Topic: Summer Nights (part 1).
I know I meant to write about all my summer adventures, but frankly…nothing much happened until now. Just kidding.
I guess quite a bit has happened since I came back to LA (3 weeks ago?). But even now, I still can’t get over how odd it is to have my “old” life back. Besides the (mainly) congratulatory responses I’ve heard from friends and acquaintances, there have been several interesting (and “eye-opening”) comments on my well being. Among the most insulting and downright rude was my favorite: “You’ve gotten fatter!”
I think it’s common knowledge by now that that is the last thing you ever want to say to a female (if you wish for good will). More surprising is that this came from one of my mom’s (ex) female friends, whom I’ve known for a long time. I don’t know what her intention was…actually I do know - she’s just one of those people who can’t say good things about others…but it just surprised me that she had the nerve and the maliciousness to say something like that right after I finished treatment. I mean, if I’d gotten fatter (though to set the record straight, I haven’t), wouldn’t it have been preferable to losing weight? Because then it would have meant that side effects weren’t so awful that I couldn’t eat?
Anyways, I can’t say that I was able to easily brush her comment away at first. I’d been receiving compliments up to that point, and stomaching my first less-than-stellar comment was a little harder to do. But I’m proud of the fact that even after her comment, I didn’t (and still don’t) feel the need to compulsively exercise/diet those imaginary pounds away.
But yeah. I didn’t stand up to her during that incident (I was too stunned to say much), but I did manage to collect my wits during a visit to the Apple store in South Coast Plaza.
Let me put in a disclaimer first: Apple makes great products. But it doesn’t necessarily have the best customer service. The Apple store at South Coast Plaza is perhaps the only place I’ve had awful, awful, awful customer service. But it’s been enough to make my friend rethink buying an Apple product, and me from going to that location ever again.
We had a sales associate named David R who tried to sell us Apple Care (the extended guarantee program that comes at an additional $150 price). And I don’t mean the normal “sell.” It was more like being bullied, coerced, and insulted into buying it. The guy just wouldn’t give up. When I advised “no” to my uncle (who was buying an iMac), he told my uncle: “All right, just remember that when your computer breaks, it was all her fault.”
First of all, if it breaks, then Apple doesn’t make good computers. And if that’s the case, we shouldn’t buy an Apple computer. If Apple really does make products that are as good as they claim, then I should be able to safely assume that their products will run smoothly for at least 5 years because I don’t think they’re being all that innovative if they can’t get their product to survive some wear and tear.
Second, that was unacceptable behavior towards a customer. Threatening? Is that any way you should treat a customer? Why would it be my fault? It’s Apple’s fault if they make shit that can’t last.
Anyways, David R just wouldn’t listen. He steamrollered over our “no thank you’s.” And it wasn’t just a minor incidence - it was a repeat offense. I believe we politely declined at least 5 times before I had enough and told him to “stop pushing it. We don’t want it.”
Guess what his response was? “I’m not getting a commission from this.” (Total bullshit. There’s a reason why you’re so zealous about this. Something motivating…perhaps a bonus?…is causing you to violate all customer service ethics.) “I’m not pushing it.” (Then why didn’t you stop after the first “no thank you?”) “I don’t feel comfortable with you.” (What a total pansy. And why do you have this job in the first fucking place?!) “Would you like another person to assist you?” (YES PLEASE!!!! But unfortunately my friend and uncle intervened before I could say it.)
Only positive thing that came out of this unpleasant interaction was that I realized that I’m no longer the spineless girl I once was. You can’t force me, threaten me, bully me, or scare me into doing something I don’t want to do.
I can stand my ground!
Very groundbreaking, I know. But I felt really good about it because I’ve finally put some of the lessons I learned from my cancer experience into practice. At least I suffered all that agony for something.
Anyhow… (I haven’t used this word quite a bit…I wanted to “freshen” my vocabulary a bit since I’ve been using “anyways” for too long…although I suppose “anyhow” isn’t too different from “anyways.”)
I visited my cousin in San Diego, who was nice enough to let me tag along with him to his summer classes (although I was, in no way, being “babysat!”). We saw Avenue Q, watched Despicable Me (which was so much better than I’d originally thought it would be), ate at the restaurant C-level (right next to the harbor, as its name suggests), and were going to see the premiere of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice…until we were stopped by my mom (who still, unfortunately for me, has not relented with curfew). And in between all those activities, I peppered him with questions about male behavior. Which was, of course, quite fun. (i.e. never mention the word “friend,” regardless of context, in front of a potential interest. It’s apparently considered the “F word” in guy vocabulary…I suppose it’s kind of a Duh! but I never really stopped to consider it as a deterrent).
I also finally got to meet my aunt’s friend (who also reads my blogs and happens to share many similarities to me and my family). We had an amazing conversation and lunch (spanning a little over 3 hours), and one of the things she strongly recommended I do was to write a book about my experience.
Now, I can’t say that I’ve thought of myself being or becoming a serious writer. It seems to me that writing is an incredibly hard trade to live on, and you either make a lot of money or you don’t. And then there’s writer’s block and publishing hurdles that I’d have to contend with. But somehow, I think writing a book would be fun to do. And I do feel as though I have a lot to share and that others could benefit from what I have to say. I just don’t know where to begin with…
If I were to write a book, what parts of my life should I include? I feel like there should be a “before” and “after” - and right now (the time frame that is), what I’m experiencing…may not even fully qualify as “after” because I don’t know which way my life will lead. And as for “before,” how much do I include? I feel like I can throw most of my childhood and middle school years out (with the few notable exceptions), but I also don’t want to talk too much about high school because then it’d just detract from my main story (and also because they weren’t the best years of my life and I’ve really forgotten a lot of things since I don’t like remembering unpleasant things). And yet my high school years were pretty integral to the person I was up to October 2009.
I also don’t exactly remember what happened last year - right now it’s just a blur and a mess of events that snowballed. Thank goodness I have my blog (although I’m still not brave enough to reread what I’ve written the past year) and my mom’s and aunt’s memories.
But I still feel like the cancer experience isn’t enough of a story. I’m still waiting for the real story to begin: college and my life afterward. I need an epilogue. And yet there may not be an epilogue because life doesn’t fit into the “happily ever after” category. So at which point do I start and at which point do I end?
I think I’ll ponder this over later.
I still have to come up with ideas for how to improve the Williams’ Record (newspaper) subscriptions (I’ve applied to become the Record’s unpaid subscriptions manager) and I haven’t written about what happened the last 8 eight days - which deserve a post on its own.
Oh dear. I’ll write later…because I’d just sit here for the rest of the night if I were to write about Part Deux.
