~ I need to get up so I can have at least some leisure time before work... ~



We're still short 3 staff. I've been working 65 - 75 hours per week. In this type of work, that's mentally and emotionally draining. Plus staff conflicts, miscommunication, etc. In short, many of us are getting burnt out. We desperately need some new staff plus better communication and management.

But....that's why I haven't been on Mingle much lately. Very little time for myself after work and errands. In fact, I've only cooked at home twice in the past 3 weeks.

Dinner and a movie

...but not like that!

~ I don't want to go to work today... ~

Feeling tired.
Working too many hours....still.
On the bright side, this pay period will be 2.5x my normal pay.

Thinking about my co-worker who's going to be out for 2 months because of car accident. She needed a vacation, but not like this.

Toronto might not be so bad from where I am.

I don't have a passport/visa though. I might have to get one.

I've never been to Niagara Falls. I've had to drive past there on my way through, so that's a bonus. It might even be nice to do a loop around Lake Ontario, to see the St. Lawrence area too.

So as long I get my documents set, I see Toronto as an enticing location. Besides, I've never even been to any of the Great Lakes even though Ontario is just a day's drive away.

I would love to have a Mingle meetup. I've been saying that for a long time.

The problem that worries me is distance though. I've never been able to do much traveling. And with work the way it is right now, it's probably going to be awhile before I can take any substantial time off.

In fact, I currently only have about 4 days of paid vacation time. I get 2 weeks of paid vacation each year, plus I have an extra 2 days of paid time off. Granted, in 2 months I would probably have about a week of vacation time, but that's not the only concern.

Staff has been short-handed. In fact, my place is currently down 3 staff. On top of that, there has been a high rate of turnover for the past year. If that trend continues, I may not be able to take any time off at all. My luck at previous jobs has always been that I had to cancel my vacations at the last minute because of staffing issues. So I tend to be a little wary and superstitious about that.

But let's say I do manage to get vacation time approved...
How much will it cost me to travel to the meetup? Will I be able to drive there, or will I have to fly?
How about hotel/motel rates in the area?
Will it be at a casino or bar? I don't drink, and I don't gamble. I had problems with both, so I gave them up.

To keep it short, the location is really the biggest factor in whether or not I could commit. The closer it is, the easier the logistics. The further it is, the more unlikely that I could make it.

Therefore, I would think the best solution would be to have regional meetups on a periodic basis. People could show up from around the country or from other countries if they are able to, but if they miss it, there would be other opportunities in a few months. But at least the people who can't travel too far would have a better chance of attending rather than missing out.

So...here's a brief list of possible locations for regional meets just to illustrate what I'm thinking:

West Coast - Las Vegas
Rockies - Denver
Western Great Lakes - Chicago or Minneapolis
Texas - Dallas or Houston
Deep South - Nashville or Memphis
Mid-Atlantic - Washington D.C
Northeast - Boston

Those are only rough ideas, and it's a lot of meets to plan and coordinate. But it demonstrates a fairly good geographic spread. If done properly, there might even be enough overlap in regions so that some Minglers might be in range of 2 or more meetups.

To add further, I wouldn't attempt to more than 3 meets per year. More than that would be tough to set and coordinate. Thus, a rotation would need to be established so that each region receives equal opportunity for a meetup.

...my 2 cents.

Hopeful
Life will improve
Move forward in small steps
Giant leaps only make you fall
Behind

NTS - Slow down.

Buying a new fridge sounds nice, but you have other priorities at the moment, like getting some furniture and paying off the bills you already have.

Well, I wouldn't invite strangers. Having been homeless, I've seen the darker side of some of those people.

But yeah, I'd like to just have my own get-together. I just haven't had all the necessary pieces come together yet. In my mind, that's ultimately the solution for the long run. I just need to get there.

After some research, I'm guessing one of two translations which are somewhat similar to each other:

1) If you are a real girl, knock me out
2) If you are a real girl, hit me up

Idioms don't always translate well using online translators. So I had to try a few different ones, then take my best guess.

