Officially in Burnout

Date Started: March 19, 2026
Date Finished: March 29, 2026
Date Posted: April 4, 2026

My therapist called it in March 17th's session, but honestly I have been teetering on the verge of it for so long I don't remember what not burnout feels like. So confirmation basically and a call to action that my self-care to stave it off/cure it was not enough and I need to do more.

And by doing more I mean doing different and less.

There's a question after finding the above gif: what is the difference between a nervous breakdown and burnout?

Quick Google Search Later

Okay, a nervous breakdown renders an individual temporarily unable to function in daily life. A burnout is typically related to one's professional life and cumulative workplace stress. Probably because they measured professional caregivers but I didn't research that deep.

I'm still figuring out what I'm dropping or pushing back. My therapist suggested dropping down to three boulders or projects. Namely, I need to tweak Trello to figure that out. I did start rereading my notes on Laziness Does Not Exist and pulled out my copies of Dear Writer, Are You in Burnout? by Becca Syme and Burnout: the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski DMA. They also have a workbook that I should get.

The Nagoskis' definition of burnout:

1. emotional exhaustion - the fatigue that comes from caring too much, for too long;
2. depersonalization - the depletion of empathy, caring, and compassion; and
3. decreased sense of accomplishment - an unconquerable sense of futility: feeling that nothing you do makes any difference

(page xi Burnout)

And they found those components from Herbert Freudenberger from 1975. It's older than I am. But they make the connection between burnout to all women because we have been indoctrinated with Human Giver Syndrome by the patriarchy. I learned about the Nagoskis' work through podcasts and ended up listening to their podcast The Feminist Survival Project, bought Burnout, and have continued listening to the Feminists Survival Project 2025, which expands on their work in the years since and under Trump 2.0.

So I'm not in a nervous breakdown because I can still function (get out of bed, get dressed, feed myself, go to work) but I am feeling those three components for sure.

Becca Syme I learned about from the author/writing podcasts. She's been on the Creative Penn Podcast twice (Dealing With Change And How To Build Resilience As An Author With Becca Syme and Loki Is In Charge. How Authors Can Thrive In A Time Of Transition With Becca Syme). Rachael Herron of Ink In Your Veins podcast raved about the results she had gotten from taking the CliftonStrengths test and the coaching Becca Syme offers. So I bought most of the books in her Dear Writer, series, took the CliftonStengths test, and followed Becca's Quitcast on YouTube.

I've read these previously back when I thought Trump 1.0 alone was the source of everything I was feeling or not feeling, not realizing what role family dynamics and trends picked up by society (If You Were Born Between 1976–1985, This Video Will Finally Make Sense of You) played on my self.

Tuesday, March 17: is when I had my meltdown while commuting and therapy session.

Wednesday, March 18: telling people about the burnout diagnosis and processing what I needed to do and change. I prioritized inserting meditation breaks into my work flow at the paying job on my therapist's recommendation. Trello also made some changes that I had to chip away at making while trying to figure out what my boulders are for March and April. My coworker with the broken leg came for a paperwork visit and will be out until May. Yeah, it was March and it got extended because of her health and that happened after my therapy appointment. My therapist flagged that I had probably hit one too many changes to cope with that contributed to pushing me over the burnout edge.

Ended the day shopping for Dad at Sam's Club.

Thursday, March 19: finished reformatting Trello and typing up this blog post. Told my supervisor about the burnout and what time changes I think I need (back to a 4/10s schedule). Supervisor took it to the deputy commissioner, so he has to make a decision about it now, but I will probably need to accept that I'm on 5/8's until May.

Friday, March 20: typed more of this blog post and worked on reorganizing my digital files, which was the first chance I had to work on them since the burnout reveal. Shopped at Sprouts, Walmart, Ross, and PetSmart for my shopping list with the goal of not leaving my house over the weekend.

Saturday, March 21: I listed out everything I had to do and everything I want to do. I have previously recognized that I only have eight hours of energy to give to the chores list that I use a timer method with and I try to keep the list in that range, but the list of everything filled up the entire page of a pad. And then I had to pivot to only doing chores and food prep to keep all the food I had bought and reset the kitchen. All of that on my plate so Sunday could be only what had to be done to stay alive and reading for my long-ass rest.

And I still said yes to taking Dad out to eat for supper, which I highly resented by the time that rolled around.

