Old Personal News
(starting somewhere around the week that ended 12-7-03)
Sunday 12-21-03 through Sunday 12-28-03
Christmas in Iowa:
Sunday morning 12-21 went okay. Parking at the airport was relatively easy; then a good shuttle ride in--well-behaved children and everything. Static Girl bought me a bagel breakfast, and our first flight had us next to a sharp + funny older woman. I expected ear trouble, but got very little. The Denver airport was boring, and our 2nd flight had us with the ONLY extra seat on the plane--so my girlfriend could stretch out her legs a little. Parents were waiting for us when we landed. I had NO idea that my honey bottles and their ziplock bag had been cut into by the luggage nazis; I will get revenge on them later. Drove to a super Wal-mart so I could get another nasal syringe, and then out to meet Grandma G. She's an ornery, witty old woman who wears Reebocks and drives a Dodge Intrepid (race car). The house is 103 years old, and it shows. I like the house. 6 people sharing 1 bathroom was tricky, but we worked through it. We ate like kings Sunday night, and then I tried to sleep in a strange bed. Up
Monday for lazy coffee, and then a walk outside to throw snowballs (poorly). The big part of Monday was us "kids" decorating the cookies. I got NO extra credit for my "Headless Elvis with the blue suede shoes", or for my "Monica Lewinsky with the stained dress and pretty round mouth", but I DID get a little love for my "Cheri's blue spruce Christmas tree". Later I lost at all the new card games. And the tv was never turned on until halftime of the MNF game. A booster antenna picks up the 4 major networks and 3 local PBS stations. Yawn.
Tuesday starts lazy again; I'm liking the way that as soon as they see me--they start brewing coffee. Tons of food; 'let's take a break from all of this snacking and eat lunch'--you can't argue with that. Later, us "kids" went creek-walking; lots of fun. I sweated through everything. So I was tired when we got back. Nap! I wake up to the smells of a fish feast; yummy! After the salmon sampling is when I discovered the honey nightmare. So I wrapped the presents in anger; lots of paper-ripping and tape. Grrrr. Later, after a tiny bit of "Frasier" on tv, I got to write a little, and contemplate more...
The "raised" terrorist threat doesn't show in any airport (Phoenix, Denver, Omaha). Everybody has an opinion on illegal immigrant labor, even in Iowa, but you don't see any illegals here. The American companies who CANNOT hire illegal immigrants are taking their jobs overseas--so they can pay 60-80% less for the same work. College athletics are mainstream while college graduation rates are trivial. And if a non-athlete graduates, it will take at least 10 years to pay off the debt IF that person can find a job. I work with people who are supposedly IN college, and yet they speak and write at a level that should NOT have gotten them out of the 8th grade (Are the standards lower now?). Zzzz.
Then we're awake Wednesday; lots of coffee--I like this place. Tons more food, and then some went for a walk. I stayed home and...wait for it...took another nap. Then we dressed up and went to Christmas Eve church service; very nice. The kiddie play was excellent. Then we're home to eat the catered Christmas dinner, and open the presents until 1 am. Had trouble sleeping--it's like I'm taking naps or something.
Christmas Thursday means coffee, baby. More presents; they ration out the presents so there's like, 3 different present-opening sessions--you can't argue with that. Then we're bundling up for a road-trip into the bustling metropolis of Clarinda. Went and saw sweet older lady "M", and she wound up sliding me a $20 bill. I like her, too. And she had fudge; key term "had", 'coz it was just little crumbs by the time we left. These different houses all have different pictures of my girlfriend framed; she's been a babe her whole life. Back to Grandma's house for leftovers, yum, and tv time actually had us synchronized to watch "Scrubs"--which Static Daddy really liked. Girlfriend told me to go to bed and write, so I did. And I have started re-reading "Think and Grow Rich" again.
