I gave up two invitations tonight to stay home. I don't regret this. I have been so busy at work (and last week, I was organizing a conference at work, so spent the whole week except part of Friday at a hotel) and travel. This also has not been a good busy, the stress level is increasing and legal paranoia is at its peak. I am getting private emails from staff wondering about their future. Trying to keep all the work balls in the air, I have been neglecting everything else in the process. No time for friends, family, or conversations. And when I actually do have them, I don't feel like explaining how screwed up the situation will be till March. I miss life.
So tonight has been quiet. At home with a quickly heated TV dinner and absolute quietness. And during the day, it was entirely mundane pursuit of chores.
I spent the entire day in pursuit of one thing, an adapter cable for my iPOD to plug into my car. This is not as rare as it sounds. For the non-audiophiles amongst you who think that listening to music is a secondary reason to drive (primary being the need to get somewhere), move over, the world has no place for you. We, the stronger race that drive just to listen to music, shall soon take over the world and destroy you.
The cable is probably 10 cms long and it plugs below the iPOD and then into a socket right under the climate control button in the back. Given that I am not shopping for Polonium or shoulder-launch missile, I thought this would be a fairly mundane exercise. I first go to Manor, and I have a firm feeling that the man who pretended to help me had no idea how any of it worked. Had I known the story of the rest of the chase, I would have tried hard and looked under every box in every section until I found what I was looking for. But I didn't. And so the chase began.
From Manor, I drove to Emil Frey an on the way promptly found that it is closed. Of course, what was I thinking! It is Saturday, the only day when anyone is actually free to shop, so it must be closed. What is the fucking point anyway! By the time I found out, I was already half way over there and it is an adventure I would much rather soon forget. it involved stunts such as driving (incorrectly and at great cost to my driving future) on the bicycle path, on tram tracks facing down an oncoming tram and near-misses with idiots who think raods were built for walking.
So with that out of the way, I drove to Media Mart. This may not mean much to you if you are reading this from Atlanta, Mumbai or Cairo. But it is hell on earth if you happen to get there on a Saturday when the entire townfolk has to descend there apparently. And for every paying customer, there are 5 onlookers. And for every 20 cars, there is ONE parking spot. The parking premises look more like Phoenix Mills compound than a standard American mall. I park on a dirt patch that serves as spill-over parking. it reminds me more of a set for a Vietnam-era military movie than a parking lot. There is a man-made water feature next to it, which is not a fountain or lake if you are wondering. it is a giant puddle the size of moon left over by a water-main breaking (or so I postulate.. on both counts.)
From there, I trek to the store, my shoes getting heavier as the mud cakes onto the bottom. Inside, I see a circus scene where the sales associates have to pick and choose their prey based on the size of the project. A need for a cable doesn’t amount to much. So after trying very hard to attract the attention of one of the high and mighty associates, I decided to call it quits and went about searching for it myself. No luck there.
Well, so it was off to two more stores. A Dutch-Indian guy with a very pleasant demeanor smile at another store really tried to help. But they simply did not have it. But he helpfully suggests the Apple store in Plainpalais. So I drive like a mad man back into town with minutes to spare. However I had not realized that this was the L'Escalade(Fête de l'Escalade) weekend. So the traffic was horrendous. I reached the store after it was closed.
Entire day wasted.
This after a crazy week that was part of the crazy month.
I need a time management class. Pronto. And knowing me, I will double book that time too.
