The Marci Rating System

*it's very hot

*and humid

*I don't think anyone should have to work in this weather

*including me

*this weather is for lying on the floor and not moving

*and drinking cold beverages

*and napping if possible

*aka: all tasks delayed until heat is over, thx

I went to the dentist this week, which is always An Endeavor. There was a new dentist who looked at my teeth, which is Even More An Endeavor. BUT! It did also include some memorable moments.

1. Dentist asked if I'd ever had ortho. I had no idea what that meant. My utterly blank expression must have clued them in, because they clarified 'like braces.' "Oh," I said. "No." The dentist said, "okay." WHY DID THEY ASK? WHAT DOES 'OKAY' MEAN IN THIS CONTEXT?????????

2. Dentist asked if I used a night guard. I said no. They said I might want to consider it, to reduce clenching my jaw. Out loud, I agreed. Inwardly, all I could think was BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I AM CLENCHING MY JAW MOSTLY AT NIGHT, NEW DENTIST.

[Seriously, though, night time: I am sleeping. Calm. Relaxed. I love sleeping! Cozy blankets, no responsibilities. Compare to day time: I am awake. Having experiences like going to the dentist and attending work meetings. Which of these times seems more likely to cause me to clench my jaw?????????]

ANYWAY, the verdict from New Dentist was that my teeth look "pretty stable." Yay, thanks, that's really encouraging, stranger who's never interacted with me ever before, but just stuck their fingers in my mouth without asking for permission!

me: wow, why do I feel like this? is everything just ::crying, weeping, rage, despair:: forever? am I just like this now? will I ever feel okay again????????

me: ...wait a minute

me: ::checks app that keeps track of stuff I forget::

app: 'your period is scheduled to start in one (1) day'

me: ah

me: yeah, that explains it. body, let's get you some more iron. brain, let's get you some caffeine. we're gonna make it through this, I promise.

I'm trying to space out the Murderbot Diaries audiobooks to give me time to enjoy the anticipation, so I've been sprinkling in other books in between. And the library very conveniently delivered 'A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet' (by Becky Chambers) from my hold list at the perfect time!

Things that are GREAT about this book:

*I fell asleep almost instantly. Woke up about an hour later, fell back asleep. VERY RESTFUL. (Full disclosure: I was already planning on napping)

So, yeah, the narrator has a very calming voice, I guess? (I just checked the book; it's narrated by Rachel Dulude. Thanks Rachel! That was the nicest nap I've had in a long while.)

Things that make it unlikely that I'll finish this book:

*The loan is for 7 days, and the book is 14 hours long, and I'm not actually planning on napping for 14 hours in the next week. I mean, that might be good for me? But also maybe not.

I've only listened to one Becky Chambers book before (Psalm for the Wild Built), and found it similarly calming, although I'm pretty sure I managed to stay awake for that one. (Different narrator!)

[NOTE: I'm so intrigued by how much the narrator impacts the audiobook experience! In my limited experience of listening, it seems like there are narrators who read the book, and there are narrators who tell the story, and those are way more different than I would have guessed.]

And this day has PLANS:

*PLANTS!

*GROCERIES!

*...a haircut? that's wildly optimistic, and it would probably be a lot easier to put it off until next weekend, since that one will have an extra day, but it does feel like something that would be nice to do today

I took an 'employee engagement' survey yesterday (semi-required by work, in the sense that it's 'strongly encouraged,' and also why not? if I'm willing to write about my work feelings online, I feel like I should be willing to write about them on a survey).

But of course it wasn't a survey with a lot of nuance -- it was a LOT of statements, all of which you got to respond to with one (1) of the following options:

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Not applicable

And the statements were things like "The goals and values of the company are clearly communicated," and "I feel like I belong here," and many, many more. And all of the statements were things that were conceptually quite complex, not anything that could really be summed up by something like a blanket 'agree' or 'disagree.' (I answered a lot of 'neither agree nor disagree,' which always make me add in my head 'but some secret third thing, which is that this is a question that requires a long-form answer!')

Big plans for this weekend, which is to say: not working!

Also featuring:

*hummingbird feeder time! (need to check if I still have any sugar...)

*grocery store time! (definitely should check the sugar supply before this)

*switching out the Easter decorations! (won't need sugar for this except for ingesting, in the form of delicious snacks; see 'grocery store' for inspiration)

Found the level app on my phone, can confirm that all four shelves in the lil' shelving unit are 100% level. (Well, they're all a zero on the level app, which means 100% level. Because that's how math works!)

Which is wild because that means that I guess the shelves were maybe just made that way? With a bit of a lean! No judgement here, they look great!

(There are surely other explanations, but none that are as funny. To me, personally.)

*LOL everything was fine at work. Not even sure they noticed I wasn't there.

*I do feel a lot of sympathy for one of my coworkers, who has the unenviable role of being the person asked to "look into" every fleeting idea that pops into the heads of our bosses.

*My role is much more along the lines of saying things like 'that would take at least six weeks to get approved,' which is much longer than most of the fleeting ideas last, and also has the benefit of being true.

*I keep forgetting it's Thursday, because yesterday was my work!Monday. Gotta get ready for that Thursday morning meeting!

*haha just kidding, the Thursday morning meeting is mostly just me saying a bunch of random stuff about the projects I'm assigned

*there is no value to the Thursday morning meeting; it was created two bosses ago because that boss didn't want to boss but kept getting asked the status of my projects; so they made me do a book-report style meeting every week for everyone who asked; all I'm supposed to do is read out the status that's already shown in the project tracker

*and then the two bosses after them were just like 'idk I guess this meeting must be important let's not rock the boat'

*and I don't want to be the one to tell them that it's not, because I like to maintain the illusion

*sometimes I also update people on the drought tracker

*SPEAK TRUTHS, REVEAL NOTHING: a valid workplace strategy

One of my coworkers let us know that yesterday was 'Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day,' and I am So Proud of myself for not saying anything along the lines of 'oh, I do that every day.'

I mean, if they're clothes you wear to sleep in, they're pajamas, right? But if they're clothes you wear to work, they're work clothes. If those just HAPPEN to be the same thing sometimes, then clothes must be defined by context instead of content. Which means any clothes you're wearing to work would be, by definition, work clothes, not pajamas.

So there! Definitely don't always wear my pajamas to work. That would be ridiculous!