I apparently no longer take pleasure in keeping a daylog. I did it for years. Even at my busiest, I still carved out a slot in my day to keep track of what had gone on, no matter how mundane. And now more than a month has gone by before my last entry. Huh.

Most days/weeks have been the same: more time at work than at home. It's paying off on the money front, more or less, which is nice. I've been able to buy new clothes, buy things for the house, and put money into savings. I've been able to go out to dinner and treat people, or buy a bottle of wine (or two) if it suits me. I'm not completely worry-free when it comes to money, but it's nice to not be pulling my hair out about it. I know I could be better (example: I did not need the manicure of this past Friday, especially since I've already chipped the polish badly on two nails), so I will strive to be so. Things are beginning to balance out, though, at least in regards to my own finances, and I feel better about money-related things.

I've been emotionally stressed out both at work and at home. I do a fair job of faking it at Target, since people there really don't know me and it's easy to fake being happy if you try hard enough and are busy enough. It's harder to do at Cathedral, where people know me a bit better and spend more extended time with me. Ricardo even flat out said he was worried about me at a time I thought I was hiding things rather well. I always let things bother me too much and I always get too caught up in things, and I know I'm doing it again in regards to Cathedral work and some issues at home. They'll all work out. They won't work themselves out, so to speak; I will have to put the work into making them work out. But they will.

In the meantime, I will spend my days as I often do when they get difficult: perservering and looking forward to fun things. It's fall, which is always nice. Our one year anniversary is fast approaching. More things will come up to look forward to, as they always do, and the fact that I'll be able to enjoy them will make it all worthwhile.

Back to worky #1. Thank God for No Organist Mornings. I realise I've just jinxed myself.

I am trying to find a way to have a proper day off on Labor Day. If I work a night shift at Target that Friday, which I think I do, then I can work Cathedral during the day and Target at night. If I work a day shift at Target, then I have to go in on Labor Day. Boo. Because the online system doesn't like to work anywhere other than Target itself, checking on this will have to wait until Wednesday. Here's hoping it works out. Otherwise, I will be working pretty much an entire month with no full days off. This is not conducive to sanity.

I don't think I can last another twenty minutes here. Think I'm just going to skive off. I'm basically playing a waiting game with Ricardo regarding the calendar, and I really just don't feel like playing today.

Tonight, Lowell and I are going to this little restaurant he found on Yelp ages ago when looking for Korean food (I think...the place has Korean stuff listed). It's not a fancy restaurant. Images of food from the place are shown in baskets, metal bowls, and sitting on trays. After Lowell's curiosity and hunger have been sated, we'll kill some time in Lakeview or Lincoln Park until we pick Alex, Kristin, and Ange up from the White Sox game. Karaoke was bandied about, and we'll be trying another Yelp find. This place also looks fairly casual.

I am dressed up by no means. I'm wearing jeans, a new t-shirt, a fun necklace, and wedges. But I feel good about the way I look. I'm not especially bothered by the fact that I know I'm at least thirty pounds overweight, and more like fifty, if we're going for the doctor-prescribed "healthy" weight for my height. I spent time with makeup and my hair, and found a good combination that works with the outfit in general. Overall, I am pleased and hope to continue to be pleased. This could change in a heartbeat, I know. But for right now, I'm going to revel in the fact that I feel that I look fantastic.

And now, to wait for Lowell to finish getting ready so we can enjoy a night on the town.

The next few months, should everything work out, I will be inundated by learning and relearning. There's all the new Targety things I need to know, such as what can be returned and what can't in guest services, where all of that goes, and what to do with everything that comes in there. I'll be learning what to do and what to not while ringing sales, who to contact while doing so, and how to get through each shift being fun, fast, and friendly. I'll be learning the language, because Target assuredly has its own language. I'll learn how to make every second of every break and lunch count, so I can get through each shift and feel good at the end of it.

The thing I'll be relearning the most is patience. This will apply to both jobs, though as of late, it seems to apply more to Cathedral work than Target. The clientele at Target is generally friendly and understanding; indeed, in the few days I've worked, I've only seen one guest truly upset about something (she insisted an item was one price, when our system said it wasn't, and she angrily told us to change our signage, then). At Cathedral, it seems like every other bride or groom is problematic. The requests they're making aren't necessarily extravagant or unreasonable, to be fair. They're just against the policies we've had set for at least as long as I've been here, and some for infinitely longer. Most of these problems come from our off-site chapel. The rules and policies there are a bit more lax, but only for the chapel itself. Music rules are the same as they are at Cathedral, which can come as a shock to couples who've been told "yes" to every other request they've had regarding their wedding Mass. It's very hard to have to be the one to tell these couples "no", especially since most of their requests are, as mentioned, reasonable.

