Made it to bed by 2AM last night. All this fast living is starting to take its toll, I fear. I'm turning into a complete slug during the day. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet, early night. Oliver and Michael had left that morning, so an empty apartment awaited my collapse. The plan was to join my ex-wife for an early dinner on the upper east side, and then be home and in bed by 10 pm. I had a bag at my office which I was supposed to bring to her. Only until after I left the office and made it all the way out the door did I realize I left the bag at my desk. I turned around, and went all the way back for it. This was a sign of things to come...

I went straight from work to her place on my least favorite subway, the Lexington line, a.k.a. the Sardine Express. We had a nice dinner, and I tried to cheer her up a bit. She's is hating being single, and the holidays are making it harder for her. It was nice to talk to her though, as both our schedules have been very busy, and it felt like it had been ages since we talked.

I walked her back up to her apartment. While she shuffled through her mail in the entry foyer, she handed me the keys to the door. I unlocked the door to let us in, but after we entered I slipped the keys in my coat pocket. I chatted with her for a few minutes in the apartment, but I was ready to pass out, so I headed home. On my way to the subway, my cell phone rings. It's Michael, he's staying one more night, as his meetings ran long today. He'll be in at 11. No worries, I tell him. So back to the subway, and a 30 minute ride down and across town. At the end of the frosty, 2 cross-block walk to my apartment, I reach into my pocket for my keys, and pull out her keys.

Crap. Crap crap crap. So much for an early night. I headed up to my apartment to drop off my backpack and call her, and let her know I'm coming back with her keys. As I leave the building, my cell phone rings. It's my wife. "Can you bring that portable CD boombox you were going to give me?" Ugh. I do not want to carry that thing tonight. I am ready to fall down, and lugging a boom box around is the last thing I want to do. "No, " I tell her, "not tonight." I make it 3 steps outside the building, and I reconsider. Back up to apartment I go, and I collect the damn boom box. It is not a very light boom box, and it manages to make the long walk to the subway that much longer.

40 minutes later, after two subway trains and a lot of walking, I am once again at her door. I hand her the keys and the boom box, and she thanks me. My duty complete, I shuffle back towards the subway. I am at her corner, reaching into my pockets for my gloves, when I feel it. The cord for the damn boom box. I coiled it up and shoved it in my pocket at my apartment. I manage not to scream, and turn around, and go back up to her apartment for the fourth time that day. Knock knock, here take this, there you go, I am out of here. More walking, at least unburdened from the boom box, two more trains, two more cross-blocks, and I am almost home. I am just in time to see Michael getting dropped off on the corner. And, Oliver is waiting in front of the apartment.

I find out Michael has had a horrible day heading up a bunch of pointless focus groups, and dealing with a boss who at the last minute waffles on making the one critical decision of importance, and opts instead to do the status quo. That's leadership for you. I help Michael get specs on a high-end digital camera for work, and dispatch an email for him with the information. It's almost midnight now, and Oliver and Michael call it a night. I just want to slip in a quick tour of the various blogs, journals and web boards I visit regularly. And, foolishly, I turn on ICQ, "just to check."

Of course, Kim would have to ask a really interesting question: "If we were doing a movie of the Red Quill what actors would you pick for the characters?" Fun question. The type of thing I can't resist. Turns out this discussion is taking place on the Red Quill Hotline Server. Well well well, I can't resist pitching up for a few minutes, anyway. A few minutes stretch out until others on the chat room begin to fade. I look at the clock, it's after 1:30AM. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

At least I had my light out before 2. And tonight, I have a bondage class at T.E.S., so that means I won't be home until close to 10PM. Thursday night is set aside for getting the apartment ready for Conny's visit.

So now you have an idea where the time goes.
posted 11:16 AM | link |