Wow. $573.51 to rent a car for our trip to Washington in August. This is when I start wishing we had some good neighbors or friends that love to travel and would like to go camping with us and split the cost of the rental. Okay, that's the budget-conscious (for "budget-conscious" read "skinflint") part of me speaking, but every trip we take we have the same conversation, "Wouldn't it be great if we a friend (or friends) who also liked to travel?" Not that Catherine and I don't have plenty of fun on our own, we definitely do, but both our parents always traveled with other couples, and that just seems how it should be to me. Well, I'm flexible on the couple part, I'd settle for one friend in the backseat (or even better, the driver's seat, I am sooooo sick of driving everywhere).

It just seems a shame to not have company sometimes. When we went to the Smokies, we had a cabin that slept 8, and there was just the two of us. The cabin we're renting in Washington sleeps 6, and still, there's just the two of us. I don't want someone that would be a 24/7 companion on every trip we take, but sometimes it would be nice just to have some one to break up the monotony of our conversations, that typically go something like this:

Catherine: Did you...?

Me: Uh huh. Last week. What..?

Catherine: He didn't want to, but...

Me: Still, the apples....

Catherine: What about...?

Me: Yeah, I thought about that, but...

Catherine: Yeah, you're right, we could....

Me: We already did that.

That's what happens when you live together for ten years.
10:40 PM


Feeling pretty good about being alive, for a change. I spent a good chunk of my day waiting in the emergency room with a friend from work. Her son was in a serious car accident late this morning. He's pretty fucked up, but essentially okay. Well, it's easy for me to say that because it's not me with all those broken bones and stuff, but at least he's not dead. It took forever for them to transport him to Bloomington from Bloomfield. Fran was sure he was dead because Bobby (her husband) drove straight to the scene, and she kept saying, "He wouldn't go out there just because the car is totaled, he's going there because he's dead," and there wasn't a lot I could say except to tell her that since we didn't really know what was up, we should probably focus on the fact that he has a broken arm. Well, I think his arm might be okay, it's his femur that's toast, but anyway, there's going to be a lot of pain and a lot of physical therapy, but it seems he should pull through.

I'm can't decide if I'm a good person to have around in a crisis or a bad person. The more emotional people around me get, the more unemotional I get--I have no problem detaching myself from hysterical people. In that sense, it's good to have me there because I'm the only one who is calm enough to drive across town, remembering to grab the insurance card and house keys before I leave. On the other hand, if you're having a crisis and need someone to give you a hug or pat your shoulder, you probably won't want me around. I'm perfectly willing to sit there and keep you company while you cry, and I really would want to be there, but there's not much chance of me actually knowing how to comfort you. So take solace in the fact that I'll drive you to the emergency room in one piece, 'cause that's probably all I'm going to be able to do.

Anyway, that was kind of a hectic day. After I left the emergency room, I went sailing, and I figure any day that you don't drown has to be a good day, right? I don't know, I was feeling pretty brave and proud of myself, this was the first time I took a boat out completely by myself. I got becalmed a couple times and was having a hard time figuring out which way to find the wind, but I got myself out and back again. Then I heard this really loud guy who was captaining the E-Scow critiquing my (bad) sailing technique to all his buddies. I head him say, "Do you know what that guy on the Sunfish is doing wrong?" and I was the only person in a Sunfish on the lake, so it had to have been me, then I was treated to a list of things I needed to do differently. He was probably right, but just the fact that I had to hear them shouted across the water to his friends made me not want to do them. And it took a little pleasure out my afternoon, I guess. But, still, I did something that frightens me and that I'm not very good at, and that pleases me.
5:56 PM


Don't forget to do all this junk this week:

• Thursday
  
  • 6-8, swim meet duty
    
  
  
• Friday
  
  • Buy something to wear on Saturday? Blah.
    
  • Get haircut
    
  • Finish essay?
    
  • Start Philosophy exam
    
  • Probably need to pick up wedding present
    
  • Check mapquest for Murat
    
  • Concert @ 7:30
    
  
  
• Saturday
  
  • wedding reception @ 11:30
    
  • Game @ 7:00
    
  
  
• Sunday
  
  • 6:45-10:45, swim meet duty
    
  • 1:00 work