Procrastination's only fun till the work HAS to be done..

Well, today at work was pretty nice, actually. I was doing the End of Day, when something snapped inside, and I realized that I wasn't angry at all. I mean, nothing could get to me. I was, as I described to a co-worker, "un-ruffle-able". I guess it helped that I was listening to Inkubus Sukkubus, too. I tell you, that is one fine band. I absolutely love them. Already. I've known their sound for less than a week, and I would rate them as one of my favorite bands, based simply on the 17 mp3s that I found on their web site. I can't wait to get my hands on the three CDs I ordered the other day.

My manager was gone to a zone meeting for most of the day, so his ridiculous ideas were silenced. However, we were hurting for people, because the 8am checker had to go to a funeral, the 1pm checker just casually wrote that she couldn't come in until 3pm*, and the 3pm checker was iffy at best, since he didn't show up on Saturday or - before I left - yesterday. I skipped my lunch, since the manager wasn't there to say no, and because Joyce said I could. I covered lunches and breaks, though I did take a break in the middle of the day, and ate the lunch that I brought. It has made me decide one thing: I'm going to start taking a simple lunch to work on Sundays. Having food in me was awesome. Even though I didn't get to sit there for an hour, just getting to sit down and eat some real food (sandwich and diced peaches) did wonders for me.

Also, our new Western Union computer came in today. Sunday morning, our old one (which wasn't that old) gave up the ghost. It locked up completely, and wouldn't boot to Windows except in safe mode. So, I got to put the new one in. (People made it seem like a big deal, but it was just unplugging one box and plugging the new one back up.) Of course, being who I am**, I reran the cables, so they weren't as tangled up. Ahh, that felt SOOOOO good. I got to appease my fragile sense of order, and it was wonderful.

After work, I was reading LiveJournal, and getting ready to begin on my "homework", when my mom told me that the dog next door (that f**ka** loud one that barks constantly) had run Jesse, our cat, up a tree. I knew Jesse would get down on his own, but I didn't like the way the dog kept walking back to that tree (which was right at the property borders in the backyard). So, Aron, Adam, and I got Jesse out of the tree.

Now, I really *AM* going to work on those stupid files. I know I agreed to do it, but every time I've seen him since he first brought it up to me, he's had more to add to the damn things. I doubt I even remember everything he wants in them now. Sheesh. I'll be glad to get it over, and done with. I'm going to watch my mouth about agreeing to do stuff like this in the future next time, even if I am getting paid.

---

* - She didn't tell anyone. She just wrote over the shift on the schedule "Not available 1-3". Now, I know that she had that listed as an available time, so that ticked me off a little.

** - A total computer geek, astronomy nerd, loser gamer, and candidate for stress-related injury.

Rambling thoughts about... stuff.

Yeah.. I've been goofing off. I just can't nail down in my mind what my boss wants, and frankly, I don't care. I just spent the last hour finishing Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman, again. I really, really, really, REALLY love that book. There's just something about finding yourself on an adventure, and coming out on top. Facing danger, trekking through unknown places beneath the earth, meeting strange new characters who become friends, and coming away with mementos of the journey, not to mention the ability to tell of the tale.

What do you think? Would you like to find yourself on an adventure unlike anything in normal life? Perhaps, you walk into a cellar, find a door, and discover an underground labyrinth that leads to a castle in a land nowhere near your home? Or, you are walking down the street, turn a corner, and find yourself in a gunfight. Instead of running, though, you dive for someone who's lying on the ground, bleeding, so that you can help. What if you are driving to work, and get into a high-speed chase with mysterious cars with even more mysterious drivers? Would that be fun and exciting, or just plain wrong and disturbing?

I'd like that. I really would. I like to think that I would be able to handle myself in such a situation; of course, I'm being silly. I'd get killed, or wind up bawling my eyes out, crying for home. Still, it's nice to fantasize. I've often thought about things like that.

Back in the day, when I was reading Dragonlance novels for only the second time, I imagined that I found myself walking up the stairs to the Inn of the Last Home, and all of the companions were there, waiting for me. Or at least turning to see who was walking in when I arrived. Oh, I had my black combat boots on, black jeans, black T-shirt, and several different earrings in my left ear. (This was back when places like Spencer's sold wild pewter earrings like snakes, axes, crosses, and dragons, and they were COOL.) Each item had a function. The axe was my weapon. I really don't remember what else I had. I do know I had theme music. Heh, the years have eliminated any trace in my mind of what the music was, but I suspect that it was something by Helloween or Iron Maiden, possibly Savatage.

I'd be able to use my axe. I'd have magic. I'd be able to impress them. They'd like me. We'd fight draconians, we'd travel all over Ansalon. Another, earlier time, I met the kids from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. I found myself in Narnia. I travelled with them, and met the king, and sailed on the Dawn Treader.

I used to imagine these things so vividly that it hurt. It didn't hurt, though, as much as knowing that I'd reached the end of the book I was reading. I wanted to stay with the companions in Dragonlance. I wanted to see all of Narnia. I wanted to learn to use the One Power. I wanted to help Belgarion and Belgarath and Polgara, and meet the horsemen of Algaria and fight Murgos. I wanted to be involved in the quest for the Elfstones of Shannara.

I get that feeling from Neverwhere.

Despite it being about the homeless people in London, and that the denizens of London Below appear to be homeless people at first glance, the world below London is filled with adventure. It makes the mundane world just a little less bearable, once I return from the pages of the book. While I'm reading, I am RIchard Mayhew, and I'm lost, and helping a girl named Door solve the mystery surrounding her family's death. I am the one on the narrow plank suspended thousands of feet above the swirling mists at the bottom of Down Street. I'm the one who helps defeat an insane angel.

I am the one unhappy with returning to a normal life.

Why do adventures only happen in stories? Why can't we do any of these things? Would life be so wrong, just because we could follow Alice down her rabbit hole? Because we found a door in the back of a wardrobe? I tend to think not. Life would be special, then.

I want more. Not a video game, or a television series, or even another book, really. I just want more of the world of London Below. I want more of Narnia. I want more of Dragonlance, Wheel of Time, Middle-Earth, Shannara, Belgariad, Song of Ice and Fire. I want more of EVERYTHING.

Instead, I'm pulled back, from my little world, into reality, where work and taxes and weddings and paychecks and insurance are the meat on my plate. I'm forced to accept that, no matter how comfortable I was, that comfort was just a fleeting thing, and I'm left outside, naked in the snowstorm of the "real world". Still, life goes on, and still I'm here.

For now.

Until I find my adventure. Someday, somewhere.