Thursday. The start of a busy day. As with every day recently, I manage to drag myself out of bed just before 7am for a slightly abbreviated morning shift. I’m hoping to wrap up my ‘doorbell’ story, but I already know it’s unlikely to happen. (Spoiler: it didn’t happen).
The kinderbesten are, once again, pretty good at getting ready for school and we’re out of the house in good time. Naturally, it starts bucketing down literally as soon as the garage door closes and we end up camping outside the school, inside the car, for a few minutes while the weather dies down. I drop the Kinderbeast at school, take the Elderbeast to his PEAC class, then get to work only a few minutes late.
I then have a couple of hours to get work done before I have to go and collect the Elderbeast fom PEAC and drop him back at school (you all remember this routine, right?). It’s raining again so I drop him at the school gates while I stay warm and dry in the car, because this is my right as both parent and driver. And I will fight to defend that right. Or at least argue vigorously in the comments section. Or maybe just go off to make tea and sulk…
After this I have to go and deliver one of my productivity presentations. As ever I have mixed feelings about this. I love that I have the opportunity to do this sort of thing in my job, that I can continue to get presenting experience and share some of my knowledge. I even enjoy presenting. However, I also have to deal with the anxiety leading up to the presentation, which typically gets to the point where I avoid even thinking about the presentation. Obviously there’s a real tension between these two attitudes which can be quite hard to navigate. It’s not unlike having to go out and do social things.
In the end the presentation goes ok. I have an audience of 12, they’re engaged. I know my stuff well enough to not fumble too much, but I’m not as well prepared as I should be. When it’s over I’m glad it’s over. It’s been a downbeat kind of week, and the presentation has been an additional, unwelcome shadow.
The first thing I need to do when I get back to the office is buy Dan TDM tickets for the Elderbeast. Dan TDM is one of his favourite YouTubers (naturally) and he’s coming Perth to … probably do the same thing he does on YouTube that you can watch anytime for free, but who am I to question these matters? I just provide the bucks. It’s pure luck that I finished my preso early and am back in good time for when the tickets go on sale (2pm). I log in on the dot of 2pm, mainly so I don’t forget to do it later, and start picking my tickets. I decide that the cheaper tickets are too far back, and opt for the pricier ones. I don’t like the first seats the site picks for me, so I select some other seats that are still empty – except in the second it take me to click on them, they’ve already gone! This is clearly no time to be fussy. I hurry through the rest of the transaction, sweating at the idea of having to confess to the Edlderbeast that I was too slow. But I get the tickets: it’s safe for me to go home tonight. On a whim I then start enough purchase, just to see what’s left. I count less than 20 seats left, almost all singles scattered around the venue. I’m just glad I don’t like going out and doing things, otherwise this sort of tension would finish me off!
I make chips, eggs and beans for dinner–which I think I enjoy more than anyone else this time, judging by how quickly I clean my plate. The Elderbeast is in remarkably good form, possibly because of getting his Dan TDM tickets and the evening mostly passes in a relaxed haze.