Escalator Etiquette

Escalators traumatize me. When I was a little kid, I was terrified of them. Even now, when I have to get on one (especially going down), I'm very careful about where I put my foot when I'm going to step on to it. I can't explain it. I never had a bad experience, as far as I can remember, but they just make me uneasy.

Which blows because they're everywhere.

Still, escalator etiquette is very important to me. There's two at South Station, where I take the train twice a day every day during the week, and people do not respect the etiquette. You are supposed to stand to one side if you plan on being inert and just riding so that the people who are walking up or down the escalator can get past you. People do not do that sometimes and it drives me effing bonkers.

People are rude enough without standing there like a lump while you're in a hurry. Not that it's so much faster than the stairs, but those extra ten seconds can mean the difference between making my train and cursing at it desperately while I huff for breath as it glides off towards Back Bay and I have to wait a half an hour for the next one.

I'm just saying. Respect the etiquette.

I had my one month review today. I have two supervisors, one who's as old as my dad and who's the boss boss and one who's younger than me and the team leader. Team Leader gave me the review and he said they're excited to have me aboard as a team member. I wanted to say, "of course you are, I'm extremely cheap labor, better educated than a lot of people you have working for you with more experience than even you probably have. You're salivating at that, Thirsty Thursday Boy."

I call him TTBoy because I was talking to him on a Friday morning and he explained that he hadn't gotten much sleep because his neighbors had been up partying and he referred to it as Thirsty Thursday. Only people who are not that far removed from college, are single, and are generally under 26 refer to it as Thirsty Thursday. I haven't called it that since college.

Anyway, Omar and I are about to decorate the tree now. We have a funny looking, lopsided tree that gets funnier looking and more lopsided every day it's up. But that's what happens when you buy a tree the weekend before Christmas.

We're going to hook the TiVo up to tape something and watch something else this week so that I don't have to miss American Idol and Veronica Mars this January. It's the little things that make me happy.

Happy Holidays

So it's the holiday season again. It seems to start earlier and earlier every year. This year, they were running Christmas ads the day after Halloween.

Thanksgiving was good this year. We spent it with Omar's parents and siblings and had a very nice day for the most part. I enjoyed myself. Saturday I went to NH and spent the evening with my best friend from high school, with whom I have nothing in common anymore. We're at totally different places in our lives, living on opposite sides of the country. The only thing we have in common is that for four years we hated high school together. Still, it was nice to see her and to find out how her life has been going. In a lot of ways, it made me feel better about mine.

Because it's Christmas, there's lots of old movies on these days. Home Alone is on TBS right now and I'm finding myself chuckling with it as I listen. I like Christmas. It's a nice, homey time of year. My mom gets so excited about us coming home for it and I like coming into a warm house that smells like good things to eat.

We were at my parents' house yesterday and we watched Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck. My mom made this really yummy risotto and breaded chicked with sherry. So yummy. Both of them are pretty easy to make, so I could probably make them myself. They were yummy.

We're doing the split Christmas thing again, Christmas Eve and morning with my family, Christmas dinner and night with Omar's. Of course I don't want to not see Omar's family, but it's hard to go here, there, and everywhere during the holidays. There's a part of my that doesn't want to leave my parents' house on Christmas day. But it's not fair to Omar, so we do the whole travel thing and hope for the best.

Anyway, this is the first year I haven't work in retail since forever. And it is the best. I'm actually looking forward to Christmas instead of wishing it and everything associated with it annihilated in a nuclear holocaust. It's a nice sensation not to hate the holidays.

Sickness, Bones, and Crazy-ass Weirdoes

I have a sore throat. It is very sore. I am using this VILE VILE throat anesthetic from CVS that makes me want to hurl, but it numbs my throat beautifully so it doesn't hurt as much.

I have a new tv obsession. Bones. I never thought I would want to watch anything with David Boreanaz in that wasn't produced/created by Joss Whedon, but here I am. All about it. I even got Omar to watch it. No small feat, I tell you. I just love Emily Deschanel and how literal her character is. I'm going to rent the season 1 DVDs at some point (no sense buying when I don't have any money and I need what I have to buy Christmas gifts) so I can catch up. But I'm really enjoying the series so far and I'm glad that Lost got moved to 10 pm so I don't have to decide which I want to watch.

I've also been watching Standoff on Tuesday nights, before Veronica Mars, because I refuse to watch Gilmore Girls. I watched one episode this season and it was crap. Baby Sis still watches, but I'll pass. Anyway, Standoff is not actually that great. But Ron Livingston and Gina Torres are in it and that's why I watch. The girl who plays the female negotiator is a terrible actress and I think she's woefully miscast. But it's better than anything else on that hour. I tried getting into Firday Night Lights but I just couldn't make myself love it.

The crazy-ass weirdoes are the people I talk to on the phones. I sometimes want to throw things at the computer because these people are so effing nuts. Old people who can't remember things, brokers who are rude, etc. And when you're sick and can barely speak, it's even worse.

Other than that, though, the job is okay. I don't love it but I can stand it. And if that isn't a ringing endorsement for work, I don't know what is.