Back to the Grind

Ah, I was looking forward to my nice, large, comfy bed that I didn’t have to “share” (read: fall off of/smash between the wall and the bed) with another person. . .  And I didn’t go to bed till 4:00 in the morning.  And still got up at 7:00AM.  *sigh*

It’s strange being back at work, but not as strange as I thought it would be.  Things had blown up at work (literally; a building UPS that had about half of our servers on it went out over the weekend) and things had changed, but not much of it affected me.  The zoo is now tobacco-free; there’s only about 5 designated smoking areas for employees now.  It’s after Memorial Day, so we should be on our increased hours, but the weather is cold and wet and not zoo-visiting weather at all, so it’s like an early spring day.  I spent most of the day sorting through the photos I took on the weekend (and discovered that I never uploaded the few sightseeing pictures I did take) and adding them and links to my posts.  I did have a nasty surprise though; I had been hedging on using two days’ worth of sick time for the trip, but HR won’t let me.  Luckily, I got 8 hours of holiday time for Memorial Day, but it still leaves me 8 hours short of paid time off.  I should’ve lied and said it was because I knew I wasn’t going to feel good the day after the event.  (And it’s true.  It’s just that that day is today, I’m sore, and I still went into work.)

Probably the strangest part is being around people who don’t care at all for dancing.  They ask me what I saw, and when I say I didn’t see much because I was at a huge dancing event, they look disappointed.  Which is a contrast to all the swing dancers that make up that other part of my life, who eagerly wonder who I danced with, what I learned in the classes and presentations, what the scene was like. . .  It’s a social re-adjustment.

One thing that’s bothering me is how quiet it is here.  I didn’t really notice the increase in noise levels when I went out there, but suddenly not having it is strange.  So is being idle.  Despite how annoying it was, I got used to running around to where I had to be next.  I kind of liked it, even.  I have nothing planned to do tonight and it annoys me greatly.

And proof of how much I’ve changed over the last couple of years: Kate was surprised when I said that I could see myself living out there, that I liked it.  She figured it would be too many people for me.  So, I think it’s the quality of the contact with people that gets me, not the being with people in general.  The difference of being “with” a crowd of people and being “a part of” a crowd of people.  I’d rather be with than a part of.  If that makes sense to anyone else.