In Your Face, Vision Of My Own Death

My six-month dental check-up was scheduled for last Friday morning, but given that I had meetings all fucking day on Friday, I called in to reschedule it to this morning.
It was at 10:30, so as I thought about that last week I considered how much of a pain it would be to get up, drive to Herndon, be at work for two hours, then drive to Ashburn, then drive back to Herndon for the rest of the day, and I also considered that I needed to get my 5,000 mile maintenance done on my car, and I also considered that I like not being at work, so I decided to just take the day off.
Of course, as a result of my check-up I have to go back on Monday to get two crowns put in - which means, apparently, that I have to live without my bottom plate for a week for some reason, so I'll be doing even less smiling than usual - so I'm going to end up getting up, driving to Herndon, being at work for two hours, then driving up to Ashburn, then going back to Herndon for what remains of the workday anyway.
Oh well.
After finishing at the dentist I picked up my three-month supply of Purilens solution for my contacts from my eye doctor's Ashburn office, then ate lunch and realized that I didn't have enough time to really do anything before my maintenance appointment, but that if I drove straight there I'd be ridiculously early.
Ultimately I decided to just take my time getting there, but still ended up arriving 50 minutes early.
I decided to drive around for a while, mostly in pursuit of some place with a public restroom that could afford more privacy than a standard gas station restroom, and I became keenly aware of something that's been bothering me about Northern Virginia for the nearly seven years that I've lived here: nothing is conveniently located.
The landscape is riddled with industrial buildings, office complexes, and shopping plazas full of things like nail salons, piano repair shops, and pet stores, but actual useful places like grocery stores tend to be few and far between. Even convenience stores are inconveniently located, spread out sparsely across multiple counties.
(I just learned yesterday that some cities have laws dictating that gas stations can't be located too close to eah other, for some given value of "too close.")
I drove off in what I thought was a direction likely to lead to a Giant, or Bloom, or Safeway, but at the end of it found a hardware store, a Subway, and various nail salons, so I turned around and headed off in the opposite direction for several miles before finally finding a Harris Teeter.
Still, even after making use of the facilities, despite all of the driving around, I still arrived at the dealership a little early.
After that I was on my way home when I decided that I should stop at Target, though I didn't really know why.
After all, I just went shopping on Saturday, so Ididn't really need anything. Ultimately I decided that I would pick up Transformers 2 on Blu-ray.
Last winter I caught the sleeve of my leather jacket on something and ended up tearing a big hole in it. I've been thinking about picking up a replacement; something light enough to wear when it's just a little cool out, but sufficient to keep me warm on the trek from the parking garage to my cubicle.
So as I was headed - mostly pointlessly - to Target, I was going past the Outlet Mall, and thought about how there's still a Wilson's Leather actually open there, and one part of my mind decided that I should stop there first.
The other part of my mind, the part that knows that even on a Tuesday afternoon the Outlett Mall is far more crowded than a mostly open-air space out to be, objected.
That part tried to appeal to a third part of my mind to resist the first part, but that was the part that is apathetic and generally says, "Do whatever the hell you want. I don't care."
So as I made the lane change, in accordance with the first part of my mind's wishes, I said, "Really? We're doing this? *Sigh*"
I looked around for a while and found something I kind of liked on the clearance rack, but it didn't fit very well. I was about to give up, but found the same jacket in a slightly larger size, tried it on, and found that it fit well (except for the sleeves, which are always an issue for me; anything that fits my shoulders and the incongruous length of my torso is going to be a bit long in the sleeves) .
It's a pretty nice jacket; soft leather, lightweight, and designed to look rather like a leather sport coat. Not thrilled about the lack of external pockets, - it's got those fake pockets like you'd find on a sport coat - but overall it was the one I liked most , and with the clearance price I saved $250. Well, technically I didn't save that much, as if it had been selling for $400 I wouldn't have actually bothered buying it at all. Still, it was a good deal.
After that I went to Target and found myself wishing that I hadn't done my shopping on Saturday, as shopping at Target on a weekday afternoon would be comparatively pleasant. It made me miss my old work schedule.
When I have to do a bunch of running around like I did today - Leesburg to Ashburn, Ashburn to Chantilly, Chantilly back to Leesburg; for me that's a lot of running around - I spend some amount of time the night before mapping out my route and figuring out what stops I'll be making along the way and how I'm going to move from one point to another.
I was thinking about what method I would take to get to 28 after picking up the Purilens solution and getting lunch at McDonald's, trying to decide if I would take a right, then make a U-turn at the light, of if I would take my chances and just turn left, cutting across three lanes of traffic on a relatively - especially around noon - busy street.
As I thought about that, I imagined myself turning left quickly in a vain effort to beat oncoming traffic and very vividly pictured myself getting hit from both sides.
After picturing that I thought, "I think I may have just had a vision of my own death."
However, in reality, I was completely in the clear when I opted to make the left turn today, and as I did so, I said, "In your face, vision of my own death!"
Anyway, that was my day off, a day that went by altogether too quickly.

OF COURSE I Threw It Away. Why Wouldn't I?

I liked having last Monday off so much that I decided to do it again this Monday.
Actually, I decided to take it off so that I could go out and get some things done while most people are at work, such as my taxes.
I also decided that I can get by on what I have at home, so I didn’t do my grocery shopping today. I figure on also getting a haircut on Monday and swinging by my chiropractor’s office to pre-pay for a bunch of appointments with what’s left of last year’s Flex account, as I have until March to use that up.
Yesterday I found out how much my merit increase and bonus – which I should get on my next payday – are going to be. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed, but I realize that there are plenty of people who aren’t getting raises or bonuses at all, or who don’t even have jobs, so I’m certainly not going to complain about it.
As mentioned, I didn’t go grocery shopping today, though I did swing by the comic shop.
When I got home from that brief trip out into the world I decided that I would give the house the thorough cleaning that it’s been needing.
I got started on it, but soon found that my heart just wasn’t in it. I did at least manage to tidy things up a bit.
I also washed my sheets.
After I’d finished that I made my bed and thought, “Well, it’s made; I might as well lie in it,” but soon found that a nap just wasn’t going to happen, so I got up and watched last night’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold on my DVR, and then, as mentioned in my earlier post, unhappily watched last Monday’s episode of Heroes. Ugh.
(The one thing that could get me to tune back in? Having someone punch Hiro right in the face – hard – as he throws up his arms and yells “Ya ta!”)
Beyond that I got all of the necessary statements and whatnot assembled for getting my taxes done. I tend to hold onto every bill and statement that I get in the mail, even though I pay pretty much everything via online banking. I usually keep them until the next year, at which point I toss them. It’s very rare for me to just throw one away.
Naturally this means that the few exceptions prove to be the instances in which I actually needed to hold onto the statement.
For example, I always, always, always keep my mortgage statements, and I know that the statement I get in December is going to have my tax statement included so that, even though it’s already the standard practice, I need to hold onto that one.
Which is why it makes perfect sense that, apparently, I threw that one away.
At least, it wasn’t in the “tax stuff” pile, nor could I find it in any of the other somewhat organized piles of assorted “stuff.”
Fortunately I was able to get what I needed from my mortgage company’s Web site.
Still, I sometimes have to pause to be amazed by the fact that I can have those kinds of moments of monumental stupidity – and have them so frequently – and still manage to feed and clothe myself.