Laxative effects ...

I must have hit the nail on the head the other day ... because I'm back to my old routine of coming here before noon. My brain can't seem to come up with anything other than a constipated / laxative simile (metaphor?) ... could that be influenced by Dave's recent colonoscopy? lol

It's unbelievably quiet this morning ... only sound is the tapping of the computer keys as I write. Don't have any music on ... as I can't decide what I want to listen to ... the playlist on my Ipod has been overplayed ... and I'm not in the mood for the randomly weird selections of the radio ... or worse, top 40. I go through these phases with music ... sometimes for months I know exactly what to listen to, to match my moods ... or I get obsessed with a certain artist or album (do they still call them albums?) ... and then at other times, like this ... it's difficult to find anything that doesn't flag as "overplayed" ...

Maybe I'll just drink in the silence ...as I've been known to complain about sensory overload when the house is in full swing.

Nicole received acceptance letters from 3 out of the 5 universities she applied to yesterday. Only problem is ... that her top 2 universities (the ones yet unheard from) don't get back to you until April .... and 2 of the 3 who've sent her acceptances need answers by March (along with the necessary deposit). Wonder what she'll do? Bottom-line, as she's taking general arts ... I don't think it really matters where she goes ... but it will be fun to watch the drama of her decision-making. She's my drama queen ... followed closely by Stef (of course) ...

Melanie started at Build-a-Bear yesterday. She called during her break to share what a "happy-happy" place it was ... and that she was silly to have been worried. She likes to pretend that she thrives on conflict and chaos as I do ... but really ... she's a "don't worry, be happy" person ... and she's found her niche. My guess is that her store will be beating all sales records within the next six months.

When she announced her departure from Strbx ... she had customers giving her good-bye presents!! Now is that the sign of a customer-service guru ... or what??

When I try to imagine myself working at Build-a-Bear ... I find myself laughing out loud at the mental pictures that come to mind ... within a few hours I'd be shoving half stuffed bears at people shouting ... take you $&^!!! bear! Patience has never been my strong suit ... nor dealing with idiots ...

For the longest time ... I had myself pegged as a tolerant, patient, kind, people-loving kind of person ... you know warm and fuzzy. How does a brain do that? Let you believe something that really isn't true? Anyways ... I know better now ... I'm rather cool, direct, sometimes intimidating and don't suffer fools (which in some moods is most everybody) ...

Am I arrogant? I don't think so ... but I'll give it some thought ...

Boils down to not really being mid-management material ... you know, managing lots of people and lots of personal issues ... probably why I wasn't happy until I climbed a few more notches ... so that I could manage files and projects and campaigns and departments and organizations. Facts and figures, things and dollars ... not primarily people-driven.

Don't get me wrong ... I don't hate people, nor am I as intolerant as I may sound ... I simply am choosy ... don't need to make friends with everyone I meet ... don't like small talk and letting the personal bleed into work ...

Hmmm ... I'm sounding more and more Finnish each day ... lol. Finns are known as "cold fish" ... not a very friendly nation UNTIL someone decides to befriend you and then you're practically family.

After all ... that's how I was raised ...