OK, so I was in bed last night reading when I heard this weird noise. Like something fell over. I thought it might be one of the IKEA Grundtal's we have up in the next room, so I got up to investigate. No, that wasn't it. Didn't see anything amiss downstairs either. So, I figured some stuff fell down and I just didn't notice.

Except that, this afternoon, I went outside to water the flowers in the front yard and realized that half the freaking tree in my front yard broke off. HALF THE TREE. It's blocking the sidewalk and the walkway and broke the tree across the sidewalk, too. Called the condo association and by the sound of the chainsaws I hear, it's being cleaned up right now, but damn, y'all.

House, parked cars and joggers are all OK.

More pictures on facebook and flickr.

ETA: So, the three guys with chainsaws showed up about an hour after I called the emergency line, hacked up the downed branches, and moved them off of the sidewalk and walkway. That's it. I'm hoping that someone will pick them up tomorrow?

It is nearly 9am. I have been up for an hour and a half. I made an appointment yesterday for the heating people to come look at the weird moldy insulation in our house and give an estimate for replacing the furnace. The lady said 'mid-morning Saturday.' She called at 7am to say he was half an hour out. Threw on some PJ pants and let him in. He took a look at the furnace, told us it was well over the 12-14 years one is supposed to get from a furnace and possibly unsafe due to carbon monoxide. Shut off the furnace, gave us an estimate and left.

So, now we have no furnace until next week, probably, whenever the landlord approves a new one and we arrange a time to get him over here. Whee! At least the estimate was low enough that I don't think she'll have a problem with it.

At least we're not dead from carbon monoxide poisoning yet. And he didn't replace the moldy stuff, but will when we get a new one. Because if my landlord balks, I'm calling DCRA.

Unfortunately, it being 7:30am when the dude came over, neither stentoriansista or I thought to ask how long it will take to get it replaced or when they can fit us in. However, if the dude turned our gas off today, I'm sure they'll take us this week.

So, Friday a guy came over to look at our utility closet - turns out something had been leaking into the closet of the people below us. Oops. He goes in, pokes around, manages to unscrew the big filter cover that's been painted shut. Well, he gets it off and there's a dust bunny in there that's literally 3 feet tall. The insulation is also black (not good!) and he discovers that the catch pan for our AC system is set up improperly, so he has to come back and fix it Monday (it's about 7pm on Friday at this point). We stick a bucket in the hollow where the big filter is and continue about our business.

Until Saturday. When the air conditioning gives out. On one of the hottest days of the year. We call the people who sent the first guy out, not really knowing what to do since we live in a condo building, our landlady lives in Seattle and refuses to give us a phone number. Someone comes out in 10 minutes and says "Wow, it's really hot in here." (...) He reveals that the circuit breaker panel is getting really hot causing that breaker to switch off and, not being an electrician, he's reluctant to do more.

So, here I am, desperately wanting to be in bed snuggling with Girly and am instead waiting for the maintenance dude to get back from the store so he can fix this issue and I can get rid of the bucket in the hollow in our hall... which is now, by the way, 1/3 full. Ugh, so gross.

So, I had an 8:30 am meeting today. Ugh. So, I left work at 4:30 and Girlyfriend drove us to Ikea where we picked up some shelving and a Pax for the bedroom. We get the drawers, the door and the hooks, we check out, we strap it to the car and drive back to DC, lug it inside, lug it up the 3 flights of stairs (did I mention this ways 107 pounds?), we get it inside the house and try to stand it up to find... the box is too tall for the room. Interesting. We take the box back outside, open it, stand up the pieces and find that it is an inch shorter than the ceiling. As in, I said we wanted the 90" tall one when we actually wanted the 80" tall one. The good news is that it fits and looking at the assembly, we should be able to stand it up without incident. Barely. The bad news is... we have no idea how we're going to get it out when it's time to move. It sure as hell won't fit through the doorway.

