So, the work situation. Long story short, since union negotiations aren't actually negotiating, my department came up with the solution of having us work shorter hours for seven months (getting rid of almost 3 hours a week from our schedules), or else get laid off for half a month come summer/fall. Your choice.

So, um, yeah, that one's kind of obvious.

Starting next month I will be leaving work 30-45 minutes early three days a week so I can either (a) sneak off guilt-free to the gym or (b) take an oddly-scheduled, starting-at-4:30 sculpture class, and the remaining time will cover me being out for shrink appointments, plus have time to eat a lunch. This goes until the summer.

I thought about changing the time so I could sleep in instead, but since the noisy neighbors and their noisy bed wake me up at 6 a.m. anyway, I still wouldn't be getting any weekday sleep :P

So while I am unthrilled on the paycheck thing, I do look forward to the guilt-free leaving. Especially since during the winter I'm wandering around in enough layers of clothes to rival the Pillsbury Doughboy, and what with the frigging lines at the gym for 5 p.m. classes being so long, I'll have time to shed the layers, actually stash them in a locker, AND stand in line. So that's nice. Not to mention that I won't have to scramble back as quick as I can from shrink appointments either.

What worries me, beyond the pay cutting, of course, is that I will get way too used to leaving early and learn to like it too much. Yeah, sure, I want a flexible schedule like anyone else where I had the option to make up time on dull days, don't have to come in until 9 or 10 a.m., or can leave early or take the occasional longer lunch without there being an issue, etc. But to some degree mentally it's easier for me to just always assume that 8-5 M-F is permanently set in stone wherever I go, rather than trying to figure out some kind of Ideal Job Thing.

Last week when they told us about this was already been kind of weird because I had Wednesday off from work, so I only worked for 2 days in a row at a time. Jess and I went to the yarn store and Fry's to pick up needed equipment, had lunch out, and went driving (I drove to another freaking town, thank you very much), and it was lovely to actually get to see the sun all day long. I do miss seeing it while stuck indoors with no windows all the time.

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