Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Waiting

Is there anything worse in the world than waiting?

(Well, of course there is. We all know that. Just play along, 'kay?)

There is the hopeful, excited, pins and needles sort of waiting when a new baby is arriving in the world (literally or figuratively). And the hopeful, wary, let's-not-jinx-things, bargaining, superstitious sort of waiting when you're waiting to hear about a new job. Or when you've sent a piece of your heart (your fiction) out in the ether.


There's the half-nervous, half-fearful, half-impatient, half-pained (What? You only have two halves? Make some more up!) totally bored waiting in the dentist's office (unless, of course, you're a diligent flosser and your teeth are well-enamelled and your gums are not going berserk and your nerves are not throbbing and you've got a lovely book on your e-reader).



But there's nothing quite so dead and useless as waiting for the cable guy or the repairman or the plumber or a furniture delivery.

Today, for me, it's the phone company. My land lines have been deader than zombie doornails since the weekend. The jacks were pretty ancient and wobbly to begin with, and any knock of the Swifter or vacuum against them would make them go all wobbly and weird (not unlike that throbbing tooth that might have sent you to the dentist's waiting room), causing the lines that feed them to panic like cholesterol-laden arteries.

First, the static. Then, the copper and/or coaxial infarction. And death.

Oh, yeah. I'm sure my recent flood didn't help.

So today, the Verizon man (or woman) cometh.

Anywhere from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Well, that narrows it right down.

Can't leave. Can't really get involved in anything of any importance.

Have a great excuse to fiddle with the computer all day, though!

Someone please entertain me. But don't call.

12 comments:

Carly Phillips said...

Ugh. Hate waiting. You could ... say ... use the time to write? ;)

Anonymous said...

I love the service call window! It's always all day long and then they show up half and hour late. Meanwhile, you could have done any number of things outside in the real world. Oh well, at least you have a good excuse to stay home and write today! Enjoy the day off!!

Taryn Kincaid said...

Write? Use the time to write?

Yeah. I guess I could do that!

Wait!

OMG. The guy's here.

Taryn Kincaid said...

And ... he's gone! Fixed the jack in the kitchen. Problems with wires to bedroom phone. He couldn't do it. The genuises who built my building ran wires through closets, behind the pantry, through the walls, over the floor. No way to get to things. Have to move too much furniture around. Saga continues.
At least I have 1 phone.
Off to work.

Wendy S Marcus said...

Sorry I didn't arrive in time to enterain you! Glad you got at least one phone working.

Janet Lane Walters said...

Terri, That's twice your apartment has struck. Hope there's nothing waiting in the wind. Glad you got a phone back and were able to go back to work. Janet

Taryn Kincaid said...

I feel like you just hexed me, Janet.

And, honestly, I can't stand for one more thing to burst, rupture, spring a leak, gush, warp, die, flood, explode, et seq.

Had the worst day.

(Well, not the worst EVER. Probably not even in the top 50. But don't want a repeat any time soon.)

Taryn Kincaid said...

That's one phone in the kitchen. Two BlackBerries in my purse.

Nothing in the bedroom, where the answering machine is. And (where I might need a phone in case of medical or other emergency.)

Drat. Now I've jinxed my own self.

Shoshanna Evers said...

Glad you got at least one phone now :) Waiting all day sucks, it's like house arrest. Happens to me all the time with FedEx. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

You nailed the whole scene of waiting-whether nine months or service calls-comical and touching, Ms T. Nobody writes it better.

Charmaine

Lindsay said...

I decided to wait before commenting on waiting.
I hope you got constructive done even if it wasn't writing.

Taryn Kincaid said...

Shoshanna, Charmaine and Lindsay:
Thanks for stopping by, folks. You are a funny bunch.

(Sorry I didn't see your comments earlier!)

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