Adventures in Freelance Insanity ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fabulous B If you're here to see if Ive posted something new or because I havnt posted anything onto your blog - never fear. I am very busy right now. I worked about 85 hours last week and 85 this week so I didnt have time to post to mine or yours, but I HAVE been reading my favorites (you know who you are). So sorry for the lack of comments, it should slow back down now to 70 hours a week until the end of October when - well, frankly, at that time Ill see ya in December. ********************************* My darling boy Face finally spoke! I had been so worried because at 14 months he still had no consonants, not a one, just some "uh uh uh uh" for 14 months, which, conversationally speaking, gets old fast. I had really started to worry that his stroke had taken away some speech and it would be a long haul into conversation. Then last night, Face said to me (and I quote) "Bah bah bah bah". Face, you rock, and you know how to bring the tears to mommy's eyes. I was so excited, the therapsit suggested I change my name to "This Bob fellow he keeps talking about". (she was kidding). Of course I was so excited, and Face so pleased with my excitement, that pretty much the only thing he says now is "bah bah" with an occaisional "buh buh". But after 14 months of "uh uh", Im really quite okay with that. In case it's not entirely clear, I would like to point out that his first words show him to be a penetratingly intelligent toddler with a love for fine art and food 10:29 a.m. - 2006-09-14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day In The Life (Courtesy of The Marvelous Sheryl) 3:31 AM Alarm goes off until I swat it. Repeat. 3:45 Get out of bed, get stuff together, put fresh bottle in baby's crib, kiss J, forget to grab carefully made salad, leave house. 4:11 Remember I forgot salad, debate going back for it, decide to order a salad at work. 4:23 Arrive at work, say hi to co-workers, turn computer on, set alarm, fall asleep. 6:30 Wake up, work, bring in work from other job from my car and do both jobs simultaneously. * 9:00 Finish immediate part of 1st job. Keep working on 2nd job stuff. 10:30 Ask co-workers if they are ready to order lunch. They dick around. 11:00 Realize with horror that I have quite a bit of actual work to do for the job Im actually at, which is unusual. Begin doing it. 11:10 Ask co-workers about ordering lunch. 11:15 Ask co-workers about ordering lunch. 11:20 Ask co-workers about ordering lunch. 11:25 Ask co-workers about ordering lunch. 11:30 Ask co-workers about ordering lunch. Finally they get together and decide to get Chinese, which doesnt have salads so Ill be ordering alone anyway. Curse them out in my head (and give them death glare for real). 11:35 Order lunch. Get back to doing work which Im increasingly worried I wont be able to finish. 12:00 Lunch arrives. Eat, while finishing work just in the nick of time. 12:30 Go to parking lot, take Face from J, tell him about morning, kisses all around, leave. 12:35 Go to 2nd job's offices, discuss a few pressing matters, decide on a re-work for 1 thing (I HATE re-works!), off to Target. 12:50 Go into Target to purchase 3,953 school supplies from list which my son brought home yesterday of things which MUST be purchased by today. Cannot find "dry tip" markers, which I never heard of anyway. Interrupt - Ive posted pics here of Face but I guess they dont do him justice because you never saw a kid who got fawned over more than this kid. I cannot go anywhere without literally building a crowd of people who say theyve never seen such a cute kid. I wish I were kidding or bragging because I am stranger-adverse and all the attention actually makes me very uncomfortable. My secret - I think Face is adorable (of course) but I really dont understand why people are so drawn to him. It also makes shopping take longer. 2:00 Go across the street to Guenardi's, a food store close to home which I just discovered and have fallen in total love with. They have organic alternatives to every food you can imagine, a huge selection, and they are CHEAP! 3:45 Go home, unload car with help from Terror, give him instructions on feeding his brother and run to post office. 4:55 Bring in box to PO to get weighed and get custom forms. Im sending a care box to someone in France. Leave with forms and box. 5:05 Go to Blockbuster, return movies from weekend, get 2 movies for this weekend and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants because Terror wants to see it - it's apparently what his friends are all talking about and I MUST MUST get this or he will die. 5:15 Stop at management office to drop off container which they will put paint in for touch-ups in our place. 