A Weekend of Time Traveling

First off, I squared everything away with Susan. She just had forgotten to give me the days off, so I took an extra one off too and lied about my finals.

If I had been super smart, I'd have requested the 20th off as well, for Theron and my anniversary. Maybe I'll call in, maybe by then we'll have spent almost a full week together and we'll be annoyed with each other so it'll be good to work again. Nah. The only time we really get annoyed with each other is when there are outside influences/people making things harder on one or the both of us.

My weekend went well for everything that was going on. Theron was at home, and I was stuck putting up with my stepbrother.

He's a great guy and all, but annoying as hell. My parents are fighting more due to his presence because now dad is torn between new and old family, similar to when we moved here. We never get time to ourselves now. If he's not constantly asking me about Buddhism or trying to impress/woo? Kelsey and I with his amazingness, then he's just standing in the same room, watching TV he's not really even interested in. He smokes too much, interrupts and doesn't let you return to the subject you were on, acts like he knows everything about everything, tries to relate completely unrelatable things, is too sensitive, and is stupid to put it mildly. Maybe it's just because I grew up in an intellectual home, but yikes. On top of all that, the kid (he's almost 24, but definitely more like 10) is going through withdrawals for sure from pot and drinking and his girlfriend/"family", but I think maybe even more than that. Apparently the day before he got himself kicked outta his girlfriend's house, he smoked several ounces of pot alone. He picks on Kelsey constantly, more than a brother should in my opinion.

I'm not scared of him, because I know I could take him, but it worries me the amount of time Kelsey and he are probably going to end up spending alone together as school ends for me and I start working more. I'm worried for her, for her well-being. I swear, if he even eyes her differently, he's gone in every sense of the word.

Work this weekend wasn't so bad. Saturday was hectic, and I don't care for Steve's way of handling stress and only having one or two people on the floor. Poor Nando was trying to do almost everything alone, and I can't let him do that. Sure, the kid messed me up good for a few months, but I learned a lot from him and grew tremendously as a person. He's one of my closest friends, and I can't let him do too much like that alone, not when it's this busy.

Sunday went much better. I had a few conversations with Grrr about scheduling and working and just life in general. We're doing much better. She was not upset at all at me being up at the service desk and helping Nando to run things smoother. Maybe without me there on certain days, she sees how much I do to help. I finally got to work on some of my PLCs for once. I got a good chunk of things done. It was a pretty productive weekend, as far as work goes.

So Theron's got me reading The Time Traveler's Wife. It's gotta be the best book written ever. Period. It is so sweet. I recommend it to anyone who is in love, misses love, has to deal with long periods of absences of love... pretty much anyone. Don't look it up on Wikipedia though, because it's got spoilers. I don't know about you, but I'm halfway through this book and I want to read the whole thing without hints (except the ones that Theron has given me). They're making a movie, but I'm leery of how it'll translate. The book is organized quite neatly, by whose perspective things are from (Clare or Henry) and what ages and where Henry is.

Knowing that he cried reading this book is helping me to understand that it's okay to cry. I'm not a weak person for doing so. I don't always have to be strong, stoic. I'm getting in touch with my emotions, which has been a little difficult, I'll admit, but definitely a necessity. When I have kids, I want to be able to raise them right, which means being fully aware of and in touch with myself.

Here's a little teaser from the book...

"Well, you know, I'm not kidding about wanting that much sex. I mean, I realize that it's not practical. But I've been wanting to tell you: I feel so different. I just...feel so connected to you. And I think that it holds me here, in the present. Being physically connected to you..."
-Henry