2001-12-19 - 6:15 a.m. love burns He knows. I never know how he *can* know, but he does know...now, he's following me around the apartment. Sitting between me and the computer. Blocking the door when I try to leave for work. Rubbing kitty hair all over my black clothes...Ah, the beautiful guilt that accompanies preparing to go on vacation w/out my charming and much loved cat... Last weekend was a whirlwind of holiday parties (5 parties, 1 dinner, 2 bar hopping sessions). The dressing up was fun, but no overly interesting people crossed my path which is a bit disappointing. In fact, several of the parties were more like gatherings of multiple small clusters (2s and 3s) of people who didn't interact with each other at all. The best/most interesting party was in a grand restored victorian. I used to ride past this house frequently on my journeys throughout the city and always wanted to know what it looked like inside. Unlike some of the (dis)interaction at the other parties, this house did not disappoint. The interior had a mix of art nouveau and arts and crafts details and furniture, and gobs of holiday decorations. Way too busy for me to live in, but a perfect setting for a holiday daydream. It was also cool to note that despite the opulence of the house, its owner was a big Anne Rice fan, as evidenced by the bookshelf heavy with her hardbacks. We had yet another holiday potluck yesterday which gave me the opportunity to again push cookies and fudge onto my coworkers. Of course, they could always have said "no" at any time...instead, before a late afternoon meeting, a coworker called me with an urgent question she couldn't get out of her mind : "are you bringing the fudge to our 3:00?" It hadn't even occurred to me that I could extend the sugar loading of my coworkers in our meetings. I'll have to thank her for that insight with more fudge today...the poor coworkers who allowed themselves to be tempted by my fudge for breakfast yesterday ad it even worse off -- they found themselves asking for more and, worse yet, encouraging others to indulge. Technically speaking, my desire to make homebaked treats and watch other people eat them is what was formerly known as "the Holiday Spirit" (they holiday spirit now is more along the lines of spending more money than you can afford to buy gifts for everyone you know.) Which brings me to my next topic: gifts at work. I don't know about you, but I love presents. Not just big gifts, but any kind of surprise gift (a cup of coffee, candy, a hello kitty object someone saw somewhere and thought of me, etc.) The word has gotten out about this. And many of my coworkers share this feeling. As a result, there has been a good deal of workplace gift giving going on among the group of coworkers I socialize with outside of work. This has happened most places I've worked so I didn't think anything of it. Yesterday, a stealthy santa left a huge package (2x3 ft) on my chair while I was in a meeting.I think I waited a whole minute before ripping of its festive paper to see what it was...then I spent more than an hour trying to figure out who left it there (I did finally figure it out BTW.) I also succeeded in irritating a coworker who isn't part of that previously-mentioned group. This person came up to me while I was on the trail of my secret gift giver and said, through clenched teeth, "I've never seen so much overt workplace holiday gift giving. It's a bit much don't you think?" Ouch. That comment made me flash back to grade school and the teachers telling us esch year not to bring valentines if we didn't bring one for everyone and some classmates still not receiving many cards and then becoming very upset...I wonder if we'll have a "no gifts" rule in the office next year as a result? And would that rule just result in more holiday parties and after work cocktail gatherings that would then be gift-exchanging venues? Lots to do over the next few days...hope to avoid having another panic attack like the one yesterday over the size of this week's to do list! Also hope to have time to do some more reading here on diaryland. Luckily, I spent a good chunk of Sunday reading older entries for diaries I'm becoming well-acquainted with and found some new ones of interest. My Internet access over the holidays will be limited, making updating and reading a hurried luxury at best. BUT I hope to have some cool photos to share, so be patient, and come back soon... any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09