5:20 Arrive home. Terror is playing Playstation while Face sleep next to him. So cute! Take ground turkey out of fridge and start browning. 5:20-7:10 Brown turkey for and make 2 lasagnas (1 for me, 1 for my cousin) while also browning turkey for tacos, which will be split - 1 lb frozen, 1 pound for now, 2 pounds for my cousin. She is on bedrest for the next 15 weeks and I know how bad that sucks and how isolating it is, so I have vowed to bring her 1 dinner a week. The lasagna I will freeze so one week when Im really busy Ill have something (for her AND us), and the taco's are for this week. In the free few seconds between mixing and turning, fill out custom forms and eat soft pretzel (my dinner). I made the mistake of starting to think how wonderfully efficient I was being and getting proud of myself for all this planning. At 7:10 I finished the first lasagna, covered it with foil and went to put it in the freezer. Realized I had no room. Put lasagna on high chair while I made room. High chair tray not hooked in. Lasgana topples onto floor. I cry. Okay, so really I WANTED to cry, mostly because I was going to be late. I was supposed to go visit my grandmom in nursing home/rehab center to watch 2nd half of Gone With the Wind tonight at 7:30. 7:10 Luckily (bright side, bright side) most of the lasagna landed on the foil so I scoop that part back into the pan and try to straighten it as much as possible, re-foil top and put in freezer. Then clean the huge mess which is my floor, make second lasagna and call grandmom to beg off until tomorrow. Call J and bitch about lasagna and fact that I cant find the packing tape. 8:00 Clean kitchen while Terror eats tacos then feeds his brother dinner - all in front of tv which is playing the movie he has to see (or die). 8:30 J gets home, kisses all around, J goes to look for packing tape for me. I see that "dry tip" markers has been added again to our "to buy" list on the kitchen board. I ask Terror what a "dry tip" marker is and with the contempt only a teenager can perfect he holds up the dry erase marker "Uh, this." he says. 15 to life, 15 to life. "That is a dry ERASE marker, it even says so right on it." I say. "Same difference" Shrug. 15 to life. 15 to life, Girl. 9:00 Check emails, reply to a few, gather stuff for tomorrow, write a note to get packing tape, get bottle ready for Face, hop in shower. 9:45 Make marguerita, grab beer for J, pop popcorn and go to room to watch movie with J. 10:00 Put Face in crib with bottle and start movie. Face is having none of this. Bring him to bed. 10:15 Realize this is a real dog of a movie (Lonesome Jim), agree to watch other movie instead, put Face back in crib. Watch Friends With Money while cuddling with J. 12:02 J and I do grown-up things and I fall asleep (after). I realize this is technically more than 24 hours but for me, going to sleep is the end of the day. And yes, when I woke up at 3:30 the next day I WAS tired.
8:53 a.m. - 2006-09-08 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creepy-Crawly Im a little creeped out today. Downstairs, they brought an atomic bomb to show various people (they are having a class in our downstairs classroom). I know the people who are giving the class, and frankly, some of them I wouldnt trust to babysit my pet rock. The fact that these yahoos can come anywhere close to an atomic bomb is enough to turn my blood cold. On the bright side, if something goes wrong I wont feel a thing. 9:25 a.m. - 2006-08-31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Last Jake crawled tonight. I am overjoyed. One of my stregnths has always been that I take people where they are. I never had any expectations of WHEN my child would or should acheive anything in their lives. Being told that Jake had stroked and was blind on one side was a huge blow to me. I suddenly realized that he may NEVER acheive any milestones physically. I came to terms with that, and then his sight came back. But I had learned caution, and I prepared myself for the worst while I hoped (and did physical therapy with Face) for the best outcome. True to form, he did not go cautiously on knees solid and sure, but lurched inelegantly, half-knee, half foot, half commando across the floor. It's one of the most beautiful things Ive ever seen. 9:46 p.m. - 2006-08-23 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Good Laugh and A Great Read Yesterday was the day Face got evaluated. Only someone who never had kids could have set up THIS joyous day. Kids are scheduled for a sedated echocardiagram in