1795 Gaithersburg 2

After midnight, Saturday night, Sunday morning, May 3-4, 2008

Is it today, tomorrow, or yesterday? I'm so confused. I'm also very tired.

I got to sleep at about 2:30 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, after the pool party, a stint in the hospitality room, futzing around on the laptop, and reading in bed. That would have been ok - the first session I wanted to attend was at 10:30 am - but I'm in one of those "adjoining rooms", you know, with the door in the wall connecting two rooms? The door is locked and barred, but it's not soundproof, and the people next door got up at 5 am. Repeat, 5 am. And they talked non-stop, at a higher than normal volume. I couldn't believe the talking. Long monologues. It was almost like they were rehearsing a presentation or something.

At one point I said, in a normal tone, from my bed, "Could you lower the volume, please?", and I guess they heard me, because they did get quieter for a few minutes, but then it went back up, and they kept it up until 9 am. I was very frustrated.

Even if the neighbors were quiet I'm not sure I would have slept very well. Something with sirens - police, ambulance, fire trucks, who knows what else - goes by about every hour. The hotel is on a major intersection, so they blast the sirens as they approach. I'm just not used to that. I used to love this area, but I don't think I could stand the noise and traffic it has acquired in the past 30 years.

So I was tired all day today. Dragging.

I did go visit my old house - the one in the planned community. I would never have found it without the GPS. What had been all farmland and winding 2-lane roads is now all built up, huge office parks and malls, and houses, and 4-6 lane roads. There were no landmarks left.

I wouldn't have recognized Churchill. Twenty-five years ago it was all new dirt, bare, twiggy young trees and a hole where the lake was supposed to be. Now it's actually beautiful. The trees have grown up, the houses are literally tucked into a forest, the lake glints through the trees. I remember the day I took a pick axe to the front yard and planted a young 8' dogwood, which I then had to nurse through a bout of some kind of nasty black beetle. That dogwood is now huge, and was blossoming today. I'm proud of her.

I didn't call my friends to set something up. I don't know why. I just felt pretty tired. I convinced myself that it was because if I called Danny I'd have to call Caroline W., and if I called Caroline W. I'd have to call Carolyn K., and there just wasn't time to see all of them, so I can't see any of them.

Actually, I'm just tired and bloated and uncomfortable. And a little depressed. At least I got to visit Gettysburg and the old house, and that's good enough for now.

The guy who flirted last night flirted some more today. It's flattering, but I never know what to do with stuff like that. He's really nice looking, and DRINKS TEA!, so I flirted back a little, but I didn't step over the barrier. I have me a man now that I'd like to keep, but I wish there were some way to put guys in a freezer for just in case, you know?

Oh, and I skipped the jacuzzi tonight. I seem to have picked up something yucky last night. Some other woman must have shared a little too much in too little chlorine. Bleck. I should have known better. Oh well, just a little something else to add to the depression.
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