Also, it's a good thing we bought an extra set of shelves.

3 boxes filled, bookcase mostly empty, books all packed upstairs. My head aches, as does my throat, a lymph node and my eustachian tubes. I'm going to pray this is just my sinuses drying out due to neti pot & allergy meds and not a new cold that I don't have time to have.

I'm vacillating that it's ridiculous that I'm hiring movers becaue I don't have that much stuff and just not caring because I don't want to deal with carrying my furniture. And frankly, I don't really have the time, the resources of desire to do it on my own. (If I had a license, I might get a Ziptruck for a day and just deal, but I don't) I'm also vacillating between 'OMG, WHY am I hiring these guys, I own NOTHING!' and 'Oh right, I do have a lot of crap after all.'

Still no word from my landlord. I'm not worrying about it, there's nothing I can do, aside from antagonize her further. I may send her an email if I haven't heard back from her by Thursday. As is becoming a custom for me in the evenings, I'm starving and I have a low blood sugar headache. What is up with that?

Oh, anyone in the DC area want the following?
Women's clothes, sizes 12-14 (mostly pants)
brand new women's coat (ugly)
brand new, never used TruTech DVD player (would like some money for it)
24" television with no working remote control (ditto)
Vurm or 3? (tritto)
green sheers shears sheers
cloth shower curtain (white with embroidered blue fishes - may need to rescind this offer)
random crap (Hawaiian flowered bowl from CVS, radio, other crap)

ETA: Yanno, it's a 4 hour minimum and I doubt I'll be more than 2, I wonder what would happen if they came and picked up Girlyfriend's heavy crap (4 blocks from the new apt) and took it over...

Lease: Signed & Sent
Movers: Booked
New Roommate: Not Approved
Work: Only Semi-Productive
Utilities Out of My Name: Incomplete, Pending Roommate Action
Utilities Into My Name: Incomplete, pending DC WASA being open (also, they have crappy hours)
Packing: Unstarted
Chevy Chase Bank: Money grubbing whores (remember how they touted how awesome they were for the change counters that didn't charge fees even if you weren't a member? They do now. There's $3 I'll never see again) (Also, their notary wasn't there)
Boxes: 5 more stolen from work
Rental Sitting: Still Here
Benefit Knitting: 3 out of 9 Pieces Complete
Plans with the Moms for Tomorrow: Arranged
kestrel127: Cranky and starving
kestrel127's girlyfriend: Completely awesome

Next on the list: Pack, ferry unwanted furniture over to the Aunt, pick out paint colors, paint, and move. Oh right, and help plan, organize and run the largest fundraising event our theatre holds and go to another while the girlyfriend frantically writes papers. Yeah.

ETA: And going in to work early tomorrow to try to catch up. Too many projects, not enough time in the day right now.

Really bizarre dreams last night: First was a bizarre sort of movie thing where I didn't watch the plot because an extra in the background looked like stentoriansista if she was wearing robes and a commedia del arte mask. Then I went to a yarn store where they were trying to raise $5,000 to match contributions that helped fund fellowships. I asked them how much money it made the yarn store... about $100. I said that they needed to worry about making a profit before funding fellowships. I also examined my contributions / credit card statement online and realized that I was giving $10 a month to several different organizations.

I went to the doctor (blond, female), who examined me on the courtyard-like roof of a building. My roommate R was inside a smaller building on the roof with a stomachache and could hear the entire thing. The doctor handed me a pair of forceps and told me to take off the cardboard and to... um... insert them in the appropriate place. Then we had to get my pants off and I was freaked out that I was completely naked on a roof with my roommate a wall away. I got my clothes back on and the doctor asked me if I wanted to talk to some girl about "... well, you know" because she was a junior and had experience in these things. I shouted back that I was 26. I realized I was in some bizarro world filled only with teenage girls and tried to run away.

