Contacts

I helped my friend Dawn Schaefer (name changed to protect the innocent) with a Disability Caucus this past weekend. There where burgers to eat, items on the auction table to be bid on, and contacts to be made. I talked about healthcare, sat by the creek, and talked with my friend Melanie about room mating with other people outside of college.
However, like milk that's been left out for too long, things started to turn sour at the end. Dawn needed Brian, a fellow volunteer to return some things they used at the picnic, and in order to do that Brian needed gas for his car WarBitch. But Dawn did not seem happy when her husband Jerry was giving Brian five dollars for gas. Dawn, for some reason was also not too happy when Brian offered to take Melanie and I home so the Schaefers could save a trip to Yakima.
So, I ended up leaving the picnic full of food, and confusion. Now because of that, and the fact the Schaefer’s always seem to be short of cash whenever they come to town, my mom and Teresa think I should just cut ties with them completely. Now, I have to decide if I want to cut ties or continue my friendship with the Schaefer household. If you know me, you know I hate having to make those kinds of decisions. I love making friends, and meeting new people. So, it is always hard for me to decide when it is time to break ties with someone. To me it’s like going to the dentist. I know I have to, even though I really don’t want to.
However, the Schaefer’s seem to care more about what people can do for them, who they know, and who you know. On the other hand, I have had the opportunity to work, play, and live with one of my best friends before I graduated from school. Our friendship has somehow survived my mood swings, feeble attempts at dating, our different living styles, and me traveling to Florida, England, and France. I think it has survived the test of time so far because I know we just want each other to be the best we can be, not because of our connections, and I just can’t settle for anything less. Contacts come and go, but true friends are worth holding on to. After all, friends have seen you fall on your face, and still choose to be associated with you.

Donna's Bithday Blog

Happy Birthay to me! As of August 6th, I am old enough to know better, but too young to care! *HEHE* This year I had my birthday party in Randall Park. I brought games, but my friends and I just ended up chatting the afternoon away, and I went to the Yakima Bears game that night. The Bears won 5-3 and there where fireworks at the end of the game.
I sometimes worry about the person I am becomming. I hate being responsible for everything, and I am still the girl who bumps into screen doors at her friends house. I still like sleeping until noon when I have nothing to do, and eating greasy chinese food. I am still looking for a full time job , and mainly I am tired. I am tired of food and money being an issue here. Tonight while I was looking for some butter to put on my bread, grandpa said we are out of it until tomorrow, and that between the four of us, he can't keep up with what we eat. That is why if I don't find anything full time soon, I will be moving back to Texas at the end of October. If I don't find anything now, I doubt I will in another year or another few months, and I can't afford to stay and see if something will come up.
I will miss Yakima if I have to go, but I got the feeling I wasn't meant to stay and work here anyway. But, the one thing that has been stuck in my head is a conversation I had with Melanie at the Bears game. Melanie got an email from Dustin on Tuesday saying he finally wanted to get together with her so she could give him his birthday present. However, Melanie didn't hear from him again until after the Bears game on Saturday to arrange a time to meet him. That frustrated Melanie because it seemed like she was the only one really making any effort to get together and Dustin does not have a full time job , on top of living in the same town as Melanie and I. I told her if Dustin does not end up meeting up with her, it is his loss because I have been abroad, and I try not to make people think I'm too busy for them. It also made me wonder about the people we let into our lives.
Perhaps the people who matter the most are not the ones we constantly have to chase down to spend time with us. Perhaps the people in our lives that matter the most are the people who are still friends with you after you accidently bump into ther screen door, let you stay with them even if they don't have alot to offer, and give you tickets to a baseball game for free so you can see fireworks on your birthday.

The Dissapearing Act

After a job interview I had recently, the manager concluded the interview with a simple message: “If you don't hear from us in two weeks, assume the position has been filled.”
Why isn’t it that simple when it comes to dating?
After a date with a guy, if he doesn’t call after a couple of weeks have gone by, the girl he went out with wonders -is it because of a family emergency? Or, is the position of girlfriend going to someone else? In order to find out what she said that was so desperate and needy, that he had no other option but to head for the hills, the debate to call or not begins.
If someone didn’t get the job she applied for, she knows that she can always apply for another job. But it is harder to have that kind of attitude when it comes to romance, because she doesn’t know when she is going to meet someone interesting.
According to 101 Reasons Why Men Stop Calling & What You Must Do About It, by Elaine M.D., the best thing to do when a guy stops calling is to not call him. If a guy really is interested in the girl he just went on a date with, he will get in contact with her when it’s convenient for him.
According to Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, co authors of He’s Just Not That Into You, “you have good reason to want to spend a lot of energy solving the Mystery of the Disappearing Man. But all those excuses, however valid they are, will not help you in the long run. Because the only part of the story that’s important to remember is he didn’t want to be with you anymore. And he didn’t have the guts to tell you that to your face. Case closed.”
There are people out there who will say if a guy has not been in contact with a girl after a couple of weeks to go ahead and give him a call. Maybe he just forgot to call. After all he has a life ,too. However, even though people are busy, isn’t the whole point of dating to find someone they want to include in their life?
So maybe dating is as simple as a job interview. If the person a girl goes on a date with wants the position of girlfriend to be filled by her, he won't leave her hanging.
Some girls manage to get back in touch with a guy that has disappeared. But, as much as good as it feels to hear why the guy hasn’t been in contact, there are better options then the guy with the really “good excuse.” If he were a superhero, the metropolitan city he inhabits would never be saved, and the damsel would still be in distress. We want the superhero that defeats his nemesis, saves the world and gets the girl in the end.