Vacation

So I have a real life job now. Alright, I have an internship, but it works the same. The most challenging thing I've had to deal with so far: figuring out how to get time off.

Just a quick note: My job is awesome. Seriously. It's the best job I've ever had, and I spent four years in high school getting paid upwards of 15 dollars an hour to file things. While this job pays significantly less than that one (oddly room and board is still included though :P) I love it all the more. Never have I worked in a place that values my gifts and passions in the way the staff at UPC does. They treat me like an adult, they care about my opinion, and they praise all the stuff I do. Always. They are an amazing staff and I love working in an environment that is so focused on God and uplifting staff people. Thus my conundrum.

I still consider the Tri-Cities home. I probably always will. And while Seattle is quickly becoming a close second, it still takes a back seat to Spokane. Probably because I still have friends and family there and because I spent three years joy, pain, and exhaustion of college. I made my best friends there, spent a meager year (to three depending on the friend) getting to know them, and then I left. Change has never been a concept I'm entirely comfortable with. Probably mostly because I'm almost infantile in my ability to completely forget something exists if it's not right in front of my face. Luckily the Friendzies have a thread on facebook that we all talk on, so I still remember them. But I think about/interact with my family maybe once a week, and even that's a pretty generous estimate. If I hadn't known most of them for the last 21 and a half years, I probably wouldn't remember what they look like.

So I tend to ask for time off. Which is probably not a good thing, but between the Sunday off a month I get just because otherwise I would die, and the four vacation days I started off with when I started working here, I've planned some pretty lengthy trips home, not all of which my boss was totally thrilled with. She's been more than gracious with letting leave almost at the drop of a hat, probably because I manage to get everything done anyway and I'm almost always careful to plan my Sundays off on weeks that won't be busy/short staffed.

She doesn't have to worry about me being gone too much though, because the vacation gods have her back.

I took my first real adult vacation last week. Where was this oh so important, monumental trip to you ask? Spokane. For what great purpose did I endeavor to use the first two of my four precious vacation days? To watch all 6 Star Wars movies in one day. What else?

It was shaping up to be an awesome trip. Me and Waldo, a fellow graduated Whitworthian were headed back to Spokane Tuesday night to get to Spokane at about midnight, hang out with the few Friendzies who still live in Spokane, and then get some much deserved sleep before enjoying a day of nothing but the Force, Tuskan Raiders, and that stupid face Luke makes when he finds out his dad is the most evil/confused being in the universe. Unfortunately, the vaca gods and the too old tuna casserole I'd joyfully eaten for lunch had other plans.

I spent all night not sleeping, puking, and generally feeling gross and unable to lay down, because that made my stomach worse. By the time everybody else got up I was almost feeling a little better, and an entire day spent nibbling soda crackers, drinking a massive amount of water, and sleeping through half the movies that were the entire reason for my trip and I was back to normal.

So my friends, if there is a moral to take from my tale, it is this. Ask for time off plenty in advance, always thank your boss for letting you go on silly random adventures with your best friends, and never eat tuna casserole if you can't immediately remember when you made it.