In other, non-subconscious news - the house painters did a pretty good job but didn't paint any of the ceilings or the trim, painted over the three outlet plates we missed taking off, painted all of the outlets anyway (WHY?!?!?!), broke a bathroom ceiling fan, puttied and painted over screw anchors (without removing them) that we'd ask them to leave and didn't really fix the mold in the garage. And, as it turns out, they were supposed to paint the ceilings and the trim. I don't know if I should be more mad that they didn't do what they were paid to do or that I have to take everything off my walls and rearrange my furniture. Again. On the bright side, this hopefully means I can get them to fix my wall after I broke it hanging a picture (I used one of the circle things from the Rugga kit which was defective - after banging on it for 5 minutes, I realized that the nails weren't going to go in, but when I took it off the wall, I realized I'd basically shoved it into the wall completely. Whoops)

In other, other news, I have one round of triple crochet left to FINISH THE GODDAMN WEDDING BLANKET. The downsides - one round takes 3 hours and once I finally finish this blanket... I don't know that I can give it to someone else. No, really.

Yesterday, as I was taking the stairs to get to my street, a guy across the street on a bike started hey babying me. Like, he whistled and I looked up so he started yelling and calling me 'mamacita.' At this point, I was already up and out of sight, had been at work for a very long time and was generally cranky, so I yelled back for him to fuck off. I hadn't realized that he was crossing the street and then realized that I'd just insulted a guy and walked onto my quiet, secluded street and was about where I'd been mugged. Needless to say I started panicking. He continued yelling mamacita and said something about my butt (either that I had a great one or that I had a bug up it) and then I proceeded home without incident.

One of my roommates is moving out at the end of the week. This is fine, but she contributed a majority of the silverware and plates to the house. (Old Ex-Roommate left a bunch of her old plates, but it's not really enough) (Luckily, Roommate didn't contribute much else to the household) So, I need to get some plates and silverware. And there's a Crate and Barrel outlet not too far from where I live. And these are really pretty. Assuming the outlet store still has them. I know I'd probably get a better deal from IKEA, but is it really worth it to drive an hour to save $10? Their flatware is wicked expensive (also, ugly), so I'll probably grab that from Target. At some point. Anyway, I'm going to go look after work tonight and possibly buy it.

I desperately need to clean up - I've had a knitting project & various sewing projects hanging out in the living room since May / June and I need to wash my comforter because I spilled food on it last week. Something tells me that when I get home, all I'm gonna do is sit around and knit.

Speaking of, there's been a hysterical controversy over the Mystery Stole project I'm working on. Someone was looking at the chart, thought the designs looked SATANIC, so rather than continue working on SATAN'S SHAWL, she put it aside for a while and posted about it on ravelry and asked the designer. Everybody else knitting the shawl basically laughed at her and called her stupid names (I think - I don't read anything but special notices from the yahoo!group and I'll be damned if I go back to check), causing the mods to have a smackdown. Just really, though, the idea of it being SATAN'S SHAWL is just hysterical to me.

( Before... )
( After... )

In other news, one of the electrical outlets in the house has shorted out and could have burned the house down. Awesome.

I got quoted in Tuesday's express - I answered their "should metro raise its fares?" poll question and left a comment, which they picked and published! Twas nifty.

I spent three and a half hours of my work day yesterday taking notes. My shoulder hurts now. A lot. I also worked until 6:15 and then did a concessions shift until 10:15. I get to do the same thing again today. Hey, it's paying for some of the Idaho extras.

Also, yesterday, the grandfatherly consultant we have working with us told me and my boss about his pubic hair. Strangely, it was not as skeevy as it sounds.

It's my hope that I will soon be joining the Flexspiracy.

I need a roommate. I posted on craigslist last night. I've gotten one viable response. I am starting to panic slightly.

After the roommate-palooza on Sunday, I think I'm going to head to Target/TJ Maxx and get myself a shower head and an overnight bag. My current overnight bag is literally falling apart, but I got it from a thrift store for $5 last Memorial weekend, so whatever.

