Ah...Internet

The magical "ready" light that has been stubbornly blinking since my arrival here at 1:00 this morning is finally solidly lit. The cable internet has deigned to allow me access to the outside world and after a moment of pure joy, I'm somewhat lost as to what to say.

The ride home was interesting. I've been working enough lately that my tolerance level - never all that high - is remarkably low. Much as I wanted to be home with my family for the weekend, I wasn't up for making the drive. Luckily, Cousin was planning on a similar travel schedule and agreed to let Chienne ride in the covered bed of the truck (it has a topper and my dog was joined by Cousin's dog) while I rode with them. It was nice to not have to drive. It was not nice that construction/poor route planning added an extra 2 hours to an already long trip.

The silver lining in such a long, boring ride is that I had time to just be. I had my laptop and tried to work at first, causing more problems than I solved. Then I just watched the world go by for a while as we sped northward. When I got bored of my thoughts, I opened the laptop again and solved a problem. Pleased, I moved on to another troublesome project and figured something else out. Then I rested some more, listened to movies play while Little Cousin watched them in the backseat, and opened my laptop once again to work again. I would have called any weekend that solved said problem successful, so I'm delighted that the ride provided time to think and figure a few things out.

Chienne cried for a large part of the trip. She normally rides in the passenger seat, free to roam around the car and look around. Being separated from humans hardly pleased her, though we stopped frequently to let her out to walk around. She wanted in the truck though and wasn't shy about expressing her displeasure when her wishes were not granted. To add insult to injury, Mom looked her out of their bedroom since Dad and Little One were sleeping in there. Mom joined them when we got home and I listened to another 90 minutes of cries on how Chienne wanted to be in there with Grandma and Grandpa! In there! Now! Open the door! The poor canine had to settle for me.

I'm still seriously tired despite my 5 hours of sleep and 1 hour nap today. I have that achy-headed, heavy-lidded feeling that comes with desperate desire for sleep. I did, however, get more work done today. I'm actually in reasonable shape for next week.

Little One had me read Oh, The Places You'll Go! to her this morning. Well, I didn't get to finish before she took the book and walked away, but I did get to read parts of it. I thought of how much time I've spent waiting and in Slumps. I wish I shared Seuss' certainty that I'm not meant for such things and will rapidly move on from them. I was also startled at the depth of emotion that came with my desire for Little One to avoid some of my mistakes and to enjoy a richer, happier life. As I pushed her on the swings at the park, forsaking my own opportunity to swing, I realized I was content. She was happy and lovely and so full of possibilities and hope. It's rather amazing. It also makes me feel quite old.

Little Cousin is similiarly charming, though she didn't enjoy the trip north. At one point, she deemed Cinderella an unacceptable entertainment choice and when "Not Shrek" was mistaken for "Watch Shrek," she expressed her frustration with Cousin by throwing the remains of a popcorn chicken snack all over the backseat. I thought it was rather funny. Cousin wasn't so amused.

I'll have to post my angry letter when I write it. While Mediacom's customer service was, for the most part, quite good, there was one woman who irritated me to no end. I let her know she was "hideously rude" and that "I do not appreciate your attitude or tone, so I suggest you adjust both!" She failed to heed my warnings, obviously being of a whorish personality, so I will endeavor to get her in trouble. I have very little that's exciting in my life, obviously, and she should be nicer to my mom when she's having internet trouble that isn't her fault. I generally write good angry letters, so that should be fun.

In my quest to work and sleep and continue to stay just above the "too depressed to function" mark, I find I'm strangely without stories or much to say at all. I didn't mean for a single day to stretch into many though, and - as always happens - I missed being here. But I'll catch up on as many of you as I can before the internet flits away and I'm left to sleep and work and talk with my folks. There are, I know, much worse things than that.