Child vs. Adult

I was a child this weekend.  I went with Hannah and my cousin to Silverwood Theme Park.  It's basically a throwback to the 1800's (it's part Old West and part Victorian) with train adventure, candy shoppes, carnival games, a Magic show, and a ton of amusement rides.  First off, I have to say, I used to go to this place almost every summer when I was younger but it has been well over a decade since I stepped foot there.  Until this past weekend that is.  And I was sort of taken aback by how much it's changed and also by how much has remained the same.  Something that is the same is the wonderful Victorian architecture of the stores and shoppes and archways, and the elegant and colorful landscaping throughout the whole park.  Just gorgeous.  One of the first comments from Hannah, "Can I just live here?"  It was right up her alley with the color schemes and gardens.  And there's a Victorian Coffee House that was closed while we were there but, just so you all know, that's totally our house.

It was such a great day.  It was the first time that Hannah and I have gotten to do something so silly and fun together and the only reason we were able to go at all is because mom and dad lent us some food money and their car and my cousin has a Gold Pass which allows her and two guests to get in for free.  She was a lot of fun - she's a young woman (almost 18) with specialized needs but she was one awesome and energetic guide taking us this way and that way through the park.  First we rode the train and enjoyed the little robbery show despite the actors' caveats: 'jist so's ya'll know this aint a real hold up and these here aint real a gun neither.'  When I was a kid there was a glorious moment when I really wondered if those guns were real and I cheered and cheered when the deputy finally saved the day.  It was a comedy show back then with a hint of danger - now it's just a comedy show.  A good one, sure, but I can definitely tell the p's and q's of political correctness are firmly fixed in our little corner of the world, even during a damn train robbery.  

After the train, the day was filled with a whirl wind of rides: the tilt-a-whirl (and, yes, ICP's song ran through my head the whole time), the antique cars, the super round up, the cork-screw, the timber terror, the carousel, and the log flume.  We did several of these twice and also took a nice break for pizza and a magic show.  The magician was adorable.  He was everything you could want in a magician, tall, lanky, funny, personable, good with kids, and he even dropped a table on Hannah's head.  I'm not kidding about that last bit.  One of his tricks is a levitating lamp table and at one point while performing the illusion he got up on some steps near where Hannah and I were sitting and levitated the little table so that the feet were inches from my girlfriend's head.  She was all smiles during it though.  We kind of thought about asking the magician to donate some sperm our way, yeah, he was just that damn cute!  

There was a place along the path where cool water half misted/half sprayed passersby and I took off my glasses and went in to cool my face.  Unfortunately I dropped my glasses and my lovely girlfriend - who had the same thought as I did - was right behind me and stepped on them.  She only broke off one of the bows so it wasn't a huge deal but it did put a little crimp in our fun for a moment.  The rest of the day at the park I was blind.  Honestly it added to the excitement.  We stayed until the lights came on in the park.  One last ride: the carousel.  Hannah and I cuddled together on a sleigh while my cousin rode the horse in front of us.  It was named Candy.  On the way home from the park we sang to the play list on the MP3 player.  Even my little cousin sang with us and if she didn't know the song, she'd fake it and 'aaah' along in time.  A perfect end to a child-like day.

On Monday, however, I was an adult.  I called Vizio for the whatever-hundredth time.  A young lady assisted me, listened to my lengthy tale of woe, and then told me someone named Maynard would be calling me back later that day.  I took this to mean that a very long time would pass during which they would discuss what a problem child I am and laugh about how I would have to eat five hundred bucks then call me back and say 'well, let's give this repair thing another shot.'  However, about five minutes later, Maynard called and not only apologized for all the crap that has gone on with the computer but finally okay'd giving me a replacement.  My new computer will be here shortly.  I have to send the old one back and as soon as it's in their hands, they'll send the new one.  He was great.  Thanks Maynard.

With that taken care of, I then had to call and get the payment date for my loan moved back two days to coincide with my paycheck.  That's fun.  I will be getting 'theoretical' money since the second I'm paid almost all of it will be gone to bills.  Yay, adulthood!  On top of all of that, I spent most of Monday blind while my father and I soldered, hammered, and glued my glasses back into some kind of useful shape.  I also called work that day because I had been out of town and otherwise engaged with my cousin all weekend and had been unable to cover for one of my coworkers whose father was passing away.  I suppose I should feel like shit because if it was my father passing away I would hope someone would cover for me (and I guess my boss got a little huffy because I didn't returns texts and calls right away as I was fucking busy and didn't even have my phone on!) but then I learned someone HAD offered to cover and that she still went to work.  So she made her choice.  I don't feel bad and honestly, I'm not the only person who can cover for people.  I think they all forget that sometimes. Anyway that was nice and awkward.  I'm happy that the awkwardness ended with the phone calls - at work today everything seemed just fine.  The only shitty thing is that I'm applying for Third Key and so is this particular co-worker and now that everyone is pissed that I couldn't cover for her... yeah I figure Third Key isn't really going to happen now.  Which brings me to my next point.

Hannah and I want to live in Spokane or Spokane Valley which means that I need a better paying and more consistent job.  Tonight I've been online applying and saving jobs.  The one I'm really wanting right now is bookseller at Barnes & Noble.  I don't even care if the pay isn't that much more - I will work more hours.  I will take a second job.  I fucking want to work with books!  It would be a step in the right direction I think, even though it's retail.  So, as I wrap this up, I'm sending off an application to B&N to each location in the Spokane area.  I'll be crossing my fingers.  If I have to be an adult as least let me work in a place where my inner child can really shine.