A Girl...

Playing Nice

It should be telling that it's taking me multiple days to write about all the things we did in one...

Yes. Tired.

So after we left the triathlon, we drove to Fremont, to some regional park working farm churn your own butter and pet the scary sheep place. One of the companies Simon consults for on a part-time basis was holding their summer picnic and we were invited, which was awfully nice, considering he's not a real employee.

On the one hand it was sad that we wouldn't be hanging out with actual coworkers, all of us part of one big happy 9-to-5 family, but on the other hand, it was AWESOME that we wouldn't be hanging with actual coworkers because that meant I could crawl off and nap in the shade and not worry about offending anyone because, hey, who knows how long the contract is going to last, and I don't owe these people nothin'.

The folks we did meet and chat with were very pleasant and nice, but did I mention we were SO TIRED and did I mention I hate making smalltalk with strangers and did I also mention that there were carnival games and craft booths and all the free Orange Crush I could drink? There's quite a photo essay about it on Flickr, I hear.

After four hours of slouching in the shade, trying to stake awake long enough to partake of the hot dogs and ribs that were supposed to be served at 12:30 but were late and I almost died, we finally dragged ourselves to the car for the long ride home. It was one of those scintillating conversations in which one person stares vacantly out the window with drool pooling in the lower corner of his mouth with the other person holds one eye open so she can see the road while the other eye takes a nap. The heat did not help, although the Orange Crush did.

When we finally made it home, we had one thought and one thought only. Sleep. So we could be ready for roller derby. Yes, even on a day when he woke up at five to complete a triathlon, Simon wouldn't give up his derby, and so it was that we found ourselves not only watching girls skate around and around and around the track in a hypnotic spiral until midnight (not to mention that the halftime show was belly dancers with smokey, get-thee-to-a-bedroom eyes), but we didn't get to sleep until two in the godforsaken morning because we met Lulu at the rink and invited her over for whiskey and edamame and she was so completely delightful and her hair was so shiny and her eyes were so brown and soft that we just couldn't say goodbye. She and Simon made plans to play chess together and do a Muddy Buddy together and start a book club together without me, so I pretty much love her and hate her at the same time. I've had the best luck meeting internet friends in person.

Posted by Leah at July 18, 2006 11:18 AM