Wasted Day

I'm proud to report that I seem to have accomplished absolutely nothing yesterday. I managed to completely lose a day. I spent most of the day dreading some errands I needed to run and procrastinating until I finally forced myself out of the house, and then it was time to get ready to go to the Fictionista chick lit event. Fortunately, I've just discovered that the post office is closed for Veterans Day today instead of on Monday like I expected, so that means I don't have to run errands today and I can force myself to sit here and work.

When it comes to going out, I have a bad habit of finding an outfit I like and practically making it a uniform that I wear whenever I go out, as long as it's not to an event with the same people. This year's uniform was inspired by the scarf I bought to wear to the Serenity premiere. I have a royal blue lightweight sweater that I wear with the scarf and my dark long jeans. I do vary the footwear according to the occasion. I've already worn this outfit to two birthday parties (once with neutral "leather-colored" boots, once with black ankle boots) and then again last night with the Infamous Red Stilettos. I may have a couple more constituencies I can wear this outfit around before I have to come up with a new uniform.

It was my first time wearing the Infamous Red Stilettos since the premiere, and it seems that the Very Long Night of the Red Shoes may have made them mold better to my feet, so they were much more comfortable than I remembered. That turned out to be a good thing because I had a little adventure getting to the Hard Rock Cafe (somehow, just about everything I try to do here lately has turned into a minor adventure -- it never goes smooth). Because parking can be problematic in that part of town, my grand plan was to park in the parking garage at the West Village, then take the trolley down to the Hard Rock. Unfortunately, I just missed the trolley heading in the right direction, and the next one was just coming up to make the turnaround and the loop, so it wouldn't be heading in the right direction for another twenty minutes or so. I was already running late, thanks to a traffic jam that doubled my usual travel time. I'd also left slightly later than I'd planned, since I got sidetracked watching a show about great floods on the History Channel (I still don't have that "psyche yourself up for going out" thing figured out). I figured that the Hard Rock wasn't that far away, so I could walk it. It wasn't a bad walk because it was a nice night and a lot of the bars and restaurants had live bands on their sidewalk cafes as I passed. I'd just miscalculated how far away it was by about three blocks (so it's probably a good thing I didn't try to drive directly there -- I'd have never found it). The good thing was, the next trolley didn't pass me by as I was walking. That's my pet peeve, to decide to walk rather than waiting, and then having the bus or trolley that I didn't want to wait for end up passing me by, so that I would have reached my destination sooner if I'd just waited.

It turns out those shoes aren't so bad for walking. It's standing where they become a problem. I was more sore from waiting about ten minutes for the trolley to take me back to my car than from walking the whole way, I think (though the walk may have intensified the standing soreness). I popped in at the Uptown Borders, where I had my first booksigning, to see if my book was still there. They do still have autographed copies (first editions!), in case anyone in the Dallas area is looking for one.

I think my shoulder/neck is almost healed, but ... this morning as I reached for something at the back of the laundry hamper, I felt a pop and guess what, the exact same spot on my other side had pulled (see, housework is bad for you!). Do you ever get the feeling that your warranty has expired?

Life lesson of the week: Rub on the Ben-Gay after you've put on your facial moisturizer and eye cream. Even washing your hands doesn't get it all off, and you don't want it all over your face.

And now to buckle down and work.

P.S. Happy Veterans Day to any veterans who are reading this. Thank you for your service.