And the written record ends there; this rest is from memory. Friday morning had 4 cups of coffee, of course, and still no football. Somewhere amidst this chaos was when we went out to Static Uncle "R"'s house; there was a neat walk, more presents, and a Mexican dinner that was so good it gave me heartburn later--first heartburn in months. At "R"'s house, I met my kinda cousin "T"; he's 17, a football playin', bass guitar-slappin alternative music freak; and let's just say that he and I got along pretty well. I think this was Friday. Sure. We would go home late and eat more, gee imagine. Bed, and we're up
Saturday with coffee ready to brew. I like this place. And there was real live football on, if you can call what my Patriots did to my Bills a football game. Later we went out to see Static Mom's brother "W"'s house. Nice; and, he has DirecTV. We played board game "Cranium", and that was fun ('coz my team won). Ping pong, and then we're home, eating burgers, and getting ready to go to bed early--to get up at 3 am for the drive to the airport. Nap boy never actually slept...
but he got up at 3 am Sunday and helped everybody else move stuff around quietly. Even the instant coffee is good in Iowa; I don't know how they do it. So we're boot-scootin to the airport, and listening to Lite Rock radio; they had to deal with my tradition of trying to name songs as soon as they start (I'm still not as good as TPG, but I'm okay). Early to the airport, we got to eat and drink more coffee. Static Daddy even got to ride on the first plane with us to Denver. And then there was a 2nd plane ride for us "kids", to Phoenix. We almost got to see a fight on the shuttle ride out to Rift's car; I was not involved (for once). And we drove out, into stupid Fiesta Bowl traffic, but wound up cruising up Scottsdale road to go home. Subway, and we're home to start making phone calls. Talked to many people, and then after a little snuggle, I went to meet up with Pool Guy at the bar ( I guess we're not in Iowa anymore.). 8 days of smoke-free were shot to Hell. I ruled all golf, and lost at pinball--that was weird. Home at 10 to make messes all over the bathroom, eat more antacid pills, and try to sleep. Iowa was fun. They even claimed to like me, so you know there's something very wrong with all of them. Cool. Let's start a new week...
Saturday 12-20-03...
Yes, we uploaded, and soon enough it was Monday Night Football at the bar. I could have sworn I was there just last night, too. Oh well. I had called Pool Guy as he was hitting a hole-in-1 on #16 of Cedar Meadows--that prick. So then it's a party. The guy came to fix the pinball machine; yay. I have taken the golf crown back, thank you. I don't remember the drive home, or the Whoppers, but apparently we had both; go me. Then I'm crashing, and waking up
late Tuesday morning. Not bad late--like 10 minutes late. So I brewed coffee naked. I like the chill of December in Arizona; about 55 degrees this morning. At work, remember we haven't been there in like, 2 days. It's all different; and AJ is verifying in Sector 5 now. Guess where I went? If you guessed Sector 5, well goody for you. I got 1 early, yay. Later I would get called to the principal's office to talk about my workers comp. injury. Whatever. Walked out with X-man; I haven't been perfect about remembering to be spiritual all the time, but that's to be expected. Then I'm off to real physical therapy with real sweat. Then we're mailing boxes to parents, shopping at Big 5, finally went and had a Philly cheese steak at Jack in the Box (tasty), then home to hug on my highly under-rated girlfriend. Wanted to go grocery shopping, too, but lazed out of it. After watching 2 days of taped PTI, I was reading 3 days of newspaper with the tv as background noise, and I simply could not do it. 70-something channels of complete crap; you can freakin' have it. I'm only watching tv as a last gasp of normalcy before we take on this year of 2004's (triple?) business run anyway. But seriously, I'd rather play Gran Turismo than watch Tuesday tv (obviously Gilmore Girls was a re-run). I have more fun (and benefit more from) playing with those crazy fickle guinea pigs in Static Girl's room than watching crapola. I still love my television; I just don't love what gets run through it. So we're upset with televisual entertainment, right? Right. So we find the silver lining/make lemonade/go spiritual and stay positive by doing a load of laundry and a little more closet cleaning. 3 more pairs of pants found; place your bets. 2 pairs are only 34 inch waist--meaning I can't even get them halfway up my thighs. But the 3rd pair was a nice looking pair of brown courdory-type things; they not only fit, but fit well! Hurray! New clothes! My girlfriend says 'you're such a girl', but to heck with her; this is half of a new outfit! Then I matched a shirt and tie with the nice pants (because I'm such a girl) to wear 2maro for the owner's visit. I also wrapped my secret Santa gifts, and made a card. The old me would have gone to the bar by 7:15 tonight; the new me has been productive and clever. Oh yeah; I was thinking about cigarettes, and how bad they are and all. What if I bought loose tobacco and tubes, and made my own smokes? We will eventually quit--that's the plan. We could start by getting away from the nasty corporate "Tuesday night tv" disguised as packaged cigarettes...Finally to bed, but sleep was very difficult. Up
