Backscratcher as a spanking implement

I love Dollar Tree. Naturally, the ones in the States are the original and I miss seeing the frozen food section among other fine items.

Canadian Dollar Tree stores do not have the same variety. However, I do love them.

On Saturday, I walked into a new one in the area that I was visiting. I saw these backscratchers.

I grew up having one hanging on the wall. My dad would use it to scratch his back.

I never thought about using it as a spanking implement. The more I think about it, the more aroused I get.

The downside is that the wood is rather thin. Knowing my guy and my track record, it will break across my sore backside when he uses it.

Still, I like the thought of being spanked with it across my bare butt.

Long day, tired me, and more

One word to describe my day on Friday: long

One word to describe how I feel: tired

I'll be back with a longer post when I get more sleep.

Road trip and digital love notes

I'm doing a mini road trip in a few hours for work. I do so much prep work to make sure that I know what I am doing and whom I'm meeting. I'm ready to go.

My guy is doing well. He had a quiet birthday. We both miss each other. It was nice to exchange little messages during the day. We'll take love notes, whether digital or on paper. It makes being apart so much easier.

I'm off to bed to try and get some sleep.

Having dinner with a friend and learning about another friend's passing

Last night, I had dinner with a dear friend. We have known each other since high school.

She let me know that a fellow friend in high school died a week before her 24th birthday. I was shocked and saddened.

I first knew her when we did summer school. We both took Cantonese for a couple of years. She was always nice to me.

Years later, in high school, we ended up in the same French class for two consecutive years. She was a year older than I was and I had skipped a grade in French.

She had bone cancer. I remember in high school that she walked with a cane for a year, but I never asked her about it. I just thought that she had broken her leg. My friend told me that she went through tons of cancer treatments. In the end, our friend decided to decline all treatments in the end and passed on.

I hope that she is resting in peace. It must have been so difficult for her family. She was so young and incredibly bright.

My guy's birthday and bingsu

It's my guy's birthday! He tends to work so hard on his special day that I need to remind him that it's actually his birthday.

He makes me happy. I love him to bits. Here's hoping that he has a great day.

Things are busy with me, but I'm good. I just came back from having bingsu (shaved ice with fruit and ice cream) for the first time. It was yummy and surprisingly not overly sweet.

Bonus pay + interviews = good news

I got a glimpse of how much my bonus pay will be before taxes are taken off. It's impressive! We'll see how much is left after the dust settles on Thursday.

There is a good chance that I will be doing a short road trip to interview prospective students for our next work term. It's exciting.

I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted with all this good news!

Productive weekend and WhatsApp for my laptop

Weekends blow by so quickly. Just like that, this weekend is over.

It was a productive weekend. I am doing some writing for a side business project. I got excited about it in the past, got distracted, and then lost some of that excitement. However, it all came back this weekend.

I am to provide content for a Web site. In past jobs that I held, I did both writing the content and putting the content up on the site. It was the case with all Web sites that I designed for me.

I don't control the Web site for this project, so I have to feed the content to a person. It's difficult to visualize how everything will fit. I asked him to post everything and then we can review the site.

The other reason why I lost interest is that most of my writing happens on a laptop. Our little group uses WhatsApp on our phones to chat. It was such a turnoff to provide the content through this app by copying this content from a document on Google Drive.

I managed to install the desktop version of WhatsApp and it made a world of difference. Yay!

Here's to another week.

Missing my guy and cuddling sweet gifts

I miss my guy.

He's still working on training materials for a course that is rather new. He's training and tweaking it as he goes.

I miss talking to him. Holding his hand. Hearing about his day. Everything.

It's nice that I have a couple of stuffed plush toys, a purple sheep named Woolly and an owl named Owly, that are on my bed. I'm glad that I can cuddle them when I miss him.

Clearance to get a new student at work

Good news! My department has been given the go-ahead signal to hire a student for the upcoming term. Yay!

Things are busy and odd with my team as of late. I love my students who are with me for another five weeks. The two regular employees on my team are nice, but odd.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'm that tired. Have a great weekend!

Hanging out with colleagues turned friends

I like how folks on my small team at work get along. It's to the point where there are five of us who want to hang out with one another on a weekend.

It's good that we are fostering friendship. We spend so much time at work and genuinely like one another. It's a natural progression.

They want to hang out in my neighbourhood. I think it's because I tend to find yummy places to eat.

It's nice.

