Pity, Party of One

This has been one of the most up-and-down days ever. It’s kind of like that Seinfeld episode, where Kramer calls Jerry ‘Even Steven’.

Yesterday sucked. It was rainy and miserable, and I learned my car needs some sort of alignment/brakes/new tires thing when I almost had an accident on the highway. I spent 5 hours looking for a plain, black good wool suit and found nothing but crap, and since Quiet refused to go with me to help I was alone and grumpy. The worst part though was the migraine I was working on, that attacked in full force later that evening. So instead of spending a restful pre-travel night I tossed and turned with the sweats and aches that follow a migraine for me. That set the pace for the whole good/bad day.

So here I am in a Fairfield in non-scenic downtown Kansas City (not sure what state I’m in exactly) and I just had a Fun Dip washed down with lukewarm bottled water that was technically my dinner. Not exactly jam-packed with baby-making vitamins and folic acid.

Good – My PS3 arrived!
Bad – It arrived exactly 24 minutes after I left for the airport. No lie.

Bad – I was booked on two middle seats for the flight here
Good – The flights took off on time and I was able to get a window for one leg and an aisle for the other after some begging and tears and hand-wringing and basically I think the guy just wanted me to leave the desk

Good – I got a decent, albeit high-learning-curve, car from Avis (the Chevy HHR LT)
Bad – I got a frustrating, albeit 1 ½ hour long, tour of Kansas City as a result of lousy directions and the even lousier highway system (the first time I’ve ever pulled over to the side of a road, put the car in park, and just screamed the F word for 5 minutes)

Bad – Dinner was pillaged candy and lunch was airplane peanuts
Good – Less calories?

Good – The hotel is only 5 miles from the client site and the meeting isn’t until 11 am
Bad – I have to drive back to the airport at 6 am to pick up some coworkers instead of going straight to the meeting.

Other highlights of the day included airport temperatures in the 90’s (and I was carrying a wool coat that weighed more than a bear cub), an unexpected and terrifyingly painful eye injury (my laptop bag slid off my shoulder and snagged on the toggle from my sweatshirt hood, which is on an elastic that stretched to its max and then snapped with a vengeance when my bag hit the floor and in an unbelievably unlucky turn actually hit me directly in the left eye, resulting in a bloodshot swollen mess for the remainder of the day), a desk clerk checking me into an unfinished room (I opened the door after the 4-floor climb and almost sobbed when I saw the unmade bed, the paint cans, and the plumbing in the middle of the floor), then a series of brutal bad-news (work) emails assaulted me when I logged in.

I’m here all week, ladies and gentlemen. And I have to iron at some point, which makes everything somehow worse (that’s time away from sleep). Oh, and if the emotional irritation and crying jags of the past week are any indication, I’ll most likely get my period tomorrow, which will mean February’s attempts did not work. Did I mention I don't want to be here? I just want to be at home. Tomorrow people are just going to yell at me (clients, coworkers, strangers I haven't even met yet; well, maybe not the last one, but you never know).