Strange day, here I go!
Today was a very very strange day. For starters, it was my first work day minus Jeff. That, believe it or not, is strange. I know that it shouldn’t be. The vast majority of my working days have been minus Jeff. But in the past several weeks, I’ve grown to really enjoy having him around. His absence is very noticeable.
Also, as many of you dear readers know, my attempts to practice my religion, especially the morning ritual of chanting japa, is, shall we say, random at best. Today, around 5am, marked the first time in several weeks that I chanted japa. One could easily assume that this was due to Jeff’s influence. I promise it was not. He is nothing but encouraging. One of the things I will miss most about him is our talks on Krishna consciousness and spirituality in general. I talk about a lot of things with different people, but my talks on Krishna consciousness are my favorite.
I was rushing around this morning, after japa, and nearly locked myself out of my apartment again. Careful. I’ve done it before, and it’s not really all that exciting. I strolled over two doors to the store, opened up, turned on my laptop (which I had just shut down not five minutes ago) and… nothing. Well, the LED lights came on and the DVD-ROM drive would make a noise or two, but nothing more.
I began to lament my poor little friend and I called Sony to see how I could get it repaired. This was a big deal. My life is basically on my laptop. Sure, I back up, but it’s such a part of my daily life that it’s odd to be without it. Also, my flight confirmation number is on it. I didn’t back that up. Not sure why, really.
Semi-freaking out and on hold, Randy, the owner of the store next to mine (Brushstrokes) tell me that I left my lights on all night and my bus is probably dead. Probably? No. It is definitely dead. But how dead? Do I need a new one? I can’t really afford a new one right now.
Right after he left, and while I was actually talking to a nice Indian gentleman about how my computer isn’t working (yes, Brian… if that is your real name… I have it plugged in) the mail girl enters my little shop and tells me that the Postmaster General does not, in fact, want to “jump up my butt,” but he wants to stop delivering mail to me tomorrow. Actually, that is his plan. No more mail for Eric tomorrow. All because my apartment number isn’t “in the system.” They don’t believe it exists. How dare they speak such nonsense about my penthouse!
So in the course of 20 minutes my computer dies, my bus is dead and my mail service is discontinued. I stupidly say “Dear God, what next?!”
What was next was me opening my mail (perhaps the last to ever be delivered to Apt 42). It was a check for nearly all of my security deposit from my last house. I honestly thought that I was getting stiffed and would receive nothing. What’s this? Good news? Seems to be. It was certainly nice, but I still had problems here.
After that, my dear friend Cole called I am seeing her when I head out to Berkeley next month. She thinks that I am upset with her and in my state, what more can I do but say “I’m not, but right now is not a good time.”
The day trudged on with more than the usual number of people wanting to place orders. Of course, without a computer, no orders can actually be placed. In fact, I had to close the store and run up to my apartment to place today’s order.
I filled four sheets of the little notebook at work with orders, notes, things to check up on, etc. (I spent this evening doing that).
Around noon, with the thoughts of “what am I going to read now?” shuffling through my head, the UPS guy comes. He’s got a big ol’ box and I ask him where the hell it came from. “Um… Krishna dot com?” I jump out of my seat! My Krishna dot com order has arrived! I knew it was coming today, but in the weirdness that was the morning, I had totally forgotten!
What did I get? Oh see here!
I rounded out my set of Caitanya-bhagavat, I got the introduction and Vol. 3 of Krishna in Vrndavana (which is freaking amazing), Jaya Jagannatha (which is a book about all things Jagannatha), Sri Prema Bhakti-candrika by Narottama das Thakura (which I read today… wild book. You need this. Hopefully, I’ll talk more on this laters.), plus the 60 years of BTG and the Prabhupada documentary on DVD. Oh and the blue Hanumanji shirt.
And let us not forget this…
A Jagannatha ball cap! I think I’ll wear it a lot. Objections? Didn’t think so.
Well, after work (yeah, there’s more… sorry) Sarah helped me out by jump starting my bus. Then we drove to Corby’s barn to retrieve my old computer so I could use that at the store. It’s huge. The monitor is one of the GIGANTIC 17″ CRT ones. Yeah. It’s huge. Ridiculous. We drag it back to the store and I set it up. Too many cords and cables! It’s like spaghetti!
Sadly, there was one cord that just wouldn’t go anywhere. It was the ethernet cable. I have no ethernet jack on this comp (long story, but I don’t). So let’s go to Staples.
Done and done. And finally I’m home. 7pm. I called a bunch of people who I promised calls to, letting them know about their books and if I could or couldn’t order them. I warmed up and downed a whole bowl of Sarah’s chili…
Talked to Olivia a bit (their propane tank was leaking and that’s bad… she also wanted to hear a Rancid song… the things I do for this girl…). I watched an episode of Northern Exposure and put the Gaura-Nitai picture on my alter…
And now I’m here.
Bad day? I’m not really sure. Really really strange one though.
Tomorrow means tons of work on the “new” computer, getting it up to par. I wish to god I was running Ubuntu Linux on it. But I’m not. It’s XP. Oh well. Maybe someday.
Send me prayers, wishes, happy thoughts, nice letters and chili.
