Long Day - Short Night
Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2003, 11:20 p.m.

QUESTION: Why can't I draw?

WHAT I LEARNED: There is such a thing as too much coffee.

I am glad that today is today because that means that it is no longer yesterday because yesterday was a no good very bad day. Do you remember that great kid's book about Alexander, whose day went horribly awry? The title says it all.

I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day yesterday.

The day started falling into the abyss pretty early on. No time for coffee. Strike one. This is followed up by multiple calls by my husband, who has gotten a misquote on a car loan which seemed to have sent him straight into hyperspace. Who got it straightened out? Me, that's who - by accident if you must know. Because while he was on the phone describing his financial trauma to me is annoying detail - I believe it might have been a dramatic reading but I'm not sure - the nice lady who worked in the loan office called to say the figure quoted was so high because it was wrong.

While fielding high drama phone calls, I was also grinding out reports for work - always a chore - only to get a note back from the new person logging in the report data. It seems they want every field filled out like travel time, for instance. I wonder what the travel time is for an email or phone call to a client? Do I count travel time into the office? Hmmm - not a bad idea.

Next, I fill out a two page accident report about my FedEx truck encounter. I can't believe I have to draw a picture of the accident scene. I realize I draw like a first grader. I use a lot of Wite-Out and eventually stick it in an envelope. I feel a bit ashamed at my lack of artistic capability and hope no one I know ever sees it.

In the afternoon, I head out to get two estimates on the damage to the car and it begins to rain heavily. I get lost going to the second auto repair shop - maybe I was in a haze from the first estimate which ran about $2000. It only stops raining when I have driven through the rain to obtain both estimates.

That reminds me - my side view mirror is now wired on to the car. It is the kind of morror you might put on a bike and it is held on extra good with silver duct tape. It is kind of embarrassing to drive around town with a bicycle mirror taped to your driver's door. It's worse in the rain.

I finally get to the doctor's office to get my foot looked at. Limp, limp, limp. The office is very hot and there are fans running in the waiting room. The room with the xray machine has no fan and it is hot as hell. I get to sit on a table for a long time with the xray technician tries to get the xray machine going. The xray machine doesn't work though. Maybe it doesn't like the heat. They tell me to come back tomorrow and wrap my foot. Limp, limp, limp - I leave.

At home, we order pizza. When it arrives, my son leans over and somberly peers into the fish tank before exclaiming loudly - one of our fish is dying. I can't eat pizza when a fish is dying.

After downing a piece of pizza that tasted like sand due to the guilt inducing sick fish statement made by kid, a trip was made to the pet store. There a teenage girl asked me basic questions about my tank's PH and ammonia levels when I just wanted to know which of the $14 a pop medicines made the most sense for a sudden fish illness that did not manifest itself as a fungus. We go home and pop half a box of the pricey fish meds into the tank.

But the day was not over yet because I had a big presentation to do the next day. It was 2 a.m. before I was finished preparing for this. I wasn't too tired because I had a cup of coffee to perk me up. It was perking me up all night long. My restlessness was punctuated by the sound of kids bouncing up and down the steps until at least 3 a.m. - my daughter had a friend over to spend the night - and the tantalizing sounds of chick flicks turned up just a notch too loud for the wee hours of the morning.

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning when I had to rise and shine the next day at 6:15. However, at least it is a new day and there is one diet cherry coke left in the fridge to caffinate me.

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