The Contagion of Rudeness

I observed an interesting phenomena yesterday, while at Disneyland with TJ, the kids, my sister, her boyfriend, and my little niece. Since it was their first day of their Halloween season, the park was packed, lines were long, nerves were probably frayed. After waiting an incredibly long time for the train, we were finally able to move past the turnstiles and into the waiting queue by the railroad track. Since my sister and I travel with two kids small enough for strollers we had to fold the strollers up quickly, lead our small children by the hand, and navigate a corner. As I was rounding the corner, I noticed a couple who had been standing behind our group trying to cut through via a narrow opening near a trash can.

Let me just say this now, I don't like cutters, and I find it incredibly rude.

So I barked at them, "Wait your turn," and gave them the look. They both had a "hand caught in the cookie jar look," and I figured that was that. This wasn't the first time I've dealt with cutters, and it probably won't be the last.

As we walked towards our spot where we would wait in line, the girl said, "Guess someone is on her period."

Really? We're going to do this? In front of my kids?

Since my kids were there, I only countered with, "I don't like cutters."

I figured since we're all adults, and they had tried to cut in front of a family with two strollers, that they'd drop it.

They didn't. And after hearing for five minutes about "The cutters bitch," I finally said, "Really? You're still going on about this?" and rolled my eyes. Then I witnessed something odd, the contagion of rudeness. A couple who had taken no part in the initial exchange, began to get involved. Well I should say only the guy was involved, his poor girlfriend looked like she wished he'd disappear, or she'd disappear, or something.

This guy began to go on about how he was going to sit behind us and say rude stuff. Really dude? And as the train finally arrived, and we began to board, he dragged his girlfriend over to our bench and told her to take the bench behind us. She hesitated. He told her to sit. She protested. He demanded she sit.

Poor girl.

So I heard some remarks about cutting a few times, which I ignored. It wasn't really hard to do, I was on one end of the bench with my sister behind me, and he was on the other end sitting behind TJ, who thought the guy wanted to run his mouth to make himself feel important. So all I heard was, "Mumble mumble, cut....mumble mumble."

Obviously the guy's plan failed, and he and his embarrassed girlfriend got off at the next stop.

Now what I thought was interesting is that this guy did not know us, and he didn't even know the couple that had tried to cut, and yet he was trying to interject himself into a dramatic situation. Also interestingly enough, he wanted to create drama with a mom that was only trying to keep two rude people from cutting in front of her family.

Interesting quandary isn't it?

Reunion

To begin with, I hate being sick. Secondly, I hate being sick when something important is coming up. So guess what happened just a few days from my 10 year high school reunion? Yeah, I caught a nasty cold from my daughter. The cold was severe enough that I was unsure if I was going to even make it to my reunion until about noon on Saturday. Thankfully I felt "well enough" to make the trip (changing elevation is killer on the ears) and we trekked up north to very city where TJ and I met and shared our first, though short, relationship.

The invitation read cocktail attire, and to me that meant a nice black dress, heels, and some jewelry for me, and a nice suit for TJ. We got ready in record time and headed off to the reunion. On the way there we wondered who we might see out of the class of 521 students that had graduated that year. I hope that some of my friends would have made the trip as I haven't seen some of them in quite a while. I also wondered if I'd see any of my classmates from choir, band, JROTC, or wrestling. We pulled up to the Hilton by the mall where TJ and I have fond high school memories of playing video games for hours in the Tilt arcade. Gauntlet Legends anyone?

Excitedly, though a little nervously, we hurried to the registration table to pick up our name tags and dinner tickets, walked into the ballroom and saw.... four tables.

Was I in the right room? Surely we'd need more than four tables to host the many students that would be able to make it right?

Nope, apparently the 10 year reunion is not popular with many alumni, and out of 521 students, only 25 showed up.

The first alumni I encountered I could not remember for the life of me (yay name tags) and TJ and I hit the bar hoping that a bit of wine would help the evening along. Slowly, more alumni started to trickle in and I began to realize in horror that I. Did. Not. Know. Anyone.

Yes folks, that's right, at my 10 year reunion, I did not know anyone. Talk about awkward. Thankfully as the night wore on we did get to know each other and go figure, at my reunion, TJ was actually recognized by one of my classmates.

The reunion for the most part was enjoyable, it was decorated nicely and the food was fantastic. The committee did an excellent job planning the whole event. And I even won gift cards as a door prize and for apparently knowing the most useless stuff about our school and graduating class. Gotta love that memory of mine!

Things did get a little uncomfortable for TJ and me towards the end, a few guys had shown up halfway through drunk, stoned, or possibly both, and tried to change the whole dynamic of the party. While trying to make some polite small talk with one of them, he told me that he's still the same, that he hasn't changed since middle school. I'm sure he's right about that, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

However, the night ended well, with a small group of us escaping to go have a few beers at BJ's and to talk about how life has been since high school. One of the most entertaining parts of the conversation was when we found out that everyone of us is a fan of Phineas and Ferb! Yup, we're parents all right!

Who knew that by showing up to my high school reunion, and not knowing anyone, that I would walk away at the end of the evening with new friendships? My only regret is that we hadn't started these friendships in high school.

Fall is Coming!

Fall (the most awesome season of the year) is almost here! That is all!

Hodgepodge of Randomness

Hello readers,

This week has been an interesting one with more ups and downs than a Six Flags roller coaster. I won't go into detail about the downs, but it is related to the job situation and my own personal demons. My pride took a beating this week, but I've learned the importance of leaning on those when needed, and reaffirmed that I want to make a living by helping others. Thankfully, I'm well on this path and I may get there sooner than I previously thought. 

Despite my lack of employment, TJ and I are doing well, we may even have a big announcement in the next few months, but I'll leave it at that for now. Right now we're focusing on working together to achieve goals that we've set for ourselves, and to raise our little mini nerds the best way possible. Speaking of them, they start their new school this week and they couldn't be happier. 

Enough for the updates I suppose, on to my random thoughts.

To those playing the "Breast Cancer Awareness" game on facebook, why? Posting how many "weeks" you are and what you're "craving," isn't the most informative way to bring about breast cancer awareness. In the past I've thought these games were kind of fun (the bra one), then got a little weird (purse location), and then got flat out ridiculous (shoe size). And why do we have to leave the men out of it? They can get breast cancer too! 

Speaking of cancer, I've recently been invited to become a Power User for this Relay year, and I will be more or less a leader or guide to other online chairs. Which also reminds me, I'm looking for a co-chair for Tehachapi if anyone is interested! Sometimes I wonder if I've taken on too much by being on the committee for an event so far away, but the feeling that I may be making a difference is totally worth it.

And now for something completely different. Thank you to all the readers that sent ideas on how to make mommy friends, I greatly appreciate it and hope to be using these ideas at a playground or school soon! I also thank you for the support I received after the frustration post. We're very fortunate to have good readers and friends.

I also promise that we'll get TJ to start writing posts again, as some of you may know, he lacks confidence in his spelling and grammar, so he's a little shy when it comes to writing. I'm hoping to get him back to writing soon!

Finally, I wanted to share an idea with you all, to be honest this is TJ's idea. As a few of you know, my life has been quite a journey, and most of the times, a downright struggle. Months ago, TJ suggested I start writing about my life and at the time, I brushed him off by asking, "Who would want to read that?" 

Today I woke up and realized something. It's not about who reads it. It's about sharing my story. A literary affirmation to myself that I can survive. And if it happens to help someone that reads it? Bonus. 

Thank you for dealing with my random, disconnected thoughts today.