At least there was movie group

Monday was not a good day. It started with me waking up pre-dawn (not unusual there) and unable to get back to sleep. I was too nervous and upset.

I admit I found this idea very satisfying

•  I'd spent all day Sunday trying to transfer my data from my old Motorola phone (fully functional,
cracked screen) to a new Motorola phone (seemingly demonically possessed). My old phone was deactivated. After three -- count 'em, 3! -- calls to Consumer Cellular, I was told I just got "a lemon" and should return it via UPS. So I awoke Monday without a fully functioning cell phone. I was so frustrated I fantasized about throwing the new phone through the window.

•  I was supposed to start my first new job since George W. Bush was in office. I admit it: I'm scared of the the cash register. I can't get my phone to work, why should I have any confidence about mastering a computer with a cash drawer?

•  Somehow it made sense to use this time to touch up my pedi. I dropped the nail polish into the bathtub and it splashed all over. I have a tub liner. I can't just use Comet to remove it. It took a wildly fragrant combination of rubbing alcohol and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. 

•  I tried to distract myself with the local news and the oldies station. Have you noticed how many commercials there are for cell phone providers? I started getting angry again.

•  Then I got a phone call from my I-hope-to-be new boss. She didn't want me to come in Monday, after all. My heart sank. I was sure this meant that "corporate" (out of NYC) didn't approve my hiring for some reason. No ... it's not that. The job is still mine if I want it. Her concern stemmed from an incident on Sunday at about 5:30. The store was robbed. Two 50-something men came in, claimed to be armed, and demanded small bills. They were likely unarmed homeless men, but the girl at the counter wisely handed over the money. Why take the chance? Anyway, the store manager told me that her "head wasn't in onboarding me," and she wanted me to hear about the incident from her, just in case I wanted to change my mind about working there. Here's how I look at it: I live around the corner from the card shop. I could have just easily been stopped by these men while walking to the grocery store. Also this was the first robbery in more than five years. I'm not overly concerned about it happening again right away. So we rescheduled for Wednesday at 4:00. 

•  That left me with a free afternoon. Instead of returning my phone (as Consumer Cellular advised), I took it to a little mom-and-pop electronics repair shop. What the hell. I had nothing to lose at this point. The guy behind the counter took my phone and told me to come back in an hour. He'd either get my new phone up-and-running ($40) or swap the SIM cards so my old phone would be operational again (no charge). I went to the bank and had a sandwich at Potbelly's. An hour and $40 later, my new phone was working. (The keyboard, or G-Board as Motorola calls it, was obsolete but he updated it and moved all my apps over perfectly. Why didn't the techs at Consumer Cellular think of this? I don't know and I no longer care.)

•  Movie group was a ton of fun, though. The movie we saw, The Secret Beyond the Door, was spooky and silly and just right for Halloween week. I enjoy this happy band of movie nerds so much.

Photo by Salah Ait Mokhtar on Unsplash