Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003 - 4:55 p.m.
Greetings,
I’m nice and full from lunch at Clancy’s this afternoon. It was third in a series of four Christmas/staff luncheons I’ve been invited to.
I had the chicken andouille gumbo which I have to admit I did not like. The first gumbo ever I haven’t liked. It was disconcerting to say the least. Especially since this is supposed to be one of New Orleans most famous restaurants. (Not that I’d ever heard of it before this week, but I digress.)
However, I loved the chicken breast with caramelized onions and melted Brie. Yum. And the rum raisin ice cream? Oh. My!
Lunch took 2 and a half hours which is leaving me feeling rather rushed today, but happily so. Being busy at my job is fun as long as it is not overwhelming.
Tonight we’re journeying to the Westblank to buy my desk at Lowe’s. Tommy’s scheduled to put it together Friday night. I intend to ply him with Hamburger Helper and champagne as an incentive. Although the combination sounds rather inelegant and weird, trust me, it’s good stuff.
I ordered my mother’s Christmas gift today and it will arrive on December 23rd. I hope she likes it. I can’t say what it is because she reads my journal and I’d rather it was something of a surprise. :)
Another cold front came in last night so it’s butt-freezing cold again today. Tommy came out the door this morning in just his long sleeved shirt and turned right around to get his jacket. I was huddled into my down jacket, thank you very much.
As I shivered my way through the garage to the stairs this morning, I thought about how now that I have the car and the central heating, I finally also have the winter jacket. Whereas when I first moved here I had this stupid old raincoat for my winter jacket and floor heaters from hell that only warmed one room or two at a time leaving most of the apartment cold unless I had a space heater. I never had many warm sweaters either and it just seems like I was always cold in the winter like a poor little church mouse sneaking up to a candle flame to stay warm.
I don’t recall now why I didn’t bring my damn winter coat from Connecticut, but it probably had a lot to do with starting over and an optimistic “How cold can it get, it’s New Orleans” attitude. Yeah, right.
I wore that London Fog raincoat for several years until finally it rained one time and I was immediately soaked to the skin through the coat and realized it had long since gone past its prime. That’s when I swore I was getting a winter jacket in North Carolina over Thanksgiving.
It’s not that I couldn’t afford a winter coat before last year, but it was simply that I did not have a car to go to the Burlington Coat Factory Outlet and I refused to buy a winter coat for $300 at Lord&Tayor or Macy’s.
I can remember times in my life where going to Wal-Mart was like I was visiting a foreign country. I soaked up my experiences in “real” stores and hoarded the memories like hard candy. Very strange.
I wonder if the average person realizes just how many mod cons they use every day without thinking about it. A car. A store. A winter jacket.
It’s funny that now I have the warm coat, I no longer have to walk 15 blocks to the street car or stand at a bus stop for half an hour in 30 degree weather.
Well, my boss just handed me some math to do and I admit I am stumped. It’s got to do with figuring out percentages and I suck mightily at math. I think I must go hunt down a calculator that does this sort of thing. I am such a lame ass.
Until next time,
Olrun