Oh and I can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store. I mean, that's not true, this morning I bought yogurt and blue cheese from Whole Foods, but I can't remember the last time I took a list, my coupons and my shopping cart and actually got more than 5 items and spent more than $20. This is slightly disturbing. What's even more disturbing is that the last time I cooked anything was June 19th.

Saw References to Salvador Dali Get Me Hot last night, which I liked... fair to middling. It was very well done and well acted interesting, but the magical realist bits at the beginning and the end (by and large the most interesting parts) had so little to do with the middle that I was frustrated. A caipirinha and a flank steak thing at Rumberos and then off to bed.

Dragged my ass out of bed, attempted to metro home before 11am to meet Comcast man. Attempt unsuccessful because of Metro single-tracking after Pentagon City. By the way, why is it always the Blue/yellow that single tracks? I can count on my hands the number of times (I remember) single tracking on the green or orange line, but it's like a quarterly thing with my line. The universe conspires to give me a crappy weekend.

Anyway, I got home at 11:15 and hung out for a while. I was just sitting down to lunch when there was a knock on the door at 12:05. Comcast guy! Within the hours of the appointment! At 12:10, he left, work completed. Total charge... nothing. I don't actually know how that happened, but I am not complaining.

So, that being done, I found myself at loose ends for about an hour. If you've ever had an hour to kill, it's rather frustrating - not enough time to get into a project, be it crafting or starting work on the garden or cooking something. I tried to think of errands I could run in the city, but I got nothing. I swept the house, mopped the kitchen and attempted to meditate for 20 minutes. That ended up being more of a nap than anything else. Got up, went back to the train, waited an insanely long time and after a Starbucks run, was still at work a good half hour early. So, that's where I am. And where I'll continue to be. Until midnight. Luckily, I have the internets, knitting, a novel & the latest Marie Claire, so I think I'm good.

So, the last thing I have to do for the house, aside from the annoyance of the fridge light is copy a key for my roommate. I actually attempted to do that yesterday, but the hardware store I went to said I had to go to a locksmith - they didn't have a machine for that. I think I'll try a different hardware store... eventually. Maybe I'll do a Home Despot run or something - then I could get my shepherd hook, too. Hmm. The things to think about.

So yeah. I may update a lot tonight because I may not have much else to do. Oh, I'll get to watch people gamble. And knit. Whee!

So, we've had a few minor household issues. The fridge light burnt out, the garage door opener wouldn't open, the cable in New Roommate's room wouldn't cable.

I was all set to email the landlord and then I pulled out the user's manual for the garage door opener. Turns out New Roommate had accidentally locked it. I chatted with Comcast and not only are they giving me an appointment tomorrow 11am-1pm, they may not even charge us for it! I replaced the lightbulb in the fridge... and it still doesn't work. But other than that, I rule.

Clearly, I am handy to have around. Or quite possibly I just don't like having repairmen over.

Now if I can just copy that key for Other Roommate so she can get in if someone flips the deadbolt.

ETA: The hell is with the timing? My landlord just emailed me the new lease. Except that it's an addendum to the lease because apparently Other Roommate didn't notify anyone that she was moving out in August. And they misspelled New Roommate's last name. Awesome.

Overnight, my contact prescription stopped being strong enough. This is ridiculously annoying.

Is it wrong that I couldn't fall asleep last night because I was thinking about how to arrange my room and had had copious amounts of caffeine throughout the day? Worst comes to worst, I stick one of my dressers in a closet. I have two, very large closets in which to stick things. Anyway, I'll start arranging tonight, even though the big pieces (bookcase & white dresser) won't make it up there until Sunday.

On the bright side, my ex-roommate left the whiteboard, so I can return the one I bought and it looks like my bathroom is probably too tiny for the bathmat I got, so I can return the one I lurved that was mad expensive and get a cheaper one.

