Anxiety

Today I picked Shel up from school and we played a German game. It's a hexagonal board with room for six players. Each player gets five lettered dice of his or her chosen color. The players take turns throwing dice and the first person to get 'a' through 'e' ('e' is on two sides of the dice) collected on the board wins. It is a mind-numbingly boring game. But I was trying to entertain her (and forget about my annoyance about having to buy a ticket from Atlanta to Detroit for Monday because Eric's family is going down to visit his dying uncle and I'm going with because I sort of want to and Eric wants me to and his family will be unhappy with me if I don't) so I agreed to play. When she mentioned that she once played all six colors I leaped on that suggestion and we each took three colors, gave them names and personalities, and acted each character out on his or her turn. The game got a lot more fun after that; we played three or four rounds. Shel liked my hyperactive (Olive) and pathologically shy (Amethyst) personalities best. After I said I had to leave she wrote down a list of personalities she wanted to try next time.

Tonight I'm packing for the Atlanta trip, packing for the Korea trip, and quilting halmoni's quilt. I wish I had bought the high-loft batting instead of the extra-loft batting, as high-loft is actually loftier than extra-, and the quilting is actually pretty neat and I wish it showed up better. Alas. It looks nice on the back. I'm going to finish it up tonight and make binding and attach it, and in the van to Atlanta I'm going to attach the other side, finishing it, by hand. And then I'll lay it out somewhere where we're staying (I don't know where that is, whether with the family or at a hotel) and take pictures before I place it in my Korea luggage. I'm dreading the flying time, especially with the added trip from Atlanta, especially as I can't get it added to my itinerary so I have to disembark in Detroit, wait for my luggage to unload, and check in for Korea. I'm afraid they'll lose my luggage and won't be willing to send it to Korea. Maybe I'll rudely carry both pieces on and make the flight attendants gate-check it for me.

Tomorrow I'm also supposed to attend a meeting about a temp position with the city government. I don't want to go, but I did not get a job offer from the other place today, so I suppose I'd better. I hope they call tomorrow, or at the latest Friday. I would be so happy to know I had a job to come back to.

I also need to check with a company I ordered something from two weeks ago to see whether they actually sent it. It should have been here by now. Also M's present to me should have been here by now, based on when she sent it, so maybe the postman is just cutting me off, I don't know. I can't wait to move into a real place with a real mailbox--though apparently mailslots are more common around here than mailboxes.

On Sunday Eric and I decided to go to an open house for a nearby house Shel collected a flier from while out riding her bike. We went mostly for the walk and to indulge idle curiosity, but we love the house. We want the house. We can't get the house until I get a job or we get someone to cosign, and of course we can't do much about it, other than maybe schedule an inspector, until I get back from Korea. However, with the housing market where it is (awful, for sellers), that may not be a problem and might even help in bargaining down the price. If we do get the house, we may have to render Shel a realtor's fee. Certainly she did as much for us in bringing home that flier as my Toledo ex-realtor, now known as The Worst Realtor Ever, ever did.

And we have to do something about the wedding, like pick a day and a venue. We're probably going to end up at Wildwood Metropark. But I want to see what else is around, and we don't seem to be able to do that much--maybe now that the weather is warmer, we will. And then comes the trouble of menus and invitations and flowers and relatives who can't afford to come but won't accept my money for plane tickets (I imagine, anyway) and the impending fight about the rehearsal dinner. Eloping is sounding better and better. Or a boat wedding. Or something.

Anyhow, I have to eat something (I have to empty my fridge, I didn't think about that) and verify that I packed everything I need (like my passport and my itinerary, and at least three books) and quilt my heart out and read some more of Emma. I shall return in two weeks, laden with pictures and souvenirs and memories, and, I hope, a job and less anxiety.