It felt like another week of hard slog. As the week approched its end, I felt the body battery draining with each passing hour.
On Thursday night, after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing, Tress and I decided to just get up and head for the St Alf’s growth group meeting at the Longs’ home. As we were preparing to leave, we got a ping from the leader and we soon found out he wasn’t well. So the meeting was a casual chit chat and I guess it provided a bit of a refreshing reprieve that stemmed a bit of that body battery drain. It still meant however, that we went to bed later than usual.
Friday was the usual slog and there was to be a catch up dinner with Jason and Mel and the Hipos later that night. As with normal dinners on Fridays with the Hipos however, it started an hour later than we normally did, as their kids had activities that only ended after 7pm. It was good none the less, that we caught up. Jess had organised the event and we went to a Korean barbeque place, as many things Korean are the Hipos’ favoured flavours.
When the dinner came to a close, I got a bit annoyed when no one looked eager to go pay the bill. It was a substantial amount too. We often divvied up the bill anyway but very often, I’d be the one fronting up first and they’d pay their share to me later. I was annoyed because, I was tired of fronting up. After all, it wasn’t a night I had organised so I wasn’t sure why I was the one expected to front up. I’d always end up short as the rounding up process always favoured the later payers and I just hate chalking up big spends on my card. Also, often I’d add a tip but leave that out of the shared bill as I wasn’t sure they’re the tipping types. I later ranted to Tress that I’d been annoyed that no one got up to pay the bill and that Tress had asked for contributions that fell short of the total I paid. They all knew the amount I paid and yet, accepted the amount Tress suggested. I thought that was just poor form. The friendship angle prevailed however so I chose to just forget about it after having ranted to Tress on the way home.
On Sat, we did our usual thing but I then had the Steer AGM. That lasted some 3 hours but thankfully it was all online so I still got to walk the little guy before coming home in time to just change into something that I thought would be just about presentable on screen for the meeting. The older little guy also had his grooming session so for a few minutes, I turned off the camera, put myself on mute, and headed out to engage with Amber the groomer, before returning to the meeting.
The rest of the weekend was filled with our usual activities. At St Alf’s on Sunday, Tress made it a point to stay behind after the meeting, to catch up with others over a cuppa. I often struggled to make small talks so I normally just skip the tea/coffee time and head off. Small talks however, annoying for me as they may be, can be essential starting points to build relationships. It is an investment in people that I know I need to make. So, I gave in and had a cuppa, made small talks, including with Wilson, an old acquaintance who has been coming to St Alf’s in recent weeks. Those small talks are perhaps like fronting to pay the bill when dining out with friends, I guess. Prices we pay to invest in people and relationships. Annoying as it is, they are things I need to do more of, probably.
Later in the day, I did my usual cooks for the week’s meals for both Tress and I as well as for the little guys, and then walked them some more. It had been a beautiful day and it was very pleasant to just stroll around at the oval with other dog owners. We later messaged Kiddo about her visit to Melbourne for a friend’s hens night. She’d been planning to visit from Friday night and leave on Sunday arvo. That’s something to look forward to.
Ante 