March 23, 2006

One of Those Days

Luckily for you I don't spend much time on my blog writing about personal things/whining. It's self-indulgent for me, boring for you. But this morning is an exception. In an attempt to lighten my psychological load, I will hereby list all of the things that happened yesterday that contributed to a crummy day. (And when I say "things happened," that partly means "things I chose to do." And I realize that, in the grander scheme of things, none of these things could, in good conscience, be described as "horrible." What with war, famine, natural disasters, and whatnot. But it was my bad day, and I can feel sorry for myself for a minute if I want to.)

1. Overslept. Accepted a phone call that meant skipping my morning workout, which always throws my whole morning off, because somehow, missing step one (workout) means everything else goes to hell too: didn't eat breakfast, forgot my vitamins, didn't refresh my cats' food, didn't shave my legs, etc.

2. Late for work. (Although my supervisor was, too, so that was no big deal.)

3. For most of the morning, worked with a product that made me sneeze, sneeze, sneeze. I'm pretty sure I have little globs of snotty chamomile lining the inside of my lungs even now.

4. Found out that there's likely no work for me for the next full week, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.

5. Made phone calls about a new job I was interested in/excited about, only to find out it was filled almost immediately upon being posted online.

6. Got confirmation that I still owe a bunch of money for an emergency room visit after I was a victim in a hit-and-run accident involving a cab (in which I was a passenger) and a white van that nailed us and sped off downtown. Unfamiliar with the process, I signed a release with the cab driver's insurance company before confirming that the amount they proposed to settle for was the full amount of all the medical charges I incurred. There were actually two separate bills, one for the doctor who treated me, and one for the emergency room. I am now stuck with a couple of hundred dollars' charges for an incident in which I was a hapless victim. Dumb.

7. Spilled oil on my favorite new zip-up hoodie sweatshirt, which I've only been wearing for a few weeks.

8. Got a phone call from someone wanting to meet for coffee at 3:30 to discuss possible work for the next week. Got clearance to leave in time to meet him, text messaged him *and* called him back to confirm, left work early, never saw him. (He called and apologized later...he'd unknowingly left his phone in his car and never got my messages.)

9. Came home feeling boo-hoo-hoo (thanks to Mom and Dad for reassuring me during the blubbery phone call I made immediately opon returning home!), found a big pile of cat puke on the floor. It's a rare occasion that my cats puke (they eat hairball control food, and enjoy their yummy hairball treatment oily stuff), but when they do blow chow, it's always on an item I cherish, or a spot of carpeting difficult to clean. Did some spot-treating, got out the vacuum cleaner to finish up the job, realized the vacuum cleaner is not really working. Making lots of cat-scaring noise, but not actually sucking anything off the carpeting. I have no idea if there's a place nearby where I can have it looked at and fixed, and I sure can't afford to buy a new one.

10. Decided to improve my day and treat myself to a Subway sammich. Was approached by homeless-type people on both legs of the trip (one single city block) asking for money. One was polite when I declined, the other called me a bitch. Ordered my recent favorite of tuna on white, was informed they were out of tuna. No big deal. Ordered the veggie pattie instead. The kid behind the counter gave me a nervous "oops" face. "We're out of that, too." I laughed. I'm not the kind of person to blow a gasket and torture some poor food worker over something like this. "Okay..." I scanned the menu. "I'll try the chicken bacon wrap." He advised that it wasn't very tasty, but I was beyond making another choice at that point. The kid popped the lid to the proper ingredients and...no bacon. He quickly microwaved some, and slapped together my chicken bacon crap. I mean wrap. No, I do mean crap. Once I got it home, I realized his warning was wise...this thing was wet, sticky, icky, and the bacon was dangerously gnarly. Blargh. I ended up eating an apple and some pistachios instead.

11. At that point, my judgment was obviously flawed, because I made the dumb choice of popping in the one Netflix DVD I currently have at home - a documentary about the development and evolution of Auschwitz. Why did I think watching that would be the proper end to a difficult day? Dumb, Bella. Of course it was horrible and upsetting, so before long I popped it out, and started watching cartoons on YouTube. That was the best part of my day.

12. Sometime during the night, my cats did their usual nocturnal frenzied chaseplay, which, because my apartment is so small, usually involves them bouncing off my bed even as I occupy it. They must have been extra wild last night, because I woke up this morning with some little red scratches on my nose and feet, the result of incidents I obviously slept through.

And with that tiresome recounting of small things, I leave my bad day behind. This morning, the sun rises on a new day.

Today is a fresh opportunity to improve my life, make new choices, and order nicer sandwiches. It's already better. I got e-mails this morning including an invitation for a friend's birthday brunch Saturday morning, confirmation of a writing career consultation, a sweet e-mail from my Papi, and a spam inviting me to increase my penis size by 50%. Only a person with a heart of stone wouldn't be thrilled and delighted by that.

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