Wow. This is what a long weekend is like? Seriously?
Scribing at 2:51 a.m. on 2005-02-22
Well folks, this has to be the finest three day weekend (heh. Three day weekend. I actually had one. Heh.) that I have experienced in a very long, long time.
As the Snake Pit only gives its stalwart employees a very limited number of holidays off, I didn't see many of those; unless I was massively ill and unconscious at the time. This tends to really mess up your enjoyment factor at not being stuck somewhere you hate; being unconscious and really not able to appreciate it at all.
I saw my wife. Like, when we were both awake. We actually had the same holiday off, for a change. (Something that has only happened a handful of times in my employment at the Snake Pit, I might add. I usually had to squint jealously through the window of my car while she waved goodbye from the front window in fuzzy pants and a sweatshirt while I rolled off over the frozen tundra back to the Snake Pit while she had the day off.)
I went in on Friday night, prepared to spend my last evening there doing the same junk as I have for the last (almost) three years.
But .. there was nothing. Same thing as I’m used to now in my department; no projects hanging out waiting to be done; and I went down the hall to the other department where I’ve managed to squeak out some hours since Mormon Boy has begun actually showing up for his shifts; my buddy there was not indeed there at all, due to the birth of his daughter the night before. The place was so empty I actually had to disarm the alarm to get in the building, which I don’t think I’ve had to do for a really long time.
I had left a note for one of the original Trinity the night before letting them know I was leaving; that Friday was my last night there.
There wasn’t a response back or any sign at all that anyone knew I was bailing; even though I had talked to the second member of the Trinity on the phone earlier that afternoon and she had greeted me with ‘Heya short-timer!’ .. and mentioned that the news had gone down the wire that I was out of there.
I was surprised, but not overly so. I mean, it would have been hard to fit an entire marching band in my department for a farewell hoot anyway, right? Or maybe that was just what I felt like, anyway.
It was supremely anti-climactic. No fond farewells, no congratulations .. but then again, no cussing me or fist-waving either, so I suppose I shouldn’t knock it. Heh.
I took a last lap around the place for old time’s sake, then walked slowly to the break room, punched back out and reset the alarm, and walked out of the Snake Pit for the very last time.
As I was backing out of my parking spot, I stopped the car for a second and just looked at the building. Random images shot through my brain and I smiled; the folks I had met there, hanging out on smoke breaks out back in the summer time; and all the crap as well .. the annoying stuff, the frustrating stuff, the stuff that made me scream and bang my head against my steering wheel as I drove home countless nights/mornings/afternoons. I had talked to my buddy Scott on my way in and he told me to come back if there was (once again) nothing to do; so I called him on the phone and let him know I was on my way. Drove out to his place, and he had a beer waiting for me; cooked me a pot of chili and we sat there drinking beer, eating chili and watching Dawn Of The Dead until like 5am when I finally headed home. He said I deserved to celebrate. I agreed. It was nice to have a friend actually congratulate me for surviving this massive buttmunching I'd been living through for the last three years, just about.
The weekend was fantastic. The Diva and I were together for three days straight; a feat I don’t think we’ve accomplished since we went down south for a visit to her mom’s a couple years ago at Thanksgiving. We both slept in. We slept in together at the same time. We woke up at a normal time and laid there snickering. We were actually together. Awake. At the same time. In the same place.
I did not, for a change, have to get up in the middle of the night and go outside, freezing my ass off, to scrape off the car, dig it out of the driveway, and drive to another city.
It was, I think, the first winter storm warning I didn’t have to drive to the Snake Pit in, in a very long time. I could stay inside, watch the snow pelt down, and know I only had to go outside and shovel it eventually, not immediately, and not drive in it to spend more on gas than I’d make in the evening.
We snugged on the couch and watched movies. The Diva cooked, and I got to eat it when it was done, not warmed up later, at 6 o’clock in the morning standing over the sink before I fell into bed and passed out.
I took naps. Without the alarm on, so I wouldn’t be late for work.
I engaged in Sloth. In the finest, most direct sense of the word. I played with the dog in the back yard. I kissed my wife, when we were both awake. I ate hot, homecooked food when it was ready to be eaten. I watched movies. I slept. All of these are truly miraculous things that I hadn’t experienced in a really long time.
And I dug it. It was ok with me.
I was given to mad fits of happy dancing, generally carrying me through at least two rooms before the burst died down.
I am, in short, a very happy man. This has been, in short, a very good weekend.
Muahahahahahahahahahah!! insert happy dancing fit here I don’t have to go back to the Snake Pit. Ever. Again. Muahahahahahahahahahahahahah!
