Crunch Time

Why do I do this to myself? I’m sitting here playing what must be my 78th game of Solitaire today, and I have yet to finish wrapping up my work for the weekend. I had days to do this, but I’ve waited until midnight on a Sunday. It should only be another half hour or so before the familiar feeling of panic starts creeping in, the panic that makes me feel like I’m cramming for an 8am final.

Why didn’t I do this on Friday? I was too busy enjoying some beer with a guy I met on Craigslist. That’s right, Craigslist. He lives only a few blocks from me, so I walked over to his house, sat on his balcony for a few hours, and chatted. He’s a pretty interesting guy who works at the Department of State, escorting foreign journalists around town. That’s one thing I really like about this area — there are so many people with such diverse backgrounds that I haven’t met any two people who are alike in the least, not in terms of their interests, how they got here, or their families.

Why not Saturday? By the time I woke up around 11am, it was nearly time to meet my coworker and head down to the Irish Festival in Alexandria. Although it turned out to be smaller than we thought (just a gathering of tents and Celtic crafts in a small park by the waterfront), we got to explore Old Town Alexandria. We had lunch at a cute restaurant, then wandered around aimlessly, stepping into salt water taffy shops, admiring the colonial brick buildings, and squealing at all the cute dogs on the sidewalks.

After the Irish Festival was no good either. We watched 500 Days of Summer (has to be one of my favorite movies, it’s so cute!!!), then headed over to another coworker’s house, where he was hosting a party. It was mostly a gathering of his other friends, instead of our coworkers, but I spent some time playing beer pong before heading home.

I also couldn’t work for the majority of today because if I didn’t go grocery shopping, I would have had nothing to eat next week. So it was off to Safeway and Costco. Grocery shopping always takes up more time than I plan because I browse the aisles for deals and buy things I don’t necessarily need; today, it was a baking pan, but I actually used it later to bake a cake, so it wasn’t a completely unnecessary purchase.

And here I am. Errands, fun, and now 79 games of Solitaire later, I am not any closer to finishing writing these minutes for work. Why do I do this to myself? :(