I have a sinus headache and a chest cough. I had too much dinner and now I'm nauseous. I can't finish this goddamn book review. My roommate basically went "Ex roommate is gone! I'm having these problems with the house! Go!" and then said that I have a lot of stuff. I don't have that much stuff and what I do have will fit pretty easily into the room. I'm slightly offended this declaration. I mean, even if I can't find a good place for my bookshelf, that can live in the living room. Oy.

ETA: And Kurt Vonnegut's dead. And everyone else I know is having huge family issues, so why am I whining again?

Hello Monday, my old friend who I actually don't like but keep inviting to parties because I am sorry for you.

We're pretty sure we have a new roommate. The 11 o'clock appointment didn't show (HATE. I could have slept an extra hour!!!), the 12:30 didn't show, the 1 o'clock showed up at 12:30 and got the room by virtue of being sane and nice, the 1:30 showed up at 1:45 and was full of crazy ("Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm sorry, I can't shake until I wash my hands, I'm covered with germs from the metro!), the 3:45 said that having no windows was a dealbreaker and the 7pm that I didn't stick around for rescheduled to tomorrow. Whee.

stentoriansista and I then hung out, ate some movie theater nachos and watched Blades of Glory. Yes, I did pay for us to watch that in the theater. It was awesome. Shut up.

Yesterday, we hit up Unique Thrift, a scarily large thrift store in Tyson's-ish where I got some t-shirts, including a new Old Navy witch shirt, which I plan to wear until it falls apart, much like my last one, and some other ones to surgery. Then we went to Tyson's Corner where I tried to find a dress for the wedding, found an extremely see-through shirtdress at H&M which I liked but was extremely see through and therefore was vetoed and got some bras and underwear, including a new sports bra, which I've been needing badly since 2005. Why is it that the larger H&M at Tyson's Corner has worse selection than the small H&M at metro center? I don't get that. I think I'm going to that one tomorrow and I may get that see through shirtdress and a slip and Macy's because it was very cute. Except for the unnecessary belt tie. Why, H&M? Why?

Umm... show opening, wine, home, sleep. That was the weekend. And now I'm here. At work. Feeling all allergy full and that I look like a tool in my latest jeans into skirt skirt. I didn't think it was fugly when I made it, but oh, I do now.

I just got home from work (whee for 14 hour work days! I didn't miss you at all!) and I'm about to go to bed. I just hate hate HATE that I have to get up at 9am on a Saturday so I can clean my fucking room for the fucking roommate interviews. Fuck the fucking fuckers. But it needs to be done. I also have to pick up the detritus from the living room, like the computer I now type on. Oy. Here's hoping I get some nice potential roommates and not tools.

Also, I am really not looking forward to what I am (mentally) calling the Grand Schlep of everything from my room to upstairs. Maybe I'll do that all on the 8th, but probably it'll just be a few weeknights of moving crap.

My current roommate just closed on a house. My roommate, the one with a private bathroom who pays $50 more a month than me. Do you think I asked if I could take her room? Oh yes, I did. Not sure what'll happen there, but yes. Cross your fingers. Natural light and a private bathroom are a great trade for having to pay $50 more a month and a smaller room.

On the other hand, she owns most of the furniture in the house, so I have a feeling we might be back to having a cavernous living room again. I can't really afford to buy any new stuff.

So, around 6:30 this morning, I am woken up by a thwack! Now, this thwack! could only be one of the humane mouse traps being sprung. Fuck that shit, I think, I am not getting up at 6:30 in the morning in the ZOMG!COLD to release a mouse into the wilds. I'm going back to sleep.

My dreams for the next four hours are solely focused on mice. Large mice trying to force open the door to my room, small mice caught in traps that I have to release, large mice caught in traps that actually force their way out while I am holding the trap, etc... Let's just say I did not get a good 4 hours of sleep.

I pulled myself out of bed around 10:45, got dressed, got lunch, got my coat on and then picked up the sprung trap. Maybe it just got sprung when they delivered my paper outside? It's heavy. No dice.