Sunday, March 22: I got distracted by Pinterest leading me to Uncommon Goods, so it took a while to settle back in the bed with the books. And I started writing more on this blog post.

My therapist wants me to narrow my projects. I need to make energy pennies to run myself and get out of burnout. My brain wants all the projects and already completed because of the Laziness Lie. I already know that's not possible but rereading those notes to jog that brain weasel's memory.

I color-coded my graph for the 24/7 Worksheet from Burnout. I do have 8 hours of sleep opportunity Monday - Friday as long as I go to bed at 8 p.m. It becomes 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday by extending my waking up to 6 a.m. I have to put 30 minutes of yoga every day on the schedule but will be stretching only to combat my tech neck and be a meditation session. I have two 90-minute blocks daily for chores, including grooming. Saturday is currently all chore time with yoga at the studio carved out, leaving Sunday full of active rest or just plain rest when not doing anything chore-like.

Dad's needs are not represented, which isn't accurate, but I can't cope with him if I don't put more rest into my schedule.

I did discover how necessary the meditation sessions are and how I have to guard against falling into my bad work habits. Tuesday, March 24, I had the whole day off from the paying job to deal with Dad's stuff and I used my free time to work on projects I haven't been working on for weeks and only had one meditation session and didn't take a nap. That was a mistake I will try not to repeat.

Also no eureka about how to shrink my projects yet. What are my projects? How do I shrink that list?

So trying to figure that out took the next week. Why did it take so long? Brain suffering with burnout doesn't run at full capacity. Not only do I have second shift after work with my chores, apparantly attentional residue (you never let go of a task because part of your brain is still managing it), and some fun third shift of anticipating what everyone around me needs before they need it and running mental simulations of how stuff may go. (YouTube: Psychology Of Xennials: Why You BURNED Out Before Anyone Noticed. My Trello board became a dumping ground of tasks on cards and how the hell to sort that?

I had to brain dump a couple of times, shuffle the cards on Trello, and kept looking for some advice on how to shrink the project list. Most of it was to focus on asking what serves the burnout sufferer's values and that's what the sufferer should prioritize.

Doing less is possible, majority of what I do aligns with my values, and that question doesn't help me decide what goes first. Because my poor foggy burned out brain says everything is equally important and I should have already finished it and moved onto the next thing on the treadmill. Oh, hello, Laziness Lie. You're not getting me to not rest. Rest is what I need.

What finally worked was realizing some things had external deadlines and I should prioritize based on the calendar and don't go above 7 items on the Big Rocks list. Seven has been that limit since last year, but I need to work in weekly check in so I actually see the number of Big Rocks go down each week.

Another thing that helped was realizing EVERYTHING I have to do can be categorized with:

• Constants = what has to be done to be functional human being.
• Deadlines = external due date that I need to remember
• No Deadline so just Nice-To-Do = most of what I'd rather be doing, hobby stuff, writing stuff, digital projects that will make my life easier but no external deadlines set by someone else or law

Constants need to be off the Big Rocks list. These are things like daily and weekly chores so my house doesn't become a sty, my health needs, and some of Dad's care-giving needs. Deadlines turned out to be the source of my OMG WHAT AM I FORGETTING THERE ARE THINGS I AM FORGETTING alarm that was not helping the burned-out brain recover.

Yeah, that's the one. So far, I have income taxes (April 15th) and refinancing my mortgage so I can remodel my house (May 31st). Both projects are big and scary enough to set off the alarm, and while the alarm wasn't helping me feel good, it was right that I needed to get cracking on them.

Nice-To-Do is a more cheerful way to identify the little and bigger projects that will be nice to have done, but don't impede my life at this point. Like finishing the rollout pantry. I can use it without the putty and painting it and buying the putty and primer has to wait on free money in the paycheck, so it goes here. Sadly, writing fic goes here too. And I have been focusing on this burnout research and consolidating it into this post when I have had writing time. I'm hoping now that it's done I can work on fic again.

Saturday, April 4: I finally got free time to post this post. So this is how March went.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Trying to catch up

Wednesday and Thursday I have all day training classes. I'm trying to stay on top of email and other updates, but you may not hear from me again until Monday.

In sorta related news, I found a good deal on a Dell desktop. Too bad I don't think the money is going to work out. *head desk*

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The BookWorm

Light at the end of the tunnel

NO MORE OIL!!!!!!! *Snoopy dance*

We've been under a massive heat index and I think the triple-digit temps have melted my brain. It's been harder than usual to remember everything I need to do.

