Everyone Loves a Boston Girl

This was a weekend of laziness. And I loved every minute of it. You know, one of those weekends where you don’t even know what day or what time it is and the weekend seems to go on and on. Love it.

Actually, it wasn’t pure laziness, because on Friday night I worked. My (pseudo) aunt and uncle are doctors and throw doctor parties occasionally. They always ask me to help at them and I always agree because a) I love them and b) the money they give me is quite beautiful. Basically, the food is all catered and all I have to do is make sure it’s all out, wine is opened, and stuff is cleaned up. And my aunt basically makes us take all the extra food, which means my fridge is full of beef tenderloin, asparagus, rice, mescalin greens, goat cheese, pastries, chocolate covered strawberries, etc., etc. right now. Not a bad deal. There were also many attractive doctors at the party…and they were unfortunately all married. My favorite part of the evening was when Cissy threw up. Because you could tell for like 2 minutes beforehand that she was going to, and everyone was yelling to get the dog off the oriental rug before she threw up, and my aunt says, “No, just leave her there!” After the party she said, “can you believe those women were concerned about the rug??” Umm yes. But that is something I love about my aunt and uncle. They have ridiculous amounts of money, but aren’t pretentious or uptight about their things. Though I probably would have moved the dog off the oriental rug, but to each his own.

Saturday afternoon was brunch at The Fireplace. Chelsee “won” a free brunch for 10 of us through Ameriprise. We had to listen to a dude talk about financial planning for a few, but then he left and we ate and chattered. I thought the whole thing was hilarious, because I am in no place to even think about financial planning/putting money in various accounts/saving for retirement right now. He said we should start writing our wills and I said my whole family will be screwed if I die because they will have to deal with my financial mess (I’m not really that bad, but I don’t have a job and have lots of fun grad school loans). We later looked up our Ameriprise man on Facebook (because why wouldn’t we?) and discovered that he’s actually younger than us and has a thing for Asian girls. Interesting. I appreciated the fact that I got to go to one of my favorite restaurants and eat eggs benedict for free (yes, I ordered the most expensive thing off the menu, but then again, I’ve never had brunch at The Fireplace and not ordered eggs benedict).

Saturday night we were honestly going to go out, and then Nina and I didn’t get up from the couch. We spent many hours transferring music to each other’s computers, and I am super excited to have lots of new Wilco, Built to Spill, Nada Surf, and Spoon in my iTunes library. Then Katie came over and we watched Love Actually, which is one of the few movies I can sit through over and over again and be perfectly happy. I love love love Hugh Grant and really wish he didn’t screw up my perfect image of him with that whole prostitute deal. We then proceeded to watch a documentary on giant killer squid and go to bed obnoxiously late considering we didn’t even go out.

Today really took the cake in laziness. The girls came over for the Patriots game (which, um hi, we won again. Try not to hate) and I think we might have sat in the living room from 1:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. It was a nasty snowy/sleety/rainy disgusting day, though, so we were allowed. I made cupcakes for the girls and to bring to my last class tomorrow night (I am a cupcake fanatic and my class spent a lot of time editing a magazine piece on cupcakes so I thought it would be appropriate. And I am obsessed with baking cupcakes ) and we pigged out on them. In addition, we ate lots of Friday night’s leftover food, drank hot chocolate with Bailey’s and Kahlua, played a game of Balderdash, and watched Sex and the City DVDs. Can’t go wrong with a day like that.

Tomorrow I have to finish my final that I barely looked at this weekend. And mail my sister’s Christmas presents. I was super psyched to hear that it’s going to be the busiest day of the year at the post office. I’m so glad I procrastinated mailing them for so long. Go me.

Also regarding online shoe stores, if you are shoes.com, you should make sure when you cut your packing tape, you cut it so the whole word of your company shows, for example, “shoes.com.” Otherwise, you might cut part of the word off, so it says “hoes.com.” And then my mom will put a package in my room that says “hoes.com” all over it and I will wonder what she has been up to. Just a suggestion.

