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Holy crap, where did December go? I thought November flew by but damn - I completely missed December! One minute I'm packing to head back east and now I'm in Seattle, packing to head back to L.A. again.
On second thought, where on earth did 2007 go? I swear it was just March.
Ah well, the end of the year can mean only one thing - it's time once again for my favorite 40 questions about 2007!
In just about 65 hours I'll be sitting on a plane, winging my way east for my family's annual Nutcracker weekend. My flight leaves at 2pm on Thursday! I'm excited to go, I love this tradition and I don't spend nearly enough time with my family, but I have SO much to do before then:
Given the limited number of hours in the day, I had to skip training tonight in order to get through some things on my "To Do" list. This does not make me happy. I can't train tomorrow night because of the @#$*& party, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to go on Wednesday night; I really don't want to be away from the gym for more than a week, but we'll see - it might be unwise to train until 8pm when I have to be at work at 2am.
Sigh.
Dear KROQ,
Are you trying to prevent people from buying tickets to this year's Acoustic Christmas? That's the only possible explanation I can think of for the convoluted way in which you've handled the event.
First, there was the overblown buildup to the announcements of each night's line-up. Normally I would have been out right there, but the line-ups were so good that I begrudginly agreed to stand by for purchase information.
Next came the ruling that tickets would only be available to KROQ Street Team members. I seriously resent being forced to sign up for your marketing vehicle in order to spend my money on your event, but fine - I gritted my teeth and signed up to get spammed.
Then there was the interminable waiting for ticket information. Acoustic Christmas is this weekend, but on-sale information wasn't sent out until about twenty minutes ago. KROQ used to be above that type of false, unnecessary hype but not anymore, it seems.
At last, the ticket information. Great! Except for three little things:
1) The tickets go on sale at 5pm and 6pm tomorrow. When most adults are, you know, WORKING or driving home from working. Hardly a good time to be in front of a computer. But I guess it's ok since the server will no doubt get overloaded within 10 minutes and lock most people out anyway.
2) Then there's this little gem: Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties will be canceled without notice and refunds given. What? Why?
3) And finally: $187.00 a pair? Seriously?
So... I jumped through all of your freaking hoops only to be told that tickets will be outside my budget and go on sale at a time that I can't possibly hope to be in front of a computer to make my purchase (even if I could afford it). Awesome.
KROQ, WTF are you thinking?
No love,
Me
P.S. I'd also like to add an extra-special "Fuck you" to Ticketmaster for charging people $2.50 MORE for printing their tickets at home. Because somehow using my printer, and my ink, costs Ticketmaster more money? Right.
Seven posts in thirty days? That's just sad.
How is it possible that it's December already? Every year it seems that someone hits fast forward around the second week in October and bam! We go straight from Halloween to the Christmas season with barely a pause for breath. Of course it doesn't help that, in addition to all the holiday madness, this is also the time of year when my job ramps up from "crazy" to "absolute unbridled insanity." Long time readers will remember that we're getting into that time of year when I regularly work more than 100 hours in a week.
Thankfully, my raise finally came through... seven months to the day after I started in the position. Gotta love corporate bureaucracy.
It's a generous percentage increase that's being retro'd back five months - in a couple of weeks I'll get the largest paycheck that I have ever seen so I should be overjoyed. But the fact is that the percentage isn't quite as generous as it should have been, nor is it being retro'd quite as far as it should have been, and after seven months of being jerked around the most emotion I could summon was "It's about time." I did thank my VP and Manager profusely for their hard work, though - they've been beating their heads against the bureaucratic juggernaut for months on my behalf and I am VERY appreciative. It's nice to know that they value me enough to have kept fighting for me.
In other news... there isn't much other news. I was joking with VT on Friday that my life has become boring, but she suggested that perhaps "focused" is a better descriptor. I'm working a lot, training 5 days a week, trying to get a new side project off the ground, and spending a lot of time taking stock of my life. I guess that's what winter has always been for me - a period of intensity and focus before the carefree enthusiasm of spring. I'm enjoying the work this year, but I'm still looking forward to feeling the warm sun in a couple of months.
I started another 101 in 1001 list last month, and I've already crossed two things off!
Two down, ninety-nine to go...
