MimiSmartypants" alt="In which I have subtitles, a la Quitters Always Win
According to QuitNet, it's been 18 days, 16 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds since I last smoked, probably a few minutes more by the time you read this. Through ChurchCamp, a mini-roadtrip, and hanging out at the bar, I haven't had an urge strong enough to make me start again. And not to sound boastful or self-aggrandizing, but this has really been rather easy. Not so easy I'm willing to do it over again, mind you, but a lot easier than I thought it would be. I figure this probably has something to do with me just setting my mind on quitting, then following through. Now if only I could do that in all other aspects in my life...
And Now For Something Completely Different
Last weekend, Benjamin The Husband and I decided to stop at Applebee's to eat some lunch while shopping in the mall-area. I haven't been to Applebee's in probably 2-3 years (we don't eat out at places that aren't sushi that often), and as we were waiting for the hostess to come back to seat us, I started looking at the wallflare presented for my ADD pleasure. Just above the hostess station itself were some large framed shadowboxes with high school senior photos and other misc. detritus displayed. I looked over the faces and felt a little sinking feeling in my stomach - all of the photos featured familiar faces. I glanced at the cover of the yearbook in the frame and knew immediately every peak and valley in it's embossed black design proclaiming Boise High's year ending in 1997 "In Perspective".
At this point, the hostess was ready to seat us, and I said hurriedly (v. possibly bitchily, too)
, "Can you hold on a second? I need to make sure I'm not on your wall." She (all female humans younger than me now look 16, but she looked maybe 18) smiled confusedly, and looked at me like I was an idiot while I searched harder for my horrible senior photo (so horrible we never ordered prints. Oh yeah, and we were too poor at the time) in the frame. After looking for another 45 seconds, I was satisfied that my head had not made the artist's cut for the display, and was ready to leave my firmly planted spot. Until, that is, I saw that the large frame directly to the left of the original which had the same styling and "Boise High colors". However, this frame? The frame to the left? Contained photos from the choirs. Me? I was a choir geek in high school. Sure enough, at least 2 group photos in this exhibit contained my 17 and/or 16 year old self, in black and white glory. The photos, however, were small enough so that only I may know where my head and body are located. We finally sat down to eat some food.
On the way out of the restaurant, I took a hasty cameraphone shot of the atrocity, which I present to you here today. I, sir/madame am at Applebee's all. the. time. And that really kind of creeps me out.
I Would Fly Out Today, But My Arms Are Already Tired
I leave for NYC 3 weeks from today, and I still haven't secured a floor on which to sleep nor a bus ticket to NoHo, where the Pantses' wedding is taking place. I am looking forward to seeing Smith College and the grounds, as I was a little teeny bit obsessed with Sylvia Plath for a while, and they hold a lot of her original journals, photos, etc. Not like I'll have a lot of time to be all geeky about authors while my friends are pouring drinks down my throat at the WWII club. I am feeling oddly calm about this trip, though very little planning has been done by me in preparation for any of this, which really isn't the best thing ever. The whole concept of traveling has become kind of second-nature for me, and I know that things will fall into place, and I have friends that will watch my back while in the big city. However, I know I need to step back for a second and take care of some stuff before chilling out, and the whole fact that I haven't done anything is making me a bit stressed out in the back of my brain. Obvs I have many more things on which to dote until then that are taking up all of the stressful nerves in my body, so who knows when this will get done. Hrm...
...And Then There Was One
So I'm busy already. And? I got called in for jury duty next week. I don't know if I'll actually have to go in yet, but this just isn't the best time ever for something like this. And the sad thing? I've been looking forward to getting jury duty for forever. It has always seemed so exciting to me. A jury! W00T! But now? Not the best time. On top of all of this, I've got a ton of work to do before next Monday for my normal (day) job that's taking up all of my freelancing time. Maybe you can see where this is going. I won't bore you with all of the details. Just pray that I don't end up taking the work computer with me to Europe. Because really? That would really really suck.
xoxo
Why would Applebees have photos from Boise High yearbooks on its wall. That seems really terrible. I would be very offended if some horrid family restaurant had a photo of me on their wall without my premission.
Posted by: jennifer at July 19, 2006 11:11 AM