This is me at work. I usually procrastinate until the weight of all the crappy stuff hanging over me is just unbearable, then one day I get ready and kick ass, starting with the scariest stuff. I’m always embarrassed when it goes much better than expected, after all the misery I’ve put myself through, putting it off…but I always do it again.
Uhm - are you a sock for me, or am I a sock for you?
Shit - you just described some of the crap I am shoving to the edge of my desk right now, and how I am dealing with it!
I pit the nasty cold-slash-allergy thing that I picked up while waiting for my hubby to get done with his colonoscopy the other day.
[his colonoscopy came back squeaky clean, though!]
Damn lawnmower. After dithering about buying a new electric one, and trying one out on my yard, I’m back to polluting the earth with my old one. IF IT WOULD START. I go out, clean it up, yank it to start… nada. Okay. Try again. Nil. One more time for the fuck of it. Zilch.
Call my brother-in-law, he comes over. Yank. VROOOMMM. Bastige.
The drive it going on it. Using a push mower rather than a self-propelled is a bear on my yard (which is why no electric mower for me).
When Dad was alive the family joke was anything mechanical was broken - until he touched it. More than once did my car crap out, until he turned the key. Now it appears to have passed on to my bro-in-law. NOT the person who I would wish have that talent, either. Dammit.
Side note regarding death. I feel so bad. We haven’t seen the older woman next door in quite a while - like last spring. We were still mourning Dad heavily then and were pretty coccooned, so didn’t pay much attention. When I did think about her, I figured she was put in a nursing home due to alzheimers and age. Nope. She died last April. I just found this out today.
Count yourself really lucky. I had a woman at the grocery store ask me for my passport when I showed her my “foreign” driver’s license as ID. It was an Alaska DL. Because I’d just moved to New York and hadn’t gotten around to swapping it over yet (primarily because I didn’t drive in New York until I got married and moved to Long Island and it had four years to expiry on it).* She *would not * believe that Alaska was part of the United States and therefore an Alaskan DL was, in fact, a valid US identification.
*Note: this was a little over three years ago, but I still almost sprained my eyeballs, what with the rolling.
When I first moved to NYC, someone asked where I was from. I said, “St. Louis.” His reply, “Uhhh, that’s in Kansas, right?” Another time, I casually mentioned to a coworker that I was going to visit a friend in Detroit for the (2-day) weekend. She asked, “Are you going to drive?” Um, no. It’s like a thousand miles to Detroit. These were both full-grown adults I’m talking about. I’m convinced that geography is just not a strong suit of the New York school system.
I live in an area that has a number of rental properties, and because of the convenience to the bus lines, and its central location (and the presence of at least three bars) is a pretty popular area for off-campus college students to reside. For the most part it’s nothing that bothers me. At certain holidays the drunking parties in the street are annoying, but they’re fortunately pretty rare.
I mention that, however, to explain why I’m pissed. Several local colleges had graduation this past weekend, and so begins the summer exodus.
This morning I had a cat outside my window looking in at me (I’m in a basement apartment, so my windows are right at ground level) and meowing piteously. It is possible the animal was just lost, or temporarily locked out of a loving house. But I’m a cynic, and I am already wondering whether the cat was abandoned by a former owner who couldn’t be assed to take the stupid thing to the animal shelter, or find it another home.
I’m going to give it a few days, and if the cat is still showing up by Sunday, I’ll collect this one, call animal control, and feed it while waiting to turn it over. At least this time I’ve got a supply of cat food for just such an eventuality.
Rant for the day – just found out that because we split our refund between both of our checking accounts, we will be getting a paper check mailed out – in godsdamned July – instead of it being direct deposited today (y’know, in time for our fucking vacation). Sigh. Guess we will just budget like motherfuckers until the end of the month and have some mad money near the end of the summer for a short jaunt.
A little rant - Starbucks has discontinued sugar free mocha syrup and I’m bummed because I love tall skinny mochas. It was nice to have a several low calorie choices at Starbucks, the sugar free mocha syrup was the best tasting sugar free syrup with less of an aftertaste. With all of the caloric bombshells on the Starbucks menu, it is disappointing to face a more limited selection of healthy options 
I guess I’m back to my old stand-by, the sugar free cinammon dolci latte.
Speaking of sugar-free and healthy, my annual rant is with the so-called Continental Breakfasts at hotels. They’re usually free, yay for that, but oh my God, what a pile of sugary, fat-loaded, empty calorie crap! Would you like a big fat muffin, a big fat doughnut, a big fat danish, some Frosted Flakes/Fruit Loops, white toast with butter and jam, or a waffle with butter and syrup? The beverages of course are fruit juice, coffee, and tea (I don’t think they have any idea that people might want to drink milk at breakfast, but I do anyway). The one and only relatively-healthy choice we have on this menu is Raisin Bran with skimmed milk, and both of those are not always present. Heavy sigh (emphasis on the “heavy” 
).