Plus side, I got less than 20 assessments outstanding (i.e. the companies haven't paid yet). I never can remember the tally of how many companies we assess in total, but trust me this is so nothing to worry about. I may actually get my Monday nights back!

Hopefully, I have enough energy to cross off items on the to-do list tonight when I get home.

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The BookWorm

Let's hear it for Central Plumb It Yourself!

At work today, I mapped out three plumbing supply stores on my route home to look for an adapter to make the connection between my sink faucet and the new portable dishwasher. Took all my manuals and the aerator, and faucet adapter. Felt like crap all day, if I could have curled up for a nap, I would still be asleep now. Finally got to leave work at 4:20 (after arriving at 6:55 this morning; don't ask). And last thing I wanted to do was go shopping, but wanting a working dishwasher won. The first stop was Central Plumb It Yourself.

I walked into a bathroom showplace and sighed internally, but made a mental note that I might want to check their prices on bowl sinks when I'm ready for the project. I figured I had gotten a decorating store that specialized in bathrooms. A saleclerk came out of the employee section and I explained that I was looking for parts. "Oh come on to the back, the girls back there will fix you up." And led me through a door labeled "Parts Dept."

Now the store reminded me of a hardware store, racks of plastic enclosed plumbing doodads. I explained what I needed, she took the parts, opened up a tool box, got another employee's expert opinion, and put the new adapter onto the faucet adapter with a washer and rung me up. Took about fifteen minutes. Total cost of the dishwasher now is $68.22.

So now I'm finally getting to test the dishwasher! There is a leak at the faucet, but none from the machine, WOOT! I figure I didn't tighten the faucet adapter enough and it's not shooting out and making a mess. Mustard's not sure what to make of this noisy new white box, but I find it's not any louder than any of the window AC units I'm running. (I'm worried about the office one, it sounds horrible.) Once I've made sure all the water has drained out, I can start my first official load!

SQUEE!!!!!!!

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The BookWorm

Assessments are kicking our butts

Assessments are a lot simpler than how they were done when I first took this job a decade ago, but the sheer volume with the new system kinks adds up to overtime Monday and Tuesday. My sleep schedule has been shot, but hopefully, I can even up tonight and wake up on time tomorrow. Maybe.

I really haven't gotten to start on anything writing-wise. I'm supposed to be finishing the edits to Hyrueliana, but it's so hard to find the energy. I don't want to promise my weekends to anything because that hasn't been working lately.

Lunch is over, back to the grind.

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The BookWorm

Hello World

It's been over a week since the new program to classify the revenue debuted at work. The list of 2- to 25 items of "FIX NOW" to "this is annoying" degrees of importance is down to 12. Not to bore you with the details of how this has been so hair-pulling frustrating, I'll sum up with this:

Whoever's bright idea it was to start using a new fiscal program at the beginning of the new fiscal year when the books must be balanced and the assessment invoices go out should be fired, so we don't get any more bright ideas from idiots them.

I'm not overly thrilled with the "show off what we've built while building and then the users are trained and have given us input on how to improve it" operating procedure. Too many issues are glossed over until the users actually using it break the program. The good news is after week of breaking it in, it looks like we have found most of the bugs that stop the program cold. Then they put out a new build to fix the bug and lock us out of our job functions with security features. (About the fifth time first day that I went down to the programmers office my question became "what did you give us permission to do?!") Any way, they got the whole list of 12 today and I don't care if they have to work all weekend. I don't want them to, but nothing will run right on Monday either.

An important life lesson: Programmers never realize how many times they click on the mouse. So when they say they'll make the program so you click less, just smile, nod, and feed them more caffeine. Yeah, today's meeting we were told that everyone else loves the multi-screens and pop-up windows telling us were good and we don't because of the repetitive nature of our job. Yeah, okay, whatever. Our jobs suck and thank you for rubbing it in.

Sheesh, I am SUPER grumpy. I woke up this morning and something up between my shoulder blade and spine decided not to work and grab hold of all other muscles so turning and bending my neck is impossible and stretching my arm out pops my spine. That's not normal. I already iced it down and I'm saving more ice for when I go to bed. I haven't decided if I'll stay home if it doesn't clear up tomorrow.

