OK, out of control on the shopping thing again. I need so many things and it's spring (new clothes!). I need a new shower curtain and new curtains for the bedroom would be nice as well. I would also like a new weekend bag (do NOT need that!) and a pink t-shrit like Drew Barrymore's in 50 First Dates. We need new pillows for the bed. Aaarrghhh!
By the way, typing this as I'm waiting for the auction on Burberry cosmetic bag to close. Hope I get it, but I saw two others as well and if I do not get that one, will buy another one. Sigh. I love shopping.

Oh, boy, life in corporate Canada is not easy. He my yearly review. The sheikh was all praise for my little endeavours, but unfortunately the salary review did not match the performance review. Now this is a large multinational corporation. One would think they would have the money to give me a raise of more than 1%! Yep, it was insulting. Emma was right. Compa ratio is a number that tells you how much HR will screw you over. In this case, royally. Even HRDC says I should be making more than I am. Sigh.
The sheikh was rather embarrased about it. I could tell he felt like crap having to tell me how little I would get. He said if I wanted to appeal and present arguments for why I should get more, I should. I will!

My marathon session with the sheikh seems to have paid off. Monday we spent another hour and a half talking about review meetings and how they should be handled. He spoke with the other team members and got some 'interesting' answers. His word. My guess is they did not agree with him and that was a surprise to him. Anyway, we are to speak about it in the next team meeting. Chrissie asked me if I was the one that brought this up as clearly he had asked her for her opinion. We had a chat and it was good. We both feel that our method is best. At least, it is for us.
Called Emma yesterday, but she was away from her desk. I am not doing as well as I should be with the novel. I was going to own up, but as she was not there, maybe I can write like mad and pretend that I was following the 500 words per day plan. I still really want to write the other book. This is the trouble with me. I start one and then have ten ideas for others that I want to write more than the one I am currently writing. Bother. How does P.D. James deal with it?

Dreamt about Toby. I wonder if he's still married to that Japanese girl who told him she was dying so they got married and then found out she wasn't. What a story. I wonder if he would have married her otherwise. From what he said when we talked about it, no. He said she told him she had six months (how very cliche, but of course if it was true, how very devastating) to live and that was why they decided to get married. Hm.
Must have dreamt about him because I remembered that time we had dinner and told each other all our secrets. That was the last time we met.

Have an axing meeting today or a 'review' meeting for one of my docs. Let's see how this goes. I wonder whether the sheikh will let me know how the others feel about those. I raised the point in our last meeting. He did get a little defensive. He's really open, but I suppose it's also only natural that he defend the status quo. I am clearly out to rock the status quo. Who would have thought that I would be such an innovator.

Sometimes I wonder whether I am truly naive. I know Emma has it all figured out, but I have no clue why someone would show me he's not interested romantically and want to be friends and then when I am fine with that, he wants to be involved romantically or not at all. He was lying either then or now, is the answer, of course. I don't get men.
Met Igor this morning on the subway. He's sweet in a fatherly way. He sat with his knee digging my thigh for a while and then realized it was inappropriate and moved. I could not move for lack of space.
Had a two hour meeting with the sheikh yesterday. We discussed the whole moderating meetings issue. He seems to be open to discussion on the topic. I had no idea how long it took until I got back to my desk and realized that it was four!
Emma says she might be pregnant again. I'm a teeeny bit jealous. It's her second and what about me? Not even a flutter. Not that we can afford me being on mat leave with Arthur not working. Crap!