Not As Bad As I Thought?

We had our 8 hour Diversity Training on Friday. It was actually pretty good. I was surprised at how many people agreed that there was a greater need to remind people of common sense. Yes, there are times when you can't walk away or change the channel and you have to learn to deal with that, but mostly you can. If you don't like something, quit trying to make the world in your own image and walk away or ignore it or go about changing it through the arena of ideas. Don't be such a whiner, though.

We play softball this week after having 2 weeks off. We did have a practice with a few of us that needed it on Sunday. We play a team that was undefeated until another undefeated team beat them. I think we have a shot against them, but wouldn't be surprised if we got beat. The second game is against a team that is 3-1. I would be happy going 1-1 for the night, but would love to be 2-0!

I've bowled 4 times in the last month. I'm actually a decent bowler with an average around 120-135. I've had times where half the frames are strikes and I had one game where all but 3 frames were spares. It seems to help me be more accurate when pitching slow pitch softball, too. I'm really not a bowling fan, but I've had fun with the friends I've been out with.

This last weekend was our big Friday night party. We had 101 people there. No Dalmations that I could find, but a couple of mutts that won't be back. We only had two contestants this time, but it was all good and the winner won $50 that we collected. The last party was 105 and 4 contestants. The winner won $60 at that one 6 weeks ago. We are going 4 weeks to the next party as we still have 2 kegs left. We bought the usual 4, but many people had a store meeting the next morning and some were having graduation. One of the graduates was out and had the best time of his life, he said. I even had him licking beer off the floor early in the night. It was great. He spilled it and I worked it out for the guys razzing him and for him. I had a girl sit on the floor (clothed, of course) with the spill between her knees and...well, you can imagine how happy he was to lick up the beer then. Too funny! Oh, to be that young, dumb, and full of...crap. Well, at least I turned 18 last December...for the second time.

Age is catching up, I'm afraid. Maybe I notice it more with a younger crowd around all the time. I also notice the aches and pains of playing softball, too. My ribs hurt after batting practice Sunday. I was hitting everything thrown toward me, so I contorted to get a lot of bad pitches. At least they got some fielding practice since I put most everything into play. My knees are killing me, especially my right one. I have trouble going up and down stairs, but I force myself to. I haven't had this much pain in the knees before. I also haven't had any strenuous activity for a few years.

I also notice age in other ways. I made a call to get our Qwest speed upped to 3MB and met the most wonderful young lady on the phone. We got to talking and almost forgot the call I was placing. She even came out to the party on Friday and won the contest. She had the best attitude that night knowing that I was playing host and had to mingle and make sure everyone was ok. She helped host at the door and introduced herself to several people and had a great time. It was perfect the way she did everything that night. She slept on my futon after we got back from Perkins so she could get to work by 9:30AM. We visited so much that she got about 2 hours of sleep. After she got off work, we were supposed to grill out, but my roommates cancelled on me. We went to Hu Hot for dinner and then went bowling. It was a wonderful time. I honestly wouldn't mind dating this 23 year old, but wouldn't care if she was just a friend, too. She just had that attitude that you were glad just to know her and have fun.

There were 2 things that I found quite rude, though. She rode with me to Hu Hot and somewhere along the line ended up on the phone with one of her best guy friends. No, there wasn't anything more than that as I saw. She ended up telling him to join us at Hu Hot without even asking me if I'd mind. I wouldn't have minded, but I was brought up that you ask. He was genuinely very nice and fun to hang out with. After dinner, I assumed that he would go about with his plans for the evening and she and I would do something. Well, again, without asking, she asked him to join us in my car "instead of taking two cars". If I'm giving someone a ride, I'd like to know about it in advance. It's just polite.

I understand the need for security when out with strangers, but I also understand the need for communication. Other than those two things, the weekend was great and it was really fun spending time with her. It was VERY hard to read her as interested in anything more than friendship or not and really, I don't care either way. It was just refreshing to meet someone with such a positive, carefree attitude who fit in with everyone so well.

I did meet one person that fits this description last year. Well, two, if you count her married friend. It's a rare find for me. I get to hang out on occasion with the one I met last year at some shows. It's awesome to have friends like that.

Between my expectations and the reality of Diversity training, softball, and age is it really as bad as I thought it would be? I'm still out on that one.