If Only Every Hectic Week Could Be This Good

Mar 24, 2005 21:46

Breathe out, relax. Breathe out, relax.

These last few weeks have been the busiest in a while. The best in a while, too.

I know, it makes minimal sense. Usually, it's the busy weeks that are the hardest coped with, the least enjoyed. And yes, there were some long days last week, long days and short nights. But on those long nights, I wasn't just sitting here shuffling through MP3s and playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I was out, interacting, seeing people, enjoying myself. Getting home and talking to other people. Not being bored.

You could say it started with a phone call. I spent last Monday at my dad's cousin's house, fooling with a stubborn network. I left there around 9:30 and drove to Kinko's in Nashua to reprint some photos that I'd printed the day before for a business expo in Manchester on Wednesday. Tuesday night was a night of repose, but the next day was a long one, work interrupted by a seminar on reasonable suspicion for driver supervisors, followed by the BizFest for a couple hours. Talked with people, mostly Mrs. Sarno, then took off at seven for my dad's cousin's house to finish the network job and fix their daughter's ailing PC. That accomplished, I coasted home, stopping at a Burger King in Pinardville on the way back.

I can't do that evening justice. Walking into BizFest had all the feeling of going to a career fair at RPI, and it struck me as the perfect place for a paying (if you had to pay admission, I had a VIP pass) college grad to pass out résumés to a captive audience. Maybe it was the Southern New Hampshire University booth across from ours. And afterwards, the slow winding down, lugging supplies to Ed's truck, walking off to my own car and finding I'd just barely beat the meter (or maybe the meter maid). The work at Gail's was a resounding success, though come to think of it, I haven't heard much on the actual success since last week. Maybe an e-mail over there is due. And then, afterwards, I couldn't help but remember that I'd last been to that Burger King six or seven fateful years before, when Carmine, Adam Buchholz, Justin Almeida and I plotted our plans with Mr. Nicholson for Quiz Bowl domination in DECA. Plans that we almost realized two years later. Funny how unlikely triggers can come along.

And it didn't stop, because on Saturday I was up in Tuftonboro playing with networking hardware again. I'll do the same this Saturday, to finish up the job. It's nice to get out, even if you're only conversing with people your parents know best. I wonder sometimes about the maturity factor, if we know we're mature when we interact as much with our parents' company as with our own peers. I don't think it's a great gauge, but it's a thinking point if nothing else.

And to top it all off, I've been e-mailing a friend I haven't talked to in some time. It's nice to hear from people and realize not all that much has changed in six years. Makes me wonder how I let things go like that, though. And how many people I've moved away from, never to talk again.

But these weeks have been stimulating. That's the word for it. Busy, most certainly, but it's activity. It's getting out and seeing people, people my age and people older, too. It's meeting new people and seeing old acquaintances, building new friendships and rekindling old friendships. It's something that, at home on a quiet weeknight, I can't do. Something I want to do more often. Something I need to do more often.

For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm riding on a high. Yeah, I haven't slept much in the last few days, and I've had my share of nights where the evening doesn't start until 8:30. But the way I feel now is worth it. And I have to wonder why I don't seek this out more, because it just feels so good. Even the stresses of work, the feeling that some things have been abandoned to get other things done, aren't all that important right now.

This is how it should be.
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