Is it time to go home yet?

[rivka]

I am apparently the only person in all of Western Civilization who does not have enough vacation time to take today off.

The hallways are dim. The copier is broken, and no one will be here to repair it until January 2. The guy who's coming in as a co-author on our reworking of the biodisparity paper isn't here. The people in the GYN clinics aren't here. My boss is ill and distracted and unlikely to supply me with much of a driving force. My client made it in, but other than that I could just as well have stayed home and spent today in bed.

This evening we're going to the New Year's English Country Dance given by the Greater Washington Folklore Society. New Year's Eve has never been a great holiday for me - it always seems to hammer in the point that I'm not particularly popular on the local level. I suppose that's why I'm entertaining dark thoughts of spending the evening on the sidelines feeling awkward and out of place because no one but Misha or Bill will want to dance with me.

That's a ridiculous way to think, clearly. I didn't have any trouble finding partners at the Playford Ball, and only sat out the dances I wanted to skip. It's just the whole goddamned New Year's mystique, I guess - being sucked in to the media image of perfect parties filled with beautiful people. Damn it, I hate getting drawn in to expectations that don't even make sense for the person I am.

At least I have a little black velvet dress. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to pair it with the swingy flowered velvet coat or the little black sequined jacket saoba gave me. The clasp of the velvet coat always comes undone while I'm dancing, but it does look good.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I'm at work too. :)

And at least you will look good in a little black dress....

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

You ARE a beautiful person and I'd dance with you anyday (if I could dance).

Count your blessings.

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was at work at midnight. You got the
*evening* off. And someone(s) to spend it with, and
a party to go to, and dancing.

Leslie, who didn't have anywhere to go anyway, so she
might as well have been at work.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was (AM!) working too... and worse, livejournal threw some good, truthful, and complimentary stuff I'd written in response to this into the bit bucket. Worse, when I tried to recall what I'd said in email, *THAT* got screwed up. Mark my words, this will get messed up to. (Maybe I should write something terminally embarassing to myself. Then, *NOTHING* would keep it from showing up.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I kind of like working holidays. But, then, some of my department almost always come in, and we hang around pretending to work but really eating candy and shooting the...shoot.

Glad to see the dance went well. What does "popular on the local level" look like? More to the point, what does it feel like?

Re:

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Glad to see the dance went well. What does "popular on the local level" look like? More to the point, what does it feel like?

I mean having a reasonable number of friends who live near enough to visit or go out together, as opposed to having far-flung net.friends who one loves dearly but only visits occasionally and with difficulty/expense.

The closest I ever came, personally, was when I lived with several friends in a house that was sort of a gathering place. I am starting to have more friends where I live, but many of the people I feel closest to are far enough away that I couldn't, for example, call and ask them to come do some shopping for me if I'd broken my foot.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

It's not that I have vacation time, it's that I have a holiday. If I could've come in yesterday and taken an extra day in England, I might've done, but the office was closed and I'm on salary, so I wouldn't get anything out of coming in.

Does it help if I say that I creaked around all day with my ouchy muscles? :) Okay, I also made and ate doughnuts, so it's not like it was a bad day...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Does it help if I say that I creaked around all day with my ouchy muscles? :)

No, no, no! *grin* It's not that I want everyone else to be miserable when I'm miserable, I just didn't want to be all alone in the ghost town that is the Clinical Division of the IHV on New Year's Eve.

It's too bad that you were ouchy.