My students do not want to fight me, which is good

My students were chatting with me the other day. We were all in a jovial mood. Somehow, we got into this short conversation, talking about something.

"I disagree. We need to step out and fight it out," one of them joked.
"Um, no," said the other student.
"I can take you," the first student said. "I can beat everyone, except Cutiebootie. I don't want to mess with her."

I have smart students.

More aggravation with the incompetent colleague

The incompetent colleague continues to prove that she is not the brightest tool in the shed. I had had it with her on Monday.

On Friday, she asked a manager for information. He responded that same day. She asked the same question first thing on Monday morning, which made him respond by saying that she didn't need to ask so soon. Before all of that, I had indicated the same thing to her.

She cannot think for herself. She can't assess any situation. She just sees a task on a checklist and does it. Ugh!

What annoyed me even more was that she proceeded to ask the same manager for a different set of information. I had explained that I had all this information for the last two team meetings. It means that our entire team has all that information. She doesn't pay attention. She continues to show everyone that she cannot comprehend simple things.

And, she constantly talks without listening. I had a short fuse on Monday and told her to stop it.

She is to be let go. The problem is working at a company that has tons of procedural nonsense that needs to be done beforehand. It's at my manager's manager level. It likely means that it will take another month before she leaves the company.

I am surprised that I am not committed at a mental institution by now.

She also is indifferent when it comes to emotions. I've never met anyone like that. There is no compassion there, which is odd to me.

Wet screen protector

Last Friday, I had lunch with three colleagues, including one of my students. Several months ago, she liked my phone so much that she decided to upgrade to the same model. She is equally as enamoured over this phone as I am.

We sat next to each other at the restaurant. She admitted that it made her happy seeing my phone, as it reminds her of my phone.

She taught me something new. She went with a wet phone screen. It basically means that you apply the film by spraying a special solution. It makes applying it to the phone easier.

I have had a glass screen protector on it for a bit. The problem is that my phone is slightly curved, which means that the glass protector does not completely stay flush on the screen.

I noticed that my glass screen protector had a small crack in the left corner. I went online and bought a two-pack of film that you apply wet. It sounds like a sexual innuendo, but it's not!

I just applied it on my phone. Wow! I love how clean it sticks. I'm supposed to let it dry overnight to set. A day later, I am to use the phone case that came with the wet protectors. After five days, I can use my own case. Cool!

Tax return and financial health

On Sunday, I filed my tax return. It's nice to get it out of the way. I am roughly 1.5 months early filing it.

I am pleased with how things are going with paying off my debt and getting back on track. This year has some exciting changes:

• Number of credit cards paid off: 2
• Number of loans paid off: 1

I will also be focusing more on saving money. It's sad that I have had to abandon this practice for a while to pay off debt. It's important to have a decent reserve for emergencies. These days, it's my retirement savings and I don't want to dip into it.

I'll need to build up my retirement savings, which I am looking forward to. I'm optimistic and excited! It's nice to feel good about how far I have come.

Green Earth closing all stores and my guy introducing me to this chain

I was sad to learn that Green Earth is closing all off its stores in Canada.

My guy introduced me to this store with cool items. He gave me a gift of an encased butterfly from this store fairly early in our relationship. I loved it. He didn't even know that I love butterflies until he gave me this present.

Since then, he has given me two other gifts from this store, which I absolutely love. He gave me a glass knot and a ceramic owl whose head bobbles. This chain has unique gifts that speak to me and I'll be sad to see it go.

The trend tends to be to for businesses to online rather than having physical stores. Competition is also an issue, with Amazon leading the way. Part of me still likes going to a store, and seeing and touching merchandise. It is a sign of the times.

Robyn and pushy, drunk idiots

The other night, I went to see Robyn. It was a general admission concert.

I didn't realize that I had purchased a VIP ticket. I got early access into the venue to get a decent standing spot. I also got a commemorative bucket hat and laminated concert badge.

I got to the venue at 17:30. I was standing until 23:00, with a couple of bathroom breaks. My legs were not functioning well after the show. They felt like Jello.

For the most part, I am not a huge fan of general admission tickets. I'd sooner have a seat. You can dance and then take a break. I also like not spending most of the night up against other people.

Robyn was wonderful. She's a dynamic performer who sounds amazing. I had a wonderful time seeing her.

She is also incredibly strong. She started her career doing bubblegum-type music. She didn't want to fit in that mould and decided to break free. She has had her own say in her music ever since.