Adventures in Wood Building
I need a plate rack. I have been needing a plate rack for a long time. I found a plan I liked in Great 2x4 Accessories. I bought the materials and then promptly let it get buried.

I uncovered it while cleaning up the sewing debris before the 4th of July long weekend. It still isn't built yet. I had planned to build it while fogging the house. The screws had gone missing, and I discovered this much too late to buy screws. Bought new screws during the week to build it July 10th or 11th. Then after that shopping trip, my parents take my sister in Texas their jigsaw I had planned on borrowing.

Sunday I go buy the jigsaw. Then I wait for it to get a little cooler. Then decide that isn't going to happen and get started. My extension cord is in use charging a car battery without my knowledge it had been borrowed. Okay, rearrange the sawhorses to reach the outlet with the jigsaw cord. Then I decide I should mark the stuff shown on figure two before cutting and my tape measure refuses to roll back up. I pulled all 25 feet of it out completely trying to make it roll back up. Then it starts thundering again, so I pack it all back inside so my wood doesn't get ruined by my leaky porch.

After all that, I double checked my drill bits and found I still need a 3/8 one for yet another step. So that means yet another shopping trip. And I don't know if my back will want me working with power tools.

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The BookWorm

New Month

Don't have any real lofty plans for the month of July. I spent my three day weekend liberating my house from sewing debris and the back bedroom from fleas so I could store the sewing stuff again. And whoever fixed the vacuum valve on Space Bags is my new bestest friend in corporate America. No more losing the cap! And the seal is much better now. And while I was having fun storing blankets, I also went through the garb closet and got rid of a basket's worth of things I don't wear and probably won't ever wear again. Then moved the winter clothes out and now I have room in my wardrobe.

The only bummer news I have is I think the leak is getting worse. *Pulls hair* Second bummer news: I would like to use the back bedroom as a sewing space and a workout space. I only have room for one or the other to be the priority. And even then, it's a tight fit.

When I replace the roof and the back half of the house, I will have to expand the footprint of the house. I need room to put a guest bed somewhere after all.

At the paying job, we're switching computer systems on how we track the money. Many things are breaking. I'm going home at 4pm no matter what; I don't care if we have no money to deposit tomorrow.

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KLCtheBookWorm

June Already

It’s gotta be better than May, right? We have oil spewing in the Gulf, hurricane season has started with predictions of a repeat of the 2005 season, and we’re supposed to go live with a new system at work by the end of the month. Positives: making tweaks to the schedule, Suzanne and Eric are getting married, I think I can make the deadline for the steampunk story.

Tweaking the schedule: it is good to follow my To Do list, but chores make a lousy reason to get up in the morning. Stepcase Lifehack asks Do you have a morning ritual? and I had to answer "not really as such."

And as hard as it is for me to get up most mornings, I think I need to heed their advice and find something I want to do. This ties into my To Do List actually.

Step One: Draft a short list of the things you do each morning and what you'd like to add. I already have this list as my Daily Chores on my To Do list.

• Exercise
• Writing hour
• Website Hour
• Make bed
• Wash dishes
• Empty inbox
• Empty Gmail and LiveJournal Inboxes
• Budget
• Weekly chores
• Get dressed
• Pack breakfast, lunch and snack
• Commute

Granted, if I don't finish this list before going to work, I can finish it through the day. But out of these items I can see what I'm not crossing off consistently or what I can add.

What I'm not hitting consistently list is much shorter:

• Exercise
• Writing hour
• Website Hour
• Empty inbox
• Budget

Too often, I'm using the weekend to catch up on what I missed during the week and skipping exercise altogether.

I got rid of the inbox by adding a “budget” and a “needs filing” folder to my box of 42 folders. The plan is to empty those every day and not keep a basket full of paperwork I just keep on my desk.

Step Two: Figure out how much time it'll realistically take to do everything on your list. This is where I think I fall down badly. I have no clear time of how long things should take in the morning, and let's face it trying to wake up doesn't help remembering how to do things.

Julie Morgenstern recommends timing yourself doing routine tasks because you probably don't know how long it really takes. When I read that advice, I realized I had no idea how long anything took to do, so I timed myself over a few days and took averages. The results:

• Make the bed = 1 minute
• Washing dished = 30 minutes
• Empty folders = 23 minutes
• Weekly chores = 45 minutes
• Budget = 30 minutes
• Getting dressed = 26 minutes
• Getting food = 11 minutes
• Exercise = 15 minutes
• Writing = 60 minutes
• Website = 60 minutes
• GRAND TOTAL = 301 minutes = 5 hours 1 minute

I get up around 3:00am and try to leave the house for 5:45am. So here I was trying to squeeze five hours of stuff into less than three hours, and then beating myself up for not doing everything. This hammered home how easily I can over extend myself.

