Working hard to stay in place.

Well, it was a boringly exciting day. It started out when Earl the plumber came by. He was just going to fix the plumbing that was rusted through (the laundry room sewer line) but as long as he was here I had him replace part of the constantly clogging line from the tub to the sewer, and the always leaking pipe under the kitchen sink. It’s a good thing I had him do the pipe from the tub, because it was all full of hair (eww).

I  also went to see the acupuncturist, and I think the pins put me to sleep. (He said it was common due to a release of endorphins.) I was having a hard time staying awake the rest of the day. Good thing it’s the weekend. I had no back pain at all any more until he started poking around again. It’s all supposed to be readjusting itself so I’ll have to see how it feels tomorrow.

My list for today.

So, I had a short list for today. I’ve been staying at work a little late this week so I figured I could get home a little early today. So my list was in chronological order:

  1. Go home early,
  2. take a nap, and
  3. go to the gym.

It was a simple list since I didn’t get all that much sleep last night because of a stomach ache. I even woke up wondering where all the dripping sounds were coming from. (Torrential rainfall is the answer to that question.)

Well, the plan was torn asunder when I blew #1. I just sat around home instead. I even had an invitation to a birthday party for someone I don’t know, from a woman who everyone is trying to get me to ask out. But heck, even my horoscope told me to take it easy. I think I’m coming down with the same head cold that my ma and pa have, so I think I wasn’t just being lame. I was also being lame.

Maybe I need to make my lists longer.

I noticed that other people on other blogs are making lists but I think I may just avoid making my own lists. So far this year I’ve completed most of my lists but they’re not exactly that hard. One was work tasks and not finishing those would mean that I don’t get paid. Another was just the list of exercises I was planning to do at the gym yesterday. Oh, I suppose I also had a short list of people I had to call like my doctor, acupuncturist, and car insurance guy.

But people seem to be making harder lists. Like where they want to go this year or even career goals. I guess my lists are more along the lines of what TV shows I want to watch and how many times I want to leave the house in a week.

I also have a list of things that need fixing around the house, but after paying $1200 for a door that doesn’t latch properly and $2500 for a window that also operates as a wind-driven alarm, I’m not sure what I want to do. The plumber’s coming on Saturday and I hope he doesn’t find some other way to make my life a delight.

Deal-breakers.

OK, so I suppose my blanket rejection of anyone from Stanford or Reed is kind of misplaced (though I still think Stanford should remain on the list) I wonder what else should be on the list? Should adulterers be on the list? It seems to me that all the single women I know in their 30’s are either current or former adulterers, or are going out with guys who are anywhere from 10 to 20 years their junior.

Somehow this makes my past girlfriends look very good in comparison, but I’m not going down that path. In fact, I think I’ll just keep doing what I was doing, which is complaining about work. A guy at the gym said I had insurmountable problems, but I said no, I think I have myriad problems.

Did I mention that someone broke into my closet and stole all my pants and replaced them with identical pants of a smaller size? Here comes the weight loss resolution….

I’m behind already.

My first day of work at Megacorp in the year 2006 and I’m behind already. Plus, they moved the Thursday meeting to Tuesday and that threw me completely off. It runs from 5-6PM and it’s one of those tedious status meetings when your team works all over the globe. OK, so mostly Asia, but you get the idea. It went on and on and on.

I did make it to the gym (late) after avoiding the place for two weeks because of a bum back. Sounds like the change from Mavericks Fitness to Gold’s Gym is a change for the worse. The gym appears to be more full, but I’m hearing the membership is down and they’re charging the trainers more in rent. Oh, well, I suppose I can do my thing while I can.

Oh, and somehow I lost a bunch of mail (and I know there were checks in the envelopes) on the way from the kitchen to the computer room. Well, they have to be in the house somewhere, but where?

Tomorrow starts a new year.

Tomorrow is the first day of work. Oddly enough, I heard people had doctor and dentist appointments today, which I thought was a federal holiday. You don’t see those offices open on Memorial Day or anything, so it seemed kind of odd.

I saw even more people from my past today, including people I hadn’t seen since grade school. It’s a bit weird, but I guess there’s lots of people back in the neighborhood who I haven’t seen since grade school. One was even a lawyer and it’s always funny to remember how we recall our previous interactions. Like this woman who I remember always being mad at us because she’d practice the violin while a lot of the rest of us in the grade school orchestra were just kind of fooling around.

Oh, and I finally heard from a contractor friend of mine about his opinion on my window. He also thinks that the problem is the window, not the installation. (If you don’t recall, it vibrates in the wind.) Unfortunately, the wind hasn’t been blowing hard enough for the sound to get very loud lately, so I haven’t been able to experiment. Oh, well.

So far, so good.

Started out 2006 hung over, so I figure it can only go up from here. Well, I missed one party today, but I made another, and I saw some friends from grade school! That’s always great. I saw Emily Harris of NPR fame (every time she goes to Iraq, I hold my breath) and her new baby. Plus her sister Alice’s new son Owen (I hope I didn’t get that wrong). And the most interesting thing was showing up and having to help Dr. Harris saw a tree limb that had just fallen and was blocking the driveway.

Oh, and a friend of mine wanted to know if I wanted to see “Brokeback Mountain” with him. Sounds too sad for me. And people were already on my case for having a pink cell phone with a picture of my mom on it. Heh.

Happy New Year!

I just got back from a New Year’s Eve party where my friend Steve gave me the resolution: “Go to more parties.” Well, I had a great time and I also got to play fanboy and met some webcomic authors!

When I first found out I had cancer, one of the things that got me through the first month was webcomics. While I didn’t get to meet Chris Onstad or Jeff Rowland, I did get to meet R Stevens aka the Poopmonster and Mike mumble-mumble! (I can’t remember much there.)

I’d post pictures, but I have to hit the hay.

Here’s to a great 2006!