I dreaded the moment I realized that I was officially "old". I've been having back problems that started late last year and I kept hearing the saying "Once you start having back problems, it never really goes away." So, after 4 months of frustrating trips to 3 different chiropractors who all told me the best route is 6 months of therapy to even START to feel a relief in pain, I called my regular practitioner and screamed I NEED DRUGS! I could not function. On my best days I could walk a few feet without wincing in pain and slightly turn without turning my entire body.

She gave me muscle relaxers to help me sleep more than 4 hours during the night, and then anti-inflammatory during the day. Both of which knocked me out within 10 minutes of ingestion. But I was back to my old self in 3 days. That's right... 6 months?!? HA! You want me to fork over $30 a session, 3 days a WEEK, for 6 GODDAMN MONTHS?! I feel better in 3 DAYS with only $12. You. Cannot. Even. Come. Close. To. Beating. That.

Now to the actual point of this post: I must've slept wrong early last week, because I woke up with my neck so stiff I couldn't move it more than half a degree without screaming in absolute agony. By mid-day my poor neck was screaming out as if it were supporting the head of an elephant. Then of course it effected my back and even the leftover drugs took some time to get me back on track.

My mother making me feel extra old suggested I get the pillow grandma uses. Those memory foam contoured pillows to help with neck support while you sleep. After groaning and griping about it I bought a set that was 2 for $25. As soon as I got it I was high from the chemical smell it emanated, but once that subsided it wasn't all too bad. In fact after the first hour I really did feel a difference. I gave the extra one to lil sis since she was talking about having lower back problem, to which I immediately shoved the pills down her throat, telling her you do not want it to get to the point where you become immobile.

The pillows presented a new problem in the house, however. During the first night I eased into my new pillows and immediately fell asleep. Mid night however my 10 lb. toy poodle managed to maneuver my head off the pillow and sprawled himself on it. He was literally on this thing as if it depended on his life. I reached over to pick him up and move him back to his corner of the bed, but then the bastard started growling with the murderous intent that if I so much as even attempted to do what I was going to do, I was going to lose my hand, and possibly a large portion of my forearm.

I woke up in the morning with the same story from my sister. Her dog, who weighs all of like 7 lbs. won't even let her get near it. If she gets close to the pillow he'll dart out of absolutely nowhere to pounce on it and won't budge until he's convinced we've forgotten about it. We both looked each other and just shook our heads. This was a battle that was not going to be won.

I've already gone ahead and ordered another set.

At Job2 right now and a baby bird fell out of it's nest and my brilliant associates took it upon themselves to scoop it into a bucket and place it in one of the manager's offices. Not to mention one of associates from a department is a part time EMS and declared that this qualified him to pronounce that this baby bird would not make it much longer, and said he would take it home.

Being addicted to Google, I immediately did a quick search on baby bird out of nest as well as contacting my veterinarian (which I have conveniently on speed dial, being the frantic mother of two knuckleheaded dogs who constantly bash into things and leap off of high places that require a parachute). There was no other answer than to put it back into it's nest, regardless of it's condition. I relay this to my fellow co-workers and the response is... "But it's so high up!" NO SHIT. They're not going to make their nests at ground level for the convenience of predators. And, what's this? We work in a store that has a whole aisle dedicated to ladders? Oh, and as an added bonus we also have a special lift that goes those extra high distances without injuring anyone? WOW, so it really wouldn't be all that much trouble to take 5-10 minutes to save this little baby bird's life, huh?

Will keep an update on whether I can convince job2 to do what is being strongly recommended and leave the baby back with it's parents, which is what we do with human babies when something horribly goes wrong.

UPDATE: Just as I suspected these heartless monsters are not helping this baby back to it's parents. In fact the store manager and another associate suggested we put it out of it's misery and throw it in the trash compactor. I was tempted to call the headquarters and report major assholeness going on right here but didn't think that being uncompassionate would be underlined anywhere in the handbook.

So the temporary solution is I'm taking it home. As my sister so adorably insanely put "Better it died in the hands of a loving one then that of a demonic one". We're going to take it home and tend to it best we can, and then call the wildlife rescue first thing on Monday.

A lot has happened in the past couple of months. I got laid off from the newspaper and was given 2 months notice to find another job in this economy. Something which is considered absolutely impossible, I've managed to pull off.... The downside is like the rest of population it came with a major paycut. The offers just weren't as generous as they were, say 3 years ago. Even my friend who works in the city in legal had to take a $10k paycut in salary. I didn't feel as bad but the looming debt that is to be accrued definitely scared me.

So the new job is great. Been there about 3 weeks. I'm definitely learning something that's more in line of my field and not being bored in an industry that's dying off in 10 years. It's refreshing to be challenging and at the same time I am terrified. I'm in a whole new terrified and panic sets in on a daily basis. When I panic I get nervous and then my precision is compromised. I'm screwing things up left and right, taking a lot longer to get things done and it's nerve wrecking that they might see I'm not as qualified as I may have showcased myself to be.

Maybe it's just paranoia. I don't know. But being the new person definitely doesn't help. All the attention is focused on me and I just saw another job posting on Craigslist for the area and the immediate thought that popped in is "OMIGOD ARE THEY REPLACING ME ALREADY?!"

We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. I am picking things up to do things on my own more and more, but at the same time I don't know if it's the owner's wife that isn't helping my situation settling in. As my co-worker put so accurately, "She's like a bull in a china shop." She goes around thrashing and asking questions on projects she has no concept on what's going on, and making things worse when they really aren't that bad. So her abrasive attitude makes me more nervous because I'm trying to go as unnoticed as possible while trying to pick things up as quickly as possible. But I feel if I pace myself then they might thing I'm too slow.