What a Day!
Well, yesterday didn't go at all like I had planned. I've found as the years pass that isn't always a bad thing. See, anal people like myself like to make a schedule and stick to it. That way, life remains orderly and things get done. 'Blips' in life do more to cause anxiety than to bring a spark of spontaneity to an otherwise safe and orderly existence.

Hey, what the hell....

So I'm enjoying my morning coffee and sitting in chat, as I am wont to do most days when I start a private message back and forth with Melesse. She mentions all she has to do today, and bemoans her lack of transportation. No problem, I chirp, I can be there in a little over an hour to help with your errands! Next thing I know, I've got my McDonald's breakfast, John Mayer spinning in the cd player and I'm heading east.

I always enjoy going to see Mel. She lives on the third floor of a building with no elevator, but I can definitely use the cardio of lugging stuff up and down. She has two lovely cats and a sweet fiance who makes me laugh by assigning silly voices to the cats. When I come down (up?) to visit, we plan on errands that require the involvement of my Jeep. This means grocery shopping, trips to places that would take hours by public transit, and now laundry. Now, I've always lived in houses that had their own washer and dryer, so I've never had to use outside facilities. Therefore, it's all rather a novelty to me. So we washed and pumped in quarters and lugged soaking piles of clothes to the dryers and plugged in more quarters and then, THEN we folded. I got all Martha and tried to be really picky about t-shirts and jeans and sheets, as it wasn't my own stuff I was dealing with. I apparently got high marks for my t-shirt folding, which made me scarily happy.

After laundry, we had planned on having lunch. So we dropped in at a place Mel touted as having "Bubble Tea". Yes, that's exactly what was going through my head, if you must know. So fine, we go in and the waitress proceeds to tell us everything that isn't available from the menu. She should have saved her breath and told us what we could order instead. We ended up getting two bubble teas and deciding to eat elsewhere, since all we would have had for lunch there was sticky rice. Okay, I know you're still wondering, so here's the deal: Bubble Tea is cold tea in a range of flavours (Mel got coconut and I chose raspberry) with the addition of the 'bubbles': huge balls of tapioca! They sit at the bottom of your glass and stare at you like so many eyeballs. I was busy looking at them until I caught sight of the straw this drink came with. It had to be the diameter of a quarter! Yes, you're meant to suck up the tapioca with your drink, not spoon them or fish them out in some way. They tasted kind of like really soft gummie bears, and the sensation of sucking them up that straw along with liquid isn't something I'll forget any time soon. I think the current record sits at eight balls in one pull on the straw, but I could only manage seven without cheating.

Then it was off to the bead store where I dropped almost $53. Sheesh. But man! I've got some pretty beads in my collection. I'm a sucker for semi-precious, and while I was still working, I bought a buttload to make necklaces for my nieces for Christmas. Now, I'm developing separation anxiety. I suppose I'll just have to make sure I get another job in the new year that will support my bead habit. I should also thank my lucky stars that there isn't a bead store within an hour and a half of my house, or I should be destitute. Before I left Mel's last night (okay, this morning!), I sat and made one necklace: a strand of matte lapis nevada in the knotted fashion of a string of pearls. Mel was very patient, showing me how to attach the clasps, how to tie a proper knot, etc. I was glad of the instruction, since I've always taken to new tasks better when seeing someone in front of me do it. I just can't get my head around some picture in a book.

So, after a quiet drive home on the relatively snow-free 401, I got to rub my doggie's tummy at 2:45 this morning. She was happy to get the attention and I was pleased to be able to fall into bed. Now I have to jump in the shower and prepare for a day with Mom. Social butterfly, am I.

What I'd really rather be doing is making more necklaces, but that addiction is best kept under wraps for now...

Posted at 8:25 a.m.