Big Announcement

Okay, I told the one person I needed to tell. The big news is this:

I'm going to Seminary. Okay, that depends on if I actually get accepted but I'm planning on it right now.

I also have to vent. I have this guy that I work with that edits our newsletter and he frustrates me SO much...more than any other single person in the world! He belittles my (and others) work and ablitlies, talks down to me and others, he twists words around to make things and people go his way, and he brings out the worst in me (and I know this last one is within my abilty to control or not).

Its almost always over the newsletter simply because thats generally the one thing we are both involved in. The process is supposed to go like this: we all turn in our work on a certain day and time and then they are formated and sent to each other for a proof. We then send it back in to our Executive Assistant (not the one who causes me grief) and then the grief bearer goes thru and does a last check and baring any changes it goes to print. The process is supposed to take a week-ish.

This is how it happens in reality: We...okay, I'm going to talk about me...I turn in my work to the Executive Assistant (EA) to format it (which is generally easy cause I do a vast amount of my own formatting so I know how much and what to write) and somehow it gets sent to the Grief-Bearer (GB). This is during the time where GB is also supposed to be working on his piece and sending it to the EA. The process is tied up at this point because the GB is proofing/editing the newsletter instead of working on and submiting his piece to the EA.

During this editing session, GB "edits" the whole thing (again, I'll only talk about mine because thats all I know)...he "edits" mine. I put it in quotes because his version of editing involves cutting large chunks, adding large chunks, changing large amounts, and twisting my words and meaning so that many times it's part what I orginally say in words that generally don't sound like I wrote them and part whatever the heck he wants. All of this will go on without my knowledge or input and without notice to others that he has changed the original piece. I regularly to tell him that editing involves what one of my other co-workers does: grammatical clean-up and minor word changes that correct person, tense, etc... After he has finished "editing" my portion, it goes to everyone else for touch ups/proofing.

Other "editing" jobs of his were described (his description) as "minor" when he literally chopped half the original story out and replaced it with nothing. On that such case (as happens many times) it was actually brought to my attention the day before volunteers came in to stuff envelops and was too late to redo the damage and went to mail boxes incomplete and incorrect. I was beyond mad, I was LIVID. I am rarely that mad...I can count the amount of times in my 27 years of life that I have been that mad on one hand.

So now GB's solution to this whole thing brings me close to the verge of livid: "We'll have to sit down and talk about how the next one goes and I'm going to leave it up to you to bring this to my attention. You have to take some initiative too."

There are others in my office that share my frustration with the same GB (there is only one in this office). So I have recruited some advice. Pray, PLEASE pray for this because I know its ungodly...this whole situation: what it brings out in me, what it is on the surface, the disunity it creates within the team and within the body, ALL of it is ungodly and it is over a relatively large part of our ministry: our communication with YOU and the rest of our donors. This is also not one of my strongest aspects of my personality. I tend to 'tear you a new one' in my aggression and anger. That is not pretty, I HATE that it is in me, it is something I know I need to work on but it is not easy for me. Just pray!!

Love to all

PS: Last Thursday I was down to 216 and we went out to eat Friday and Saturday WITH desserts (which I never do) and I worked out only twice last week and I only gained 2 pounds...I'm so excited!