L’esprit d’escalier

So, like I said, I wandered down to Whole Foods in search of lunch and guacamole. My adventure started off something like…

1) Go outside.
2) Make note of ominous-looking clouds in the direction of the store.
3) Keep walking.
4) Feel a few misty drops at the corner of my building.
5) Keep walking.

By the time I got my food and wended my way through the register lines I realized that the skies had opened the hell up. It’s been raining the last few days, including a hell of a thunderstorm last night – so loud, our house shook with each clap. We had tornado warnings yesterday, too. So, why I thought it would be a great idea to race the storm, I don’t know.

The nice guy at the register gave me an extra bag to hold over my head, then I dodged raindrops all the way back to the office. There are far fewer businesses with awnings between there and here than I realized. At least my hair is dry.

No, really, wet hair can be worse for me than wet clothes. As it is, I got off lightly – the storm let up just a bit as I hurried back. My pants are fairly soaked at the cuffs and my shoulders are damp. My shoes are very, very wet, but I have spare sandals here. I have a sweater, so that should, in theory, keep me from getting chilly in this arctic air conditioning. If I come down with a cold because our building management keeps us frozen, I’ll be annoyed.

My timing could have been worse, though. The rain let up just a bit as I walked back, and when I came inside, a whole department was pressed up against the windows, exclaiming over how hard it was coming down. Seems like I barely beat the next wave of torrential gorramn downpour.

Still. I’m damp and kinda pouty.

We spent this past weekend up in the North Woods of Wisconsin, at Marty’s family cottage in Three Lakes. There was drinking and boating and games and oh my god so much good food. I’m desperately waiting for Shannon’s guacamole recipe, so much so that I’m tempted to go buy some premade from Whole Foods for lunch today, though I know it just won’t be the same.

We went to the Mars Cheese Castle on the way there. I am sorry to say that it is not, in fact, a castle made of cheese, though I suppose that would get pretty stinky pretty fast. Still, there were many Good Things to Eat inside, including some kind of three-foot-long jerky sticks that made me pretty glad I wasn’t in the guys’ car.

The girls had tiaras (awww yeah) and travel games and snacks (Von won at travel bingo. I hereby claim the assist, since I managed to bury my board under stuff and just started pointing out things to mark off.) I was not on the trip to the store that yielded a bear sighting. I did, however, see a drunken chipmunk. He was quite disappointed when Marty took his booze-soaked watermelon away.

We took a walk down a country road in the dark, no flashlights, not a ton of moonlight. It was so very quiet, such a change from even our little suburb, where the sound of traffic is never really far.

Greg and Von made us a fire, and there were s’mores and geek-talk. It’s weird – I’ve, y’know, showered and washed my hair and all since coming home, but I keep thinking I’m smelling woodsmoke every now and then. It’s not a bad thing, really, sort of the last traces of an awesome weekend, making me smile while I ease back into this whole work thing.

Pictures forthcoming at some point, when I get them off of my camera and upload ‘em.

My inbox this morning was filled with 47 pieces of what I call corporate junk mail (“There’s cake in the fridge on the 17th floor!” Yeah, thanks, that’d be helpful if I were in the New York office) and 35 actual non-junk emails. Twelve of those were industry newsletters I’ve signed up for. 23 real emails, and most of those just FYI type things. Maybe seven that required any actual action on my part. Not so bad for three days off.

Anyway, yeah. Back at my desk, wishing I were still up in the woods, sipping coffee with friends and letting the day stretch out before us.

How’s everyone been?