Tulip Time, our most favorite time of the year, has arrived. I’d say I’m surprised by that, mostly because Easter was a scant two weeks ago, we’ve seen one 70 degree day since last October, and the tulips look a little stunted in the darker parts of downtown.
However, regardless of what it feels like, the truth is that Tulip Time has arrived. Work is moving at the end of July to a larger space farther from downtown, which is a bummer, but it’s a little closer to where I live, and we won’t have to deal with the kind of parking madness that the festival introduces. Also, not being across the street from two different bars will probably be a good thing for me as I continue my efforts to get back in shape.
The upside to Tulip Time, for me at least, is that it’s a nice, relatively quiet week, if only in the sense that the work quiets down a bit. Outside our office in the street below, they’re running wooden shoe dancing twice a day, and Wednesday and Thursday are parade days, which means I might as well just take the afternoon off. As long as I show up early, and don’t leave downtown for any reason whatsoever until I’m done for the day, it’s not all that bad. We’re equidistant from two different concentrations of food cart vendors, and I’ll have a nice, crowd-free vantage point on the roof to watch the Saturday parade from.
I spent the weekend simultaneously resting, working, and cleaning (I like to multitask sometimes). I’ve got some friends coming in for food/drinks next weekend, which has inspired the kind of frantic cleaning that the condo has not seen since it was put on the market back in October. I finally got the giant cardboard box my Weber Performer shipped in broken down and recycled. I put together the set of shelves I got a week and a half ago and had to haul out of a broken up Jetta, and with the added storage space I was able to move my collection of beer bottles (for homebrew), which have sat in the downstairs office, and my fake Christmas tree and garland, which have sat upstairs next to the kitchen table, back to the garage. Finally putting away one of the blankets I kept around when it was uncommonly cold upstairs also helped make things look somewhat uncluttered. I’ve prepped some lunches and breakfast for the week, and even made some chili with the express intent of storing it and freezing it for weeks when I’m a little off-balance or am tired of the current selection of leftovers. As a result of all this work, I feel for the first time in a couple weeks like my game is back on point, and for that, I’m pretty happy. My only real regret stemming from the weekend had to do with welching out on two different friend’s birthday parties; I feel bad for flaking out, but I was not in a mood to be around people this weekend. While I’ll admit that I’m kinda lonely right now, I’d still argue it was the better choice.
There’s a week left to Tulip Time, and I’ve got 9 working days between me and the longest stretch of time off I’ve had in over 10 years, the tail end of which marks my 27th birthday. I have a feeling this month is going to move by quickly, but when it’s finally over, I’ll be standing at summer’s doorstep, and hopefully be a little closer to having a tan. Or I’ll be recovering from a wretched sunburn. It’s 50/50 with me.
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