for work Wednesday; a little groggy, but that's probably because I'm so excited. This is going to be a big day; the owner of our company is coming to give out lots of expensive gifts. Work is packed full of people. I had to shuffle seats a few times. Couldn't get a Lead. I also won nothing in the raffle. But the catered lunch was excellent; ham and turkey. I did win a neat-o lunch box, but ALL of the losers won little lunch boxes. Post-work, I was tired. Went to electrode therapy and slept through it. Then I came home and cooked some rice for my girlfriend, even though I wouldn't be eating again yet. In fact, I went and took a 2 hour nap. Sleep is good. After the nap we organized snuggle, and then the plan was to meet people at the bar. HEC and SAL said that Pool Guy had gone home early because he wasn't feeling well. Bummer. Then TPG showed up; broke. He would later go and get money for a game of golf. World record time: I'd never lost 3 straight games of pinball, but TPG beat me 3 in a row. Oh well. 2 cars went to get Whopppers on the way home, wow. Crashed by 12:30. Up
for work Thursday. I got a Lead early, yay. Then I went on cruise-control for the rest of the day. I was hungry; Winter makes us hungry, right? Chinese buffets and Waffle House, yum. After work, we're going to real physical therapy; we even added some weight to my green ball sit-ups. Also got some free chips and salsa. Home to fry up yesterday's rice for girlfriend, But today was her Christmas thing at work, and they had food. But I still score points for cooking and cleaning. Now she's doing laundry, and I'm getting ready to go to an Open with TPG. My ability to be socially graceful is amazing; even I am impressed. We may also see Pool Guy later tonight. Yes! We went to the open, X-man met us there. It was fantastic, and all were impressed. It put me in a great mood. So afterwards, I went up and met Pool Guy at the bar. Party fun time. Too much, even. Followed him home, and came home to crash. Up
with girlfriend sitting on my bed, after 6 am Friday morning. Bad. She asked if I was going to work, and I said "No." So I called in before 7 am (first time I've called off in 6 weeks--that's pretty impressive), and went back to sleep. Sleep good. Up again at noonish. Ahhhhh. Coffee, GT2, vaccuming, cooking, then the best (taped from last night) episode of Scrubs ever, and I feel excellent. I needed to blow a day off--haven't done this in a while. Now we're getting ready for electrode therapy. Called my FCP, and she agrees that I need a blown off day every so often; snicker. I had garlic taters ready for my baby when she got home, but she was still upset with me. So I said that we should try for a better day tomorrow, and I went to meet Pool Guy early for another major party. We golfed with ACE, took a ride with him, too, and he also lives in the neighborhood. Fun. TPG showed up later. The plan to be done by 8:30 didn't work out. We left after 11; erugh. But I had good sleep from last night's hangover, so I was going to be okay. Bed and up
ready for action Saturday morning. I got the 3rd Lead in the building this morning, yay me. Then the day cooled off for me. But I remained high entertainment value. I like sitting with AJ over in Sector 5. I was thinking about all the things we'd be doing last-minute, getting ready to get out of Dodge for a week. There's alot. After work, I said bye to X-man, and headed for Big 5 for a duffle bag; did you know that I only have 1 suitcase? It's never been a problem before today. Great. No luck. So it's home, and then to drop piggies off with classy babe Cricket, and the surprise attack to get my girlfriend a new career went very well. Then back for bedding, a haircut, dinner, shopping, and back home...to find out that I'm still not done running around. More running, and now I have to go somewhere else, too. I don't love this part of it. After 3 seperate trips out, I declared I was done. We decided to open the boxes of the people we could talk to, so we only opened the box from S. Cackalackey. My FCP sent us an awesome Christmas box; trinkets, candy, coffee, books, videos. All of it was wrapped up all nice, too. She's not gonna get that much love back from us; but it's sweet to have a real, live FCP to work with. Cool. It will also be fun to have parental boxes to open when we get back. Bread! And it's 10 pm here; you don't get so much internal exposition this week. In fact, this is all you get. Bite me. Oh, and after my head explodes on the plane, TPG is in charge of my estate.
Sunday 12-14-03/Monday 12-15-03...
