passive aggressiveness. followed by a sweet weekend.

friday evening, with the words "passive-aggressive" ringing through my head and after working an extra 1 1/2 hours overtime, i drove home nearly in tears.  i don't think that i could have wanted to win the lottery any more than i did during that drive - but, thankfully, my job is still intact.  then i went home and had a very in-depth, heart-to-heart with the husband, which, while magnificently productive, pushed me into migraine territory.

but fast forward to beautiful, sunshiny saturday afternoon, and we find ourselves with the mini on the shores of lake simcoe.  hopped up on sugary pop and sour cream and onion chips, we go with one of the husband's friends (and his two kids and the dog) in his motorboat and speed across the water.  joy.  bliss.  and that feeling of contentment flows into sunday (despite the fact that the mini now has a penchant for throwing things.  probably she was still a little tired from the boat ride.)

which allows me to finally look up what passive-aggressive means.  so i quote, from wikipock (seriously, the BEST blackberry app - we are now soooo addicted):

Passive–aggressive behavior, a personality trait, is passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations. It is a personality trait marked by a pervasive pattern of negative attitudes and passive, usually disavowed resistance in interpersonal or occupational situations.


It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate/repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible.[1]

i realized, that yes, when i am stressed, i CAN be like this.  except for maybe the procrastination and maybe a little of the deliberate.repeated failure bit - i really do not have enough time in the world to do everything.  (which is probably why i shouldn't be blogging right now.)  and i am absolutely guilty of making snide comments, negative jokes and i am sure that my facial expressions give my feelings away, no matter how quickly i try to mask them.  so i am going to take this feedback and run with it and try to make things better. for myself, not anybody else.  i don't really want to add this term to my resume.  :)

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blackberry. love. and hate.

i love my blackberry curve. i don't know what i ever did without it. i panic when i misplace it (and unfortunately put it on silent.) i love that it's a one stop shop for all my social networking/emails. i love it when the notification goes off for BBM and text messages. i love the way it sits on my desk and in my cup holder in the car.

however, today i hate it. i have my work email hooked up to it and i am so sorry that i checked it when it went off - nothing like angry clients ranting and raving on sundays! sometimes work anger should wait till monday. or i should turn the notification off on weekends. or i should gain the self-control NOT to check. sigh.

sometimes i miss the days when "blackberry" only meant you were talking about the fruit.

(thank you to the lovely bigbeanphotos for being so awesomely talented - that's their photo above!)

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labour day... what does it all mean?

(an undated photo of a Toronto Labour Day parade in the 1900's.)

according to wikipedia, Labour Day has been celebrated in canada since the 1880's. with roots reaching back to when the Toronto Typological Union staged a parade to bring attention to their strike demanding a 58 hour work week. as a result, parliament passed the Trade Union Act and soon all unions were in favour of a 58 hour work week. not shockingly, soon the work week was reduced to 40 hours so that the day could be broken up into "8 hours for work, 8 hours for play, and 8 hours for sleep." seriously, i used to work 50+ work weeks... talk about burnout! however, i know that there are many people who would probably work longer than that if there weren't labour laws... and i think that we need to protect our personal lives from interference from work!

as a working mom, with my own jewelry business on the side, i certainly feel like i "work" much more than 40 hours! but i am blessed to have the wonderful life that i have - and hopefully will be continuing to hack away at the work/life balance in my life! so... happy labour day! may there be picnics, sunshine and fireworks for everyone!

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