Speaking of birthdays, the birthday bash last Saturday night was a lot of fun. I had a great time catching up with everyone. There were some people there I hadn't seen in over a year! Time flies. Alice spent several days of her precious free time preparing and shopping for the party. She hosted the party at her house and provided most of the food and all of the beverages. I was really touched that Mik came all the way from Las Vegas just to attend the party. He was only in town for 24 hours! I'm really thankful for friends like Alice and Mik. I don't know what I would do without them!

On the other hand, other friends are becoming psychotic and rude and egotistical. One couple in particular have taken to acting superior because they're now "Marrieds". The male counterpart even went so far as to say that his marriage is a full time job and that he couldn't expect me to understand. I felt so sorry for him and his high-maintenance relationship.

Another friend is perpetually rude and selfish. She acts as if the whole world revolves around her and acts like a petulant tantrum-throwing brat when things don't go her way. She even went as far as insulting some guests at the party. Everyone present thought she was outrageous and, days later, people that don't know her are still calling me to ask what was wrong with her that night. Beats me, folks.

This foul behavior has been going on for years and most of the time she gets away with it because everyone kind of expects her to exude bitchiness. Well, I refuse to play that game anymore. This behavior was borderline acceptable in our early 20s when we were all young and immature. But now, I have to put my foot down.

I don't know what I'll do or what I'll say. Part of me wonders if it's best not to say anything, just forget about all the unacceptable things she's done and said, and erase her off my Friends list. That, however, seems like the passive-aggressive thing to do. The other option is to approach her and tell her how upset she made me, but I'm positive that will only open up a can o' worms... and I'm prone to say hostile things when I'm angry. It could be an ugly situation. I'm tortured.

I've even had nightmares recently, probably as a result of this internal conflict. Sunday night, I had this awful dream that it was World War III or something and some deadly, powerful gasses had been released into the atmosphere around the city. The setting was not San Francisco, but some city that I sensed was in Thailand. The little room I was in (a hotel room?) had wooden slat doors. I could peek out the slats and see down the street. The room was on a hill or in a high rise because I had a pretty good bird's eye view. I shared this room with two other guys I didn't know, who were furiously working away on their computers.

We were waiting in the hotel room. I was filled with dread knowing that we were going to be dead in a matter of days. We knew that deadly gasses of the same caliber as the Hydrogen Bomb were going to be released (minus the impact and the mushroom cloud) because we saw lots of military troops wheeling dozens of huge missiles on carts toward the city center.

Soon, I looked out the slats and saw the wave of gas slowly coming toward our room. Walking in the streets were a few people who were being herded by men in gas masks and white suits. These people had looks of horror on their faces and their skin was mottled and red ("from being burned by the gases", one of my roommates informed me). I tried sealing the room by putting a blanket over the wooden slats, knowing it wouldn't do anything to keep out the gas. I knew that at any moment, my roommates and I would also be getting red, mottled skin and, within a few hours, would have radiation sickness. We'd live two days, at best.

My alarm woke me soon after. This was one of those dreams that stayed with me all day in my subconscious. I couldn't shake the resulting ill feelings.

Last night, I had a dream about a roller coaster. The only thing I remember about the roller coaster is that you had the option of either lying down or sitting upright. This roller coaster was gigantic and very gnarly, unlike any I had ever seen before. It had huge drops and went upside down and in loops. I think the roller coaster was green (?). I guess I chose to recline during the roller coaster because I woke up as I was being strapped into the "bed".

On a happy note, I was given a promotion at the office. I'm now what is called a Lead Worker (i.e. "mentor" and "work reviewer"). This is a little unusual because I'm not licensed yet. My boss' boss announced the promotions today and told me that my boss specifically wanted me to be a Lead Worker even though I'm not licensed because she believes I have the abilities. This is all so exciting.

I currently supervise two people. A third person will join my group in November. My boss and I will fill the fourth position as soon as we can do more hiring.

Also on the work front, I volunteered last week to be on the Public Awareness Campaign on the Internal Communications team. The Public Awareness Campaign is just what the title suggests: to increase the public's awareness about what Caltrans is and what we do. We work with the media to educate, we partner with other agencies and private companies to obtain funding for special projects, and we provide articles and information within Caltrans so that employees know what the Public Awareness Campaign is doing. I chose the Internal Communications team so that I can get published (i.e. writing articles for the District newsletter!) and practice my HTML coding skills by working on the web site. Yaaa-hoooo!

What's even better is that these volunteer positions are highly regarded by upper management... and you know what that means: more promotions!

That's all the news I have for now. More to come later.