Wednesdays with Stumpe – Unneccessary Intro (read first)

I knew I was in for a treat of a day when I woke up ten minutes to nine in a panic thinking I was nearly hour late for work. I managed to calm myself down in order to try to figure out what time I was actually suppose to be to work. The thing is, is it never changes. Every morning I am expected to be to work in a meeting with my manager, Chad, by 9 o’clock. Insomnia had taken over the night before and I made the silly mistake, out of desperation, of taking a Tylenol PM at about 4 am. Sleeping through my alarm accompanied by a panic and grogginess should have been anticipated.

I managed to shower (which is basically my morning coffee and a must here because of the humidity) and make it to work only a few minutes late. Feeling the need, I headed up to the local coffee shop-Café Del Sol, oddly enough-for a breakfast sandwich and an iced café mocha. As a side note, the iced café mocha is a new personal discovery. I’m usually not a big fan of coffee. I tend to agree with my friend’s dad who claims coffee tastes like burnt water. When I do drink it I feel like it should be like how a real takes his whiskey, straight. Black coffee is actually kind of like drinking straight whiskey: hard to swallow, burns going down but warms the belly and the heart all day long. But I regress, in an attempt to wake myself up one day after a similar spell of insomnia I discovered that ice coffee was not great. The next time I needed a pick me up I ventured into Café Del Sol thinking I would stick with the greatness that is an iced chai latte (the problem with these, however, is ultimately the small levels of caffeine). As I waited in line, I watched the barista make a iced café mocha for a customer. “Was that chocolate syrup I saw her put in the coffee?” I wondered. My eyes were verily opened.



Back to today. I usually treat myself to maybe one a week. This one was my second already this week; and it’s only Wednesday! Furthermore, I asked for a double shot. I felt like I would need all the support I could get. The plan seemed to work. The whole day I felt energetic. I didn’t even crash. I felt great and I was selling tee shirts like it was my job! My coworkers, namely Maria, told me kindly that I should lay off the caffeine. Apparently, I was a little crazy. I figured it was typical behavior, but they suggested otherwise.

In reality, nothing too exciting happened during the day. I did at one point manage to scare Daniel, one of my coworkers, as he was turning a corner. I saw the opportunity and just couldn’t pass it up. Luckily, I’ve had enough experience and have watched enough AFV to know to be prepared for “fight” rather than “flight” from the victim. And I say luckily because Daniel, upon being startled, reacted with a kick heading to my man parts. With a roll of the twenty sided die I managed to parry, dodge, and block the oncoming attack (perhaps one reader of my blog will relate to that reference, but probably not). The day was filled with similar pranks but that was the culmination.





I was happy today when I noticed the Honduran fishing boat was back. Previously, the boat arrived and docked for a week or so selling fish from the boat. Some of the girls in the store bought some and squabbled out of them some free fish. By time I decided I wanted some the fishermen were dry. They triumphantly returned today with more fish. I announced I intended on buying some and Andrea so politely volunteered to retrieve the fish for me…in exchange she would get the free fish. I concurred and went home with a fresh two pound snapper and instructions from Andrea on how to cook it.

Before I would get around to cooking the fish I wanted to make it to the gym and the grocery store for some basic ingredients. On my way out the door to head to the gym I damn near stepped on a frog on my front porch. I let out a manly yelp and jumped right into the front door that I had just closed. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not scared of frogs. It just startled me). I looked around for Daniel but he was nowhere to be found. I guess it was karma…what a bitch…

Upon returning home--from the “alpha male” night at the gym (Why!? Why did they start invading my hour at the gym?!?) and the grocery store from which I can’t seem to escape without spending more than I expected or should--I found my new friend, the frog, up on the edge of the window. It was then I envisioned the beginning of a beautiful mutualistic relationship. I would leave the porch light on for him attracting a plethora of bugs and he would, sequentially, eat the bugs upon their arrival. Karma: I retract my earlier words.