but with less biblical implications
i told myself i was going to be friendlier with people, even with people who i'm not necessarily sure that i actually like or want to spend time with. i told myself i wanted to take some more adventures and experience some more things - to travel and to spend some time in the city that sits mere steps from my front door.
the first time i said any of this outloud was less than two weeks ago and already things seem to be coming to fruition.
folks, i don't get phone calls in the middle of the day. everyone i know knows i work from seven to three-thirty and that at any given point in that period i could be in a fairly relevant meeting. they also know i'm glued to my cell phone and a gtalk message will do just as well. so when my mom called, i sent her to voicemail but i got a little worried. turns out, she was calling to tell me she has a conference in the district in a few weeks and wanted to know if i want to go and crash in her free hotel room. the supreme court, the senate floor, the eternal flame, the memorials...the list of things that i would like to see is a mile long and i need to be a little gentler with my mother six months ago, an improptu trip would have seemed too impulsive to me now? it seems like the kind of thing i should be doing. when else are you going to get a cross country get-away to a destination you'd actually like to see for the low low cost of $180 in airfare and whatever you feel like spending while you're there?
last night, i went out with some co-workers. i have the foundation of a sinus infection, so i really didn't want to go. a killer sore throat from the post-nasal drip and a cough that's mere moments away from becoming productive - ew. but i went anyway because i said i would and because, usually, once i'm at these things, i start to have fun. that, and i've always been interested to know if it was the alcohol that made these people more tolerable or not. so i went and i had a rootbeer and water and mike pouted and eventually insisted we leave, but it was okay since i was tired and my throat hurt from yelling and the venue they chose wasn't my favorite. so we left before i got a chance to get bored (and evidently before the real fun began, which was kind of a bummer to find out about later) but I think it was for the best because this has been kind of a long week. turns out, my sister-in-law is more tolerable when i've been drinking, and the crazy girls i used to work with but never liked are neither more or less likable when i've had something to drink - but they're the kind of people who bring their two year olds to bars. grace, as it turns, is neither more or less fun when i'm drunk - but she's a hell of a lot more fun when she's drunk and her boyfriend shall remain a kill joy.
what it also results is that last night, seconds after crawling into a bath so hot i'm pretty sure i was being poached (it was awesome), my phone started ringing, then buzzing, then droiding, then dinging, because one voicemail gets sent to you nine ways from sunday when you use google voice. (in fairness, i need my voicemails sent that virulently, but it's annoying when you're in the tub and you're not sure if that was sixteen text messages you just got or one voicemail notification.) it was a very drunk sister-in-law ("i'm a little drunk, and i don't really feel very good. can you talk to grace for me, i'm sick.") and an even drunker grace ("i'm a little drunk...i'm going to call you back when i'm less drunk, k?') insisting i join them next saturday in the city for a girls weekend.
bonus - a few days ago a friend reminded me of our staff meetup in nola this june...and that there are still a few spare bunks available. i wasn't going to go because the last time we went on a trip with them the combination of fans, needy girls i was traveling with tugging at my apron strings the whole weekend, a tiny hotel room, sweltering heat and who the hell likes orlando anyway? made the entire trip kind of...well, sucky. i'm not sure i'm going to go yet, but i'm sure i'm considering it. with separate rooms, a different venue and the promise that people know me well enough now to know that i will occasionally declare 'y'all need to back the hell off for a half hour' and that i can make my own dinners and not eat the crap laying around makes me think the trip might, in the end, be worth it.
three easy, inexpensive (yay for cheap, people!) adventures presented in less than 24 hours, and to think, i wasn't even trying.
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