The Perfect Storm

I have often joked that I'm a lot like a baby. It's pretty simple to keep me happy: I need to be fed often, well-rested, and have someone pay attention to me when I do something cute or funny. If one of these needs is not met, I get grumpy. If all three of these needs aren't met, I become a completely different person... hardly a person at all, actually. More like a bear.

Today just happened to be one of those days; I was sleep deprived, behind on a meal or two, and neglected and left at a computer to work all day. On top of that, add the fact that it was a Monday, a bad hair day, an impossible deadline at work was made even more impossible, it was almost 300º outside, I spent a good amount of time on the phone with and waiting at the DMV, and I couldn't find an outfit to fit the mood today. This, my friends, was the perfect storm.

Before you go thinking I'm one of those temperamental females who gets set-off easily with one little "bad day," let me give you some background info. Work has been insanely overwhelming lately. Like any other "retail" business, we have made many adjustments to soften the blows of the weak economy. Many of these adjustments included a loss of staff... really great staff. Not only are we short-handed, but we still have the same demands to meet with a skeletal crew of workers. I love my job. A lot. There isn't a day that I wake up and dread going to work. I realize that for this, I am luckier than the majority of the workforce. Unfortunately, however, the current demands at my job can be wearing to a worker who struggles with perfectionism and self-criticalness (I enjoy coining new words whenever I get the chance). So when the crap hit the fan with the deadlines at work today, I think I felt something in the back of my brain actually explode. Soon after that, I realized I was no longer productive trying to force myself to edit. I left work a bit early to head to the DMV and register my car... nearly three months late (that's a story for another day). After the run-around there, I gathered some items and headed to my church activity, of which I was in-charge. I got that rolling, head still spinning, and left early to do some "work." I had to stop off at the local Target to get one thing. They didn't have the one thing... but five pairs of shoes later, I was on my way home, in a slightly better mood (shoes: the all-American cure-all.)

On the drive home, while sipping my Coke slurpee, I heard something on the radio that made me laugh for the first time today: "Mr. football stadium wedding proposal guy." Although I don't condone drinking, I love a good Budweiser commercial as much as the next guy. Plus, it's been far too long since I've heard a new commercial from this campaign. Bravo, Budweiser. You may be slowly leading the next generation down a slow and painful path to a wasted life, but you've done something right: you broke my grumpy gus mood. And that's why I'm writing this post, and just how brain-dead I am... I'm encouraging you to search the corridors of this, the interweb, to find that commercial. Because I'll be darned if it doesn't make you laugh.

Good night, and good luck.