Vacation
Monday was a paid holiday, and I am taking tomorrow and Friday off. That makes this a 2 day work week, and today my Friday. Amen.
I’m not very good at “vacation.” I travel a lot, and use every minute of the (very generous) vacation time that I am given – but I never take the time to just relax. Relaxing makes me feel lazy – I’m too task-oriented and high-strung to relax*. If I take time off, it is usually because I am flying to a wedding, or hitting the proverbial road, or spending a busy long weekend with friends – or, in the case of this week, climbing mountains and screaming at total strangers.
Let’s start with the first thing: climbing mountains. Over the weekend, I absolutely destroyed the knuckles on my left hand. How do I always wind up with bloody knuckles? I mean, honestly – am I a Neanderthal, dragging my hands on the gravel behind me? I never remember scraping them – I just look down and realize, “Oh, there are my bones.” “Oh, there is blood.” And then I spend the next 10 days breaking open the scabs every time I bend my fingers.
Type type type. This is a sacrifice.
We’ll see if the weather allows for me to climb two 14ers in the next couple of days.
As for the screaming at total strangers, well – when two pit bulls attacked my dear old dog Rowdy, snarling and growling and biting, and their owner made no move to stop them, it felt like a fair trade. Your dog snaps, I snap.
Obscenities were screamed (yes, the worst of the bad words), as well as a threat to call the police. It was out of control. I was out of control.
Maybe I need a vacation after all.
*I need** an intervention. Seriously. I don’t think I will ever relax unless someone hog-ties me and forces me to.
**You know what ELSE I need? Seven fillings. I went to the dentist and they found SEVEN cavities. I have excellent dental hygiene, and haven’t had a cavity in 10 years. What is going ON? It’s going to be a 4-hour torture session (not to mention a hefty wad of cash) to get these bad boys taken care of.
Gah, I say. GAH.
share:
A) 14ers? Like 5.14? Like rock climbing? Or something else?
B) I had 6 cavities filled this Spring, and it was the least fun I’ve had in a while. On the bright side, yours will be over with in one day and they’ll probably give you laughing gas (request laughing gas). Mine was torture to the tune of 3 different visits. Oh yeah.
Oh no! Rowdy! I may not really be a pet person, but I love that dog. He’s had a rough vacay so far.
AP, I feel ya…I just had 3 (tiny) cavities filled last week. AND I AM A DENTAL HYGIENIST!!!!!! Ahhh, I’m the last person who should be getting cavities!!! 2 of them were so small that my doc said to wait…but what is the point in that? Wait for them to get bigger? I don’t think so! Hopefully the caps and excessive exclamation marks relays my feelings accurately for this topic.
Wow, one of my coworkers had a pit bull attack his pug over the weekend. Wanna know what HE did? Jumped on that pit and choked it to DEATH! I’m not joking. It wouldn’t let go of the pug’s head.
Is Rowdy ok? (I have a cat with the same name.)
To DEATH????
OMG!
Is it bad that I would pay money to see you go of on someone like that? Also, you may have been mentioned directly in my World Cup post today. Hope you and your knuckles are doing well!
Gah is appropriate.
Is your dog alright?
I hate the dentist! I would rather go to the gyn!
I have known some dentist to look for work. Some think it a filling is over five years old, then it needs to be replaced. I usually wait until I feel pain, then I get the old ones redone.
No need in giving them money that I can use!
OMG. At first I got on here to ask about Rowdy (I would’ve done the same thing as you) but THEN I read the comment from Annie. As the owner of the world’s best Pug, I’m pretty sure that if in the same situation screaming would be the least of what I’d do. Can’t say I’d choke a Pit to death, but the 10+ years of soccer I played would make for some good internal bleeding at least… Nobody messes with Burly Evans.
Okay, hypothetical rage aside… how is Rowdy?
I’m glad that I’m writing for a musician or so. I hope one day I have a chance to order your music tracks ‘cause right now in the country I am it’s impossible. Cheers.
I can teach you how to relax if you can teach me how to be task-oriented :) Hope your dog is okay. I saw a pit bull attack a dog once and it was incredibly scary, so I’m sure you’re screaming was warranted…
I was 35 years old before I had my first cavity. I’m a flossing addict and ridiculous about my teeth. But then once that first came my teeth went to hell in a hand basket. In the last 6 years I’ve had 3 root canals, 7 filled cavities, 2 chipped teeth, a cracked crown. What the heck?
This is a fascinating reply, isn’t it?
I had 8 cavities the last time I went to the dentist…it took two visits for me get them all taken care of. Lots of money, too! :(
Last time I had any ‘work’ done in my mouth, I was waaaay back in the chair with huge needles being jammed into every exposed piece of tender pink gum, and the pain wasn’t bad, but even so I started to lose it and I began to cry so much the tech had to raise me up again in the chair. She asked if I was going to be OK and then called the Dentist, who came in and suggested I might like to reschedule with a ‘specialist’ where a general anesthetic would be helpful for my nerves. I decided to tough it out and stifle my emotions… long enough to get one wisdom tooth successfully pulled!
All to say, your blog is sweet and funny and completely down to earth. Glad I ‘found’ you tonight!
Lesley-Anne