It’s raining, and wouldn’t you know it…
February 22, 2010, 8:08 PM
It’s raining, and wouldn’t you know it, I left my umbrella on the Metro coming home. I find this kind of ironic for two reasons.
First of all, while I was still at work, one of my coworkers wanted to take the umbrella, thinking I had pinched this one that had been sitting abandoned in a corner for about six months or so. I told him that this one was my “work” umbrella, and that the other one was still there.
Then secondly, when I got into my seat, I noticed that someone else had already forgotten an umbrella in that same seat. Then on the long ride back to Glenmont, I took one of my famous Metro naps. I woke up as we were pulling into Glenmont (going over the switch south of Glenmont tends to wake me up), and got off the train. The train went out of service at Glenmont, and headed for the yard. Then as I was riding the escalator up to the street, I realized it – no umbrella. Crap. Well, there goes ten bucks. So I saw that some poor schmuck had left their umbrella in the seat, and then left a second one to go with it.
Of course, how I managed to leave an umbrella that’s three feet long on the train in the first place is kind of beyond me, too. I don’t know how I managed to pull that one off. But it’s gone now, and no getting it back without somehow managing to get into Glenmont Yard (which is off Layhill Road about two miles from my house). I can tell you what car the umbrella is on (Breda 4090), but like I said, that car’s in the yard, plus it’s not likely I’ll see that car again for a while (last time I had Breda 4090 was on October 30, 2008). And besides that, I certainly won’t see that car again before the nightly cleaning crews get to it and clean up my umbrella.
And I usually have a good record with umbrellas, too. Last time I lost an umbrella was on Breda 3064 on May 5, 2007 at Fort Totten. Mom and I had just gotten off our Yellow Line train at Fort Totten, and the train left the station to turn around. Then is when I realized that I left my umbrella on there. I figured I’d get it back, because the Yellow Line trains leave Fort Totten, cross over to the other track north of the station, and then come back in on the opposite side. Since we were in no particular hurry, we waited for the train to come back. Back it came, and that Breda rehab had already been picked clean of umbrellas. My umbrella was nowhere to be found, unfortunately.
So a trip to CVS looks like it will be in my future to pick up a new umbrella.
Otherwise, though, before the rain came, I finally put that new comforter set that my parents got me for Christmas on the bed yesterday. And here it is:
This is the “Tudor Square” pattern from Domestications. I also went and bought new pillows to go with it, since mine were starting to get a little worn out. The comforter set came with the comforter itself, two pillow shams, and a bedskirt.
Due to the design of my bed, the bedskirt didn’t get used, but I did use the pillow shams. I had one question when I went shopping for the pillows on Saturday. That was, are you supposed to put the pillows in pillowcases in the shams, or do you skip them? I didn’t know, so I bought two pillowcases for a few bucks each just in case, since I could return them if I didn’t need them. So on Sunday, I put the new pillows in the pillowcases, put them in the shams, and slept soundly on them. The question remained unresolved Monday morning, when I asked my coworkers. I got a few “I don’t know” answers before one person gave me a definite answer. He said that the pillows you put shams on are for decoration only. You don’t actually sleep on shammed pillows. You put those aside before you go to bed and sleep on a second set of pillows in conventional pillowcases.
That just blew my mind. My first reaction was what’s the point of pillows that are just there for looks? Seems a waste of money when one lives alone. I don’t have a girlfriend, and I don’t have roommates. Who am I trying to impress with pretty pillows? I certainly wasn’t trying to impress myself with it. I thought the shams looked nice and all, but I’m not about to un-sham the pillows every night, nor am I buying a second set of pillows. I’ll sleep on the shammed pillows and the hell with what proper sham protocol is. As another coworker said, the fashion police will not come busting my door down, and, jokingly, also said that if the fashion police were to raid me, the shams would probably be the least of the fashion faux pas to be found at my house. So we’re good.
And I love the way the comforter looks on my bed! The pattern, rather than a solid color, certainly adds a splash of excitement to the bedroom, doesn’t it?
Song: Ray Charles sings about Diet Pepsi
Quote: Oh, by the way, when I was showing my friend Katie what the comforter would look like, I originally sent her a link to this one (yes, pink flamingoes) to see if I could get a rise out of her. She did not disappoint. Then I told her I was kidding, admitting that I looked for the tackiest one I could find to send her as a joke, and sent her the real link.