More Post-Event Memories

I just paid off my car. AKA the Mustang after the Mustang that my Insurance company bought me after the Mustang that got stolen, after ...

The Camaro.

Which looked like this:

*Angelic Choir Sings*

But I digress. The reason I mention the car is when I think about the relief I feel now that I no longer have a payment, I immediately think of the next car-related expense I have, which is a set of new tires.

How do I know this?

Because I'm getting nails in them.

Yes getting as in continually, and nails as in plural nails. Happened more than once.

And guess when the second time it happened was? Yep! Right in the middle of the crazy stressful lead-up to my Big Event where rich and famous people caused my stomach to eat itself here.

And, true to form, Murphy's Law governed many more incidents in that crazy stressful time period besides me having to schlep out Further Into Virginia than I prefer, to hear an auto guy say "Welp, looks like ya got another one then!" while pointing at my tire after I told him I just HAD a nail removed and patched.

Sigh.

So other mishaps during that Crazy Stressful time:

I, and often my staff and clients, worked late into the nights at my office, whose lighting systems - and occasionally computers -- shut down automatically around 10:00 pm.

How convenient! I may or may not have continued to peck away in the dark like a sad little creature...more than once....and I may have had to use the light of my iPhone to find my car keys....definitely not one of my finer professional moments.

But in addition to that joy, the last few days before The Event, the FIRE ALARM started systematically going off around 9pm each night as well! What fun!

The first time it happened, I feigned gathering my things but looked around to see if any other loser was going to put safety first. No one did. So I sat back down. (kinda like when I was an intern here and wouldn't leave the White House during 9/11. I obviously have very poor self-preservation instincts and fall squarely into that elusive category of people who would, in fact, jump off a bridge if Everybody Was Doing It.)

The next few times it happened no one blinked an eye. We'd simply pause while it went off, then continue our conversations. You know, until people left and I ended up typing away by myself in the dark.

In addition to all that loveliness, one day, during the week leading up to The Event, my BADGE stopped working to get me into our office. Neat! Now when I'm here alone from 7-10pm, I can't use the bathroom since that requires exiting and re-entering my work space! I started to once again feel like I was being Punk'd when finally someone told me the badge swipee thing was broken and that nobody's badges were working. Phew! At least it's not just me! That should provide comfort when I can not use the bathroom in that 3 hour block later this evening.....

Moving onto the Actual Event, we see Murphy's Law striking me yet again when I show up on The Day That One Former President Guy Arrives, and --

I forgot to put on deodorant.

The day where I will absolutely be stressed and running back hallways. The day where I meet several more famous people. The day that is the last day of our Event and which rolls into the night everyone has an after-party where it is encouraged to RIDE A MECHANICAL BULL! (that is a story for another time...)-

THAT IS THE DAY I FORGET TO WEAR DEODORANT.

It made me feel slightly disheveled and reminded me of the time one of my best DC friends was supporting the 2nd Inauguration for George W. Bush. I attended one of the Inaugural Balls, and I see her spastically approaching me. Her hair was haphazardly pulled up, she had on her glasses - which is unusual - and


she wasn't wearing shoes.


The thing that came out of her mouth?

 "I've lost Condi!"

As in -- Condoleeza Rice, the then National Security Advisor to the President and future Secretary of State.

Ha! That image always makes me laugh. Or at least used to, before I became the girl that quite easily could've ran up to her and said: "I'm herding a President all morning - AND I'M NOT WEARING DEODORANT!"

Not as funny when the shoe's on the other foot I suppose. Although, to be fair, I at least still HAD shoes...just not anti-perspirant.

Then, at some point during the event, we discover that the event down the hall from ours had Reese Witherspoon speaking and some of my staff ran into her in the halls! Seriously, at that point, if I had run into her I wouldn't have batted an eye. "Oh hi, Reese, of course you are here in the middle of all this randomness and chaos. Might you have some deodorant I could borrow?...."