Damn Swede

So I was told at work today by the General Manager that he will be dealing with me on the business, instead of Ken. It is nice to have the chance to work so close with upper management to get my name out there, but I am so busy as a result. Ken is supposed to come to me for things to do, which is somewhat of a flip. I am not sure what to tell him to do, because we are very segregated as to what we handle typically. I asked him to help with a quarterly budget pull through, which will be really helpful. I just feel awkward, though most would feel smug. Ken treated me like such shit for so long, like his beck and call girl, and now he has to follow my lead. This is where Jan would say, “Perserverence pays” or “good things come to those who wait” or something else that involves being a faithful worker combined with the benefits of having patience.

Unrelated: I recently bought an Oral B Teeth-whitening toothbrush and it is the best thing ever. It has a battery and a circle and three strips that go opposite directions. I didn’t know my teeth could be this clean. I love it and will never go back to a standard toothbrush.

Even more unrelated: I went to Fox & Obel for a pizza-making class. Not very Lent-friendly, but my boss invited me because we “never get to spend any quality time together.” Interesting to note, though, I was her third choice. Local pizzaria owners came and showed us how to make a deep dish spinach pizza. Then the Dining Editors from Chicago Magazine stood up and talked about the book they wrote on pizza. It was interesting and they signed everyone’s book. I convinced one of the authors to sign Wendy’s book like it was a high school yearbook. He wrote, “It was great sitting behind you in fourth period.” He wrote in mine, “Loved the movie.”

We had a big presentation at work on Friday and it went really well. Ken was supposed to pull it together, but in about two full days he had only complied one slide that was disjointed at best. Anita and I had to fight Ken to make sense of it and ultimately Anita took the presentation from him and worked it out. We met with John and he was very pleased with the end result. We felt smart . . . and pretty!

Michelle spent the night on Friday and we had dinner with Troy & Molly on Saturday. It was a great time, and then Troy had to go to pick up our parents. Because United sucks, they missed their 11:00 AM flight and couldn’t get on another flight all day. I told them they were the worst people this could happen to because now they will be at the airport a day in advance for future flights.

Been fighting a migrane all day. It was so painful during church, then I laid still for an hour and it went away. Now I am afraid it is coming back. Not good. I am going to Julie’s house for dinner and it would suck to have a headache.

So, Todd has been stalking me. It’s creepy. He asked me out at midnight last night for tonight. It wasn’t so bad except that he made it more dramatic with the plea at the end. Then tonight when I got home, I turned on the computer while I fixed dinner and cleaned. As I sat down to eat, I shut the computer to move it out of the way. As I was shutting it, I noticed that someone had requested to send me an instant message. I realized that it was Todd. I thought, well, he can wait until I eat my dinner. Not even three minutes later, he called me on the phone. I didn’t answer because, again, eating dinner.

When I finished dinner, I signed back on the computer. Not even two minutes later, he instant messaged me. He is asking me if he is being pushy, and I told him he was. I don’t know what to do. He seems nice enough. Perhaps I should give him another chance. I don’t know. Dating sucks.

“Aaron, have you ever had a burning in your chest
That made you just want to be free?”
It was a warm afternoon when she asked him this,
As they sat on the shore of the sea

Well, Aaron just tugged at his hair and he took
A very long time to reply
And by the time that he spoke, she’d forgotten she asked
And was lost in the clouds of the sky

He said, “Kelly, I don’t think
I’ve ever wanted as much
To be free as I’ve longed to be known.
And of the things that I hate
As I look at my life,
The worst is my being alone.”

The rest of his words he kept from her ears
Cause he thought she might not understand
And she didn’t reply. She couldn’t figure out how,
Cause the fire in her heart had been fanned

Oh, of all the things known that he could’ve spoken that day,
He chose one from deep down inside
Without intending her to, he caused her to confess
Her false confidence and how she had lied

She said, “Aaron, I don’t think
I’ve ever wanted as much
To be free as I’ve longed to be known.
And of the things that I hate
As I look at my life,
The worst is my being alone.”

And as they headed home, neither of them could speak a word
And they held their own spirits to blame
But at the pulse of the waves, they both turned around
Surely someone was calling their name
Someone was calling their name

- Waterdeep

So I just got home from my date with Todd. Yeah. He told me I looked like Drew Barrymore (what?) and made sure I knew that she was his favorite actress. By the end of the night, I was way cuter than Drew Barrymore. So here is a tally for the night:

Number of times he referenced meeting my dad - 1
Number of times he asked “if there were some place quieter to go” - 1
Number of times he referenced us spending the night together - 2
Number of times he stated (or eluded to) he was attracted to me - 6
Number of times he sought verbal affirmation from me - 18
Number of times I gave him verbal affirmation - 0
Number of times he said the date was going “great” - 4
Number of times he referenced the “future” - 6
Number of times he called me Drew - 1

There was a point in the evening when he had his arm around me and was rubbing my back while nuzzling my shoulder. I could tell from his look that he meant it to be an intimate moment where we were growing closer together. Really, though, I just felt very sad and lonely. What is wrong with me? He obviously likes me and he seems nice, like he would take really good care of me. Why don’t I like him? Why am I so picky?

And I don’t look like Drew Barrymore.