arrrrgh. headache.

I've been fighting a headache all day. Someone in my department apparently fired up some new piece of equipment and it still had machine oil or something in it, there is this weird burnt-oil smell in the hall.

I agreed to help people from my church serve dinner at the local "soup kitchen" (well, really, we serve full meals, not just soup) this afternoon. I AM NOT BAILING, even though I don't feel red hot. I've had too many people bail on me when they agreed to help me.

But I admit I'm apprehensive. I'm not that great at interacting with people I don't know at the best of times. And our "random public" can be pretty random.

I also realized why I so rarely read much in my office any more. People (colleagues) have conversations out in the hall, the sound carries, and it distracts me. And it feels cranky and mean for me to step out and go, "Hey, guys...I know you're standing outside Jen's office to talk, but I can hear it. Yeah, I know, I'm just next door but I'm reading..."

So I surf the web instead of reading the journals I SHOULD be reading, then haul them home on the weekend and get cranky because I don't take time to relax on the weekend.

Ear plugs. Maybe I have to bring the extra ear plugs I bought for my evil neighbor's barking dog in to my office and use them. Though that seems just as cranky in a passive-aggressive way for me to pull an ear plug out to hear someone if they come in to speak to me. Argh. Sometimes it frustrates me that our offices are sort of "tenement style" where someone whispering at the end of the hall can be heard in most of the other offices.