Die Wochende Melancholie

What a weekend.

With little sleep and barely packed, Josh & Seth came down and picked me up rather than having me take the train up, requiring me to exchange the ticket. It took us almost two hours, it seemed, just to get from Union Station to I-5. That said, the drive north with the two of them was fun. I hadn't had a chance to visit with either of them in a long time, and to just BS and swap stories and jokes was a welcome relief. But the drive up basically was the only enjoyable part of the weekend. We only got to hang out for about a couple hours, trade presents quickly and watch some videos, and then Josh had to go home to sleep. While Seth, being Seth, didn't get to bed right away, still, none of us really got to party because of the damn coal train due in in the morning. So early in the morning, Seth was off to the steam plant and I was left alone for basically the entire day. Fortunately Andy rescued me from complete boredom around noon, and we went out to lunch, coffee, right-of-way-chasing, and scab-mockery (aka a visit to the "coal boys".)

After that was the annual meeting. It was okay. I overate. Had three desserts. It was fun enough to see the crew again, but it would have been more fun with Josh & Seth. Then Andy took me back to Seth's place, where I fell asleep in the oversized easy chair. I woke up to see him coming home, still wearing the orange vest and hardhat. The gawky dork looks all of twelve in that outfit. With another coal train already in the yard waiting unloading, we had to be up again early, and since they'd be working well past when I'd be leaving, there really wasn't any point to waiting for the 7 o'clock train. So he dropped me at the depot on the way to work, and I came home. I had had all of six hours of sleep -- of course he could say the same. I fell asleep on the benches in the depot and nearly missed my train. I nearly fell asleep on the train also. Fell asleep again once I got home.

So that was the Christmas Party up north. Ah well.