Most of it stems from the rigidity of our policies. I understand that. We can't bend the rules when we want to, because then why do we even have them? There'd be no point. It does make our lives easier, in some aspects, to have the same firm policies at both locations. It makes it harder, too.

Some of it stems from the mentality of the wedding world, as it were. When I was preparing for our wedding, all the wedding magazines/websites/whatever, said the same thing: read all the rules and policies for all the vendors/sites/etc. Make sure you understand what they can and cannot do, and what they expect. If they have a rule that goes against something you want, talk to them about it, and try to see if you can get what you want. After all, it's your big day! Big day or not, that doesn't mean you should get everything you want exactly how you want it. Life just doesn't work that way. And it makes it infintely more trying when couples do not realise that.

There's more difficulties involved, some of which involve our rules vs. other churches' rules, our staff vs. the staff as a whole, and even more, but getting into it is just going to upset me further. I've gone over and over this in my head, with others, and it isn't going to change anytime soon. Suffice it to say that it seems like weddings are getting more and more difficult, and I don't know what to do to make it otherwise. I'm frankly sick of thinking about it.

...which just goes to show exactly how far I need to go to relearn patience.

There are lots of things to anticipate, lots of things to look forward to, lots of things to think about.

I had my orientation at Target this past Monday. It was fairly intense. I want to be the best worker I can be, and I know it's not going to be an easy job. Even just after the orientation, I wonder if this will be a good fit. I'm used to smaller teams, for one thing. The store I will be working at has over 200 employees. I realise I will not see all of them, most likely. It's still rather intimidating. They have their own language, practically, what with all the different terminology. They thought up new terms for a heirarchy so that it didn't seem like there was one. It's all going to be hard to keep track of, to be sure. I hope I can handle it. I will certainly give it my best.

It's going to be intersting trying to balance two jobs again. The most difficult part is going to be the commute. The Target store that was hiring was up on Willow Road in Glenview, the village that Lowell's company now resides (Glenview expanded into parts of Northbrook, I think). My thought was that if they would hire me for weekends primarily, I could easily take Lowell's car or have him drop me off or whatever on his way from work. That's how it'll work next Friday, when I am scheduled to work the new produce section and as a cashier. However, I put that I could work weeknights, and they're taking me up on that thus far. I found that there is a suburban bus that runs along Willow Road, and I can get to it either from the Purple Line or the Milwaukee District North Metra line. However, like most suburban buses, it runs infrequently. I found out the hard way how infrequently when I saw the schedule at the terminal and saw the next bus wasn't leaving that area until 3:30, the time of my orientation. I ended up having to take a cab out to the store, something I cannot afford to do every time I work. The next few night shifts I have (tomorrow, and Tuesday/Wednesday next) I will have to try two other routes. If I find that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, commute wise, it will probably not be worth it to keep that as a second job. If I had a car, it'd be much more convenient and less expensive, and I won't have to worry about catching a certain bus or train home when I work a closing shift. I need to investigate the whole CTA/I-GO thing a little more thoroughly, seeing as the Yellow Line Terminal is an I-Go station.

I love to ramble.

I have about an hour and fifteen minutes left before I can leave work. I have three things I could be doing. Two of those things I am trying to leave for tomorrow, so I have something to do after I do the usual morning catch-up work. One thing is, in my mind, reliant on approval from my boss. He said to send the calendar and contracts to the professional singers today, seeing as he is asking for their signed contracts by Sunday next. At the same time, however, he asked me to send him the calendar for approval. Does this mean I still send the professional singers the calendar? Or do I wait for his approval to do so? This is a situation that no matter what I do, it'll be wrong. If I send it, he'll respond with corrections to the calendar or additions and will tell me not to send it yet. If I don't send it, he'll respond much later with the question of how many singers have sent their contracts back. Either way, I'm boned. I'm currently of a mindset that, if I'm boned if I do and boned if I don't (too much Futurama for me, it seems), I might as well wait one day, send it tomorrow before I leave, and hope for the best. Will have to make some sort of notation that it is not a final calendar, but that would mean the singers had the right to not send their contracts in until it is done. So yeah, no winning.

