I didn’t sleep at all last night. I was definitely tired enough, but I fell prey to that terrible scenario where your mind can’t stop racing and your psyche decides it’s a great time to bring up every sad memory or worrisome concern of the last 10 years up for inspection.
This is undoubtedly brought on by stress of the past week. Work was very busy—annoyingly so, and on top of that there is the looming dread of potentially being drafted into COVID-related activities by my place of employment. Then there is the threat of potential riots around the Capital building in Albany. I work very near the Capital, and have been advised to stay home and work remotely rather than come in for my 1 in-office shift this week, in light of the fact that no one knows if an armed mob might decide to bank towards my building and storm the proverbial castle.
I’ve also spent a lot of time in the last 2 weeks thinking about what portents the new year brings us. There is hope on the horizon with the coming of the new administration, but on the other hand, who knows how much longer this COVID nonsense is going to continue. The vaccine rollout is going so much slower than anticipated, and I’m wondering how much longer we have before we can all breathe a sigh of relief again and go back to fully living our lives. Travel. See friends. Attend conferences and Happy Hours.
A year ago we were in California, surrounded by palm trees. Spent a day running all over Disneyland. Precisely this time a year ago I was recovering from a late night partying in a swanky piano bar in downtown Hollywood, scarfing down a ham sandwich at the regional APO conference just prior to getting conscripted into sitting on a panel of alumni to talk about how to adult. The irony of this isn’t lost on me.
Ahhh, the good old days.
The days of late have been largely shared between trying to figure out what movies/tv series we haven’t tapped into yet, and wondering just where I’m going with my career. You know, the usual existential crises. In our latest episode of Bad-Decisions-Make-Great-Stories, starring your host, Amanda: I managed to gain back all the weight I lost during quarantine in a post-holiday fit of sugary glory. Mike brought home a pie from the local bakery, and I single-handedly demolished it. I think he had one piece. I put away the rest (not in one sitting, mind you). Once I’d eaten all the pie, I went to Target and brought home a tub of cookie dough, and forthwith we demolished the tub of cookie dough. I was sad when the tub was finished, and so went out and bought a second tub. It was shortly after I brought home the 2nd tub that I passed a mirror and came to a horrible realization…
We binge-watched Bridgerton on Netflix, which was a highly satisfying mesh of Regency-era intrigue, romance, and smut. Muppets NOW is still in Muppet Purgatory. We did finally watch the 7th and final season of Agents of Shield, which was awesome. I love Coulson. I enjoy his quiet competence, closet badass-ery, and his undying loyalty to his team.
For a number of years when I ran a unit at work, Coulson was my totem. I even set up my MS Outlook work avatar as a picture of Coulson, prompting many people to ask why I had a picture of a dude for my profile pic, and was this person my dad or something.
I eventually moved on to a different position, and I no longer supervise a team, but I sorely miss my old job. I sorely miss my old team. But, I digress. The crazy/hard/stressful/epic time that was my stint as Central Office Processing Coordinator is a story that could fill a book, let alone a blog post. Suffice to say there is a lot to unpack there. I will not be doing so today.
I did not make any New Year’s resolutions, because I never do, but I have a few goals for the year ahead. Making it out alive is one. Losing my holiday weight is another (in the eventuality of making it back to Disney one day, I would like for my ass to fit the rides and in the aisles). I’d like to be more involved in APO. I also need to build up my program area at work. I’ve largely been calling it in and coasting after my previous crazy/hard/stressful/epic (ie, exhausting) position; its time to kick my ass back into gear and rejoin the fray.
And I will do my best to continue writing regularly, for those patient enough to tune in to my stream-of-consciousness ramblings about Life, the Universe, and Netflix.
That’s all for now, folks. Amanda, out.
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