You would think that by the time we get into our twenties, we would have all learned how to communicate calmly and reasonably. Unfortunately, it seems we never cease to be dysfunctional. I’ve noticed that in the past year I’ve become more and more impatient with…well, with people in general. All the pointless arguments annoy me, the egos get under my skin, and the constant competitiveness drives me a little batty. I even admit that sometimes I’m the source, which only annoys me more.
Maybe it’s because I’m bored at work, maybe it’s because I’m not getting enough sleep. I don’t know. But I find myself turning down more social engagements for no reason other than “I don’t feel like it.” I just don’t want to deal with everybody’s quirks. It has been a long week, and I seriously want to just go home and spend the entire weekend alone, continuing to be an Olympics junkie, and sleep late. I can’t entirely, because tonight is Stephanie’s bridal/lingerie shower and Sunday is Jo’s birthday cookout. But I don’t think I have anything scheduled tomorrow, so that’s a start.
Marc and Josh took an hour after lunch today and gave half of our division a slide show of their recent trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. They had some amazing pictures, both of the mountain and of the safari they went on afterwards. Some of the safari pictures were really amazing — close-ups of cheetahs, elephants, hippos, giraffes, and an ultra close-up of a lion that walked right past their land rover. I guess the animals in the parks have grown fairly accustomed to having vans and buses drive past, but nonetheless, they are still wild animals. Oh, and of course I’ve now added Kilimanjaro to my “places I want to go” list.
Today is Bini’s last day as our grad co-op, and on Monday we get a new co-op, a girl named Sloan. It will be her first tour, but we found out today that before she went to college she was in the Air Force for three years. So from what we can tell, she’s probably 24 or 25 — only a year or two younger than the most of us, and the same age as Becca. That will be a big difference from our usual 19-year-old first-timers in terms of experience. She has done a lot of work in spacecraft operations already with the military.
