Bad books

So ... today I went back to work. I hate going back to work after an illness. I want to say it right now:

I hate phone calls. When I used the phone for the first time, when I was ten, calling my best friend, she didn't know who I was. Either it was a bad connection or a bad friendship but still ... it put me off for life. These days, I can cope with calling, but answerphones are another matter. Using a system we have at work I'm slowly getting comfortable with the idea of basically talking to myself but all in all, I prefer in person or in letters. I hate phones.

So if I call in sick, I've spent a lot of time talking myself into just calling (and in some instances, calling and calling) to phone in sick. I'm obviously not doing it on a whim.

Also, if it's 20 degrees outside and I'm telling you I'm in bed all day ... do the math (and check the forearms. Still just the right side of pasty?)

I always get accused of bunking in back to work interviews. I don't know why. Sometimes, the only time I'm guaranteed five minutes of me time is on my break. I don't go out if I call in, so do daytime TV and spending time with my brother who doesn't work really sound that appealing?

I mean, the manager I spoke to is pretty decent, and he didn't sound like he was accusing me (this other manager we had once asked if I'd been hungover, and that was why I'd been sick. I've been out once this year drinking, and that wasn't that time. And I had no work next day, which was why I even went in the first place) ... but it did come up. Because it's half term and the weather's good and other people bunked off. I don't get half-term. My boy doesn't get half-term. I know my days in work when the weather's good won't be the only days we'll have sunshine. And I've only paid my parents for boy's airline ticket so far, so I kinda need the moolah for my own flight/spending money when I'm in Florida end of next month.

But my work are good at making you feel guilty. And since I said I need the cash and therefore only did it when neccesary, I've been roped into a shift tomorrow, outside my normal work patterns. I couldn't really say no, could I? But maybe that'll get me out of their bad books.

Speaking of bad books ... I got 'the short second life of bree tanner' today after work. I've only read thirty pages so far, and it seems to be pretty easy to work out the storyline so far. But it's all one chunk, there are no chapters or mid-page breaks (the second is what I can see anyway) and it's 178 pages long. It's just bad, so far, in that I have to look down the page to find my mark rather than rely on normal book break-points like I usually do. If I finished a page and marked the next one, I'm crap at remembering to start from the top.

Would occasional breaths have been so bad Stephenie? I get it, I do, Vampires don't sleep so why should Bree and she's so all-aware now that she's documenting every single second of her experience and there are no breaks. But I'm still human Stephenie, I'm still human ...