Airing of Grievances

With Christmas just around the corner, it is time to also celebrate those lesser known holidays – specifically Festivus for the Rest of Us. And with this glorious holiday comes the tradition of the Airing of the Grievances - a time to share with loved ones all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year. And while I won’t necessarily air out all of that dirty laundry (primarily because my loved ones have not only not disappointed me at all this year, they surprised me with their constant friendship and support), there are a few gripes/annoyances that I would like to air out. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time (or yours) posting a blog to complain about the little things in life - especially since my grievances are minimum compared to most (I have a great group of friends and family, great health, the ability to travel around the world, and a good job…and for that I am truly thankful) - but in the spirit of Festivus, here it goes.

• The couch – I spent over 2 months sitting on over 100 couches in search of the perfect couch – a dark brown leather couch with a left facing chaise lounge. When I started the mission, it seemed pretty straight forward. I now stand corrected. Like Goldilocks and her search for perfection, the couches were all too big, too firm or facing the wrong way. I finally found one that fit all of my criteria at Macy’s, bought it online, had it delivered and set up only to find out that after 1.5 days that I hated it so much it made me physically upset…too dark, too much leather, too much couch all together. The good news, I was able to call Macy’s to return it; they will be picking it back up next week and I only have to pay a 10% re-stocking fee. The bad news, I still don’t have a couch and am even more hesitant to buy anything…especially now since I no longer want a dark brown leather left facing chaise.

• The Paycheck – After not working for 5 months and living off my savings account, I was really looking forward to getting my first paycheck on December 15th. On payday I eagerly opened up my online bank account to notice a little blip of $300. Upon further review, I realized that this blip was in fact my “paycheck”. Yes, for the 88 hours of work I clocked the first two weeks back to work I was paid just over $300, or less than $4/hour. That is less than half of minimum wage in SF. So either my company, an accounting firm, messed up the accounting or they are not- so-subtly trying to get rid of me ala Milton from Office Space…my friends are convinced it is the latter. While Accounting is in the process of figuring out what went wrong, I am stuck without a paycheck and Christmas presents to buy.
  

• The Apartment –Like the couch, I looked at one too many apartments and finally settled on a spacious one bedroom apartment in a great location. The downside, it lacked all charm that I would normally expect from a SF apartment (i.e. bay windows, crown molding, built-in cabinets, etc). But I had to compromise at some point and I decided that what it lacked in charm, I could make up for it in decorating (so far, I am failing miserably, i.e the couch). However, what is more frustrating than the flat, blank walls is the constant clicking noise coming from the wall in between the bedroom and living room and the broken heater…and I don’t mean the heater doesn’t work, unfortunately not, it in fact works too well. Yes, it is 40 degrees outside and a whooping 85 in my bedroom. The damn thing won’t turn off. So I have two choices, sleep with the window wide open and listen to cars all night, or enjoy a sleepless night tossing and turning in the heat. For me, it is the equivalent of Dante’s second circle of hell.
  

• And finally the pieces of straw that are breaking my camel’s back – my ugly Christmas sweater that I order online didn’t make it in time for the ugly Christmas sweater party at work, my work pants no longer fit after 5 months off requiring a whole new wardrobe, and I haven’t seen Martin in over 4 weeks, with one and half left to go.

Santa all I want for Christmas is a break…Happy Festivus!

The Gimbel Family Christmas Tree

The holidays are one of my favorite times of year, with all of the traditions, festivities and eating and drinking. My family is a sucker for traditions so there are a handful of things we do each and every year to properly celebrate the season including: crab and homemade raviolis on Christmas Eve; buying a new ornaments for the tree; Dad giving us advent calendars to count down the days; and chopping down the Gimbel family Christmas Tree…which for some reason always ends up looking like Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree.

For as long back as I can remember we have always cut down our own Christmas tree. The adventure begins in the morning with the drive out to the tree farm, laughing about the misfit trees we had gotten in the past; us wandering around the hill in the mud and sometimes rain in search of the perfect tree; each person picking out their favorite tree and the discussions and negotiations that follow; always returning to the first tree we had seen after concluding it was the best; Dad cutting down the tree with Cody’s help while the girls supervisor; the required call of “Sept-timber” to signal the fall of the tree; tying the tree to the car/suburban and now truck; and then deli sandwiches afterwards. This formula has been followed, more or less for the past 20+ years, for better or worse (including the one year I decided to take up smoking the afternoon we were to pick out the tree resulting in me subsequently puked in the toilet because I couldn’t handle it…thankfully I was given the front seat of the car to prevent any additional sickness).

