DUTCH GIRL




So, did I mention it was cold...?

2004-01-28 - 12:14 p.m.

Can I just say what a horrible 24 hours this has been?

First of all, it's UNBELIEVABLY COLD outside. I think it topped off, with the wind chill, at about 50 below last night. That's celsius, of course, but here's the thing - celsius and farenheit (however the hell you spell that) are the same thing at 40 below.

Our house isn't well insulated, so it was almost as cold inside as outside last night. We had strips of foam and mexican blankets at the bottom of the front door and the sliding glass doors off the living room, trying to block some of the wind, as well as the furnace going full blast, a space heater in the living room and about 20 candles throughout the dining room and living room. It's amazing how much heat one little candle actually puts out. But it was still cold. I went to bed with pajama bottoms, a long sleeved tee-shirt, my flannel night shirt over that, and thick socks, and I was still cold for the first half hour before the sheets warmed up enough to stop me from shivering.

Anyhow, backing up a little, yesterday started off rocky. Freezing cold weather. A slight hang-over (so much for my "I'm not drinking until the weekend" thing, damn it), plus the first day of my period, so cramps. And then a phone call from a friend who is all freaked out because she got arrested for a DUI the night before. And she's the last person in the world you'd expect that to happen to. Very responsible. She just made a bad judgement call, and wasn't even that far over the limit, but they arrested her, hand-cuffs and everything, threw her in the paddywagon, locked her in cell with no shoes or sweater or mitts for 3 hours and slapped her with a fine and 3 month suspension. Not that I think impared driving is a good thing or anything, but the poor girl. She was totally scared and freaked out and embarrassed. She doesn't want anyone to know because she's afraid everyone will think she's this horrible alcoholic criminal.

So I felt really bad for her. And then another good friend tells me she has potentially scary health things going on and she's freaked out, and I felt really bad for her too.

Poor girls. I wished I could do something to cheer them both up yesterday.

So that kind of weighed me down. I got home from rehearsal around 7pm, looking forward to a healthy cold weather dinner of Kraft Dinner and Fish Sticks (yum), some bundling up to stay warm and some good trashy TV. No such luck, as the digital cable isn't working. I spent an hour on the phone with the repair people and in the end, they determined that I have to bring the digital box in and swap it for a new one, which likely won't happen until Friday. Thank god I had a few episodes of Buffy left to watch.

The other thing that happened last night was that the car had a flat tire and T had to change it to the spare and he broke the jack while doing so (in the cold, of course). Anything that goes wrong with my poor little car right now is a big deal, since it's the only one we have. His car got hit by a drunk driver on New Year's Eve and is down for the count. Mine just had a new starter last week and a new block heater on Monday. And now, new tires apparently.

So that brings us to this morning. T has to be at rehearsal at 10am, but we're out of cat food and the cats were complaining bitterly. So he decided to go to the 7-11 just before we left for work, to get cat food. And when he got to the 7-11 ..... the spare tire was totally flat. So he had to leave the car at the store and walk back home (in the cold, of course). Now he's all stressed out because he's going to be late for rehearsal. He calls and leaves them a message and then calls a tire place to arrange to have them tow the car and put on two new front tires and give us a new spare. But of course he has the keys with him and there's no time to go back and put them in the car, so we finally determine that I can send the keys to the tire store in a cab when I get to work. We hustle out the door to the bus, stopping to help a poor guy in a wheel chair who was stuck in the snow along the way, freeze our asses off at the bus stop, get on the bus and we're finally on our way. T is only going to be about 10 minutes late, after all that. Then this guy gets royally pissed off when the bus driver doesn't stop at the stop he wants to get off at (because he hasn't actually rung the bell, the idiot), and when he gets off at the next stop, he turns around and kicks a huge hole in the glass of the back door. A huge hole. Glass flying everywhere. What the hell is wrong with people???? So now we have to wait 15 more minutes while the bus driver sorts out what to do about this (the asshole got away, of course).

Anyhow, we finally made it. T was only about 20 minutes late, which isn't bad, considering. But he was so wound up I thought he might have a stroke. He doesn't handle stress well, poor guy. I kept gently telling him to calm down, as there was nothing he could do about any of it.

I can only hope things are going to go uphill from here (knock on wood). It's going to be a long day, as I have rehearsal this afternoon and then w have a big fancy function this evening. Bleck.

All I really want to do is be home in bed with my 47 layers of clothing on and my nine blankets and my cat. Is that so much to ask?

Vorig - Daarna

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