Party in Transition

So it was my work Christmas party on Thursday. Free meal, free bar and free night in a hotel including breakfast. I’m not sure what sort impression I’ve been giving of myself at work but everyone seemed really surprised by three things about me.

1) Oh wow, I didn’t know you had a tattoo?!? You have THREE?? Wow that’s amazing!
2) You’re drinking pints?? Oh and you look so pretty, and then you have a pint in your hand!
3) Hey, I saw you on the dancefloor! You’ve got some moves haven’t you? Yeah, I saw you!

So, what is this? Women should only drink Prosecco or white wine spritzers, is that right? And I’m aware I’m in a room full of people, there’s quite a good chance some of them are going to see me dancing. I had all three of these comments about five times each. I don’t think any of these things are particularly amazing or interesting, but everyone must think I’m some sort of boring prude who doesn’t do fun things.

But anyway it was a fun party, lots of chatting, drinking and dancing, as I made plain above. I only had one wobble when the DJ played Town Called Malice by The Jam, as me and Jay danced together to that a few times. So I needed a few minutes to myself in the ladies room.

This is me with Taryn, Karl and Adam.

The next day at work, a lot of people had booked the day off and those who were in were mainly hungover. So I’m really pleased it turned out to be fairly quiet! I only have three more working days on the helpdesk before I move over to the scheduling team. No more talking to angry customers!

I went for dinner at Annette’s house yesterday. She said she had a week off work which she had booked months ago and normally uses it for Christmas shopping. But, because she’s not doing Christmas this year, she just found herself sitting in the house, thinking about everything and constantly crying. So she cancelled the rest of her week off and went to work to keep her mind off things. I asked if that’s the healthy thing to do, avoiding facing her feelings, and she just shrugged. I don’t think she’s facing her grief properly, which I can understand as I’m probably doing the same to some extent, but this way of dealing with it isn’t a healthy long term solution. She has a calendar up in the kitchen, it’s still set to October and she’s even written on October 11th “RIP Jay xx” which I thought was slightly strange; it’s not the sort of thing we’re going to forget…

She gave me some Christmas presents which she had started to buy months ago; a bottle of vodka, a bottle of moisturiser and a room scenter. Then she started crying again when she said she didn’t know what she was going to do with the vodka she had bought for Jay. I still have the t-shirt I bought him for his birthday, still in the packaging. I’ve been wondering what to do with it, but that’s only small potatoes compared to everything else. I’ve started packing in earnest and I’m only just beginning to realise what a mammoth task I have ahead of me. It’s going to take a long time.

Oh, my dad posted this photo on Facebook yesterday, my very first introduction to roller skates, with my sister helping out :o)