February 19th, 2018

Hal said last night was torture. Torture in that he was bored as hell while he and Tim waited in a parked car near the intersection with the tree. Tim never did tell Hal what he was hoping to see, and they never did see it. So Hal wasn't sure what the purpose was, other than possibly to test his patience.

Needless to say, he was happy to have my company tonight. Though it was spent working on his homework. I think I'm starting to get a hang of the things he's been working on, I even managed to ask a few questions he couldn't immediately answer. I think this next week while I've got leave, I'll take him up on sitting in on a few classes. Should be fun.

Speaking of leave though, I got a message from HR today asking me to postpone my leave or have it cancelled outright. So during my last break I stopped by to ask them when exactly it'd be convenient to them for me to prevent a stroke? Not in those words exactly, obviously, I would like to keep my job. It wasn't Helene in the office today though, she'd have been so much better to talk to. Instead it was another lady whose name I've never managed to catch. I don't often deal with her, and it's almost never pleasant when I do. She seemed to think this operation was cosmetic in nature. I had to explain to her, three times, that I was going to get a stent implanted in my brain to prevent a stroke.

It took her calling her manager to come out to talk to me before I finally was able to get an "Ohh, that's what this is for." He still asked if I could do it another time. "Sorry, no," I said, "the operation is already scheduled."

So they "allowed" me to have the leave so requested.

I love working at the museum, I really do. But I have to wonder if HR is like this everywhere, or if it's just here.

Anyway, Hal brought me home to find a letter from Efe, which I've just finished reading. He said he got together with some of the guys in his squad, and they were able to see the lunar eclipse. He hoped I had gotten the chance to as well, but he had heard how bad the cloud coverage was. He says he's got some leave coming up, and he'll be able to take pictures and let me know where he is at that time. But it won't last long. So I might get another letter from him before he receives mine. Good think I've got pictures printed off. Which was the other thing Hal and I were able to do before he got me home.

So I'll write a bit more responding to what Efe wrote, though actually I covered a few things he was asking about already. And then I'm going to need to get to bed. I should be able to send this out tomorrow though.