ran up to the market and hit the deli counter. There was a new young man working the counter, being very careful not to fling food all over the place, still learning the cheat sheet for all the codes and such, and of course, one of the codes for something was throwing out the totally wrong price for the boomer bitch in front of me. He was getting help from a coworker on that, and getting her another container of something.

My lord, the sighs and eyerolls and then she goes “oh, this shouldn’t take so long” and looks at me like she’s gonna get buy in from me. I think not, lady and I just blurted out, “We have all been new at something at some point in our lives” and she shut up and stopped eye rolling.

JFC, give it a month and he’ll be able to get a pound of chicken salad into the container in one scoop in two seconds flat. For now, just be patient for an extra minute or two while he gets the hang of it all, it won’t kill you.

Besides, these people give you food you don’t have to cook, BE NICE TO THEM!

And if you have to work today, I hope it is a quiet and calm day. We’ve got a grey, drizzly day here, which just makes everything nice and calm, which is exactly what I need.

Yesterday was fun, but EXHAUSTING. It’s always great to see the Orioles play, and they won! Despite checking the weather forecast a dozen times before leaving, I still didn’t dress right for it, LOL. And I am a bit sunburned, even having sunscreen. So glad I brought it, even if I didn’t use enough of it.

Like, I don’t really quite understand how going to the Nats/Padres games three days running was less tiring than one Orioles game – but socializing with people I know is definitely different from just running around on my own. Nine people in our group and damn, it wore my ass out, LOL. I’m good for any group outing for about six months.

We then went to our bar afterwards and management has decided that the post-pandemic* vibe they want is “we don’t want you here” LOL. The outdoor seating is gone, and the outside legit looks like they’re just closed. They’ve slimmed down the menu, which is understandable – and they’re also now putting shredded lettuce on the burgers vs. iceberg, cause I guess it’s cheaper – but what kind of psychopath does THAT? Iceberg or nothing, you monsters. My favorite pasta isn’t on the menu anymore, either. :(

And honestly, it’s fine – I’m a grumpy old hermit and I’d rather be at home anyway these days.

And today, my grumpy ass is gonna happily sit on the couch all day and relax and do a whole lot of nothing.

You have a great day!

* Yeah, I know and you know, it’s not over.

And I am in the throes of “oh why did I agree to peopling today?” – I have peopled A LOT this past week already and well, oof. I know it will be fine and fun, but the anticipatory regret is quite loud this morning.

But, I am ready to go, I don’t have to drive, and parking is already sorted out, which makes my ADHD and anxiety laden ass much happier.

It will be a good time, but I am VERY happy I have tomorrow off and will not be interacting with society.

And if you encounter anyone starting the “our servicemembers didn’t die so you could have a long weekend” discourse, you have my permission on behalf of my late Navy veteran father to punch them in the nuts.

You do not need to genuflect to the military in any way, shape or form if you don’t want to. Hell, I’d say it’s a good weekend to question the leadership that all too often uses the military as a universal hammer and then uses veterans as props.

You can just go to the pool, have a barbecue, and enjoy the start of summer.

Well done! Pats on the back all around!

Dentist rescheduled as my stomach is just a bit off today and it’s not ideal for having someone stick their hands in my mouth. (Side-eye to the pre-game gyoza I had yesterday…)

Told them I could reschedule any weekday in June – I’d been trying to do these on my half-day Fridays but after recent shenanigans, I’m not scheduling things for the company’s convenience anymore. (Also, there was some recent email or post that mentioned half day Fridays as a “chance to catch up on work” – um, no, it is TIME OFF. Don’t act like it was just “don’t schedule meetings” – it was always proper time off.)

Yeah, I am back in “it’s time to reset boundaries” mode. I thought I’d been doing OK with it, but no, I definitely have not. Some of it is on the company, but it’s on me, too. Of course, I say this with my work laptop sitting next to me as I prepare to log on to wrap things up to try and have the remainder of my weekend free and clear.

But whatever, I’ll get myself back on track.

You have a fantastic Friday and I hope you have a long weekend, too!

Great day for a game!

Top of the 7th, we’re up 5-1. Bottom of the 7th, we gave up FIVE FREAKIN’ RUNS – looked like the Bad News Bears out there. I was very much “It’s a good thing I love watching them play for the joy of watching them play because that certainly went VERY SOUTH, VERY FAST.”

Then – top of the 9th, we’ve got 2 on and Rougned Odor HITS A HOME RUN! And then Josh Hader closes it out in 11 pitches.

My section and the one next to mine were fully packed with Padres fans and everyone went nuts.

A while back, one of my friends mentioned that when she keeps score, she goes with multicolored pens and I got some of those “6 in 1” pens for Christmas and what a colorful mess I had today!! It’s so pretty! It’s more challenging than pencil cause I can’t erase, but I like it!A

Even with all the stupid work related stuff (and my dear reader, it managed to get stupider) – it’s been a great week. I just wish I didn’t have a dentist appointment tomorrow, LOL.

But I at least still have three days off after that!

So, my US based coworker just sent me an email – QC manager over on the other side of the world did a recognition for the “QC team” – except that we were both somehow forgotten. Again.

I know they took it as a personal slight when we were hired, except it had everything to do with restrictions on client data and nothing to do with them.

But damn, the number of times they have somehow “forgotten” that we exist over the past 3 years is amazingly passive aggressive.

And this week especially – that is quite the “fuck you” and I certainly did not need that, and my petty ass won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.

Pardon me while I go expand “silent time” on Teams on my phone.

My Padres lost yesterday! But – still had a hella good time, cause, fresh air, baseball, half smokes, and people watching.

Found a ramen bar outside the ballpark and they have a) ramen and b) a bar that is open to the sidewalk! Only had time for a quick beer (Kirin Ichiban FTW!) before the gates opened yesterday – today I’m going to try to time things a bit better so I can get some pre-game eats. :-D (Well, beyond my usual pre-game eats, LOL.)

On the whole, this whole round of PTO has been such a damn bust. It’s one thing to give up a couple hours a day to make sure The Thing is done, but then to be asked if it could be done by tomorrow as though I wasn’t on PTO to do other things was just so asinine.

The long and short of it is that our department has the bank teller problem. We underestimate how long something will take to begin with and then assume 100% capacity for everyone. No slack in there if something has to go back to dev and retested, or someone is out sick, or gets pulled off on client issues. (All three have happened to me this month! Plus this spring we had someone out on medical leave for two months.) My current bit? Round 1 and 2 were slated for 28 hours each. Round 1, I spent 79 hours, Round 2 is up to 27 hours already and I still have roughly 11 hours to go.

What we need to do is realistically estimate how long things take to DO THEM RIGHT and then cut everyone’s capacity to 80% and then hire accordingly. We won’t, because my company is very short sighted when it comes to labor costs, but we should.

But, it is what it is, and I need to get better at putting my foot down and saying THIS WON’T WORK. I go in waves on that, because more often than not, I just get ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in response.

But I will get it figured out before my July PTO, cause I ain’t taking my work laptop to the beach.

You have yourself a great day and don’t get overscheduled!