Been a hectic couple of weeks, as usual. It was nice to have a four-day weekend for the July 4th holiday, but the weather was very uncooperative, especially compared to last year where it was like the middle of summer. Instead this time it was more like April temperatures and even a bit rainy. I once again spent the holiday on the houseboat of a colleague’s from Unexpected, and while the friends and food were all excellent I got really cold, in no small part due to my jumping in the water several times in solidarity with the houseboat owner.
Immediately following the holiday I had to spend the entire remaining week on a business trip to my company’s headquarters in San Jose. The work itself went fine, but the trip was fraught with bad judgment and timing. As this was a longer trip than normal I thought I might stay in a nicer suite instead of the hotel I normally bunk at – the cost is the same to the company, but the suite is farther away so I normally don’t bother with it. I was thinking Elizabeth might join me for the second half of the week as she still had a little time off before her classes began, and the extra comfort and recreational amenities of the suite would have been perfect for that. I confirmed availability and priced out the tickets, slept on it to be sure, and when I went to book the next day the suites had become entirely booked up overnight, and the flight had gone up $100. So that plan went out the window… then to make matters worse, I managed to book my own flight for the wrong day, which caused a whole additional heap of last-minute stress.
Things have calmed down a little since then. Last week we finally had some nice summer weather (although nowhere near as hot and brutal as it apparently had been the week I was gone in San Jose), and I even cracked the barbecue out of storage this past weekend as they’ve finally gotten around to painting most of my condo. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of the construction in my condo complex, and it is a welcome sight.
I’ve been managing to do some improv pretty much every weekend, which has also been good for me. This past Saturday I had one of the best Theatresports shows I’ve had in a long time… it was a full, boisterous house and the most epic scene of the night was between myself and another improviser in the style of Dr. Seuss. Both teams did well but ours edged out a victory, which means I get to go back next weekend. It felt really good to experience that kind of success on stage again… I was in need of a night like that one.
Dan.