Two Hundred Seventy-Third Entry

Overwhelmed is the only word to describe how I feel today, and have felt all week.

It all started on Friday...

Paula asked me to babysit for her Friday night. She had to work until 8:30, and afterwards was going to go out with some work friends. I worked at A's the night before, and did not get much sleep that night, nor the whole week for that matter. The last thing I was that day was patient.

I got to Paula's at 5pm and Calvin was getting ready for work. I brought two frozen pizzas for us to have for dinner(if you are ever in an Albertsons, you must try the Essencia brand Supreme Pizza...very good). Well, the girls don't like combination pizza. I actually knew this, but I was having a week long brain fart and completely forgot. So, after cooking the combo pizza twice(i forgot to remove the cardboard), I made some pepperoni pizza that they had in the freezer for the girls. They went to town on it.

After dinner the four of us talked for a while and then I started to get sleepy. I decided that we should all play a game. The game was called....Naptime!! It was 7:30, and I was dead tired. I convinced Georgia and Shaley to play with me, and banished Dalila to her room(she just turned 13 and thinks everything is stupid.) It wasn't that hard to convince Georgia and Shaley this was a fun game. They are only 5 and 7, and if you just laugh enough, they think they are having a good time. I tried to nap, but I'll tarred and feathered if Shaley didn't just have to keep getting up to get her dollies! It just so happens that her dolly somehow "fell" behind me, and that I happened to be laying on the part of the sofa that was Shaley's favorite. Georgia was a real peach(get it?) and played the game very well. I probably only got about 10 minutes of sleep total before their cousins Stephanie and Michelle(ages 15 and 14, respectively) decided to walk to the house and throw it into disarray.

Shaley and Georgia just adore Steph and Michelle, and it wasn't long before they were up and running around. About 10 minutes later, Cindy came over and brought Nathan. He is a little devil child. Christ almighty that boy can howl! It was all over by then. Three teens and three "babies". All trying to talk at the same time, all trying to get each others attention.

Paula got home at around 9pm and got ready for her night out. The girls and Nathan were a little quieter when she got there. After Paula left, Nathan went home, and Dalila, Stephanie and Michelle went to spend the night at my aunts house. It was just Shaley, Georgia and me. They played video games and I watched Collateral.

By 10pm, the two started fighting about the computer game. I told Shaley to let Georgia play and she started to cry. She came over and I knew she wouldn't last long. I told her that it would be her turn in 10 minutes. She gave me a hug and climbed into my lap and we watched Collateral(don't worry, it had just started, no killing yet). But I knew that Shaley would go to sleep before 10 minutes, and she did. I carried her to bed. Now it was just Georgia and me. After a while, she got tired of the computer and wanted to play Playstation. I told her that we could play after the movie was over. I suggested that she go lay down in bed and when the movie was over I would get her to play video games. She actually went to bed and fell asleep.

So now it was just me. Tom Cruise had already killed the guy in the apartment, and the guy in the penthouse and was on his way to the jazz club. I had seen all that already, I was just waiting for the end.

So I decided to get drunk and eat the rest of the pizza. Reflecting upon it now, I don't think that was a good idea, but oh well. There were no emergencies, no house fire.

Collateral was a very very good movie. The ending was very very very good. Is it oscar calibre for Jaime Foxx? Yeah...only just barely though.

Paula got home at 3:30am. I was still awake and just hanging on. Shortly after that, Calvin came home. They went to bed and I slept on the sofa. Their stupid dog, Ginger, kept waking me up. Goddamn dog! I swung at her to get her away, but she couldn't take the hint. I got some sleep though.

The first thing I see when I woke up was Shaley taking the blanket off of me and looking for her doll. It was 7:30am. I nearly yelled at her. I calmly told her to go back to bed. But within half an hour, everyone was awake. I had no choice but to get up.

Paula made biscuits and gravy though....mmmmm....drool....

I hung out for a while, and went home at noon. I tried to nap, but couldn't. I had to be at work at 3:30.

I didn't sleep much, and went to work. Work pissed me off, as it has been of late. No recognition for the hardworking, just for the ass-kissing.

I got home after 10pm. I stayed up to watch SNL and I was impressed by Paris Hilton's acting. She didn't seem afraid to make fun of herself. Either that or she was completely oblivious.

I get to sleep at about 12:30(taped the rest of SNL) and got up at 7am to go study with Kuna at the office. Semi-productive morning. I was really tired. I got home at about 1pm, and baked my other frozen pizza. I did beaucoup laundry, and dishes, and watched shows I taped earlier in the week. I had to be at work at 5pm and I wanted to tape the Super Bowl. After eating the pizza, I got a call from Tia Luisa, inviting me to a Super feast. I was stuffed from the pizza, but I needed to have some of Debbies famous ribs. So off I went in the middle of the 1st quarter to Tia's, where I engorged myself on ribs, chicken wings, beans and potato salad. I somehow got to work without being able to walk. I was ready to burst.

Work sucked, as it has been. I got home at 11pm. Couldn't get to sleep til about 12:30.

Woke up at 7:20. I realized that I had run out of cigarettes the night before. Without a single thought, I quit smoking. I put on the patch and walked on out that door.

These have been the worst three days of my life.

Monday, the first day of quitting, Marcia, the boss, came to me and said that she needs plans and specs for TWO projects by Friday. Ok...I nearly freaked. There is no way I can get it done by Friday. Besides, I'm not here this Friday. Monday night I had to experience the joy of bagging groceries for ungrateful bitches, and the customers are pretty bad too.

Tuesday was worse than Monday for nicotine withdrawal, and today was the worst so far. Even worse than the last time I tried to quit. If I don't kill myself, I'm going to die trying.

Bright spot: I met a gorgeous girl at Albertson's. I guess met is not quite the right word...bagged her groceries while making a complete ass of myself is probably a more appropriate term.

Lent sacrifices: The usual Chocolate. But new in '05, eating after 8pm.