I think I just got fired.

it's a weird feeling. I put my two weeks notice in, but still had another four days to go. my boss wanted to know what our status was on our production schedule, and I told him a tad more candidly than I did before short timer syndrome set in. I don't think he appreciated it, 'cos the next thing I knew, he spent twenty minutes asking where I was on everything and what needed to be done, and I was scooted out the front door. it's a bit disturbing, as I had made plans for next week to go out for lunches, drinks, etc with some of the nicer coworkers. what bothers me more, however, is the state I left the desk in. there was a lot of low priority filing and whatnot I wanted to have cleaned up. I only got partway done. hell, he stopped me halfway through FAXING a bunch of order confirmations... it would have taken five minutes to finish. worst part is, our HR guy was gone. I have to go back in next week to finish my final paperwork, collect my last cheque, etc. it's just awkward, and it left me feeling uneasy. it must have shown on my face too, just when he told me today would be my last day (before I knew I'd be gone within the hour), because a friendly coworker asked what was wrong. I've never been fired before. that was something I was proud of. I guess technically I wasn't fired here either, since I did resign, but I was let go before I was ready. as miyuki says, not my problem anymore. let them deal with it.

so I start my new job tuesday. I had thought about starting at my previous agreed upon day, but that would mean losing a week's worth of pay. I'll be cashing out a week's worth of vacation, but I had planned on that being EXTRA money to go towards something like a computer or elliptical trainer. if I sit around the house all next week playing lego star wars, I can kiss that $500 good-by, as it would become normal income used for food, bills, etc. as it is, I'll have a three and a half day weekend to decompress. hopefully that's enough. I do start with a week's vacation at the new job too, so I can take some time off sooner or later anyway. and now I'll have a memorab;e start date again... I started the old job on hallowe'en. I (re-)start the new job on talk like a pirate day.

guess I'll get back to my lego game... I just unlocked invincibility, which makes those flying levels a whole lot easier. the death star run and the hoth battle are both worth the price of the game alone. you get to trip up AT-AT's with your snow speeder tow cable! it's so frickin' cool!

blah.

miyuki got free tickets to last nights mariners game through work. it was the company party dealie, so we got gift cards to the concessions as well. in all, we paid $1.35 for the game ($0.35 for ten minutes work of street parking, $1 for my soda that wasn't covered by the card). good game too. kenji hit a three run homer and richie hit a grand slam. it's the second game we've been to this year that richie's hit hisself a salami. we also got tickets for sunday's game at the last minute, one of her coworkers had to give them up. set of four tickets. I had a couple people lined up to go with us, but on has already bailed. I'm expecting the other to as well (coworker who has never followed through on commitments to meet up outside of work). we may just end up selling the other two to a scalper... hey, it's a free $60 if we do. we could go out for a nice dinner after. a really nice dinner.

I gave my notice. my boss wasn't happy. he almost reacted like the whiney dumped boyfriend stereotype... "did I mislead you when I hired you? what did I do wrong?" most of my other coworkers weren't exactly surprised, but they're worried what'll happen. despite not getting paid much and constantly getting shit without any rewards, my job was fairly crucial to production. at one point my boss asked me if I was relieved. he then went on to ask me to document, in detail, all of my job duties, because he wouldn't be able to replace me in the two weeks. this is, of course, despite the fact that the girl I replaced (she wanted to be a stay at home mom) has since said she'd love to come back. I guess he decided he doesn't want her back for whatever reason, but that's not my problem. she only did the damn job for five years, she knows how to do it better than I do... I do find it somewhat odd that there have been several guilt trips to try to get me to change my mind.

I'm not even sure what to expect with the new job going back to the "family business"... I do know what the company entails tho, so I know it'll be better, even if only slightly. fewer variables out of my control, which is the important thing. the job description is firmly established, and they won't add a shitload to it after I start without moving me to another position. and from the sounds of it, they don't even want me to move. they want to groom me to replace a guy who is retiring after 30 years of doing quotes. sounds to me like the job is fairly stable...

not much else going on around here. I'm really looking forward to lego star wars II released tuesday. I'm a bit of a nerd.

end of an era.

it's pretty much wrapped up, I'll be putting in my two weeks notice tomorrow. going back to the old "family business" for what will be my fourth hiring. that may be a company record. it's a fifteen minute commute, and I'll be doing quotations, with emphasis on heating (eventually). the plus side is I'll still get to yell at the corporate purchasing department, which was always one of my favourite pastimes...

so tomorrow I get to go in and give my notice. I don't even wanna know what my boss is gonna do. I've been TRYING to get caught up for weeks now, since I've known about this for almost two months. unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be working. I'm still buried under a huge pile of paperwork. probably doesn't help that I've been given a shitload of pointless busy work, which is part of the reason I'm leaving. I'm hoping they bring back the girl I replaced (who seemingly has grown tired of being a stay at home mommy), which might free me up to leave sooner. she won't need any training (she did the job for five years), just a few hours to bring her up to speed on what's going on.

what sucks is I called in sick yesterday. I really am sick. nasty fucking cold. I was coughing so violently I even threw my back out, which just added injury to illness... damn you, paul. not only does it look bad to call in sick (at the end of a long weekend, no less) right before giving notice, but that's eight hours less vacation pay I'll be getting on my last cheque. it's basically a hundred bucks pissed away. you suck, paul.

man, tomorrow is gonna both suck and be cool, but I don't want to deal with it... does life have a fast forward button?

weekend of ten thousand calories.

I won't need to eat for about three days after this weekend. there was so much food, and I just couldn't help myself.

we went to a korean bbq with paul saturday, because simba's was closed... ordered a combo plate that said it would feed 2-3 people. it would have fed 5-6. we made a valiant effort, but still left quite a bit of food on the table. it's the last time we'll see paul for at least a year, and possibly ten to twenty, so I made sure to pass along the advice that if he found himself in a thai prison for some reason, he should promptly confess to killing jon-benet, and they'll send him right home.

then we went to richmond for #9 chinese and night market. #9's lemon chicken was as good as advertised. despite not being hungry from our monstrous lunch, we ate a ton of chinese... we then went to night market, promptly lost the rest of our group... miyuki bought some socks. we got some fresh mini donuts, for breakfast, but ended up eating them on the way out... there's something about fresh donuts that are irresistible.

sunday led to chineefoo, and I didn't eat as much as normal... we had nine people for a $65 cheque. I did get my pork fried rice and steam buns, so I was happy with that... sunday night we had chicken katsu at miyuki's parents...

we got home about midnight last night. went for dim sum today with what are probably as close to our dopplegangers as we'll ever find. canadian asian girl (altho vietnamese, not japanese) married to a tall white 'merkin named chris. they were nice people, but dim sum was a tad disappointing as we couldn't find much to eat without shrimp in it. the bbq pork steam buns at the restaurant (jade garden) were about the bestest I've ever had... we then went over to aunt jemima for bubble tea and other snacks...

and for dinner, miyuki is making a stew with about fifteen onions in it. I love onions, but my gawd my eyes are burning right now...

so when people ask what we did this weekend? we ate. a lot.

unfortunately, I'm getting a big ol' nasty cold right now. miyuki thought paul may have been getting over something, so I'm going to blame him. it's always paul's fault. even if I did end up with the cold from a guy at work who was out half of last week with a nasty bug. dammit, paul.

oh, and unless that five hour energy drink fuggered up my whiz quiz, I'll be going in tomorrow to hammer out the details to go back to work as a toiletmonger. joy.