Still Around, Just Not At The Keyboard

After posting that feature-film length epic 'trip report' about my weekend with the buffoons, I damn near wore out my keyboard. Well, at least the desire to sit and pound on it for any length of time. So I've been layin' low for the past couple of days. Not only that, but I *did* actually get called in to work on Saturday night, and I've worked every night since then, so I hope y'all appreciate the effort it took to crank that baby out and get it up and running late on Sunday afternoon.

I'm a little bummed out right now--all the sisters are off on the Sibling Revelry cruise this week, and I'm stuck here in Vegas. Would I rather be down in the Caribbean right now, laughing my ass off with the family? You know I would. I came about thisclose to going, but the whole furnishing-the-apartment thing got in the way this summer, and that, coupled with a very lean July kept me from attending.

Today, they're in Belize, and I wish I were there too, complaining about the heat and the humidity, while finally being able to get rid of a pile of Belizean currency I somehow brought back with me five years ago. Seriously--I'm using a Belizean $2 bill as the bookmark in all of my literary adventures, and I've got a few more bucks tucked away in the nightstand. Not much, but enough to buy a round of drinks at a thatched-roof beach bar.

Oh well, speaking of furnishing the apartment, I'm just about done. I found a dining room table that I wanted, but then when I took the measurements, and then taped them out on the floor like a chalk outline of a crime scene, it was just too damn big. Instead of seating for six, I'll have to settle for a smaller table with only four chairs. My dining room is not nearly big enough. I mean, it looks huge when it's empty, but now that the booze cabinet is there, it takes about three feet of usable space off of the length of the room. I tell ya what, nothing fills up a room like furniture. What was once a big empty warehouse is now a small cozy apartment. And my search for a suitable dining room table continues.

On the other hand, I have ordered a new headboard for the bed--I've been without one for so long that I'd forgotten that people use them. I haven't gotten an email letting me know when it ships out, but I'm sure that once I get it, it'll be a *much* simpler project than the booze cabinet was. And I doubt that I'll be in danger of bleeding out during the assembly process, too. I've also got my eye on a new surround-sound home theatre system, but that's iffy--I found a decent deal on one, but if I buy it, I'll be feeling broke again. And I hate feeling broke. But I really do need a real DVD player and speaker setup for my awesome TV. We'll see--I've had a pretty good week at work, plus a good run at the poker tables during my off time, so I've got the extra scratch, and I'd really like to get this place finished. I mean, I gave up a Caribbean cruise to get my house in order, and I'm anxious to finish the job.

That's about all the news from here. I've been running myself ragged for the past ten days or so, and there is no end in sight--I've either worked or been tied up with other commitments ever since a week ago Friday. And I don't even back-to-back days off this week, either--there's another tournament on Saturday, and I'm on call this Friday, too. We've got a pretty damn good promotion going on right now, and it seems to be working--I keep getting called in--so I'm not sure when I'm gonna be able to enjoy a full day off again.

But as far as the rest of today goes, well, it involves a whole lotta relaxin'...

Mikey