My body is officially in Holiday mode. But I am still in the office. Have a new mug with part of my name on it. It's missing a letter. Have a new tie, but I don't usually wear one. Have a stuffed pig and it's staring at me. I'll call him PITO. Pig In The Office. All these things were given by my bosses. I think this is in exchange of aggravating me. Hehe. It's the thought that counts anyway. They just wanna show me, or us, that all of our efforts do not go unnoticed, and that rewards are due. I'd rather have cash than stuff. That way, I can allot more money to the wedding. But I digress. I am grateful, don't get me wrong. It's just that I can use the money in some other way that would benefit me more. So...if they are reading this, here's my request. How about a raise in my allowance so I don't go up the tax bracket and end up having less because of having more?

You usually wear jeans or basically just dress down every Fridays. Then you're boss tells you that you can wear jeans from Wednesday till Friday for this week only. Back the same routine after the week ends. You know it's still crappy that you can only wear jeans every Fridays, but you still feel glad, happy, almost ecstatic that you're given permission to dress down for an extra 2 days of THIS week. You spread the news, WITH GLEE, to your fellow co-workers, mimicking the kid from The Matrix Revolutions movie screaming "The war is over." The above was the point. Here's the ponder. Isn't it a little bit pathetic to be ecstatic about something like being able to wear jeans at work? If you wanna wear jeans to work, get a construction employee's job. Or go to another company that does basically the same thing you do, except that they don't have a dress code and you can wear jeans all you want, as much as you can. I just don't see the point of being happy for such a minuscule... thingy... when it's the same grind all over again after the current week. Here's more ponder. If your boss is really good, wouldn't they know what makes you, the employee, happy? And wouldn't they know that a very happy employee is a very productive employee? And that a very productive employee will rake in more business and more income for the company which basically gives more financial incentives and bonuses to the boss indirectly? Just pondering. :-x

So the office had a fire drill last Friday. The Facilities Manager went around asking volunteers from each department to join the drill so that we'll all be familiar with the procedures, etc. Representatives from each department will then be sending out an email to inform their respective departments about the procedures.The drill, by the way, required every participant to use the stairs going down from the 28th floor to the ground floor then to the assembly point. I had the luck of being the rep for our department. Yes, luck. I'm not saying if it was good luck or bad. I'm just saying it was my luck. Can you imagine going down from the 28th floor to the ground using the stairs? I can. I actually did. It wasn't as tiring as I thought it was gonna be. But then, when we got to the assembly point, my knees felt the sting. It started to shake. So I sat down. Then it got better. When I stand up, however, I can feel my thigh muscles burn. I think my muscles had atrophied already from non-use. So the day went on without a hitch. Except when my Chings called me up and told me she wasn't feeling too great and that she already threw up inside a cab (in a barf bag). So I rushed to her office with my wobbly legs, commuted to her office and picked her up to take her home to get some rest. When I took the underpass to cross the street, my legs weren't feeling too great. With every step down, my knees shook. With every step up, my thighs burned. Anyway, I got through the day feeling a bit worked-out. The next day, my legs felt worse. It was as if I ran for miles. It was more than a workout. It was torture. And because of this, I would like to officially blame the fire drill. I hate fire drills. Makes your legs shaky and tired that when fire actually starts, you don't have the energy anymore to go down the flight of stairs to save yourself. You'll just lie down on the floor, doing a war scene where someone gets injured. You call out to your fellow employees, "Go! Save yourself!" Then a heroic fellow shouts back at you, "NOBODY GETS LEFT BEHIND!" Then they carry you to safety. You end up being a helpless duck at the assembly point while that fellow employee gets their parade. Then all you can say about it is that if it wasn't for you, no one would even know where to go. That if it weren't you who went with the fire drill the day before, you would've carried the one who did. Ah, life. It's so friggin' ironic. :-P

I'm here in Universal City, Texas. Finally resting at the hotel, cruising the web with their complimentary (but unsecure) wifi connection. I almost got lost on the way to the hotel from San Antonio airport. Got cleared with no hitches back at Detroit, MI customs. First impressions of UC: Cold (because of the weather). Hospitably nice people. No one's giving me crap yet. Wide open roads with minor potholes. Nice drivers also. I wasn't given the finger on the way to the hotel. I'll be watching for it though, with the way I drive. First thing I did when I got to the hotel: I turned on my notebook and went online. Yes, I know. Loser. Now I gotta do some unpacking. Later. :mrgreen:

...and I'm still in front of a computer, blogging. Makes me wanna yell LOSER at myself. Well, anyway, I'm off to go to Universal City in Texas by way of Detroit. There. I said it. I'm going to UC. Alone. Feels like I'm in the Amazing Race, competing against myself. Hoo boy! Hope nothing goes wrong. Amen. :mrgreen: