Crazy calm

3-28-16

For it being a relatively quiet weekend it was certainly busy.

Friday’s work day looked to be rather simple. I had a handful of projects to work on with the occasional customer situation. Sure, one of those ended up being quite a bit of drama (that I am not even sure is done yet) and resulted in multiple emails back and forth with a sales rep. Those emails were minor compared to what was going on in my personal email and Facebook Messenger.

On Thursday evening, I got a message from Jen, Aaron’s girlfriend. I hadn’t responded until Friday as I was in the midst of afternoon chaos at the time. I got a chance mid-morning to respond to the request, which was regarding stepping in as a moderator for them. Since they got together, I know they have fought pretty consistently. I have tried to help in the past with a similar setting in which they both vented out their issues to myself and Ken while we essentially gave opinions and feedback. Since that time, I have fielded emails from Jen regarding frustrations with Aaron including one fairly recently when they moved in together. Ultimately, that last set of emails I suggested to her that truly they are not a good match and that I would honestly recommend splitting up. Within a day or two they ended moving in together.

It didn’t seem to me as if I was really a good person to go to regarding their issues. My opinion still stands at thinking they should break up. They might be ok people apart but they are quite toxic together. He is mean and she is skittish and stressed. Her emails when they fight are clearly quite crazed and I am prone to give her the benefit of the doubt in saying she is probably not like this when he isn’t involved. So all that being said, I don’t see any long term benefits with trying to do pseudo counseling, even though I have agreed to this.

Yes, in a moment of weakness for my friends I have said I would find some time. The honest truth is, I don’t know when that will be. They mentioned weeknights, which I promptly vetoed, knowing that there was no way in hell that I would have time for that. They have suggested Sundays, which also is a bit of an issue depending on soccer games. Jen’s insistence on it being sooner than later, although frustrating, will most likely result in them coming over Sunday afternoon. Luckily the boys will be playing games or out riding bikes so it should be fine.

As if it wasn’t crazy enough, in addition to the emails with Jen, I got an email from Brandy concerning the same topic. Apparently Aaron and Jen also drug her into this whole situation. Since I wasn’t available on Thursday to talk Jen down, they ended up calling Brandy to ask her how Aaron was with her. Yeah, not the best idea, what with them not having what you would call a good relationship in the grand scheme of things. Brandy was touching base with me to see what I knew, which really honked with me a fair amount. We have not truly spoken in multiple years now, which is for the best for each of us.

The emails back and forth were fine, with it mostly being a recap of how they seemed to her when she spoke to them. It didn’t sound like a great conversation to say the least, with Aaron apparently yelling a fair amount and he came across as quite rude. Our emails ended cordially and overall I would say it wasn’t bad. It still wasn’t something I expected.

Saturday morning was all about getting the house ready for Easter. Not that we had big plans, but let’s face it, hiding eggs in a mess isn’t the best of ideas. Ken went to the Winter League to help ref and I set out to get the chores done. The boys helped me with a great deal and then I set them loose. They ended up riding bike and scooter up to Hull to say hello to Ken and then they rode back. Dax wasn’t 100% confident on the bike yet, which was probably ok being that they would be going pretty far for a first outing. He rode the scooter. They ended up cruising the neighborhood for a while, which made me very happy that they have this kind of freedom now. Plus, to see Bobby doing anything active is wonderful.

We ended up going to see Zootopia that afternoon. The initial plan had been to see it on Sunday, but Chris contacted us and offered us use of his Wondercon passes for Sunday afternoon. The movie was a lot of fun. I was impressed with how funny it was. The boys adored it, especially Bobby since the sloth named Flash was, well, a sloth which was happy making, but also, turned out Flash loves sports cars. Yep, a character who was Bobby in animal form. He was positively giddy.

We colored eggs that night, which was almost like an after-thought. Neither boy was super interested, but we still had fun. We didn’t do gobs, which was probably a good thing. Ken will set for hard boiled eggs for a few days, but not so many where he has to wonder if any of them have turned.

As hoped, the boys were over the moon with the plush toys in their baskets. Dax lit up and couldn’t stop smiling when he discovered the stuffed Messi. Bobby was so happy to have Flash and both toys joined us for breakfast with my folks.

Wondercon is always entertaining. The costumes alone make it worth all of the crowds and crazy that you have to navigate to look at booths. I really feel like I need to get my shit together and have a costume at the ready for things like this. The boys opted for Boba Fett and General Grievous, and were just happy to have costumes ready for the day. Dax claims he had an only ok time, but he seemed quite pleased with most of it. He just was tired and got hungry, therefore he gets as grouchy as those Snickers commercials.

We got home and watched Zombieland, since this is the proper way to celebrate Zombie Jesus Day. Dax didn’t watch, but Bobby did for most of it until he got bored. He likes it, but really, I think they don’t see the appeal of watching a flick as part of tradition.

After the movie, they both opted to ride bikes. Dax took a bit to figure out his new bike. With his arm still not going straight, it was a challenge. That being said, it was a great way to help him work with it more and it probably was great therapy based on how he was constantly bending it while steering. I will admit, it wasn’t always fun watching them. I was terrified at the idea of Dax crashing and re-injuring himself. Luckily, Bobby stayed close to him, having become a bit of a master on his bike, and would report to me when they looped back towards the house. It was very sweet. Dax got the hang of it, and even expressed interest in riding home. I vetoed this only because he needs more practice, and going down that big hill coming home will take a trial run. Plus, Bobby is staying late for a 5^th grade project.

It was one of those weekends where sure, I had nothing scheduled, and I feel like I had pretty adequate down time, but yet it was busy all at the same time. It truly is a crazy juxtaposition.

Now I have a week ahead of me that looks to be mostly mellow. Saturday, Ken goes to the AYSO Expo and will meet me at home hopefully not too late as we go to our comedy show that night. The boys and I will head to my folks for a dance party in the afternoon, and then I will leave them there to spend the night. They will bring the boys to the soccer field the next morning for Dax’s triumphant return to the field as a CT Striker. It should be exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.

And of course, in true Monday fashion, I need my computer at work to be looked at. I am supposed to be testing the new system, but this morning it didn’t work. I spent an hour on the phone with one of the IT guys in Boise while he worked on my machine remotely, unable to get the program for testing to work. It may mean a new computer is in my future. Woo!