At least there is fun stuff on the horizon. The now yearly trip out to Indiana starts in a mere day and a half, and I am greatly looking forward to it. The first year we went, I had no coffee and slept most of the weekend away. I also got truly epic sunburn from our day at the beach. The second year we went, I remembered the sunscreen and the coffee, but was sick and coughing the weekend away (wonder if that was a pneumonia, too...). This year, I'm ready. I will have sunscreen, coffee, and currently have no cough. It will be sunny and the waves will be big enough to face check. I'll be with some of my favorite people in the entire universe. LOTR Trivial Pursuit will be played, and Daria will be marathoned. All in all, awesome.

The next trip after that (other than to nearby places for end of summer events and fall-tivities) will be a road trip up to the Twin Cities with Lowell to celebrate our one-year anniversary. Lowell wants to go to the Mall of America, and I want to stay at a fancy hotel and live in the bathtub the room will provide. I also love Minnesota, so this works out well for both parties. The thing I just thought of is that we need to tell his parents of this. Nana (who I desperately need to work up the patience to call) mentioned any number of times how Lowell's father said something of throwing a party for our one year anniversary. I do not know if he was serious or not. If he was, they need to know we will not be in town for it before they do anything. Seeing as we were not consulted in regards to the shower date Lowell's mother threw us, I somehow see us not being consulted about this. If he was not, all the better. I am growing more weary of reflecting comments and questions about my lack of pregnancy and their lack of imminent grandchildren. It makes me feel like it is all I am good for, and the only thing we could do to make them happy, and that doesn't help this lingering "I'm not good enough for anyone" feeling I've got going on.

One more hour. If one of my singers would email me back, I could get started on one of my projects for tomorrow. I suppose I'll find something to do.

Upcoming events!

7/23/10 -- wedding rehearsal at St. James/babysitting at Millenium Park
7/24/10 -- birthday party
7/25/10 -- wedding at St. James
7/26/10 -- Aunt Trish's surgery in Dallas/orientation at Target (yes, I'm working two jobs again)
7/27/10 -- PST
7/28/10 -- domesticity
7/29/10 -- choir party in Northbrook (only for a short while; packing must commence!)
7/30/10 -- Non-Weekend begins!
7/31/10 -- MI City for beachy goodness
8/1/10 -- home from Non-Weekend
8/7/10 -- baby shower for cousin Kristin/engagement party (work) in Oak Lawn
8/13/10 -- babysitting at Millenium Park (?)/Star Party/Ange in town!
8/14/10 -- wedding at St. James/Ange in town!
8/28/10 -- Gaming League!

...I know I'm forgetting things 'cause I'm awesome like that.

WHEW.

Back to worky.

This weekend's bride was HIGH maintenence, but it looks like we are good to go there. I will still heave a great sigh of relief once 4:00 PM or so rolls around on Saturday, when I know that wedding is over and we hopefully don't have to deal with that again.

The guest singer bride found out that her proposed guest singer had a conflict, so she will not have a guest singer at all. She sent along her selections last night, so all is done there.

The third bride is still somewhat difficult. She sent along quite a few selections I'd never seen used at wedding Masses, and I highly doubt they will be approved. I think she chose, like, a five minute song for the Sign of Peace, a part of the Mass that lasts (at most) a minute and a half. Even if the bride and groom go and hug every member of their bridal party, both sets of parents and grandparents, and head back to their spots on the altar, it still won't take five minutes. I also might have to hire a string quartet for her in the space of a week and a half. Damnation. Nothing I can do about that one until Monday, though.

Tonight I get the all-important job of heating dinner while Lowell and Alex are out running. I will also be continuing the never-ending battle against laundry. I have to get all of it out of the basement by Friday next, if my grand plan of cleaning the basement that Saturday is going to come to fruition. And it is. Just like my grand plan of cleaning the garage that Sunday is going to, as well. Booyah.

Time to keep myself busy for the next five and a half hours.

The office to-do list isn't too large. It's a lot of work, but only a few items. Three of the items involve high maintenence brides. One of them is the one who yelled at me and told me I didn't know how to do my job and called me a liar. I don't think she realises that I'm that same person, because she has prefaced pretty much every phone call with me with "I don't know who I spoke with before, but...". Her wedding is Saturday, and I just want it to be OVER.

The other two are for two weekends from now, with one on Saturday and one on Sunday. There have been communication difficulties with that one, and she made things more complicated by switching her guest singer thinking we'd just approve her because she'd sung here before. My boss has been here since 2002-ish, and he said he'd never worked with her. So she still has to abide by policy and send in a recording. The bride is freaking out about it, and I'm trying to soothe her yet reaffirm that she still has to abide by policy. When I called her to get her music selections, I figured she had them, since she made it sound like she had everything ready other than her guest singer. Nope. I spent thirty minutes on the phone with her while she listened to selections online. She still has to get a few to me, but hopefully that part can be squared away today.

