Whining

Around six, I thought I might collapse, but by seven I had gotten my energy back in that speedy sort of way a lack of sleep can induce. This was handy, as I had a social engagement I could not back out of, and the energy was going to be needed for the trek out of town to get to our friend's party. A group of us met up at work and took the trains together, which was a good thing.

Except, of course, that we got horribly lost out in that suburban Paris wasteland of trucks, weed-covered train tracks, and warehouses. At least it wasn't raining; we spent about an hour trying to find our friend's place. Even when I called her on the cell phone, it wasn't very useful. She was already drunk and not so clear, asking things like, "Ok, so what are you in front of?" and I answered, "Um, some trucks. And a big building," to which she said, "That's where I am!" and I said, "Yeah, um... there's lots of buildings and lots of trucks."

Anyway, we found our way (eventually) and we all had a nice enough time once we got there. I lasted about an hour before I started waning, and I let it be known that I was hoping to go soon. I had wanted to leave early because I was exhausted, plus I knew I had to get up early the next morning. The problem was that there was NO way I was walking through the unlit truck-and-warehouse zone alone, at night, with the further risk of getting lost again. It was creepy enough in our little gang of five.

So I waited, and then waited some more, and then ShaggyHair said he was going to be leaving soon, and that he could drive me home. Even better, I thought, and resolved to enjoy the last twenty minutes or so.

But twenty minutes dragged out to an hour, and I don't know ShaggyHair well enough to pester him about that ride he was nice enough to offer me. Plus, he's newly dating my friend, and they kept disappearing to have "alone" time, and Lord knows I'm not going to interrupt that. But um, it was getting late and I just wanted to be in bed. To make matters worse, The Boy and I had gotten in a big argument two days prior, and I hadn't seen him since. Part of me just wanted some time to sit with him and feel better about things.

So finally, over two hours later, ShaggyHair and I say goodbye to everybody and start on our merry way. But wait! Now everybody wants to go back to Paris to check out some bar or another. So they all have to clean up, get their stuff, and clear out. So we wait again. I start to fall asleep in my chair. Thirty minutes later, we're ready to go.

By this point, it's almost three am, and I keep thinking about how I have to get up (again) in four hours. Meanwhile, everybody else is drunk and excited about continuing the evening elsewhere, and I know I'm being a drag but goddamn, I'm tired and just want to go home. And I've been trying to do so for three hours now...

All of that is to say that I finally made it, crashed immediately upon arrival, got in almost four hours of sleep, and I was less tired this morning than I had been expecting. Still, I had only slept seven hours in two nights, and sitting through five hours of lectures is pretty grueling in those conditions. However, I was fortunate: the EXTREME fatigue waited to hit me full-force until I was on the metro going home.

For that I am thankful. I am not thankful, however, that in my spaced-out, train-riding stupidity, I left my book - in which I only had fifty pages left - on the metro. I can't buy the damn thing again just for one damn chapter, but Jesus, I do wonder what happened. The book was not great, but there's some big mystery to the whole thing, and it is apparently revealed in the final chapter. I was two chapters from the end.

Sigh.

And? And? My eye infection is just getting worse. I went to the pharmacy (because eye doctors aren't available on Friday nights) and she said I can't wear my contacts for at least a week. This puts me in a funny situation because I don't have any glasses with my correct prescription - I've been meaning to get some but just haven't gotten around to it. Now, in a moment of emergency, I realize I need to get some tomorrow, because the beginning of next week is a holiday and the stores won't be open. Great.

So I need some glasses, and pronto. Naturally, I can't find a single one-hour glasses lab in the city. I've decided to tackle this demon tomorrow. Oh, yes, the tomorrow where I am going into work two hours earlier than usual.

I'm going back to bed.