Jan 31 2016
The Rush
It’s 6:15 am. Do you know where your Suzy is?
She’s blasting down the highway in her Ramones-powered car, cursing the darkness and the blare of oncoming headlights equally. And hoping that the day’s marathon won’t be as bad or as long as the rest of the week’s.
I’m a slow learner. At least I left my book at home*, so I did learn something. No reading for you!
At this early hour, I had not only caffeinated and donned my faux adult disguise, but also cleaned out the litterbox twice, including one of Clyde’s patented DeathDumps(TM). It’s all about the glamor with me.
The point of these predawn endeavors was to get the mountain of work done to prepare for the annual fundraising event at work. It seemed that everything went wrong, from the computer system varying from barely working to not working to shut down, to the facilities guy ordering the wrong supplies I needed to create name tags and labels.
As I was sorting through donations one day, one of the doctors stopped by to observe that events are extremely inefficient fundraisers, since the return on one’s effort was so low. This was not news to me, though I can’t say I appreciated that remark at that particular point in time.
Every day, I thought I could get X number of things done, and every day I fell short of the mark, no matter how long I worked. Being the Little Suzy that Could was getting pretty old pretty fast. In the end, I logged about 55 hours of work and five bottles of wine in one week, and I did get it all done in time.
I’m trying not to think about next year’s event. Maybe I’ll forget how bad it was by the time it rolls around again. Or maybe I’ll be better at preparing for it. Or maybe we will come up with a more efficient way to raise money.
Well, Scarlett, if tomorrow is another day, next year is a whole year away.
*I often sit in my car and read on the rare occasions when I take a lunch break. No matter how unlikely it is that I will need it, I have an innate dislike for leaving the house without a book**, a tendency I share with Jessica. Once Megan and I picked her up and Megan asked if Jessica had a book with her, and she responded, “Really, Memmin, have you ever known me to be without a book?”
**Back when I used to travel, I was always amazed by the people who would get on a flight, especially a really long one, with nothing to read. And there’s always one person who falls asleep before takeoff and stays that way until landing.
A YEAR AGO: An all-girl road trip to the South Coast.
3 Responses to “The Rush”
Sometimes it’s not what we do or how we do things that things go wrong but just timing and circumstances around us that we can fail to reach a goal. The important thing is that we never quit and do our best as you have done and you can do the same thing next year and the results could end up strangely different.
Hope you don’t mind me having a little fun with you:
(if you do mind, feel free to delete)
The Rush Redux
It’s 6:15 a.m. Do you know where your Tim is?
He’s blasting down the highway in his Heart-powered Jeep on its Stairway to Heaven, cursing the darkness and the glare of oncoming headlights equally And hoping that the day’s marathon won’t be at least as difficult as the getting ready has been.
I’m a slow learner. At least I left one vital item at home and four miles into the trip had to go back for it, otherwise no eating for you!
At this early hour I had not only caffeinated but donned my faux Alaskan disguise, filled the bird feeders and had to wipe some of their leavings off my gloves. It’s all about the glamour with me.
The point of these predawn endeavors was to get to the mountain on a day trip to East Pole to survey for any earthquake damage. It seemed like everything went wrong, from leaving that vital item behind, to not wearing enough clothing to keep myself warm in the Jeep when the temperature fell below positive 10 to spilling gasoline while I attempted to fuel the snowmachiine and when I finally arrived finding the ignition to the machine had frozen solid and nothing short of a cutting torch would free it.
As I was sorting through everything that had gone wrong this day including what I am now sure was mild hypothermia I realized there are days when you have to cut your losses. Operating on one hour’s sleep and facing a couple of hours on the trail if I could get the machine going, I had to question going.
Every day there’s a possibility events can pile up and should there be a problem on the trail I might not be able to handle it. So I recovered the machine and headed hone, this trip wearing my full Alaska-chic Carhartts snow suit.
I’m trying not to think about next month’s event. Maybe I’ll foreget how bad this day’s was by the time that rolls around. Or maybe I’ll be better prepared for it and dress appropriately and operate more efficiently.
Well, Augustus, if tomorrow is another day, next month is a whole month away.
I love it! Hilarious! You totally made my day. 🙂