Not for all the tea in China
What a long week! I'm still adjusting to these new schedules at work; for some reason, the fact that I now arrive and consequently leave an hour earlier than what I'm used to makes the shift feel longer. Working 1pm-midnight would usually go by pretty quickly, but noon-11pm just draaaaaaaaags. Or maybe I've just been running out of Internet lately. And then because of the weird, 7-week rotational schedule we have when it comes to weekends, I'm actually going to be working my first real week on the new schedule starting on Tuesday.
I totally forgot that rent was due last weekend, so when I got around to paying it on Monday, I had to throw in an extra $50 late fee. And then I also had to go and buy two new tires (the guy was trying to get me to change all four, claiming the front two are "a blow-out waiting to happen," but Niel, Shaun, and Rommel all say he's full of shit), so that was another $150. Harrrr. I've decided I don't like paying $200 dollars I wasn't planning on spending on things like late-rent fees or tires. Things like TVs that I use once or twice a month, that's cool. Tires? Late fees? Nope.
Only a few things of note really stand out from this mundane week. Sunday night, I had a very nice conversation with Dallas; we don't talk on the phone enough. She's probably the person with whom I communicate the most but only rarely do I get to hear those dulcet tones. Ay, me. Damn you, time and space.
I had a heart stress test on Thursday. Apparently, my resting heart rate is 90. The nurse asked me, "Does your chest hurt?"
"What, now?"
"Yes, now."
"Erm, no, it feels normal."
"Ok, so that must really be your resting heart rate. Most people are around 60."
"Well, I had half a pot of coffee about two-and-a-half hours ago." She nodded and made a note. I didn't tell her about the cigarette I smoked on the drive over.
Then I got to look like a computer all over again, sticky pads and wires all over my chest and arms as she gave my heart a sonogram. That was cool; I pretended I was pregnant and that was my baby and then decided that was weird, so I stopped and was just awed by my own real and intricate internal machinery. Then she had me start a brisk walk on the treadmill.
"Wow, your heart rate is already up to 120."
"Is that bad?" I wasn't exactly gasping.
"No, just quick."
The treadmill was at a slight incline, so my calves were on fire in short order. Since I'm so out of shape, it took a little bit for me to find a comfortable breathing rhythm, but once I found it, I was ok. My throat got a little tight and she got my heartrate up to 194. Then she had me lie back down on the little bed so she could take a sonogram of my quickly-beating heart.
"Ok, don't breathe so deeply."
"Heh, I'm sedentary and out of shape and I smoke and you're telling me not to breathe after running for about 10 minutes?"
"Your lungs get in the way of your heart when you breathe deeply."
She eventually got some good shots. The doctor gave me the all-clear after he'd seen the shots. It was kinda cool, watching my heart beating in an endless loop on the monitor. I had residual red sticky-square outlines on my chest and arms from the pads for a couple of days afterwards.
Thursday evening I played taxicab and went out to Your Place. I only meant to stay until about 12:30 but Dave bought me a drink and then I started feeling good and surly so I had another Crown and Coke followed by a Killian's and drove home when I shouldn't have. There was no real alternative, though, as it was past 2am. It was kind of a pissy night. I don't like being used.
Friday was fun because I had a hangover. And then sveeb and his friends Kyle and Brandon showed up at about 6pm and we hung out in my work's parking lot over my lunch break. It was good to see Steve, and we kept Internet-related talk to a minimum. Sounds like they had a fun trip and I'm glad I got to take a small part in it. I checked and Brandon has officially been banned from the Red Lobster near my work. Grr, I better have enough money for Canada.
Had a nice, windy game of frisbee golf yesterday with Shaun and Niel. Rommel and Liz showed up and just kinda followed us around. It was a gorgeous day but all of us had less-than-stellar performances. I had a depressing phone call with my ex-Beth about the Army in the afternoon. Then later that evening I met Shaun's friend Jen and we all grilled some brats and watched How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog and then went and watched Sin City. I was being entirely too fucking obnoxious the whole time. The movie was awesome, but I have this nagging feeling that we saw an abridged version, or something. I thought it would be a lot more Pulp Fiction-esque, but Marv and Dwight's stories were pretty much told in a straight-forward fashion. And the movie seemed shorter than I thought it would be.
