Chaos Attraction

Work Retreat From Home

2020-08-21, 9:08 p.m.

Today was work retreat day. Under past life circumstances, they run from 9-4 and we don't have to show up until 9 because we have to drive out to the lodge we have it at. Which I was excited about (though like, what the hell I was gonna do between 8-9 I dunno, I am so not sleeping again these days), until I realized that with us all unfortunately working from home, that might mean I have to work from 8-9. Sadly, this turned out to be the case, as my boss was messaging me for most of the hour and when I wasn't talking to her, I was talking to the new girl. But at least I avoided answering all of the dreaded work emails, so it was still a day off from that BS.

In the morning, Super Big Boss came in for a half hour. Not sure what to say about that, he mentioned that consultant report but we weren't allowed to see it. He wanted people to ask him questions and I thought, well, I'd ask if I'd seen the report.... This was followed by a lecture on growth mindset, which I'd actually heard before because I went to that presentation a while back. And then we played office Pictionary. Lunch, well, they can't cater it so I just had my Yarn Club meeting and hung out with people.

After lunch, we talked about the list of stuff from last year that the office came up with to work on. Some stuff wasn't worked on at all, a few things were started and then pandemic happened, a few things were completed, other things are ambiguous. This year, they just said to discuss how to improve working from home, which actually went really well. I think most of the office is agreed that we don't get to hang out with people outside of our groups any more and would like to have actual online parties and do more Pictionary or well, anything else. Some folks feel guilty for having to go deal with kids or pets or if they take any time away from work to do anything, which BigBoss said was fine. There was also "there's a lot of Zoom meetings and sometimes they are really long," This was actually a really sensible overall list that we came up with and legit made me want to say (without sarcasm) "Good meeting, everybody!"

The end of the day was some super easy yoga. Then we could adjourn for the day! An hour early!


After work I watched 'Magnifical Omniscient," a.k.a. That Play Of Kelly's I Didn't Even Get A Callback For Grumble Grumble. Happily, we get out of retreat day by 4 so I could watch it by 4:30. I still like this play and wish I had gotten into it. If Shanna ever has free time again*, I want to read it aloud with her. It's a real hoot. I do think the actresses cast in it were good, though.

* oh, who am I kidding, she's a Capricorn.

Anyway, how do I describe the plot of that? George is a natural budding medium who is besties (in her mind, anyway...also business partners in her mind, anyway) with Daea, a medium who WAS fake until George came along (yup, kinda like "Ghost"). Daea puts up with/tolerates/is frequently irritated by George, I'd say? Anyway, George starts helping out with spirits, and things get more complicated with Daea's relatives, George's mom, the mysterious cat, and a lot of possessions going on. It's a 2.5 hour long play but hey, what else did I have to do?

In non-fire news, Jackie sent me a picture of the minion cake she made for me that she is going to have her cousin drop off on his way home tomorrow. It's awesome.

In fire news:

* Anita has heard of what happened to Scott and wants to get him a gift card. That's so sweet.
* On a related note, I decided to order him some books from a series I know he likes (plus a new one came out recently) and ship them to his grandparents' house. I didn't put my name on it--seriously could not fucking think of what to say on a gift tag under the circumstances for anything and the website insisted on my saying something per each book and that was even worse--but eh, he likes mysteries and he'll figure it out within 2 seconds who did it anyway, most likely.
* Robert finally confirmed that he just got back home circa 11:11* today and everyone's safe.
* Everyone in Vacaville is allowed to go back to their homes, if they still exist, now. I guess the fire is "over" in this area, anyway. Unless some other one happens. I tried to pack a go-bag today but didn't get very far about it.
* I saw that UC Santa Cruz is now evacuating everyone and saying it might be for weeks. Meg is reasonably close to that area, so I freaked out and emailed her to ask if she was evacuating. So far no, she's still taking in people though. It sounds like the main drag of SC is the only area NOT evacuating right now, sounds like all the towns around it are.
* Jackie hadn't heard of the fires on Wednesday, but by Friday her aunt in SC is evacuating.
* I emailed Dawn to say what was going on and now she wants to get together tomorrow. Sigh. This is one of those "Jennifer's not doing well" conversations, isn't it? She keeps saying I don't look well on Zoom. Not that that's not true, but ugh anyway.

* argh, THAT NUMBER AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

Last night I wanted to check in with/check on Scott, but I had no good reason to. Sigh. I finally just sent him some text along the lines of "thinking of you*, if you ever want to talk, but no pressure" and he immediately wrote back to say, "Thanks, I appreciate it" and that was it. *sigh*

* Oh god, saying "thinking of you" is already too blunt and obvious for me, but it's not like he doesn't fucking know. For a year now. Gawd.

Am I right or wrong in thinking this is "take the hint and stop bugging him already?" time after that?


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