I got about two and a half hours of sleep last night, and I am back at work. I don't know why I did that to myself knowing full well that I have a late tonight. Hello, Chris Cornell! I hope I can fit in a nap at some point.

Anyway, I was up quite early every day during our corporate retreat, but I was finding that I wasn't tired when I'd go to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning.

Our corporate retreat was a cruise leaving from Vancouver, BC going down to Victoria, BC and Seattle, WA, and then back home. It was 3 nights. It's nice that the company would spring for something like this, honestly. But I really didn't care for  all the strings that came along with the trip.

I'm not completely sold on the culture of my company. Maybe I am just too stubborn and still wishing for something at my real previous company. People were a little more conservative but still fun and always helpful and friendly. We also had more social events. My current company .... I feel like I am working for a bunch of partiers and the only way to get ahead is to be heard (not necessarily professionally). I guess I do not like working for a marketing company right now. I've always disliked doing anything marketing-related. And it's all very clique-y here. People think it's a fun company to work for, but there aren't a lot of social activities. I am not sure where all the fun comes from.

My face is tired from plastering a fake smile on my face all weekend and fake laughing at jokes and situations that really weren't all that funny to me. The point of the retreat was to 1. thank us for our work, and 2. team build.

1. If you really want to thank us, give us more money, vacation time, or benefits. Keeping us all stranded together for 72 hours and then a week of work is not something I really want! I am quite tired of seeing my coworkers. I am bored of them. And I could have really used some alone time.

2. Team build...there was one full day of activities that involved "work." (Oh, the wine tasting event the first night didn't count.) This full day was our second day. We started with an all-hands meeting, and then did a short brain storming session. After lunch with the modified Urban Triathlon.

That was the lamest team building experience ever. We were divided into 3 big teams and then 3 smaller teams. Each small team had to go take photos based on clues, and then work together as one big team in order to finish gathering all the photos. We did all this in Victoria. There was no team comraderie because everyone just broke up into even smaller teams. However, my team did win, and each member won a "Night Out" package, which is a movie package for 2 movie tickets, 2 drinks, and a popcorn to share.

I did enjoy having all our meals together, though. And I do admit that I got to know some people better. But I've always had the mentality of keeping coworkers at a distance. I don't wish to have coworkers become friends outside of work.