I was tired and starving by the time I got home from work yesterday. At 5:30. After some chicken-noodle soup and bread, I’d managed to convince my body I wouldn’t die of starvation. I forced myself to stay awake until 10, even though I could have easily gone to bed at 7 (really - I was already in my pj’s sitting in my bed - it wouldn’t have taken much). I was pretty sure that, regardless of how tired I was, if I went to bed at 7, I’d wake up at midnight and not be able to get back to sleep for several hours, and that’d really kill today. So I knit. And watched TV. And read a little. Until 10 pm finally came and I could take it no more.

And that was my night. I fell asleep long before my TV did (scheduled for 11), and woke up boxed in by cats this morning. And got to work before 9, which is my goal for… March. Really, my goal is to go to bed earlier so I can wake up earlier. Is it bad that I don’t have high hopes for myself, or just realistic?

For the comments: and I are trying to put together an exhausting list (not exhaustive) of things to do in Chicago while we’re there. Any things you’d suggest adding?

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1. How long can you sit in front of the TV without wanting to kill yourself? Oh, at least a few days. Honestly.
2. Describe your ultimate day of relaxation. Sleeping in (obviously). Breakfast. Not needing to change out of pjs. Lounging about in front of the TV alone or not, or reading a good fiction book. Eating whatever makes me happy (comfort food, usually, like mac & cheese, or Swedish pancakes, or grilled cheese & tomato soup). The phone doesn’t ring all day. No roommates are home. The cats aren’t obnoxious but just loving. If it’s nice outside, I want it to be sunny and just warm enough to go for a walk without a jacket but not get sweaty, and then going for a walk, to the park, just laying in a hammock outside, these would all be nice additions.
3. Do you prefer your work environment to be fast paced and stimulating or comfortably routine? I don’t do so well with the pressure, especially when it’s because other people didn’t do their job on time and now it’s all on me. Routine isn’t bad.
4. Do you do laundry on a regular basis, or do you wait until you’re turning socks inside out? On a fairly regular basis. Sometimes I run out of work pants and that’s the motivator, but I never run out of socks or underwear (I’ve got like 5 or 6 weeks’ worth, last time I checked), so its never really become an issue.
5. Do you prefer to take the stairs or wait for the elevator? Everywhere I go it’s either elevator or escalator. I walk up/down escalators most of the time.

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1. What time of year do you blog the most? My quantity of blogging is more related to whether or not we’re busy at work, and whether or not I have something that requires writing about a lot because it’s therapeutic, so, for instance, a new boy (see September 2005). There are definitely times of the year when we’re slow at work, like right around fiscal year changes (surprisingly) or holidays, and the summer’s pretty slow in general.
2. What time of year do you seem to blog the least? See above.
3. What time of DAY do you do your most blogging? I only blog while at work, so… 9-5. I’m more likely, I think, to blog between 10-12 and 2-4:30, but that’s just a guess. I only occasionally write at home with the intent to bring it in and post it, and then it’s late at night (midnight-plus).
4. When blog-hopping, do you tend to look at your blogroll list (or fave blogs) to see which ones have been updated, or do you visit your faves on a regular basis regardless? I rely on my bookmarks in Firefox (”Open In Tabs”), open all of them up (”Daily Blogs”), quick scan through the ones that I don’t like as much and close them, then close the ones that haven’t updated, and then read the ones that I like the most with new posts.
5. Do you change your blogroll often? I don’t think I’ve changed it in over two years. Sad.
6. How many times a day, after writing a new post, do you check for new comments? I don’t have to check for new comments - Blogger sends me an email, and I get those instantaneously. It eliminates the compulsive checking that I’d probably do otherwise.
7. Do you leave comments on others’ blogs, or are you more of a lurker? Mostly a lurker, though I’ve been known to comment, and go through phases where I comment more often, if just to get my link out there in the world (that seems to work sometimes).

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Are you usually early, on time, or late?

That all depends on time of day and what it’s for. If it’s early morning, usually late. Unless it’s something really important that I’m afraid I’m going to be late for, in which case I’m often early. Much of my timeliness is dependent on the bus schedule, so I try to be early but sometimes just can’t make it to the right bus or miss it by a hair, and then I’m late. Plus, I learned after giving up my car and relying on public transportation, I care a lot less about timeliness, because at some point, you have to get used to waiting and not being fully in charge of your own schedule, and that’s OK.

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My goodness am I crabby today. I’ve decided to just ignore the existence of my co-worker, because that should benefit all involved. I swear what he just said to me (while trying to figure out what it was I was looking at on my computer - hello, invasion of privacy) was “my two are small,” and then proceeded to repeat himself, say “I didn’t say it made any sense,” and then remembered that I was tired today and thought he’d leave me alone.

Wha?

He’s been freaking annoying all day. And now I have a headache.

I should really just go home and ignore the world - might be better for everyone. Of course, if I go home it’s entirely likely that my mood will improve immensely.

I had a perfectly wonderful weekend, however. (Which sometimes just makes Monday crap, you know?) Saturday and I got all gussie’d up (can boys get gussie’d up?) for the Zephyr to celebrate 6 months, and had a fantastic meal and train experience.

