"Somebody's got a case of the Mondays!"

[Written October 5]

Big exciting day at work today! And by "big exciting" I mean "stressful" and then "boring as hell".

It all started last night, when I suddenly realized that my time card--which I needed to fax to my staffing agency by noon today--was somewhere at home... And I am house sitting 30 miles away. I had to get up an hour earlier than usual so I had enough time to get ready, drive home, get gas, and have enough time to search for the time card in case it wasn't in someplace logical. The 'getting gas' part of that was also extremely crucial. I always get Chevron, I'm a bit of a brand whore about it. If all I had to do was go to work, it would've been no big deal--there's a Chevron station on my way to the freeway. On my way home, however, there is nothing. So I am praying I'll make it to the Chevron station an exit away from my house the entire 25-minute drive home. I don't think I've ever driven so cautiously in my life.

Thankfully, my time card was easily recovered and I even had time to take my chipped-and-ugly black nail polish off. In celebration of the fact that I am officially caught up with the newest episodes of Mad Men, I wore a super cute Joan-style gray dress today. Obviously, Joan would never be caught dead wearing gray, but the cut is totally her! I'm just the modern American version of her. Hooray!

When I do get to work, I have absolutely nothing to do after I've faxed my time card. But despite the boredom, the afternoon has been somewhat productive in the Man Dept.

Ok, people, not that I am advocating office romances or just generally being a major slut-slut and flirting with every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the office, there is nothing wrong with choosing one or two (or even three, depending on the size of your company) cute co-workers with which to engage in witty banter with and bat eyelashes at. After last week I have two front-runners and a third who I am still assessing (read: I keep forgetting to check his hand for a wedding band and he is somewhat awkward in the interpersonal-relations department). I have described them as vaguely as possible (most favorite to least favorite) below.

Candidate Numero Uno...

• Nickname: "Jax", so named because of his slight resemblance to the (adorable) main character of Sons of Anarchy, and the fact that he definitely rides a motorcycle (crotch-rocket or Harley-style is yet-to-be-determined)
• Early Interactions: "Jax" works in Tech Support, and I met him on my first day. He is very nice and a little goofy-looking, but anyone who knows the physical attributes of my past beaus knows I like them a little on the goofy side! As I once told my mother and aunt, who tried to set me up with the former's super-metro/possibly-gay trainer, "I refuse to date any man who is prettier than me--my ego can't handle that!" On my third day he came down on his way out of the office to check up on me--and he had a motorcycle helmet in his hand. Yum. :)
• Today's Developments: After a short and friendly chat on the company email/instant messaging program in the early afternoon, he came downstairs to say Hello and ask how I was doing. He told me how busy he is (60 Tech Support calls today!), and I told him how bored I was and that if he had any clerical/busy work, I would gladly do it. But he didn't really have any of that, he said. His goatee was gone and he was wearing slacks and a button down, upping his attractiveness factor significantly (although detracting somewhat from his similarity to Jax Teller). I turned around and promoted conversation as long as possible.

Candidate Numero Dos...

• Nickname: "Victor", named in honor of the hot FedEx guy from my other job (although "Victor" has got nothing on Victor, looks-wise).
  
• Early Interactions: When he came in to pick up our outgoing packages on my first full day of work, we hit it off right away. He basically comes by to hang out with me for 10 to 15 minutes every afternoon. I crack him up the whole time.
  
• Reality Check: Ok, so maybe he's not a serious candidate for dating, but he seems pretty cool. Definitely Guy Friend material. I definitely look forward to his visits as a way to wrap up the end of the day.
  

Candidate Numero Tres...

• Nickname: "Gwen", after Gwen Stefani, which I called him after he told me that he was screening his calls. "Spiderwebs", anybody? Sorry, I'm a huge No Doubt fan. I may also refer to him simply as "Hot Accounting Guy".
  
• Early Interactions: I go through the mail, open, date-stamp, and sort all the incoming invoices. I then hand them off to "Gwen" because he is the supervisor of Accounts Payable. Thus, daily interaction and lots of chances to work my lady-like charms. ;V
• Today's Developments: One of the women in HR mentioned that she's never seen "Gwen" joke around with anyone ( you know accountants, always so serious and usually a little socially awkward :P). Part of it may also be his extremely dry, sarcastic sense of humor. I get the sense that he could probably keep a straight face through almost anything. I am gifted with an ability to appeal to many types of humor, so as soon as I made it obvious that I understood his humor, I was "in".
• Reality Check: He is older and as attractive as that is, it also distinctly raises the probability that he is in a relationship--or there is something fundamentally wrong with him, hahahaha.