I bought my mom leather Ugg gloves for Christmas. I have a thing with buying her Ugg gifts. You probably know, I’m a huge Ugg fan (hate me, I don’t care). I resisted for a really long time but once I tried a pair on, it was undeniable. There’s no way I could get through Boston winters without my Uggs and their comfort brings me joy and happiness on a daily basis.

I always try to buy my mom holiday gifts that she didn’t ask for that I think she’ll really like. I like to surprise her and I like to keep her hip. And she loves it. Last Christmas I got her Ugg slippers and every time I go home, she is wearing them and always exclaims, “This is the best present I have ever gotten…ever!” So then for Mother’s Day I got her Ugg sandals (they’re actually kind of cute). She also liked them. Side note: I recently found the receipt for this purchase and literally stared at it for 10 minutes while I tried to remember when I had spent $50 on “thongs” at Lord and Taylor. Hmm it was in May…the boyfriend and I had just broken up…did I go on a crazy underwear shopping spree? And then conveniently block it from my mind? Exactly how many thongs did I get for $50? Or was it one really nice one? Wait, Mother’s Day is in May…I bought my mom thongs. Thong sandals. HA.

I couldn’t think of anything fun to get her this year, but then I remembered how much she loves the comfort of Ugg products. So I bought her some cute gloves. But *that* is not the point of my story (so please don’t ask why I just spent 2 paragraphs explaining it. I think just because I enjoy talking about Uggs). The point of my story is that I bought the Uggs on Zappos.com. And that after I placed my order, I was given this message:

What would you like to notify your friends on Facebook about?

• Share the specific products I purchased
• Share only which brands I purchased
• Share that I bought “something cool” on Zappos.com
• No Thanks

Are you kidding me? Why do my friends on Facebook want to know what I bought my mother at Zappos.com?? This really disturbs me, though I am thankful that they asked me what I wanted to do and didn’t just post my purchase details without telling me. But really, What kind of world do we live in that I need to announce my online purchases to the entire interweb (not that I’m implying I am Facebook friends with the everyone on the interweb, but still). And furthermore, if I really wanted all of my Facebook friends to know of my purchaes, I would just set my status to “Susie is just bought her mom Ugg gloves at Zappos.com…not that it’s any of your business.

P.S. Job offer e-mail of the day: I was impressed with your experience and capabilities. I would like to invite you to apply for the Barista position that one of my clients, Starbucks, has available.

I just realized that I completely missed the one year anniversary of my blog. Sadness. Anyway, it was on December 9, 2006, that I started this baby. I was sitting at work probably all alone since it was a state government job and I was the only one who did any work (hence why I no longer work there) when I decided to just start writing. And now I can’t believe it’s been a whole year and I am so so far from where I was last year at this time. I actually really enjoyed my job and a lot of the people, but was appalled by the way the higher-ups treated me. I was an intern for 1.5 years. But most of the people I worked with didn’t even know I was an intern. Because I did the same exact work as regular employees. And because I was there full-time. And because we actually had a department intern who was not me.

When they finally offered me a permanent position, they offered me starting salary. I laughed. And then I cried. Hell no. I sat with the chief of the agency as he told the employment people I was the best worker he had in his 30 years there and didn’t want to lose me (ummm true that) and they said they couldn’t do anything. I sat with the director of the agency who begged me to stay, promising a raise as soon as possible (yeah right, I had been promised a permanent position for an entire year). I tried talking sense into the HR guy who had the most power. “I almost have a Masters degree,” I told him. “Your education doesn’t matter here,” he replied. Wow. OK, see you later then. That basically sealed my decision for me. I will never lower myself to working at a place that blatantly tells me my education doesn’t matter. I’ve honestly never been so disgusted. And this was the man who signed every letter he wrote with, “PhD.”

