Tracie's World

For several months now, I've been feeling like I need to try to change my situation and upgrade my job. And I've been doing a lot to work at it. I applied for a couple of openings at work, neither of which I was selected for. I did get to interview for one of them, but was just as quickly turned down. One of the Directors offered to meet with me to discuss career goals and such, and I was told that what was holding me back was my interpersonal skills. So in discussion with my boss, I put together a plan to obtain some feedback and see if that was really the case. One of my first steps was to have a feedback session with one of the other Manager's, which I had on Friday. And the feedback I was given was examples from the last several months where the manager and her team felt I was not being a "team player", and wasn't "engaged", among other things (it got worse from there). I have to say that the feedback really stung, no matter how brave and open ...

Last night my friend Katie and I drove up to Heber City and Midway to tour the Ice Castle they built there. We're having an unseasonable January, with warmer than normal temperatures, so it's only open this weekend. And apparently everyone in the general vicinity got the memo, because we were there with several thousand of our closest friends. First we stopped off for dinner at a cafe I like, called The Hub. It's a Western-Style joint, with diner food, and waitresses that call you "Hon". The decor is mostly wood paneling, and clocks made out of tree cuttings, and a collection of redneck baseball caps. What's no to like? After dinner, we drove over to Soldier Hollow to tour the Castle. The theme was from the movie "Frozen", and they were playing music from the soundtrack. It was really quite beautiful, with all sorts of ice formations and snow.  Queen Elsa and Princess Anna were greeting their subjects and taking photos. I was fort...

Last Sunday evening I attended a meeting where they created a new Single Adult ward here in Holladay. It was a wonderful meeting, and the news was met with a lot of enthusiasm, especially knowing it would be right here in the neighborhood. For the last few years I've been attending the Parleys 7th Single Adult Ward, which as of last week, had over 800 members.  I have a birthday in a few months which means I'll need to go to a regular resident ward after that. So it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to change to a new ward now and then change again in a few months. But, it feels like the right thing to do anyway. And it will be a blessing to not have to drive as far each week, and to mix with a smaller group of people. Today is the first block of meetings. It'll probably be a little crazy, kind of like when I was in college and everybody showed up en masse the first week of the new semester. But hopefully it will also be fun and exciting to be doing something new....

I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (#MoTab) as much as anyone, maybe more so. But I have to say, I'm highly disappointed by their effort today. Supposedly the idea was to celebrate tomorrow's Martin Luther King Day by having a special program. But they pretty much blew it from the beginning. They unwittingly provided a classic example of White folks just not getting it, and set my readers up for a Tracie rant. Example 1: Calling it a special "Heritage Day Celebration". I'm sorry, but who the heck calls it "Heritage Day"? Not one of the other 49 states. It's only here in Utah apparently that we can't call a spade a spade and celebrate a day devoted to celebrating the legacy of a black man by actually using the black man's name. For shame. Example 2: A bunch of uptight white folks trying to sing African-American Spirituals is about as joy-inducing as watching the smog roll in. Heaven forbid that we LDS should actually show some sort of enth...

There's a movie theater down the street from me, and I thought it would be a fun place to go with the niece and nephew. So yesterday, the brother dropped them off at my house, and we drove down to catch a showing of "Penguins of Madagascar". The great thing about this theater is that tickets are half-price, and concession prices are pretty reasonable. It's perfect for working Aunties who want to do something fun with the kids and splurge a little. Here's a picture of us while we were waiting for the show to start. The kids each had a bag of popcorn, two bags of candy, and a root beer. The movie was really funny, and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. Can't wait to do it again! And next time, hopefully all 17 of the adored ones will be able to join me!

It's been an alternately relaxing and crazy week, and the New Year celebrations are still a bit of a blur. Wednesday we had our annual New Year's Eve Celebration hosted at Angel's. But before the festivities began, Angel and I braved the frigid temperatures to walk over to Temple Square, for their annual Broadway Sing-a-long at the Assembly Hall. Who knew they even had an annual Broadway Sing-a-long? How have I missed this? Needless to say, it was fabulous. An hour of singing show tunes, led by the music directors of the Hale Center Theater. We even got a chance to shine when the roving microphone was held in front of us. The good news is that I'm now in the know, and Angel and I have a new tradition to add to how we ring in the New Year. After the sing-a-long, it was back to Angel's condo on the 22nd floor, where we were joined by Inge, Janeen, and Matt for food and a Cary Grant movie. We ate way too much, gorging ourselves on L'il Smokies (my NYE must-h...