Running

I’m totally useless at work today. Instead of taking a big chunk out of the tasks on my plate, I’m doing dumb things like ordering CDs I’ll never listen to and infinitely delaying getting lunch even though I’m hungry.

I’ve half written a post on the details of the trial, but, boy, is it boring. The process? Great. The details? Tedious. I promised myself I’d do it, but I’m putting it off for at least another day.

I had a fantastically eventful and fun week and weekend, which included:
Monday--softball
Tuesday--rowing
Wednesday--salsa dancing (with date)
Thursday--rowing
Friday--dinner/drinks (with friends)
Saturday--dinner/movie/drinks (with date)
Sunday--movie/dinner/drinks (with friends)
Monday--Ikea/cookout (with friends)

I also baked cupcakes (for the cookout) and did assorted household tasks. I knitted a tiny bit but limited sessions to ten or fifteen minutes to preserve my shoulder, which, unfortunately, still hurts. I’m back on the drug regime and plan to take the week off from all shoulder-intensive activities (such as rowing). Hopefully some serious rest will make a dent in the pain. It’s a little easier to rest a shoulder than a knee or a foot, but not as easy as I’d like it to be. I don’t want to rest it at all, but if I don’t rest it now, it may get a lot worse…

But you don’t want to hear about all that now, do you? Possibly you’d like to hear about my trip to Ikea? I went to Ikea for three reasons: Ikea lunch, “Tupperware,” and a summer-weight down comforter. I had success on all three counts, and a few others, which was a fine and expected consequence of going to Ikea. However, that summer-weight comforter turned out to be synthetic, not down. It was in the down section. I carefully read the description of the comforter up above and it said it was down. I picked one from that section—not the section with the synthetic-fill comforters—but somehow I failed to scrutinize the label. I unpacked it at home and just after I tore of the “do not remove under penalty of law” tag, I realized it was NOT a down comforter. Argh! Can I still return it after ripping off that tag? And how does Ikea manage to defeat me so consistently?

Oh, wait, maybe you actually wanted to hear about my dates. I can’t say much, because to do so would violate my one and only fundamental rule: don’t write about dates with guys who read the blog. Since I met this particular fellow at a blogger-type function and he was introduced to me by my blogger name, I won’t go into much detail. I will tell you this: we had a good time, he apparently enjoys listening to my stories (note to self: give him a chance to talk), and I expect we’ll see each other again--at least I hope we will.

(Aside: things with Kansas have stayed over. I’ve heard not one peep from him after our final email exchange last week. The days of needing to remember to silence the phone before bedtime are over, thank goodness.)

I also spent some time this weekend with the fellows, Hap and Sam, I met a couple of weeks ago at a neighborhood bar. The events were of the group variety and may go some way to expanding my circle of friends. A lot of my DC friends have moved on and others have packed schedules or significant others. It’s hard to find time to see them more than once or twice a month. I need a larger group of friends to draw on. As we all know, it is hard to meet people outside of the normal routine of work. You’d think I’d make friends rowing, but that hasn’t really happened. I have some modest hopes that Hap’s group may yield some new friends. He is not transient, which is a big plus. If I get hooked into the group, I’ll get invites from people other than Hap. I made friends with a big group my first summer in DC and it worked out well in the short-term, but those friendships didn’t have staying power. That might happen here too, but I’m willing to give it a try.

To wrap up: my shoulder still hurts and knitting and rowing are on hold while I rest it. After the craziness of last week, I will try and take this week slower so I don’t burn out. Ikea defeated me. I had a couple of dates and hope to have (at least) a couple more. I hung out with some old friends and some potential new friends. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Grateful for: new friends.