Sunday afternoon became Sunday evening, with my getting caught up on a few old e-mails, and getting some reading done. Then I decided to call TPG, because he was supposed to hear from his new female interest, and he did, so good for him. I'm starting to get sick; so I'm going to need a reason to go to the bar. TPG and Pool Guy are up at the bar, so I went, too (that was easy). We played some golf; they had already broken the pinball machine before I got there. Pool Guy and I almost closed it down (10 pm), and it was an early night. I didn't even see the Falcons come back and win in overtime; but Michael Vick apparently wants to be Doug Flutie when he grows up. Whoppers, of course, and I'm crashing before 11 pm. Up
early on Monday for work. I was determined to get a Lead today; oh well. I was never actually sick; just sniffly and coughing--I could still talk. Sat in between 2 females; cool "A", and familiar "B". "A" also professes to be a self-cannibal--and interested in cannibalism; WOW, guess I'm not the only one after all! At lunch, I called my FCP for inspiration, and she was great! It just wasn't enough. Screw it, I'm still the most entertaining person in that freakin' room. Post-work, we're heading to Dr. D's to get the news that I need at least 1, maybe 2 ear operations. Great. Later, it's over to see "Z", and get some electrode therapy. Yay. Then it's to the Fry's deli for dinner; there was exactly 1 "Hooper" DVD for $8 and I did NOT buy it--I may regret that later. Home to an already-sick girlfriend; she is none too happy with me. But we watched some tv, and then had excellent short snuggle. Later, I ripped through 2 days of newspaper, talked to the once again "trash-crushed" TPG on the phone, and watched a little football. Now I'm sneezing and getting ready for one more day of work, and extended training, before my 'weekend'. Bed before 12, but I had trouble sleeping. Up
and ready to go for Tuesday work. I will not zero again today. At the last minute before starting "X-Man" shows up and sits next to me. Remember that he is a very spiritual guy; a good guy, and we have enjoyed talking to him. Well, the talk gets deep, and it all makes sense to me. The people in my head may not be so "playful" after all. In fact, they may well be holding me back OR pushing me away from where I'm supposed to be. They all got scared, and I've never stood up to them, so there WILL be more to this story later. More big news is that I got a Lead early, and then got another one late; yay. And yes, Virginia, I am still the most entertaining person in that freakin' room. Speaking of the room, they cleared it out again; Verifier "S" is gone, and my new fellow self-cannibal "A" girl is gone, too. Again, nobody says a word. Oh well. I'm going to go to a meeting with X-Man tomorrow; he will go to one of my meetings later. Cool. Spiritual; not 100% goofy religious, just spiritual. The battle rages on. After work, we did our 2nd extended training session; I participated well. Then it was time for physical therapy, and then back to Fry's for more dinner--and we picked up that 1 DVD copy of "Hooper"--so I don't have to regret it later. In fact, I may watch it later tonight. After chatting with my FCP, I am taking her advice and NOT going out tonight. Wow; I didn't think she had a chance. Pool Guy called, and I turned him down. I watched a Gilmore Girls re-run, and am contemplating what's next now...Ooops. After it got quiet here, the pinball bugs bit me (10:15). Girlfriend was then entrenched in a coughing spell as I went to the bar. It was a good run--alone; 3,303,715,500 on A-13 pinball, topping my own 3.1 billion, ha. Then I golfed a -23 on Cedar Meadows, ON THE CARD, to (when he sees it) piss Pool Guy off, woo. A very productive venture. Now it's 1 am at home; dizzy and not well. Gran Turismo? No, we crashed. Up
around 11 am Wednesday. Physical pain, great. I can breathe a little, that helps. In fact, I feel pretty good. I wound up cleaning, cooking, doing a load of laundry, dabbling in the Note course, and eventually getting some electro-therapy. Before that, though, I was trying to write to my FCP, and it wasn't working, so I called and talked to her; yay. Home to cook for my coughing and miserable girlfriend. We had some snuggle, and then I was getting ready to go to X-man's meeting. This went really well, and I enjoyed everybody I met. This could work side-by-side with the other. (It is possible, 21 years and a few days ago, that right before my monster car wreck--when I turned to Phil and said "I'm sorry."--THAT may have been what saved me. It's a bit wobbly for street-logic, I'll even admit to that, but it's a possibility. And I have promised to be more open-minded.) After the meeting, I'm calling Pool Guy, who is already at the bar. So I went. Later, TPG showed up, too, and it's a party night. My new A-13 pinball high score is 4.701 billion; thank you. Home to rip through some chips and salsa, daring heartburn to come. Sleep felt good. Up
