Jason Rodriguez - The Moose in the Closet: Man Alone: Idiot Alone

If you’ve been reading my Live Journal you know that I’m a mess without Robin around. She’s spending three weeks in Malaysia and Singapore and so far I’ve managed to shave my head because I fucked up cutting my own hair, eat nothing by beef, get her car impounded, and watch two seasons of Arrested Development over a five day period.

On this site, however, I’m telling stories about the last time I was left alone for a long period time – over two months while Robin was in Spain. I was even worse then. Probably the biggest fuck up over those two months was my attempt to plan a trip down there to see her.

It all started when I delayed getting my passport – this was my first time out of the country and I thought it’d take a week, tops. Once I found cheap airfare (it was going to be something like $400 to go to Manchester and $100 to go from Manchester to Madrid) I went in to get my passport only to discover that I needed to do the expedited service or else I wouldn’t have it in time.

I also didn’t have my license at that point, nor did I have a permit. I had my work ID, which was useless, and a Massachusetts state ID card that didn’t prove my current address. So it took two trips to the post office to get my passport papers filed – I needed to bring birth certificates, yearbooks, current bills, picture IDs – a wide range of shit, especially considering I already had my top secret clearance at the time.

But I had my airfare and my passport and I was ready to go. Except, you know, that whole “idiot” thing I had going on.

You see – I never bothered to check if I was actually billed for the airfare. Apparently, at some point in the confirmation process, I must have thought I was finished and shut down my browser. The fact that I didn’t receive any emails wasn’t at all strange to me. By the time I figured this out, that $400 flight to Manchester was a $1000 flight and I simply couldn’t afford the flight, hotels, etc at that time of my life.

I called Robin to tell her that I had to bail. She was…upset. Especially since she was already staying in Spain a week and a half beyond her classes.

The irony here, of course, is that I spent the past two months worrying that she’d let me down.

I begged and pleaded with the airline and tried to convince them that they fucked up but they had no record of any activity from me – it was a lost cause. I bitched about it all around the workplace and panicked over the thought that Robin wasn’t going to stick around after this fuck-up.

Until one of my bosses that took a liking to me pulled me into his office, closed the door, and said he wants me to go to Spain. That I deserve to go. And, despite the fact that it was highly illegal, he lent me a thousand-bucks so that I can book my airfare and get out there. Needless to say I was stupid excited.

I booked my airfare and told Robin the good news. Needless to say she was stupid relieved.

Of course, the fact that I’m an idiot looms over everything I do. It took me about a year to pay my boss back – I was pulled into his office every once and a while and reminded that he leant me a thousand bucks. I guess that’s why bosses aren’t supposed to lend coworkers money – it could lead to comlications. I guess we both learned our lessons on that one.

But, fuck it. I was ready to go to Spain. And I’ll get to that nightmare eventually – Man Alone continues for now.

Man Alone: Idiot Alone

Monday, June 26, 2006

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