July 30th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Since it was the fifth Tuesday of the month, my normal writing group did not meet at Princeton Public Library. I had forgotten this was the fifth Tuesday, and on my way to Princeton, I called my buddy Keith to see if he was coming. He laughed, said no, and told me I couldn’t count. Then he told me about another writing group which was meeting at Panera. So I swung a Uie and headed north instead of south.

I figured I was already planning on being out for the evening, so why not. I should have known better. I have enough problems writing in the relatively quiet library, there was no way in you-know-where I was going to be able to write in a public restaurant. Out of desperation, I went next door to Harmon and bought earplugs. It was still too noisy, even with them in.

Bill's working on a cool story

I feel bad because the guy running it, Bill, was really nice, but I don’t think I will be attending in the future. It makes no sense for me to go when I cannot concentrate enough to get anything accomplished. I envy my friend Keith. He popped in his headphones, and away he went. I can’t even have music on while I’m writing.

I gave up and shut my computer down at around 8:30. I guess Bill was not in writing mode either, because the two of us began to chat. We said goodnight to Keith when he packed up and left, and we continued to chat. We chatted until 9:45 when I noticed the time and had to run out to go pick up my youngest from a friend’s house by 10:00. (I was a few minutes late.)

I am SO annoyed with the folks running the place where my daughter works. Last week, a friend of hers was fired for something he did not do. This guy was LOVED by all the kids, so they were extremely upset, some inconsolable, when they found out on Monday. When they asked my daughter why, she told them the truth, and tried to comfort them the best she could.

Today the director confronted her about what she was saying to the kids, and my daughter said, “the truth”. There was no official announcement and certainly no gag order issued, so when the kids asked, she told them what happened. The director said he understood, and he was fine with it, but if any other kids ask, she should send them his way. My daughter apologized and told him she meant no disrespect.

A short time later, my daughter’s supervisor all of a sudden had issues with how my daughter was conducting herself, and that if she couldn’t give 100%, she’d be better off not coming in anymore. My daughter explained to her that she’d been feeling sick for the past several days, even went to the doctor’s Monday night because of it. The doctor said she was dehydrated, gave her medication to fight off her nausea, and told her if it wasn’t better soon, she needed to go to the ER and get on IV fluids. She feels like crap, but she still drags herself to work, every day, because she doesn’t want to disappoint the kids.

That, combined with the fact that the “complaint” wasn’t supposed to be about my daughter, it was her co-counselor who caused the infraction, has me CHOMPING at the bit to call over there and give them a royal set down. My daughter showed me a selfie the co-counselor took of herself, while at the camp, a contractual infraction, and I asked my daughter if it was her in the photo. No, it was the co-counselor. That is how much these two girls look alike, if her own mother was not sure who was in the photo. The kids, as well as the employees constantly mix them up.

My daughter is such a mush. She doesn’t want to throw the other girl under the bus to defend herself. Meanwhile, I have crescent marks on my palms, and my jaw is aching from clenching it. It is so hard to sit back and do nothing while your child is being unjustly attacked. I tried to explain it was political, and they were only lashing out at her because she is friends with the guy who got fired, but it doesn’t make her feel any better.

The guy who got fired is a mush too, because he has a fairly airtight case of wrongful termination as well as defamation of character if he would pursue it, but he doesn’t want to. It could cause huge trouble for the camp if he did, and I think the directors know it. What blows my mind is instead of them taking the whole kumbaya approach and making like everything is wonderful in their little world, they are digging themselves in a bigger hole by the bullying tactics they have decided to go with.

They need to tread lightly. My daughter may have signed a contract to work there, but I sure as heck didn’t; and if they do not back off, the whole world is going to know about all the BS, and I mean ALL the dirty BS, going on over there. Mama bear’s ears are twitching.

Okay, enough. Venting has calmed me down … a tiny bit. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to do so. You may or may not hear more about this little episode, depending on how things go over the next few days.

We are in the last two days of Camp NaNo, and there is absolutely no way I am going to hit the 50K mark. I’m glad I only put a goal of 35K this time around. Friday I will let you know what my final number ended up being.

I’m at the point where a sense of urgency is starting to build in Fairy Tale Queen. As Kieren and Logan piece together more clues, the treat to them becomes greater. I can’t wait to see what new information they will uncover, how our heroes will foil the next Bagairt attack.

I’m off to do battle. As my favorite Disney character would say … TTFN! I hope you have a Tiggriffic day, and happy writing!