We’ve all had those days where EVERYTHING seems to go wrong! When this happens to me, it takes awhile for me to realize this is simply how it’s going to be for the whole day. Once I accept that premise, the rest of the day’s mishaps are at least diluted to a degree and with my OCD self, I don’t go bonkers trying to put all the ducks in a row! On one of those days, it just isn’t going to happen – so, I let the little boogers fly wherever they want to!
This whole day has been one of those!
I woke up at 4:00 a.m. No, I don’t set my alarm for that ungodly hour. Sleep simply eluded me; after a few tosses and turns, a few unsuccessful attempts at meditation and relaxation, I conceded, accepted my fate and got out of bed. The next step for me is always coffee and thank god the coffee maker did its thing without incident.
It was too early to start making phone calls; it was too early for much of anything except working on my book. In the most recent edition of Writers Digest, there’s an article talking about the differences between the times of inspiration when the words flow naturally, no obstacles in the stream to subdue the process. Other times, the brain seems clogged – just nothing getting through and every word is a chore! Well, I had lots of chores today! No telling what I said on paper. By 6:00 a.m., I gave it up and turned to other tasks. I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, made my grocery list, dusted and vacuumed the living room and the bedroom.
There were several calls on my calendar but the business bewitching hour of 8:00 was still 20 minutes away, still no one would be available. Or if they were, it was doubtful they’d be ready for any major movement as yet. I stepped outside – yes, in the cold – and had a cigarette. Okay…if you’re one of those who’s read previous posts here, you know I tried to quit last year. I made it for four months, started again, stopped again, started again, etc. I did stop smoking in the house and I haven’t given up on quitting entirely. But this morning? I wasn’t trying to be brave…I wanted that cigarette!
Once I determined the rest of the world was ready for my calls, I started in on the phone. Being one of those days, no one, and I do mean NO ONE, had the information I needed; I didn’t have all the information they needed and every one of my calls ended up back on the list with a few more added!
And during this time of course, my mother called four times. My mother, once a very intelligent and vibrant woman, is now disabled and 80 years old. I’ve determined that the brain has a tendency to become mush after a certain point and tape recorders are needed to repeat every conversation at least a half dozen times. Now, get this: when the PTSD kicks in, I have difficulty concentrating and my brain just leaves, forgetting everything that happens until it decides to come back! Maybe that’s when the other personality goes out for a cigarette, who knows. My mother has difficulty remembering because of her age and progressively fading lucidity. I have difficulty remembering when faced with certain stresses and of course, my mother is one of them. We’re a great team, we are!
About noon, I decided it was time to refill the coffee cup for the third time and when I walked into the kitchen, I stepped in water…all over my kitchen floor! The same kitchen I had cleaned just a few hours earlier! Living on the ground floor is great when carrying groceries into the apartment. For everything else, it’s a pain in the behind! The main drain is right below me and it gets everything me and from the other unit above me. I’m extremely careful of what I put down the kitchen drain because of past issues, but if other tenants aren’t so careful, who gets the water, grease, food and general garbage? I DO!
And while there are upsides of condo living: snow removal, lawn maintenance, trash removal, swimming pool, tennis courts and cable television, there are definitely some downsides. Each unit is owned by someone else and if that owner is an investor, renting out the unit, then we have issues of contact (I notify the upstairs tenant who notifies his manager who notifies the owner – you see where I’m going with this), and a major issue of who is responsible for what.
I had a major flood problem a few months back at 4:00 a.m. (what is it about 4:00 in the morning?). It’s a good thing my bathroom is large because there were seven maintenance men standing in my bathroom, trying to determine whether the water was coming from a main pressurized line in the wall (HOA issue, both after-hours and on-site people), from the bathroom upstairs (the upstairs owner, his manager and his maintenance person) or was it a problem with my plumbing (after-hours and regular maintenance personnel from my management company)? That was another one of those days!
So with the situation as it was, I had one more phone call, an urgent one, to my management company. Guess what…no answer. I left a voice mail after listening to the office hours (open until 6:00 p.m.), directions (“centrally located” my eye), the website address, leasing information, blah, blah, blah.
I proceeded to mop the kitchen floor, still concerned about the calls remaining ahead of me, also urgent and necessary to complete before close of business day. I bailed the kitchen sink of most of the garbage water and prayed no one upstairs or next door would use their sink for awhile.
By 3:00 no one had returned my numerous calls which, I will say for my management company, is unusual. I called the maintenance person’s cell phone direct and of course, in line with the rest of the day, I got his voice mail.
I continued making my other calls and by 4:00, things began to turn around. By 4:30, the maintenance man returned my call, getting my message only after he’d gotten out of a meeting and the company Christmas party afterward, of course. And yes, the management office closed early today, apparently locking the door just minutes before I’d placed my first call, to attend the company Christmas party!
So it’s now 5:09 p.m. and I’m waiting for the maintenance man to get here. While I had other errands to run and planned on getting them all done today, fate had other plans for me. I just looked under the sink a few minutes ago and find I’ll have to empty that cupboard and mop some more before the maintenance man gets here…and of course, he’ll be knocking on my door right about the time I get down on my hands and knees to empty under the sink.
Well, no such luck…he’s knocking on the door! Bye!