There are only 3 holidays that mean anything to me:
Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Those are the holidays where my family would have some sort of get-together. Sometimes it was just family. Other times it would include friends and extended family. But we always did something.

After our family bonds began dissolving, I found myself missing those gatherings more and more. Funny thing is, it's not the family that I miss so much as just having a bunch of people coming together to simply enjoy each other's company -- so much so that nobody ever paid attention to the radio or the t.v.

There was a time when I had a group of friends that easily could have recreated that. Then everyone began moving away. Several moved out of state. One passed away from cancer. Even if they had stayed, I never had a place of my own that was large enough to host all of them on a holiday. While it would be nice if one of my friends offered to do a holiday get-together, I've always known that it would fall on me. I'm the one who used to do it. I'm the one who likes hosting for people, and cooking for them. When I had the space, I didn't have the time or the money. When I had both of those, I didn't have the space.

I've spent many holidays alone, but that was usually by choice. This year was different. First of all, it wasn't by choice but rather by circumstance. Second of all, it's the first year I've spent in an area where I don't at least have any close friends yet. Lastly, it's also the first year where I wasn't even set up to do my own personal mini-celebration if I felt like doing so.

Anyway....I'm not looking to be depressing about it. I'm just noting that this year the holidays have been unexpectedly difficult for me compared to normal.

Part of it is because I've had to move 3 times in the past 4 years. I'm not used to that. It's made it difficult to actually see my friends. Ultimately, I think that's what I really missed this year -- my friends.

Last week, I was going to get together with a couple close friends for a night of fun. I had to cancel because I got called into work at the last minute. But I don't really need to go out so much as spend some time with friends and laughing. This past year, I've had to cancel such plans several times.

I think Christmas really just drove that point home for me this year.

Yep, spending Christmas alone. I never even had time to get a tree. Don't have any friends in the area yet to spend the holiday with.

I'd really like to do something. In the past, I would go to a bar to hang with friends to at least get some hint of holiday cheer. But now I don't drink anymore. It's not the same.

If I hadn't been working so many hours lately, I would have signed up for the Christmas Alkathon. Unfortunately, we're short 3 staff, so I never had the time in between work and errands to get signed up.

Then I thought I would probably just work on the holiday. Now it looks like I'll have the day off, with no place to go and all the stores and restaurants closed. Just a boring day at home with no tree, no presents, and not even the kitchen gear to at least bake some cookies.

I really miss the Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers. I always thought I would do my own, but life just keeps getting in the way.

I hear the carols in every store,
But don't buy presents anymore.
It's not a loss of Christmas spirit -
Only the lack of someone to share it.

Waiting is hard
But harder when you're alone
With chewy turkey

Honestly, there are scammers who do exactly what you described above.

I've personally been down that road before. That's why I won't go offsite now for anyone whom I'm not 100% positive is not a scammer. If there is even 0.00001% of doubt, I'll do some background checking first. And if that creeps them out, it's no skin off my nose. I'm just doing my due diligence.

Thinking I'm going to sleep well tonight.

Busy day. Busy week. I've already worked about 69 hours this past week. Still have 24 - 32 hours the next 2 days, and without a day off.

But that's okay because...

1) My boss worked out a deal so I could leave 5 hours early today to get some important errands done, and

2) I won 2 extra days off with pay at the Christmas Party from the company raffle.

Thinking about what I love about my job...

Despite the ups and downs and the stress, I can't help but feel unconditional love for my clients. I like how that feels. It makes the job worthwhile.

Don't forget, I live in a tiny state.

Plus, it helps me to instantly gauge whether the person contacting me bothered to read my profile.

Also, the zombies have been trying to use different locations to see if I respond, just so they can try to triangulate where exactly I live.

When I run a search, not listing my actual town/city allows me to somewhat limit the number of false profiles that turn up since there will be fewer new ones created near me.

When I suspect a "woman" isn't honest about her location, I do as TxsGal said. I ask a question involving some local place to test her familiarity with the area. More often than not, she simply doesn't respond or evades the question. Then it's click, block, delete.

As for myself, I no longer list my own town/city. I do it purposely to test people because of something stated in my profile. Now I'm just listed as "Somewhere".