Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Today was a pretty uneventful day...nothing exciting or out of the ordinary. I do feel like I had an evening, so that is good. All too often it feels like I come home, eat dinner, go to sleep, go to work and repeat day after day. Not sure what the difference was tonight, but it was nice.
I'm having a pretty hard time adjusting to normal adult life. It just feels so strange no longer being in school, registering for classes, or having long vacations. I better get used to it, because what do I have...40 years or so of working left? Jeez, that seems like an eternity, but the first 26 years have went by fast, so I'm sure that the next will also.
As promised, I'll talk about a couple of the strange things that happened yesterday. First thing will be the crazy apartment employee. Remember that post about the ice? Well, the apartment complex actually was proactive and decided to salt the sidewalk early in the morning. It was like 6am or so on Sundy and I was getting ready to leave for drill. I went out to my car and started it up to help cut through the ice, and then I came inside to get some stuff. I grabbed my polypro and put that on (it's basically a fleece) and grabbed some other odd stuff that I needed. I was inside for a total of about 4 or 5 minutes. I have my change of clothes and shoes in my hand, ready to leave when I realize that since my car is on, I can't lock the front door.
I don't want to be a bad fiancee and leave the house unlocked while Amanda is upstairs sleeping, so I decide that I'll just make the extra trip and go to my car, to the door, and back to the car. I open the door while I'm deep in thought and I see a dark figure make a swing motion at me. The figure is about 4 or 5 feet away and I instantly tense up ready for the inevitable strike. Well, it never came and I said a big loud F#@* when I realized it was the goofy apartment guy throwing salt on the sidewalk. I think that I scared him worse than he did me, because all that he could manage was some stuttering about "Just trying to make the sidewalks safe". Thankfully I didn't piss myself, because that would have been embarrassing and inconvenient since I was wearing my only pressed uniform. I go to my car, drop off my stuff, go back to the door and lock it and then head on my merry way.
Strange...
Ok, on to the strange cats. Our cats love to sit on the back of the furniture. It's no big deal to me, but it bugs Amanda. She says it pushes down the cushion (which it does) but nonetheless we try to keep the off the couch. Lately, the cats have been getting more brazen with sitting back there so we have taken desperate measures. We have put a long strip of packing tape the entire length of the couch, chair, and love seat. This strip is basically a big cat trap. Cat jumps on the back of the furniture and is entangled in the tape...they don't like it and eventually give up on the couch.
We have had them get into the tape like twice since it's been up (5 days or so). Not sure which cat, but it doesn't matter. Yesterday Amanda and I are sitting on the couch watching some TV while Stormy is sitting on my lap. She is being pretty good while she is up there. After a while she sits up and starts to stare over my shoulder at the tape. She is literally fixated by it up there. She stays this way for a few minutes...eventually I go to pick her up.
I grab her with both hands and go to lift and she freaks out. She kicks, yells, growls, and meows in fear and anger all at once. It's pretty freaky. I set her down and Amanda is laughing her head off. I guess that it must have been something to see. I now think it is safe to say that Stormy now has a tape phobia.
I'm having a pretty hard time adjusting to normal adult life. It just feels so strange no longer being in school, registering for classes, or having long vacations. I better get used to it, because what do I have...40 years or so of working left? Jeez, that seems like an eternity, but the first 26 years have went by fast, so I'm sure that the next will also.
As promised, I'll talk about a couple of the strange things that happened yesterday. First thing will be the crazy apartment employee. Remember that post about the ice? Well, the apartment complex actually was proactive and decided to salt the sidewalk early in the morning. It was like 6am or so on Sundy and I was getting ready to leave for drill. I went out to my car and started it up to help cut through the ice, and then I came inside to get some stuff. I grabbed my polypro and put that on (it's basically a fleece) and grabbed some other odd stuff that I needed. I was inside for a total of about 4 or 5 minutes. I have my change of clothes and shoes in my hand, ready to leave when I realize that since my car is on, I can't lock the front door.
I don't want to be a bad fiancee and leave the house unlocked while Amanda is upstairs sleeping, so I decide that I'll just make the extra trip and go to my car, to the door, and back to the car. I open the door while I'm deep in thought and I see a dark figure make a swing motion at me. The figure is about 4 or 5 feet away and I instantly tense up ready for the inevitable strike. Well, it never came and I said a big loud F#@* when I realized it was the goofy apartment guy throwing salt on the sidewalk. I think that I scared him worse than he did me, because all that he could manage was some stuttering about "Just trying to make the sidewalks safe". Thankfully I didn't piss myself, because that would have been embarrassing and inconvenient since I was wearing my only pressed uniform. I go to my car, drop off my stuff, go back to the door and lock it and then head on my merry way.
Strange...
Ok, on to the strange cats. Our cats love to sit on the back of the furniture. It's no big deal to me, but it bugs Amanda. She says it pushes down the cushion (which it does) but nonetheless we try to keep the off the couch. Lately, the cats have been getting more brazen with sitting back there so we have taken desperate measures. We have put a long strip of packing tape the entire length of the couch, chair, and love seat. This strip is basically a big cat trap. Cat jumps on the back of the furniture and is entangled in the tape...they don't like it and eventually give up on the couch.
We have had them get into the tape like twice since it's been up (5 days or so). Not sure which cat, but it doesn't matter. Yesterday Amanda and I are sitting on the couch watching some TV while Stormy is sitting on my lap. She is being pretty good while she is up there. After a while she sits up and starts to stare over my shoulder at the tape. She is literally fixated by it up there. She stays this way for a few minutes...eventually I go to pick her up.
I grab her with both hands and go to lift and she freaks out. She kicks, yells, growls, and meows in fear and anger all at once. It's pretty freaky. I set her down and Amanda is laughing her head off. I guess that it must have been something to see. I now think it is safe to say that Stormy now has a tape phobia.
