Wednesday Letters: Late Night Chats

Dear Sister-in-Law,

Thanks for staying up later than normal to chat with me and alleviate my stress about this Friday. I sure have missed these talks since you've been off in Europe for awhile. 

And I'm guessing we're probably going to have more of these chats. At least, that's what I'm hoping for. 

Love,

Emery

Fresh Start

I'm actually always grateful when Monday comes around. 

I have more energy on Monday than I do on Friday.

Plus, I get to put the past week behind me. Wednesday was my death day last week.

I had to be somewhere by 3:45 AM. I had to drive myself. So that meant I had to be awake and take a shower before leaving on said adventure. 

From there, I returned home to nap, shower, and prepare myself for a wedding. Then I went into work again for another hour before trekking north. 

The wedding was lovely. The drive home at 9:30 PM was not. 

But while I was in the land northward, I stopped by one set of grandparents' grave. Grandma passed away in March and I haven't been to visit since. I don't do death or aging really well. But I went and had a long talk with Grandma and Grandpa. 

In all honesty, they probably thought I was silly to be sitting there talking with them. But I just needed to express some things out loud, without my friends listening. 

And I believe they heard and laughed with me and maybe shed a tear. 

But the best part of Monday? It's putting away all my worries from last week, and starting fresh again. No mistakes. Not a big to-do list. 

TGIM... Thank God It's Monday.

Saturday Stories: Flirting At It's Best

I have never been a good flirt.

I feel like flirting requires some serious confidence. Confidence that I sorely lack when it comes to dealing with boys. I have plenty of confidence as we sit and watch football or another sporting match and I rattle of the lingo based on years of observing my father watch my brothers and asking him questions. But having confidence to flip my hair and not feel like I'm losing IQ points—this is a problem.

So, after taking a year and a half break, I found myself surrounded by some guys. I was still unsure of the whole flirting business. I didn't know how to do it. One of the guys asked me if I was free sometime that week.

This is it, I thought. A guy is finally asking me on a date.

He smiled and said, "I need you to babysit."

My face fell. I was confused. "Babysit? Who?"

"Me."

No one laughed. He didn't even laugh. I'm still unsure whether he was joking or was serious. We didn't make any plans at that time. We never went out. 

And since then, I've tried not to be too harsh.

Although, a couple of weeks ago I was forced to sit through looking at comics while the artist looked on. I'm still not sure what he thought he'd accomplish, except to discover that I don't have his type of humor.

Also, remember nerdy boy from work? Perhaps we've been sharing an office for a month. And maybe I had to move offices on Friday. And maybe we are going out next Friday? (YAY!)

Wednesday Letters: Numbers on the Clock

Dear 2:40 AM,

I didn't even know you existed (except for the rare case of the flu).  And this morning, I greeted you so that I could get down to work on a film set.

I hope we don't meet again any time soon.

Regards,

Emery

Makes Me Laugh

There are some times when you need a good laugh.

This one got me on Sunday:

Happy Tuesday!

Prankster

I'm not sure when it happened. 

At my last job, I became known as the prankster. The one who would instigate any and all pranks. I don't know if that's true. But I do have a bit of a mischievous side.

When I started work at my new job, I had transferred from one department in my company to another. I was working with people who were closer in my age. I assumed that pranks were encouraged.

My boss (who was only a few months older than me) had a habit of leaving his computer unlocked. So while walking by, I would check to see if he was there. If he wasn't, I would stop in and send some random email to an unsuspecting member of our team. A rather harmless email... that would cause some confusion. He never learned. This happened three or four times.

My favorite prank though came on April Fools' Day. He and I had my annual review with my salary raise (and it was a generous raise). There had been talk that another department was looking for someone and they had begun to ask me to apply for the new position. I went up to my boss' office and said we need to chat. I told him that the new department had offered me a job and I was going to take it. 

We sat for a good 15 seconds. His face turned pale. He was speechless (which was unheard of for him).

I couldn't take the feeling of discomfort.

"April Fool's!" I laughed.

It took him another 10 seconds to register what had just happened.

That story made it around our group as the best payback the boss ever had (considering that he was a major prankster, it only seems appropriate that he was taken down by a better one). 

But I'm still waiting for the day that I can play this prank on someone:

You better watch out if you're my co-worker....

Wednesday Letters: New Apartment

Dear New Apartment:

I know you're out there, somewhere.
I'm having trouble finding you.
I'm flexible in my rent (though not terribly flexible... I'm still looking for a good deal) 
and I'm good with certain areas. (I just don't want to live below gypsies with the laundry room being the cement hut under the back porch.
Could you throw up the signal when I'm getting close? I'd rather play the hot/cold game when I know where to look.

Looking for you desperately,

Emery