Oh the Pain - a Bitchfest

Ok, so, the City of Las Vegas owes us a tank of gas. I went to work tonight, not knowing that there was a huge marathon being run tomorrow morning. They started closing off streets right around 3am. I got out of work at 3:30... Tropicana - shut off. Las Vegas Blvd. - shut off. Frank fucking Sinatra - closed off. Rob did some amazingly illegal things to just get us OUT of the EXCALIBUR'S PARKING LOT (mainly he just followed cab & limo drivers who were also doing some amazingly illegal things) and we had to go up Flamingo because the freeway onramps were closed. So we jaunt down I think it was Decatur & before we hit Spring Mountain, the road was closed. So we turned around & continued up Flamingo & north on some side road & then west on DI & just basically hopscotched our way to Torrey Pines. We got to Vegas, and of course, since we live in a fucking ghetto, they have our entire neighborhood closed off from Vegas, Torrey Pines and Jones. Rob just drove through traffic cones twice to get into our little street. Totally illegal, but he did some very nice obstacle-course maneuvering & didn't knock over a single sign. 3:30am on a Sunday morning & I didn't get home til 4:20am. And the race doesn't even start until 7am. What kinda bullshit is that?! Our casino-employed neighbors who work day shifts tomorrow are going to be so thrilled... "I'm calling in sick today. Yeah, I literally cannot come to work. They have us quarantined with traffic cones. It's a traffic cone siege - they're starving us out til we surrender." I'm just glad we have food in the house for dinner tomorrow.

On another note, it is bitterly cold outside, and my knees hurt. Really, really bad. My knees haven't hurt like this for so long now that I'd forgotten what it feels like. And I have an added pain in my right knee that wasn't there before. Feels kind of like my knee is on a rusty, spiky axle that was just punched through my knee when I bend it. On an up note, they aren't swollen - that's kind of nice. They are red and angry looking, but not swollen to the size of melons. My knees didn't hurt yesterday w/all the rain. Sure I was a little stiff, but so much of the muscle achyness has dissipated w/the vitamin D that I honestly felt physically okay yesterday. Tonight, between the time standing on the desk & then waiting outside for Rob & my knees are fucking killing me. I took drugs, hopefully soon I will feel asleep. I am not used to this anymore so I'm being a very big whiny crybaby about it.

I hope they don't expect me to work a swing shift tomorrow. The traffic cones are holding my neighborhood hostage & I just don't think they'll believe me. I have also come to the firm conclusion that I am terrified of taking my A+ certification tests. Honestly just terrified. If it was free it wouldn't be a big deal, but $150 per test is a lot of money to gamble with. I mean, what if I fail? Or more like, that's a lot of money to pay to fail a test. It's a circular OCD train of thought with me, too. It just keeps coming back at me when I least expect it. Sitting there, watching I Love New York in the breakroom & it comes at me. Checking someone in - it comes at me. Sitting here suffering pain & agony & pissed off at the City of Las Vegas - there's that A+ cert worry again. It's a rabbit trying to eat treebark behind a wire. It's a squirrel trying to dig nuts out from under solid ice. It's a hyperventilating narcoleptic trying to dig their way out of a solid cement tomb...