mid-afternoon, leaving 6 or seven awake hours where children are unable to eat. Joy for everyone! My poor baby looked at me during the day like - hey, you, food-person. Every other day you are constantly shoving tons of crap I dont want to eat my way. Well, Im a little hungry over here. Im grunting my hungry grunt - what the hell is the deal, woman? We are in this big cold strange place so I cant even hunt around for cherrios I keep in the crevaces of every conceivable object at home. This is outrageous! How bout if I flirt with you? No? One good thing is that I realized how truly good my son was. Normally we think of him as not-a-very-good baby. I realized yesterday that it was because WE are never happy. He only whines when he wants food, or is bored and since he is awake 18 hours a day, he gets impatient. At 10 PM he is still raring to go, watching me doze off is not that captivating, so he cranks. And I, eternally sleep-deprived, think mean thoughts about him. Yesterday, after his first temper tantrum, I realized that he was a great kid. He had never really let loose. I guess he figured it was his last resort for his starving belly. I still didnt come through though, Probably a good move behavior-teaching-wise, but break-my-heart. Of course we got pushed back, and about 7 hours into the no-food I was getting pretty hungry and cranky myself (I couldnt eat of course, that wouldve just been cruel). The study designers never had kids of course, because 4 hours into this whole starvation experiment, they schedule developmental testing. HAHAHA! For many reasons. The first of which is that cooperation of a pre-toddler is an iffy thing at best. Add hungry to the equation and you may as well just write "refused to cooperate". The people who herd you around let you know they are aware of this design flaw. So the last part of the testing involved putting Face on his back and trying to get him to roll to me, a feat he is perfectly capable of. He looked at me, looked away and just cried and cried. The first part of the testing was highly amusing, however. No one told the tester that Face was 2 1/2 months premature (making him 10 months, adjusted) nor that he had had a stoke w/temporary (4 months) blindness. He is at a 6-8 month level, developmentally. His answer to every test was to snatch and eat everything presented to him. He is so good at this that he almost choked on dice she laid before him. [Dont get me started on some of the things she used during testing which were clearly neither toys nor appropriate for children under 3 but that's why I dont get paid the big bucks people.] So she would ask him to do something and he would pop the object into his mouth. Great fun for me. I struggled to contain my laughter. I wasnt trying not to snort just because of his responses. Her questions, the things she expected him to do, freaking can STILL bring a smile to my face. I finally interrupted, because... (remember as you read this that essentially she is talking to a 6-8 month old)
Jake: Grabs random cups, gnaws on it Her: Watch me make a tower. You make the same tower. Jake: Eats blocks (actually dice which she was using to make her tower - wth?) Her: Watch me, Jake, make THIS tower. Jake: eats blocks Her: Heres a pencil and paper. Draw me a picture. Jake: Eats pencil, when she snatches it away, grabs paper and eats it. Me: (snorting) Look, Im not sure if you HAVE to ask these questions but you might as well ask him to solve for X. He'd be just as good at that as what you are asking him to do. Jake: leans down, chews on table.
12:25 p.m. - 2006-08-23 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Rare Weekend Post Two of my very favorite bloggers Katie and Sheryl have asked what on Earth I do for a living (in my morning job). Poor Sheryl had the misfortune to get answered last night, after my long day of being on a retreat with my other full-time job. I was very, very drunk. Im too scared to look at what I wrote to Sheryl although I vaguely remember it being a very long response. Moral: Dont email drunk. Although Sheryl is one of the pioneers of drunk blogging and I have to say, her drunken post was truly hilarious and entertaining. Come to think of it, she promised to make it a regular feature! Anyway, Im not going to blog specific crap about my work on the blog, I dont wanna get dooced, although if you really wanna know, ill email you. Suffice it to say that real life is not Crossing Jordon - theres no real Kay Scarpetta who makes a huge investigation or cares where the hell your body parts are. If we waited for the coronor to find the body parts that get ejected in an accident, well. Let's just say that