around 10 am on Thursday. I like sleeping in; that's another reason to get this money stuff figured out. Coffee, and then I felt productive. Changed sheets, did more closet-cleaning (found my Grinch tie!), and listened to a business CD--all while GT2 played in the background--nice! Then I'm plotting my adventures to Walgreen's, the grocery, shopping (?), beer for my mechanic, and physical therapy. Can't do it all in 1 run, but I made progress. At physical therapy (trainer "A" does things a tad bit differently than my regular "Z", and today went fantastic), I was talking to trainer "A" about being spiritual without being annoyingly religious. He completely agrees with me about that being a good idea. Cool. Then I'm dropping off a case of Coors Light for the best mechanic in Phoenix, and heading home to cook up yummy leftovers for my not-a-happy-camper of a girlfriend. She is as thankful as she can be--for having warm food cooked for her, on a chilly day, by a cute boy--but she's still in rough shape. I brewed more of my yummy green tea, too. Now what? I have been minorly productive...Yes! I somehow avoided the urges to do any type of partying. TPG called to share his daily excitement, and it dawned on me that I could do laundry at his house--while running errands during cycles. I am a pretty smart guy. So (by the way, it rained for awhile tonight--a mess) I got alot done, and got home with cold medicine for my baby by 9 pm; but she had already gone to bed. Boo. She probably thought I would be going to the bar; no. Pool Guy, on his extended vacation, called me at 7 pm; but I had already left to go be productive. Timing is such a critical thing; had I stayed home--I would have been easy prey to party the night away. As it stands, I may not even smoke 1 cigarette tonight. I need to get completely well anyway. Go me. To bed, and up
ready for work Friday. This went pretty well. I got 1 early, stayed focused, and wound up with 3. After work, it's electrode time (it's actually called an electro-vasomatic stimulator--and there is a portable version of it). Called my FCP at lunch to brag about my good day; she's happy. Then we're home to cook for a still sick sweetie. I offered her everything I could to make her feel better, and she was appreciative. There was a little snuggle, too. And we all know where I'm going to end up; bar! Scratchy throat, and pumped up on vitamin C; Pool Guy has money finally! A true Friday fiesta. Home and to bed; hoping for another good day; up
Saturday for work. I can talk with no pain? I'm alert? I'm still wanting to be a tad bit spiritual--as well as thankful. As the day worked on, however, I started to get sleepy. I fell asleep a few times, oops, but then got another Lead in between naps. And there was a 3rd one, too, so this wound up being a very good day. New Pink Floyd fan "E", who I trained, had his first 5-Lead day today; I'm so proud. E and I have decided to just start treating AJ (who I also trained) like a Supervisor--that should get him promoted. After work I came home to take a nap, baby! Sweet. TPG and Pool Guy call and say we're going to have to party. I wasn't even in the mood, but of course I'll do it again. TPG won't shut up about his stripper or the business--and it gets old (if he's got 'so much on his mind', like he says, then why is he at the bar?). Pool Guy and I played, and relaxed, like people are supposed to do in a bar. I slaughtered him at golf--and he beat me at 1 game of pinball, too. Late enough of a night, there were Whoppers, and we're home to crash before 1. Up
at 8 am Sunday--remember we had a nice nap yesterday. Today should have some shopping. Right now our background noise is the engaging Robert Miles' "Dreamland". I feel amazingly good. TPG called, and I was nice to him--because he needs it right now. He even appears to have a clue about his clue-lessness. That's not saying much, but look at me being all positive and stuff. Garlic taters! Then it's shopping. Static Girl and I head-first plunge into the MetroCenter mall. It wasn't horrible. We found the Southwest store, and did most of our run there. Then there was a short stop at Best Buy. That was about enough human contact for her. So we're back home, and food becomes an issue. I offer to bring back Subway, and this made my girlfriend happy; I'm pretty cool like that. Upon return, we ate and watched her show "Mythbusters"; that was very entertaining. Great talk with Mom, too. Pretty soon I'm being paged to the bar to sit with TPG and some Arby's people. Entertainment value was above average. I wasn't done, so we went across the street to score a -21 on a strange golf game. Ha. Then it was home for a balcony trip, and some good late night Gran Turismo 2 (like the old Athens days). M+M's everywhere; save me. Passed out to
awaken painfully Monday after 10 am. It's coffee time, Note CD's, updating webpages, and talking to the illustrious FCP--don't call me lazy; I'm a busy, busy drunk. I have things to do, and this is a day late; get outta the way.
