Monday, May 6, 2013
Oxymoron
I noticed somebody's status tonight, and it reminded me of this song. I guess I sort of do know what that person's status is referring to. It's really not something I want to see.
I don't remember how I know this song. It must have been from some other YouTube video. It's one of those songs that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love it because it sounds nice and says things that I can relate to. But, at the same time, I hate it because the things it says are the painful things.
How can the words "I love you" and "goodbye" go in the same sentence? There's a very fine line between walking away in hopes that the person you love will find a better path and robbing the person you love of what he/she wants most: you.
This is what I got in trouble for. I'll never forget those words.
What were you thinking?
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Cheers
Way back when...
On an April day, she was driving me to class. She stopped at a gas station and came out with a bottle of pop. She said it was the one year anniversary of when we met. Pop was the closest thing to alcohol we could get at that point in time. It made me laugh, but at the same time, it was sweet of her.
A little further back, I was eating at her place. She gave me a can of alcohol-free beer. At the time, I never even knew such a thing existed.
I remember one time she mentioned she enjoyed going out after work for wings and beer, and that she missed those days of her life. I know that was what she wanted to do with me. It made me laugh, because I knew very well that she would never eat wings.
She always wanted to have a drink with me. But, in some ways, in her eyes, relative to her, I was still a kid. Having spent so much time at her place, for sure there were lots of times when we really could have had a drink together. But we never did. She didn't want me to drink.
Strangely, here I am today, having a drink or two every so often. But none has been with her.
Do I really like the taste of any of those alcoholic drinks? No. Not particularly. But, for whatever reason, when there is the opportunity, I buy into it. Perhaps, in some ways, at the back of my mind, there is always the illusion that maybe it'll wash away all the things I don't want to think about.
At times, I wonder what would happen if we really had been drinking together. We trusted each other and I know, for a fact, that we both let our guard down quite a bit when we were together. So, top that off with alcohol, what would happen? What would she say? What would I say? What would happen?
I guess...at the back of my mind...I can make a pretty good guess.
On an April day, she was driving me to class. She stopped at a gas station and came out with a bottle of pop. She said it was the one year anniversary of when we met. Pop was the closest thing to alcohol we could get at that point in time. It made me laugh, but at the same time, it was sweet of her.
A little further back, I was eating at her place. She gave me a can of alcohol-free beer. At the time, I never even knew such a thing existed.
I remember one time she mentioned she enjoyed going out after work for wings and beer, and that she missed those days of her life. I know that was what she wanted to do with me. It made me laugh, because I knew very well that she would never eat wings.
She always wanted to have a drink with me. But, in some ways, in her eyes, relative to her, I was still a kid. Having spent so much time at her place, for sure there were lots of times when we really could have had a drink together. But we never did. She didn't want me to drink.
Strangely, here I am today, having a drink or two every so often. But none has been with her.
Do I really like the taste of any of those alcoholic drinks? No. Not particularly. But, for whatever reason, when there is the opportunity, I buy into it. Perhaps, in some ways, at the back of my mind, there is always the illusion that maybe it'll wash away all the things I don't want to think about.
At times, I wonder what would happen if we really had been drinking together. We trusted each other and I know, for a fact, that we both let our guard down quite a bit when we were together. So, top that off with alcohol, what would happen? What would she say? What would I say? What would happen?
I guess...at the back of my mind...I can make a pretty good guess.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Tax Season #4
It's hard to believe that this is already my fourth tax season. It's been a long way. From the first work term, when I had absolutely no idea what things go into a tax return. To this year, I worked on some of the biggest and most complicated clients.
This year, it's been very tiring, for many reasons.
As work started to get busy in January, things in my personal life took a turn and my workload increased a lot. I know I was expected to put in the hours at work, but I also had things at home to tend to. The truth is, if I don't take care of things, nobody will.
In March and April, as the personal tax work started coming, I was thrown out into the field. Unfortunately for me, the field work that I have picked up over the years all come at this time of the year. It's been stressful to know that while I'm out at clients during the day, a whole different set of work is piling up on my desk in the office. (This is a real problem in this office. One boss assigns me to one thing, and another is giving more other stuff. Neither is aware of what I already have.)
I've known that the office has a lot of personal tax work, and I've known that I do a lot of tax returns over these few months. Out of curiosity, this year, I kept track:
127 tax returns. (Or actually more, because some clients have more than one return.)
For the last little while, some people at work have been talking about how many hours they've put in and how many they want to put in. They are satisfied and think they've done enough if they hit a certain number of hours. To me, I've never looked at it that way. To me, I'm a member of this firm, there's a job to be done, so I'm going to work and make sure it gets done. In fact, it always seems horrible to me that on the last day most of us are hanging around chatting and chilling while the more senior people are frantically trying to finish their work and the admin people are crazily printing and delivering packages. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do to help them.
Out of curiosity, I also looked at my hours and compared them with previous years. To put things into perspective, an average work week is 35 hours and so an average month is about 140-150 hours. Interestingly, in the past three years, I put in 244 hours during the month of April. This year:
272 hours.
The last time I had a day off was Apr 7th. Since then it's been about 12-13 hours on weekdays and 9-10 hours on weekends. The craziest part was that I did not expect to be working the Sunday before the deadline, but that ended up being the longest Sunday work day ever.
So 127 tax returns and 272 hours later, I think I've earned my day off.
This year, it's been very tiring, for many reasons.
As work started to get busy in January, things in my personal life took a turn and my workload increased a lot. I know I was expected to put in the hours at work, but I also had things at home to tend to. The truth is, if I don't take care of things, nobody will.
In March and April, as the personal tax work started coming, I was thrown out into the field. Unfortunately for me, the field work that I have picked up over the years all come at this time of the year. It's been stressful to know that while I'm out at clients during the day, a whole different set of work is piling up on my desk in the office. (This is a real problem in this office. One boss assigns me to one thing, and another is giving more other stuff. Neither is aware of what I already have.)
I've known that the office has a lot of personal tax work, and I've known that I do a lot of tax returns over these few months. Out of curiosity, this year, I kept track:
127 tax returns. (Or actually more, because some clients have more than one return.)
For the last little while, some people at work have been talking about how many hours they've put in and how many they want to put in. They are satisfied and think they've done enough if they hit a certain number of hours. To me, I've never looked at it that way. To me, I'm a member of this firm, there's a job to be done, so I'm going to work and make sure it gets done. In fact, it always seems horrible to me that on the last day most of us are hanging around chatting and chilling while the more senior people are frantically trying to finish their work and the admin people are crazily printing and delivering packages. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do to help them.
Out of curiosity, I also looked at my hours and compared them with previous years. To put things into perspective, an average work week is 35 hours and so an average month is about 140-150 hours. Interestingly, in the past three years, I put in 244 hours during the month of April. This year:
272 hours.
The last time I had a day off was Apr 7th. Since then it's been about 12-13 hours on weekdays and 9-10 hours on weekends. The craziest part was that I did not expect to be working the Sunday before the deadline, but that ended up being the longest Sunday work day ever.
So 127 tax returns and 272 hours later, I think I've earned my day off.
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