if you've ever heard tell of an accident scene where the road is closed for a gazillion years it is usually because everyone is waiting for the coronor to come out and declare people dead. They are part-time or full-time state employees who cant really be fired without pictures of them WITH animals. And then only maybe. So they take their sweet-ass time. Meanwhile, there are normal men and women who care enough about you to find and collect all your body parts so wild dogs dont make off with them. In some accidents it can be tricky because of terrain, or just because youre really not expecting where stuff ends up. I could tell you stories... Anyway, it probably sounded callous about the decapitation thing, but honestly, every accident has a mood to it and someone dies on our roads EVERY DAMN day so after a while, it's routine. And the whole lost head thing, well, come on, no matter how uptight you are I know it took like 5 seconds for you to think of jokes. The guys around here spent all day saying things like "Don't lose your head over it" in an innocent-of-joking voice. I have become a lot more uptight about how I drive and went from letting my son sit in the front to making him sit in the back cause Ive seen some crazy shit. So seriously, drive carefully. And no matter how much of jerk the guy in front of you is being, dont lose your head over it. 6:22 p.m. - 2006-08-19 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday There are some accidents that, although gory, do not particularily affect us. We see accidents all day, and there is at least one fatal accident every day. We spent hours one day last month searching the woods for some guy's head and yet it only endangered a faint amusement. Today, a mom with her two kids in the car died in sight of our cameras. She died in such a horrific manner that our hardened men were panicking over the radio. Her kids were fine - except for that little matter of watching their mom die like that. There was an empty car on the shoulder and they speculate that she drifted slightly over the line and hit the car. For us there will be lots of questions - it's our job to tow cars that have been abandoned for more than 24 hours. Since someone died as the result of this abandoned car, they will want to hound us, to make sure we did our job. That is what all the bosses are worried about right now. Me, Im wondering how many times Ive drifted over the line a little bit because Im talking to my son - or yelling. All it took was a tiny little bit of drift and those 3 lives were changed forever. Im hoping that whatever she was doing, she had a few minutes before she died to tell her kids she loved them. Have a good weekend, and please drive safely. 8:20 a.m. - 2006-08-18 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Stories I never wrote down stories about my son Terror because, well, i would have felt stupid and also - i thought I would always remember. This is not true. I have forgotten many of the things he has done. Reading about the adventures of other people's kids has made me recall some of the stories of the Terror. Here's two, under the heading - they were right, I can finally laugh about this. The Play (brought on by a post from Sheryl) Pick Terror up from school at 2:30, talk about his day as I run a few errands, get home at 3:00 where I work at my desk while he plays. At 5:30 I get up to make dinner. Me: Dinner in 15 minutes! I whirlwind to get changed myself. I am annoyed. I am a planner, and I hate school events. We are two blocks from school in the Burger King parking lot. It is 5:59. Me: We are gonna be a few minutes late I put the car in gear, royally peeved and now frantic to get there. When kids are late, guess who gets blamed? We arrive, 2 minutes late. I take him backstage. T: I changed my mind. I dont want to be in the play. I wish I could say I whipped one up in an instant ala One Fine Day but no. I made his little butt go out on stage anyway, uncostumed, his embarassment his punishment. My embarrassment - well, the other parents made sure of that without a single word being said.