So, I hang my bag on the bannister and head outside where I run into Irrationally Afraid of Mice Roommate. I say hi and neglect to tell her about the mice. I left a note on the white board. Really, I just didn't want to deal with possible hysterics. I wander over to the Telegraph Road entrance, where there's a wildflower area (which looks extremely sad in the January cold).

Now, last time I did this, I have a feeling I either stunned, killed or hurt the mouse in the trap. I didn't want to do it this time. So, I explored other ways of opening the trap... which don't appear to exist. Oh sure, I can open up the back end, but it won't stay down on its own and ZOMG MOUSE IS MOVING TOWARDS ME! GAH! GAH! Finally, I have to completely upend the trap so that the main opening is facing the sky and then thwack it a few times so the mouse falls back towards the other end. See, the opening goes down into the trap and if I didn't, I'd be hitting the poor guy with the metal end. Once that's done, I place the trap on the ground and shout something along the lines of "Go, mouse! Be free!" several times, probably to the concern of the pedestrians. The mouse thinks about going out to explore the great unknown, but ultimately decides to stick with what it knows. After all, he may be trapped in a tiny metal box, but there's peanut butter in there. In deciding his fate, he's accidentally sprung the trap again. So, again, I treat the mouse to a ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl, open the trap and then upend him onto the ground. This time, the fall was maybe a foot, probably less, as opposed to the 2-3 foot drop the last guy endured. Mousie falls to the ground, looks around, and wanders off. I couldn't tell if he was limping or not, but he wasn't obviously bleeding, so hopefully he survived his adventures unscathed.

I told the mouse to enjoy his freedom and then went back home and off to work. Damn mice.

The mice are back. I just saw one. IN MY ROOM.

I fucking hate everyone right now.

ETA: Yanno, this wasn't what I meant when I talked about wanting to live in harmony with nature. Also, my room? Really? Why? WHY? Sure, it's closest to the front door and the garage, but there's not any food in here! Unless you count a bunch of empty diet coke cans. Ew! EW EW EW! GO AWAY, MR. MOUSIE!!

ETA II: Christ, how girly am I? Guilty.

So, Roommate set up a couple of humane traps in the kitchen and then left to go see her boyfriend in La Plata. A couple hours later, I hear a thwack. Now, Roommate said that they're easy to spring, so I go upstairs, find the locked trap and start to open it when I see a tail. Oh look, a mouse. And I'm the only one home. Fun times.

So, I take the trap, put it in a bag (because I'm just. that. squeamish), walk a couple of blocks, upend the trap, fumble with it a few times to get it to actually stay open, it does, and I upend the trap and out falls the mouse. It didn't move and I hope it was just stunned by the moving around and the fall or just scared. If not, hey, there's a dead mouse for some owl to eat.

Either way, this is not on my list of things I want to do again in the near future. I mean, ew. Not as bad as dead squirrel, though creepier in the whole 'ZOMG WHAT IF IT BREAKS OUT OF THE TRAP AND EATS ME' way.

There's a mouse in my house. T shrieked when she saw it. I thought she was hurt. Nope. The mouse is hanging out in the kitchen.

You know, I left the back door open for a couple of hours yesterday while I was cooking & then hanging out, so I may have let it in, but I don't think I did. Oy. (Will I tell the roommates this? HELL NO)

I get to buy mousetraps now.

I bought a suit yesterday. It's a basic black, one button jacket with some thin pinstripes. I'm not enamoured with the pants, but as anneball said, it's a basic suit. I need to hem the pants and maybe spend some money to get the jacket taken in on the sides. Decisions decisions.

So, it's fall, so I hauled out the blanket and the flannel sheets. It's fantastic, I haven't woken up cold in the night for a week. However, it now requires a crowbar to get me out of bed in the morning. So warm! So comfy! Stupid life requiring me to leave it!

