I can’t shake this idea that days are solid units. Even though it’s been proven again and again to be untrue, I feel like when a day starts off sucking, it will end sucking, and all will suck. That’s simply not the case. Today did a 180.
It started out with me sitting in my apartment being miserable, feeling like a slacker because I’ve made basically no progress on the piling list of SHIT I HAVE TO DO, and DYING because it is so hot and I have no AC. I was a very fussy baby for the first several hours of today. Then I ran into my neighbor, who owns the salon downstairs, and I asked him if he’d cut my bangs, because they were getting long. I’d helped him get the salon’s website set up, so he offered to do a full cut and color for free as a trade. Perfect! So we went down to the salon and he did a fabulous job on my hair. I’ve found a hairstylist in Seattle that I think I can love, at last! We had a fantastic time talking; he used to work at a big-shot salon in NYC 20+ years ago, and he styled Rosie O’Donnell’s hair (”She was so, so funny! And it was always clean humor, too. Everyone just loved her. She made you feel like her equal.”) and Madonna used to go into the salon all the time, apparently (”She was a mousy little thing. I kept teasing her, asking her what her real name was, what her last name was. She kept saying she only had one name and it was Madonna. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her on TV.”) I felt better already just after having someone to hang out with.
When I got back home to my FIREPIT of an apartment, and my mood plummeted, I knew I had to do something. My windows aren’t right for a window AC, and there’s no central air, so some peeps on Twitter and Facebook recommended I get a portable AC unit. I drove directly to Sears and got one.
Straight from Sears, I headed to the Social Media Club of Seattle’s monthly networking event. Normally I never attend things like that. Just walking in the room nearly gave me a panic attack. I prefer small events with structure. The idea that I should just walk into a packed room and start talking to strangers for four hours does not work for me. Once I have friends, I love them and they love me, but the making-friends process is tough. I’m bad at being friendly.
But anyway, RealNetworks was sponsoring this particular event to show off their upcoming product, RealPlayer SP, so my presence had been requested. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I saw my ex boyfriend’s car. I know it’s his. It has a big dent in the back. I know he’s job-hunting, so I figured there was a decent chance I’d see him there. Still. I was like, “Shit.”
I walked in and found my RN peeps, who are always super fun to hang out with. I chatted with the fabulous Lacy (aka RealTweeter) and I was like, “Look, my ex is right over there,” and she was like, “Let’s walk by him and you can say hi” and I was like, “OK. That’s probably a good idea.” And it actually was a good idea. He was happy to see me and he gave me a big hug and we chatted comfortably for awhile. So I guess we’re not on angry terms, and that makes me feel much happier about the whole thing. I don’t want to date him anymore, but I hate being on angry terms with anyone, ever. This was nice.
After that, the CEO of RealNetworks, Rob Glaser, gave a speech. I went up to sit in the front with Lacy, and a coworker snapped this pic of us:
How cute, right? Then my friend Heather and I took pictures of ourselves taking pictures of each other and then we both Twittered them. NOW THAT IS A CUTE THING TO DO.
Rob spoke about the new RealPlayer, and how well it integrates with Facebook, Twitter, etc. I snapped a pic of him speaking and Twittered the pic. To demonstrate RealPlayer’s capabilities, he downloaded a video from the Internet and then sent it to his Twitter. Then he opened his Twitter account, and, because he follows me, the first tweet on his account was the one I’d just sent saying I was listening to Rob Glaser speak. I then Twittered this with the headline “This is so meta” :
If you look closely, you can see my tweets on the screen behind Rob. It was a moment, for sure, and I was suddenly VERY GRATEFUL that I hadn’t Twittered anything particularly … well … racy today.
After the speech I had the chance to chat with Rob for awhile, which is awesome because he’s the CEO of the company I work for, and he had a lot of good advice and suggestions about how I can address some of the business/career issues I’m dealing with right now. I was happy after we chatted.
And FINALLY, I went to go meet up with Trisha, who I haven’t seen since Abby’s wedding, at this FANTASTIC vegan Thai restaurant called Araya’s. ZOMG. Best food ever. EVER. And catching up with Trish is always so great — I always feel like she understands me, and I’m more relaxed when I leave. The location of the networking event tonight was the same place she’s having her wedding reception in FIVE WEEKS. While I was there, Trisha was trying on her wedding gown, and then we met up for dinner. We didn’t even plan it that way, but I feel like it was just a little more than coincidence. It’s a sign — I don’t know what for, but definitely a good thing!
When I got home from that, I lugged my AC unit all the way to my apartment, set it up, stuck the vent through the doggie door (that was smart, wasn’t it?) and now my apartment is freezing cold and I feel like I need a sweater. I’m so so so delighted.
In short: Today started out shitty but finished strong, as days have the capacity to do, no matter how vigorously I wish to deny that.
