Being overly ambitious

[torquill]

Well, I tried, but I didn't make it.

The plan for today was to get up early, go to the Sick Plant Clinic in Berkeley, run down the road to the Bash after that, and take off in late afternoon to go up to the Twelfth Night celebrations to see our_meg and shadowwalkyr in the play they've been rehearsing. Sure, that play would be in Sacramento, but I figured out how to get there and figured it would take a while to run the 100 miles from San Leandro to Sacramento. All in a good cause, and I get good gas mileage.

The morning was shot because I reeeeeally didn't want to leave the Bash last night... There was a regular there who has been a casual acquaintance for some years now, and I ended up sitting next to him at sushi (for which I was eternally grateful... half of my other tablemates were either loud or finicky/cranky, and he was a very welcome quiet point at my left). I asked him casually during the course of the evening which household he was part of, as I couldn't remember anything except that he was attached to someone -- and he told me he's been solo since the last Bash or thereabouts. Oops. At least he seemed not to mind the query.

So when we got back to the house, before everyone else arrived I took a moment to confess that I've always thought he was kind of cute (he is, in a shy geek way) and that I wouldn't mind being a snuggle-buddy. After the initial startlement on both sides (mine for two reasons: that I couldn't believe I had actually gone through and said that, and it was a little disconcerting to have him actually focus on me for once) he seemed to take to the idea, and we ended up on the couch for a while. For a long while. I mean, hey, I like curling up with someone I know is safe, and he was lonely... so I settled into a role as comforter, and enjoyed myself.

That, however, was where I stayed until I finally pried myself out of the carnivorous couch at 1:15 and headed home to bed. No way was I going to get up five hours later to drive to Berkeley, not with a full day planned.

I got up a whopping six hours later, because I wasn't sleeping well. Sigh.

Off to Berkeley for an hour and a half of plant goodness, then on to San Leandro. I sat for a few minutes there before collecting knaveofhearts to hit his house (his plants are now once again ensconced in his bathroom window), his work, and most importantly, the nearest Baja Fresh... nearest meaning "only twenty-five miles away". We had lunch, we headed back, and I got to the house just in time to zoom in, hug people, do a fast download of my life status to a friend whom I hadn't seen yet this Bash, check my directions, and head to Sacramento.

After I passed Vacaville, I knew I was in trouble.

By the time I hit the Woodbridge exit, I was aware that I should not be driving, particularly in bad weather. It took until the Davis exit to actually give up, turn around, and come home.

I was almost sixty miles from Concord at that point... the weather was relatively clear, at least, and I was blessed with very normal traffic patterns. This, plus some alertness tricks and the fact that I am now convinced I really can drive in my sleep, is what got me back here. I had a bad moment passing through Vacaville when I thought I was in Scott's Valley... and all along 680 were points when I would "wake up" and think confusedly, "I'm not done yet? I'm still driving?" It seemed to take an eternity, and I guess in that state of autopilot, two and a half hours qualifies as eternity and then some.

So I didn't make it. I tried, but I ended up sitting here half-conscious typing up an explanation of why I didn't make it to the play... sorry, our_meg and shadowwalkyr. I'll have to catch the wrapup from you. :(