The downside to this concert was guys who ended up pushing and poking into me. It's one thing to brush someone by accident. When there are guys bumping into me often, I will push back. Sure, they are drunk, but it's pretty rude.

My legs are still sore from dancing and standing on my feet for over five hours. Thank goodness I don't go to such concerts often.

Concert and Jello legs

I just came back from a concert. I got a VIP ticket. I stood there for five hours. My legs feel like Jello.

More details about this fabulous show in a following post. I hope my legs come back to life in the morning!

Happy Pi Day!

I'm a math nerd. So is my guy. Happy Pi Day!

Photo: timeAndDay.com

How do you celebrate this day? Perhaps having a slice of apple pie or pizza is fitting.

I just like how cool pi is. It's a mathematical constant. It goes on forever. It's neat.

Birthday gift question

When my birthday is coming up, my guy always asks me what I'd like as a gift. I decided to try his method out on him.

My guy's birthday is in a couple of weeks. Although I have a gift in mind, I decided to ask him what gift he'd like.

"Hey, your birthday is coming up. What would you like?" I asked him.
"I like whatever gift you give me. You're good at it," he said.
"That's nice of you to say. But, is there a gift that you really want?" I asked him.
"I have everything. I have you," he said.

He's sweet. It's one reason why I'm keeping him.

Bonus pay coming soon to my chequing account

On Monday, it was confirmed that my bonus pay will be deposited at the end of the month. I am excited!

I have a loan that will be completely paid off at either the end of May or early June. I am putting this bonus pay towards paying off a credit card. I will be in decent financial shape come the summer.

It's nice to look ahead and see how bright my financial situation will be. Yay!

Buttress Pillow

I have seen this pillow for a while. I'm not sure whether I was to put my head on a butt pillow called The Buttress Pillow, but it's a fun novelty item:

I like the aqua one. It's on sale right now, but it's pretty steep in price. Considering that I am working on paying off my debt, I'll have to pass and simply enjoy my guy's butt instead. That's not a bad deal.

Cold and Daylight Saving Time

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night cold. Ir's rare for me.

My guy typically needs more blankets. First, he likes rolling himself in them. Second, he gets cold faster than I do.

On the other hand, I tend to be warm to begin with. He calls me the furnace because I am that warm body-wise. It's rare for me to feel cold.

Luckily, I have some throws by my bed. I used one over my comforter and went back to sleep. I didn't stir. I woke up six hours later.

It's Daylight Saving Time soon. Note that Saving does not have a letter s at the end. The clocks go ahead by an hour. We'll see how that works with my biological clock!

Friends, work, business, wings, and beer

Even though I was running on two hours of sleep on Thursday, I managed to stay awake and went out for dinner and drinks with two friends.

All three of us worked at the same company over a decade ago. They both left a year before I did. We are working on a business joint venture. I have the writing, social media, and Web site skills. One of my friends conceptualized this business model. The other friend has connections and is a smooth talker. So far, what I have been doing is exciting.

Getting back to dinner, between the three of us, we had forty chicken wings and two pitchers of Sapporo beer. I probably downed the most wings. I don't think that I drank the most beer. Thank goodness!

The good news is that I came back home and slept like a log. I simply need to remember not to drink a large strawberry black tea before I go to bed. Beer is okay.

Spoke too soon and had another horrible night of sleep

I have figured out why I haven't slept well recently. I consumed strawberry black tea just before I had muscle spasm issues in my right foot and ended up having a couple of sleepless nights this week.

On Thursday night, I went out to redeem a couple of coupons for a free movie and popcorn at the local movie theatre. On my way home, I stopped by my favourite bubble tea store to get a strawberry black tea.

My guess is that the black tea had so much caffeine that it kept me up longer than it typically does. I normally am okay consuming it before 11 pm. However, for the past couple of nights, I finished the drink well past midnight.

I got through my day on Friday pretty sleepy. I went out for dinner with a couple of friends, came home, and slept for an hour in front of the TV. Ah, good times!

Slept like a log - yay!

Two nights ago, I slept for a grand total of 3.5 hours. That total was interrupted sleep. Last night, I slept like a log. Six hours later, I needed to go on yet another teleconference.

For a good minute, I wanted to skip it and sleep in. I then woke up and knew that I needed to get on with my day.

I felt incredibly rested. My muscle spasms are nearly gone. It's weird, but I am glad that this pain doesn't happen too often.

