A date

How many cups of coffee can I drink before I get the shakes??

That's the question of the day as I struggle to keep my eyes open after a 9:30 volleyball game last night. We lost, but I played pretty well but definitely have room for improvement. Turns out, we have at least 3 games scheduled for 9:30 this season. Geez! Who did we piss off??

Volleyball was last night, but I was already tired from a late night the evening prior. And, no, it wasn't anything fun. I attended a committee meeting that ended around 11 pm (and it was held about 40 minutes from home). When I got home, I beat my head against the wall for a few minutes to knock out the residual frustration from the meeting.

This committe organizes an auction that takes place during a charity event for a local non-profit group. Problem is, the committee is chaired by a chick who is either a) bi-polar, or b) an idiot, or c) both.

In one conversation, she argued two completely different opinions - -both of them hers! I can't help but shake my head as I remember some of our discussions

So, after all of this craziness, what's in store for me tonight? Tonight I have a date, sort of.

Actually, my ass has a date with my sofa! Is 7 pm too early to put on my pajamas??

Is it spring yet??

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training two weeks from today.
Me and Firecracker report on March 3!
Yay!

No map required

There's something to be said for feeling like a local...especially when you're not. For me, my vacations are not considered 'successful' until I know my surroundings, when I feel comfortable walking around without a map. My shining moment in Australia came when I was strolling down a side street in the Rocks neighborhood in Sydney and a woman stopped me to ask for directions.

Me?!?! The little tourist girl from Chicago??? And YES!!! I was able to tell her how to get to the hotel she was trying to find. I was pretty proud of myself and felt even more comfortable in my "home away from home" that is Australia.

How strange is it that a city on the other side of the planet feels more like home to me than one just 2 hours' flight away?

By the time Firecracker and I left New York last weekend, I had a small measure of comfort in knowing my way around. I mean, terms like "Upper West Side" and "the Village" held meaning for me, a significant difference from the week before.

But it wasn't until I was watching an old episode of "Sex & the City" that I realized that New York isn't as foreign to me as it had once been. Carrie Bradshaw was having an affair with a married Mr. Big and they had a rendezvous at a trashy hotel. Carrie figured that their anonymity was assured since no one would know them down there (at 58th and 7th).

AND I RECOGNIZED THE LOCATION!

Okay, I didn't know exactly which hotel they were talking about, but I had to smile because I knew that 58th and 7th is near Times Square.

Small world.

And I'm getting to know more and more of it all the time.