i should at least TRY to go to bed early, but i never do

It's been a few days since I've posted, but I haven't had much to say. I've been a bit self-occupied of late. That and vegetating in front of the TV have been my past times this entire weekend. Thankfully, I have tomorrow off so maybe I'll get something done.

My older brother took a job working as an usher at the Republican Convention and according to him and my sister-in-law traffic downtown is already just horrendous to deal with, and the convention doesn't officially start until tomorrow. Great. I only have to work one day next week (Tuesday) but I am not looking forward to that. Because it is a day after a holiday, we have overtime scheduled but due to the traffic issues, I will be leaving my home about an hour ahead of when I normally would be. I have a feeling that the Republicans will be still hungover and so traffic will not be an issue whatsoever in the morning. This will mean that I will be at work probably more than an hour ahead of time - probably 7:30 or earlier and I don't have to start until 8:30. Leaving work, however, will probably be a completely different situation. I work until 7, but I doubt I'll be out of downtown until 7:30 or 8 at the earliest. So, this means that I will be away from home a minimum of 13 hours on Tuesday. CHRIST.

Why the hell couldn't they have held the convention in Minneapolis? Or why couldn't my company have just shut down for the week? This is ridiculous.

Thankfully, Bush and Cheney won't be in town at all. It's bad enough to be surrounded by Republicans, I don't really feel like knowing evil incarnate is staying at the hotel right next to my workplace. Makes me wish I had some Obama gear to wear. On the other hand, I don't know how understanding work would be if I got arrested on my way into work. I might just get arrested anyway, no matter what I'm wearing. You know, for breathing or something. They've already raided meeting places for several groups who have made plans to protest the convention.

I just finished the third of four books in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. No, they're not great literature, but they are pretty good pop fiction. Once I really get into one of the books, it's hard to put down. I'm borrowing the books from a girl I work with, but I'm going to have to wait a bit for the fourth book as she's promised them to a few people before me first. An interesting bit of trivia: the author specifically thanks Gomez for their music at the end of the third book for helping to inspire her writing.

The next book on my list of books to tackle is Vanity Fair. I've seen the movie with Reece Witherspoon, so I faintly remember what happens in the story. Of course, the 700+ page book is going to go into more detail than the 2 1/2-hour movie. I almost always prefer the book to the movie, I've just always been that way.

My mom has the entire week off of work and she is planning to paint her living and dining room. This is good news for me because she's so occupied with her stuff that I'm being left alone. The downside to this is that I'm less motivated to do ANYTHING. My grand plan for this week (after Tuesday) is that I'm going to clean out all of my closets and get rid of 75% of the crap I've been holding onto for no good reason.

Wish me luck. :)