Post Tramatic Stress Disorder

I am suffering from office post traumatic stress disorder. Regular readers of this blog will remember that last year at this time I had begin working as an Administrative Assistant at a local Phoenix university. Also, you will recollect that this was not a pleasant experience as I had the boss from hell. He was a complete micro-manger, would not even let me send out my own emails without checking it first. Every day working there was like going to battle. I had to steer myself up and each time this awful manager would communicate with me, my defenses were raised. I had to be defensive because he was always looking for excuses to find fault. It made me second guess every comment or note I received from him and in that office.


Switch to today and I’m back with good ol’e non-descript airlines, my extended family! However, I am having difficulty letting go of my defensiveness. My boss is nothing like that horrible guy at the university, yet I read her emails and sometimes her comments immediately start to get my hackles up. I am cognizant I am doing this but how to remove that barrier? I think its that defensiveness which is also hindering my becoming closer to other members in the department. How does one recover from a bad boss experience??

Slice of Life

Sorry I have been AWOL of late – now that I work, I’ve writing my blog posts at my desk and lately I’ve been just swamped.

This past weekend the family went to my in-laws. They were having a party for baby’s christening. My mother-in-law had me wearing this very heavy outfit that my mother had gotten for me from India. It’s beautiful but full of bead work and the “skirt” part is very full. I liken it to the ball gowns of Catherine the Great’s era. The outfit is gorgeous and I love it. But carrying around a squirming baby and moving rapidly from table to table is near impossible. On top of that, the “skirt” (it’s not really a skirt but looks that way, the bottom part of the dress, hard to describe), sweeps the floor, it goes past my feet, even in heals. With a baby in hand, I can’t hold it up and that bugs me because I know the bottom is just getting filthy, as it touches the dirty floor.

As I was maneuvering on Saturday, I came to a realization. No wonder these heavy outfits are generally for brides only – because it is only on the day of her wedding that an Indian bride doesn’t have to do anything. Otherwise, we ladies are always expected to be busy, working.

Here are some pic’s of these type of outfits – very beautiful and makes one feel like a grand lady, a la Catherine the Great!

Remembering 9/11

"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully," Abraham Lincoln.

Started the day early and from the beginning, its been all 9/11 remembrance. It makes me sad. This is largely why I try to avoid 9/11 memorial specials etc every year. But this anniversary it was unavoidable. The sad part is, I know what is going to happen and yet every time I get choked up. You see the sad stories of those who didn't survive the Towers, the poor passengers on Flight 93 and that awfulness of the Pentagon and you just want to cry. Was listening to NPR and they were broadcasting the live reading of the names at the WTC, couldn't get out of the car - one begins to analyze, like a Monday morning quarterback, the events of that day. What could have been done differently?....

After a day full of this tragedy, all I did this evening is hug baby and thank God for her.

Even still, Irene is a cool name

Why are people so suspicious? At the office, because I work with Payroll and the paycheck adjustments it’s assumed that if a manual check is cut, I MUST have done it (I was advised NOT to request manual checks). I didn’t request a manual check and yet I feel like I have to prove to the powers that be, that it wasn’t me, why? It is like when money goes missing at my parent’s house, my mother and aunt automatically assumes, “the cleaning ladies” took it. Both times they have been wrong. Aye!

Seen today - little old lady, barely reaching above the seat, going to the bank, driving right past the bank’s “do not enter” sign – welcome to Arizona!

People who complain about the hassle of dealing with billing issues from doctor’s offices and still vote Republican, I have no sympathy for, that also includes those who receive Medicare or Medicaid and are now feeling the squeeze. You get what you “voted” for, idiots.

Is it just me, but does anyone else think Pakistan and Mexico are rapidly becoming failed states?