So, THAT's a Vicissitude

Yesterday was certainly a Monday, in more than the calendar sense. You know what I mean. It seems that Mondays are often a little dodgy. Maybe the two days off on the weekend makes us forget the routine we endure the other five days a week, or maybe our pitiful struggle against that routine requires us to blunder as much as we can on Mondays in some vain attempt to pretend this isn't our real life. I don't know. But I do know that I wanted to crawl back into bed after my shower yesterday morning, and the day only got worse as it progressed.

First, I'd had a bad Friday. The center I work for hosted an installment of a seminar series being funded by a government research agency. I'd been working out the logistics of the seminar for months and thought everything was ready. And in all honesty, most of it came off well. But somehow I misplaced a presentation remote control on Thursday, and it was simply not to be found on Friday. I spent half the day, and almost all of the seminar time, searching my office and everywhere else I could think of with no success. Consequently, I faced an unpleasant experience on Monday morning when I had to confess my negligence and attempt to make restitution to the university.

But even before I got to work, I was hit by a car when I was riding my bike to campus. I was going straight in the bike lane when a Toyota Pruis pulled into the road from a side-street and drove right into my path. So much for caring about the environment. The driver was obviously oblivious to his. No one was hurt; the driver turned in the same direction I was going, and I saw him in time to slow up and try to dodge his car. So, I just bounced off his front, drivers-side bumper lightly and continued to bump along the side of his car until he stopped. Neither of our "vehicles" received any damage either, but it shook me up a lot, as I'm sure you can imagine. The guy had glanced my way; I saw his head turn. But he clearly doesn't understand the difference between actually looking both ways and just going through the motions. I let off a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush, and the driver was clearly frightened. I would have felt badly for him if he hadn't almost killed me. I nearly turned around and went home right then.

But I didn't. And I was swamped with work when I got to the office. There were all sorts of things to do to wrap up the seminar, and my boss is in France or Spain or some other European country where he is no help to me. Then a friend canceled lunch plans on me last minute, and I had a major assignment due for one of my classes after work.

Fortunately, I had arrangement to meet up with some old school mates down the pub last night. (It's not really a pub, but I can pretend pretty well.) In keeping with my desire to change my social situation, I've been reaching out to acquaintances where I can, and it paid off last night with a few pints of Newcastle and some lively conversation. So what seemed like a disastrous day ended up on a positive note. And if it hadn't been for my effort to make some alterations in my life, my friends would not have known I was still in town, and I would have spent the evening watching t.v. and feeling down on the living room sofa while DW worked on lesson plans in the study.

Yes, my friends, change is good. And don't let anyone tell you differently.