amusedI did the worst packing job ever. I packed one piece of a two piece outfit, forgot drugs, forgot my thermometer (at the office, of all places), okay, there was something else I forgot, but I forgot that too.
Drugs wouldn't have been a huge deal except it was the weekend by the time I noticed and so no good way to reach my doc to get her to call in a new prescription as my old one was used up. At synagogue Friday night, I prayed for the ability to be useful to my friend (the one's whose daughter's was the Bat Mitzvah.) And I think I was, on only 2 doses of Excedrin. The headaches never got to, well, to the point they are right now, the "face clawing" stage, I like to call it. Where I start eyeing my letter opener thinking that if I apply the correct precision, I could excise the pain physically and walk away completely unscathed. Yeah, I took some drugs instead, dropping on top of some chocolate. I should be okay in about a half hour. It's the waiting that kills you. I'm definitely the instant gratification type. I think that the act of admission that something is wrong is what's needed to affect recovery. The doing something afterwards to fix the problem is an anathma. What you do afterwards should be preventative to keep it from happening again. I blame the RAMBAM for this disconnect in my brain between my expectations and life's harsh reality.
Today is my sissy's birthday. Happy birthday, best and only Sissy I shall ever have. (that I know of, heh heh heh.) I shall have to remember to call her. I haven't gotten her a present yet, because I haven't found anything she'll like. When I do, I'll send it and it will be a pleasant surprise. Mom is watching Nat tonight while Sissy and Brian go out for some alone time. Next week, Dad is babysitting while Mom is in Israel with the cousins. Dad is so excited, he's already planning what they can do. If it were Wednesday, the'd probably be headed to the UofL basketball game, (sorry, Sammah. Mom's a UK fan, but Dad got his MBA at UofL.)
So back to the weekend. Uneventful trip down. Hoppie slept a little, and I did too, on the first leg, but not on the second. I finished this romance series I was reading (read the fourth book of a trilogy. When did that become trendy? Don't you people realize that the fourth book of a trilogy is what Euclid rides into hell?) Friday night we went to synagogue. The Bachora Ha'Bat Mitzvah (the Bat Mitzvah student) lead the services beautifully. Then we had some non-father-of-the-Bat-Mitzvah made bread (yes, K complained that they didn't use the Challah he'd baked specially for the occasion.) Talked for a bit. Met the other out-of-towners. The Bat Mitzvah, oh she of great scepticism, made me practice the blessings so I wouldn't embarass her in the morning. R (mother of the Bat Mitzvah) invited us over for lentil soup, but we headed home. I can't remember if we went to bed or spent a little time with my parents. I vaguely think we spent time with parents, but I can't remember anything we talked about.
Next day, went back to Synagogue with Dad and Hoppie. Did my Aliyah. The reviews came back, a little intense, a little fast, but okay. Bat Mitzvah girl was solid though. Rabbi was a little flaky, but what else was new. We sat between some old friends of mine growing up. Father and mother behind us, Children and their children in front of us. The Rabbi didn't announce the pages of the readings, but Dad and I found them anyway. She was good. We didn't fair nearly as well finding the Haftarah, and when she finished reading, I gave up, but she sounded good. And apparently K's challah was good AND got used, um, eaten.
Then we had lunch there, schmoozed, hoppie met Lori's parents for the first time. All good stuff.
Then we went home and napped a bit. Then we got ready for the party in the evening. Hoppie and I had a big debate about whether to bring the camera, but eventually, hoppie convinced me we should bring it, better we bring it and not use it, than not bring it and wish we had. In return for his credible sentiment, I made him carry the bag (at least to the car. By the time we sat down at our table, he'd somehow gotten it back to me.). Party was amazing. The DJ was fabulous. The kids all had a great time, according to the reports (still coming in), and I think the adults did too. Everyone looks happy in the picture. Hoppie and I stayed until the last dawg was hung, of course. The caller, who is apparently the new Cotillion teacher, played tons of games, and had tons of specialty dances. One game had 30 kids lined up in 3 teams of 10 each. Each kid had a number 0-9, and they had to arrange themselves properly in front of him to answer his questions. (like if he asked, how many months in a year, they would have to send up the 1 and the 2 people and they'd have to stand in the correct order in front of him.) It was a stitch. He also had a group of "party motivators," high school kids with good rhythm and a love of dance who kept things going on the dance floor and moved around the room keeping people involved. It was a group of 5 women and 3 men, plus the caller. We got home around midnightish and went straight to bed. The next morning, I woke up, checked email, failed to respond to any of it, checked LJ, found out about the GREAT OUTAGE, and then walked downstairs to check on Dad. He was watching Goldeneye, and before you could say "Wow! Sean Bean!" so was I. I stopped periodically to help him get breakfast ready, and wake hoppie. Brian, Sissy, Nat, and MeeMaw came over for breakfast. They stayed about 2 hours or so, then they left for an appointment, and we left for R and K's for second breakfast, my little hobbitses. K's mom and sister and brother-in-law were there as well as the kids and friends of the Bat Mitzvah. We gabbed and had a good time and ate A's delicious cheesecake, and then we left to watch what we could of the Pats game.
Shortly before halftime, we left for Derby Dinner Playhouse which was showing Social Security. It was very funny. After that, we went home, and Mom insisted we had straight to bed so we could be up early the next morning.
I woke up at 5, so I could take a bath. I took my bath, woke hoppie, fixed dad's scanner again with, oddly enough, the same solution, although I didn't upgrade the firmware this time.), woke hoppie again, finished packing than had some breakfast and some pills. Then we had a return uneventful trip home, on which hoppie slept for most of it, and I didn't sleep a wink. On the second leg, we found a puzzle book someone had left in the seat pocket in front of us, and we did a logic puzzle together and I did a circular crossword. I feel like we should have left it for the next people, but I was still interested in doing the puzzles, so I took it home.
And speaking of home, that's where we went immediately after leaving the airport. We took a couple of hours to nap, and then I woke up, caught up on email, lj, and the rpg, and then hoppie woke up. We had dinner, watched some TV companionably, then I talked to a friend of mine who's thinking of switching to Tech writing. The conversation was a little annoying. I was talking about writing samples, and the kind of thing he should be able to show people to prove he can write, given that he has no practical writing experience and he hasn't saved any of the written work he's done at previous jobs. He doesn't really have anything he could he put into a portfolio (although I'm really hoping I just surprised with the question, and by now he does have stuff.) I think I really stunned him with my suggestions and recommendations. I wonder what he was expecting. He was talking about his friend who made the transition really easily to techncial writing from QA using test plans as his writing samples. I pounced, "You have test plans. Those would be good writing samples."
"Well, no. I don't think I ever wrote test plans."
I told him I would send him a link to my old resume (since the new one hasn't hit "go live" state yet, (yeah, yeah, I know.)) and the writing samples I have online. He seemed stunned by the idea that I had multiple samples to show different types of docs. "Hello! How many years have you known me? Did you think I was sitting on my ass eating bon bons?"
Feh. Anyway that was kind of irritating. So that was my trip. How was ya'll's weekends?
Bunny's book club tonight.
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