In the Good 'Ol Summertime

Only two days until the official start of summer. Odd that it is also the longest day of the year, after which the daylight hours begin to diminish. Just the word summer makes me visualize sitting on a big Victorian front porch, sipping lemonade to the sound of crickets, watching fireflies and listening to the bug zapper after sunset. I'm not sure whose memory this is however, it's not mine. Probably a mixture of a Countrytime Lemonade commercial and a Lake Woebegone book, but not mine.

I long for the days of sleeping in on a summer morning, listening to other people go to work (hehe), and lazily getting out of bed in time to make macaroni and tomato soup lunch, digest for the obligatory hour while watching the Dukes of Hazard, and pedaling my bike the two blocks to the YMCA, towel coiled around my neck, to bust through the pool gates exactly at 1pm in time for Open Swim. Mmmmm...nice!

That being said, things are pretty relaxed with my hours. I sent an email to some friends asking if they want to run in my hometown 5k on Friday at 5:15. I got a comment back that 5:15 pm is a little difficult to make on a work day - my response: who really works on friday?? It was a joke, but don't all jokes have a vein of truth? Last summer, I worked remotely 98% of the time for Accenture. My schedule was very flexible, but one of the reasons I left was that I missed being around people (and didn't want to go back to traveling). Now, I should work from the office 4 days per week. We can work remotely if planned and not abused. I'm a borderline abuser. Lunch hour at the pool is hard to deny!

Today was especially hard. I'm just back from a long weekend in Key West. As is typical after a trip there, I STILL feel hungover two days after my last adult beverage - tired, cranky, bloated, feverish, headachy. BUT, I did manage to make it to work (big cheers!). This trip was nice as always, but had a very different feel to it than past yearly (or more) trips. I went with Mike and stayed at a friend's house in her guest house. My friend was there for the first two of five days, but then had to leave for a business trip. Her partner remained there, so we did occasional things with her. As clichéd as it can be, I think I'm getting to old for this trip. After Thursday night drinks - espresso martinis at La Te Dah and vodka red bulls at the Bull and Garden of Eden, I was sick as a dog during our Power Adventure on Friday. I tossed my cookies as well as someone else's (hehe) and could hardly prop myself up on the jet ski - my consistently favorite activity. Dinner was brief at Sunset Pier as I needed to walk around. "Hurry up. Take your time," said the Crazy Cat Man over and over again, and we ended up calling it an early night and watching a movie on TV. Saturday, we went bar hopping starting with Half Shell Raw Bar and staying close to that area - Schooner Wharf and Finnigans, proceeding to drinks at home and drinks out at Aqua. It appears that despite Coleen's absence, I can't go to Key West without a trip to the Drag Show. Yummy street pizza for dinner. Sunday started out lazy - Chico's Cantina, a tour of the island by car, drinks at home, then a sunset cruise. There was no sunset, but it is always great to get out on the water. We went to Blue Heaven for dinner, where the food was AWESOME, but the conversation was deplorable. We had our obligatory trip argument - SO frustrating, yet SO typical. We had been together and drinking nonstop for 5 days. I was tired of playing tour guide and making all of the decisions, it was bound to happen.

So, I guess the key to future trips there, is to always go and hang out with more people. In a group. We were invited back and offered a place to stay for Fantasy Fest. It is always such a fun time, but always ends the same - feeling like death, even two days after the end of the party. And now, even though it's summer (almost), I can't enjoy the fun of sleeping in.