What's in a day? What does a day hold? How do I tell if my day has been successful?

Today was my first day at home after three weeks on the road. One week of work, one week of vacation, one week of work. The last week of work was the hardest. I had only a few ours between the end of vacation and the start of three straight days of 9-hour meetings. My mind couldn't handle the change. Nor could my body. By the end of the week I felt seriously sick.

So today I was at home. The whole day. By myself. I haven't been so alone in three weeks. I had so many little things to do. Clean the scuba gear, clean the apartment, do laundry, vacuume the several hundred dead rolly-polly bugs from the carpet. Create two weeks worth of expense reports and then watch my printer break. Make calls looking for my lost camera, trying to get a fully-refundable airline ticket refunded (the airline has never had to refund a ticket, so they don't know what to do). Find out how to return a new dive computer that doesn't work. Try to deal with Duke Medical Center which is double-billing me for every visit and every lab test.

I have to admit that being home almost totally sucks. It feels like my life here could so easily overwhelm me with the small bullshit and smaller people that I have to do business with. There is one good thing - my friend Lotte. She called and we went out for dinner and drinks at her favorite place. It was good. I feel awkward in bars anymore though. I'm not there to pick up men and I hardly drink anymore. But it's good to go out and unwind and talk about the past weeks' adventures with a friend.