The one on Sunday has been difficult because of the wedding coordinator, though the bride has not been much better. The one thing they keep asking is to come and hear the organ at the chapel played before the wedding. Not only is that not possible, I've already told them that the organ is required for all weddings that we arrange. So whether they like the sound or not, it's going to be used. I left a message repeating that fact a little while ago, and I am not looking forward to getting a call back later today from the coordinator.

At least all three are over in the space of about a fortnight and I'll never have to think about them again. I'll then get to look forward to September and October, where we have pretty much every wedding slot filled. Whee!

I have to ring my mother at some point. We've not talked since...Thursday, maybe? I have a feeling she is irked with me for not going out to IN for Fourth of July, though I didn't promise I would be there. I need to finalize the yard sale stuff with her for this weekend. If she is not having the sale for some reason, I need to see if I can go out there this weekend just because; maybe Friday night to Saturday night? Will have to try to make it work.

I also have to get the rest of the house cleaned. I took care of the kitchen last night (and again this morning), but there's still the living room that needs straightening (the clutter is driving me batty), the guest bedroom that needs organizing, the master bedroom that needs proper cleaning (that's my fault; my side of the room is all dusty and ick), and laundry that needs doing and sorting and all other nonsense. In case I do go away overnight, I'd like to not have to worry about it when I'm gone.

As for right now, I need to mail some music and get to work on the lockers. That job WILL get done today.

It's a standard Monday at work, albeit a few hours later. Problem is, my mind is focused on the clock, and I'm in a slight panic about getting everything done before I leave...except for the fact that I'm not leaving in two and a half hours, I'm leaving in four and a half hours. That is plenty of time to get everything done on my list, and possibly then some. A quick lunch at my desk will suffice. Indeed, I shouldn't be hungry at all, seeing the vast array of delicious foods I ate this weekend. Yet here I am.

I feel like I should be at Mass right now, to say some extra thanks. I've had generally amazing weekends this entire month. It started with the awesomeness that was Sarah and Jamie's birthdays at The Publican, and rounded out this past weekend with Scandal-Con Midwest 2010. Sally and Ryan arrived Thursday and had lunch with Alex and me before heading out to visit the city and go to a wedding, and Jillian and Kelsi arrived Friday evening and spent the weekend at three different abodes. It was a blast. Anya cooked us delicious dinner on Friday evening, we spent Saturday at the Art Institute, Millenium Park and thereabouts, and then at Alex's, and Sunday brought everyone together at the Museum of Science and Industry. The general consensus seems to be epic exhaustion. We could not have had a more fun-filled and food-filled weekend, but it takes its toll. Methinks everyone involved will sleep very well tonight.

July looks to be nearly as busy. I am taking Lowell to Chi Tung for his birthday dinner tomorrow, and we are having people over to play games and celebrate his birthday on Saturday. The following weekend I've devoted to my mother and her yard sale, which means I need to make sure I bring the sunscreen. Here's hoping there's no rain. The weekend after that is free, as far as I know, but that may change. Joint Birthday Celebrations follow the next weekend, and out-of-town weekend is slated for the last weekend in July. Whew! If it's all as amazing as June has been, it might easily be the best summer ever.

My list is not completing itself, so I suppose I should get on that. Many thanks again for an epic weekend, and an epic June as a whole. Yay! :D

This work week has been too stupidly busy. I know this will ease up once the organ concert series gets underway, since much of it has been preparation for the event. Still, though. It's not supposed to be so busy in the summertime! The fact that I've misplaced my office keys isn't helping anything along. I'm also supposed to be working in the library and finishing my locker project this week, two things that are difficult without easy access to keys. Oh, well. I'll get through it.

There's things to look forward to, as always. Jill, Kelsi, and Sally are all in this weekend, and fun stuff is planned while they are in town. Tomorrow is Futurama Day, which I am incredibly excited about. I need to work out a few particulars regarding the rest of July, but it looks to be both fun filled and action packed. Cleaning out the basement and the garage must be worked into the mix somehow, as both are incredibly overdue.

What I need right now is a full night's sleep. For the past month or so, I've woken up more or less without fail at 2:30 AM and 4:30 AM, and then it takes another fifteen minutes or so to fall asleep. This is making it harder to get out of bed every morning. It needs to stop.

Librarying, then lunching, then plaquing, then internet posting, then home!