Another Dilbert vacation strip

Here is the comic strip I initially wanted for my "What to do with my vacation time?" post. It's what I felt like last year at this time:

Fortunately, I was able to finish everything two weeks early, perform in a play, and still go on two vacations during December.

This year? No Christmas show. No work deadline scheduled for December 31. No plans to leave town.

I fully intend to enjoy this holiday season at home, and all of my accrued vacation time!

What to do with my vacation time?

Dilbert by Scott Adams
This situation is very, very true

I'm generally inclined to feel sorry for those people who don't use up their vacation time by the end of the year. What? You are so busy you can't take some time to go somewhere, or sit around the house, or do something other than work? When it gets to October and coworkers are telling me they still have two weeks of vacation to use up by the end of the year, I mentally shake my head (I recently learned that we get an extra 40 hours every five years, and some people have worked here for more than 10 -- I can kind of understand why having to use 200 hours of vacation seems daunting when we have big deadlines every three or four months). If I had that much time, I sure as heck would do my darndest to use it!

Or would I?


At the beginning of the year, I had 120 hours of available vacation time, I didn't think I'd have enough for everything I wanted to do: Scotland, Italy, New York, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Disneyland, etc. So, I planned to hoard it. Before I knew it, it was May and I hadn't taken ANY vacation time at all. I HAD taken sick time, but taking time off work because you're sick is NOT the same as taking time off to travel, or relax, or run errands.

Then I decided I didn't have enough money for Scotland or Italy this year.

Then it was August and I'd only taken 32 hours.

Then I decided not to go on vacation until I'd purchased and installed a washer and dyer... which hasn't gone according to plan and won't be happening this year either. So, I don't need they day off I was planning to take for that project.

Now it's the last day of November and I still have 44 hours of vacation time left. Whatever I don't use by December 31 doesn't roll over to the next year, which is lame, but I appreciate being made/an excuse to take time off. Better yet, my big deadlines were all finished before Thanksgiving, so I CAN take time off! Hooray for government-mandated breaks!

A smart person would space out their vacation times. Not me; I tend to blow it all in short bursts! Thank goodness for the New York trip and my birthday -- otherwise I might have even more time than I already do!

I'm planning to take the week between Christmas and New Years' off work (that will use up 32 hours, since the day after Christmas is a paid holiday). WOOT!! Can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for that -- can you say "dejunk and organize the condo"?!! It's going to be amazing! I LOVE to be at my place during the day, and I so rarely get to! Family time, condo time, friend time, and ME time. What could be better? This stay-cation is just what the doctor ordered!

I'm taking a half-day tomorrow to go Christmas shopping and get my hair cut (sorely needed after the pink sponge curlers).

The question is: What do I do with those last 8 hours?

Probably the best day is Friday, December 23rd. I probably won't feel like working that day before the long holiday weekend starts.

Then again, a part of me really wants to take some other random day off, like Monday the 12th, or Friday the 16th. I don't have anything I necessarily need to do; I just want to sit around in my pajamas and not do anything all day. I didn't get to do that during the Thanksgiving break, and it's much needed after the last couple of months I've had!

Any advice on which day to take off?

I'd like to say that next year I'll space things out better, but I don't know that I will. I'll probably hoard again. I currently only have one vacation in the works, and it's tentatively planned and will only be for a few days. I'd love to go to Disneyland for my birthday next year. Who knows what else will come up and what I'll want to do? And there's something so lovely about being able to take a whole week off at the end-of-the-year holidays...

Do you wish you had my problems? ;-D

Hooray for vacation time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for, I am glad to have the excuse that today's holiday brings. You'd better believe I'll be telling my family I love them, and that I'm thankful for you, my readers and friends. I hope today is a wonderful one for all of you!

Shirley Temple curls

I've had occasion to wear pink sponge curlers many times during my life. Somehow, there was always an excuse to make my natural curl just a little curlier and more fancy, and the advantage of the sponge curlers in MY hair is that the curl doesn't fall out... actually, the jury's still out whether that's a blessing or a curse sometimes.

A five-year old on Christmas morning

A twelve-year old on Easter

A seventeen-year old getting ready for a performance (on the left).

A twenty-year old wench (on the right).

Failed attempt at 1940's hair, but at least my make-up and cohort look pretty!

