Fell off the wagon

I remember talking to people in various in various "[Whatever] Anonymous" organizations, who speak of an abstinence of a very long period of time.  And then they'd generally add, "It hasn't been a perfect abstinence."  I didn't quite understand that when I first heard it.  I mean, if you fall off the wagon, don't you have to give back your five-year chip and start again with the old one-day chip?

Apparently not.  Because there's falling, and then there's falling.  I guess it's the difference between partaking in a champagne toast, and lying in the gutter in a pile of your own vomit with an empty bottle in a brown paper bag clutched in your hand.  And even in the empty bottle situation, there still may be some wiggle room, if you get up off your ass, crawl to a meeting, and get back on track.  The point being:  we all slip and fall, the issue is whether you choose to wallow in it, or get up and move on.

I fell off the "get to bed at a reasonable hour and get up on time and put in a good day's work and repeat" wagon.  I was doing pretty well with things until Wednesday night, when I went to the theatre.  The show didn't get out until 11:00; I didn't get home until after 11:30.  And then it was the (generally necessary) unwind/sit with cat/eat snacks/play on the internet part of the day that killed me.  I was up until after 1:00, which threw me off for the rest of the week, and the weekend, when you get right down to it.  Not entirely my fault (with certain shows, when the opening night is on a Wednesday, that's pretty much my one shot at going), but I need to figure out a better way to recover when that happens.

Still, I'm not giving up.  I might have to set my imaginary one-week chip to the side for a bit, until I've proven to myself that this was a small slip and not an entire backslide -- but I'm going to remain positive about my progress to this point.

Eagle-eyed readers may notice that it's 9:30 now, so wtf am I doing blogging?  I'm working at home today and tomorrow (contractors!  doing work!) which enables me to adjust my working hours safely to 10-6 (or even 10:30-6:30) without ending up getting home late and falling back into the bad pattern.  So, it's off to the elliptical machine for a bit of morning exercise, and then work, while I wait for the plumber.

(And perhaps the handyman.  The freakin' doorbell broke.  If it isn't one thing....)