Please stop the drama, I'd like to get off.
I've been gone a while, I know...but I've been crazy busy and facing some irritating situations on almost all fronts.
To sum up:
- The Benz has been destroyed. I was rear-ended on Monday the 5th by an uninsured woman who's late 80's T-Bird collided with my Mercedes doing 30-35 mph. It's the closest thing to getting hit in the back with a sledgehammer that I've ever experienced. I was very lucky that no one else was with me at the time, and was also lucky to be driving such a sturdy car. My Benz absorbed the impact in such a way that it probably saved me any serious long-term injury. I would buy another one in a heartbeat...but not yet. Too soon and all that. I try not to get attached to physical things, but I have spent a lot of time on this car and I can't help but be sad to see it go. The adjuster came out and looked at it today and didn't even pretend there was hope of straightening it out, she offered her condolences which was nice. So, for now I am driving my Volvo. The one I was going to put on Craig's List. Which brings me to my next bit here...
- My Volvo's starter went out yesterday. While it could have been worse, having your piece of crap car break down in front of your ex-wife's house and having her husband have to help me pop-start it - while houseguests are arriving from every direction - is one of the more humiliating moments I've had in a long while. He was pretty good about it, and I appreciated that, but I'm sure I will be the source of mockery for weeks to come in the standard gossip circles. Oh well. The new starter cost me $160 and was a b*tch to put in - I hate working on Volvos.
- Security has been compromised. Really irritating when this happens, and I should know better than this. I do know better than this and have taken/will take measures to ensure this s#!t doesn't happen again. That's one reason I haven't been blogging much lately. The idea that someone gets some perverse pleasure at reading what I've worked to make my own thoughts bothers me, and the thought that someone can claim that it isn't wrong and that it is their business is even worse...oh, and the pretense of others that I don't know what's going on is sickening. How stupid do you think I am?
- No sleep to be had last night. At about 2:00 I dreamt that I got bit by a spider. The pain and the itch were still very real when I woke up, as was the gradual tingling sensation that made its way up to my calf. It dissipated as I came fully awake, but I was convinced that I'd been bitten. No marks, no swelling and the "symptoms" went away in about 15 minutes...so I tried going back to sleep, but my fatigued mind thought "what if it's just part of the process?" and that the spider's venom would take my life in my sleep. By 3:00 I had fallen asleep, the only way I knew this was because the storm that blew in last night was knocking sticks and stuff out of nearby trees and planting them on the roof of my house. Alarm went off early and I dragged my ass to work.
- Time to study? Not really. I mean, I need to get started studying for the 70-290 exam, but it hasn't really been at the top of my list over the past week. Go figure. I need to get my stuff together and work on this, make some Trivial Pursuit style cards and have someone quiz me. Also need to buy some supplemental material. Maybe I can get some of that done this week. Hope I'm only in the chiropractor's office 2 or 3 times this week...
- Thanksgiving. Looks like I am hosting Turkey Day at my place this year. Not as bad a thing as you might think. I want to have my family closer and more relaxed, and maybe if they aren't hosting it people will not be so crazy. Also, less sides of the family to worry about visiting for my sibs and I. To be honest, and despite the above whining, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have a loving, caring (and above all patient) girlfriend, close and devoted friends, a great (if dysfunctional) family and two daughters that mean the world to me. Everyone is safe and healthy and that is something worth being thankful for.
So, that's my time lately in a nutshell.
How are all of you?