[lost]

A ways back I blogged about Ginger. Ginger is my iPhone. Ginger ran away yesterday.

The story goes a little something like this:

I went home for the weekend to visit family and help out with a bridal shower for a dear friend. Sadly I had a 7:35 AM flight on Sunday morning. Due to the location of my parents' house we had to leave by 5 AM. I don't do mornings. I don't function without sufficient sleep. Combine those two things and you have a recipe for a rather groggy day. Seriously though: it's like my brain gets stuck in first gear and can't quite shift any higher no matter how hard I try.

So I groggily board my icebox of a flight back to Baltimore, drag my sorry tired butt to the light rail station, and stare off into the distance for 30 minutes. I rejoin reality when someone tells me that the light rail doesn't start running until 11 on Sundays. Realizing that it's currently close to 10 I decide against waiting for the train and opt for a cab ride home. I shuffle like a cast member from the Walking Dead over to the taxi stand, flop into the cab and tell him where I want to go.

On the ride back to my place I made 2 observations that later proved to be crucial:

1. This cab was a mess. I mean absolutely cluttered with stuff. Looking around I thought if you ever left anything in here the driver would probably never know.

2. I was riding in cab #141. Never in my life have I noted a cab number before. I think I was just trying to keep from falling asleep and the number was at my eye level so I focused on it as if my very existence depended on memorizing that number.

I got home, fed the feathered ones and stared off into space a little more. I went to load up my purse to head to the grocery store and discovered Ginger was no where to be found. I was too tired to care about anything other than my ability to wake up for work in the morning; Ginger doubles as my alarm clock. I made the decision to head to Rite Aid for an alarm clock to ensure that I did in fact wake up for work this morning. I emailed the cab company and my parents, then wandered aimlessly around Baltimore for a while. Sure my end goal was the grocery store but I took the most circuitous route known to mankind to get there. My route could actually rival a Family Circus cartoon. The problem was that my sleep deprived brain could not make a decision about which grocery store to go to.  Apparently I wandered for a long time because my left shoulder is rather badly sunburned.

The rest of the day is somewhat hazy. Honestly being sleep-deprived for me is a lot like being drunk. Except without the giggling, happy to be alive part of being drunk. The main similarity is my complete & utter inability to think logically or remember a single darn thing. One event stands out: on the way to the grocery store a gentleman shouted profanities at me because apparently he really hates white women. What also stands out is the fact that I shrugged and walked away without thinking about the man much more. I didn't even find the situation humorous or upsetting. I just thought, eh, it's Baltimore and kept right on walking. I can't tell if I've gotten so jaded that this sort of thing no longer bothers me or if I was just too tired to care. I do also remember bending down in the grocery store to retrieve a bag of chocolate chips only to find a homeless man standing perfectly motionless on the other side of my cart staring at me when I stood up. We stared at each other for a moment and then I hastily retreated. It was an all-around weird day.

Today my new alarm clock went off and I was sad to discover the lack of a snooze button. I guess beggars can't be choosers; I had selected the clock because it was the cheapest one Rite Aid offered. It was also the most attractive, which isn't saying much because the thing honestly looks like it's trying to disguise the fact that it's a giant cheap plastic alarm clock, which somehow only makes it look more cheap.

Life without Ginger was actually quite nice this morning and I had composed a nice post about the joys of being disconnected from technology and the woes of living in our hyper-connected technological age. But then I got an email from the taxi company that they did in fact have Ginger and I could come out and pick her up from the main office anytime between 9 am and 6 pm. Naturally I instantly booked a Zipcar for the instant I get off work.

So what did I learn? First, that I cannot be trusted when operating on less than 4 hours of sleep. Second, that not having technology is a good thing. Until you have the option to have technology. It's like getting your teeth cleaned: it's not so bad but only because it's a necessity.

But wait there's more! I promise there's a health component to all of this. Earlier today I thought I would have to go to the AT&T store to replace Ginger. I estimated that this would include shelling out $100 for a new phone (probs not a new iPhone. Unless we have an upgrade available of course). I badly want to join Weight Watchers but it's expensive. I also badly want to go to the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale. This is also expensive. When you combine those two activities you get the cost of replacing Ginger. Being of limited means, I was facing the possibility of nixing Victoria's Secret & Weight Watchers, at least for now. Now that I'm getting Ginger back and don't have to buy a replacement, I can officially do both! If you'll scuse me for a second I'm going to go sign up for WW online. I win. At life.

If you're wondering if this was a long-winded way of announcing to the world that I'm doing Weight Watchers, the answer is yes, yes it was. If you want the short form here it is: I lost my phone but I'm getting it back so I'm using the money I would have spent buying a new phone to sign up for Weight Watchers.

Goodness I have a tendency to ramble.