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dragonlady7Two little sisters were in town Sun night, Mon, and Tues. It was nice to see them. Fi brought her boyfriend and all their laundry (I'd offered the use of my washing machine, but it gave me the feeling like they'd've brought it anyway; he'd had to cut short his visit to his grandparents which is where he usually does the laundry, but as far as I know the visit to me was planned months ago, so I don't know why he was so astonished by it), and he spent most of the visit either sleeping or off visiting other friends of his. Which was fine and all, but it made us feel a little awkward, like he doesn't like us or something. Now, I know my mom doesn't like him, and he surely knows that, but seriously I've hardly spoken to the guy in 4 years because he just doesn't come hang out. So I kind of don't like him, which isn't really fair, but there you have it: I haven't had a chance to do much else. Also on the 4th itself, he didn't get out of bed until after noon, whereupon he took Fi and left to visit these other friends. And she actually even said, "Well, it makes it more worthwhile to have driven all this way if we see them too," but I know fine well that they've driven out to visit these other friends several times without even telling me they'd done so until afterward. So I was a little miffed by that. Also as a hostess gift they actually seriously brought a roll of toilet paper he'd stolen from a hotel and instead of it being funny, Fiona gave this long serious explanation of how you're legally allowed to take all the soap and toilet paper from the hotel every day. Um, ok. I'm not one to really stand on ceremony, but it just didn't feel funny to me.
Ann, on the other hand, was delightfully mellow as a houseguest, and we spent a great deal of time just hanging out together, which was a treat as Ann rarely just hangs out. She told me a bunch about her future plans and the like, and it was nice. I still wish I'd managed to meet her boyfriend during the, like, two seconds he's been in this state since they met. ("We've been together two years but we've actually only seen each other for a cumulative five months," she said. Because Vijay is a field researcher, and has done things like spending a summer in the Rockies hunting non-native invasive trout ("It was so strenuous he was consuming six thousand calories a day and still lost twenty pounds," Ann comments), and spending last summer in Antarctica studying Adelie penguins' feeding habits. At the moment he's in Greenland, having spent the previous several months in Alaska hunting for signs of avian flu.
Ann went on lots of walks with us, which was amusing, as she's used to lots of hiking and so on, and so spent the strolls through suburban Tonawanda ID'ing the trees and shrubs. "Most of these are probably silver maples or silver/red hybrids," she said, "because red maples don't make very good street trees, although that one there might be one. That's a Norway maple, though. That's a non-native invasive. They make excellent street trees, being very hardy, but in the forests they actually kill other vegetation." She stood for a while under the flowering basswood up the street, smelling it and proclaiming that it smelled like sex (I think she was quoting Super Troopers); a ways down the street, there was a basswood which had finished flowering, and she picked a handful of the seeds to brew tea with later. (It was tasty. Sort of... green-flavored.)
I really want to go on a hiking/camping trip with her later, but it's been so long since I've even left the house... I don't own hiking boots, or even walking sneakers. I don't own much. I might buy some boots on speculation.
In other news, I am heartily annoyed at the older sister, who is coming up to New York "sometime in July", and had mentioned a date starting with a 2, and I'd said, "Just tell me 2 weeks ahead of time and I can get the weekend off," and she never did. She's coming up the 13-16th, and will be in Melrose for that weekend, and it's too late: that's the weekend after this one, and the schedule's been posted for nearly a week already. I can't possibly get the day off. So I can't go and see her. The whole rest of the family will be there: I'm the only one who wasn't told. So my feelings are hurt and I'm really sad.
I am sitting with the Time Off Request sheet trying to figure out what days to request off. There are so many new people that I can easily get days off, if I ask for them, but I don't want to take random days and then figure out what to do with them: I want to have some sort of plan. So I'm trying to figure that out. Summer's half gone already, and what's more, most of these glorious hours-hungry new employees who'll work any shift for you will all be quitting come late August or early September, and I'll be stuck unable to get a day off again.
I need to finish a novel. I need to be sending a novel out to agents and publishers so I can feel like I'm not living on a hamster wheel. But God, it'll be years yet. I've been doing this for so long now. Urgh.
Ann, on the other hand, was delightfully mellow as a houseguest, and we spent a great deal of time just hanging out together, which was a treat as Ann rarely just hangs out. She told me a bunch about her future plans and the like, and it was nice. I still wish I'd managed to meet her boyfriend during the, like, two seconds he's been in this state since they met. ("We've been together two years but we've actually only seen each other for a cumulative five months," she said. Because Vijay is a field researcher, and has done things like spending a summer in the Rockies hunting non-native invasive trout ("It was so strenuous he was consuming six thousand calories a day and still lost twenty pounds," Ann comments), and spending last summer in Antarctica studying Adelie penguins' feeding habits. At the moment he's in Greenland, having spent the previous several months in Alaska hunting for signs of avian flu.
Ann went on lots of walks with us, which was amusing, as she's used to lots of hiking and so on, and so spent the strolls through suburban Tonawanda ID'ing the trees and shrubs. "Most of these are probably silver maples or silver/red hybrids," she said, "because red maples don't make very good street trees, although that one there might be one. That's a Norway maple, though. That's a non-native invasive. They make excellent street trees, being very hardy, but in the forests they actually kill other vegetation." She stood for a while under the flowering basswood up the street, smelling it and proclaiming that it smelled like sex (I think she was quoting Super Troopers); a ways down the street, there was a basswood which had finished flowering, and she picked a handful of the seeds to brew tea with later. (It was tasty. Sort of... green-flavored.)
I really want to go on a hiking/camping trip with her later, but it's been so long since I've even left the house... I don't own hiking boots, or even walking sneakers. I don't own much. I might buy some boots on speculation.
In other news, I am heartily annoyed at the older sister, who is coming up to New York "sometime in July", and had mentioned a date starting with a 2, and I'd said, "Just tell me 2 weeks ahead of time and I can get the weekend off," and she never did. She's coming up the 13-16th, and will be in Melrose for that weekend, and it's too late: that's the weekend after this one, and the schedule's been posted for nearly a week already. I can't possibly get the day off. So I can't go and see her. The whole rest of the family will be there: I'm the only one who wasn't told. So my feelings are hurt and I'm really sad.
I am sitting with the Time Off Request sheet trying to figure out what days to request off. There are so many new people that I can easily get days off, if I ask for them, but I don't want to take random days and then figure out what to do with them: I want to have some sort of plan. So I'm trying to figure that out. Summer's half gone already, and what's more, most of these glorious hours-hungry new employees who'll work any shift for you will all be quitting come late August or early September, and I'll be stuck unable to get a day off again.
I need to finish a novel. I need to be sending a novel out to agents and publishers so I can feel like I'm not living on a hamster wheel. But God, it'll be years yet. I've been doing this for so long now. Urgh.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 03:52 pm (UTC)If it makes you feel better, I’m right there with you. But don’t despair--keep at it. You’re doing so well, with how regularly you’ve been writing and editing and such. I know it’s slow going, but you’re already ahead of the game, believe me.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 02:53 pm (UTC)I just gapfilled a big chunk of the middle so that the end makes sense. I'm doing well. I can do it.
So can you!!!