thunderstorm hangover
April 20, 2006, 8:07 P.M.

The atmosphere last night seemed to keep me awake--I know it was after eleven when I finally dozed off. Then we had at least one lovely round of thunderstorms to disturb my slumber. As a result, I felt crappy and tired today. Cranky and jittery overly emotional and generally hung over. Man, what's the point of being an abstainer if I'm going to feel like this anyway?

Despite this being a law, they make it nearly impossible to comply. (Well, all things considered--what law isn't like that?) There is nothing to even let you know you are still connected, until a synth voice blares into your ear that there are still "several" calls ahead of you in the queue. And just in case you are extra-tenacious, and manage to hang in there for over half an hour--all of a sudden, you get a series of loud, random beeps. Just to make you insane.

There is a website provided in order to fulfill this requirement, but it is every bit the nightmare the 800 number is. It took me 45 minutes to fill in the form, and I am no idiot. I don't want to say the information they require is a pain in the ass, exactly. But at one point, I was out front (at 9:30 pm) with a tape measure, measuring the distance from the nearest intersection to my property line.

I did manage to get the damned thing filled out and submitted, finally. But now we wait to see if the damned power company gets back to me.

And this morning, I woke up with a twitch in that eye. Like I wasn't having enough fun.

Can someone please explain how this can be a growth experience when it makes me feel so diminished?

And where, on the incredibly detailed, 200-row spreadsheet on which I'm supposed to document my day (in fifteen minute increments), I'm supposed to document my daily nervous breakdown and crying jag?

I actually spent my lunch break asleep in my car, because I was so exhausted from all the bullshit. I reclined the passenger seat, lay back, and grabbed a thirty-minute nap.

Only to come back in and go to a team meeting where I got to listen to a co-worker bitch incessantly about how she isn't adequately compensated or appreciated. For an entire hour. I had to pee so bad I finally tore a piece off her from impatience. So now I'm exhausted all over again, and I've been having bladder cramps ever since.

So what event of immense significance was he calling about? This:

Steely Dan is touring this year.

While this is very awesome--especially if they get Michael McDonald to come out with them--
It really wasn't the kind of news I'd expected when he said "important news". What's even funnier--when I came home from work, there was a note hanging up in the kitchen, printed in a huge, heavy font, telling me this news. Just in case he couldn't get me on the phone, I guess. He's such a stitch, sometimes.

It is awesome, though. I loves me The Dan. I took Spouse to their Milwaukee "Tour2K" show for our 15th wedding anniversary, And it was the best, tightest, most polished public performance I'd ever seen. So--we're totally going. Even though it's all the way out in Tinley Park at the Tweeter Center.

Oops. Make that the "First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre". Evidently Tweeter quit paying the bills on the naming rights or something. Anyway, it's like 80 or 90 miles away. Closest show they're doing this time out, so whaddaya gonna do?

It's totally empty now. Which is a good thing, as it is food sale day at the plant where Spouse works. Cases of frozen pizza and sandwiches for rock-bottom prices. He's bringing home a ton of stuff, because he bought for friends and relatives as well as for us.