That was taken before the wine, which turned after-dinner into a humorous experience. Kelly-with-wine is quite the cad. Very entertaining. Everyone thinks so. Even me. No, this doesn’t mean I should drink more often. Kelly-with-wine and high heels and a moving train is not a good combination for walking upright. There was no falling down (though that certainly would have been funny, but not unexpected), just… significant effort taken. Hey, you try walking in 3-inch heels on a train.

And Sunday showed off her interior decorating talents by picking out some fabulous fabric and having a great idea to design a coffee table. Here’s how it turned out:

and the finished product, coffee table matched up nicely with the new sofa and pillows.

More and her coffeetable.

Ooh, look at that, you can open up the panels and store stuff inside! How clever!

We were very tired by the time we finished. Time for bed!

I ate more cow this weekend than any one person should. (, for reference, after Saturday’s meal, Sunday I had Chipotle with and , and consumed, perhaps inhaled, all 4 steak tacos, at which point I thought for sure I should keel over immediately due to meat overdose.)

So my weekend was fabulous. But I slept poorly and not very much all 3 nights, hence leading up to today’s crabbiness. Plus I’m ready for spring. And to move into ’s room - she was very funny last night. Apparently very drunk. Quite jovial though. Not as much fun as Kelly-with-wine though. She’s a blast.

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1. Baby step:: Bill Murray
2. Wasted:: time, breath
3. Reggie:: White
4. Pitiful:: pout
5. Acting out:: therapy
6. Tomato:: to-mah-to
7. Bad night:: at the Ritz
8. Trip:: to Chicago
9. Finance charges:: are a b*tch
10. Sport:: not interested

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I just came from the restroom, where a female co-worker (obviously) left without washing her hands. Ew!

I’ve never witnessed that happening - I figure people at least pretend to wash their hands when others are looking.

This is quite disturbing.

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I walked behind a man in the Skyway who smelled divine.

Plus, the guy with the parrot was there. I haven’t seen him in over a year. He was talking to it - just standing there, petting and talking to his parrot, as if this is the most normal thing in the world. I had to bite my lip to avoid any rude facial expressions of mockery.

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1. What is your biggest fear and is there a story behind it? Thinking real hard here…. I’m not sure I have a “biggest fear.” There’s lots of little things that I’m afraid of: the dark (no laughing), spiders and other creepy-crawly things, heights, getting in trouble, mortally embarrassing myself in public, lake-swimming when it involves seaweed that tickles your toes, really deep dark bodies of water (like up in Duluth - totally creeped me out)…. No good stories.
2. Have you ever been able to get over any of your fears? I’m mostly over the heights thing - I think that was more learned than anything, since is afraid of heights. I can kill a spider if need be. I’ve often embarrassed myself in public in the name of good clean youth group fun.
3. How does your fear affect you? Mostly, I’d say that it holds me back from fully participating in some aspects of life. But I don’t feel unsatisfied or unfulfilled with life, so it must not be that bad.

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1. Birthdays: How many different birthdays do you have committed to memory, and aside from using your own noggin, how do you keep track of all the others? Let’s see… , , , , , , , my old youth pastor (April Fool’s Day is a hard one to forget), and a couple of people from high school even though I don’t keep in touch it just sticks in my head anyways. I’ve got most of them in Outlook, which I never check, so that’s not terribly helpful. Basically, if I don’t know it by heart, you’re probably not going to get any notice from me, unless it’s a super-belated “I’m sorry” email.
2. Seaport Security: A government-owned company in the United Arab Emirates volunteered late yesterday afternoon to delay its $6.8 Billion takeover of most operations at six U.S. seaports. The delay allows President George W. Bush time to convince skeptical members of the U.S. Congress that the deal poses no security risks. What’s your feeling on this… should the United States government allow a company based in Dubai to manage seaports in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Newark? I have no opinions on this whatsoever.
3. Telephones: Regardless of whether you use just a cell phone or a cell phone and a land line at home, does ‘Voice over IP’ (VoIP) technology have you thinking about switching or adding a land line at home? (In case you’ve never heard of VoIP, it allows for the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other IP-based network, and it’s supposed to be a lot cheaper than paying the old-school phone companies for telephone service.) Not at all. Of course, I don’t have the internet at home, so it would make that quite difficult. But I still don’t care. I so rarely use the phone.
4. 2006 Winter Olympics: Have you been watching the 2006 Winter Olympics on television? If so, which events have you enjoyed the most? If not, why? Eh, not really. All of the Olympics I’ve seen this year has been because wanted to, not that I mind. I’m just kinda… ambivalent about the whole thing.