Step Three: Adjust your wake time to accommodate your new ritual. This is the fun part. My first draft had me waking up at 2:30am. I’ve tried and it doesn’t happen, so 3am is the earliest and that means 8:30pm is the latest I can go to bed. That should be a big enough window to get everything done, right? If only I didn’t have to go to the paying job.

First thing to face: I can’t have a full hour of writing in the morning and clean house. But I can have thirty minutes.

June A.M. Schedule

• 3:00 = Wake up, Make bed, Wash dishes for 15 minutes
• 3:16 = Exercise
• 3:31 = Writing for 30 minutes
• 4:01 = Get dressed
• 4:27 = Get food
• 4:38 = Empty folders
• 5:01 = Weekly chores
• 5:46 = Leave for paying job

While at the paying job, I’ll clean out email inboxes, write and work on website projects as much as I am able. The evening schedule has to have more flexibility built into it because if I work late, getting anything finished is just a dream. I’m basing it on my usually and preferred habits.

June P.M. Schedule

• 5:00 = Arrive home, Take medicine, eat supper
• 5:45 = Wash dishes for 15 minutes
• 6:00 = Budget
• 6:30 = Finish writing hour, website hour, or special project
• 8:15 = Set stuff out for tomorrow, Get ready for bed
• 8:30 = Go to Bed

That only thing inflexible is the bedtime and that I need to do what I have listed. If I end up running late, I can borrow time from the one hour forty-five minutes section before starting the bedtime routine.

Step Four: Go through your list each morning for at least two mornings before making adjustments. So by Friday I should know if this works or not.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Got a new monitor at work

We got new monitors at work and ours is not to question why, but to say thank you instead. Max resolution is now 1920 x 1200; I set mine to 1920 x 1080 and then had to drop all the applications to the smaller windows rather than stretched out to the full screen. This is a lot of visual real estate to get used to.

I still need a better home for my earphones. Maybe I could hang a hook off the cubicle shelf?

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The BookWorm

A fire alarm is great way to start a Friday

So in the office with my supervisor trying to solve a problem with the online payments statement and the fire alarm goes off... at 8am. Spend the next 45 minutes outside waiting for the all clear. It wasn't a drill but the building didn't burn either.

I had to stop at Wally World before work this morning and bought two pairs of jeans in a 16. Going up instead of down. I'm not happy with weight gain, but the concept of watching what I'm eating flew out the window a few months back. I'm stressed over money and I run to my cravings when I'm stressed.

Next week I really start five minutes of exercise every day.

Amazing how a simple thing like getting more sleep can make you feel so damn good. This week has been filled with irritants and I have been sailing above all of them. Now I still haven't caught up on doing stuff at home, so this weekend will be fun attempting to do just that.

Stuff to finish:

• Bloodwork
• Corset
• Cutting out the mock-up for bridesmaid dress
• Mock-up for bridesmaid dress
• Dishes
• Budget
• Empty inbox of all financial papers
• Catch up on website hours - edit Ref. Wiki images
• Catch up on writing hours - edit LJ header file with proper word counts

I'd like a clean slate of a house to start next week off with. That will be a novelty.

Rewards for finishing a project:

• Watching Castle
• Watching V
• Watching the Good Wife
• Watching NCIS: Truth or Consequences
• 30 minutes of video game play for each finished project once I run out of TV shows

Budget needs to become a daily item on my To Do List. Basically because I am a stupid twit and will ignore it until I'm in trouble. Hopefully daily reminders will keep the accounts balanced.

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The BookWorm

The Schedule Is Not Working

The next entertainment center must have wheels. Yes, I can change the wires so the Direct TV signal goes through the VCR and I can tape it, but it became such a pain in the ass to get to the wires, I gave up and just watched the episode Monday night.

Then I don't want to wake up on time the next morning, so chores get skipped. And then no energy left to do them when I get home from work. I can't remember the last time I exercised. What also isn't working is the amount of stuff I'm bringing with me to the paying job. While I'm never bored, I am slammed with what do I do right now? indecision. The list of Big Rocks doesn't bother me, but I think I need to only pack two things (one web hour project, one writing project) for travel every night. Don't know how useful this will be since I never seem to do anything at night. I can't figure out how to squeeze it all in.