OK, I should go to work now. I desperately need to cook tomorrow, so I'll stop spending money on food out. Which means I desperately need to grocery shop, because I have no food. Joy. And I woke up this morning with Avenue Q in my head. No, I don't know why either.

ZOMG Grand Tour Sequel!

I just found out my gym is closing on Sundays and shutting down the pool. I have written an angry letter and quite probably will be switching to a new gym. Luckily, GlobalFit lets me do that for $10.

Why does no one in my house empty the dishwasher? Instead of emptying the dishwasher and putting used tupperware in it, they wash the tupperware. Le sigh.

My roommate and I cleaned out our freezer. I can buy ice cream again. Or freeze a loaf of bread. HOORAY!

Roommate interviews are... interesting.

Or, in fact, any power. As I was walking home last night, having an odd religious meditation on the word "should" and how it compares to my philosophy, I noticed all the traffic lights were out. "That's odd," I thought. "Maybe I should call 3-11 and report it? I'm sure someone already has. Hey, all the street lights are out too! Come to think of it, I don't see any lights in any of the building around here... oh HELL NO."

Yes.

I got home and there was, in fact, no power. So I tripped into my windowless room and found some tea lights, lit one, went upstairs, found my citronella candle, lit that, called Papa John's and spent 10 minutes on hold so I assumed their power was out as well, checked on the pot roast in the crockpot and discovered that the power went out around 7:30, according to my christmas tree light timer. Called various people - stentoriansista, goingdriftless and my parents for sympathy. The pot roast was still steaming hot so I had that (and it was delicious - recipe here), polished off the last of my strawberries, a couple of popsicles and the rest of a bottle of red wine. What? It's not like there was anything better to do. Read by flickering candle light?

My dad called back about 15 minutes after I called him and we commiserated for about half an hour, at which point the wine was gone, so I set a cell phone alarm and staggered into bed. Before 11. The last time this happened was Hurricane Isabel, when we didn't have power for 3 days.

Despite my mantra of "there will be power when I wake up," there was not. Around 5 am, I had some freaktastic dream where my mom's friend Elise came into my room and told me that I didn't have power and she didn't either, therefore she was moving. I got all up in arms because I didn't want her to move and that would make this area even more yuppified and I didn't want that. Woke up, realized that I needed a visit to the bathroom, stumbled out as far as the hallway when I heard a male voice say "Hel-lo."

I proceded to then flip the fuck out. Now, quite likely it was just sleepy, sorta hung over me still kind of dreaming, or I could have an early riser neighbor, or it could have been a ghost or it could have been ZOMG KNIFE WIELDING SERIAL KILLER. I go upstairs to the bathroom (it's still dark out, btw), wander downstairs spending a lot of time in the hallway making sure that there was not, in fact, a neighborly serial killer ghost hanging out in my hallway. I don't see any. Perhaps an invisible serial killer ghost? Anyway, my room gets illuminated every couple of seconds by the sleep button on my computer, so I definitely spent a few minutes watching the room to see if there was a scary, scary man wanting to eat my liver. There wasn't, but I didn't get to sleep easily for a while.

My roommate got up at 7, and let me tell you, the girl delights in clanging around the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning when I am trying to sleep. I reset my alarm from 8:15 to 8:50, because why the hell do I want to get to work at 9:30 if I have no staff here and we open at 10? Got up, dressed myself in the dark, went upstairs to the BLINDING LIGHT that is 9 am, brushed teeth, inserted contacts, got food veryquickly from the fridge and trooped off to work.

I'm going to the gym after work today (I think it's open... I hope it's open) and if there is not power when I get back, I will throw the mother of all hissy fits and then try to throw myself on the mercy of one of my friends who have power. Because I could really use a shower.

Also, now I have a red wine hangover. Happy Monday.

ETA Just got a call from Dominion Virginia saying that they believe the power is back on. Hooray! I won't have to throw out everything in my fridge and freezer!