As the years go by the tradition has evolved and slowly adapted. And now that we are of age, it has become a tradition that at least one, if not all of the kids are hung over for the occasion resulting in fewer fights over what tree we get (sometimes you just can’t be bothered, what with a throbbing headache and the spins), but typically less stellar trees …To prove our commitment to traditions, Cody may or may not have been accidentally roofied the night before one outing a few years back but he still managed to pull it together.

So! With the whole family together this past Thanksgiving weekend up at the Lake, we took the opportunity to carry on the tradition and cut down a tree (this time on the top of Hull Mountain, rather than a tree farm). Cody and I awoke Friday morning perfectly hung over from the night before, ready to tackle the mountain to get our tree. We all piled into the pick-up truck, with Dana and Ray, Ray’s parents and approximately 15 other friends and family members in the other 7+ trucks, and made our way up the hill. After the hour long drive on the winding, dirt road, through snow and severe road ruts we reached the top and hopped out to find ourselves with a wide selection of perfect trees, and a whiteout snow storm.

True to form - hung over, cold and tired - Cody, Mom and I found the first decent looking tree and considered the task complete… thankfully Dad, the voice of reason, refused to settle and wandered off to find a more presentable tree. It took about 5 more minutes and less than 20 feet to find it…and before my hands had frozen completely Cody and Dad were on the ground, cutting down our perfect, less Charlie Brown than usual, Christmas tree.

And while we didn’t have the local deli to supply our lunch (the Thanksgiving leftovers did just fine), the Gimbel Family Christmas Tree tradition continues on for one more year.

Back to Work

I officially return back to work tomorrow in San Francisco after five months off and I would like to think that I am both mentally and physically prepared for the big day. I have packed my bag, laid out my “back to work” outfit and have set my alarm for the first time in who knows how many months.

Unfortunately, the return of work also means a significant decrease in free time. So, while I will try to continue to share my stories, the posts might be more sporadic than in the past. That is unless any of you know of a job that will provide me endless free time, international travel and the ability to wear jeans to work….seriously, I am interested!

Wish me luck!

My 5 Month Sabbatical - A Special Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I would like to take time to give thanks to all that has been important, influential or significant in my life this past year. And in addition to the usual suspects (i.e. friends, family, good health) I would also like to give thanks to my company, which has allowed me to take a 5 month sabbatical from work, and which will officially end this next Tuesday. I had high hopes and plans for this time off: discover who I was, figure out what I wanted to do/be, reconnect with friends and family and hopefully be ready to go back to work. In retrospect, during the five months, I did some serious travelling, caught up on my personal life and did some not so successful soul searching….here is the breakdown.

Four weeks into the extended vacation, I could no longer distinguish between a weekday and weekend. And around week 7, I had enjoyed some serious bonding time with my mom, brother and dad…on one Tuesday, I managed to spend 4 hours watching Bridezilla with my dad, who at one point asked for the remote, not to turn the channel (which was my fear), but rather to record the next episode.

By month three, my sabbatical with work officially ended (meaning my three months of partial pay and full benefits) and my Leave of Absence began. And with the beginning of the LOA and only two months off left, I developed a strong aversion to all responsibility and commitments. However, like karma, responsibility came back with vengeance. Exactly three months and one week in and my finances were a wreck… insurance claims (both health and car), canceled credit cards and frozen Swiss bank accounts.

By the end of month four, the onset of work seemed inevitable so I began to assess my time off so far. And while I hadn’t (and probably wouldn’t) accomplish most items on my list of goals, - learn guitar, take singing lessons, perfect my German and write the great American novel - I couldn’t deny the fact that I was having a great time…this moment was of course followed by the fleeting regret that I had just wasted four plus months doing absolutely nothing - I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do with my life, hadn’t even really looked back at my time in Europe and my brain power overall was seriously depleted (I could no longer remembers dates, key facts and was more ditzy and forgetful than my pregnant girlfriends.) It was around this time that, although consciously dreading the return to work, I was also beginning to look forward to getting back into some sort of routine and rejoining the community of working people.

I guess in the end, the sabbatical served some purpose…I got to see a lot of great friends all over the world and at the end I was, and am, ready to go back to work. The question really is, how long will I want to stay back at work.