In my defense, I have never taught my son that cops are bad. He had a bad experience once. His dad was a cop so maybe it was some rebellion thing. One fine night I am driving Terror and his two friends home from the movies when I get pulled over. No matter how old I get, Ill probably always get that clutch in my stomach. As I worry about pulling over safely and going through the pocketbook to try to find my license. The "groups" are simultaneous talking T: (loud) I HATE cops! Me: Huh? Me: Dont SAY THAT Friend 1 starts sobbing Me: Friend 1, stop crying, no one is going to jail! Me: Stop it! All of You! Sto - Hi, officer. This is where I become schizophrenic, turning a nice sweet face to the officer in between whipping my head to shoot the Death Glare at my son while hissing "Shut it". Like this - No, of course I dont have any points. SHUT IT. Im so sorry, I didnt even realize I was speeding. SHUT IT. Eventually the officer (who took a real attitude, probably because he thinks kids who shout "I HATE cops!" musta got it from their parents) gave me my ticket. Friend 1 settled on a getting-it-together sob and Friend 2 finally shut it. As for my son, he was fuming mad with me because I had just grounded him for the rest of his natural life, which was, of course, totally unfair. Of course, as soon as we walked through the door to drop the friends off they announced (before hello) "Ms Girl almost got throwed in jail and us too". The fact that our children make it to adulthood is, at times, a true miracle. There's also that pesky little 15 to life thingy that really works in their favor. Happy Wednesday! 10:42 a.m. - 2006-08-16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Importance of Being Stupid I was actually gonna blog about something completely fun and different today but I just HAD to go and read Grand Rounds*, which I admit to being addicted to. One of the articles this week is this by Dr. Anonymous, and the discussion in the comments about the dangers of people dosing themselves. A lot of docs, it should come as no surprise, take a dim view of the great unwashed making any decisions without their approval, mostly because they think they are not qualified. I also opened an email from someone in my support group detailing their harrowing last month with their 9 month old daughter who also has HLHS. They are probably going to have to go the transplant route. Her heart has been struggling for too long now, mostly due to the fact that the last time she was hospitalized for excessive swelling (this is a HEART baby mind you - it is common in these kids and usually can be solved with diuretics). The baby was discharged with the instructions to the parents that the swelling was caused because the parents were HOLDING THE BABY TOO MUCH. This is what was written, in black and white, on the discharge instructions. Both of these things together made me think more (cant help myself DC) on the strange nature of duality. People who know better, driven by fear (especially for their child) will accept any damn stupid thing a doctor says simply because they are a doctor. Doctors are happy to talk about how stupid patients can be but rarely willing to talk about how stupid other doctors can be. Yet, they went through medical school. Someone must have been last in the class. There must have been at least one person that as these docs rotated through they though "What an idiot". In practice (I know some docs socially) they can laugh about some idiot they know who is a doctor but when discussing patients - their resentments, the stupid things they do, the ways they dont listen, the ways they act against their own best interests - it never occurs to these very selfsame docs that those of us who do stupid things without consulting our doctors have maybe run into one or more doctors that they themselves would label "idiot". I dont know about that other mom but similar experiences have led me to question everything, to use the web as a resource and to always remember that wearing a white coat does not necessarily mean youre any smarter than a rock. Holding her baby too much. That's a new one on me. *Grand Rounds is a fun round-up of all the best medical posts each week from doctors, nurses, patients, etc. Fascinating. Great for someone like me, who finds medicine cool but cant stand the goriness of medical shows. PS The mom in question did try the recommended cure for two weeks - letting her child lay on the floor or in the crib and cry. It didnt work. They are now in a different hospital and here is the verdict - She had Dijoxin-toxicity (Dij levels were 2.5) so her heart rate was down in 54 range (should be around 110 or so). When they did a blood gas after she had been on O2 for 4 hours her saturation was 65. Also her right ventrical is not doing so good once again. 