Oh, I have so much to report, and so little energy. This new job is really doing a number on my free time. After decades of hurry-up-and-wait jobs, it's kind of nice to spend 8 hours a day Just Hurrying, but it does cut down on the freestyle writing exercises.
So, I went to California, and it was great. The office out there is gorgeous, the people are all super nice, the training session I was sent there to attend was actually educational and interesting and I can see all sorts of ways to apply it both to what I do now and to what I assume they'll expect me to do at some point down the road. Awesome.
The free time part of it was every bit as great. I got there on Monday and spent the day gabbing with my aunt and uncle, which was really nice because usually I'm with them in a huge family setting and someone's always interrupting or picking a fight or a dog is escaping under the fence or some damn thing. So it was a fairly rare treat to focus on them exclusively.
Tuesday after work I had plans to be in Pasadena at 8, but I got out early and traffic was light so I made a surprise stop at USC to buy swag.Of course I wore my work shoes and blistered the bejeezus out of my feet stomping around campus, but it was worth it. The best part was visiting my friend in the band office -- it was just after a practice, so all these kids were milling around, and there I was all decked out like a Real Professional Type Person, so I marched in and leaned over her desk and sniffed out, "I'd like to lodge a complaint about the profanity." The kids looked stricken until she leaped up and shrieked in excited surprise while bouncing out from behind the desk to give me a hug.
So after my trips to Tommy Trojan and the bookstore, I continued up the 110 to Pasadena, where I had dinner with a friend from high school who has relocated to Ontario, which is sort of like the trap door to hell and not much of a destination spot unless you're a race fan. We ate at a place called Gale's and had a lovely time catching up, although we're already pretty much caught up what with email and social media and all.
Wednesday I went the other way from work, down to Manhattan Beach, where I met up with a friend from my second stint in Florida (the one who introduced me to Not Your Average Blogger, as a matter of fact), who now lives in Long Beach with her husband. It was a lot of fun to see them and we really did spend time catching up because we aren't in nearly as constant contact.
Thursday night, I went north, over the hills to North Hollywood, to visit a friend from college (at last, someone Not From Florida,) and we stayed up talking about God and everything until 1 a.m., even though I planned to get up at 5 to make my flight. If she hadn't had a dentist appointment, we might very well have just stayed up straight through.
Y'all, I can't tell you how amazing it is to me that I have people like this in my life. I mean, we go for years without seeing each other and then pick up where we left off. This is even more amazing to me when factoring in how incredibly lazy and antisocial I am -- I hate Making Effort and Being Friendly and Putting People at Ease, so the fact that I manage to hold on to anyone 3,000 miles away is a miracle, and the fact that they all seem willing to put up with me and my nonsense is even more astonishing. I'm blessed.
That Friday was an exercise in marathon traveling. I got up at 5, flew from LAX to Dulles, where NeighborGirl picked me up and drove me to my house. We got there about 10 minutes before NYAB, so I had about 25 minutes to unpack and repack before hopping into the car and driving to New Jersey -- where we met up with a friend of mine from college to watch USC play football, and then had dinner with my friend who works for the band that I'd surprised earlier in the week.
(Are you seeing a pattern yet? Last time we saw NYAB's brother, we were all in Alaska even though he lives in Arizona and we live in Virginia. Last time we saw NYAB's sister, we were all in Florida even though she's from Indiana. I see two Florida people in California. I see California people in New Jersey. It's cognitive dissonance!)
The game was great. We tailgated with my roommate and a bunch of her friends -- and who had a tent, so when the first bout of rain blew through, we all remained relatively dry. It was a lot of fun to yap with her and meet or re-meet her friends. But the best part was the Young Prince -- he got all fired up, to the point he out-cheered the guy who had slammed six beers before entering the stadium. More shocking to me was that he actually followed the game and paid attention the entire time and KNEW WHEN TO CHEER. That's a first, by a long shot. When the start of the second half was delayed for "lightning" -- which everyone with a smartphone knew meant "tornadoes," the stadium officials shooed us all out of the seats and into the interior of the stadium, so I texted my friend, found the band and spent a good half-hour talking to her and making plans for dinner.
And SC won, although they looked awful doing it. (Not as awful as they would against Stanford, sadly. Where's the running game?)
After all that whirlwind of activity, Sunday was for laundry and sleep and another week of work.
Things sped up again this weekend; Saturday was the annual Haymarket Day, and we had all kinds of Stuff to Do. We watched the parade, then headed over to our Fancy New WalMart and admired how clean and shiny it was, and bought a small storage unit for the YP's 600 action figures. My other goals for the weekend were to do our every-two-months sprint through Costco and to shop around for a desk for the kid so he can do homework without being distracted by the TV or having to sit with his knees in his chin because his table and chairs were designed for a kindergartener.
As it turned out, we found the desk without going very far -- my old desk has been in the basement since we moved in, and as it turns out, it fits the kid pretty well. So that was one problem solved, except we decided to punt on actually moving the thing up two flights of stairs. Costco was a piece of cake, although we went so late in the afternoon that the free samples were a little weak. Then the YP and I spent hours sorting and storing his mountains o' toys, until the SC game started. We might as well have just kept cleaning.
Sunday was devoted to yard work -- except for when the dog collared her first kill, an unsuspecting squirrel in tall grass. I know I should feel bad for her doing that, but since that rodent's great-grandfather was probably the one who ruined the fuel line on my car and forced me to buy a new one because a replacement $200 part couldn't be found, I pretty much praised her to the skies while I made NYAB dump the body. The YP also hit a milestone; I let him drive the riding mower on his own for the first time. He loved it and asked for his own. I said he could have that one if he mows the yard from now on. He seemed pretty happy with that idea. Sucker!!
Then the neighbor came over and volunteered to help us move the desk. That sidetracked me into scrubbing mold off the desk and cat hair off the chair to go with it. It's a great desk for the kid though -- lots of slots and drawers and places to store things. It does crack me up that 3 of the 4 pieces of furniture in his room come from my great-grandparents. Poor kid. I'm sure he'd love a Spiderman bunk bed. Too bad he's stuck with a cheapskate mom trussed to family tradition. And at the end of a pretty productive weekend, we scampered off for ice cream after dinner and a long drive on a dusty back road. My favorite.
And now I'm off on another work week -- which was leavened today by lunch with a former co-worker and eternal kindred spirit who always makes me laugh.
I really don't think it gets any better than this. I love my life.
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