a bum

at what point do you have to start introducing yourself as a bum? i slept in my car on saturday night.

"hi, i'm christianna. nice to meet you. i'm a bum."

saturday was a *very* full day. i woke up in a panic at 7:15 -- i was supposed to be at the red cross at 7! dangit! quick pit stop in the bathroom to pull a comb through my hair, then i was out the door. i started the car just as my phone rang: it was the red cross asking if i was okay and if i was coming. "yesss ..."

after getting there, i crossed my fingers through the whole donor intake process -- well, except for the part where they prick my finger -- just hoping that my iron levels would be high enough to donate. (ever since i started this no-beef thing i just can't keep enough iron in my blood! anyone have any suggestions for that? i have recently started taking iron supplements, but those don't always work, either.)

i passed. yippee!

so i spent the next two hours reclined, smothered in blankets and hot rice bags, and enjoying juno. i gave a double-unit of platelets. pat myself on the back: pat, pat, pat.

from the red cross, i drove straight to the church building for ... enrichment super saturday!! where i made this:

on the way back home from enrichment, i called jenn to organize our beach outing, then called my sisters, et al, to pass the word along.

got home. got showered. got back in the car. got drove -- err, i mean -- drove. parked. walked. found jenn. laid out my towel. grabbed my boogie board. got tossed around in the waves. landed really hard on my shoulder on the beach. saw a big bruise on my shoulder. got out of the water.

then my sister, et al, arrived and we set them up and got back in the water. it was fabulous! so much fun. i love going to the beach!!

after a few hours in the sun, we packed up, walked back to the cars, and headed home. where i showered once again, cleaned the boogie boards, and got back in the car to drive up to eden's.

we met up with some friends of hers for pizza and blue grass at vincenzo's pizza esperienza in new hall, ca. a fun blue grass band plays there every saturday night. it really is a pizza esperienza. really.

then we went back to eden's friends' house to play ... dun dun dun ... rock band!! i must say that the several performances of the members of the troupe were quite impressive. but i think the "best of show" prize definitely goes to clint, for his vocal stylings in our home-grown rendition of iron maiden, "the number of the beast".

we finally retired the drum sticks and bass guitar at 1:41am, and, after assuring my bro-in-law that i was "fine" to drive home, i got back in my car and found the freeway.

however, i soon discovered that my eyelids were much heavier than i have ever known them to be -- it must have been the junk food i'd been nibbling on all day -- and so at 2:22am, i found a parking lot, locked me in my car, set the car alarm, and crawled into the back seat. at 3:34am, i woke up (much pleased that i was still in the backseat of my car and not kidnapped) and drove the rest of the way home -- about an 8-minute drive -- where i assume i crawled in my bed because that is where i was when i woke up the next morning.

and so, you see: i am a bum. i don't think i can argue that now. i slept in my car.

p.s. -- yes, i remember *exactly* what time things happened. i'm an accountant. i am good with numbers. apparently.