Not really much of a tradition yet, as it hasn't been happening for many years, but I felt pretty grateful to get a bonus at work a few years ago, and I wanted to pay it forward by thanking some of the people who I felt helped me through the year. I ended up taking my parents and MrFodder's mum out to lunch at a lobster restaurant.
Seeing as I'm exploring the cultures of other countries this year, I thought about this year's bonus lunch being a Thanksgiving dinner instead, but unlike our counterparts in the United States, we don't get the day off today, and I didn't think anyone would want to eat a big dinner on a Thursday night knowing that they had to go to work the next day. Second best thing would be to have dinner with a couple of people that helped me get through this year. I figured, why not do it on Thanksgiving Day (the United States version, at least)? I invited redbeanpork and Pharmacist to join me and MrFodder at Meat and Wine Co. in Southbank.
The food was good, the company was good, but the best part was that our waiter was also called Anna. Pharmacist suggested that I constantly say her name when thanking her or talking to her in some other way, but I kept forgetting. He managed to pull it off, and I didn't even notice, despite the fact that he was saying my name, and the cocktail party effect is supposed to occur! I wanted to try again before we left, but unfortunately, Anna wasn't the one to take our payment. :(
I don't think I'm a criminal at heart, but I find the exercise of coming up with scams really fun. It was one of the things we talked about at dinner. I think the fun aspect of it is trying to stretch the boundaries of the law without going outside it. It's not a very ethical exercise though.
I know I complain a lot, and my last post in particular wasn't too happy, but I actually have a lot to be grateful for. I'm not dead, or in jail. There was a health scare in the family, but things are on the mend now. I'm happier at work than I have been for a long time. My boss is awesome.
I'm still trying to think of ways to thank some of the other people in my life who have made the year great. I thought about buying some flowers for one of my former co-workers, but there was a time someone left a note on her desk and she got really confused trying to work out who it was. Anonymous flowers are out of the question. If I left my name on the flowers, would it be weird? I tried to suss out her feelings on the subject by asking if it would be weird if I sent someone else flowers, and she said yes. I don't want to keep giving people food, because then they'll feel obligated to eat it, and they might not want to eat sweets.
Though my last pre-Christmas food gift is going to be waffles for someone on my team, who has grown on me, and I've come to respect quite a lot over the past few months. I'm tossing up whether or not to bake gingerbread cookies, but I'm leaning towards not doing it, as I don't want to build up an expectation.
I'm really hankering to make another video though, even though I constantly say that I've folded away my tripod for good. I don't know whether my new team would be as willing to star in a movie as my old team was. They weren't even really up for it when I made the James Bond parody, but after they saw how it turned out, they were more willing to take part. My new team doesn't have that history, and I don't think I can make anything as good as that, especially since I love James Bond movies, and the person I was making the video for meant a lot to me. Making videos is incredibly time consuming, and I didn't like the pressure I was getting from others to make one. I felt like the videos I made when I felt the inspiration to make them (the James Bond parody, and the Taylor Swift parody) were far higher quality than the ones I was pressured to make (the AFL mockumentary, the Mean Girls parody, and the So You Think You Can Dance? parody).
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot left in my repertoire after that - it's just food and movies.
Sidenote: my phone went into a bootloop (RIP. Fortunately, A lent me his old Samsung Galaxy S6), so it's been a while since I've listened to the Frozen soundtrack. I found out someone on my team speaks Japanese, and I asked him whether he'd sing とびら開けて with me, and he said only if he was really drunk. Then I found out someone on my team speaks a bit of French (Canadian French, but close enough), and now I'm working up the courage to ask if he wants to sing L'amour est un cadeau with me.
Back to the topic, I'm grateful for all the people who have pushed me to grow this year. Of course, it all starts with Intern Peter, who prompted me to start the 365 day photo challenge. Nev and Jal, who seem to find the creative ways I manage to break everything amusing, and have been incredibly patient with me learning a whole heap of new stuff, and changing the way that I work. In a new experience for me, I've interacted with a lot of different people this year - some who I probably never would have looked at twice in the past.
Urgh, so many things I want to do, so little time. And now I'm too full of food to do anything. Mmmm... ribs.
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