Anyway, I need to shower as I'm going to the Jazz Festival with Rommel and Liz today.
I totally forgot that rent was due last weekend, so when I got around to paying it on Monday, I had to throw in an extra $50 late fee. And then I also had to go and buy two new tires (the guy was trying to get me to change all four, claiming the front two are "a blow-out waiting to happen," but Niel, Shaun, and Rommel all say he's full of shit), so that was another $150. Harrrr. I've decided I don't like paying $200 dollars I wasn't planning on spending on things like late-rent fees or tires. Things like TVs that I use once or twice a month, that's cool. Tires? Late fees? Nope.
Only a few things of note really stand out from this mundane week. Sunday night, I had a very nice conversation with Dallas; we don't talk on the phone enough. She's probably the person with whom I communicate the most but only rarely do I get to hear those dulcet tones. Ay, me. Damn you, time and space.
I had a heart stress test on Thursday. Apparently, my resting heart rate is 90. The nurse asked me, "Does your chest hurt?"
"What, now?"
"Yes, now."
"Erm, no, it feels normal."
"Ok, so that must really be your resting heart rate. Most people are around 60."
"Well, I had half a pot of coffee about two-and-a-half hours ago." She nodded and made a note. I didn't tell her about the cigarette I smoked on the drive over.
Then I got to look like a computer all over again, sticky pads and wires all over my chest and arms as she gave my heart a sonogram. That was cool; I pretended I was pregnant and that was my baby and then decided that was weird, so I stopped and was just awed by my own real and intricate internal machinery. Then she had me start a brisk walk on the treadmill.
"Wow, your heart rate is already up to 120."
"Is that bad?" I wasn't exactly gasping.
"No, just quick."
The treadmill was at a slight incline, so my calves were on fire in short order. Since I'm so out of shape, it took a little bit for me to find a comfortable breathing rhythm, but once I found it, I was ok. My throat got a little tight and she got my heartrate up to 194. Then she had me lie back down on the little bed so she could take a sonogram of my quickly-beating heart.
"Ok, don't breathe so deeply."
"Heh, I'm sedentary and out of shape and I smoke and you're telling me not to breathe after running for about 10 minutes?"
"Your lungs get in the way of your heart when you breathe deeply."
She eventually got some good shots. The doctor gave me the all-clear after he'd seen the shots. It was kinda cool, watching my heart beating in an endless loop on the monitor. I had residual red sticky-square outlines on my chest and arms from the pads for a couple of days afterwards.
Thursday evening I played taxicab and went out to Your Place. I only meant to stay until about 12:30 but Dave bought me a drink and then I started feeling good and surly so I had another Crown and Coke followed by a Killian's and drove home when I shouldn't have. There was no real alternative, though, as it was past 2am. It was kind of a pissy night. I don't like being used.
Friday was fun because I had a hangover. And then sveeb and his friends Kyle and Brandon showed up at about 6pm and we hung out in my work's parking lot over my lunch break. It was good to see Steve, and we kept Internet-related talk to a minimum. Sounds like they had a fun trip and I'm glad I got to take a small part in it. I checked and Brandon has officially been banned from the Red Lobster near my work. Grr, I better have enough money for Canada.
Had a nice, windy game of frisbee golf yesterday with Shaun and Niel. Rommel and Liz showed up and just kinda followed us around. It was a gorgeous day but all of us had less-than-stellar performances. I had a depressing phone call with my ex-Beth about the Army in the afternoon. Then later that evening I met Shaun's friend Jen and we all grilled some brats and watched How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog and then went and watched Sin City. I was being entirely too fucking obnoxious the whole time. The movie was awesome, but I have this nagging feeling that we saw an abridged version, or something. I thought it would be a lot more Pulp Fiction-esque, but Marv and Dwight's stories were pretty much told in a straight-forward fashion. And the movie seemed shorter than I thought it would be.
Anyway, I need to shower as I'm going to the Jazz Festival with Rommel and Liz today.