KRISTA OVERBY BEST FRIEND

Well, What do you know, KO Best Friend got an advice question emailed to her!  Lucky day, I’d been feeling this build up of excess wisdom and looky here…I get to expel some right out onto this here internet.  So, lets get right to it.
Dear BF,

My brother is taking a bunch of college courses like ethics, humanities, english, piano, physics, geometry, geography, orchestra, basically everything, and he has to write 100 page papers for every one of these classes. He wants me to help him write these endless papers at midnight every night. So he drags me into the computer room to sit with him while he sings along to Les Miserables and doesn’t write. It is highly entertaining for awhile, but I am tired, and these 100 page papers aren’t any closer to getting finished. Thanks for you wisdom BF.

(Insert clever pseudonym here. My brain is mush.) Ok, I will, and I choose Sucker Sister.

Dear SS,

Oh man I remember those days.  I sat for hours in my bedroom as a teenager singing On My Own…oh God, here I go…I can’t stop it - On my own pavement shines like silver…Oh and the best part would be when the climax of the song comes and you sing out - And I know, it’s only in my mind!  When I’m talking to myself and not to him….oh man…that’s some great stuff.   I know I wasn’t the only one who used to sing this song alone in her room at 14 (Jennie B).

Anyway, back to your dilemma.  Sister it seems like on one hand you have one little over achieving brother on your hand.  (He’s got one heavy course load.  He must go to one crazy school, I don’t think I ever had to write a hundred page paper.)  And on the other hand you have a brother that is probably so overwhelmed he reaches out to the only two things that make him feel like they can help…you and show tunes.  I think it’s great he feels like you can help him as long as it’s just help.  Do you think he feels that if he sings enough depressing numbers you will feel just like Jean Vajean and want to do everything for him?  Stealing a loaf of bread for your family is one thing and doing all your brothers work is another.  And what’s with this waiting until midnight to ask for assistance?  Sounds to me like your brother has a bad case of the Fuck!  I’m in over my head so I’m just going to ignore everything and hope it will go away disease, but in the meantime I’m going to try one last ditch effort and see if someone else will do it all for me…which is one step above the…maybe it will all go away part….trust me on this…I’ve been there.

If I can offer you any advice it would be to sit down with your brother and say - Listen dude, I want to be able to help you.  I like the fact you think I can get you through rough patches, but this is your work, not mine.  If you want me to help you work through some tough pages or edit some stuff, let me know…in advance and definitely not at midnight…or even after prime time television is over.   But little dude, I can’t do your work for you.  I would then ask him if he feels overwhelmed and perhaps offer to help him figure out if he can drop a course or two.  Get him to speak with an adviser at the school who might be able to speak with him about getting back on track, or even offer some thoughts about extensions.  I know the over-achievers of this world don’t like to admit they can’t do it all, but your brother might be using his late night vocal stylings as a call for help.

And if anything, perhaps he should consider a future in musical theater.  He could drop everything except piano and orchestra and just focus on what makes him happy, which in this case is poor French people and the heartbreak of unrequited love.

Yours,

Krista Overby Best Friend

Alone.  I feel alone.  I miss having my own friends.  I’m living with some of my best friends, but I feel lonely because I’m fallen into their life and am desperately seeking to build one of my own.  I’m sitting here alone tonight and want to call someone so bad and say, hey what are you doing, want to hang out?  But I have no one.  I’ve chosen this, I know I have.  I just want to fast forward this part of the “Krista’s New Life” and stop on the point when I have a job and a place to live and some friends.  Ah shit, I’m just feeling sorry for myself.  I’m going to try to stop now.

I know, I’ll rate my temp job!  Yeah!

Of course, the temp ratings are as follows:

1 = Hellish
3 = Are they serious with this shit?
5 = Fine, if you have no expectations
7 = Niiiice
10 = Are there any job openings?

I grade the following perks: snacks and drinks, chair, other admins, boss man, location, and extras.

1.  Snacks and Drinks - (6) I knew when I moved to Denver the work scene would be a little different.  I don’t know why or in what way, it’ just something I thought…in my head.  So, basically I had low expectations.  Saying that I was pleasantly surprised when the company I’ve been temping for - I’ll call it, Doctors Can Be Pricks, offered free water and diet coke.  Nice work.  Sadly, they don’t offer coffee, although they do have a coffee maker…but no one ever makes the coffee.  Perhaps I should?  Nah…I’ll just complain about not having any.
2.  Chair - (5) - I haven’t really thought much about my chair, which can only mean it’s fully adequate.  In fact I couldn’t even tell you what color it is and I’ve worked there almost 3 weeks.

3.  Other Admins - (7) - it’s a really small office.  Only 3 other people.  They are very nice.   Of course, everyone seems to be nice in Denver.  Oh, everyone except the Doctors I have to work with.  Luckily, I only have to deal with them via email and the phone, but the majority of my interactions involve them being total dicks.  Today I got an email from a Doctor telling that, “in health care we use the title Doctor when addressing an email” I mistakenly thought she was a nurse and didn’t write, Dear Dr. when emailing her about something…it was a really patronizing email and I wish I could remember the whole thing.  Jeez, I know she was in school while I was spending my time smoking pot and reading crappy novels, but shit man, give a temp a break.  I would have figured it out eventually and seriously, do you think getting an email every now and again that doesn’t address you as Doctor would really be so bad?  Next time I write you I’m gonna address you as Doctor, but in my head all I’m going to be thinking about is bitch bitch bitch.

4.  Boss Man - (7) - He’s a strangely reticent individual.  He doesn’t speak much, but he seems fine.  I wish I could say more…he has a nice beard.

5.  Location - (6) - When I drive, it’s a dream.  It’s probably the shortest commute I’ve ever had.  Only about 15 minutes door-to-door.  And they have me a remote door opener to the underground parking lot…sweet.  However, I don’t get the car all the time…especially now that I’ve been told my driving days are over and now I move into the days of public transportation.  Today was my first day as a bus commuter.  The journey was short, but the wait for the bus was way long.  The buses only come about twice and hour, which sucks.  It took me over an hour to get home today…suckety suck suck.  The buses are nice here though.  They are rarely crowded and the seats are padded…lux!

6.  Extras - (7) - I got taken out to lunch the other day!  Whooo.  It was Mongolian barbecue…nice.  I love a good buffet o meat.  They also brought me back a water bottle from some conference.  Whoop.  The profits of tempdom are high.  Sure, you don’t get benefits and you know that tomorrow you could be told not to come in, but then again…you get the pleasure in knowing that tomorrow you might not have to come in.

I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is competing for things.  I’ve been playing bar trivia with Geeks Who Drink, which is tremendously fun especially due to the other team members of Oh Don Piano (although last night our team name was Two Drunk Fruit Loops and a Hungry Stripper -  once Liz heard Jess from Rock Of Love say that on the last episode it was obvious we would have to use it)  We keep placing third every week, it’s a curse, but I have faith we will win won of these days.  God willing next week will have themes like All About Lyle Lovett and So, You Failed Math.
But now I have a real competition to announce.  Something way cooler than I am.  Liz and I have been chosen to compete in Urban Honking’s Ultimate Blogger 3 competition.  So all of my creative juices will be spent over there, hopefully for awhile, since we don’t want to get kicked to the curb any time soon.  So, please visit.  Unfortunately, friends can’t vote to keep us in, but a nice comment on our work is always welcome.