The Fireflies Are Late This Year

I've been getting better and better at ignoring the negative forces in my life lately. As I try to focus more and more on improving my situation by looking forward to attending school in the fall (after a 2 year hiatus) and making better decisions with things like the company I keep, specifically women, there are still stressful pressures that manage to slow me down.

For one thing, smoking is still at the top of my list of things that I need to stop doing. I seem to get sick after being exposed to the weakest germ, and I can expect to be out of commission for about a week in order to heal. This time, it's a nasty cough I picked up from my mother, who I took care of all weekend after she caught the bug. It's one of those terrible achy, itchy-throat coughs that keeps me up at night and ruins any chance I might have at a productive day.

Other negative things, like the constant reappearing act of DC can be very discouraging. Last night, as the time drew closer to last call at work, DC suddenly appeared at my side and tried to start a conversation. She could tell that I didn't really want to talk to her and asked me if I was mad at her. I shouldn't have dignified it with a response, but the alcohol admitted right away that I was very pissed.
"Why?" she asked.
I muttered some brief rant about how she had a gift for rocking the boat only to swim away. At some point, she suggested that we hang out. As she departed, she said, "Call me tomorrow." I remember scoffing, and returning with "No, you call me..." to which she agreed.

Of course, she didn't call today. Only a very non-committal text asking what I was up to tonight. Since that doesn't qualify, I didn't respond.

I've come to decide that the ball is basically in her court. In order for DC to have a chance with me, she's going to have to work at least as hard as I did when I first met her, if not harder.

The other disappointing thing about last night was that long before DC showed up, another girl that I'd asked out (who responded in kind that she had feelings for me) came to Finn's with who I can only assume is her new boyfriend. So that was a bit rough.

But that's really not a very big deal. Last week, I had the opportunity to get to know LC, a girl I'd had a crush on (as far as appearance goes) and even got her number. She was pretty enthusiastic about it, too. She had that very endearing eagerness that shows she's both humble and honest. I believe we're supposed to hang out after I get off work on Thursday, so we'll see where that leads. Plus, when I spoke to a friend of hers, they offered up that she'd be back from out of town by Wednesday, before I even brought up her name. Interesting.