Well, we just wrapped up the remainder of paperwork today for our funding. I was getting a little nervous since we were originally expecting to have it done by the 16th, but it was all tied up with the lawyers... of course.

I was having second thoughts that perhaps J n' I had jumped the gun by giving our notice here at work, but fortunately everything fell into place just like it was supposed to. YAY!!!

Wow... it's so hard to believe that our dream is *this* close to becoming a reality! For the last couple of years, whenever J n' I would go out and grab a coffee on the weekend, at some point he'd always say, "Imagine this is Tuesday." We'd then imagine it's a Tuesday instead of a Sunday and plan out the rest of our make believe day living as writers. I know it's a silly little game, but I really think there is something to playing make believe... Sure, it took us two years of playing "Imagine this is Tuesday" before we could realize our dream... but Holy Sh*t!, this Tuesday we won't have to imagine anymore!

So yes, things in my universe are chugging away quite nicely... with only one exception -- our freelance contracts have not been approved yet. Nope, in fact, what am I talking about "approved"?! Nothing has even been presented! And, according to my calendar, tomorrow is our last official day as a full time employees. Jeez!

Unfortunately, certain individuals around here have their heads up their a$$es. Rather than trusting people to make the necessary judgment calls to get a job done, they instead have to create needless bottlenecks and move at a snail's pace towards getting anything resolved.

Case in point, about a year n' a half ago we got a new CEO (the third one in as many years -- oh yeah baybee, I work for 'Disfunctions R Us'!) CEO has this nit-picky policy that he has to personally approve every bloody little detail in this company. And I mean everything! Whether it's the cover of the catalog, someone's travel expenses, or the hiring of a new employee. Like seriously... someone should explain "micromanagement" to the man. You're the flippin' CEO! Shouldn't you have bigger things to do than design the cover of our catalog? Besides that, CEO does not equal designer. Let our well-educated, exceptionally talented designer do her job!

Anyhow, as for J n' I, now we're left sitting here waiting for him to give the OK to our VPs and to Payroll, so they can present us with our contracts. Contracts that we haven't even fully negotiated yet... which could easily cause further issues, because neither J nor I have any idea what they're going to propose to pay us. And while I'm not a greedy girl, I will say that I do have a definite number in my head -- the same number I know that others are getting paid to do their contract work -- and I sure as heck hope what they offer is on par.

I'm sure it will be. If it isn't, I'll dispute it. I owe it to myself to not let people walk over me and take me for less than what I'm worth -- even if that means I have to wait longer for bottleneck CEO to approve the new digits. But again, I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. I'm sure it will be fair. I have to believe that. No sense in wasting energy worrying about 'what if it isn't?'

Either way, we'll get our normal pay on the 5th, and then we'll get paid again on the 20th for our left-over holiday time and any banked hours we've saved up. (I honestly don't know where all this banked time came from... but Payroll said that I logged a bunch a few years ago. Who knew?!) So, worst case scenario, if it takes a little extra time for CEO to friggin' approve the contract, then so be it. In the meantime, I just don't want to leave my co-workers in the lurch by not working at all... even though they tell me that it's not my problem anymore and that I shouldn't care. I know I shouldn't... but I'd just like everything resolved, so I can make a smooth transition from f/t employee to p/t contractor.

Oh well, I guess all I can do is wait n' see what tomorrow brings!