Hammer To Fall

There was no debriefing Friday, because Director Jennings was out of the office, so my reaming is set for today. But it did give me chance to enjoy most of the weekend. I love being back in America. Maybe it's the small things, like the smell of fresh food at the supermarket, or the Mariners in HDTV, or boneless buffalo wings. Mostly, it's just home.

I finally stocked up on groceries early Saturday, after cleaning rotten food out of the fridge. After all this time, you'd think I'd have figured out that stuff goes bad, especially when you're gone for almost three weeks. The key is to only buy items that fall into one of two categories: things that you are going to eat right away, and things that don't spoil. But I see that carton of milk, and I just have to buy it. "It won't go bad this time," I say. Poor deluded fool.

I called up Karen, to see if she wanted to get together, but that ship may have sailed. She's... well... high maintenance, and I don't offer much of a support contract being out of the country, so I can't say I blame her. I don't feel like getting into that right now. I called up Matt instead, and we watched the Mariners lose in extra innings. Why Guardado wasn't pitching the tenth, I don't know. There's a reason his nickname is Everyday Eddie.

Saturday night we went to Pioneer Square to see some band Matt had heard about from a friend of his. The music was good, but I wasn't really in the mood for the scene. I work in a world where women are second-class citizens; hooker waitresses and mobster girlfriends with black eyes for looking at someone the wrong way. And I get back here and the first conversation I have with a girl is comprised entirely of lies.

"Yup, that's my name. Yes, I'm a tour operator. It's very exciting. Mostly Southeast Asia but all of Asia, really. The Cambodia tour is one of my favorites. You'd love it. Stop by the office, they'll give you a brochure."

I guess the last part isn't a lie... they will give you a brochure. Just don't expect to book a trip with us anytime soon.