So, I've been counting down the miles for days now. I got my first NEW car a year ago, and yesterday (on my way home from work) it turned 10,000 miles. My life is not horribly exciting, so I was thrilled about watching my car reach this mileage "milestone"...AND I MISSED IT!
I thought it was going to happen on my way to work, but I arrived at my building a mere mile and a half shy of the 10,000 mark. I spent all day strangely excited because I KNEW that it had to happen on my way home (again, my life is rather dull).
Last night I got in my car and paused to look at the odometer. It read 9998.5. I started to drive out of the lot and towards the highway - keeping my watchful eye on the odometer the WHOLE time.
Merging onto the highway, I hit 9999.
It was at this precise moment when I remembered that I forgot to jot down a phone number at work. I had temporarily misplaced my cell phone, and I was supposed to play tennis with one of my coworkers. It dawned on me that I had absolutely no way of contacting her unless I went back to work and got her number off the staff contact sheet (and that wasn't going to happen. When I leave work, I am GONE).
So, then I start to backtrack in my mind. Where was that stupid cell phone? What was I doing when I last saw it? And I suddenly knew - it MUST be at my dad's house!
Instead of taking my normal route home, I changed direction and started heading to my dad's house to pick up the phone. I made a mental note about how stupid it is that people (like me) are so reliant upon silly machines (like cell phones) to store vital information. Because of cell phones, I cannot remember the last time I actually MEMORIZED a phone number. After all, what's the point if the cell phone remembers everything for you. That is, of course, until you lose the stupid thing. Then you are cut off from everyone.
Then I start thinking about my contact list at work. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost it. I have almost 4,000 contacts stored in there. It took me the better part of two months to get my contact list up to date and current, and I would be lost without it. Of course, it is all stored on my silly computer because technology makes finding names, mail merges -- EVERYTHING -- just so much more easy and convenient. And it could all just disappear in the blink of an eye.
It is at this moment that my mind proceeded to drift into nightmare-like vision of all the ways my work contact list could JUST vanish (POOF!). Fire. Tornado. Static electricity. Server crash. Squirrels. Computer viruses. Hackers. Lighting. Magnets. Software malfunction. The non-dominant twin on a rampage. The possibilities are literately endless.
I actually considered turning the car around so I could go BACK to work and save my contact list to a disk of some sort. I had worked myself into a near-hysterical frenzy, and I was (at this point) completely convinced that my contact list would be COMPLETELY obliterated by the time I got to work tomorrow morning. I had to take immediate action, or all would be lost.
However, by this time, I was almost to my dad's house, so I figured I would pick up the cell phone first (seeing as though I was so close to it at this point). After all, I'd need it to call my coworker to let her know that I wouldn't be able to play tennis after all, because I had, "an important work-related problem that required my immediate attention".
So, anyway, I am pulling into my dad's driveway when it occurs to me what had just happened. I look down at the odometer and it read 10009.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
The same thing happened to me in February. I counted down the days to my friend's birthday, and then I completely forgot about it ON her birthday.
So unfair...
4 comments:
You know, NDT mentioned to me that the two of you are supposed to play tennis this evening. I just really don't think that's going to happen. I don't think you'll ever make it there, what with all the panicking and the backtracking. Plus, I know for a fact that you don't understand the concept of leaving work on time.
Exactly what do you mean by leaving work "on time"?
Did NDT shave in preparation for tennis? We ALL know that she cannot play if she has visable leg hair...because you know that SO many people including a local tv-station, Oprah AND Billy Bush will be there watching us. Heaven forbid they did a close up of her legs and discovered (GASP) she had growth!
"on time" means at the end of your scheduled work day. The "museum" where you work has a 9-5 work day. Now, I'm not suggesting that you leave at 5 (heaven forbid!). But I think "on time" is somewhere closer to 5 than to, say, 8 or 9.
I feel comfortable saying that she will have her legs shaven before you leave the office. Unless you are leaving work early, which NDT says you sometimes do on Fridays, in order to go to an appointment or something. But I bet she'll STILL be ready to go before you are, EVEN as slow as she is.
I've done that sort of thing too - which is why I sometimes program my cell phone to remind me of whatever I was trying to remember. Because I know I won't remember on my own.
Oh, and yeah - when I leave work, that's it. Unless whatever I forgot is non-work-related and I will definitely need it before the next time I'm due at work. Unless I've already gone through the turnstile at the train.
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