1998 october 30

blowing off steam

allow me to vent for a minute.

as i mentioned earlier, i like getting to the office early; i don't have to be there before seven, i just like it that way. today, however, i had promised someone i would sit in on a conference call from the east coast, a call scheduled for seven.

of course, i was running late. i managed to find the black tights, find the overalls, find the black shirt. couldn't find anything but brown shoes. i may not be a fashion maven but even i don't wear brown shoes with an all black and blue outfit. found the doc marten boots with the gold glitter polkadots and decided to settle.

dashed out to the car to find it covered in frost, and not that light, barely glistening frost, but the hard you have to scrape it off with a credit card, just short of ice frost. started the car, cranked the heat, the defroster, the windshield wipers and hoped for the best as i crept out of the parking lot. i made it down the street, round the roundabout (a subject about which i must vent some other time), through the metered light and onto the freeway before i saw the gas light was on and the needle was on empty. not in front of empty. on empty.

looked at the clock, panicked before subtracting an hour because i haven't figured out how to change the time on the damn thing yet, tried to remember where the nearest gas station was and calculated i could still make the phone call if i stopped for gas. then i realized that while i had grabbed my backpack, i didn't grab my purse. no wallet, no checkbook, no credit cards. took the first exit, turned around and grabbed my cell to call and tell them i'd be a few minutes late. forgot to charge the cellphone.

once i got back home, hoarse from all the cursing and yelling i'd been doing in the car, i decided the sales weasel could handle the bloody conference call on his own and took the time to not only grab the purse but also six new cd's for the car. nothing like driving to the office in a harried and foul mood while bad religion's american jesus rocks the car.

of course i drove straight to work, completely forgetting the gas so i will have to drive on fumes and a prayer this afternoon as the nearest station is about 3 miles away. i should have just stayed in bed this morning.

and tomorrow is halloween. i hate halloween and its sanctioned begging.

what exactly are we teaching our children when we encourage them to put on a mask and demand goodies in exchange for not wreaking havoc? we're teaching them to be business weasels, that's what.

bah, humbug. bah, halloween.

irritated at the world but not wearing a mask, claire