I'm still tired and it makes me feel helpless and hopeless. It's a good idea and I can make it work.

So that has been my general mood all week. I got at least six hours of sleep last night instead of five and this morning was loads better. Except for inexplicable pain in my left hand; no obvious cause or swelling but it is painful to make a fist or extend my fingers and push with it. Weird.

Doing a little bit everyday works as far as staying on top of chores. But it's not working for me with less sleep. So if I manage to get the TV components rearranged this weekend, do I still need to reconfigure the daily schedule? I was thinking of dropping things, but all the chores I need to do. :p So the answer is getting more sleep.

Another recommendation I ran across is starting off exercise with five minutes a day, then add another five minutes the next week until you reach thirty minutes a day. If I can get the chores under control, I should be able to squeeze in five minutes.

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The BookWorm

Aw fuck

And there goes the rug out from under me again. Census Bureau just called back and said the job they offered me is only available during the day. My name is right back in the system again and she was positive that my score would bring me up from the next available evenings/weekend slot, but that doesn't help that sinking despair that I'll never get current, much less pay off the bills that just crashed down on me.

It's not that I'm unwilling to work. I just don't want to have to work Convergys again with the fun of sleep deprivation. But every time I apply for part-time work, I never get selected probably because I'm over-qualified and already employed. I didn't redo my budget calculations based on the expected income since I was going to apply it directly to getting current, the emergency fund, and then debt snowball and that can wait until cash is in hand.

So time to go lose myself in something so I don't end up crying on the job.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Today just got a helluva a lot better

The Census job came through! I start training in two weeks. $13 an hour, $0.50 a mile for travel, and the cutoff is 40 hours a week! *Snoopy dance!*

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Tuesday not much better

The roof is still leaking and the mail is still pouring in. I hope to get some typing done during lunch.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Last Week, Last Month

Thirty-three years old. Time management is still a work-in-progress, so is scheduling. And communication.

Friday: my birthday overall was good. My coworkers took me to lunch, but then I had to work overtime for an hour and got stuck in traffic for two. Got home to no Suzanne yet. Call Mom. She wanted to take me to supper when Dad's available, and no Lipizzaner Stallions tickets because I made plans with Suzanne. I couldn't afford the show, so no flying, leaping horses. :( Hopefully I'll catch them about twenty years from now when they come through again. And there's my communication and scheduling issues example.

Saturday and Sunday: all my groceries take too much time to cook so we ended up eating out more than I had planned on. I knew we wouldn't get as much sewing done as we would like to, but I thought there would be enough time for cooking and sewing. And that would be time management issue example.

Progress on sewing: I have my bridesmaid dress material, and we got the second mock-up of Suzanne's chemise made. We decided on throwing out her bought corset because it does not fit properly. Victorian style may need help to adjust (make a few inches squish somewhere else temporarily) but one person should be able to get it on thanks to the closure in the front without lacing the thing every time. And I gave her a boost about slowing her mother down. There's no point to starting a mock-up for her wedding gown if the foundation garments aren't ready. Measurements change--especially with a corset.

I didn't keep up with marking off the to-do list during the week. I maintained what progress I had made, but nothing got ahead by leaps and bounds. Today wasn't the best start to a fresh start; I spent an hour hitting snooze. *Shakes head*

So now I'm at work and would rather be home with my energized self working on the home list. Since I'm at work, I have to gear up for the work list. It's not that I don't want to do that stuff; I just don't want to do it first. :p *shakes head again* Time to suck it up though.

Well, all my whining "i don't want to do it' is for naught. The mail finally came ten minutes before noon and we have been swamped ever since. March 1st is a deadline for taxes and company licensing paperwork, but it looks like this will be a day I never get to leave work.

Sadly, I wish that was a joke. It's already 3:30 and I'm just starting on my first batch. I usually leave at 4. But not tonight. And so much for my plans for cooking when I do get home. I'll be lucky to get there before I fall asleep behind the wheel.

5pm and still at work. Luckily, I think the end of the tunnel of mail is in sight. (Translation: 5:30 should have me looking for dinner and waiting for the traffic to clear.) Birthday dinner with parents is getting pushed back another day. *sigh* I shouldn't have thought of that, now Hungry is kicking in.

