Good Feeling

I'll try to keep this brief, since I'm very anxious to get out here as quickly as possible.

I'm off to visit JohnnyB for the weekend, mainly to get a crash course in PhotoShop. After the scanning fiasco at Zappagirl's this past week, I decided it would be just as easy for me to drive to the Small Northeastern College Town to use JohnnyB's scanner and PC under his tutelage. Plus it's a excuse for me to visit with him and catch up, which is a major bonus.

It's been rather difficult having one of my best friends living four hours away from me. I'd gotten used to seeing him on a regular basis (usually once a week), and although he's visited as much as he can I miss having someone to discuss the latest plot twist on Buffy with. I spend most Tuesday nights after 10:00 focusing on the phone, mentally willing him to call me. (My bills are atrocious enough; long distance calls are generally brief if I make them.)

He's a bigger procrastinator than I am, so email correspondance has been difficult. It's not that he doesn't care; he just gets wrapped up in other projects and forgets to keep in touch with his friends. Sometimes it hurts my feelings a bit, and I have a tendency to take things a bit personally, usually resulting in an acid-tinged email bitching about his lack of reply. The next day I'll receive an email in which he apologizes and reminds me that he's not the best at returning phone calls and emails, and that I should know this after all these years, so I just need to get over myself.

So yeah, sometimes he ticks me off, but whenever I get a chance to talk to him, all is forgiven and we're fighting to get a word in edgewise while we chat about everything and nothing.

I'm leaving straight from work, and I've been in a good mood all day. I'm trying not to let any of the everyday on-the-job stresses spoil it. Last minute requests from pushy brokers? Whatever. An assistant telling me an out-and-out lie over the phone to cover her ass? Irritating, but expected. So what? I left the book I'm currently engrossed in at Zappagirl's house last night? Oh well.

The only thing that could throw a wrench in my plans for a fun-filled weekend is my sister's looming due date. She's due on the 13th (Mother's Day - how apropos!), but you know how things go. It could be any time, but I know if I sit at home waiting for her to go to the hospital this weekend that it won't happen. Unless she has one of those super-short deliveries where she has one labor pain and the baby comes flying out like a bullet train, I should be fine. It's only four hours away, and she has my cel number as well as JohnnyB's number. The only time she might have a problem getting ahold of me will be when we go to see The Mummy Returns sometime this weekend. (I try to be a conscientious cel phone user and turn my phone off whenever I go to the movies.)

I'm all packed and ready to go. Road music has been selected (mostly techno and dance-y stuff; after the trip I made in January I've since learned that pretty acoustic stuff is sleep-inducing). I've been clockwatching all day. I'm anxious to get on the road. It's not a tough drive and I think my little car knows the way pretty well. (Actually, JohnnyB just called me to confirm that I had directions, and it's official. I know how to get there without looking at a map.) The only thing that could make it easier is if the city of Columbus disappeared. Way too many stupid lanes changes up there. OK, I-71 is the left lane! Now the right lane! Move! Now! Pay that Mack truck no mind!

I might check in over the weekend, but don't hold your breath. He's got to recap his entire San Francisco sojourn to me, and we've got three weeks of power packed vampire TV shows to dissect. And he's bought some new Playstation games that he wants me to try out. And I'll need to play with the family dog and watch entirely too much cable and do the experimental cooking thing and...

Visiting with JohnnyB is always like a mini-vacation. I'll be lucky if I get any work done this weekend.