A post in which I have a dinner date, just with different people than I had planned

I was up early this morning, and decided to do a bit of hat work since I had some extra time. I trimmed up some of the beads, but that means yet more bead work to come. I’m really tired of tying beads at this point. I also cut and placed some of the placement padding for the inside – that will help it stay more stably and comfortably on my head. I put the hat on for a bit first; because once this padding was glued in I knew I was going to have to leave it alone for a while. But there are other things I can work on tonight. I got the padding in, roughly shored into place, and hopefully weighted in and put in a position where the cats won’t mess with it before I left for work. Crooner thinks I am exceedingly cruel because I won’t let him bat, chew up, and generally destroy all those dangly beads.

Al ended up going in to work on his day off. I tried to compromise and meet him for lunch before he went in, but that ultimately didn’t work out either. I was more than discouraged, I was downright impatient. This is just a hot-button issue for me – this working all the time thing. But we ended up talking on the phone, and we both cleared the air a bit. For starters, he is trying to get out of the store he’s in, and to do that he has to go along for now, which I understand. Also, he is unhappy with the way things are, and pretty frustrated himself. This is a large change from Michael, who I believe would happily spend the rest of his life at work. Or would have when we were together, which I guess may be a clue to how well things were going at home. But I digress. I felt better after talking to him, and knowing that he does in fact have plans and hopes of actually enjoying his life some at some point. If it was with me that would be nice.

After work I went by CVS for a couple of things, and while I was there (texting with Al, and hoping he wouldn’t ask where I was) dana called to ask me out to dinner with them and Greg, who is up from Atlanta. I accepted. I felt kind of bad because I haven’t seen much of them since they helped me wade through my Great Truth after the Atlanta weekend.

They were celebrating the new jobs that dana and Greg have both landed, and it was a happy meal, even if the service wasn’t quite up to par. We didn’t mind really. We were together and having a good time. Since I had been irresponsible by not going home and hatting anyway, I just went on back to their house for a visit afterwards. I have enough hat right now that I could go to the party just as it is. The rest is extras. Extras I want to do, but still. I’m not going to turn down dinner out with friends to work on some contest.

The new thinking – trying to focus on what’s important.

I’m not overly worried about my service date for Saturday, although I completely expected to be a mass of nerves at this point. Part of it is that I know Lady Beth won’t expect everything to be perfect (even if I do), and part of it I guess is that I’ve been too distracted this week to work up a good case of nerves about it. What with the hat party coming and trying to meet a new boyfriend at the same time, I’ve just had a few too many irons in the fire. Perhaps that is a good thing.

But I’m really looking forward to next week when things slow down just a hair. I’m planning on taking next weekend as a lazy weekend.