No, but in the best possible way

I got two rejections on my play this week. One, from a theater in Baltimore, was just a flat-out "thanks but no thanks." The other one was from a well-respected theater here and it was much more encouraging. They said they "found it thoughtful and warmhearted, with intriguing and well-observed characters." The reason they passed on it was that it was "a bit talky" for their tastes. But that's fine! What it means is, they thought it was good, just not what they were looking for. But it may very well be what another theater is looking for. I just have to find them. So I will keep on sending the play out to other places. Eventually it will find the right home.

This is the last day of my vacation. I ended up doing very little all week. I went to the movies and saw Duplicity. I really liked it. Way better than I had expected. I went running a few times. I got my taxes done. That was about it. But I slept late every day and by today the bags under my eyes were finally gone. It will probably take about a day or two back at work for them to reappear.

A blissful week of no work

About a month ago, a co-worker mentioned that I hadn't taken any vacation for a long time. I get three weeks a year and I only used one week of it around Christmas -- and not even all at once. And I realized, what am I saving it for? I have two weeks to use before the end of June. So even though I can't afford to go anywhere, I decided to take this coming week off. March is always extremely stressful because a lot of the federal funding agencies all decide to have their deadlines at the same time. I guess it has something to do with their budgets and calendars but it's hell for those of us who are submitting multiple proposals. And as usual at my dysfunctional workplace, I never get enough advance notice and I'm always going crazy waiting for necessary information from other people.

Anyway...I got all my proposals in on time and I now have a whole beautiful week of Doing Nothing to look forward to. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend and we're having lunch and going to the movies. On Tuesday I'm going to get a massage. That's my big treat to myself. Wednesday I'm going to have drinks with another friend -- an amazing artist whose work I love. Every day I'm going to sleep late and have my coffee and read the paper in the morning. And I'm going to try and go running every day. I'm going to go to the library and get a new book to read. I'm going to try a couple of new recipes. And I'm not going to think about work.

Oh, except I have to. I went to get my taxes done yesterday and found out that the moron guy who does payroll totally screwed up my W2. So I have to call him and yell at him and tell him to fix it. But after that, I'm definitely not going to think about work any more. I already feel more relaxed.

Empty nest? I wish!,

Back in December, my firstborn (who had been living in China for the past few years) returned. The economic mess over here was affecting things over there and had put all of his business endeavors (such as they were) on indefinite hold. So back he came with no money and no job. Being unemployed doesn't make him different from a whole lot of other people these days, but I wasn't counting on having to support him at this point. I have been having a tough enough time supporting myself of late.

I can't say he hasn't been looking for work, but as an entrepreneurial kind of guy, he has more experience inventing his own jobs than asking other people to give him one. His job search skills are somewhat spotty. I had to explain to him that on a job application, putting down that he had been "general manager for Asia" of some company he and a partner started wouldn't help a lot if he was trying to get a cashier's job at Borders. In his favor, maybe, he speaks fluent Mandarin. Against him, he never graduated from college. This was a guy who found college not challenging enough...who reads the history of the Peloponnesian wars for fun. But he doesn't have a degree. So right off the bat he's handicapped. And three months later he still has no job.

The one outstanding benefit of having him around (other than entertainment value) is that he is a fantastic cook. I have been eating wonderful meals that I didn't have to cook. I enjoy cooking too, but after a stressful day at work, it's so wonderful to come home and not have to worry about making dinner. I don't mind cleaning up afterwards.

One the downside, his idea of acceptable housekeeping and mine are not exactly in synch. It's a constant struggle to keep his crap out of the living room. And then there's the bathroom. After he shaves, there's water everywhere. The towels are always in disarray. And then there's the annoying little matter of the floor in front of the toilet. Not every guy is guilty of this; his dad was fairly tidy and so is his brother. But this guy...it's like he's a dog and he has to mark his territory. This would be okay if he would just clean it up. But this is one of the areas where his notion of acceptably clean and mine just don't match. It's really a good thing he cooks so well and makes me laugh a lot. Otherwise he'd be looking for a new place to live.

When he was in China, I wished he would move back here. I think this is one of those cases of be careful what you wish for.