Better luck next time

The universe did not want me to write this morning.

So I get up as always at half past five, shower, make breakfast, and leave the house around 6:15 thereabouts to walk the scant mile downtown to the Gloucester commuter rail station, catching a beautiful sunrise as I make my way along the seawall on Stacy Boulevard. I buy my big-ass iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts, wait for the train, and settle into my seat on the 6:54 when I realize to my horror that I've left my trust iPaq at home -- or worse, dropped it somewhere along the way.

I call my wife in a panic. Yes, the PDA is home. I tell her that I'm getting off at the West Gloucester stop and ask her to drop it off on her way out to Route 128, if she'd be so kind (and of course she is that kind!). So I stand around at the station, call my dad down in Jersey on the cell phone -- yup, he saw T.O. make an ass out of himself on Sunday as well, good thing for Philly they gave that goofball the boot -- and just in time for the 7:38 Mrs. and Baby Exile show up with the iPaq...

...without its stylus, however! Crap. It must have fallen out of its little holder, which relies on that space-age invention called gravity to keep it in place. I briefly consider using a mechanical pencil or an old pen instead of the stylus, when it dawns on me that at this point I should probably just ride on in with the missus and enjoy the extra half-hour with my daughter before we drop her off at daycare. Because who knows what obstacle the universe was preparing to throw in my way next, had I actually been stubborn enough to get on that train and try to write?

So my word count stands at just over 9000, which is irritating to say the least. But it was a nice drive in with the rest of the Exile family, and the stylus eventually turned up in the bottom of my wife's tote bag. So it wasn't a total washout...