Time Flies

Growing up my mother always said that the older you get the quicker time goes.  As a kid I thought she was crazy but the older I've gotten the quicker time seems to fly by and I'm thinking she may be on to something.

Where has the time gone and how are we really over a third of the way through 2012?!?!?!  We're experiencing April showers (a bit late) and will hopefully soon have those May flowers.  We're starting to look at Memorial Day which means that summer is just around the corner.

While life has kept me busy and enjoying myself, I'm not quite sure where the time has gone!

A lesson in relaxation

Do they notice?

Sometimes people don't notice what we do for them...

...until we stop doing it.

My Dating Life Is An Epic Fail

I'm convinced that my dating life is an epic fail.  Or at least trying to set up a date with "pilot boy" is an epic fail.  

We had plans to meet in person last week.  First it was plans for a week ago Saturday during a longer lay-over that he had scheduled at O'Hare.  But, as luck would have it, due to flight delays the night before, he and crew were grounded from working the Miami to Chicago flight on Saturday due to having gone over their allowed flight hours in the preceding twenty-four hours.  They were then deadheaded to Chicago on a slightly later flight so that they could work the Chicago to New York flight but it was a late enough flight up to Chicago as to eliminate a chance for us to meet.

We then made plans to meet on Wednesday.  He was scheduled to be done with his flight schedule either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning which would allow him to fly on a pass to Chicago before heading down to his home in Florida for a few days off.  Hello, a man willing to fly from New York to Tampa by way of Chicago for dinner with me...he was prepared to earn major brownie points for that effort.  Even if he can fly for free on a pass since he flies with a major airline carrier, Chicago isn't exactly on the way from New York to Tampa.  But, of course, Sunday morning his schedule changed and he had to pick up a shift that wouldn't allow him to meet up with me this past Wednesday.

That then lead us to make plans for tomorrow.  I happen to be taking a comp day from work tomorrow since I have several comp days to burn and having this previously scheduled day off work would enable me to meet up with him whenever he'd be able to get in town.  His work schedule this week is such that he'd be flying in just to spend time with me so there wouldn't be any work related complications / delays.

Which leads us to this afternoon when I sent him the following text to confirm the plans we had for tomorrow:  "So, given our track record of things not working out at the last minute, I'm hesitant to ask this but...are we on for actually meeting tomorrow?"  And his response..."Oh shit - I totally rearranged things!  I meant to text you just lot going on!  Plus I have a little cold.  :( sorry"

Really?!?!  He rearranged things already and was "meaning to text me"?!?!?!

I responded that I had a hunch that something may have come up as that always seems to be the case. He came back that he has a hunch that we'll eventually meet and that it's "inevitable" that we do.  Inevitable...really?!?!  That's the best you can come up with?!?!

I came back with "The ball is in your court...I am game, we just have to make it happen with the craziness that always seems to pop up in your neck of the woods."  Basically trying to say to him that I'm onto his game of always having to cancel for crap reasons and that, while I'm interested, he needs to make some effort.  Needless to say I haven't gotten a response back to that text yet!

  I mean really, I realize that things come up, sometimes at the last minute, but is it too much for me to ask that he have a bit of respect to proactively be in touch when things change and not wait for me to call him out?  Was he going to wait until tomorrow morning to let me know that things had suddenly changed?

It's craziness I tell you!

Pilot Boy Is Starting to Man Up!

So I've written about a guy that I've referred to as "pilot boy".

This is a guy who has sent up quite a few red flags.  A guy who, when we initially met via an on-line website, lead me to believe that he's a pilot when he's in fact a flight attendant.   A guy who has, on more than one occasion, made plans to spend time with me in Chicago on one of his lay-overs but then cancelled said plans.  A guy who I noticed had a couple pictures on the profile of his Facebook page with a woman he was especially cozied up to who he finally admitted that he had been in a "long term" relationship with but with whom he has recently broken up with.  A guy that, in the time we've known each other (i.e. been talking via phone, text, Skype and FaceTime), I should have run far and wide from.

But we actually had a good forty-five minute conversation tonight.  He actually manned up and, when I asked a few fairly pointed questions in the interest in knowing the "real him", he answered honestly confirming what I had already surmised / picked up from bits and pieces of various conversations we've had previously that had hinted at some things.  I actually feel like I learned a few things about him and that he may be on the way to manning up and sharing his real self!  I still have my reservations and don't want to fully trust him but I think he's finally on the right track!

It's craziness I tell you!

Taking a step away

I've volunteered for my sorority as an alumnae in a variety of roles since graduating college.  After thirteen years in assorted roles, I've decided to take a step back and "retire" from my current volunteer role on our regional team.

I've loved getting to know the women I've met over the years, the experiences I've had and the skills I've developed.  I've enjoyed getting to travel to a number of our chapters as well as to so many regional conferences and international conventions.

But at the same time, I'm ready to take a step back and take more control of my free time.  I'm ready to take a step away from the drama that inherently comes from an all-women's organization.  I'm ready to be rid of what has become an obligation and not a source of enjoyment.

And, as would be the case, some of that aforementioned drama decided to rear it's head less then twenty-four hours after I tendered my "resignation" from this volunteer role which only confirmed that I had made the right decision to take a step away from the craziness.

Virtual Insanity

Facebook, Twitter, email, blogs, assorted website, and the list goes on and on......

Technology is a great thing.  Technology enables us to do so much more in a significantly easier manner.  Yet there are times when I long to return to the "good old days" where we weren't so dependent on technology.  I'm only in my mid-thirties yet the typing class I took in junior high was on (gasp) what would now be called an "old fashioned typewriter"!

How often do we hear "Did you get my text / email / tweet / Facebook post / etc?"  How often are we reliant on these forms of communication to learn what's going on in the lives of those around us instead of picking up the phone to speak with them voice-to-voice or, even better, making plans to see them face-to-face?

As my life has gotten busier and my free time has gotten harder to come by I'm starting to debate how much time I want to spend (aka waste) on technology.  It's amazing how much time I can waste on Facebook and the internet in general.  Time that I could spend reading a book, practicing my violin, or relaxing.

At what point does it become a bit of virtual insanity instead of a tool to enhance our environment?