Halloween

I love Halloween.

Love it! This is ironic for someone who doesn’t like horror movies. But I otherwise love it. The costumes, the fun decorations, the trick-or-treaters, the abundance of Halloween candy until Easter.

Once again I am approaching Halloween with a certain amount of bittersweet melancholy. My son is past the Halloween stage of costumes and trick-or-treats.

No more excited anticipation to skip dinner and hit the neighborhood with a pack of boys and a pillowcase all in the name of massive candy acquisition.

No more piles of candy sorted by variety on my living room floor.

No more Ziploc bags full of butterfingers and kit-kats stored in my freezer for impromptu movie candy.

In the big picture the absence of candy is probably a good thing. I am not exactly known for my spectacular will power when it comes to treats (or pretty much anything else, but I digress).

However, I still hold fast to a few key Halloween traditions.

Pumpkin carving…a must have; although trips to the pumpkin patch have been replaced with grocery store pumpkins. And the half a dozen elaborate designs have now been relegated to a couple of simple jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkin carving is not easy on the hands of a chronic tye-dyer.

Pumpkin Seeds. Technically my spousal unit takes care of the cleaning and the roasting of said seeds. He roasts them a golden brown with tons of butter and garlic salt; a decadent yummy treat that has been known to make me sicker than a dog if eaten to excess. (Remember that will power statement from above). Yeah. I suck at willpower.

Full size candy bars. Yup. I am a “good house” and dole out full size candy bars. Parents hate me. Kids revere me.  Nothing says sugary excess like a basket full of full size candy bars. I only get about 40 kids a year…latecomers get a fun size treat. Better show up early to get the good stuff!

Perhaps I should pinch a full size Butterfinger for my own consumption. Yeah. Good plan. Definitely!

Worst Shows Ever

Yup. I’ve officially accumulated a streak of two bad shows who have officially taken the #1 and #2 spot of “Worst Show Ever.”

I didn’t think anything could beat the Fond du Lac debacle of 2008. But I was wrong.

I hate being wrong.

Both Watertown and New Berlin were little mini disasters with long drives and no buyers.

It’s too depressing to recount in detail.

With each show, fresh hope.

Interviewing

I've worked for the same company for 21 years.

That's a long time.

Longer than I've been married.

Double decades.

Long.

For reasons, which are unclear, I decided to apply to promotion. Wait, you say? A promotion? Apply for a promotion? Aren't promotions usually just given when deserved.

Apparently yes...to everyone else except me.  Now I don't want to be one of "those employees" who thinks they are all that and a bag of chips and should be promoted because they are more deserving then other employees.  I've been around the corporate block long to enough to know that when manager wants to bump someone up the corporate food chain, it happens. Auto-magically.  There is a tap-tap on the shoulder and Voila! Someone (else) has been bumped into double digit profit sharing.  I have a combination of phenomonally bad luck and bad timing when it comes to "right place at the right time" career syndrome.

Oh. Is my bitterness shining through.  Sorry. I know. I know. Sour grapes. But it's my blog and if you don't like it, I'll take my ball and go home!

So there!

The quick backstory. My department has folks that have slightly different levels of the same job. A higher graded position opened and I applied. Same job that I am doing today - just more money. Truly. The same. The same boss too. Same. 

Now if my manager had her druthers she would have probably just promoted me already - but her manager,  who is a tool and has yet to befall a non-fatal but slightly disfiguring accident, demands that God and everybody be interview for this position.  This includes external applicants. Don't even get me started on how I will feel if this position ends up being filled externally.

And so I get an interview.

Interviewing is roughly on par with taking a mind numbing math exam. There is alot of pressure to remember the correct formula for the perfect interview. The right answers solved quickly and expertly delivered with the right balance of perkiness and positivity. 

I'm pretty sure being flogged for 45 minutes wouldn't have been as painful.

Then...to add insult to injury...as if this process hasn't gone on long enough, it will be another month before a decision is made.  I applied in July. Interivew in October...decision sometime before I am dead and buried.

Or so I hope.

I've Fallen down the Project Hole

I have. For real. A combination project hole (the real job that pays the mortgage) and tye dye hole (the fun hobby that keeps me in pedicures).

I'll be back shortly.

I will.

Promise.

And it will be dazzling.

Hand to God.