Have you seen these?
A Year in Books - 2009-12-27
Skip Tracer, Loan Detective - 2009-11-22
New Job - 2009-11-03
The coleslaw got served. - 2009-10-21
Probably a new job. But maybe not. - 2009-10-08

So this is what weekends are like.
2008-02-24 11:36 a.m.

It's been a good weekend. The best part? It actually was the weekend, as the rest of the world uses the term.

I keep forgetting that working in a grocery store is basically the opposite of working in a restaurant. I mentioned a few weeks ago that weekend shifts are not insanely busy anymore. What this means is that although of course someone will want off every weekend, that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone else (read: "me") has to work instead.

In the past two months, I have had two completely unrequested weekends off. I can't even explain how awesome this is. For the majority of my adult life, weekends have been something that happens to other people. A "day off," as I know the term, is spent enjoying the hell out my own not-working company, and maybe getting together with friends with normal jobs for a few hours in the evening.

So. Jake moved to MA about a year ago. He still posts on the LARP messageboard, and a month ago, he said he was coming to WI for a few days in February. I automatically thought, "Well, that's nice, but I'll probably be working. I always work when something fun is going on."

Then, I saw my schedule for this past week. Hey. Random Friday and Saturday off. Then I remembered that this was the weekend after my dad's birthday. Then I realized that this was the exact week Jake would be around. When the following week's schedule was posted and I saw that I had scored a free Sunday too, my head exploded.

Friday, I did lots of errands and cleaning around here, and then I drove to Ripon. Back in the day, we had a tradition of Roadhouse every Friday night. At some point, a Magical Beer Vortex would take effect and more pitchers would just start appearing out of nowhere.

(OK, that's probably not how it works. Ten people each order a pitcher of beer within say 20 minutes. The staff is considerate enough to realize that the group probably doesn't want all these pitchers at once. A fresh pitcher arrives 10 seconds after I placed my order, so I'll assume it's "mine." Four pitchers later, I've lost count of exactly who at the table might also have ordered these specific beers, and four pitchers after that, the only logical explanation is that it's magic.)

I placed my oldschool order of a turkey sub and "a pitcher of whatever the big table is having." The cashier remembered us, even though it had been years. This surprised me more than it really should have. The large group if crazy people who used to spend $100 on beer (at, I should mention, a primarily andwich and fried appetizers place that happens to also serve beer) every single week? We're probably legendary.

I was literally falling-down drunk (the sidewalks were slippery, dammit), and then we went to Timmons and drank more. Good times.

Saturday, breakfast at Kristina's. Several regulars remembered me, even though I haven't worked there in (jeebus!) three and a half years. I don't know if it's comforting or kind of scary that I could very easily slip back into the exact life I had four years ago.

After an afternoon of rehydration therapy and conversation with Dan and Paul, I drove to Grafton for my dad's birthday. This is also something I wish I got to do more often. Maybe more weekends off can make that happen.

Today, I have absolutely nothing to do. Sarah had several fun X-box games, including Bejeweled. I used to be so obsessed with that game. Today I found the free online version again, and I'll probably do a lot of that.

previous--next


ComicsCurmudgeon
DamnHellAssKings
EWAV
Francesco
Neil Gaiman
Indeterminacy
Ironic Sans
KnowledgeForThirst
tmwfa
Postsecret
PassiveAggressive
WaiterRant
Wil Wheaton

Barren
Kahlora
LiveJournal
MySpace
Thor
Twitter


Achewood
AlienLovesPredator
DinosaurComics
Hobotopia
HoustonChron
NeuroticallyYours
PerryBibleFellowship
Pibgorn
RedMeat
Sinfest
SluggyFreelance
SomethingPositive
xkcd


Alter Ego
Chat Noir
Chronotron
CrayonPhysics
FVBN
HHGTG
House of Bugs
La Pate a Son
Popcap
sirteT
3DPong


A&L Daily
Everything
Fark
The Onion
Red Dwarf
SomethingtoRead
Slate
Straight Dope
Taus
TV Tropes
Wikipedia
Wonkette


Cockeyed
Inventors
McSweeney's
MentalFloss


GRSites
MyImager
W3
Webmonkey