Birthdays, Drama and Life

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian Anderson

I have lived in this neighborhood for 2 and a half years and our block is almost completely filled. The empty lot across the street has been built on and the house is in it’s final stages. The doors have an actual door handle on it, which makes me think about a month and there will be no more empty houses on the block. I know that may sound insignificant, but it’s something that makes me feel a little more secure.

Things in my life have been great. I celebrated my 28th birthday last weekend. It was great fun and a good bunch of my friends were there. My Aunt Lila and her husband, Kari from work and her fiance, Susie Q from work, Lena from work, Darry and Dulce, Trisha from Tri Club and Lenin from work. We did a Birthday of Booze and Boardgames. It was quite fun and I think most everyone had a great time.

This past week I suffered the worst allergic reaction I have experienced in my life this far. I somehow managed to get a rash that covers my arms and torso. Talk about itchy and will not go away. Went to the doctor and was informed that she could only give me a steroid shot, as this is an allergic reaction. Benedryl and Claritin have become my best friends. I got the shot on Thursday and my body still is afflicted with this rash. I feel like Job from the Bible. I’m hoping this clears up soon, as it is truly annoying and painful.

Due to the rash, I haven’t been able to work out. The directions from the doctor, “Don’t do anything that will make you sweat, don’t take hot showers and stay out of the chlorinated pool.” So that means no running, biking or swimming. I’m kind of hosed.

Work has been okay, though there has been major drama in the past few days. Lenin left our group about 9 months ago and became a manager of another group. Even though he left, we still remain tight. We email most every day and whoever leaves first, stops by the other’s desk and drops off our penny. It’s normally me that leaves first.

Jenna, the girl who hired in with me, became the lead who replaced Lenin. This was the worst possible move that could have been made and our boss realized it when he did it. He even told me, “In 6 months, she is going to get too big for her britches, she’s going to alienate everyone and then she will leave and work in another group.”

This was after he told me that I was supposed to be the lead but when I asked to be taken off a project that was thoroughly tearing me apart, I screwed up my chances. Actually he‘s being the Bad Boyfriend as Susie Q and I refer to this behavior. I‘m going to be really shitty to you for a minute but then I‘ll be real nice to make up for it. It’s a long story, but everyone in the group realizes it should not have been Jenna to get the lead position. It should have been me. I know that sounds arrogant, but the truth of the matter is, I can work with people and I know a good portion of the business that she has no idea on.

The prime example of how messed up this is was Friday. Jenna ran a meeting and I wasn’t there as the issue at hand didn‘t apply to me. However, before the meeting was over, Lena was in tears, Annabelle was so upset she couldn’t see straight and Jenna just dismissed everyone because they weren’t prepared. Needless to say, I had to calm Lena down and then listen to Annabelle vent. Then probably an hour later Jenna promptly informed me how to do my job, like I haven’t been doing it for the past five years???

So I vented to Lenin. He’s no longer in our group, but he’s a good sounding board and he is good friends to Lena, Annabelle and myself. I sent him an email about the whole situation. He tried to cheer me up. As I was leaving for the day, I stopped at his desk and he asked for the whole low-down. I shared and he is quite blown away. I know Jenna is flexing her muscles, but this is going to come back and bite her in the ass. In the process of doing so, a lot of people are getting hurt.

As I explained to Lenin, we can’t say anything to the boss because then it would be taken that we aren’t being supportive and that she is still learning. I told Lenin straight out that she’s just being a bitch and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. So that’s the drama from the past week. I try not to have a lot of drama, but this reared it’s ugly head and hopefully it passes soon.

I’m going to try to keep writing. I’ve been so bad about it the past few years and I know I need to get back into it.