The Myth & The Majesty

100 hours before my flight to Vegas ... Not that I'm counting, of course.

I baked a cake today ... again ... for two reasons. The first is because I intend to be social tonight but I need a contribution for the event. The second is because it's juuuust over fifty outside and raining and my house is FREEZING. It's August, right? I'm no longer sure. The leaves are turning colors already. I had to actually think, "No, I will not turn the heat on already!" It's supposed to be below forty tonight. And I don't live in Alaska, Canada, or northern Russia, thank you very much. But here I sit, in jeans and a sweatshirt and my fuzzy black snowflake slippers, warmed somewhat by the heat given off by my computer. I hope this isn't an indication of the winter to come. I like cold weather ... but this could get ridiculous.

It's a Friday night. It's a Friday night and I can't convince myself to do anything. This is no great change from any other Friday. By the end of the week I'm often feeling mildly misanthropic and ready to hibernate for a bit, away from the crowds (such as they are in this town) and even my friends. Given the craziness of this week, tonight has been a blessed escape from reality. Unfortunately, I had some late coffee and I'm overthinking things ... so I'm oddly energized and agitated. My little brother -- because he will always be my little brother, even if I'm no longer capable of easily picking him up and physically subduing him -- will be moving to college in just two days. I was chatting with my mother as she made the drive across the state with a truck full of his stuff and the reality of that hit me. For the first time in my life, I felt old. When I moved out of the house, he was just barely twelve, a little guy I still called Shorty ... and now he...

Two words: pizza parlor. Today is an oddball, even for a Friday. And it's awesome.

Ah, Benadryl. Numbs the eyes and screws with the senses. But at least I've stopped sneezing and itching my eyes.

You know that point where you realize that, no matter how hard you look, you're not going to find anything different? I remember hitting that point with "Where's Waldo?" books when I was little, with homework assignments when I got older ... And now, while I'm inspecting spreadsheets for errors. Oh yeah. Inspecting spreadsheets. Sounds exciting, hm? Some days my job is really interesting. Some days ... are more like today.

It's United Way week here at the office, which means several things: - M-Kay is collecting cakes in her cubicle at the moment (including one baked by yours truly that I think looks fantastic -- I just hope it tastes okay). - Mr. B and seven others are bracing themselves for the dunk tank this afternoon ... which hopefully won't get delayed by lightning. - We're all contributing five dollars at a time in the hopes of winning one of the baskets being raffled. - There are more people in jeans than usual on a Tuesday morning. - It's way too easy to get distracted by things that are, by definition, more interesting than tracking down Cp/Cv ratios. (Actually, most things are, by definition, more interesting than tracking down Cp/Cv ratios.) There's also a horseshoe tournament this evening, a Jenga tournament tomorrow, ladder golf on Thursday, and probably eight other things I'm forgetting. Yeah. The UW committee here kind of goes all out.