The Calm Instead of the Storm

It's after 6:00 p.m. on a Friday. I'm still at work.

But that's OK.

For one thing, I missed 2+ days of work this week. So I owed it to my job and stay late and catch up on the things that need to be caught up on.

For another, it's nice here. It's quiet. I'm the only here. And somehow being-at-work alone is more pleasant than being-at-home alone. Precocious Daughter has a football game tonight, and she won't be home until 11:00 or so. When she's not around, I tend to lament her absence.

On the other hand, when my co-workers aren't around I put my feet up on the desk and pretend to smoke a cigar and act like I own the joint.

I didn't find this picture until after I wrote that description.
That's pretty hilarious. My mustache is not (yet)
that luxuriant, however. Give it time.

So I've caught up on my work, and now I'm just hanging out. Listening to music, checking Twitter, all that stuff I'm not supposed to do on company time.

Googling pictures of monkeys teasing cats, etc.

Except for a run to the pet store to pick up guinea pig supplies, I've got nothing to do and nowhere to be until PDaughter calls me to pick her up.

Yeah, I realize that's pretty pathetic. But no one ever called me a party animal. Or if they did they were wrong and possibly didn't speak English as their first language.

Incidentally, you would not believe how much
one guinea pig can eat.

My point is, there's literally one thing keeping me from hanging out here all evening.

I'm hungry.

And there's nothing to eat here except pretzels and bags of airline peanuts (which I insist my traveling co-workers donate to me when they fly Southwest, because I have that kind of power in the office. Not really. Well, maybe just one small mwa-ha-haaaa.)

So pretty soon I'll shut it all down and point myself toward dinner, the pet store, and finally, home. Read a little and try to stay awake until 11:00.

It sounds like a pleasant way to end an unpleasant week.

Thanks again to everyone who reached out to me and made me feel strong when I was feeling weak. Stronger, anyway. I can't wait to acknowledge all of you in that book I keep telling myself I'm going to write.

Gotta run.

Maybe I'll lick everybody's phone handset before I leave.

Nah.

One more monkey before I go.