Foot and muscle pain sucks when you want to sleep

Now and again, I get muscle spasms in my right foot. It was pretty bad last night. I woke up at nearly 4 am to pain.

I can't recall how many ibuprofen pills I managed to take. It was strange, but I had a mini panic attack. My bedroom was getting hot, mainly because of my tossing and turning in bed along with the heating kicking in. I had to drink some water and eat a protein bar to ease things for me. I also took long breaths, which helped.

I didn't go back to bed, but I had a conference call at 7 am. I said hi at the beginning and actually fell asleep for nearly two hours. Hopefully, I wasn't called upon to say anything. This meeting call ended up being just under four hours.

Part of me wanted to call in sick. However, I took it easy working from home, as the muscle pain lasted all day, with it dying off right about now.

Some days are rough. Here's hoping that tomorrow will be much better.

Honesty about anxiety and depression at work

I had a decent talk with my newest addition to my team. One of my students and I were training her on Monday. At the end of the session, what I didn't expect was this woman sharing that she has been depressed and anxious for two years.

It hit home for me. I have been there. So has my guy.

The good news is that she is on medication, which has put her back on track. She feels good. It shows. She is funnier during our team meetings.

I was impressed that she trusted us to share what she has been going through. Add to that mix the fact that her past two team leads have said negative things about her with little justification and my manager asking her to submit weekly reports (she is the only person on our entire team doing this task) can add to that depression and anxiety.

I thanked her for sharing all this information. I told her that I'm happy that she is on my team. She seemed to be absorbing the information well. She also asked thoughtful, intelligent questions today. She has potential. It probably hasn't been noticed by others.

I'm optimistic. I let her know to leave the baggage and negative past work experiences behind her. We are working with a clean slate now. She appreciated it.

Press-on nails and affection

A year ago, a colleague got me into press-on nails. They have gel adhesive. They can also be filed down to size and shape. They typically last between one and two weeks.

I bought three packs and have only used them once. I decided to give them a try again. I like them.

I learned from my first experience that I need to start with short nails. This time was much better!

My guy looked at my nails. He liked them so much that he immediately grabbed my hand, looked at my hand and nails again, and gave my hand a loving squeeze.

I like that he loves my hands, with or without press-on nails.

Incompetent colleague is on her way out

The incompetent colleague who has been with us for three months is on her way out the door.

My manager had a private meeting with me last Thursday. He has decided to let her go.

On the one hand, I am relieved for both my students and I who have been trying to help her learn. The problem is that she has issues with comprehension. None of us can help her there.

Everything needs to be written down for her to memorize the details. Explaining details seems to go in one ear and out the other.

Last Thursday, our manager asked her what an acronym stood for and what it meant in our team meeting. As expected, she nailed the former. She got the latter wrong. She has been doing this task since she first started. The question wasn't complex at all.

On a good note, I have another colleague who has joined our team. One of my students and I will be training her on Monday. None of them know that this incompetent colleague is heading out the door.

That's where the other hand comes in. She has a childlike mentality. She's a decent person and I feel sad that she will be losing her job. However, she is a burden to our entire team. We have all been pitching in to help her and the exercise has been futile.

I don't know when her final day will be. My guess is that it'll be at the end of this month.

Losing colleagues due to no work

Work is getting dark. I learned on Friday that we have lost a good third of our department of writers due to a shortage of work.

It's sad. I am sad, as I trained the majority of them when they first joined the company. I do hope that they can find employment elsewhere.

It's sad that the news was delivered on a Friday, just before starting the weekend. When I got laid off a couple of times in my life, the news came down on Monday. I felt that it was a bit easier to digest, but not a whole lot.

I still feel that I am safe. I am the most competent person in my department. I am also the longest serving one in my group. All of that helps me out. We'll see for how long.

Change at work

It has been a week of change at work. To make an extremely long story short, a major project is coming to an end. It means that there are a ton of folks who are looking for projects to do.

On a good note, there is a new project. However, the company has far too many folks for it that layoffs are likely going to happen, which is sad.

I am fortunate to not be directly involved in this project that is going away. I am unaffected personally, but my team is impacted.

My boss had a talk with me on Thursday. He wants to let the newish incompetent woman go. There is now a colleague who is free to step in and replace her. We'll see if this change works out.

It's always sad to see a colleague go, but it's the best for everyone's mental health and sanity, including my own.