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1. What do you wear to bed? My blue satin Vickie’s pj’s, or my black ones (with pink accents, of course) from Target at ’s house.
2. What side of the bed do you sleep on? I have a twin bed. There aren’t sides.
3. Do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? Yes, to all of the above. It depends on my mood or the temperature or… whatever. This morning I woke up on my stomach, with sitting on my back licking my hair.
4. Describe the bedding on your bed right now. How does it change with the seasons? Are you particular about your pillows or linens? Down comforter from Ikea, with white duvet. It only changes in the summer when it gets really hot (no air conditioning for me, well, except the window unit I have, but I barely ran it last year), and then I have a thin “natural”-colored blanket. I have… 3 sets of sheets, the flannel one that I only use in the winter obviously. There’s a green & purple set that came with the bed (from ), and they’re kinda annoying because they’re for a twin-long (her college days), but they work. And I don’t want to spend any more money than I have to embellishing my little bed. I’d rather wait until I had a “big girl’s” bed. I’m particular about my pillows though - feather is the way to go.
5. Do you hog the bed, steal covers, or snore? I used to snore, but don’t think I do anymore. As far as other annoying habits, you’ll have to ask , since he’s the only person I’ve shared a bed with in a long time ( comes up next on the list…). I’m a really sound sleeper, so I could do all sorts of things and never wake up. (This comes in handy for roommates who want to run the dishwasher late at night, or make cheesecake at 1 am [actually happened this week], or come in stumbling drunk.)

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I was having some serious chocolate issues yesterday, and the co-op benefited from my ravenous desire. Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Batter Ice Cream? Delicious.

And the guy at Ace Hardware on Grand gets my Customer Service Award of the day yesterday. Despite the piercings and body jewelry and art, spiky hair, and… fill in the rest of the picture yourself, he was extremely friendly and helpful and got me exactly what I wanted. He was everything I want in a salesperson - asked questions to determine what I wanted, offered up alternate solutions but didn’t push on the sale, friendly, didn’t treat me like an idiot just because I was out of my element…. the whole nine yards.

Shocking!

It was with great shock and awe last night that, while talking to , I realized that, in the six months I’ve known him, I’ve never truly been angry at or upset with him ( and , if I’m remembering this incorrectly, don’t remind me and let me have my blissful ignorance, ’cause obviously if I forgot it, it didn’t really matter anyways). That is impressive, considering how easy it is to tick me off. So he gets an award for that:

Congratulations! There are very few people who’ve ever done that (trying to think of any… coming up blank… oh, probably and , because of their unique personalities)… still, it’s mighty amazing).

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1. Name 3 projects you’d like to accomplish (they could be anything). At the moment, find new roommate, move into ’s room, and… get this website done that I’m working on for work.
2. If you could plan a lengthy trip/vacation, where would you go and what would you do? reminded me Tuesday night about the Apostle Islands, where I’d love to go camping this summer. I think it’d be cool to go to the Bay of Fundy, but it’s in Canada and that’s kinda far away. And there’s always Paris with . And, really, anywhere I haven’t been before.
3. If you could start (and keep up) 3 hobbies, what would they be? Why? 3 new hobbies? Why in the world? OK, if I have to… crocheting (because, according to , every knitter needs to know how to crochet a little bit), hammock-sitting, and… underwater basket weaving. Seriously. I don’t need new hobbies. I’m quite happy with the ones I have (and can’t seem to find the time to complete the projects I’ve got started as it is).

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Well, my feet made it almost through the day in these shoes. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring spares, so they’ll just have to hurt until I get home and can put on tennis shoes. At least I re-thought the plan to go directly to Ace, and instead stop at home for jeans and shoes and a bite to eat. Otherwise I’d have to walk an extra… six or eight blocks in these shoes, and I think that would result in… well, Band-Aids would be involved.

Tomorrow morning I have an all-staff meeting at 9. [Warning: annoying whine coming up that most people will think is just frivolous because they're usually at work by then anyways and don't I just live the cushy life....] That means I have to leave my house in time to grab coffee, make it up to the 5th floor to turn on my computer and settle in and then back downstairs to the second floor for the meeting, preferably without showing up two minutes before (which only means I have to sit in front, or with people I don’t normally chat with for good reason). That’s no fun. I probably shouldn’t stay up until 1:30 knitting like I did last night. (Wow, I just feel like a huge dork. And emailed me today wanting to know if on her visit up here we should go to the Three Kittens yarn shop. Just throw in another cat at home and I’m officially an old maid, I think. Or… something unflattering. Knitting with my three cats, hair stickin’ up in strange places, answering the door and scaring the neighbor kids away…. There’s a future there, I think.)

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I’m continuing to edit that web page I talked about yesterday. The grammar just keeps getting more horrifying. I wouldn’t put up with it (as in, I’d just stop editing and put it out there like it is), but it’s going on our external site and so if anyone sees it and notices they’ll either 1) think horrible things about my ability to use the English language, or 2) call me and tell me about all the errors and I’ll have to fix them anyways.

It’s truly terrifying what American-born graduate-school-educated adults (with adult children) consider good grammar.

Maybe I should be an English teacher instead of Social Studies.

Wait, I’ve never been able to do literary analysis, and methinks that’s a necessary skill for the job. Bummer. But this way I can teach “History According to Hollywood.” You know you want to take my class. Everyone wants to go back to junior high.

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