Robert Manners

AAAUGH! The Friday, the Friday! Help!

Why don't I just start taking Fridays off? This one has been less of a disaster than some of the others, but it's nevertheless been a little slice of Hell all day!



First, I had two seemingly simple projects to get through: count ballots for a delegate election, and put together a garage sale flyer. Easy breezy, n'est-ce pas? Well, I'd forgotten how mind-numbingly tedious it is to count ballots. Then you have to muddle through the chagrin of so many incorrectly cast ballots, and worry that these people are teachers and librarians and counselors and are yet unable to read and follow simple instructions. It took most of the day. So I had very little time to give to the flyer, which is the thing I most wanted to do. Still, I got it done and sent and finished, and brought my day to a close.



Well, my next item was to go shopping for new jeans, which are on sale at Mervyn's. Caroline tagged along for the ride, as she found herself at a loose end. Well, we went out to Southshore Center, I got my jeans, and was ready to go...but by then Caroline had started shopping, and I swear to God she's the worst person to shop with. She has to try everything on, in at least five different sizes and colors, and she stands there in the dressing room staring at herself forever, trying to decide how the garment will look with different shoes, if she lost five pounds, if she gained five pounds, if she were standing in a high wind, if she were sitting in a chair, etc. That's what makes women so hard to shop with: men try on clothes to see if they fit our bodies, women try on lifestyles to see if their bodies fit them. Well, I ended up getting a couple more outfits while I waited for her, so it was okay, after all. I even got some really cute stationery. But it was boring nonetheless.



Then I went to the bank machine to get out some cash (because I couldn't find my checkbook, and I had promised my sister $100 to pay for my niece's piano lessons for the month). So after I withdrew the cash, my ATM receipt registered my balance as zero. "?!?!?!" When I got home, I went online and checked my statement, and it said my last deposit had been for $187.30...when it had in fact been $1,087.30! Big difference! So I had to call up the bank and listen to horrible lyricless acoustic-guitar hold-music while they straightened themselves out. One nice thing about Bank of America, though: when they screw up, they always admit it promptly and put it right with dispatch and courtesy.



Then when I logged into my email, I found that I had used the wrong logo in the flyer! Eeep! So I came running back to the office, since I didn't have any pertinent phone numbers at the house (I had left my address book on my desk, where it does me no good at all, since all those numbers are also in my computer). Fortunately, the logo thing had been settled at the other end, so I didn't have to do anything. But still, it was a scare.



And that is why I am sitting in my office at 10 pm on a Friday night. Oy. They say the definition of insanity is to repeat an action over and over, expecting different results each time. I keep thinking my Fridays are going to get better, but they never do. I should just accept the fact that Friday sucks, and move from that point.



Well, there is one part of Friday that doesn't suck: The Friday Five!



1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well? Capricorn (with Gemini rising, Scorpio moon, etc.) Following the link in the FF, I find this definition of Capricornity:

When you find that you are smarter or more knowledgeable than those around you, you are also too clever to be arrogant about it. The Capricorn personality succeeds best through steady perseverance. Capricorn is symbolized by the goat, an animal sometimes considered stubborn, but one with great endurance. A mountain goat may not be able to go straight to the top, but must carefully find its way around boulders and along steep paths until it reaches the peak. So, too, the Capricorn personality does not always achieve immediate gratification, but will triumph in the long run. The Capricorn personality may sometimes be a little too practical. Don't let yourself become so serious that you forget to have your fair share of fun in life. People who know you well will come to admire your wisdom, and to place a high value on your advice. Most Capricorns make good friends because of their discretion. They don't force themselves into situation where they aren't wanted -- but they are usually wanted!

Yeah, I guess that suits me pretty well. I am not very serious, though sometimes I am boring. I'm not very perserverent, either, I tend to give up easily. And I just love immediate gratification, though I occasionally enjoy delayed gratification, and sometimes I forget which desire I'm trying to gratify...but if I don't get it fairly soon, I just stop wanting it.



2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received? Nothing. I hate getting nothing. And I often get nothing.



3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received? Money! My mother once gave me $500 for my birthday, and that was really great (her mother-in-law had just died, leaving her a small chunk of change, and gifts were lavish that year). The second-best was the utterly perfect pair of vintage Hobé earrings that Shiloh gave me this year.



4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far? My 24th birthday was lots of fun, as it corresponds with the big check mentioned above. After a shop-a-thon, I got good and dressed up (in an adorable black taffeta cocktail dress); then I took a bunch of friends out to a nightclub that had a comedian at the piano-bar. We ordered bottle after bottle of champagne, laughed with the comedian, then danced the rest of the night away. It was ever so much fun!



5. What are your plans for this weekend? Drag Bingo. Use your imaginations.



And now, for something lovely to look at:

Isn't he just too cute for words?