June 08, 2006

ugh

There were two Lost Posts while Magpie was down. I posted them in MT instead, so you'll see them when the new design is up, which, unfortunately, has no definite date at the moment. Chel and I are still trying to work out some software issues, hopefully with the help of Cait. So basically, it'll be up when it's up. Be calm. And stop asking me about it.

Yesterday started badly. I got big shit from my boss TWICE before 9:00 AM. Then he just annoyed me for the rest of the day. Then I got my Bell bill (my second one, mind you), and it was for nearly $300! APPARENTLY, I spent a few hours on my mobile browser, or however much amount of time it takes to rack up $184 worth of charges. Firstly, let me establish that computers are for internet. Phones are for talking to people. I think I've used my mobile browser maybe three times since I got it, only for a few minutes each time, and I have only once downloaded anything - it was Bejeweled. Secondly, there is no way to ACCIDENTALLY be on the internet on my phone. You have to go through two menus and press another button before you're in. And when you press the end button, it disconnects after a while, and when you press the end button again to clear the menu, it disconnects immediately. And I talked to Andy about how maybe I was online while I was playing Bejeweled, but he says that you download those, and then that's it.

I've just had a thought, though. Chel, what if when you're emailing my phone from your computer? Would that count?

Anyway, I'm going to call them in an hour or so. We shall see how that goes.

The only plus to yesterday is that I was able to begin tracking my Mac shipment. The computer left Shanghai and made it to Anchorage yesterday. The other hardware is in Toronto, and the software I got yesterday. I hope to get the hardware today.

Other than that, today has started poorly as well.

To begin, I went to the grocery store to pick up my lunch so I wouldn't have to walk there in the possible thunderstorm we are supposed to have. But for some reason, grocery stores, while they are open, have NO FOOD available, not even bread, at 8:15 AM. Odd.

As I was walking along Richmond, I approached s minor intersection where some schmo was trying to turn right. He was watching the traffic, and not glancing to his right to check pedestrian traffic, like most normal people do. I knew he didn't see me, so I was being cautious. I hesitated, but his car stopped its creep forward when a slew of cars passed on Richmond. This was my chance. I went. Right when I was directly in front of his car, the schmo, while still looking right, and not in the direction that his 1.5 tonne vehicle was headed, decided now would be a good chance to go. He was a foot from me when he finally saw me, and about 6 inches from me when he finally stopped. He put his hand up to his mouth in a rather comical OOPS expression. I glared at him as he CASUALLY apologized for nearly hitting me (because he didn't SEE me - just what happened the LAST time I got hit), and I yelled at him, "watch where you're GOING!" (you know, as opposed to somewhere the fuck else as you're manipulating an enormous metal car around). Then he said, "no problem!" waved cheerily at me and drove off. Are you kidding me? I hate people.

Then I get to work and my boss has turned my desk into Ground Zero. We plowed through it in five minutes and then he finally left, but he keeps calling me to annoy me every five minutes, while he rambles on about something he wants me to do, without actually explaining it, of course) and then hangs up, only to call me again five minutes later (perhaps that's an exaggeration, but still).

This is why I have a tendency to shower after work when I'm here for a full day. It's more a therapeutic and symbolic cleansing than anything else (I have the actual wash-me shower in the morning). Not only is the dirt and grime of the day stuck to you in the afternoon, but you also have all that negative energy around you. My hair and face, to me, always feel the dirtiest at the end of the day, but I think it's more from the barrage of interactions aimed at my brain than anything else. If my skin didn't filter some of it out, I'd go mad.

So I shower at the end of the day. I usually wash my hair, but I often don't bother with soap or anything else (because I'm not actually dirty). It's just my way of putting a symbolic divide between home and work. I sluice the day's troubles down the drain and emerge refreshed and renewed. And it only works perfectly as a ritual if I'm at home. In a shower, you are naked and enclosed, with your back to everything else. It's a very vulnerable position. At home, however, you feel fully safe being so vulnerable. Perhaps that's why I never feel as clean when I shower in someone else's bathroom. Doesn't have the same kind of energy, I guess.

Er, I think that's my story.

Posted by Ally at June 8, 2006 09:06 AM
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