An Up Date on a Down Day

I hope this post finds you all in good spirits. It's 10 pm here and I've just finished dinner after a long day of absolute nonproductivity, but thought that one productive thing I could do would be to say hello to everyone and see how you're all doing. It's been a domestic day for me. I got up late this morning, having absolutely nothing important to do with the exception of calling my secretary to check on something at the office, which was a fruitless venture. Poor girl is probably dreading when I call now. Each and every day I call to see if there is an update on our visas, so we can travel, and each and every day I know full well that she's capable and will call to check on it and that I would hear the moment we find out something. However, caught up in the inescapable urge to do something managerial, I call anyway. Since my managerial and professional responsibilities were null today, I decided to get some minor things done around here. I've made the bed, cleaned the living room, cleaned the kitchen for the tenth time this week (just for the sake of moving around) and generally piddled around the house looking for miniscule tasks to occupy my time. I decided today to purchase a new keyboard for my home computer. The one I have has just had too many hard days. The "e" key was starting to stick and so I began the merry jaunt through traffic to make my santa-in-reverse rounds to all the computer stores. After going to Staples, Radio Shack, and wal-mart, I finally made a decision to get one from Best Buy... some gaming keyboard, as if I actually have more than one computer game anyway. However, it looks nice and glowy on my desk, so I'm happy. (You know, I just learned something. I need a table cloth. It's tiresome typing here on the kitchen table. My tabletop is polished glass and my elbows keep innevocably sliding to the sides and then I have to move and get comfy again so I can type... hmm.. you see what kind of small things occupy my mind as of late? There! I put a towel down to keep them in place. Brilliant idea old boy... should have thought of it earlier. But now, at least I have those little elbow smears that I can polish off... oooh a task! Maybe I'll save that one for tomorrow. I'd hate to have all my fun in one day.) What else have I accomplished that bears being repeated? I had lunch with Tim and Claire today at O'Charley's where she proved that she has truly emasculated him. lol. Poor guy. What's even worse is he knows it. (sigh) Lunch was nice though. They're good friends. Clair is in a huff about her new fish tank, which I have promised to go see sometime this week, so I can at least add that to my list of Honey-Do's. I made dinner tonight from a bag in the freezer; yes I know, another culinary concoction designed to simply amaze your palette and keep you dying for more. (ok.. it was beef and broccoli in a bag.) I did however make the sweet tea from scratch; which isn't cold yet, so I sit here with coffee on my right and sprite on my left whilst banging my days events on the laptop. I miss the gang. Some of you know that we've all been busy lately. Lee is Married. Todd is Married. Tim is completely Emasculated (married). Marisa might as well be married for all we see of her. Marion is married in spirit but it still too short to fit in a dress, so I think that's the holdup there. Bridget.. well.. definitely not married. Marraige aside, it seems that if i want my friends to hang out, even with each other, then I have to go through the event management details and that's just too tiring to maintain for year after year. So, as of late, I have resigned myself to the fact that I'll see some of them now and then in passing, but won't much see them otherwise, pending no one's computer crashes this week. It's a shame. Whatever happened to the days of sitting on the porch and just talking? I used to do that for days on end. In fact, back when the "scoobies" were in full-swing I would have to mak the effort to make them STOP getting together because I couldn't get anything done. Now, it seems i talk to barely-known strangers on yahoo more than I do my RL friends. (That's (R)eal (L)ife for those of you who acronym impaired or suffer from mild to severe hemorrhoidal flare up.. oh wait. that's.. nevermind.) I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the house when I'm gone. I think Marisa is going to watch the cats and take care of the bills while I'm away, but I have to talk to her sometime soon to figure that out for sure. For those of you who don't know, April (my girlfriend) is in Africa for awhile. She's been there since the 12th of June and I'm hoping to get there soon. Apparently things over there are falling apart from the job perspective, but she's enjoying the culture on a personal level, so that's good. I really can't wait to get back over there. With the lack of communication over here, and the huge amount of work available to keep me busy over there, I'm really considerng long term stays while I get the work done. I'm not sure how things will work out with April and her desires to stay in the country for long periods of time, but we'll see how she feels about it later. Being in our mid 20's and being priveleged enough to be in a position of management in an international IT company definitely is something that I never thought in a million years that I would be doing, so I'd prefer to enjoy as much of the dream as possible before I wake up and reality sets in. (pardon me.. restroom break) Why did you need to know that; I'm not sure except so much as it breaks the conversation. You see, that's why I don't write as much as I could. I have to get "motivated" to write, and when I'm there, any break in the continual stream of my thoughts can often take me off to a new task , leaving the words unfinished, or as often as not unwritten at all. I think that's why I like my job, and I think that's why I like my time reading or writing. I have not the talent of words enough to be a published wordsmith, but i have the desire from time to time. The problem with me is, the only way I could possibly write any lengthy narrative at all would be to sit and compose it in one draft. Once I'm in the mood to write something, i has an unlimited amount of fuel for the task, yet if you distract me from it I turn around to find the tank is empty. I'm an eternally full well of energy... that is until I'm abrubptly just... not. And as much as I am a creature of motivation and drive, writing is one thing I can not be "worked up" to. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I have to spend time enough slowing down, both mentally and physically, to adapt myself to the task. With other things I am quite the opposite. Music is my fuel and I can motivate myself for anything if given the time and the right music. I work out to blaring, hard rock lyrics, relax to smooth jazz, and cook to classical. I clean the house to country, prepare for a party with pop, and drive long trips with alternative. I am truly crafted by my senses on a daily basis, which is, I think, why I'm so varied in my interests and my tastes. Work is another matter altogether. Once something is put in front of me, I can't stop until it's finished. That may be 8 hours or 8 months, but the process and the job and the responsibility will plague my free time thoughts until I have to simply complete the task or suffer madness from the frustration. That being said, I think I'm going to compose some emails to the guys at work and take a break. Maybe I'll play a computer game or chat online. Not sure yet. Till next time. PS: If you're a visitor, or a regular, please feel free to take the time to comment. This site used to have almost 20 authors that made frequent updates, but sadly it is reduced to April and myself for the most part. If you wish to be an authoring contributor, rather than just a commenter, please just email me or let me know here. I'll show you how to setup an account if you don't already have one and how to post messages. Till next time. (hummin the tune: "won't you be my neighbor" in my head.. agh.. gasp!)