My Fall fall into irritability

Being back at work since September, things have gone pretty well: vocal fatigue is at a minimum, I don't dread getting out of bed in the morning, and I don't find myself getting testy at work as easily as I have in years past.

But as Columbus Day sneaks up on us, the results of early mornings at work and long nights at rehearsal, of early morning Sunday church gigs and late nights at the theater, are starting to show. Twice in the last two days I have become irrationally annoyed at store employees who only exhibited minimal signs of culpability regarding my annoyance. Yesterday's story is almost too shameful to repeat, but I will admit that it culminated in my sniping across the Finagle-a-Bagel counter "Next time get it right the first time, Daryl", repeating the name on his name tag like it was a curse word.

Now that the summer is over, Fridays no longer feel like any other day. Rather, on Fridays I feel so tired I can't see straight, and if I spend another second around a human being I will lose my mind. So maybe it wasn't a great idea to hit up Bed Bath & Beyond at 5pm looking for a wedding gift for a wedding this weekend.

As it turns out, a number of things for which a person can register at Bed Bath & Beyond are not available in stores. I had already decided exactly what I would get; the fun, quirky items I would pair it with; the beautiful wrappings with which I would adorn it. And then a nice, bearded man (who, lucky for him was not wearing a name tag) told me I couldn't buy what I want.

I grabbed the pages of the registry which contained the things I could get in store and paced the aisles, but I was so shaken and perturbed about not being able to get my way that I couldn't even function (see also: Being a Felice). I ended up leaving and going next door to the craft store to formulate plan B.

It's inevitable for most New Englanders this time of year - as the days get darker so do we. Then suddenly it's June and we realize that we have been down-in-the-dumps for 8 months without noticing. The business of my fall schedule do little to help with that, so I beg you all to bear with me as I begin the fall's slow decline into lunacy. Give me a few months and I'll be back.