why my week was from hell

not only am i getting ready for my big trip, working on 4 projects at once, plus recruiting for our 5 open headcount... i've got to deal with all the normal work-related crap that comes my way on a regular basis.

such as, project managers who repeatedly announce in cross-functional team meetings that their prd's aren't as detailed as they would like, because they're "not allowed to describe functionality" because "riseyp told me not to do her job for her."

"imagine that," i retorted under my breath. fucking passive-aggressive cow. good times.

and engineers who send emails cc:ing the entire company (practically) with a long list of questions they have, followed by more questions, and more and more, each time cc:ing the planet, with the kicker being one e-mail closed with the following charming phrase:

I am totally confused about these pages data .I hope at least you have a clear picture.
Thanks

and if that weren't enough, my tenant found a house to buy, 4 months ahead of schedule, and is therefore breaking the lease. so i've had to be very firm and gruff with her, insisting that she find me a suitable replacement which, fortunately, she was savvy enough to know was her responsibility. so i've been screening a steady stream of applicants all week, and finally found someone responsible, credit-worthy and responsive enough to fill out the application and pass the credit check, then sign the lease and send me the move-in money.

so that's a relief. the only small hiccup was when one of the applicants got pissed off when she found out she wasn't chosen. apparently, my current tenant told her she was "first in line" and would definitely get it. well, NO -- not when I email you the application and you don't send it back for two-and-a-half days, let alone call or otherwise acknowledge my email and we've never ever spoken. DORK.

finally, on friday afternooon, i had to take off early to drive up to downtown Novato (which is the very, very last Marin County exit and takes an hour to get to with no traffic) and sign all the papers for my parents' re-fi. so that means I am now on the title of their house and will be paying their mortgage, while they take away over $10K in equity to live on while they try & find jobs.

i do not feel great about their prospects, personally, which is depressing. on the way home (thankfully, traffic wasn't terrible), i got so sad, thinking that while *i've* been happier with the fact that i have far less frequent contact with them than before, my mom seems *very* unhappy about it, to the point where it might even be compounding her depression and making it even harder for her to get out of the house and get a job and a life.

fortuntely, bernice, rob and nellie (whom I'll be dogsitting when i get back from Japan) were waiting for me at their place with champagne, crackers and stinky cheese.

phew!

so not cool

that is: my life will be, if the cold i'm coming down with takes hold this time.

i've been fighting one off for over a month, and it keeps going dormant. but today it reared its ugly head again, and i'm worried. i slept from about 10:30 last night until 12:30 this afternoon, and then again from 5pm - 8:30pm tonight.

i'm hoping the tropical mix jelly bellies i'm eating will help fend off the badness.

but it's upsetting that i have to miss the halloween party i'd been planning on going to tonight. i'd actually been undecided about it for a couple weeks, since j & i haven't been doing much socializing (together, at least) on the weekends -- and i've gotten so used to playing all my invites by ear until the day of.

but today, while i was shopping downtown for carry-on luggage, k called me to tell me that she & Ish went back to their original plan of dressing up like Ike & Tina, and that Ish had found a one-piece gold lame jumpsuit to wear. i mean, that alone would have been worth going out for!!! all i can say is, they better fucking take pictures.

i have to put pants on. for the feds.

and anyone who doesn't love wallace and gromit is the DEVIL.

pre-trip shopping spree

oh dear. it's happened again.

i have so little control over myself before i go on vacation. strange, that. it tends to put me in a position financially in which i can afford even less while i'm actually traveling...

it must have something to do with the anxiety (however happy it may be) i feel during the last couple weeks before a big trip, particularly if it's somewhere i've never been. and so i tell myself i *need* these things in order to be more comfortable/organized/prepared for the trip.

just for example, the classic rationale, "i *need* good walking shoes, at least 2-3 more pairs."

oddly, only about 1 in 6 pairs of these "good walking shoes" end up being comfortable enough for the miles of walking i've done in places like paris, new york and rome. regardless of my careful advance preparation, i end up with sore feet more often than not -- mostly due to the fact that cuteness tends to win over usefulness in riseyp-land :-)

i wonder how these late-breaking shoe purchases will fare:

"Intrigue" by earth


black mary janes by Aldo

and then there are the purchases that have *nothing* to do with the trip. such as... the "photo finish foundation primer" from Smashbox. The breast cancer awareness promotional retractable lip brush from Sephora...

(??!! but cool design nonetheless, check it out:)

...for all my pots of "glass slicker" from mark. several more wonderful products from Lush. i'm most excited about the solid shampoo called "Godiva" - it smells sooooo good. and I got it for free, just for being a Lush whore and spending over $50! yippee!

but what does any of this have to do with traveling??

well, i did get a little travel kit containing 1 travel toothbrush and 2 different kinds of whitening toothpaste (1 for night and 1 for morning) - and of course j was excited by that, as it hit the sweet spot of being small, silvery and tooth-whitening-related!! :-)

flipbook is FUN

i just spent a couple hours playing with this... oh, how i love the internets!!

kinda bummed when i put david's glasses on today, and realized how much more clearly I could see with them. So much for $7K LASIK with schmancy waveform technology and no-blade corneal searing action!

speaking of david, it was both his and mallomar's last day today, and i raked in the boo-tay:

• One Aeron chair
  
• Three barbies, with extra clothes and shoes
  
• One dry erase board, marker and eraser
  
• One Homer Simpson, sitting in his La-Z-Boy and drinkin' a Duff (tm)
  
• Two Simpsons scenes (backgrounds with the outlets you can plug em into to make em talk)
  
• One Quintessential Comic Book Salesguy (also from the Simpsons, just don't know his name)
  
• One very myopic potbellied guy (Simpsons again, don't know his name)

So that was keww.

Me, Aki, Menka, David & Mlomlo went to lunch at Ali Baba to send them off. I'm glad we could do that with such short notice. It was fun because all we did (besides eat middle eastern food) was tease D about his new place of work. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!! ;-)

Susan came over for a smoke later on which was a perfectly fitting farewell gesture.

Ten minutes after they left the building, a fire alarm went off.

Hmmmmm? :-) !!!!

Vacation itinerary

Nov 3
Depart SFO

Nov 4
Arrive at Incheon Airport, Seoul
Check in at Hotel Sky, Incheon

Nov 5
Take subway to Seoul city center (Lotte or COEX)
Hang out with my brother, sightseeing in Insa-dong, etc.

Nov 6
Fly out of Incheon at 11:15am
Arrive Narita Airport at 2pm
Take Narita Express to Tokyo Station
Take Tokyo Metro subway to Asakusa, check in at Ryokan Shigetsu

Nov 7
Tokyo sightseeing

Nov 8
Day trip to Nikko

Nov 9
Tokyo sightseeing

Nov 10
Day trip to Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

Nov 11
Tokyo sightseeing

Nov 12
Day trip to Hakone

Nov 13
Tokyo sightseeing

Nov 14
Take shinkansen to Hiroshima
Check in at Hiroshima Prince Hotel

Nov 15
Sightseeing in Hiroshima and Miyajima

Nov 16
Take shinkansen to Kyoto
Check in at Ryokan Uemura

Nov 17
Kyoto sightseeing

Nov 18
Kyoto, day trip to Nara

Nov 19
Take shinkansen to Tokyo
Take Narita Express to airport
Fly home :(