I capture the weekend.

Work has been kind of lame the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping it perks back up soon. People keep throwing me under the bus in situations. It gets to be really annoying. And most of the time, the situations are tiny things that don't matter. But, this week it was a bigger deal. The decision was out of my hands and should have been handled by someone with authority, but that particular person decided that they didn't want to handle it and passed it off on me to take the brunt of the frustration and anger. Which only makes me frustrated and angry as well. So, then you have multiple people frustrated and angry at a situation that neither of them created but both are forced now to deal with because everyone who made the decision has gone elsewhere. It's a pain. Luckily, I've been down this road before and know enough to not be too surprised when it happens. Still, it sucks. The people who do it are often not doing it on purpose. I work with really fantastic people and I think sometimes people just freak out and say or do the first thing that comes to mind and often that is (to my mind) an over-reaction and an immediate attempt to push blame off on someone else. This is silly and totally not necessary. Nobody at work is scary and I have a really hard time imagining anyone really getting into much trouble as far as the things that we deal with in my little area. None of it is do or die, and none of it requires the old 'sacrificing a co-worker for my own mistake' spiel.

Humans are silly animals.

In my continuing attempts to decorate my work area, I'm trying to learn origami. My hope is to make some cranes or some butterflies or something that I can then hang from the ugly florescent light above my cubicle. I promised someone who works in another area that I'd make one for them, too. Assuming I actually am able to get the hang of it. So far, I'm pretty awesome at pinwheels...which is nice, but not quite what I was hoping for. I have one crane, but it's a sad looking attempt. I will get better. One of my agenda items for the weekend is to find an origami book at the library and go to town with this goal.

What else? I have my drunk experiment this weekend too. I mentioned a while back that I was asked to be part of an alcohol experiment. I've had one session already and I have my second this weekend. I fully expect to fail everything this time around. The first time around was not that easy and it was done completely sober. They do indeed make you do math. Without a calculator. And it's timed. And you had to get over a certain percentage (85%) on the entire math section in order to stay in the experiment. I passed, but it was ridiculous. There's no way I'm going to pass a math test after drinking. There's really only a slight chance that I'll give the math questions even half a drunken thought. Math and I are sworn enemies.

I got my Birchbox for this month and it was a big huge winner. I got some great things plus a coupon for money off of an order from Modcloth.com! This makes my week. Yes, I might get thrown under the bus again, but next time I'll be wearing something extra cute from Modcloth. Somebody help that girl in the fabulously fantastic retro blouse up off the pavement, won't you? Don't forget to help her find her adorable little purse, too.

Oh, and Mizzou lost their first game in the NCAA tournament today. Oops. They barely even got to show their faces. Oh, well. They still have had a really awesome season and I'm proud of them and what they've accomplished as we leave the Big 12 and head over to the SEC. Onward!

Last, but definitely not least, my dad makes grissini sometimes and he made it this week. Grissini are small twisty breadsticks. They can be crunchy or kind of chewy, and they can have any number of toppings on them from sesame seeds, salt, or sometimes just plain. I was at his house last night and had to check myself before I would have eaten them all. I stopped at two. He put a buttery pesto mix and salt on some this time around and I think it makes them even more delicious than normal. Grissini are what you get as the pre-dinner munchies at some restaurants in northwestern Italy. Most of that area is heavily influenced by what you might normally think of as French fare and I think probably the grissini is based off of that as well, but with an Italian twist. You don't see this in the Central region or near Venice. It was a surprisingly delicious discovery when we went to celebrate Oxi and Damiano's marriage a couple of years ago in a small town west of Torino. I don't think you can really beat Northwestern Italian cooking, in terms of Nom-iness. Nom nom nom!

Ciao a tutti!