having a good time being here in Lynden.

Haven't done a heck of a lot yet. But I'm okay with that. With the pending Christmas activities and New Years Eve coming there will be plenty to do. We're just taking it as it comes. We missed out on a quickly planned party at Kevins parents. I'm not sure we felt up to driving out to Chuckanut though. It's sort of like, "hey I planned an impromptu party on the complete other side of the county...you should come" Meh, we were carless anyhow and I'm sure i'll see all those peepz soon anyhow.

Design Reactor Holiday stuff yesterday.

Things were okay with all that. The time I did this before things drug on and people got tired of things. They had a lunch and games again. Since I've been back that seems to be one of the only real "morale boosters" done aside from a helping of bagels on Fridays. Other than that it's work work work. Gone are the Christmas bonus days. Gone are the company picnics. It's pretty disheartening. I feel a little lucky to be a contractor and kind of have an outside look on things now.

Speaking of outside looks at things. I got to forego the long winded company meeting. Those things always tend to drag on forever and it's all a lot of back patting and pep talking about how everyone is great. I know a lot of people aren't to keen on things but it's not like you can really say much about it. So in the end I got to dink around in a quiet office and eat a free bagel and some poundcake while everyone else got to sit quietly for an hour and a half and listen to the "state of the union".

I also got to reap the benefits of games and lunch. I actually had a good time with the games. There were four different games. I ended up doing awesomely on the "pictionary" game we played. All those years of family Pictionary playing paid off. I do have to say that Skye was a very good guesser and that's all part of the equation.

We ended up coming in second. Which I thought we were going to do worse. After that I came home and got ready forthe party. I figured I'd go and get my moneys worth. For all the shit that goes down working there I might as well try and drink as much free liquor and stuff as many crabcakes into my gullet as I can. The food was good and the drinks were strong. I must have been getting tipsy at one point cause I had to ask the bartender if he put rum in the drink. Maria tasted it and didn;t tell me she tasted the rum. So I went and asked him for rum and so he glugs a bunch more in there and then Maria turns to me and says "oh...yea. I tasted the rum before and saw him put it in there." I sort of felt like a drunk retard for a second.

We went with Jarred and Ami. They're definitely on the same page with us about the whole DR situation. Ami can definitely dish out some choice words for all the people there. She definitely says what we are all thinking. It's sort of hard to tell where people stand with the management and the people that work at DR sometimes. Jarred and Ami are good to hang out with though and we had a good time with them last night. Although sometimes I wonder if we'd have much to talk a bout if we had other jobs. I suppose as long as Jarred and I are in the design field we'll always have something to shoot the shit about.

Bitching about things can be a double edged sword. It kinda felt nice to let loose and get some stuff off my chest. It felt good to vent. Maria understands some of the situation but to get togetherwith Jarred and Ami and really sort of relate to the situation is good. The bad part starts to sink when you realize, "wow...i'm letting myself be treated this way?" After getting home and relaxing I let it sink some and wound up going to bed feeling a little sad and melancholy. I guess I feel a little better contracting there. AT least I know my place and I know that I'm a temp and I'm there to do a specific thing. But at thesame time. its like wha? I went back there? The things we do for money Iguess.

Glad I'm on vacay for the next while.