Apologies for the wall of text, but I think the set up is needed. Or maybe I'm just a writing nerd and I'm trying to give you realistic motivation, as well as rising actions and climax.

[16:18] BadgerSensei: I have come to realize that I need to get out of this damned place for a while.
[16:18] Ryn Valyn: Your home, the country, or your body?
[16:18] BadgerSensei: All of the above?
[16:18] BadgerSensei: I would settle for the state.
[16:19] Ryn Valyn: We should gather the troops and go on a road trip before we die.
[16:19] Ryn Valyn: Maybe not even a road trip.
[16:19] Ryn Valyn: But fly somewheres.
[16:20] BadgerSensei: I know you're uninterested, but I was hoping to go to blizzcon this year.
[16:20] BadgerSensei: Not sure I'm gonna be able to afford a ticket before they sell out.
[16:20] Ryn Valyn: Where's it at, Seattle?
[16:22] BadgerSensei: anaheim, I think
[16:23] Ryn Valyn: Ohhhh. When?
[16:23] BadgerSensei: Oct 10 &11? I think?
[16:24] Ryn Valyn: $100 MONIES?!
[16:24] Ryn Valyn: HAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA
[16:24] BadgerSensei: Yeah
[16:30] BadgerSensei: It's been.... a long time since I've gone anywhere for the hell of it
[16:32] BadgerSensei: And that's including trips to visit my ex. It's been ages since I even went to frigging florida. >.>
[16:34] Ryn Valyn: Ah ah, you did go to Texas.
[16:35] BadgerSensei: With my family.
[16:35] BadgerSensei: To see my sister graduate.
[16:35] BadgerSensei: That's... not really a vacation.
[16:35] Ryn Valyn: Hrm, probably not.
[16:35] BadgerSensei: I wanted to maul them by the time we were done.
[16:36] Ryn Valyn: Let's go to Anaheim. I'll stay in the hotel with the honeys.
[16:39] BadgerSensei: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UJOGNRZjFo&feature=related
[16:41] Ryn Valyn: Let's go to Anaheim. I'll go to BlizzCon and mack on the honeys.

Woo. So, my sister is graduating from USAF Basic Training Friday, in San Antonio. I will be heading down to see this with my parents and my aunt.

I wasn't going to go with them; short on money right now, for a several reasons, till my mother was like, "Well, I was gonna pay for you..." (I guess being responsible for getting four people from Ohio to San Antonio for less than the cost a single person would pay to fly otherwise has its rewards.)

So I'm going. Which means I had to wrestle the days off.

Found a guy who wanted extra hours, and who had a schedule that'd permit him to pick up my days... except... he's a new hire. Which, even though in training, and in the company manual, they said new hires can pick up all the hours they want, they just can't trade days off for the first six months... (It's a training issue, they want them getting exp.) And even though I picked up days for senior agents like a week out of training, the GM was all like, "Nope. Can't do it! You're a senior agent" (since when!?) "and they're new hires."

So, Jody (one of the supervisors.) went and dug up the manual, printed out the page that says new hires can pick up shifts... to which the GM responded by highlighting the part that says "At management discretion."

Finally, Jody called me into her office and said, "Those days are my shifts, I can do whatever the hell I want with them."

At which point we sat down and hashed out shift coverage so I can head off to San Antonio.

Also, it is my Friday today. And I don't have to be back at work until the equivalent of my Friday again; I essentially have a week off. And I am gonna spend four days or so in Texas, being away from work, and, more importantly, irritating coworkers.

Yay. First vacation, first trip out of state except for training, since last March, the last time I saw Jenna.

I feel.... relieved.