No Worries. in Open Diary 2001-2018 (Pre-Prosebox)

First weekend I can remember where I don’t have to worry about work. I do need to study a cheat sheet at some point. I’ll be covering for one of the product managers in New York next week (she’s on maternity leave) by presenting her line to several buyers. I’m a little nervous about that, but not as nervous as I get when it’s my stuff that’s on the line. I suppose that’s backwards thinking. You’d think that I know my own stuff inside and out and I’d be more comfortable with the material. It is finally starting to get easier, though.

Next week should be pretty fun. Lots of old friends in the city. Maria’s throwing a surprise birthday party for Crazy Tony. I think she said it will be an intimate setting of about 60 people. Jeff (from my old job) is going to be there. Yeah, the one I made out with at the strip joint in Vegas. I smell just a teensy bit of trouble brewing…but I’ll be good, I promise!

AND! Best Bud and I discovered that we will both be in the city on Wednesday! We are planning to have dinner together that night. Just the two of us.

I was supposed to leave for Europe next Friday, but my boss is making me change my schedule. I’m going two weeks later. Chelle, my counterpart is not going to be pleased when she hears that. Not in the least. She made all these special plans for us to go together. Maria screwed all that up by running to my boss when she found out about it. She wanted me to go with her and Crazy Tony. Well, that would be all fine and good, except the timing works out badly. So now, I’m going solo. Thanks, Maria.

Still, I’m excited to be getting out of the country again. Dublin is one of my stops. I’ve never been to Ireland. Anybody have any great suggestions for solo dinners and things like that? I’ll be there for two days. London is a given. And I’ll probably go to Barcelona again if our cheapo travel people can figure out the $$ and the logistics. Amsterdam is option #2. The travel agent was such a snot on the phone yesterday. When I told her my travel thoughts, she let out a frustrated sigh and said, “must be nice to have a job like that…”

I wanted to say, look lady, scratch your way up from an $8.00/hr job just like I did. I didn’t do it any other way. I work my ass off. I stress my ass off. Travel isn’t all glamour. It’s mostly schlepping stuff. I endure some of the craziest people in the business. My work is my life. It’s my only social outlet. I moved to the middle of nowhere where I didn’t know a soul just for this job. I have few friends outside of work because I spend all of my time traveling and then working on the weekends just to catch up with stuff that needs to be done in the office. I don’t have time for a boyfriend. I’ll probably never have children because I’m spending all of my prime baby-making years trying to climb the damn corporate ladder. Yes, it’s nice to have a job like I have because I just happen to love what I do. I love my job. I don’t want to lose it. So I bust ass. I try not to complain too much. I vent to my computer. So please, just do your job and don’t give me your shit.

But I didn’t say that. I just kinda went, “heh”. And thanked her for the little help she gave me because she told me she was going to have to get back to me next week when she has time to figure the schedule out.

Nyeah.

Finally went out with Sports Guy on Thursday. Was not looking forward to it. First of all, he kept sending me little e-mails simply asking, “how are you doing today??”, “i hope your well!!!!!!!”, “are we still on for tonight??????????”, “have a great day!!!”

They were not cute. They were annoying. All day long, these little e-mails.

So I decided to keep him waiting just a little bit. Called first and told him I’d be about 15 minutes late. As I was walking to the restaurant, I called Maria. She kept me talking forever. Bitching about my travel schedule, etc. She was the one who screwed it up for me in the first place! Finally, I told her that I had to go because I needed to get to my date. I’d kept him waiting an hour.

When the hostess finally walked me over to the table, I was pleasantly surprised. He was better looking than I’d remembered. Dinner was nice. Conversation okay. But what really got me was when we were leaving the place. Everyone there knew him! I was blown away by the people waving at him and saying hello and he was shaking hands with everyone. Yes, I know he’s a busy guy. He’s a big wig in the local professional sports scene here. But damn. What the hell was that?

He walked me back to my place and I turned and said goodbye. No hug. No kiss. Nothing. Just the way I’d hoped. Not really sure what I think of him at this point.

He e-mailed first thing in the morning. It was nice. Less annoying. Less exaggerated punctuation. I replied, thanking him for dinner.

But then he wrote back in that annoying way… “can we get together again sometime soon????????????!!”

Ugh. I don’t know. Maybe.

Well, need to get out there and enjoy this stress-free Saturday. I’m off to make a Target run, one of my most favorite things to do! Yipee.