Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.

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Guess what? Another work type Rant follows!

I�ve gotten into the habit of writing some general comments followed by details of the week in my journal. So what do I write about now? The conservative dominated supreme court essentially deciding that WB the sequel will be the next president? To depressing.

Power shortages in California due to poor planning, general greed and an unjustified faith in the inherent fairness of capitalistic supply and demand when applied to basic utilities? I don�t even want to go there.

How cold it is here in Southern California these past few days? Considering that the journals I follow mention snow and subzero temperatures, Temps in the mid fifties just don�t sound to dramatic or interesting and offer no real reason for sympathy.

OK, enough lameness, the week:

Monday (12/11/00) was, well a Monday. I spent the majority of the work day trying to catch up on paperwork and assorted projects and I ended up staying late again. So late, that John had enough time to run errands, do some shopping and get back by the time I got home. He got the pictures from his recent Vegas trip, but wouldn�t let me see them until he had put them into the photo album. Since he has never done that before, I stated joking that he was hiding Nakie photos of himself from me. John is such a boy scout that the idea of him having nude photos of himself is kinda funny. I kept joking that I've seen the real thing, a photo wouldn�t do me any harm.

Tuesday (12/12/00) was a ridiculously busy day at work. We had a very quick birthday thing for Gale sans cake or other really bad desserty type thing since she doesn�t eat that kind of stuff. Five minutes after that finished, I had to rush off to do a presentation at a local Senior Citizen center. It was in the cafeteria and I think I ended up being scheduled at the same time as crafts hour. So there was me, at the front of the room and a whole bunch of Granmotherly looking women knitting. It wasn�t the greatest presentation/talk I've ever done, but it wasn�t bad by any stretch of the imagination. Half of the audience seemed genuinely interested in the subject, the other half seemed only to be there to have good seats when lunch started.

After that, I had to meet some of my staff at a new development to do some training, then I had to meet Lee to help him with some complaints where the people only spoke Spanish. Finally I got to eat a really late lunch and head back to the office to face a desk filled with paperwork.

Wednesday (12/13/00) was supposed to have been an easy day and it actually was, just a little teensy bit aggravating. This is were the rant warning headline comes into play. The day started out well enough and I actually finished a few projects that morning. It was the afternoon that the �Thing� happened.

There was an afternoon lunch/seminar that was supposed to have to have doubled as a little holiday party. Years and years ago, my department actually had holiday parties during working hours, but that got axed for political reasons and because government employeesCANNOT have holiday parties doing working hours. This lead to years of poorly attended evening holiday events. After all, who really wants to spend thirty or so dollars to go to a dinner filled with coworkers on a work night? This year, they tried something different. There was to have been a lunch, followed by speakers, followed by an hour of socializing and dancing. Would have been. It was that last hour that got my department into trouble. Apparently someone snitched to a certain local politician and the entire event was cut in half. So we had a really quick lunch followed by short lame presentations followed by us all having to go back to work. Considering driving time and traffic, this meant that many people spent an hour on the road to spend the last half hour of the work in the office.

Supposedly our event wasn�t cut because our union is still in negotiations.

A very short opinionated overview of negotiations:

them- no raises!

us- we aren�t asking for that much!

them- no money for raises!

us- you�ve given yourself raises every year since forever!

them- doesn�t matter, no more money!

us- you've just approved a budget of over a million dollars to redo your offices!

them- no more money available, we have think about the future!

us- what about the past? we haven�t had a raise or even a cost of living increase in nine years!

them- nope, the well is dry

continue ad nauseam

Supposedly our event wasn't cut short because we are an unpopular part of an even more unpopular larger department (the unloved redheaded bastard stepchild theory), or because there was bad publicity involving the department a few years ago, or any number of other similar reasons.

It was cut because you can�t have a holiday event during working hours. For some reason this paradigm/ commandment didn�t seem to affect the other two departments/agencies that were having their events in the banquet rooms next to ours.

Get the impression that I can get just a little bitter at times?

OK, enough angsty rant. Before lunch started, I did get the chance to talk and say hello to several work folk I normally don�t get to see. I also got to give Raquel her xmas present ( dog picture magnets). So, for twenty-five dollars, I got a nice salad and a plate of steamed vegetables (as opposed to the assorted rare and very very well done bits of beef that other people got), a boring lecture and the opportunity to go back to work for an hour.

That night was the last catalyst potluck of the year and the last one at Ben�s place up in Altadena. Next year, the potluck will move to the Neighborhood House in Pasadena. There was a good turn out tonight, though �male heavy� again. Conversations were dominated by the expected �bush oh no!� themes. JamesL. was after me to attend a Sisters ( Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) fund raiser this Saturday, but John and I have a party to be at, so I�ll miss out on �porno-rama� or whatever the event�s name was.

Thursday, ugh, forget about Thursday. Anyway, I�ve ranted and updated. enough is enough.

More later, nico

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