Getting Back on The Wagon

Last week, although it was a short week, sorely tested my patience and sobriety.  On Wednesday, I failed miserably on both counts. 

It was a stressful week filled with lots of last-minute "emergencies" that could have been dealt with much sooner or waited until after Thanksgiving.  Wednesday, the office closes early to let people start the weekend, but one of my more sadistic attorneys has other plans.  So, for the umpteenth time in a row, going back at least to last year, everyone else started a long weekend on time while I was stuck in the office for several extra hours doing work that needlessly waited for the last minute to be given to me.  (Not that I'm bitter about it...)

When all the crises were finally resolved and I could get the hell out of there, I stopped to grab a bite to eat on the way home.  For whatever reason, I got a beer and thought "just one shouldn't be a problem."  After a couple more, I ended up going home drunk and having a big argument.  This resulted in sleeping apart for several nights, and the worst Thanksgiving in memory.  It's not pleasant to spend a day with your family pretending everything's OK when you're horribly hung-over, feel like an ass, and just want to crawl in a hole and die.  (I imagine waking up in jail with no memory of the previous night is probably worse, but thankfully I haven't had that experience.)

So, I'm starting over.  Things at home seem to be improving, and I'm trying much harder now to beat this Alcoholic inside myself.  All I can do is try.

On a side note:  Why in the hell do Courts inevitably set critical deadlines on Friday, or right before a long weekend?  I could do this job for a hundred years (noooo!!!!) and still not understand that logic.

Holiday Cards

A post earlier today on Above the Law made me recall my own past experiences with holiday card sending at work. 

One previous employer insisted that everyone at the firm hand sign every card, all 2000 of them (cards, not employees).  Ever signed your name 2000 times in a row?  Each year, whatever joy I had about the holiday season was quickly obliterated that day. 

When working for the Court system, we were not allowed to send or receive cards or gifts, even if we paid for them ourselves.  Apparently the government doesn't have a problem making Christmas a Federal Holiday, just with people trying to observe it.  At any rate, that made things a little less complicated and we had a built-in ironclad excuse.

Presumably my current firm sends out cards, but I don't know for certain. 

I will not be offended by failure to send a card, nor will I be offended if I get one.  Just the way I roll. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

For some inexplicable reason our office is still open even though the Courts and most other firms are closed.  So I'll be here, doing pretty much nothing because most of my work right now needs Court action.  Maybe we'll get lucky and have a fire drill.

Columbus Day

Ah, yet another "holiday" where my employer doesn't give us the day off.  There's not much point to being at work, since the Courts are all closed.  I suppose it's nice to have at least one day in the office where we aren't dealing with filing deadlines, though.

Anyhow, if you are working today also, we can commiserate together.