This is strange, seeing as I went to visit my parents last weekend, Friday through Sunday. And Saturday was a wonderful vacation day, full of sitting around and buying yarn for knitting. But then I came back to my place and life kicked into high gear.

Monday work was full of meetings, and the entire evening was devoted to reading in preparation for a discussion group at work. Normally I enjoy reading of an evening, but not this book, and not when I’m dogged by the certain knowledge that I will not be able to finish the assigned portion before the discussion group meets.

Tuesday there were even more meetings at work, and the evening was spent at my first choir rehearsal as the new director. This was more fun than I expected, but still tiring, and it conflicted with my futile efforts to catch up on my discussion group reading assignment.

Wednesday is always a long day. I work from 8:30 to 2 and then from 7 to 10 on Wednesdays. And from 2 to 7, when I had intended to catch up on that reading chore, I ended up having to read several reports and articles in preparation for a meeting I hadn’t known I was supposed to attend, let alone present at, the next morning. I ended up not being able to finish the reading that day so I got to work extra early (8:00) the next morning to finish preparing for the 8:30 meeting. Which brings me to…

Thursday was the worst day of all. I got to work at 8 to prepare as well as I could for the 8:30 meeting. And this meeting turned out to be a horribly uncomfortable one, with stake holders arguing vehemently over whether or not our assigned task was “a load of ____” (insert your favorite vulgar term for excrement… and yes, this came from the mouth of a tenured professor). The rest of Thursday was scheduled back to back with appointments and meetings until 6:15, and which point I jumped into the car and rushed to meet my friend to see a movie. I haven’t gone to see a movie in a long, long time, so I was really looking forward to this. And the movie was interesting and well acted, but by far and away the most vulgar, violent, and foul-mouthed movie I’ve ever seen. If they wanted to make a TV version, they’d have to write about an hour’s worth of dialogue to dub over everything they’d have to cut out. It was also a very long movie, so I didn’t get home until about 11, at which point I still had to eat dinner. So I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and ended up falling asleep on the couch and sleeping there, weighted down by Pippin’s steady purring on my chest.

Friday morning I woke with a start, realizing that I hadn’t brushed my teeth or anything the night before, and that without an alarm I could easily have slept right through my morning appointments at work. But I hadn’t, so I got myself to work for yet another day of back to back appointments and meetings, and then dragged myself home for a quiet evening.

Alas, Party Girl threw a party last night. It started just as I was going to bed (at an early but much-needed 9:30) and continued until 7:00 this morning. The 2 to 3am hour was by far the worst, though, and culminated in a visit from the police. So today I feel hung over from lack of sleep. On the upside, though, I was up by 6 sorting my mail, cleaning the kitchen, and generally getting a head start on the day. So in some perverse way I have more time to relax during the day today…

And now, I think it is time for cafe au lait, some knitting, and Brideshead Revisited. I wish it weren’t my turn to go to work on Sunday (1:00 to 5:00 and 7:00 to 10:00). I need a real weekend.