10:43 p.m. | 2005-01-09 I�ve Been Sick Yet Unstoppable. Last week, I finally caught the cold thing that�s been going around. That was enough to keep me down for a couple of days. Well, actually, many days but I�ve got things to do. While I was home sick, I worked on my latest project � in between naps and whatnot � yet there was no question that I�d have to venture out on Saturday to run errands. Including grocery shopping. Before grocery shopping, I had to make a month�s worth of menus for breakfasts and lunches (my two meals a day). That might the hardest part. Especially since I�ve been taking my lunch to work instead of going out to eat. Let�s just say, I�m becoming more creative every month. Of course, I decided that brunch was in order before shopping. Haven�t been to brunch for a couple of weeks and I miss BostonBoston. Plus, that�s just a good place to start. I left my place with the goal of getting in my car and driving to the restaurant. Sounds simple enough. Oddly, when I approached the alley and looked right, I noticed several rather unusual vehicles parked where you can�t park � that being the alley. I also saw an ambulance. Strange. Not as strange as when I looked left though (towards the street my car was parked on). Yeah. Cop cars, lots of people, a private charter bus and tons of barricades. At the church. Interesting to say the least. Of course, I must confess that my first thought was that someone was murdered in the church. That didn�t explain there sheer volume of people and the number of cops or the bus, for that matter. But that was the first thing that crossed my mind. When I actually got to the street, I realized that I had only seen a very small portion of all of these things. In the midst of this activity? My car. Parked where I last left it. Now directly behind a barricade that indicating there was to be NO parking on the street for this day. Why I didn�t get a ticket? More on that in a few. Oh, did I mention that it was raining? It was. I didn�t know what was going on but I certainly knew I wasn�t gonna J-walk in front of ten cop cars. So, I deliberately walked down the sidewalk, crossed the street at the corner, walked to my car, got in, started it and then realized that I had no idea what to do from there. There was no way I could take my normal route due to barricades. I couldn�t flip a U-turn because the cops were double parked and well, there. And, I thought backing up a couple of blocks probably wasn�t such a good idea. I turned off my car. Befuddled I was. So I sat there trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Obviously, I could�ve just asked anyone there � there were tons of people � but that just didn�t seem appropriate. The mood was� I don�t know� it seemed personal in some odd way. While I was pondering this situation, a car pulled in front of mine and a gentleman stepped out. I didn�t recognize him but I did recognize the lapel pin he was wearing. It�s a VIP pin. Suddenly, everything became clear. Recently, a gentleman whom was a VIP in MyTown, MyState and the nation passed away. Not one you�d recognize I�m sure, but he was a very honorable and well-respected man in this community. My car happened to be parked next to the church that was hosting his personal funeral. (There was a public one later.) That explained the mood. Then a huge delivery truck pulled up behind my car. (Guessing for the SeniorCenter next door.) An officer indicated that the truck couldn�t proceed. So, taking stock, I realized that I was caught up in the tail end of a funeral, sitting in my car with a barricade and another car in front of me, cop cars all along the other side of the street, a huge truck behind me and streams of mourners leaving the church. I wasn�t annoyed � because that�s just not a situation where I can be annoyed � but I was a little confounded about how I was going to get on with my business. (Of course, you know I took a moment to offer up some general condolences � albeit in my own head � because this VIP really was a great guy. I didn�t know him personally but I knew of him because he really was an honorable person.) Consequently, I turned off my car, took several deep breaths and waited for a break. Finally, the guy in front of me moved and the truck in back of me maneuvered (with officer assistance) all around to go a different direction so I took a shot. I backed up, entered the church parking lot (the wrong way), maneuvered around many double and triple parked cars, exited out of the parking lot (the wrong way) and set about my business. All the time mindful of the steady stream of mourners walking, well, every which way. Grief does that to people. I have to say that I didn�t expect all this. I did check my car the day before and there were no signs. I swear MyCity sends out people to place such signs in the middle of the night. No ticket though, and that�s good. I�m guessing that�s because it�s hard to tell a mourner from a neighborhood resident. Just a guess there. Finally on my way, I drove to brunch. I was slowed down by a procession � which I presume was for the VIP since traffic was all backed up in a wacky way � but I made it there. Again, I don�t mind that type of inconvenience when it�s real life stuff. I have no problem with a life-reflective moment. Whole different issue when it�s all just about a silly cell phone conversation. Just saying. Anyway, I was happy to see BostonBoston. Don�t know if he was happy to see me, but he did bring me salsa once again. I ordered a salad, bacon cheeseburger and fries. Did I ever tell you that they make their own salsa? No? They do. They test out different recipes. This was what I�d call �dry� salsa. Not at all like the kind you get in a jar. Their salsa is always more on the �dry� side, meaning that it�s more like diced tomatoes, onion, chilies and jalapenos. Very yummy yet rather challenging to work into my meal. It was quite tasty on my burger though. I persevered with my chores� did grocery shopping, came home and did laundry. However, I needed to do much more. Really. So last night, I made a list of things to do today. A long list. Of twenty-five things that I need to do. I�ve been so lackadaisical lately, I decided that if I only accomplished a few of these things, I�d be happy. However, I completed twenty-two of those things, a few other things to boot and I slept in. How? No idea. But it does seem that my fall cleaning bug has finally kicked into gear. Now I can�t walk through a room without fiddling with, cleaning or rearranging something. That�s all good and every thing but I know what�s gonna follow. I�m about to annoy myself. Endlessly. your thoughts? seed flower