1:45 p.m. - 2006-08-15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hate So it's official. I've decided there is no help for it - I am forced to hate Lila for all eternity with the hot hatred of 10,000 suns. Why? You ask. As well you may. For all my big talk and tough demeanor I am a pushover, an iron fist with a heart of mush. How could I bring myself to hate Lila? Lila has always and ever been one of those people who steps in it no matter what she does. If she takes a risk, it always works out well. If it could go either way, it goes her way. You know the type. They become unbearable when they begin to assert that their luck is actual the result of something else - smarts, God's favor, what have you. Lila has never, to my knowledge, claimed her luck was anything but luck, so I cannot blame her for THAT. At 28 she was a long-lunch high-school-only graduate who landed an amazing, high-paying job, perfectly coiffed and manicured at all times, gym every day because it's FUN kinda gal. Been married for 5 years already to a great guy who she loves and loves her. She's known since she was a teen that she would have to IVF so while it might be complicated to have kids, she never had to worry about "accidents" or the annoying side-effects of birth control. And she never worried that she wouldnt have kids when she wanted them. One of her more annoying personality traits is that she NEVER worries. Why should she? Everything always works out fine for her. Not to downplay the trials of IVF - but she did not go through the normal process of frustration, tests, etc. It was shots, then implantation. Do I even need to write that it was succesful the first time out? She admitted to being slightly worried in the beginning - natural twins run in both families and her initial three eggs all "twinned" - then they all died, of course, except for the one boy which was what she originally wanted anyway. (All these "deaths" happened before most people even know they are pregnant). She had her one perfect child, no problems, a after-birth weight gain of 5 pounds (the horror). Lest you think I am trying to minimize and be mean to someone who was really being traumatized let me share part of her birth story with you. She was insistant that she be given a five-minute warning before being required to "push". So five minutes before the baby was born, they gave her the warning, only to have her demand everyone stop what they were doing while she applied her makeup and did her hair. I am sooo not kidding. In every immediately-after-birth picture she looks fabulous. It's annoying. So life goes along and she takes another financial risk buying a house. At every point along her life her sister and I wonder if she will pull it off this time. Her sister is always pessimistic - surely this time she will stumble. But I know Lila's type. I am positive she will always come out smelling like roses. When her first child turns one, Lila decides to get pregnant again. This time, both embryos stick and 1 twins. triplets! Her sister thinks it is TIME. I know better. She carries the trips to 32 weeks (rare), vaginal birth (rarer still) they are all over 4 pounds with no serious problems. She gets to take one baby home with her, the second (lowest birthweight) comes home two days later, and the third (needed a little nasul cannula for a few days) two days after that. We ask about her the other day - the trips are 7 weeks (her other son is 2). One of our friends asked her if she had a lot of stretchmarks - she has three faint ones uner her bellybutton. Poor dear. Before we go any further, a note - it's not like she is a huge slob or anything, but her husband is one of those great neatfreaks - he doesnt demand everyone else be one, he is himself and so he cleans to be happy. So even when she stays at home he does all the cleaning. Naturally. Is she frantic with taking care of triplets and a 2 year old? Actually, she spends 2-3 hours a day floating in the pool because all the kids sleep not only from 9PM to 8AM but they all take a four hour nap in the afternoon! Is the slow burn of hatred beginning to consume you yet? Get ready, people. Having the triplets? She LOST WEIGHT. This bitch has got to go. 9:59 a.m. - 2006-08-14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Punk So the saga of the lost friendship has been boring, Im sure, to everyone but me. One of my big flaws is that once I love you I will give you too much of a chance - I dont know how to turn my back on the people I love without being continually hurt first. But I went, I conversed, I interacted. I had a shitty time in some ways. I am high-maintenance in my own way. I always carry Diet Coke in case it's not there (it wasnt), I HAVE to have ice - traveling in Europe is hell to me because the ice is as important as the Diet Coke and Europeans do not do ice. I am not high maintenance in the sense that i will complain or bitch or act put out - I just wont fully enjoy my spoiled self. She had no ice at this party. She had the party planners provide the drinks and