queenoftheskies

And so, I have someone missed posting about this here.

I got the job!!! Just found out on September 15.

Gave one week notice on September 18.

Hellish week followed.

And now, I am off for a week before starting new job.

I've run into an issue with the background check. For some reason, they were unable to get a reference from one of my previous employers, so tomorrow, I have to deal with that.

But, mostly, I hope to write this week and get used to a new pair of hearing aids I bought.

For southern California!

Dang.

It was a really hard day. I'm going to have to do something about this job soon.

Played WoW tonight when I finally got home. Freeway was terrible with the rain. Even after it stopped.

Supposed to be COLD weather and LOTS of rain over the next week.

Wrote 1,022 words on Queen of the Skies.

Must sleep now. Totally wiped out.

Too much shopping.

Tonight, I relaxed for a while, watching the Willow TV show for three episodes.

Wrote 1,054 words.

Novel = 74,178 words total.

I've run out of energy from work and haven't even hit halfway through the week yet.

Wrote 1,063 words today.

Novel = 52,468 total words.

Played some more Dragonflight. But not too much. I didn't get home until late.

When I saw Boss' car in the parking lot this morning when I got to work. (Keep in mind that she's supposed to be on vacation this week.)

She was there until I went to lunch. I had to go late because I had to sit in her office and hold her hand and help her with stuff. But she was gone when I got back from lunch.

She was abusive today.

Kinda ruined the day. I'm struggling to write tonight, but I am so down on everything. Especially myself and my writing. I don't want to write smut right now, but I need to finish this short story I'm working on.

Really, I want to read and then sleep.

::sigh::

Holding myself accountable.

Wrote 1,001 words.

Journaled.

Read four chapters in the new book I'm reading.

So tired.

Must be to work by 7:00 in the morning.

Must sleep.

It's HUGE and CLUNKY and I need to cut a million words out of it.

But that's tomorrow.

Right now, I'm going to sleep.

The Celestial Ball is finished.

We had our Christmas party at work yesterday. As this was my first year at the celebration, I didn't know what to expect. I'd heard bits and pieces of details from various people, but really couldn't put them together to get a good picture of what the party would be like.

We have 270 employees, so it was a fairly large event.

They'd cleared out one section of the new warehouse in the back of our current building, decorated it, set up tables, a stage and...ready for this?

They call it a gift wall.

The company uses American Express cards, two of which have $100,000 limits. For everything that they spend on the cards (maybe there are 7 cards total), they accumulate points. They save all the points for the Christmas party, and then they use the points to purchase gifts for the gift wall.

They also have a fund set up where they accumulate funds that they use for the party, but still...the amount of LARGE ticket gifts amazed me.

On either side of the stage, they'd stacked pallets and then arranged the gifts so that there were, indeed, two "walls" of gifts, ranging from 40 inch color flat screen TV's and big electric vehicles that kids can ride, all the way down to smaller kitchen appliances and such, with a range of many size and priced gifts in between.

It just...blew my mind.

Each table (and there were over 30, I think), had a supervisor, manager, or director seated at it. Other employees drew numbers as they entered, so they knew where to sit. There was, of course, some table-hopping, which worked out fine for my table.

We had some vendors attend. Some, I've had positive interaction with. Some...not. Thankfully, they chose NOT to seat me at a vendor table, so nobody could question me about payments during the party. I appreciated that.

We started with catered lunch. From a company named Blue Agave.

There was TONS of food. Our table got to go first because we were against the opposite "wall" (which was a HUGE tarp that hung ceiling to floor).

They served us a Mexican chicken dish, carnitas with pico de gallo, cheese enchilada with green sauce, rice, beans, salad, chips and salsa of varying types/guacamole. (This was all on ONE plate.) There were deserts, too, for those who partake.

OMG, amazing food. Totally delicious.

Next came the recognition of people who had reached their 10 year mark with the company. I think there were 8 to join the 10-year rank, one of whom was in the accounting department.

Then...the GIFT WALL. This was astounding.

They call employee names one at a time, in the order of their years of service. And EACH EMPLOYEE gets to choose a gift. Everybody. Those who have been there longer get first choice, which is as it should be. But, EVERYBODY gets a gift. How amazing is that?

I got a wonderful 7 quart, deep electric skillet, because it's something I'd been wanting. Actually it was nicer than those I'd been eyeing because I would, of course, look at something cheaper.

I didn't "take what I could get". There were many things left when I got my turn. In fact, I had to decide between several things I wanted. The point is: there were many things I could have had. Such as...a kayak. Which, obviously, wouldn't do me much good where I live, LOL.

There was also a party game, where table folks used the contents of a box in the center of the table to dress up their management person. I was dressed up as Santa, and there was fun had by all. It was great.

I was also given a scented candle by one of the ladies who reports to me.

My boss gave me candies, kettle corn, and a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas...so I can go to the movies without feeling guilty. :) And I passed the candies and kettle corn along to the kids.

The president of the company and his wife gave me a lovely (expensive) Christmas card and two gift cards: a $50 VISA gift card and a $25 VISA gift card.

I was, of course, quite flabbergasted by all the gifts. I really appreciated it all.

Left work around 3:30. I could have escaped sooner, but I helped clean up and did a few final things around the office.

Even stopping at the grocery and waiting in the check-out line long enough to catch 7 high-level Pokémon on Pokémon Go, I still got home a little before 5:00 and it was still a little light out. (I can't tell you the last time I got home before dark.)

So, beautiful day. Even down to the fact that so many companies were closed yesterday between home and work, that traffic wasn't bad.

Quite delightful.

Remember when Amanda worked at Disneyland before? She was there almost five years.

Until she began having unexplained panic attacks.

Went on FMLA.

And, ultimately lost her job.

All the while, there was no explanation as to why the panic attacks started, what caused them, how to stop them. People figured it was because of stuff that happened to her as a child.

Well...

Guess what happened Sunday night while Amanda was at work?

If you guessed PANIC ATTACK, you're right.

But, this time, we know what caused it. A person caused it. A person that other people have trouble with, too, caused it.

Amanda has been working the festival of foods. Her Sunday shift was TWELVE hours. 10:45 AM - 10:45 PM.

They had 20 people counting out in a small room with only two computers and the cash lead started yelling at people.

Normally, where Amanda works in the park, they only count cash. Not coupons or credit card tickets.

This woman wanted all those 20 people crammed together to count EVERYTHING.

When Amanda's till was off (not in cash) the first time around, the woman started screaming at her.

Amanda got stressed, counted again, and it was still off. One ticket. So the woman screamed more.

Until Amanda had a panic attack. This one bad enough that she started crying and couldn't stop.

Another cast member, who had finished counting out came to help her, and then a kindly lead came as well. She said the lead helped her relax and calm down.

It was just two credit card tickets stuck so tightly together that they had trouble finding it.

Amanda was all shaky and wobbly by the time she got to the car. AT MIDNIGHT.

And, because the cash lead kept her so long, she should have taken a second "lunch" and got dinged for a lunch penalty. (Though the nice lead told her not to worry about that.)

So far, she hasn't had another attack. She worked again yesterday. Until 11:30 PM. She worked with the cash lead again and said that woman was so nice she was a different person. So Amanda wonders if someone said something to her about the incident.

Word got around and everybody was asking Amanda if she was okay.

She recovered faster, from a worse attack than she used to have, so...

I'm hoping they won't start all over again.

Can you recommend a good hotel at the airport?

Can you recommend a good hotel near King's Street Station?

Also, what sights would you recommend to fill one day?

Thanks!