Thursday, August 19, 2010

Flakey


I know yesterday's post was pretty heavy, so THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all the comments of support and encouragement.  I've wanted to write about that topic for some time, because it is no doubt the root of why I got involved in multisport.  Plus it's nice to get things off your chest once in awhile.  Also, thanks to those who donated, you've been very kind.

I take my sobriety very seriously.  But I have a lot of trouble taking myself seriously, especially when it comes to the "drunk" years.  I get the *impression* that many people who are recovering from substance abuse are burdened with guilt.  My take is a little different.  I feel guilty about a lot of the things I did, especially when it comes to how it affected other people.  I also take full responsibility for what I lost.  And I'm still making amends - if you look at my Blogger profile, there's a little hint in there acknowledging that I've still got a few bridges to try and repair.

However, when it comes to the things I did that caused no collateral damage except to myself, I have to laugh.  With that said, I certainly don't want to glamorize these things, and in fact I have learned through triathlon that true adventure is best served sober.  But full tilt drunken episodes like the time I tried to pick a fight with a guy in a fairly big band because I didn't like a guy at his record label or the time I paid a London mini-cab driver a ton of money to drive me in circles around Westminster so I could scream "Big Ben!", "Parliament!" out the window still make for good old fashioned childish and self-deprecating stories.

What I'm trying to say is that I have no problem making fun of myself.  And though I think I;m a pretty intelligent and well grounded person, it seems that the copious amounts of bourbon I drank over the years killed every single brain cell that would normally keep me from being a total flake.

The latest mishap is the loss of my Garmin 305.  I rode my bike at lunch today, and when I got back I took the watch and the heart rate strap off and put them on my desk.  When I was leaving for the day, I remember picking them both up so I could put them in my bag.

Anyway, when I got home the heart rate strap was in the bag but the watch wasn't.  I had gone to Corona Del Mar to swim, but since I put my wetsuit on at the car the bag never left the trunk.  I've searched the car and I even went back to the office to look.  The watch was nowhere to be found.

This is really frustrating, because how do you loose something when you never had the opportunity to lose it in the first place?  Well here's the answer.  You do it by putting it in a shoe (shoe?).  I just found it.  I have no idea or recollection of how the heart rate strap made it into the bag but the watch made it in the shoe.  Especially since the shoes where already in the car and about as far away from where I put my bag that they could be.

Never lend me anything.

13 comments:

KovasP said...

That's funny. Your Garmin is so tired of your antics that it actually hid from you! Nice interview on the TriTopics podcast, you and Riley both sounded coherent and profeessional, superb acting.

skierz said...

Yeah, losing stuff! then 3 months later finding it in the spot that you obviously left it! Been there done that!

Johann said...

Don’t worry; you’re certainly not alone in this one. Just glad you found it. It can’t be fun losing a Garmin.

Diana Tries-A-Tri! said...

Yikes! At least you found it though, that would have been a major bummer. Sometimes, gear just has a mind of its own ... or so I like to tell myself when I find things in odd places!

Christine Jensen said...

I still can't find my Garmin Charger base....after over a month...but I can always blame my 5 kids...I isn't always their fault, but they are so nice to have as an excuse for my flakiness.

Glad you found your watch...even if it was in a shoe.

ajh said...

I have great admiration for anyone who manages to stop drinking. Our society does not make this easy. Good for you!

Lucas R. Tucker said...

We've all doen stuff like that a few times.

Jeffrey said...

Patrick, we should swap stories sometime...I'm sure that there would be some realy doozies that we could "impress" each other with. Thanks for the post...and glad you found your Garmin, would have been a total bummer.

RockStarTri said...

I seem to lose the charger more frequently than the garmin itself. Then, sometimes hours later, my brain re-engages and I remember where I put it to be safe.

Safe is relative I guess.

Lindsay said...

LOL. I don't think it was the booze. I randomly find things that don't belong in the freezer, in the freezer...

DRog said...

Dont take yourself so seriously is the First Step...er I mean Rule #1!!

Unknown said...

I swear misplacing things is a male gene. My husband does it all the time. One day, I'm going to label all of this things and maybe even add a tracking device to some of them.

Aimee said...

I'm so glad you actually ended up finding it! Sometimes I have no idea how things end up where I find them!

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