Well, I'm back. I went to bed at 9 p.m. CA time on Sunday since I had been going to bed at midnight on the East Coast. It actually worked really well for getting a ton of sleep (since I didn't get much of any, leaving at 3 a.m. and all) before going back to work. I dunno...it's all the same and yet I feel slightly weird. Nice to be back in warm weather land again, so that's a plus. It was kind of annoying to not be enjoying 80-90 degree temps on the East Coast, but I had to remind myself that it was better to go now than when it's snowing. Obviously I couldn't handle that!

I have been cat-sitting for most of the week since L is still on the East Coast herself, so that's nice. Though kind of annoying that I can't get the Internet to work at L's, so I can't finish catching up online, not to mention uploading all of the pics from the trip. On the other hand, I got to watch "Switched at Birth" live and use her xfinity whatever to catch up on Doctor Who, so that was also nice. I will be picking her up from the airport tonight, I hope that goes well.

I have been typing up entries, but I'm only about through the first week of those and still want to add pics in. So they'll go up hella late, as usual. Ditto vacation book reviews.

I have started doing geocaching in my town (more about this when the vacation journals go up, but a cousin got me into doing it) during lunch, since there should be enough caches around my work to amuse me, right?

How it's gone so far:

Cache #1 near my work I could never find--I guess it's a microcache and damned if I know where it's hidden on the tree I think it's on. I spent 45 minutes trying to get the compass to find the location, which is near one of those HIGH SECURITY DO NOT ENTER HERE WE HAVE CAMERAS areas. It did not help that the compass frequently seemed to indicate that the object must be hidden IN the security area, even though the description online said it wasn't. I think I know what tree it's on, but damned if I know where to find it in tree debris. I give up.

Cache #2 was an easy location to find (I knew it from the description because I've hung out there before), but I could not find the cache, which should have been fairly easy to spot. Whoever last found it said she'd found that it rolled away and put it back, but I looked all over the place and if it's rolled away, I couldn't find it. Grrr.

Cache #3 was hidden in a reasonable spot in the arboretum, which made me happy. I actually found one! I was feeling so stupid! ...and then while going through my pockets for something to leave, I found some unopened gum from the plane flight that I refused to chew, so I put that in. Then found out after I got back that you're not supposed to leave food items in a cache. Oops. Oh well, I don't plan on going back to take it out, it's unopened, and I don't think a squirrel is going to be able to get into the container for shit (or any other animal either), so I will optimistically assume this won't be a disaster.

Cache #4, I'm not sure if it's a microcache again or not, but it was hidden in a building that we call the "Death Star." Could not find it for shit either. I wandered all over the place with my phone and ended up having to give directions to lost newbies a lot. I think I know approximately where it's supposed to be (hint: not around where the person said it was) from the GPS, but who the hell knows. I also can't help but think that when you pick a location for a cache and then write "the GPS acts screwy around here," maybe that isn't the best place to stash one after all?

Much to my annoyance, EVERY SINGLE CLASS I WANT TO TAKE THIS QUARTER IS OFFERED ON A TUESDAY. GodDAMMIT. Not a single thing on Mondays, not a single thing on Wednesday. ALL TUESDAY NIGHT. I'm already signed up for one CC class that goes from 5-7, which isn't too bad. But after that there was (a) another craft class I wanted to take, (b) the guitar lessons I was going to sign up for this fall, and (c) Fey is back teaching classes at the EC again.

I know darned well which one I'm going for--Fey again. So much for guitar. Dammit, why didn't he offer it on Mondays again? ... Well, maybe later.

And speaking of, almost all of the remaining members of my old friend group who still live in the area got together last night--Merry asked for a gathering and almost everyone came. The married folks brought their 2 kids, which were cute but squirmy, particularly the 2-year-old. I continue to be astonished that two dark-haired, dark-eyed folks produced blonde, blue-eyed kids. So weird. The oldest one has grown up nicely though. And Fey and even Jocelyn showed up, which astonished me because she was supposed to be "done" with us all. It was short but good.

In related news, another couple from the group got engaged...in early August, I think. The bride asked for everyone's addresses so she could send us invitations to the reception (wedding is for family only), which is supposed to be this Sunday afternoon, about 3 hours away. Kind of awkward timing for those of us who work, I have to say. And then I never heard anything from her again. I figured "eh, maybe she's late at sending invitations... maybe it'll show up while I'm gone..." It did not. I tried asking Merry while I was gone what was going on because she was the most likely to know, but she didn't answer me until last night. She never got an invite and hasn't heard from the bride either, but is planning on driving up Saturday night and getting a hotel room anyway.

Now here's the thing: there are a lot of things going on this weekend that I would like to attend. I have been planning to go to the Dixon Scottish Games with L for several weeks now (didn't think that would interfere with wedding attendance since that is only running Saturday), and there's been some party invites. I have been mentally "saving the date," but I figure that a week before the wedding, I am probably not actually invited. It's not the first time I've been "save the date"-ed and then not actually been invited, and I have learned that when a "save the date" comes from someone I haven't had a lot of contact with in the last couple of years, I shouldn't really expect to make the guest list. So I got back and ah, have made other plans by the time I heard this "oh, btw, can you leave Saturday?" bit.

Grrrrrrr.

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