On my mind...

Once a month or so, I take out the contacts, put on the glasses and have a geek day. Today is that day. Mind you, I've been wearing glasses since I was 8 and went almost 9 years before I first got contacts. But now that I've got these 30 day wear contacts, I occasionally miss my geek girl side. Not that she isn't here with me all the time, but she's easier for OTHER people to see when I'm wearing the glasses.

It is on these days when I find myself unable to match, unable to walk without tripping on my own feet, and unable to answer the phone without tripping over my own words. So, I blame my inner geek girl.

After much confusion, I got my little avatar to post as a part of my profile... Make yours on AbiStation at http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml

I'm pretty sure my avatar is cuter than me, but for those of you who don't know me, this is as close as you're getting to a pic :)

So, this morning I saw Jordan Catalano on my way in to work. Not Jordan Catalano as played by Jared Leto, but my own Jordan Catalano for whom I spent most of college pining and who I haven't seen in about 4 years. I almost ran off the road I was so surprised.

Yeah, this has nothing to do with Applebees... I'm over my agitation from yesterday and figure that if someone doesn't recognize when he's got good people who care about him, it just becomes his loss.

So, I've moved on to more important things. I'm feeling oddly good about myself today. This morning, I was talking to our Vice-Provost (my boss's boss, and the person to whom I'd be reporting in the new job for which I interviewed last week) and she commented on how she had heard how well my meeting went and how happy they were that I was interested. I felt pretty good about that, but also felt like I should be honest. So I was. I told her that I wasn't sure that the position was a good match for me, as it would take me from being a generalist to a specialist in the one part of my job for which I have the least passion. It was at this point that she told me not to write it off yet, as they might be rethinking the position anyway. She then proceeded to tell me about how she invisioned the position -- and it was in a way that focused on all of my strengths. So, we may be able to get the better position, salary and commute WITHOUT having to sacrifice the job I like!!!

Second, I got the news today that I got an interview for the doctoral program for which I applied. For all I know, everyone got an interview. But what matters is that I did. And I'm hoping that interview goes as well as the one last week did!

I just got an email from one of the hubby's friends, sending along a chain of email conversations between him (the friend) and the guy who used to be very close to all of us and then dropped off the face of the earth. This is a guy who was a major part of the whole crew's life -- he was in multiple weddings, was a godfather to a few kids. His 30th b-day party was held at one of our houses. We drove an hour plus to see him in a play.

And then he disappeared. We had heard the occasional "I can't make it because I'm out of town" crap, but not much else. Then one of the guys decided enough was enough and emailed, saying that he wanted to update him on his own life changes (including a daughter who constantly wants to know when her "uncle" is coming to visit and a newborn son) and find out what was going on.

The explanation just floors me. It apparently occurred to him that all these guys had in common were their college days (which is not true, since they now share over 10 years of history beyond college) and that he just couldn't integrate the person he wanted to be into the stagnation he felt being with them. So, he went back to the girl he was with in college (so much for moving on) and got married and is preparing for his kid -- due this summer -- and just decided that the message would be implicit that he wasn't around anymore. He never told anyone that he got married or was expecting. He just disappeared. In the emails, he actually wrote "I have valued, enjoyed and appreciated our friendship over the years. But at this point in time I think it would be too difficult to try to integrate my life now with my college friends." Is that the coldest thing you've ever heard or what? The guy emailing with him told him to "leave off the standard resignation line" if he was in touch with anyone else.

Now, I have friends with whom I've had very little contact over the past several years. Some of them, admittedly, I have little in common with other than the college years. But, ya know what, given the chance to see them once a year I still would. I wouldn't write them off.

What does it say about those years of friendship that they are so easy to leave behind????