latest / older / g-book / profile / d-land

I was waiting for a crosstown train on the london underground

NP: Postal Service - "Give Up"

I'm feeling rather crappy this morning, and I'm not certain if it's due to not getting that much sleep last night, or me beginning to get sick. I suppose I'll have to wait till this afternoon rolls around to see if I feel better, but fingers are crossed that I didn't pick up the stomach bug that's going around at the moment. I mean, someone in my office had it last week, and then my sister and my uncle were just recovering from something like that over the weekend. Or perhaps I ate something that didn't agree with me. But hopefully it's nothing.

Ugh. I'm not sure what the deal was, but I could not shake a fatigued feeling this weekend. I got two nine hour nights of sleep and didn't have to go in to work, but regardless, I constantly felt a bit tired. Also, I was a bit of a bastard off and on over the weekend. I didn't mean it, but here and there I wasn't that pleasant.

Unpleasantness aside, it was a nice weekend. Friday was my birthday, so after work Erin and I went for a curry at my favorite Indian restaurant. A radioactive chicken vindaloo and a bottle of Kingfisher later, I was full of endorphins and all was right with the world. Later in the evening we went out for a drink. Ended up at Applebee's, which wasn't bad at all. Saturday was my cousin Sam's first birthday. The fact that he's alive at all is really a minor miracle, which makes the fact that he's now one year old and in increasingly excellent health the icing on the cake. But yeah, it was great to see him so big and active, with his sticky-up little head of proto-hair and his little baby hearing aid in. It was good catching up with the rest of my family, too. My uncle Mike out in California even joined in via a webcam and Netmeeting set up on a computer in my aunt and uncle's house in Illinois. So later we returned home and we hung out with John for the rest of the night, where we watched Iron Chef and SNL, and I made good on my promise (or was it a threat?) to at some point buy a 12 pack of Old Style. I only drank a few cans, but still. Sunday Erin and I drove around a good chunk of the metro area, visiting various parks looking for her family, who she thought were at one of them flying model planes and shooting bows. We didn't find 'em, but it was fun nonetheless. They were, however, at their home so we visited there for a while, and then went and had some Denny's. Stayed up late-ish drinking coffee at a 24-hour cafe in the Central West End, consoling John (who was dumped earlier in the day in a particularly bitchy manner), and then dropped in for a visit with Erin's friend Speed. Whew. So yes, cool weekend, despite the fact that I didn't quite feel myself for most of it.

Oh, and last night I was with Erin, John and Tony, and they were meeting with this girl Ivy, for whom they're filming/producing an independent movie. So I'm sitting there in the background, trying to stay out of the way, when Ivy walks over to get something from her backpack, which brings on the following exchange:

Ivy: "So what do you do?"
Me: "I'm a computer programmer." (kind of a gross simplification, but it was easier than giving a five minute speech about my job)
Ivy: "Is that what you wanted to do with your life? Are you happy doing that?"
Me: "Yeah, it's alright. I like it enough."
Ivy: "What did you want to be when you were four years old?"
Me: "Er, I don't remember, to be completely honest."
Ivy: "You don't remember at all?"
Me: "No, not really."
Ivy: "How about when you were eight?"
Me: "I think I wanted to be an astronaut or something like that."
Ivy: "Oh, an astronaut. Good thing you weren't an astronaut when the shuttle went down this year."

The conversation may have went on a bit after that, but the overwhelming tone of her line of questioning was rather rude and condescending. It was like she was looking down on me. I mean, I'm sorry for having a square 9-5 (more like 7.30 to 5.30) job working for the man and for not being a bohemian indie filmmaker. Maybe I'm overreacting but I dislike being judged. She didn't even introduce herself to me, she asked Erin if I was her husband (?) and then later went into her line of questioning. The whole thing is especially annoying as I'd never met this girl before, and despite the fact that I'd heard she's a bit eccentric and tough to get along with, I went in thinking it'd be nice to at least meet her and form my own opinion.

I've been sitting here typing this and trying do some work, but I just don't feel well. It's my head and stomach and rest of the gastro-intestinal system. I went and talked to my boss, said I didn't feel well this morning but came in anyway, but I'm not being productive at all today, so he said to just head home and take a sick day. See, working for the man does have its advantages.

I'm outta here.

then / now