Detroit And Becki

Once again I was off to Detroit. I seem to be going there a lot lately, and that’s OK with me. I’m scared about my job again as I’ve spent a couple of weeks doing nothing but sitting at my desk answering technical support calls. Let’s just say I’m pleased to be going anywhere!

 

As I already mentioned on my last blog, I got off to a bit of rough start when I told my wife I wouldn’t be walking with her to take my daughter to school because I had to get ready for my flight. Already beat that one to death on the last blog so I wont rehash it all here again. Anyway, plans changed at the last second and instead of flying pretty I took a walk with the wife and daughter. The thing is, upsetting my wife just depressed the hell outta me for the entire rest of the day. Let me be clear on this for those of you that might think I am that spoiled and selfish – I was not depressed because I had to take a walk with my wife and daughter instead of flying pretty – I was depressed that I had upset my wife. My life absolutely sucked before my wife came along and brought joy and light in to it. As I consider my life and my world, it is clearly obvious to me that every good and decent thing in it stemmed from, and started with, my wife. To think that I cause her so much anxiety and resentment is very . . . distasteful and distressing to me. Anyway . . . had a quiet and uncomfortable walk to the school and back and then headed out for the airport.

 

I had to sort of smile when I got to the Avis lot to get my rental. A yard full of brand new cars, and they gave me a piece of garbage with dents on every quarter panel and door, and an interior with burn holes and filled with the smell of cigarette smoke. I had the gate guard walk around the car with me, documenting all of the dents so they wouldn’t get any bright ideas about blaming me for them. On the way to take it back to the airport when I was leaving, the “Check Engine” light came on, and considering my recent fiasco with them in Baton Rogue I was less than amused. For about 7 years now I have rented an average of one to two cars a week from them, and if you add that up, it comes out to a pretty good hunk of change. Despite the loyalty and business I have given them, they have taken to giving me unreliable and substandard cars the last month or two, and I can’t help but wonder if Avis is sending me a message that they no longer want my business? I’m a creature of habit – once I find a company or service that I’m comfortable with, I tend to stay there until pushed to change my habit. Well, I’d have to admit that Avis is pushing pretty hard right now . . .

 

I got to the hotel and setup my laptop and found an invitation from Becki to meet with her and her spouse for dinner (I didn’t ask if it was all right to use her name and so wont). I was still horribly bummed out, and the very idea of trying to be sociable sounded utterly unappealing, so begged off for the night, and suggested that if work went well the following day, maybe we could meet then. So there I sat, looking around the damned hotel room, at the dark TV I hadn’t bothered to turn on. Looking at the air conditioner that was far too loud as it kicked off and on. Looking at the computer that I had little or no interest in surfing. Looking at the huge, dirty, and worn out suitcase that I had no interest in opening. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was gonna go nuts if I sat there much longer, so I headed to the movie theatre where I found “Inglorious Bastards” was playing. Hmmm . . . death, destruction, murder, and mayhem . . . sounded about right so I got a ticket. You know, I STILL haven’t decided if I liked the movie or not. It has some deeply sad and emotional parts, it had some really great belly laughs though you might be ashamed you had laughed at something so horrid, and of course it had some very graphic scenes. I think I’m still processing it . . .

 

The following day everything went quite well with my customer with the only drawback of the work day being that they were right across the street from a MAJOR land fill. Every time someone opened the darn door, the room I was working in would fill with a powerful stench that turned your stomach. Before I had realized where the smell was coming from, I kept checking the bottom of my shoes thinking that I must have stepped in something on my way in. Despite the horrid aroma of rot and decay, I revived the instrument, thoroughly checked it out, and after taking my customer to lunch, I was on my way to the hotel by around 3PM.

 

I had packed several new outfits, none of which I had worn before, and so I grabbed the first to see what it would look like. Thos one had a real cute skirt but for some reason I just wasn't happy with the look:




The next outfit I tried was so bad I didn't bother taking a pic - it was awful and too small. I grabbed the next and it was a decent enough outfit but it too was too small.

‘Oh great! SCC rolling around the corner and you have let yourself go to hell and gain weight!’ I admonished myself in the mirror. The next outfit I tried on was a T-shirt and jogging shorts, which I put to good use in the hotels fitness room for an hour. With my guilt over letting my weight get away from me temporarily held at bay by the exercise, I showered and tried the third outfit – a cute short white skirt with black stripes along with a black top I knew would fit me reasonably well.





I wasn’t thrilled with this outfit, but it was tolerable and I was running out of time, so it would have to do! I looked in the mirror and all I could see was an tired looking old guy in a wig. While I know that that is the reality, I HATE it when it seems so obvious and considered begging off from dinner but I couldn’t bring myself to be that rude and inconsiderate.

 

When I got to the restaurant (Maria’s in Ferndale), I was just sitting down when Becki and her wife entered. Becki was drab so I had no idea what she would look like, but as soon as we caught each others eyes she gave me a huge grin that made it clear these were indeed the folks I was to meet with.

Talk about a cute couple. He is a bit over six feet and she . . . isn’t. . .   J   Becki is one of those folks that amaze me by not being too hard on the eyes drab or dressed. I consider myself a fairly unattractive guy and it just strikes me as a bit unfair that some folks get to look great both ways. Becki’s wife is absolutely adorable, very petite, awesome hair and eyes, and just pretty as hell. I sort of got the impression that she might be one of those rare women that don’t really realize how very cute they are, which of course just makes her that much cuter. OK, so that’s the physical description, but even better are their personalities. These two were just so cheerful, full of humor, quick to laugh and joke, quick to smile, and very soon I found myself liking them immensely. While they have recently had a bit of a dry spell, it seems that they have been VERY active in the TG community – going to many SCC and Be All events and having a great time doing it together. I envy them the sharing as my wife used to join me from time to time, but that became all but impossible when we had our last two children. It was clear that they don’t take themselves too seriously and have made it a point to enjoy themselves. The neat thing is that you can’t help but smile and enjoy yourself when your around them and I plan to make it a point to look them up as soon as I get to SCC. I know for certain that if I’m hanging around with them I’m going to be having a good time.