Update for the heck of it.

My CD with “The Cat Carol” arrived in the mail yesterday. I meant to bring it into work with me today, but in my haste to get out the door this morning I forgot both that and my employee ID badge. I miss both these items. A new CD would have been an extraordinary help in getting me through this morning. And without my ID Badge, I need to ask permission before I can get through any card-keyed door in this place. This is both embarrassing and exasperating. It’s days like this that make me wish I’d not moved 20 miles from where I work. I enjoy the ride to and from work (most days), but if I leave something behind, I am well and truly skunked.

Last night I stopped at Salad Alley for a roast beef sandwich and small clam chowder. It was convenient because it’s located immediately adjacent to the video rental store I use. I dropped off “Finding Nemo” and “Ya-Ya Sisterhood” and picked up “Alex and Emma” and “Bowling for Columbine”.

Once home, I fed the cats (this must be done immediately upon entrance to their domain, or things get ugly fast). My sandwich and soup made it out to the living room, along with a glass of diet Vanilla Pepsi. I was getting ready to let the cats decide which video to watch, when I noticed it was nearly seven o’clock. All this month I’ve been deprived of my guilty pleasure television, “Seventh Heaven”, because it had been pre-empted by that station’s “25 Days of Christmas”. It occurred to me that this was now officially over, so on a whim I tuned in just in time to catch the start of “Seventh Heaven”. It was even an episode I hadn’t seen before (Mary tries to convince Robby to move to New York; Lucy finds Simon’s wallet in the laundry basket with a surprising item within). So I delayed watching the videos for an hour, and watched TV while Clueless and Warrior Princess did somersaults at my feet trying to get me to give them pieces of the roast beef from my sandwich.

Afterwards, I set both “Bowling” and “Alex” DVD’s on the floor, and told the cats they could pick which one we watch first again. Again it was Warrior Princess who made the choice, and again she chose the one I wouldn’t have picked myself. That cat has a sixth sense or something. And I must be going stark raving bonkers if I’m letting the cats choose my evening entertainment for me.

So we watched “Alex and Emma” last night, which had gotten decent reviews, but which I found a little disappointing. It was entertaining though, and it definitely wasn’t a movie that The Socialist will be disappointed to have missed, so it was a good choice for the evening.

Perhaps the most excitement I had yesterday was the appearance of an unexpected package on my doorstep. When I’d gotten notice of a package that was not delivered on Christmas Eve, I assumed it was the book covers for my sister’s Christmas books (long story – if you really want to know, go back and read my December entries). It turned out that I had assumed incorrectly. The book covers are still AWOL. The package came with an out-of-the-country return address on it, and contained Christmas presents (including a subscription to what looks to be a really cool magazine) representative of the sender’s country. You know who you are, and thanks.