Thirty: Delayed Vertical Suplex

It's been a strange, stressful, interesting couple of weeks to end the "summer."

Last weekend we went back to the trailer. This was always going to be a bit controversial. We'd just been and I, personally, really felt the sting of the no-technology. This particular time was for a sort of family farewell to Ali, who is moving off to University in Nova Scotia. That meant that everyone wanted to come, and Eric even took the weekend off for it (undoubtedly to much frustration at his work.) But the problem was, obviously the guys wanted to go home that night and there was nobody in a position to take them. Mel and I wanted to stay, both because Mel covets the trailer (and particularly the pool) and because the idea of driving 90 minutes both ways in a single day just seems draining.

Mel was frustrated. I was frustrated too. I conceived of a compromise which I was luckily able to get everyone on board with (whilst daydreaming in and out of conversation the previous Saturday at Nonna's.) Maybe my dad would be kind enough to drive 2/3 of the way there, and then I could drive the guys to meet him. He was down for it, although admittedly, I underestimated how un-fun it would be to drive 30 minutes each way to get to the chip stand we were using as the drop point, and also how hard to confidently co-ordinate while my phone was getting nil reception at the trailer. Details details, the point is, we had a plan. And it worked. Maybe not to my satisfaction -- we got there kind of early but dinner was kind of late so I was really fatigued and anxious by the time we actually got to go, but the point is it worked.

Other than that, it was nice. It was good to see the guys and share a 90-minute car ride with them. It was good to see Cam and Ali and Paige and the family. Karen had this big activity of everyone submitting words of wisdom for the grads, which kind of had us rolling our eyes but we did our best. Mel and I came back to their trailer after we returned and spent a little more time by the fire, listening to Ali's surprisingly adult contemporary-oriented playlist (Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, that sort of thing.) Then we went back to Mom and Ross' trailer and slept pretty poorly on the very thin guest mattresses. (Ross noted he wanted to upgrade them to memory foam since he sleeps there sometimes.) We each ended up taking a bunk since Mel needed room to cuddle with Poppy. 

The next day, after breakfast with mom and saying goodbye, we hit the pool, Mel's favourite spot. We witnessed a weird altercation between one of the park staff and some 18-year-olds, at whom she snapped for being in the adult pool, despite the fact that they were 18 and thus met the age requirement. "We're not bringing ID to the pool," the main girl huffed. Then the staffer came back and huffed some more about the teens being "lippy" when she had been polite (which I can vouch, she was not.) Later I heard she was shaken to tears by the teens' ill manners.

I mean look. Most 18-year-olds haven't mastered the art of communication, but that's not a law. They were accused quite unfairly, when they weren't bothering anybody (any more than, say, a similar-sized group of adults would bother me.) You approach them with that energy and you're not going to like what you get back in return. Anything you can do to them after that is just being vindictive because you don't like the way you were spoken to.

I told Aunt Lori about this later, and she was pretty miffed since Cam and Page use the pool often, and if Ali wanted to, she doesn't exactly look 18 either.

Mel napped, I watched some of Rocky (AMC was the main channel of choice while we were there, and we saw bits of The Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High as well) before we made dinner and went. I drove home, but my stomach was a little turny by the time we got there (honestly, it had been a little bit all weekend) so I didn't participate in our planned dinner of Burgertone Chicken Sandwiches. I just had pasta and a ginger ale. There was... a weird kind of reaction to that, which I don't necessarily think is worth digging into, but it's the kind of thing that pops up from time to time and makes me sad because I have to wonder, at the worst of times, who is worrying about my feelings the way I worry about others?

We watched Fever Pitch and cuddled.

The week was the week that was. Actually there was one extremely notable piece to it, which is that Mel finally quit her job. In order to destress, she had decided that things had finally reached a breaking point and she could no longer continue. It was a very hard process to go through, as she was very concerned with how it would be taken, and leaving certain people out to dry (she's very dedicated, that Mel) but it was something that needed to happen, and I helped by helping her find the words to break it to her boss. Now she feels a lot lighter, which I'm very glad about. Also I finally got my hair cut after months of putting it off.

Happenings from the previous week also included going to the dentist (kudos for using previ-dent and not letting my baby cavities get any worse) and starting talks about my mid-year appraisal, which involved the ever-thorny issue of where exactly I'm supposed to go from here. I was sanguine about it as ever but a little more in the tune of "I'm just enjoying the ride" rather than "I don't feel like I have any direction so I'm not engaged." Maria praised me for handling myself without as much category manager oversight (as the people minding those categories have more pressing things going.) Me, I'm happy about where I am in the company right now, trying to show a bit more of myself, but I understand why I didn't get the bigger job. I just found out who did get it, and at least one of them -- the one I think I will be working with -- I think is a great fit who deserves the job and I would be very happy to work with this person.

I had the day off today. I did some writing, actually polishing a piece that I did yesterday during work hours (sorry, I was moved) but mostly didn't push myself. I just wanted to drop this check-in, and then maybe do some reading. I also went for a walk, which I try to do several times a week. It's been a fine day.

Given I usually only write while in distress, I wanted to show, you know, that sometimes things are good. Not perfect, sure, but quite good.

Keep on rockin'

-Scotto