"Somebody's got a case of the Mondays"

Ugh. It was just one of those days today. One of those days where I was just irritated and on edge all damn day. Aside from oversleeping by a half-hour, something is suddenly wrong with my coffeemaker. It still made my steaming cup of caffeinated-vanilla-eye-opening-loveliness, but it also suddenly made a big mess...water everywhere...and I was already late...and I'd just spent 5 hours this weekend giving the apartment a deep clean and now there was water coming out of my coffeemaker and spreading across the butcher's block that it all sits on...and it was just. so. aaaaaaah!

So, I made a hasty attempt to absorb and pat said mess semi-dry before grabbing my bag, running out the door and down to the parking garage - all the while aware that I was being watched by a man sitting in his car, which naturally creeped the crap out of me. In my car I reached for my phone to make one of my morning phone calls home to Minnesota...but wait...where was my damn phone? Shit. Keys yanked out of the ignition, I ran back up 2 flights of stairs and started a manic search for phone. Realizing that it must be buried in my work bag after all, I tear back down the stairs feeling as though I should now wave to Staring Dude In Car while he witnesses my second mad-dash to get my morning started. Instead, I proceeded to curse like a sailor when I finally started the car and the clock told me the horrid truth of how tardy I was.

Why I drive to work as though I'm Pacman being chased by that marshmallow-looking ghost is something I wonder 5 days a week. I rush like hell to get there, only to wish I was anywhere else. And today was a day I wish I'd never walked into.

I even had parking garage annoyances today! First, when walking to the stairs from my car, I attempted to take a shortcut through two other cars, only to realize too late that I'd misjudged the space as my wide hips swiped the side of both cars clean. Awesome. Second, when I went to retrieve my yogurt for lunch it was nowhere to be found, which meant it fell out of my bag during the great race to work and was now on the floor of my car somewhere. Wanting to avoid the smell of warm dairy product hours later, I marched all the way back up to level 3 just so Stacy could stand behind me and witness my ass in the air as I dug around looking under the seats for the little scamp that had tried to escape its destiny in my tummy. Again, ass in the air that had only hours before been cleaning other cars, well, that's just friggen fantastic, isn't it?

And really, why does the Sr. Vice President of North American Marketing have to take breaks from his horrendous board meeting by constantly surprising me at my desk? Take a break in your own office, buddy! And stop touching all the papers on my desk! When I present you with projects, that's when you touch, but not now...not when I'm unprepared. Shooo!

Four of these little visits later, I was ready to run screaming from the building. At 5:30 I was ready to pack it up for the night, knowing full well I'd be there late the rest of the nights this week, but my better judgment didn't win and I stayed when the design firm promised the latest round of Current Monster Project by 6:00. By the time the Xerox printer had refused to print all of it at 6:30 and I'd flipped through the electronic files enough to realize that design firm seemed to have returned it in a sorrier state than it was a few days ago...well, I had 2 instincts to choose from. 1) Call the now-closed design firm and leave a message that was a combination of exhaustion/frustration/and demands not to be charged for the rubbish I'd just received, or 2) take the bits that had actually printed, shove it all into my bag, take it home to do what I could with it...but for now, just shut down my computer and get the crap out of there. I chose option #2.

The little black cloud stayed over my head the whole drive home. It was just as I'd shifted the car into park and was about to turn it off that I finally listened to one of the lyrics coming from Dido, "Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment."

I did as I was told; I took a deep breath for the first time today. The day was over, I was home and the rest of the night was all mine. This was not a moment to ruin with stress or agitation. I usually try to remember to pick my battles carefully and it was suddenly clear that continuing to be irritated was just a way of fighting myself and a surefire way to ruin the rest of my night.

In under 5 minutes dinner was heating, a glass of red had been poured and I was on the couch in my pajamas and slippers watching Lee Pace (one of my newest TV crushes) struggle with murder mysteries and impossible love on Pushing Daisies. Good things do come to those who wait - or at least to those who make it through a day of wanting to claw your way out of your own life.

I even made time to sit at my computer and indulge in putting words and sentences together to tell the uninteresting story of my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

One of my happy places made happier with a favorite photo of Teen, Laura & Me

Now, it's time for a bit of sleep before getting to do it all over tomorrow. Again, ugh. If I was a little more optimistic I'd be comforting myself with some load about how tomorrow is another day...start fresh...blagh blagh blagh....but that's just not me. At least not tonight. Eh, nobody's perfect.