can I just say I never had a worse marguerita in my whole entire life. It was so sweet it curdled my tongue. As they were pre-made, there was nothing I could do to change that except not drink. Which makes putting up with people harder. I learned from the Master, however, my mother is well recognized as a Meastro at the Art of Conversation. I chatted, I drew people out to tell me about themselves, I composed snarky comments about people and crafted the stories and comments I would tell J later (that lucky bastard had to work). I aquited myself, if not well, then adequatly. In the name of friendship and trying to make her happy. This was last week. She sends me an email - "Are you free on Friday or Saturday? Want to get together?" Yes, I reply, either day is fine. I get another email back the next day - she and her husband N, Niki, & Cock I mean Mike, will be coming over on Friday at 7. Okay, now this just reinforces the point I tried to make to her before - when boundries are relaxed in a friendship mutally it's fine. If you want to re-erect boundries that's also fine but it works BOTH WAYS. Last time I checked, inviting other people and yourself to someone's house was RUDE. Peace, Girl. I am trying to see if this fragile peace can last and we can find some kind of friendship, so I counseled myself to just look on the bright side - a night with friends. Of course, I am pretty busy so this means I have to A) Get food and alcohol for this party and B) clean off my dining room table which we never use and has become like an extra closet and C) Clean off my desk so that I can shut it (it is this really awesomely cool desk that kind of magically folds itself into an armoire-type piece of furnitire. When you clean the work off the "arms" that serve as flat space) So Friday I leave work and go directly to the food store where I can (thank god) buy both food and alcohol for this night. This is an unexpected expense in the month when I have the least amount of money (I get commision from Sept-Jun), added to the pain of cleaning all this junk up (although of course it had to be done SOME time). Bright side, bright side. I also have to haul all the groceries up instead of leaving the non-perishables for the boys to bring in because I want to chill the beer and coolers (the heaviest items, of course). I am sweating profusly and panting so I throw myself down on the couch and suck down a Diet Coke as Face watches, probably wondering if Im ever gonna get around to feeding him lunch. Do I even have to point out that shopping for this night has completely thrown off Face's schedule? As I lay recovering my breath the phone rings. It is K. She tells me that Niki and K's friend Tina is having a rough time. Tina kicked him out 8 months ago but last week she found out he was moving in with some girl. This is devestating to her. Niki (and therefore Mike) are not going to come tonight because Niki is going over to "be with" Tina. And oh yeah, K's husband has to go into work early so he's not coming either. Do I want K to come or do I want to reschedule? WTF??? I ask calmly about K's husband, he knew he had to work days ago (I work with him). Oh right, well, see, sometimes he drives a limo on the side and they called this morning and asked him to drive tonight and he wanted to so that's really why he is not coming. I look around for Ashton Kutchner but no luck. I am bemused, incredulous. Did I mention that Thursday night I made up dip and hors d'ovres? That I am exhausted at 3:30 PM from trying to get ready for a party that other people invented and invited themselves to? And you're CANCELING? 3 hours before you're supposed to be here? This is, of course, in my head. In truth, I have no words. I say okay, talk to you later, bye. I wonder if maybe Im being hazed. Decide there is no sorority worth this bullshit. I have learned form this though, I have learned several things - It is long past time to let this friendship die. Other people's manners (or lack of) will never cease to amaze me. I make a killer dip and eating it all by myself is more than enough consolation. It is THAT good. Because I am that cynical I called K's house later to see what she was doing and - no surprise to me - she was at Tina's house with all the girls. Shocking, I tell you. Oh yeah, and tonight - they are all going to take a trip to AC. Apparently Tina's tears are easily dried. It's a regular miracle, people. To be fair, i WAS invited to go. But really, Im too busy for that. Ill be busy trying to find better friends. 11:48 a.m. - 2006-08-12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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