Sunday 12-7-03...
Toward the end of the last day of November (last Sunday evening), I did call Mom and have a nice talk with her. And green Doritos are really just Doritos with green dust sprinkled on them. Garlic salsa doesn't have enough garlic in it, either; luckily this house has garlic out the wazoo. However these are not complaints--I am not here to complain. I got to spend 2 quality hours sitting with my low-maintenance girlfriend while watching the 2nd-to-last "Taken" on SciFi (great series). Then I got fully caught up on newspaper-reading, and maybe I'm ready to get more out of my life. Yeah; kiss it--or miss it. If I want changes, then I need to make them myself. Waiting for other people is obviously not working out. Late going to sleep; well after 12, and sleep is weird again. Up
5 minutes late on Monday for work. This will be like a Friday, considering I have the next 2 days off. I will fake a good mood again. And I did. I yelled and clapped; I was 'the man'. While writing a note to the S. Carolina crew I got a Lead of my very own; now I'm "The Man". I kept yelling and clapping, too. I was hilarious, again. Then it was time for some electrode therapy, and then home to cook and clean for my most wonderful girlfriend. This led to a Monday double snuggle, very cool, and then I'm being called on the phone by 2 broke guys at the bar. Why would 2 broke guys go to the bar? I guess this is no time for common sense, huh? Once again, and maybe not even for the last time, I go to the bar and fund everything (it's funny how I'm the poorest of the 3). I had fun. Pool Guy is better at golf than I am now; the student has overtaken the teacher. I still rule pinball, and scored another 2 billion first ball. The ride home did have Whoppers, and home had another messed up tape of PTI. Then it's crash time. Up
at 9 am on my first of 2 days off. Coffee (duh), on my 2nd or 3rd cup now. Flipped my mattress--maybe it's okay. Then I ordered the Russ Dalbey Cash Flow system. If it's another mistake, then it's my mistake. I think it will work; it has an impressive resume. Tried to call my FCP, but she can't find her phone right now. So I'm just gonna lay low...Low. Right. We did our first day of the new physical therapy; it's new, for a new and different back injury. Similar, but not nearly the same. However, since we were in very above average shape when this happened (unlike February 2003), it will only take a few sessions to get up to fat-burning status again. Trainer Z is to be commended for setting up a good circuit for me. Then I'm home; dizzy and bored. Idle hands are dangerous. Pretty soon it's time to plan an early bar run, you know, so we won't stay out too late (has this idea ever worked?). It's just me and Pool Guy. To the bar; oh my gosh, HEC and SAL are back! We've all got golf cards; so we all play expensive golf. It's golf; it's pinball--it's a party night. But I had already called Mechanic B to see about getting the rear axle seals replaced on Gus Wednesday; B said we could do that. So I have to get up before 8 on Wednesday. Trashed Tuesday night ends with, yes, Whoppers (geez). Up
Wednesday morning on the 3rd alarm. Road trip to PBS for Mr. B. TPG (who's also off today) and I go straight to Waffle House and eat $20; damn right. Then it's back to his house to whore around in chat rooms--like the old days. Fun; I can be amusing. Then I figured out that I should go back to hang at PBS and wait for my ride to be fixed. By 3 pm it is fixed, and I've agreed to trash the day with TPG and Pool Guy. Brought comics home to soothe my disappointed but still wonderful girlfriend. Then it's to the bar. Party, fun, and I am the total champ on golf. Had another 2 billion first ball on pinball, too. After 3 days of it, I've spent $150--so I don't want to hear crap about anything from anybody when it comes to money. Thank you. Were there Whoppers? Sure; let's say there were. And then I have to crash. Up
amazingly well for work Thursday. I even brewed coffee. Boy have I got brakes. Almost got in a fight on the way to work, it was a cute story where I got to make lots of people laugh--and ruined the day of 1 asshole; go me! At work everybody is all worried because of how slow it is. I try to calm people down and tell them that getting frustrated isn't going to help anything--nobody ever listens to me. But the people who are getting Leads are calm and cool; why can't everybody else see that? With about 2 hours left, I started writing a note to my FCP. Right about when I get into the letter, boom, I get a Lead. I am so cool. And then it's time for day 2 of my new physical therapy. Wow! We're already bumping up weights on things, again, because I was already working out when I had this new stupid injury. And we'll bump more next week; I could be losing weight again (maybe) in 2 weeks, except for Christmas, eating, and M+M's being on sale. Then I'm off to the grocery for some odds and ends. I shopped well, okay, and so I get home in a pretty good mood. At my front door is the Fed Ex box from Russ. 5 business days was really a day and a half. Great! So I come in and cook, clean, and dance for my woman. She appreciates it. And now she's ignoring me; that's cool. I have stuff to do. I have personal news to catch up, and a letter to finish. Then I might even go to a meeting with TPG. Maybe, hell I will do whatever I damn well feel like--as long as it's cheap. You can't stop me...Yes, we went to the long-winded business meeting. Then I came home, ate a big pain pill, and went to bed.
