20 June 2001
Last year: Matt got his Hammacher Schlemmer catalog yesterday!
I'm not talking about work. I'm not. But I just want to say... When you're sleepy, but you decide anyway that you want to stay up until at least one in the morning because going to bed would just make it seem like work is coming faster - because you need to extend the not-working part of your day...
When you spend three hours listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on continuous loop because it's the only thing keeping you calm enough not to commit violence against your co-workers...
When you - after a lifetime of abhorring smoking and being allergic to tobacco smoke - start wondering if maybe a few quick puffs would help calm you down...
When you finally achieve a feeling of calm and are able to get some work done - by simply accepting that your career is dead...
Something is wrong.
Matt and I went up to Lowes' yesterday to buy tomato cages, a trellis for the cucumber vines, and some more rocks to line the mulch beds. I'm so clever, I decided to wait until after dark - when it would be cooler, you see - to put all these things up.
The cucumber trellis went fairly smoothly, though I had to take my gloves off so I could tie the vines to the trellis. If you've never planted cucumbers before, here's why that's bad: Most gourd vines - including pumpkin, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers - have tiny prickles all over the stem and leaves. If you're not careful, it winds up feeling like you just jammed your hand into a bucket of straight pins.
The tomato cages were less smooth. Well, I take that back. The cages for the two smaller plants went reasonably well. But I must have broken three stems of the larger plant trying to get them into the cage... and this morning I discovered that I missed an entire major branch of the plant. Ack! Oh, well.
Putting down the rocks went fairly well - it's just a tedious process that left the sides of my thumbs feeling raw, despite using gloves. The bottom layer is finally completely done - another load of about forty rocks will finish it off! Though I think I'm going to have to dig the front row of them in; they look a little too steeply angled from the street.
That's a project for another day, though. For now, I'm simply happy to have finally accomplished something.
Matt found for me a link to my favorite commercials. You might not have seen these if you don't spend much time watching sports television, but Matt watches ESPN a lot. I never get tired of watching them. It's a little like juggling. I just can't get enough.
If you haven't seen them at all, I recommend checking them out. If you're sick of them... Well, poo on you.
Matt wasn't feeling well yesterday - something is really overloading his allergies, and he's got nonstop congestion and a sore throat. I've been through those kinds of allergies. They're no fun. So he went to bed a little early last night, and when I joined him much later, I tried not to jostle the bed too much.
Around 5:15, the cat jumped up on the bed and started being a pest. Yesterday, he remembered the trick where if I shove him off the bed too many times, he pees on things. So instead of trying to convince him to just lay down and be quiet, I got up and put him in the garage.
As I was getting up, I noticed that I only had a tiny corner of the blanket, draped over my midsection. The whole bottom half of the blankets and sheets had been wrapped around Matt's legs. Normally, I might have just yanked them back, or woken Matt enough to get them back more gently. But he'd been so tired and unhappy...
So after I put the cat in the garage, I laid down on the couch, covered myself with the afghan, and went back to sleep. About half an hour later, Matt came down the stairs, looking guilty for having "forced" me out of the bed. I explained about the blanket, and he pulled me back upstairs to bed.
I'm just glad he didn't think I'd spent the whole night on the couch.
Word of the Day:
sapient - possessing or expressing great sagacity, wise
Currently Reading:
- nothing
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Hall stuff
- garden