Trippy Tuesday

Wake-up Call

So getting back to yesterday’s fun. It started with an early morning phone call from the Office Manager. She didn’t exactly wake me up (I’d been trying to get myself out of bed for about 45 minutes) but I certainly wasn’t entirely awake yet. I am NOT a chirpy morning person, so she got what she got. lol However, she didn’t take offense… in fact the woman laughed at me. And was deliberately entirely too perky. She’s always reminded me of my “wife”, Mikee… but especially so yesterday. Mikee used to call me about mid-morning each day back when I worked the night shift in the Navy at China Lake. Mikee lived just across the driveway from me, but she knew better than to come over… she’d simply greet me with an exuberant wake-up call and just laugh at me all the harder the grumpier I responded. *shakin head* The snot.

Amway, the Office Manager was just callin to ask if I wanted anything from Micky D’s since she was stopping there on the way to work. When I got into work about an hour later, she grinned at me and told me she was gonna have her hubby call me at 7:30 in the morning, and then compare the two of us… lol Evidently, she’s not a chipper person first thing in the morning, either. Unfortunately for me, her morning starts much earlier than mine, so she was plenty chippered up by time she called.

Work Errands

The rest of my work day was relatively uneventful. I stayed busy puttering around on little tasks and workin on the first steps of coordinating a big meeting. Mom and I went out to lunch, and then ran by Wal Mart and Office Depot to grab some supplies for the office. We had to go to the Super Wal Mart cuz that’s the one I have the University tax exempt card with, so Mom took that opportunity to make one last purchase she needed to make to finish up her Christmas shopping. She likes to have it all done by Thanksgiving to avoid the crush of holiday shoppers. I have a strong suspicion that this last purchase was for me, cuz we had to split up and she already had her purchase paid for and stowed in the car by time we met up again… lol

The Continuing Adventures of Halloween Nut

When we got back from our errands, I caught up with Halloween Nut in chat, and we chatted a bit. She was lookin up some info on the net about some cult or another that her sister is worried her hubby is getting into. Which was just plain wierd cuz then she told me that she’s been back in touch with her old boyfriend… the one that lived with us in our apartment before I joined the Navy, and who some could argue was Possessed and brought his little demons to haunt the apartment. Literally. That’s definitely an interesting story for another day. Part of a rather sordid soap opera going on at that time in my life. All I’ll say for now is: stability and sanity is a very good thing.

It’s a Date

I also caught up to IHOP Buddy again in chat, and I told her about the appointment I had that evening in Jeff City… which is only about 15 minutes away from her. She said if I was gonna be in the area, I’d might as well come visit. It HAS been a while since I’ve been over there, and I figured I wouldn’t stay long. 1) I would still need to eat supper, 2) I didn’t want to leave Ms. Pukesalot alone ALL night, and 3) the weather had been rainy (not too heavily, but pretty steadily) all day and evening, plus I knew that the weather was supposed to drop to freezing sometime during the night, and the gravel road she lives on would be impossible to get out of if it froze over, and I’d be stuck. So I told her I’d give her a call when I got out of my appointment.

In the CRS Category

Enter my first stroke of stupidity. I headed home from work so I could change into some jeans which would be warmer, and on the way I realized I’d left the information and directions about my appointment sitting on my desk at work. But I remembered most of the directions… just didn’t know the exact street of the place. So I decided to simply look it up in the phone book at home really quick before heading out. I also jotted down the phone number in case I got lost, cuz I didn’t have a map to keep track of streets and where I was.

Crappy Conditions

It was already dark out and still raining rather steadily when I started out towards Jeff City, but it started comin down a bit harder as I got closer. Now, I know Jeff City just well enough to know one main road… fortunately the very road I needed to take off of the highway, and which would lead directly to the street I needed. However, Missouri Blvd. is a VERY long road, and I had no idea which cross street was the one I needed. And my night vision sucks in the first place… made worse by even light rain, let alone the heavy stuff. Needless to say, I was pretty tense, and I was driving mega slow as I approached each cross street, staring hard to try to read the names of the street signs. I knew I needed to turn left, so there I was poking along in the fast lane, with folks honkin at me in irritation as they had to go around. Which only made me even more flustered, of course.

Fortunately, however, I finally came across the right street without getting lost or having to turn around. There was no way I’d be able to read street numbers, though, so I pulled over into the Ryan’s parking lot and decided to call to find out how far away they were from my location. Enter my second stroke of stupidity.

Wrong Day

The receptionist answered the phone, and I stated my name and appointment time and asked her far away they were from Ryan’s. She didn’t answer me right away cuz she was trying to find my name in their appointment book. Then she tells me “I’m sorry, I can’t find your appointment.” I repeat my name and appointment time and then tell her the name of the person I was supposed to meet. Well, this tipped her off to the problem, cuz evidently that person was off yesterday. So she flips the page and says “Oh, your appointment is for 6:00 tomorrow.”

