Away

Away up until now
The new job has been a MASSIVE drain on my free time for the last month—I've billed 75-hour weeks three weeks in a row (except for two vacation days I somehow managed to score), and there doesn't seem to be much letup on the horizon. So that's my excuse for not blogging so much lately.

My other excuse is the obvious corollary: If all I do is work, all I really have to write about is work. And, as glamtastic as advertising can be (see: Bewitched, Melrose Place, Desperate Housewives), I sincerely doubt you want to read about my endless adventures in office scandals, pen-stealing and corporate bloodlust scheduling, proofreading and filing expense reports.

BUT.

I did have one newsworthy work-related adventure last week. See, I'd been rescheduling this dentist appointment over and over because of VITAL client meetings, and I finally found a date and time with no conflicts. So of course the company scheduled a mandatory staff meeting at the same time. I decided my teeth took priority, though, and I traipsed off to the land of tartar scrapers and those sharp-pointed X-ray shields that dig into your soft spots while your're being shot full of radiation—all while the rest of my company assembled on furniture without spit sinks for updates and announcements.

I survived the visit, and—ecstatic over the news that I have no new cavities (though I have three fillings scheduled for replacement in early January)—my mind barely registered the thumbs-up that a colleague gave me through the revolving-door glass as I headed back to the office and he headed out into the night. And I was starting to think my dentist was awfully unprofessional for sharing my dental report with the whole office when three people shouted Congratulations! at me as I got off the elevator.

And then, when I got to my office, there it was: The trophy. The traveling trophy that said I had just won the Buzzie Award.*

*Named after a landmark employee who just retired, the Buzzie is akin to employee of the month. Only it's more like employee of the quarter because it's awarded only 4-6 times a year. And it's peer-generated; you are nominated by a certain number of your colleagues and approved by a peer review board whose recommendations are finalized by the company president. So it's actually pretty cool—the president reads your nominations in front of the whole office and hands you a sizeable little check (which totally paid for my new dishes!) while you get to choke out an unprepared speech about how you couldn't possibly do your job without all the cool people you work with (which is the complete, heartfelt truth). Then again, the award is called a Buzzie and the trophy is this hideous three-foot monstrosity festooned with equally hideous knickknacks and doodads from previous winners. So it totally helps keep everything real, yo.

Away even more
This paucity of posts will extend into the near future as well, only this time it's for a more exciting reason: I leave for a five-day trip to London tomorrow with some friends from the chorus! I'm sure I'll find an Internets cafe or two as I explore the City of Dentists (I think that's what people call it), but I could find myself too busy munching crumpets with the queen to even be bothered. (And that's not a metaphor for anything.)

So be good while I'm gone, always remember to brush and please don't stop visiting here just because I'm not making any damn posts. I'll find more blogging time once this pre-holiday rush is behind me. Promise.