There's nothing left, so leave me alone!
"But every single second of every single minute of every single hour, someone somewhere's expecting something of me..." The more I listen to the Juliet Dagger's "Leave Me Alone," the more I'm convinced that it was written for me.
My Saturday had a whirlwind quality about it. I picked up a Zipcar, another Toyota Matrix called "Mr. Ed," at 8 AM. Unfortunately, due to some confusion and an assumption on my part, I'd canceled the original reservation for a car in Hoboken and had to make a last-minute reservation for this one in lower Manhattan instead. Getting in and out in the morning was quick and smooth, though, and I proceeded to Target and Shop-Rite to pick up some much-needed stuff (like a new 'lectric shaver) and groceries. I came back home long enough to bundle up a bunch of gifts, then departed for my sister's home in Montville, where I had lunch with her and John and the kids. Shawn really seemed to like his new Fisher Price train, though smacking his cheek hard on the edge of the play table threw him for a loop and left an angry bruise. He recovered pretty quickly, though. Cayden seemed less excited about his penguin bowling set, but he probably just needs time to really discover it.
From there, I went to visit Dawn and Dave, and traded Christmas gifts with them, too. Turns out that not only did Dawn and I buy each other the same exact book ("Blaze" by Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King), we unwrapped them at the same time. Definitely going to be friends for life... lol After catching up and trading stories, the three of us met Jon and Karin at their house; Dawn rode with me, the first time I'd driven her (or a pregnant woman) in a good ten years or so. Dawn and Dave got the tour, and the five of us went to Applebee's for dinner.
Or not. There was too long a wait there, actually, so we got back into the cars and went to a Ruby Tuesday instead. Where we ended up waiting almost as long as we would have at Applebee's, though we'd been told the wait would have been shorter. Eventually, an apologetic host asked if we'd be OK with sitting at a regular booth (instead of the larger one they were having trouble clearing for us), with one of us sitting in a chair at the end. Of course, that turned out to be the fifth wheel, me. It wasn't so bad, really, except for being kneed in the shins (and the knees!) by Karin a few times. Though Dawn and Jon, like me, are lefties, both couples sat with the righties on the left and the lefties on the right, so there were all kinds of joints and limbs connecting while we dove into various kinds of burgers and things.
Jon and Karin brought me back to their house, where I'd left Mr. Ed, and after a quick farewell, and an attempt on Karin's part to give me a quicker route back to 80, I took off east again, stopping at the apartment to change into a warmer coat. It took me about fifteen minutes to get from Lyndhurst through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan, which shocked me, and only another fifteen or so to get back to the garage. I was less pleased when I arrived at Penn Station five minutes after the train departed, but it was only 35 minutes or so 'til the next one, so I didn't get home too late.
I got up early on Sunday and psyched myself up for laundry. After I'd returned from that dreaded chore, however, I was feeling out of sorts, and I eventually gave in and napped for a few hours. Not sure it really helped... There were some work issues I needed to tackle, which I did, and then of course came "The Simpsons." Who knew that Homer invented grunge? Or that perjury was the worst thing a U.S. President could do?
Yesterday, I took the company van to Red Bank to repair some data and assess a practice's network and hardware. It was nice to get out of the office for a few hours, and I only got one call for assistance from my colleagues while I was away. An after-hours meeting that ran past 7:30 PM ended with Robert, Fred, Mark D., and me dining at El Cid, another welcome change of pace. Mmm, tilapia franchese...
And now I'm getting ready to look at more data, instead of having time to myself. I need to put "Leave Me Alone" on repeat. At least I'm being kept company by a Guinness or two.
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andersensilva) wrote,
irritated