5:30 was overly optimistic. 5:20 and I have another twenty-five checks to do. And possibly another batch after that since I don't know what people have stacked on their desks. I'm not a batch stacked, so if it comes up that no one has grabbed the last batch in the bin, I'll have to do it. I'm hoping someone else gets to it first.

Oh I am an idiot! *headdesk* I bought a whole box of granola bars on impulse this morning at WalMart. Did I bring them up with me to snack on? Nope, still in the trunk. *headdesk*

At least the rain has passed through. Oh good, 6pm is cut-off time and we can go home!

6:30 - stopped at Raising Cane's for supper and to let the traffic go away. Left there at 7. Made it home through sluggish but moving traffic around 7:45. No Castle so I tried to start on my computer/website work. No connection to the Internet. I tried every trick I know to get the connection back, no luck.

Call AT&T DSL tech support. Did not time how long it took to get to a person, but once I did it took us about an hour to get me registered again so the connection would work.

When I saw no Castle, I thought I'd have an early bedtime. I ended up going to bed the same time I would have if Castle had aired and I watched it. :p

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The BookWorm

Nine years and six months

My supervisor had me look over a questionnaire she had to fill out for the higher-ups that listed how long everyone in the division had been employed. I had a "it's been that long?" moment seeing mine was nine years and six months.

Not a "holy crap" moment, but it does make me feel less bad that I have finally duplicated costume ideas. I didn't finish Tin Man Adora for today, which is celebrate Halloween day at work, so I reluctantly pulled out pirate garb. Then on the commute in, I realized that while I have duplicated the idea, I have completely replaced everything I wore. The only things I have left from that outfit is the jewelry and I didn't wear that today. LOL!

3:45pm: I got a plant for participating in the costume contest. Blah, I'm so ready to go home. The AC isn't cranked up high enough for the layers I'm wearing. I also need to call about the Friday night plans, finish sewing, sleep? I should probably get more sleep tonight.

But Mustard cannot knock the lamps off the nightstands anymore (his new favorite past time in the middle of the night and now both my lamps are broken). I tied the electrical cords to my bedframe so there is no slack. Too bad I didn't think of it when I only had one broken lamp.

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The BookWorm

Monday sucked but Castle didn't

I got home at 7pm-ish. Sewing and TV don't mix. I got two suit pattern pieces cut out of the tissue paper, and two basting seams sewn out of the six I needed to do. And I'm still trying to figure out how to keep the eyes from burrowing back into the fabric. Two hours of overtime at work at the end of the day when I've been up since 3:00 am is not good for me or the work.

I have boning now so plan tonight is to finish the corset and get the suit cut out of all it's fabric. According to pattern, I'm supposed to have outer fabric, fusible interfacing, and lining fabric. However since my jacket outer fabric isn't as heavy as they recommended, I think I'm going to ignore the fusible interfacing (I detest working with stuff anyway) and back the jacket body pieces with canvas. The collar will be reinforced with leather inside of it, which is a historical throwback to the bobby of London's uniform to help protect the neck.

Castle's Halloween episode sent me to a happy place. Castle actually solved the murder, making the leap that connected the dots. I haven't been playing much attention to counting who solves what, but I think Beckett has been getting more if they don't set a trap for the murderer to step into. And to make all the Browncoats happy, Nathan must have been in the Mal costume for a good five minutes of screen time.

I do have issues with trauma being the root cause of why people become vampires, cops, and crime writers. Though Castle refused to blend into that stereotype and laughed it off with "This is what I do." The other thing I noticed that in a lot of interviews and articles, they have been stressing how selfish and irresponsible Richard Castle is and how is daughter is raising him. But I'm finding his is a very good father, despite his unease of knowing what guys like him would do with a girl like Alexis.

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Computer problems

Dad's been working on it for an hour. Now we've determined it isn't the switch but it could be the power supply and he's hunting for his spare.

No spare power supply--he used it in my sister's Kai new computer. So it's either the power supply or the motherboard.

Well, I'm on now, with real electricity and electricity returned to the job, so back to the daily grind tomorrow. And the computer should be safe now that it is on. The problem seems to be in failing to make the connection when turning it on. But if a new power supply doesn't fix it, I may have to upgrade the motherboard and CPU.