I can’t say I didn’t laugh a bit when the agency recently made a really big mistake and released a lot of private information and got in a lot of trouble. Information that my department dealt with. If the state hired competent people and paid them what they deserved and fired people who never come to work, sleep at their desks (literally), do nothing but gossip and badmouth others, and don’t care one bit about their jobs, mistakes like these wouldn’t happen and Massachusetts would be a much better place. My 1.5 years working for the state made me realize how horribly things are run, how much great potential there is, and how things will probably never change. It’s really sad.

I have stayed close with a lot of my old co-workers and miss a lot about the place. I think I liked it so much because I saw how much potential there was and thought I could help make it a better place. But really, when nobody else cares, you can’t do much. And it’s frustrating to watch people not give a damn. I don’t deserve to be treated like crap by someone who sits at their desk and falls asleep every single day. Or be told I can’t get a promotion but have to train my new supervisor because I’m the only one who knows how to do everything in the office. Or to be the only one in the office the day before every holiday and getting subpoenaed for cases I have no control over. And you know what else? Education matters to me.

I want to be a part of a team and feel like we’re all working for a common cause. I want to be treated with respect. And I want a job where my education and intelligence matter. Is that really too much to ask?

P.S. I don’t know how my happy birthday blog turned into a rant on my past job and the disgrace of state government, but I think it was just from reading my old entries and remembering the horribleness. Seriously, read my old entry from Dec. 12, 2006, on the fact that state workers get 2 hours off to do their Christmas shopping. Seriously? Yes. I could write a book.

A woman in Brookline was assaulted while taking the T home last night.

Conversation between me and my mom at 5:00 p.m. while I’m outside my apartment waiting for the T to go to class:

Mom: Did you…did you hear?? About the woman??? On the T?????
Me: Yeah, on the D line.
Mom: No! It was on the green line! Your line!
Me: Yeah, I know…but the D part of the green line. Scary!
Mom: I just saw it on the news….and I was worried. I hadn’t talked to you!!!
(Please note it’s now 5 p.m….I had talked to my mom at 10 p.m. last night)
Me: Oh…I’m fine. So, how are you?
Mom: Are you waiting for the T now?!??!
Me: Um yes, I’m on my to class.
Mom: You need to be aware of your surroundings!!
Me: Yes, I always am.
Mom: But you’re on the phone! The girl who got attacked was on the phone with her mom.
Me: Does that mean we should hang up now??
Mom: It’s not funny! This is serious!
(We keep talking as the T arrives and I get on)
Mom: Are you on the T now??
Me: Yes.
Mom: Is it crowded?? Are there lots of people around??
Me: Um yes…it is rush hour.
Mom: But what about tonight?? Please, please be careful getting home from class!!

Oh, Mom. I love her more than anything. I am seriously really surprised she didn’t call to make sure I got home from class OK. She would not be impressed with the fact that I walked from Boylston to Hynes after class. But we got out of class ridiculously early and I wanted to go for a walk. It’s downtown Boston. There were many, many people around. And come on, I was responsible enough not to continue walking from Hynes home (there’s a slightly sketch area I would have had to walk through).

I just saw on the news that they caught last night’s assaulter. Yay. Not that there’s not a million more weirdasses like him.

On another note, it’s really hard to get motivation to finish your project when you get this e-mail from your teacher: It’s finally dawned on me that it’s unlikely any of you will manage to finish your final edits in time for tonight’s class. Monday is fine as a deadline for everyone.

So, Monday it is. And then I am officially done with my Master of Arts in Publishing and Writing. Yesss. No, it hasn’t hit me at all. As soon as I get a job and start paying these loans off, I’ll be finding some sort of classes to enroll in. Probably Japanese, cooking, wine tasting, HTML and some sort of computer classes. Yes, I’m a huge nerd. Boston friends, you are welcome to join me in my continuing education. We can do homework together. OK, stopping now.