why living away from home sucks during the holidays

and it's not for the typical reasons. sure, i miss my family. i miss seeing my nephews and how they've grown.

but, the real reason it sucks to be so far away from family during the holidays is you're typically the only one who doesn't take time off for travel, or because you have family in town.

hear me out.

if your job is anything like mine (and hopefully it isn't, for your sake) your bosses have no idea what they are doing, really, and mask that lack of knowledge by creating a culture of everything-has-to-be-done-now. just about every manager at my company is a Chicken Little -- only with their head cut off -- running around freaked out that this or that isn't done. so, weekends and late nights are typical. not for me, mind you, as i make it abundantly clear that i have a life outside of work. i leave the late nights and weekends for those who don't (and there are plenty).

i do work weekends and stay late when absolutely, positively necessary; which is rare. in fact, i am typically the first one in in the morning not merely to beat the traffic (which is one reason) but so i can leave early and not get "caught up" in the swirling morass of inanity that typically leads one to working late.

what does this have to do with holidays and being away from family? well, every year around this time i end up being one of only a handful (or less) of people who are at work. take Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) for instance. it was just me and my boss. and there was, of course, something so terribly important that absolutely had to be done ASAP that one of my coworkers was working on that i had to take over because she was off Wednesday. my boss, who has no life, knew that my family wasn't coming in, and that i wasn't going anywhere for the holiday, so, in light of the dire and pressing need of this thing getting done, created a situation where i had to work 11 hours and get out late. not a big deal except: it always happens to me (or those like me who are away from family). oh, and the thing i was working was, of course, not really that hot. it's just that, you know, the managers don't understand prioritizing. whenever anything is needed, it is needed now. despite the fact that what you are working on currently was needed yesterday. ends up you have 10 things you have to spread yourself between and all 10 are late.

anyway, the week between christmas and new years is always the worst. you can take 3 days of vacation and get 11 days off, or something like that. varies depending on the year. almost everyone does it. i won't. never do. i save my time for when it's not 4 degrees outside. but, i end up being the only one at work (with my boss, of course) and i end up having to stay late because what else have i got to do?

anyway. it would be best if the only reason it sucked being away from family during the holidays was because you missed them. sucks that you have to work for a bunch of incompetent assholes without lives who figure, since you're there at work, too, that you haven't a life either.

wrong!

update

i feel like a sinner, begging for your forgiveness:

forgive me, dear reader, for it has been quite some time since i last updated my blog. there are a few new developments to announce:

1) my pocket protector chapbook proof (titled Nowhere, Utah), from Propaganda Press, has been mailed to me, and will soon be available for purchase. i will update soon on price and howto purchase it...which you WILL do, right? yeah, i thought so...

2) my broadside "Marriage, in Still Life" from Ten Point Press will soon be available as well. i have signed all of them and they have arrived safely in Ireland. if you ordered one (thank you!) you can expect to receive it soon. if not, then why the hell not? seriously...the art alone is worth the $5.

i hope to update more often. things got a little hectic recently with the adoption and running around trying to gather things for our dossier...and with work...

soon