And now there is Ike out there. I haven't listened to any news today because, damnit, I need a break. I don't know if I want to try to ride Ike out or whether I should just pack Mom up and go to Austin. It's my responsibility kick that's making it a hard decision. I'm third-in-charge at work and I never did hear anything from my supervisor and whatever title Marian has. I don't even know if anybody's going to show up Monday. Well, somebody with a key to the firesafe file cabinet needs to. I don't have one and me and Dana locked the checks up.

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Going Through Gustav Day Four

7:30am – At work for over thirty minutes and I’m already bored out of my mind. Got here early since have-to-go-to-Baton-Rouge traffic was reduced with schools closed and nonessential state workers told to stay home. (And I really feel so essential right now.) Parked in the really empty parking lot about 6:45am having left home at 6am. I sat in my car soaking up the AC and charging the phone until a few more people showed up.

We got in at 7am. Minimumal power means emergency generator power. One elevator worked, but no computer, no phone, no calculators. I added up the deposit with my cellphone calculator and wrote the totals out by hand. And since I have never done a deposit manually before, I can only hope I did it right. I finished my Jimmy Dean egg McMuffin breakfast, and updated my blog notes. I found Blogger with my phone but can’t figure out how to update an existing blog through a mobile device. Don’t really want to start a new one. I think I will wander and see if the ice machine is on emergency power.

8:11am – And nobody else is here in my section. When I checked on ice—none—no one was in Fiscal. I’m on my last character’s compelling need questions; I’ll search again when I finish them. I hate how quiet it is. There have been a few more arrivals, but with them so quiet, it makes me paranoid that they’ve been sent home and nobody told me.

8:20am – Phones do work, internally at least. I just got a call from someone trying to figure out the main phone number for the department. The display on the phone doesn’t work, and neither do the “hey I’m ringing” lights.

Dana showed up, I turned over the deposit to Patti in Fiscal, and then Dana and I traded hurricane stories. They actually delivered some mail for us to open, which was all we could do with it.

About 10:30am, I looked out my window to see a DPS unit (a section of the state troopers who patrol the state buildings) with lights flashing and the trooper running to the garage entrance three floors below my window. I got closer to the glass and saw we had another unit plus a city police SUV and another DPS unit pulled in from the other direction. “What the hell is going on? People haven’t had time to get pissed off at the insurers yet.” Dana didn’t have any ideas, and another thought occurred to me. “You don’t think they evacuated and left us here, do you?”

“Let’s check P&C, and see if they know.” The P&C division is next door to our division and looked deserted. But people had been here just at 9. Someone finally answered our hails, two of the supervisors, with a question “Why are you still here? We got the phones covered and they let everyone else go home.”

“Nobody told us.” They also didn’t know anything about what DPS was doing, but no evacuation had been called. So then Dana and I started our trek to find somebody in charge of Management and Finance to A-okay our leaving. We finally ended up on the fourth floor and a secretary told us to go home since all the department heads were in a meeting with the Commissioner. They only needed P&C people for the phones, but thank you for showing up.

So we left around 11am. We ran into Anna on the way and she was upset with DPS. “What happened? I called in to report some broken glass in the garage from storm damage or vandalism. Guess which word they heard?” I can’t be too angry with them. We would have stayed until 4pm or when somebody told us to go home if it hadn’t been for DPS overreaction.

I stopped to check out Walker Wal-Mart, but decided against buying a new plastic cooler. I bought Popeye’s and tried to buy ice but the water had to freeze in the freezer trailer thingy. Course, I spent the rest of the afternoon fretting if I had to go to work Friday or not. The updated COOP message only called in the P&C response teams, no electricity so the building was closed to all other employees.

Then Entergy put out a neighborhood estimate list of when electricity will be restored. Capitol Park is not listed, some of downtown is already on, so no one knows when DOI will get power.

Night breezes finally died and I had to soak up some AC in the car last night, and took a Tylenol PM before finally getting to sleep after 11pm.


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Sometimes, I'm just plain spooky

I actually wrote the second poem before getting called on the carpet for my evil multitasking ways. Because I don't multitask with work I'm obviously not doing any work. Course exactly, how much am I supposed to get done, when I get called to help someone almost every five minutes?

But now we can work on lawsuits, so at least I have another office function to do now when the program is being a bitch.

I don't how much I'm going to be on at night, so you should probably only look for me chat-wise on the weekends.

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The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/