At work, a few weeks ago, they laid off about 10% of the workforce. I know it's not news anymore but it still came as a surprise because at the beginning of the year, they talked about how well we did in 2008 and how we have enough money to last through the rough times. Apparently, people got the pink slips was because the top bosses were being “proactive” about the bad economy. But, like all those big banks, everyone who is still here gets that big fat bonus. People at work were super pissed with the layoffs. As an intern, I didn't feel strongly one way or the other, but it made me think hard if this is a company that I want to stay with for life and make a career at. Especially, if they don’t think twice about letting people go whenever there is a potential road block. Anyway, as a result of this “re-structuring”, things have gotten super busy. And it does not help to have a manager who works 15 hrs a days and is twice as smart as you. So I spend most days and some nights trying to play catch-up with him and end up feeling like a loser.
At home, things have been fairly smooth. We have given up the high hopes of keeping the house neat and tidy at all times, cooking fresh food for every meal and such. Now we are happy if there is frozen food or leftovers from last night for dinner and laundered clothes to wear. We clean the house over the weekends; that is if you count putting things back in their place as cleaning.
Very recently, I realized that between January 1st and March 15th, there is a birthday or an anniversary every other week in the family. So I decided to make sure that our future child’s birthday does not get lost in the jungle. Jan, Feb and March are ruled out. Nov is out for similar reasons. December is al already expensive month with all the Chritmas traveling. It’s too hot to be born between May and Aug. Besides, the kids would hate us because most schools are closed for the summer and they would have no friends around to celebrate with. That leaves me with Apr, Sep and Oct. MIL’s birthday is in Sep and FIL’s is in Oct. Going by my rule of not having a kid in the month when someone in the family has birthday, I am left with a narrow window of just 30 days in April! Awesome! Now its the perfect excuse to give to all those nosy aunty types who want to know if there is any “special news”. It would be super cool to say, “Sorry aunty, I missed the window for this year, but wish me luck for next!” Sorry people, I did not mean to actually type these things out and bore you to death. As you can tell, I do not have anything intelligent to say!
Speaking of kids, one of my bestest friends is preggers. I would have been a lot more enthusiastic about it, if not for the way I came to know of the news. To me, she is the kind of friend you would call, when you even consider the thought of having babies. She called to wish us on our anniversary and adds as an afterthought that she is 12 weeks pregnant, that too after telling half of the people we know in common. I was genuinely happy for her, but could not help feeling bad and left out. Of course, I played along with her not wanting to hurt her during her special time. Oh wait, may be I did. She sometimes reads this blog. But I really hope her pregnancy goes well and they have a healthy baby.
In other news, you remember my brother who was going to travel to the US to take his medical licensing exam? Ya, that one. He is traveling to the US this year to take the same exam. He will be staying with us for 4 months through the summer. I am super excited about his trip. And of course, I can’t wait for all the goodies my parents are sending with him.
With that, we come to the end of today’s edition. You all take care and I will be back with more news and updates soon, hopefully sooner than another 3 months!
