Distraught

There is a new gentleman who moved into the apartments above my office. I was told before move-in day that while he was able to understand what you were saying he was unable to speak in return due to a stroke. Okay, that's no problem, we'll get something figured out.

It has turned into a problem. When he tries talking to someone all they hear is 'Woo woo woo.' In his head he hears "Excuse me, can you tell me how to find the Assembly Hall?" He also does not fully realize he isn't forming words. At first, I tried the yes-or-no method, thinking that he could help guide my questions and get him where he wanted to go. This didn't work so well on the first two attempts. I also offered him some paper so he could write it down, but no go. My next plan was to make a very basic picture board with general items on it so he could point out what he was trying to talk/ask about, and we could yes-and-no from there. After making up a sheet with 20 or so pictures, I ran it across the director's desk in case he had any suggestions.

He brought it back to me and said that the speech therapy folks had offered him a picture board already, and he didn't want it. He also declined their offer of a notebook to write things out in. The next plan is a sort of phrase book with a bunch of common things in it for him to use. The director did tell me to try again with my own picture board in case the resident had gotten frustrated enough to give it a try.

I offered it this morning (framed as something that would help me, not him, to ease things a bit), and he very clearly does NOT want to use something like that. I told him that I really wanted to find a way for us to communicate because I want to be able to help him find his way around, get his questions answered, all that good stuff. After a few minutes of helpless fumbling by me he just gave up and went on his way. I'm not ashamed to admit I had to take a few minutes to go cry in the bathroom.

I don't know what else to do to help him. I can see that he is frustrated, made worse by the fact that he doesn't know anybody here yet, and everywhere he goes nobody can understand what he is trying to say. I am going to see him at least 3 times a day, and we have hit a wall with our dialogue. It's very disheartening for me.

One Thing I Really Effing Hate...

...is people who bitch and moan about how under-appreciated they are for stupid, petty shit, and then follow it up with a 10 minute rant of the reasons they THEMSELVES BELIEVE they should be under-appreciated. Suck it up already, for Christ's sake. Grow some balls and say 'no' once in a while. Make a decision based on how it will effect your life, not someone else's. Or maybe, just MAYBE, stop to consider the fact that the only person who can make you feel like shit is YOU. Who gives a rat's ass what anybody else says? Are they living your life every day? No! So screw them, and screw you for keeping yourself trapped in some imaginary boundary because *gasphorrorpanic* some person out there you will most likely never actually meet might give a half-second's worth of thought to the matter. It's actually fairly self-centered to think your actions (or non-actions, as it were)are going to matter to or unfixably disrupt someone's daily activities.

Chances are it doesn't matter one stinking bit. Get over yourself already.

Have you hugged your planet today?

Happy Earth Day! Are you recycling today? Not letting your car idle? Keeping extra appliances unplugged? Turning off the water while brushing your teeth?

Here's a little list of websites appropriate to visit today:


Chicago Green Festival
41 Pounds
Stop Global Warming
Drive Less Save More
Climate Crisis
B(eco)me Green

Worky-work Busy Bee

You know what I enjoy? Having a really really productive day at work. Not in the 'Oh, I got a couple things taken care of with a lot of messing around in between' kind of way, but the 'Holy crap, it's already noon? I just sat down!' kind of way.

Here's a brief rundown of things I've accomplished (not counting stopping to post this, but it struck me and I thought I would share): whipped up/printed/had signed a birthday card for a coworker, managed to sweet-talk the cafeteria into giving me a tray of lemon bars in leiu of a cake, sorted/opened/delivered department mail, got a whole folder of resident letters signed and delivered, got some other important papers signed and passed along, rescheduled 3 appointments, picked up & distributed paychecks for my department, balanced the corporate credit card account and had it signed off on for accounting, corrected final draft of monthly financial statement for the Board, updated & printed resident invites for event next week, and a few other little things.

Phew! Are you tired just reading that? I might consider slowing the pace a bit this afternoon, but do I really want to mess up the stride I've built so far?

Photo Phun

A-yup. That's a big ol' pile of garlic butter on my steak.

PILLOW:INFERIOR. SOUNDWAVE:SUPERIOR.

Tatonka! Don't ya just want to squeeze him?

Guess which one is me! Here's a hint: I'm wearing the white dress. Ha!

It's so...so....beautiful! *sniff*

A harcore gamer I am not. Yet. I have an Xbox - yeah, the original monster - and a total of 3 games: Halo, Halo 2, and Burnout. Currently the 360 is way out of my price range, so I have to content myself with a bargain-buy refurb. That's fine though, since the games are 'new' to me.

The scales are tipping. I am obsessed with Halo. So much so that I drag friends into my sickness so I have somebody (aside from myself) to use as an alien speed bump. Despite the fact that I have yet to beat Halo on the 'normal' setting, or even start playing 2, I am getting desperate to play 3. Even on Xbox Live, where I can experience the joy of alien massacre with total strangers. All I have to do is figure out how to afford/beg for/borrow somebody's 360 and then shut myself in the apartment for at least 5 days.

Bungie just released a new set of maps (the Legendary pack) through Live for $10. Naturally, I have been online trying to see pictures of the new maps. You know, for a game I don't have or even have a system to play it on. Eesh. Anyway, here are some shots from Bungie's site...

Bungie Official Site

Something tells me that I have a long, hand-cramp inducing night of Halo coming tonight.

Friday Schmiday

Ugh. I am having one of those days where you know it will be bad even before you are fully awake. Here's a brief rundown of the 2 1/2 hours I've been awake so far:

1. Shut my alarm off instead of hitting snooze, and got up a half hour late.
2. The hot water in the shower only lasted a few minutes.
3. All of my bobby pins are stretched out and don't really work.
4. My car is making a squealy sound when I accelerate.
5. I got caught by a train.
6. The line at Starbuck's was slower than molasses.
7. Bridge construction caused a traffic backup - I sat for 20 minutes on a stretch of road that should only take 4.
8. There was a car (someone lost, I assume) blocking the turn lane to the parking lot at work.
9. Which then pulled in and stopped just inside the parking lot, still blocking people from getting past.
10. The new office cleaning lady knocked my stuff all over the place on my desk, and one of the pictures of my neice is missing.
11. The coffee pot has a crack, and now my cup is full of grounds.

Sigh.

Jetsetter

Oof. I am back from my Miami trip, exhausted and crispy. No amount of sunblock could have saved me from the heat of Saturday's motorcycle ride. But it was worth it. The party/charity concert on Sunday was very very nice - what more would you expect of something put together by Donald Trump? I didn't officially meet him, but he did say hello to me, and I took a picture of he, Diane and Melania. (Then my camera battery died. Suck!) I walked into the VIP reception directly behind Tom Brokaw, but I didn't want to be 'that girl' who interrupted his conversation just for a picture. Jen and Diane did get up on stage and dance with Lionel Ritchie though, so all in all it can be considered a success!

My plan is to figure out how to get the pictures off of my camera and onto the computer tonight, so in the next few days I'll get some shots up here. For now I need to get back to getting my bearings at work....it's amazing how behind you feel after a couple days off.

PS. This is 100% not an April Fool's joke. I'm a very minor charity celebrity!