BootsnAll Travel Network



Lukewarm and loving it

It doesn’t seem fair that the worst times drag on forever and good times go by all too quickly. This week in particular was neither really great nor really bad, though, so it went by about as quickly as you could expect. It was a week a bit like the intro to Tale of Two Cities, so I suppose the best times and the worst averaged out to be, well, average. I’ll take that! Hey, lukewarm is a vast improvement…

I thought this week was going to be awful seeing as how I was back in training full-time at work again. It actually turned out all right in the end, although I’m only halfway done now and still have the worst part (a presentation in front of my boss and my boss’ boss) ahead of me. The people in my training class have been really nice and fun, so it’s made it a lot easier than it otherwise would have been. Unless you consider learning how to install and customize application virtualization software a good time, in which case the activities alone and the 1,000+ page book would be all you could ever ask for.

Tuesday was an absolute crap day. I started off by slicing my finger open pretty badly on a can of cat food, and it was all downhill from there. I took my car in to get the A/C checked out and see how much it was going to cost to get it fixed. I had to get a rental in the meantime because I didn’t have anyway of getting to work. The whole thing was really stressful because I didn’t have much time to get it all done because I couldn’t afford to leave work because of the training, and I don’t really have anyone down here I feel like I could ask to help me out. On top of the car troubles both my cats were really sick at the time and were just lying around looking really pathetic, sneezing like crazy and looking at me with their sad little gooped-up eyes. I didn’t know what to do! When I went back in to the office after I’d gone home for lunch to check on the cats I was feeling really down, and it must’ve shown on my face because as I was walking to my desk my boss asked if I was okay. I’m pretty good about not letting stuff like that show, so when he asked me that, I was caught completely off guard—and I almost burst into tears. I couldn’t even really answer him because I couldn’t find my voice. I choked something out and hurried back to my desk and had just recovered a bit when he came by to check on me…and it happened again! I don’t know what came over me, but now I think my boss thinks I’m emotionally unstable. Fabulous. My day didn’t get any better when the car dealership called me back and told me it was going to be $1,300 to get my car back. Ouch.

The rest of the week started to look up after Tuesday. I was able to get my car back on Wednesday, work was going really well (I was in a really good mood, so I think I convinced my boss I am a happy person after all) and I found out my article was finally published in the fishing magazine! My dad’s working on getting extra copies so I can have a look, but I’m mostly just happy to be able to say I was published when sending stuff out to other publications. I’m hoping nobody will ask me about circulation figures…that’s beside the point! So now things have settled down a bit (barring any more unforeseen problems), I’ll have time to focus more on my writing and hopefully get something published in a halfway respectable magazine. But until then, check out my article in a bait shop near you…

So, speaking of writing, I’d thought about writing something up about Possum Day this year. It being an election year, there’s bound to be a handful of politicians stomping around the panhandle who’ll stop by, and with my personal ties and the special events, I thought this year would be a good one to write about. And it looks like I’m not the only person that thinks so because I was contacted by a reporter this week who wants to interview me for an article he’s writing about Possum Day! I can’t even tell you how shocked I was when I found out. Most shocking of all is that the way this guy found me was through this blog! Who’d have thunk? He left a comment on one of the pages where I’d mentioned Possum Day and gave me his e-mail, and when I contacted him and asked him a few questions he e-mailed me back with his purpose for the article and subsequent related articles and wants to call me for a phone interview given my relationship with my grandfather. I couldn’t believe it…I’m so amused by the whole idea. The news must be pretty thin where this guy’s reporting from.

Today’s been a pretty chill day so far. I had to take the kitties back to the vet for a checkup, but they at least seem to be feeling better, even if they are still constantly sneezing in my face without having the courtesy of covering their noses. They are back to their old selves just about—chasing each other around the apartment until they’re so tired they fall over, break for a nap and repeat.

I’d heard about a product called Skype way back last fall from my favorite South African chap whom I used to work with, but I’d never really bothered to find out much about it. I knew it was free software that let users talk for free all over the world to any other Skype user, but I figured if it was free it must be really poor quality or had some other major drawback about it. Today I’m changing my tune, because I’ve discovered that it’s the coolest thing EVER! Jim Bollocks called me a couple of weeks ago and reminded me it was my turn to call him back, so I’d been meaning to pick up a calling card for ages but had never thought about it until I was in the car on my way home from the store. So today I decided to download it and give it a try, just for kicks and giggles. It was a cinch to download and sign up. I texted Jim and told him to try it out, and within no time we were talking to each other over the Internet with quality way better than when I’ve spoken to him on a normal phone. It was amazing! It’s my new favorite thing and I’m going to demand that all my international friends get it immediately. I doubted that my ancient little microphone would even work, but the sound quality was excellent and there was no lag time at all. And best of all, we talked for two hours for FREE! (Although I should have ended the conversation before he shared his desire to get down on one knee and ask me to allow him to impregnate me. Who said romance was dead?) I love it! Screw those slave drivers at Barablu—Skype rocks. Why couldn’t they have given me a job, huh?



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