Now, I have since confirmed that date after I got to work this morning and found my paperwork sitting right where I left it on my desk. There it is, clear as can be: “6:00 appt., Nov. 24th, Wed”. I have NO idea how I got Tuesday into my head. I even put it in my Outlook calendar for Tuesday. But there I was… battling horrid driving conditions in an unfamiliar town for absolutely nothing. I wasn’t happy. The lady was very nice, though, and handled my irritated grumpiness with aplomb. I told her there was no way I could make a Wednesday appointment (night before Thanksgiving, plus all the snow we were scheduled to get) so we rescheduled for next Tuesday at the same time. At least this time, Tuesday sticking in my head won’t be a detriment. *snort* And if the weather's bad again, I'm just gonna cancel the damned thing.

Makin the Trip Worth SOMEthing

So I called up IHOP Buddy as promised, and proceeded to my third stroke of stupidity. If I’d have used any common sense at all, I would have just gone straight home. However, I was seriously ticked and determined that this trip would be good for SOMETHING. So I told her I was on my way. I got to her place, and we got to chat a bit, and the kids dubbed themselves appropriate host and hostess by introducing me to the new kitten, Mr. Whiskers. Cute li’l sucker, I have to say… and seems like a sweet one at that. Very affectionate and gentle, even in “rough” play.

Hooked on a Game

Now, IHOP Spawn #1… a boy close to teenagerdom… knows how to engage this particular visitor. In fact, he is the entire reason I bought myself a PlayStation, because he got me hooked on the Haunted Mansion game when I was visiting about a year ago, and then I HAD to finish it at my own leisure. He, however, has not finished it, so we got to talking about the game and what to do on different levels, etc… which came to the natural progression of bringing the game out to show him. I noticed that all of the plays he had saved were left with 1 or no extra lives available to work with, so I started a fresh play from the very beginning to get him to his current progress point with a decent amount of backup lives, and giving him pointers on how to proceed in the game with the maximum amount. Because there are some levels in which you will simply lose a LOT of lives as a matter of course, and you’d best have plenty to lose. Witness stroke of stupidity #4. We got wrapped up in the game, and hours were eaten away.

Worse Conditions

The kids had gone to bed and IHOP Hubby got home from one of his few weekly runs just as I was tentatively getting set to go. He informed us that the rain and wind were pretty vicious out there, and I’d might as well take my coat off and stay the night. But I knew I really needed to be here at work in the morning, plus I didn’t want to leave Ms. Pukesalot alone all night (though she WOULD have survived), plus I was fairly certain I’d be iced and/or snowed in by morning. IHOP Buddy threw her 2 cents in saying that I have a hard enough time getting to work on time when I’m here in COLUMBIA, let alone trying to get in from out of town… lol She really does know me well.

So I risked the chance that the temp might start dropping early, and figured I’d wait it out a bit to see if the rain and wind let up. By that time, I finally remembered I hadn’t eaten, so we scrounged about in her kitchen for something that sounded appealing to eat. I ended up with a bowl of oatmeal and a bowl of ready-make mac & cheese. Strange combination, I know, but one never knows what notion will strike you at any given moment. lol I called Mom cuz I’d told her earlier where I’d be that evening, and knew she’d freak if she tried to call me at home I wasn’t there... Plus she could tell the folks at work in case I ended up stuck there overnight and couldn’t get in. She gave me the “You’re STILL in New Bloomfield?!” lecture, then told me to call her whenever I got safely home… didn’t matter how late it was.

Braving the Elements

Around 10:30, the rain seemed to let up a bit, so I took a gamble and headed out. I took the entire trip VERY slowly. It usually takes me 45 minutes, but I’ll tell ya… that is a very LONG and DARK highway when it’s raining at 10:30 at night. The rain didn’t get too bad that the windshield wiper speed that my car considers “fast” couldn’t handle it, though it still made a problem of being able to see the lines on the road. And the wind did buffet me about a few times, but didn’t provide too much hastle. The fog was an issue. I’d hit patches of fog, and slow even more considerably… especially since fog is evidently prime conditions for deer hopping out into the road. The roads are so twisty and turny and hilly, and I just can’t go barreling along without being able to see at least a couple of car lengths ahead of me, so I’d slow down again for each blind spot. I think I was even more tense than during my drive DOWN.

Home Safe

I finally got in just before midnight, though. I beat the freeze, so I at least didn’t have to deal with any super slick patches. I got in, was greeted by an extremely unhappy cat, and called Mom and IHOP Buddy as promised to let them know I was home safely. IHOP Buddy had begun to worry, but then had figured I’d probly be driving slower than usual. Got on the puter to log a post for the day, then crashed to the melodies of machine guns directly over my bedroom, and a blaring sound system directly over my living room. I’ve discovered, though, that having my own radio on (low) helps to focus away from the other noise.

I will say one good thing for the night. Though I have my thermostat set for 65 degrees, my apartment was warm and toasty in comparison to outside. And my furnace really is actually MUCH quieter than the last one. I guess it’s the AC that’s louder, for some reason.

Amway, so ends my trippy Tuesday. I’ve got one more post in me for today, then my brain is officially going on vacation. :)