The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

First, the good news.  We have Progress:

The pattern is Spiral Galaxy from Socks a la Carte in Froehlich Wolle Maxi Ringel on size 1.5 double pointed needles.  Sweet.  I purchased this yarn quite a while ago, can't remember where or when, but it is working up rather nicely.  I like the colors even more than I thought I would, and the yarn, which is 80% wool, has a nice feel to it.  And I am crazy about the pattern, which is easy, practically a stockinette (which on a circular piece means knit every row) but with an occasional yarn over and knit two together to keep things interesting.

This was practically the only bright spot in what was otherwise a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  My case plan conference was cancelled (sick defense attorney).  It was 46 degrees this morning.  In Florida.  The flow of paper into my office never stops.  The walls between offices are paper thin.  I had a sinus headache and a stomach ache.  I sat through an hour staffing with three other people in a room the size of a walk in closet and the air quality of a sauna. I received an email I was expecting but it still sent me into the depths of despair.   At some point during the afternoon, I had a panic attack with a few heart palpitations thrown in for good measure.  Shut and locked the door, shut off all the lights, and sat on the floor.  Tried relaxation techniques I'd learned during rational emotive therapy in 1972.  Recited the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear and some deep breathing.  Ran through the names of all the players I could remember on the Orlando Magic.  Did the same thing for the 1961 New York Yankees, but didn't get beyond Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.  Finally was able to stand up, turn on the light, and resume what I was doing prior to my world crashing down around my ears.

And then God, or Mother Nature, or The Force decides to put things in perspective:

Every bad science fiction disaster movie I've ever watched has scenes like these ... except these are real.  This is Japan the day after the worst earthquake in over 100 years spawns a monster tsunami.

NAKAMINATO, Japan -- Entire villages in parts of Japan’s northern Pacific coast have vanished under a wall of water, many communities are cut off, and a nuclear emergency was unfolding near two stricken reactors as Japanese tried to absorb the scale of the destruction after Friday’s powerful earthquake and devastating tsunami.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13japan.html?hp

And as if this wasn't bad enough, and it was, the nuclear reactor is leaking ...

TOKYO -- An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building and destroyed the exterior walls of a crippled reactor, escalating the emergency confronting Japan after a huge earthquake and tsunami destroyed parts of the country’s northeastern coast on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13nuclear.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

That wasn't my world crashing down around my ears ... that was Japan.  My world, despite occasional bumps in the road, is pretty damn fine.

No big cooking this weekend, folks.  Kasha varnishkes are a go, and Rob and I discussed the merits of homemade pizza, starting with the fresh pizza dough available at Publix.

But that's another blog post ...

Cook like there's nobody watching, and eat like it's heaven on earth.