It's Only Me | moonshadoe's Blog

(11:56AM) How the time flies when you wish you were having fun. I've had a little here and there, but for the most part I'm still in that wishing state. The sky juice is still falling outside, and I still cringe at the thought of what the weekend is going to be like. The weather boys have been spreading this vicious rumor that it's going to get right down friggin' cold, and I'm not even ready for that. There was also a hint that we might get some snow flurries, and what is up with that? How I long for the days when I was where the days were always somewhat sunny and bright, where it never got below seventy degrees, and Panama is really nice this time of year, and I've just ran out of time as I'm back on their dime, and I'm gone now.

(6:11PM) I just made it home a little bit ago to find that it was going to be another evening with just me, myself, and I, and those other two guys don't say much. The day didn't go too bad, and it was another one of those feast or famine type days where I was feasting while a bunch of the other guys were famished. Too many times I find myself sucked into the breeze shooting sessions that pop up because there isn't enough to keep everybody busy. Yesterday was like that quite a bit, so today I tried to keep my mind on what I was supposed to be doing. For the most part I did, but there were those times where I found myself popping in here to see what was the latest and greatest. I tried to be discreet about my activities, always looking over my shoulder to see if there were any eyes looking from behind. There's nothing more frustrating for me, well almost nothing, than to be smacking away at the keys, then happening to turn around and see someone behind me waiting for me to finish before saying anything. It's like Ernest walking up to your window while you're trying to eat saying, "Whatcha eatin' Vern?" That used to happen a lot to me, but one day people starting leaving permanently and the majority of my paranoia magically went away. But the word is the head honchos are going to hire in thirty temps in the not too distant future, and that may change the complexion of things.

My wife's birthday came and went, and it's been about two weeks now since she turned forty-nine for the first time and twenty-nine for the twentieth time. In spite of her not getting me so much as a dirty look for the past two years for my own birthday, or for Father's Day for that matter, I felt I needed to be the bigger person in more ways than just physiologically. Contrary to how I've been feeling for what seems like forever, I decided I was going to get her something for her birthday, and not something cheap and chincy. I had gotten the idea to buy her a digital picture frame since she's into taking pictures of everyone but me. She takes pictures when she goes to her mom and dad's, or she takes pictures when she's with the grandkids, and when my own kids come around with their significant others. Occasionally, I might find my way into a picture, but it's usually by accident. Considering the fact that she liked taking pictures so much, but not really having any place to put them where she can see them readily, I decided yesterday to take a trip to Wally World to see what I could see, and in the end I picked out a middle of the road version. It was an eight inch diagonal model that had a 1000 picture capacity and a music function. I don't know what music it plays, but I doubt if it's any of the good stuff. I prefer AC/DC myself.

The digital picture frame was a little bit on the pricey side for me, eighty-five bucks, a small drop in a lot of people's buckets, a bigger drop in mine. I was having thoughts that the wife might end up taking it back to Wally World citing that I paid too much, that we couldn't afford it, or any other excuse that might sound good. As I thought about that, I concluded that even if she took it back for whatever reason, I could say that I at least made an effort. I actually bought her something, and if she decided she didn't want it, I could wash my hands of feeling bad for not getting her anything at all. I felt bad enough about not getting her a card, but I just can't bring myself to buy a card that doesn't really tell the story, and just finding a card that says 'Happy Birthday' and nothing more is sort of lame.

When I got home with my newly acquired acquisition I was at a loss as to how I was going to present after she got home. I didn't have any wrapping paper, and I didn't want to just walk up to her with it and tell her I'd bought it for her birthday. I decided I'd do something on the more unconventional side. I went in the bathroom, got a large towel, came back in the kitchen, and with the box on the table, I draped the towel over it. I know, that sounds lame too, but it still allowed for the element of surprise, and it was environmentally friendly, no wrapping paper and ribbons to get tossed in a local landfill. Yeah, that's the excuse I'll use. After I did that I went out to the car to get the bottle of Ezra Brooks I had bought the day before. I had an idea of what she might say once she saw that, but after buying her a gift that cost almost one hundred bucks, a twelve dollar bottle of bourbon surely wouldn't raise too much of a stink. As it turned out, I think I was right, for after she got home to see what I'd gotten her, she only told me in a nice way that I needed to be careful of how much I was spending. I thought I was being careful. Surprisingly, she didn't give me a lot of grief about the bourbon. The only thing she had to say came when she saw that I had bought a couple of small tumblers for what I was planning to mix up as a drink. Seeing what I had bought, something very cheap actually, she said to me, "Oh, give me a break." My reply was, "Okay, where do you want it?" I think she was just peeved because we already had enough glasses in her eyes, but two more surely couldn't hurt that much.

From that point on the night pretty much went where it usually does, and tonight won't be any different, but since there's no one here but yours truly, I think I'll grab one of those tumblers and see what I can conjure, and that pretty much does me for this time around, and I'm gone.