After the above photo (I was thirty-one), I wondered if I was too old to wear the sponge curlers much longer. After all, SOME of the curlers I own are probably the originals from the 80's! It made me sad to think I'd grown out of this "little girl" method of styling. I'd worn those curlers to classes in elementary and high school. I'd slept in them a bajillion times (no, they are not comfortable -- the sponginess is totally negated by the hair and plastic fasteners). I had even worn them to work once or twice, when lucky enough to work places where they don't particularly care what I look like. I mourned the end of an era. And yet... I couldn't bring myself to throw them away.

Then along came The Masque of the Beauty and the Beast. I tried using pin curls to curl my hair, but the results were disappointing. So, I broke out the sponge curlers, just to see if I'd like the effect. The rest is history, as I've been sporting a pompadour-and-ringlets style for the play each weekend!

Last Friday, we had a performance in the morning for a couple of elementary school classes. I went back to work for the afternoon, where my hair looked like this:

I suppose I could have pulled it into a ponytail, but what's the
point when I'd just have to re-do it again for the performance
that night, and the folks at work didn't mind?

That night, I nonchalantly walked through the mall to grab some dinner before the show, pretending I didn't notice the people pretending not to stare at my uncommon hairstyle. The hipster kid who served me at Subway, however, was polite enough to actually ask about it. I told him about the play and the sponge curlers, and he said he thought it was cool. After I'd paid and he was about to move on to the next customer, he said, "Good luck, you bad-a**." It was a little under his breath, but the tone clearly indicated that he was complimenting me. I was surprised though; it was the first time I'd ever been called a "bad-a**", and it was all because of Shirley Temple hair! Haha! Or maybe he couldn't help but respect my casual attitude about looking so different in public. Either way, I was flattered.

Here's hoping that after this play closes I'll still have opportunities to break out the sponge curlers once in awhile. Sure, they're tough on my hair, but the effect sure is fun! I'll be sad when I do finally retire them. One can't be a little girl forever.

Only one more weekend/three more performances left to see me in The Masque of the Beauty and the Beast at the Children's Theatre! I hope that if you haven't been able to come yet, that you'll make it this weekend. I think you'll be surprised and delighted with what you find. I'm sure going to miss it when it's over!

Make a Joyful Noise!

 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

- Psalms 98:4, King James Bible

While I was sick, and then when my throat was healing from the horrible cough damage, I didn't sing. I think I've mentioned before that I love to sing more than doing anything else in the world, so this was difficult for me. Sometimes just mouthing the words and dancing was enough to abate the need to actually make musical noise with my voice, but sometimes it wasn't.

But because I didn't want to damage my vocal chords any more than the illness already had, not using my voice was a necessary sacrifice. I hoped that it would only be short-term. My fear was that I'd never get my range or breath control back to what it was (I'm still pretty short of breath) and I still have coughing spells once in awhile. I could hear how scratchy and pathetic my voice was. I stubbornly tried to audition for a musical, and I was disappointed in my performance -- I could normally perform so much better than that! It's probably better that I wasn't cast in that show. But the first couple of weeks of Beauty rehearsals were endlessly frustrating, because I couldn't use my voice the way I am used to, and, again, I was afraid I'd lose it altogether at just the wrong moment.

It wasn't until the follow-up doctor's appointment this month that I realized how much NOT singing had affected my morale. It was bad enough that I felt crummy and didn't get to hang out with my friends, I couldn't sing, either? Talk about kicking a girl when she's down!

When I suddenly had permission to sing again it felt AMAZING!! Even though it was a Tuesday, I found the Friday song on my iPod and sang it about six times -- I figured it was an okay choice since the vocal range is limited (please don't judge me too harshly), plus the Glee cover is so wonderfully peppy. Then I put on a musical and continued to sing. I was so happy!

A dear friend asked me to sing last Sunday at a retirement home where she plays the piano. It was the first time since September that I'd sung in front of anyone. I sang "For the Beauty of the Earth" and I was nervous and shaky, but I did it! Ginny said I sounded beautiful and that everyone was grateful that I shared (I had to leave right after). I'm glad that she asked me to do it; I put my fears aside and shared my talent. Though weak, it's still there, thank goodness.

Here's a video of Andrea (Little Red), Greg (Baker), and Jonathon (Jack), and me singing my favorite song from Into the Woods. Hopefully I'll be back to audition/performance form and get to sing something like this again soon! I've seen several musicals lately and I sure do miss it!

Piano playing pirate

Someday, if I work really hard on my new keyboard and find the needed sheet music, I might be able to play this song like this guy. Amazing!


Happy Friday!

Arrrrrrrrrgh!