Burned Out?

Tonight, I wonder if I’m suffering from work-related burn-out, or if I’m sinking back into a depressive cycle.  Perhaps a combination of both?

At work (which I can’t go into details on), there is something that I do, that I have done for over three years.  It was originally supposed to be a “temporary” job duty.  Unfortunately, I am still doing this duty, even though we hired someone who, theoretically, should have been doing it.  I now have help from two other assistants, but I am burned out on the task. 
At first, I was just overworked and overwhelmed.  Then, I was told that the way I was doing the task was all wrong.  I wrote up my procedures and tried to teach the new person (who I think should be doing the work), but H (as I am calling this person) is more scatterbrained than a stoned teenage girl at a Hollywood party.  While on suspension, she “trained” the other assistants on how to do the duty, but she taught them to do exactly what I’d always been doing, which she had said was wrong.  The other assistants come to me with questions, but I have to defer to H (as a manager, this shouldn’t be a problem).  Except most of the time, she has them come to me anyways, or gives a new procedure each time we get the same question (which is very confusing). 

On top of this, the company has been changing a lot in the (nearly) 5 years I’ve been there.  Some of it for better, but some of it really frustrates me. 

On the home-front, I finally jumped whole-heartedly back into the 3 Barons Renaissance Fair.  I have paperwork to sign on Sunday, and then I should be in a guild.  I’ve wanted to get back into it for years, but I always felt the kids were too young for me to just ditch them all for a weekend (or two). 

This weekend is the DEA-sponsored prescription drug take-back event.  I will be manning a booth.  If anyone would like more information or to find a location near them, please go to:
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html

I’m having trouble adjusting to being required to be online when I get home at night.  I wanted to go back to school, but I am finding the work easy to the point of tedium, and I hate interacting with my “classmates”.  It’s nothing against them, it’s just, well… I find the majority of them lacking the required intelligence to hold a suitable conversation.  I end up dumbing my written speech patterns in order to get my point across.  And I get it, I’m attending an online school for people who either couldn’t get into a college elsewhere, or had a rough start to life and are trying to rebuild themselves, or simply shouldn’t be wasting the time in college because they don’t seem appropriate for it. 
And I don’t mean that in a negative way.  There is nothing wrong with recognizing your limitations.  I’m hoping that as I deal with them more often, they will pick up a bigger and better vocabulary. 

Spring is in the air, but winter still tries to keep it’s tight grip on us.  We had snow earlier in the week and it was just predicted that we may see more before the end of the weekend.  I hear it is much the same in the “lower 48” in some areas. 
My yard is mostly melted of snow.  There are still some berms from the winter plowing, and a few spots where the sun doesn’t hit warm or long enough to melt it all away.  I’m hoping that I can clean up the yard next weekend or the weekend after. 

This weekend is going to be jam-packed.  SO works 11-5 both Saturday and Sunday.  I have the RX Take-Back Day on Saturday from 10-2.  I’m supposed to go shoe shopping with TL for her wedding (I’m a bridesmaid) sometime after that.  Sunday I have a guild (renaissance fair) meeting.  On Saturday night, I will be staying with my grandma. 

Speaking of Grandma, she is doing better.  Recovery is slow, but not slow, if that helps any.  She told my mom and my uncle’s girlfriend (JD) that my “darling” aunt (K2) intimidates her.  Not with what she says, but just her bearing/demeanor.  We’re trying to keep the idiot away from my Grandma. 
K2 has never been someone I’ve liked.  She’s a holier-than-thou, arrogant, condescending, spiteful, gossipy, and thinks she’s better than everyone else.  She had the nerve to tell people that she shouldn’t be on a rotation to help Grandma because she’s “not really family” because she married into the family.  I’d love for her to voice the same sentiment during the will-reading whenever that time inevitably comes.
For Mother’s Day, we’re all going out to Grandma’s house for a BBQ.  Considering what K2 has said about me, I’m tempted to corner her and give her a piece of my mind.  However, I know it would do nothing more than cause extra drama. 

For now, I’m behaving as best I can.  A 4 day training conference is coming up and I’m supposed to be at the booth representing the company.  I want to dye my hair before the conference.  I’d love to go black again. 
I am going in next Friday for epidural steroid injections.  It should help me, both with the pain I’m dealing with on a regular basis, and as a preventative for standing for 4 days. 

J leaves for NJ next month.  He’ll be back in August, a week before school starts.  My mom is planning on taking him every weekend until he leaves. 

Anyhow, it’s late and I should attempt to sleep.  That’s my update, and I’m sticking to it.