Work

My view from the bar. Working on my laptop. For 5 minutes until I realized I didn't have decent internet.

My first assignment for my new class (have I mentioned I've signed up for a writing class? ha! jk Nick. I know I have.) was due on Tuesday. But our teacher wanted it in, if possible, before that so the class would have a chance to comment on it.

We had to review a paragraph we didn't like and one that we did, describing what details made it stand out in either way. I had a book with me I was loving (Beartown, Frederik Bakman -- my new favorite author). But had to search online for a paragraph from a book I didn't like. (Easy, I have a few books I deplore. Not so easy is I wasn't home to find the book. I'm sure I didn't keep it anyway. I was able to find a sample online of The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton and could easily find several annoying paragraphs in that few page selection.)

I'd found an hour here and there throughout our trip to work on the project and planned on fine-tuning and submitting on Monday after The (other) Shaeffers had left.

We had to pack up and checkout by 11:00, but unfortunately didn't have enough time to finish and submit before then. No problem. The boys headed to a cabana at the pool and I headed to the hotel with my laptop to find a quiet place to work. There is a covered but open-air bar right next to the lobby that is always very inviting but I never have a reason to hang out there. I was happy for the excuse.

Except I couldn't get internet. I asked the front desk for help. They advised I go to the internet cafe which I did but wasn't quiet at all. It's essentially a desk at the side of the grocery/deli with music which gives it a great "vacation vibe" but wasn't conducive to my "needing to work vibe."

And it's so dang exciting having something I need to work on that isn't PTA e-mails or RS Sunday bulletins or Primary Baptism bios and programs which is all my "work" has consisted of in the past when I've needed to find a computer on vacation. Other people's projects.  I have my own project for my own self! Yay! I wanted my "getting work done" area to be like a vacation. "I am writing in this beautiful spot looking out on a beautiful scene on vacation in a beautiful place. I am writing -- and writing excites me, is challenging, makes me smarter and and makes me happy." Is that too much to ask for a place to do my work?

I went back to the front desk and she called the IT people but while I was standing there, the internet started kicking in and downloading the documents I needed to review. So I stood there and let them download, then backed up carefully to a big chair in the lobby where the internet worked. Good enough.