Where to Begin?

I haven't had much of a chance to keep this blog up-to-date recently... due to the excuse of work, travel, or simply sick of looking at a computer screen. Hence, the title.

Let me give you a brief run-down of the last three weeks:

After Miranda/Josh's wedding the first weekend of August (aka vacation!), I went back to work the following Wednesday night for four consecutive nights. Blah. I was dreading it something fierce, knowing that it would be like separated forever from the things and places that I love. And the first night pretty much went that way. I again fell into a state of "Why I am I in Picayune, God? I want to be in Mobile. I want to be near Fred, and Ashley is moving into the same apartment complex... so why?" Arg.

----- Short Story -----
That Thursday night, I was running the station location reports on our buoys to make sure that they are where they're supposed to be. I came across one of our tsunami buoys and noticed that it was well outside of its watch circle. So... as my duty calls, I call the tsunami guy shortly before 3am to inform him, "Hey, Tracy. It looks like we have a drifter." Long story short, the both of us made the appropriate calls, waking numerous people up. Tracy was able to send the coordinates to a crew that just happened to be in the area of the drifting buoy (think NE of Australia), and the crew was able to pick up the buoy and re-moor it that day then continue on as scheduled without any delays. When I walked back into the office Friday night, there was a certificate with my name on it and $25 Walmart gift card... for doing such a fine job. All I could think was, "I was just doing my job...??" Whatever. I didn't mind the at-a-girl. It made me actually feel worthwhile and that my efforts due sometime amount to more than a human being filling the watch-positions.
----- The End-----

The nights went by reasonably fast, but I made a big boo-boo Sunday morning. I planned on sleeping 2 hours, going to church, then napping, then jumping into a day routine again. But... I kind of sleep from 7am-3:30pm. Yeah, I slept a full 8 hours and totally jacked up my sleep/rest for the rest of the week (make that the next 2 weeks). I didn't go to bed until 2am that night and that was with benedryl. I thought I was jump-kick myself into a day routine Monday morning by waking up at 7:30am with the hopes of being tired by bedtime. Nope. Twas not the case... 1am. So I got up at 6:30am with the same hopes. Nope, it was more like 11pm with my alarm set for 4:30am for work. During day-shifts, I am always slipping into the red when it comes to sleep... and such was the case for the next 3 days.

I had two visitors that week, Ariel and Frederick. Weird, right? Ariel came over Monday morning, and we hung out and talked basically the entire day. We ate at a local Italian restaurant which was good, and she finally got to see my place and Picayune. Unfortunately, she got the entire "Picayune experience" which involved my neighbors... enough said.  Frederick drove over Thursday night to watch the Steelers' preseason game. We were only able to hang out for 5 hours, but it was well worth it and meant so much that he would do that for me.

I worked that Saturday and headed straight for Mobile... tired. I was fine driving, but I missed my first exit on the interstate and then almost missed Fred's road. Geez. I knew it was time for me to take it easy and go to bed. That Sunday was Fred's first Sunday back being a part of Dauphin Way's orchestra. I wanted to go to Mobile to (a) see him play --I like to support the guy from time to time :) --, (b) eat lunch with Ashley, and (c) play tennis with Sam. All was done and was fun. Then it was back to Picayune Tuesday morning in preps for another week of day shifts on Wednesday.

I only had to work Wednesday through Friday, since I requested Saturday afternoon off. So what to do with a free day? Switchfoot just happened to be in Panama City Beach, Florida that night for a Christian concert. After mentioning this to Jessica, she showed interest by saying, "I never do things like that!" Trying to save money, Frederick let us stay at his place Friday and Saturday night. We drove to and from PCB on Saturday and started the day off right... with Fred's amazing pancakes. The sister-weekend ended with Jessica and I going to Dauphin Way, a trip to Carpe Diem (cool coffee shop in Mobile), and smoothies from the ONLY smoothie place to go, Tropical Smoothie Cafe. She left shortly after, and I stayed the night with Fred so I could attend Dauphin Way's concert (which Fred was a part of).

And here I am... back in Picayune. The "Why-Oh-Why" feelings are not present... but that's only because I know I will be right back over there in four days for another extended weekend with Fred and friends. There might be some beaches involved. There is definitely a Biloxi trip, puzzle and fish shopping in store, and some bowling with friends. And another Sunday morning worship at Dauphin Way Baptist (... noticing a trend? More to come).