FORGOT TO SET MY ALARM! Opened my eyes Friday morning at the exact moment I needed to be in great shape to go to work--the luckiest guy in the world, I am. Unfortunately I was still very tired. The calls were slow, and I started nodding off. I was to told to sign off (uh-oh) and taken to the break room...wait for it...where a cup of coffee had been chipped in on by 3 girls in my Sector--for me to drink and wake up! Cool! So I got back out there and became a great cheerleader again. Wound up getting a Lead, and then getting one more on the last call of the day. Yay. So it was a good workday. Then it's over to electrode therapy. Nice. And then we're home to make mushroom, black bean crumbles in the fryin' pan. Sweet. Then it was super impressive snuggle time; yay. And then I started contemplating a short bar run with my limited funds. Talked to TPG on the phone, and we decided to go and do it. Pool Guy was also there, and TPG actually bought us some beer. Wow. There may have even been Whoppers on the way home. Crashed hard, and up
for work Saturday. I was in high-entertainment mode. Loud and funny, I was determined to not let anything get to me. Then my mood swings began. Seriously, I can mood-swing in mid-sentence; and that's never a good idea. I got close to Leads so many times; then something would always fall through. Bummer. But I kept at it, and the people around me were sympathetic. Writing to S. Cackalackey would surely put me over the top and get me a Lead; it had done so well the past few days. It didn't help me today, though. However, toward the end of the shift, Tower has a new display; they list the top-15 producers of signed contracts from the previous month. People started congradulating me, and I'm an ignorant idiot--thinking they're making fun of me for not having a Lead yet today, but apparently I did tie for 13th place in November. And this is from both shifts. Wow. And this isn't just some little daydream in my head; my name is up there on the wall. So this puts me in a better mood, and I end the day as the happiest zero ever. Came home to brag to my girlfriend; she pretended to care (thanks baby!). Then I went to the first part of the BDS meeting; it was okay. Now I'm home, catching up, and will be going to bed early--I hope...Well, first we read 4 days worth of newspapers, watched 4 days worth of PTI's and 1 good Scrubs, caught up this personal news--though we missed a few things with all the emphasis on writing to S. Cackalackey this week. Um, crap. Oh well--it's not like anybody cares or anything. Bed by 12; throat's a little scratchy. Up
Sunday morning with an extra hour of sleep. What a delicious cool + dark morning; the desert needs more mornings like this. I brewed coffee, and I was coughing. Boo. Maybe my body is trying to get sick; that sucks. My throat doesn't hurt, it's just not quite right. So it's another really slow day at work--until I go to lunch. The room lit up with Leads; so I rushed back from lunch 10 minutes early. But I could only get 'to the cliff', or get cussed out; I couldn't close a deal. So then I got all huffy (Mr. Mood Swings), and that didn't help. So I finally just went numb, and watched everybody all around me getting easy calls. It wasn't my day. And I wonder how TPG is doing, and if Pool Guy can play tonight, and if I should even go out--because I don't feel great. And, boom, the day was over. And then, as we were all leaving, Tower babe "B" walked by, smiled at me, and told me to 'have a good afternoon'. This made my day, and I announced that she was 'crazy about me'; yeah, ha. So it was at least a little amusing at the end of a yucky day. What a gorgeous, gloomy ride home. And now it's 3:30, at home, drinking coffee, eating stale chips and hearing Evanescence under headphones. Why am I not watching football? Yes, that is a fair question.
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