Fresh Socks

I am on the bus ride home and I just cannot wait to take a shower and get into my bed.  Why?  Well…

Work is seriously beginning to pile up because of several reasons, most notably my laziness and my stubbornness in trying to figure things out on my own.  I’ve spent all night in the office a few times when I had a lot of work to do, and I figured last night would be a good chance to do that.  That is because last night was my office holiday party, and I also had tickets to the Nets-Wizards basketball game.  I’m feeling a bit too lazy to work out a good frame to tell my story so I will just do this chronologically.

Last night was my third holiday party at my company.  It isn’t a fancy affair – people just come after work for the open bar and free buffet while mingling with co-workers and watching other people dance.  There are no assigned tables and not enough seats so some people just stand around or walk around.  I had to leave my first two holiday parties early because both of those nights coincided with my wife’s one weekday off, but that wasn’t a big deal since I’m not all that friendly with my co-workers.  This year, the holiday party fell on the day my wife was working (she works 3pm to 11pm as a nurse), but again I had to leave early because I had to go to the basketball game.  Party started at 5:30 and I had a little more than an hour to get as much free food and drinks as I could.  I hung out with some people in my department, and had one strong Long Island iced tea and 2 jack and cokes before rushing out of there with a co-worker for the basketball game.

We took the PATH train to Newark and watched the Eastern Conference’s worst team, my Nets, beat the Conference’s second worst team, the Wizards.  At the game I got beers for myself and my co-worker but he was so full that I ended up drinking both beers over the course of the game.  I was a bit drunk at this point.  By the game ended it was almost 10pm, and I imagined my trek back home: PATH to Grove St., transfer to Hoboken train, bus to NY, bus home, 5-minute walk to my car and then a drive home to sleep for 5 to 6 hours before my 2-hour morning commute.  Instead of that, I decided to spend the night at the office getting some work done.

I stopped by the supermarket on my way back to work and got myself two instant noodles, which is a cheap Korean hangover food.  I killed one as soon as I got back to the office, then I felt tired and fell asleep.  After sleeping on the office floor a few times before, I’ve been keeping a sleeping bag in my cubicle, which has been there ever since I brought it in to the office to let that same co-worker borrow it a few months ago.  So my sleep was at least comfortable.

(Honey, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I lied about sleeping over at my co-worker’s house.  I was going to do that but I decided to work instead.)

I woke up at 6am, and downed the other bowl of noodles before getting myself ready to face another day.  I started working at 7am, but in the end, I didn’t get any extra work done because I left work early, negating the extra hours I put in in the morning.  I had to get home as soon as possible because I haven’t washed myself, I’m wearing the same clothes from yesterday, I’m dirty, and I’m tired.  The only thing I brought yesterday was a spare pair of socks.  I can go days wearing the same clothes and same underwear, but I have to have a fresh pair of socks.  And now I can’t wait to take them off and get into my bed.