Ten Things: Catching Up, Birthday Style~ in These Foolish Things

Well hello there! Long time no see. I have so, so much to catch up on, so the easiest way to do it is with some quick notes. Here are 10 Things from my recent days…

1. Current Work Situation: Here’s the thing - I’m grateful for this time of essentially slacking off in my job so that I can take care of myself and take care of my parents as needed and hang out at home and work on my patio and such, but I know this is not going to last. It can’t. I’m not very effective in this role, even though I have the best title I’ve ever had in my career and the CEO feels like a bestie. This is not real life, though I would like to create a job that is something in between this and something rewarding. That said, I’ve been approached and have been interviewing with two companies that just aren’t it. See next two points below.

2. Prospective Company #1: I’ve written about this company. They are looking for a Head of Product. The product is weird and the company is run by an idiot savant CEO and a 16-year-old girl founder. I haven’t met the girl yet, but she is internet famous and I’m annoyed by her YouTube videos in the first place. The CEO is kind of a dick (we had a video interview with an HR person involved because he clearly can’t interview people one-on-one due to sucky people skills). Do I want to work for THAT?! Then they asked me to do a project in which the instructions were to create a product for them and to show my work - essentially a consulting gig, right? In my estimation it is probably 40 hours worth of work, and I told them as much (more delicately, of course). They came back and said their expectations were more like 1.5 hours of work, but there was no way I could do that in 1.5 hours. So I put them off and told them that I’d be ready for a “final interview” (their words, not mine) sometime in the first week of November. Clearly that put them off because I haven’t heard back from them. I’ve started the framework of the project, but it stalled during the last couple of weeks. I don’t even know if it’s still on the table, so I guess I should find out!

3. Prospective Company #2: This company is looking for a Director of Product Development, and I’ve interviewed with the President twice, had a video interview with a guy in China, and they asked me to do a project that actually DID take me 1.5 hours. I slapped it together and they loved it! So now they want me to come in for a 4th interview at their headquarters which is in the downtown area of my city. Cool, cool, cool. But the recruiter is suuuuccccchhhh a dick. And I’m annoyed by him. He is so fucking condescending not only in his emails (like, “did you EVEN send the President a thank-you email?”… and fucking OF COURSE I DID, YOU FUCK FACE). And he gives me pointers in a way that he’s stating that it shows that I’m not super interested in their product. And you know what? I’M NOT! This product does not spark passion in me and the only reason I’m interviewing is because YOU REACHED OUT to ME and I need the practice for a product that I DO have passion for. So…meh. I may just bow out of this one too because these people are intense and think their shit don’t stink when nobody really cares about their stupid products. What am I even doing?

4. Health/Cancer: Last week I went back to my former city to see my medical team and have the CT scans for my colon cancer done. If the results came back favorably, which I had a very good feeling about, I’d be declared 3 YEARS CANCER FREE!! And I decided to take myself to the fair to celebrate if that was the case. Well, guess what I did last Friday? I went to the fair!! Yay!! 3 years down, baby!! I just gotta keep up with all this clean livin’!!

5. Customer Service: I stayed in an Airbnb for the first couple of nights in town and it kind of pissed me off. You know, photos can sometimes make places look so much nicer than they are, and that was the case with this place. I was really disappointed in certain things, like the deadbolt didn’t work and it made me paranoid, and the mornings were really, really chilly and the heater didn’t work and there were doors off hinges and some other dumb things (coffee machine but no coffee??), so I told the host all about it in kind of a complan-y way but then felt bad about it and gave a half-assed apology. When I got back from my long day of doc appointments and errand running and then the excitement of my personal celebration, the host had not only fixed all of my issues, but left me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a lovely card, a pound of coffee and a bunch of water bottles. It was a nice gesture. I was happy.

6. Friendship: I hung with Marce on the 3rd night of my trip, and we had a lovely evening just chit chatting. She drank a lot of wine and I had my new kombucha concoction that I like to make and I decided to be the most active listener I could be. I could tell she wanted to talk and talk about all the shit that has gone down since both of her parents have passed this year and a lot of other things have happened in her life. I just nodded my head and added my two cents here and there, and I could just see the relief wash over her. I was happy to be an ear. She was grateful, I could tell. I’m glad I could do that.

7. Family: Mom and I celebrated our birthdays together last Sunday, so in a roundabout way, mom and dad’s place is an hour each way out of the way but sort of on my way home. We did a brunch at a really expensive restaurant and it was fine - my SIL works there and she got a discount, but the rest of the fam did not (weird, right???) and meh, it was awkward, but what family events aren’t? Mom looked GREAT and I’d gotten her a really pretty necklace, and dad said, “We didn’t get you anything.” which, okay, no biggie and I know they are now too old to really be getting things, buying gifts, and can’t really get out to get cards and such. But I wish he just hadn’t said anything. My bro and SIL clearly re-gifted me something dumb that I will re-gift for a white elephant or something. My niece stared at her ipad the whole time and it makes me sad that I’m not close to her at all because of my bro and SIL’s parenting style. I’m glad that Mom and Dad were doing well, but it just feels like every time I see them could be the last time and it’s a strange feeling. I want nothing to do with my brother and that feels weird because we’re about to have to deal with each other in a major way. He’s awful and mean and I know it’s because he’s scared, but he’s going to be of ZERO help when the shit gets real. Even my SIL said something to the effect that he’s worthless TO MY DAD the other day! Ugh. I dread it.

8. Birthday Weekend: I started my Birthday Weekend early yesterday when I went to a live taping of one of my favorite morning shows! I got up in the middle of the night to get to the location and get in line! It was SO MUCH FUN! My college girls saw me on TV for a split second and it was hilarious - all these texts coming through! I made friends while in line and sitting in the studio audience, and the weekend continues with a wellness retreat starting this afternoon all the way through Sunday!! I will be attending wellness seminars, doing yoga, stretching, breathwork, meditation, walks in nature, etc. etc. etc. and I can’t wait! I’m supposed to get there this afternoon so spending the morning catching up with a few things before I head out to the wellness retreat this afternoon.

9. Uncle Irwin: Martini (my dog) stayed with my friend C.’s suicidal brother (haha, I hate calling him that, but it’s true) again last night. I call him Uncle Irwin. I think it’s actually a good thing for both of them. Martini was so happy when I picked her up, but I can tell that she loves this guy, and she makes him feel so good! So I’m hoping I’ve found another good source of love for my baby. I think I’ll send her over with him more often. Not a lot, but just enough to give them both a break and to love on each other. I’ve got the girls coming next weekend, and we’re gonna want to go out and do some things without my dog…ha! I’m hoping he can take her for a night.

10. FabFitFun: My work peeps gifted me a FabFitFun gift certificate for my birthday. Anybody done this subscription box? They gifted me $150, which is super nice, but the subscription is like $220 annually, so I ended up spending my own cash since I wanted the whole experience. I’m on the fence about this because I’ve heard some good/bad things about it, but let’s see.

There’s more, guys, lots more, but I need to get started on my Wellness Weekend and have a lot to do before I go…so I’ll see you soon!

Have a wonderful weekend!
xo,
GS