My employer was nice enough to give me (and someone else who started when I started, 2 left out of the original 8) a gift of $250 for dinner as a congratulations for having my job for 5 years. That's a lot of money! In fact, that's a lot of dinner. The money was in the form as a prepaid Visa card, that I could use electronically. Originally I had the idea of taking 3 or 4 of my co-workers and going out to dinner. Most of the ones who sit nearby. But then, I was thinking, why not spend it all on myself? I wanted to buy myself dinner, but not in my hometown, somewhere else. I hadn't been to a resort town about 6 hours drive away in maybe 10 years, how about there? Great place for taking photos, especially with a digital camera. I'd taken lots of photos with the old film cameras over the years, but nothing since getting a digital camera. So that was the plan, have dinner, paid for by my employer, but in another town.
I decided to not tell my employer, just in case it rustled some feathers and caused problems for other employees later on. So I drove there, the trip took ages, with me stopping to take photos, it must have taken about 8 hours. Finally I arrived. Being summer, I had a lot of daylight though. I stayed at a camping ground, but I had a cabin (together with bathroom/toilet) all to myself. Originally the plan was to stay one night, but I figured, what's an extra $80, and stayed an extra night. A few weird things happened there, I paid using my electronic card, and the woman at the camping ground office asked me for my card, then asked me what my pin was! Of the 20+ years I've been paying for things electronically, that's the first time I've been asked for my pin, rather than doing it by myself.
I was rather surprised by her asking, but politely said that I didn't share my pin, and I'd do it myself. A few hours later, I went back to the office and paid for an extra night. But the next day, I was having a nap (around 1pm) and there was a knock on the door of my cabin. An employee asking why I was still there. I said that I had paid extra, and had the receipt if necessary. I always keep reciepts. 99.5% of the time you don't need them, but the other 0.5%, they come in very useful.
I got to drive around the places that I've been to over the years/decades, took lots of photos, and enjoyed myself. I called Fiona a few times and also tried to Skype Nikki but the reception for mobile broadband wasn't the best. I enjoyed myself, it was nice spending money on myself, but there was one thing missing. Nikki. I couldn't stop thinking about her. I imagined her with me, sharing the driving, taking photos of each other, sharing expriences and having fun. Having to wait 4 years to be with her was too long. Yet again, I changed my mind about her. I didn't want to wait until I'd finished university to meet her. I wanted to meet her after my trip away for a year.
When I got home, we Skyped and I told her my change of plan. Being in a long distance relationship sucks. 4 years is too hard. Time differences, loneliness, missing the other person, not having shared experiences, not even having met Nikki, it's all too much. I'll change the university plan, I'm not sure how, but I want to meet her, after my year long trip to South East Asia. She seemed pleased with the change, although I guess she's a bit worried that I'll change my mind again, that's twice so far.
Oh, one other thing. I really hit the caffeine hard when I was on holiday, having 3-4 bottles of Coke daily. When I was at one particular tourist attraction (that I hadn't been to in about 28 years), I had my last bottle of Coke. My last caffeine. I really want to go 2 years without it. I did that in about 1998, I think I can do it again.
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