I woke up this morning and wanted nothing to do with the real world. Zero. All I wanted was to stay in bed and sleep. No work. No responsibilities. Nothing. Instead, I picked myself out of bed at 5:30 this morning and made myself go to the gym. Alyson and I are in an Apple Watch competition that’s been pretty close, she actually took the lead today because I half-assed my gym workout. I’m not happy but I’ve got a few days to get my lead back. And I will get my lead back.

Upon coming home from the gym I was still in the “I don’t want to do anything” mindset and sat on my couch and pondered a life where I called out sick today. You know, one of those days just to mentally collect yourself, get much-needed rest, and kind of get your head back in the game. The last couple of days I’ve been mentally fuzzy and could absolutely use that type of day.

I thought about it and realized work would be a little understaffed, so I sucked it up, showered and left for work nearly forgetting to apply deodorant. It was a complete bummer especially when I found out we had more staff than anticipated *sigh*.

I’m not sure how many of you have seen 500 Days of Summer, and this in no way is an endorsement of the film. I went in expecting something entirely different and proceed to get kicked in the nuts with the story. Wasn’t pleased about that. There’s a part in the movie where they go to a party and the screen splits from his expectations and the reality of the situation. I always loved that scene. It just feels incredibly real, like I’ve lived that a million times. Maybe not a million but you get the point… a lot.

It’s with that scene in mind where I’d like to direct today’s column. The expectations of what a sick day could have brought opposed to the harsh reality of work. I’ll tell you something Geeklings, it doesn’t match up. Not even a little bit.

Expectations– Staying in bed getting some extra sleep then reading. I’ve been reading A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons as one large book and I feel like I haven’t made any progress even though I’m almost three hundred pages in. I would have spent a good portion of this morning catching up on some reading and just relaxing in bed. It sounded glorious

Reality- I took a shower, got into my car, and spent forty minutes in traffic. I was able to read some at lunch but not enough.

Expectations- After reading, I was planning on watching my screener for this week’s Doom Patrol. I can’t watch it at night without falling asleep so this seemed like a really good solution. Once I was done I was going to write my review to post over at Fan Fest News tomorrow.

Reality- I walked into work and started working.

Expectations- From here we could have gone a couple of ways. Since I was already writing I could have jumped into an I Am Geek column that isn’t the one you’re currently reading. Maybe something Game of Thrones related or who knows what else. I probably would have thrown an MCU movie on in the background too. I was kind of feeling Winter Soldier or Civil War. Something epic with a good amount of Cap. That would have been grand.

Reality- …work

Expectations- I’ve got a bunch of comics I would have liked to read and would have read some of them today. I haven’t gotten to last week’s Deadly Class yet and I want to finish Ed Brubaker’s Winter Soldier storyline so I can move on to plowing through Kelly Thompson’s Hawkeye run on Comixology Unlimited. That would have been grand! With all this Captain America talk, I probably would have gone online to see if I could find the screen capture from Endgame where Cap is staring down Thanos’s army by himself. I’ve been wanting to make that a wallpaper since I first saw it. That shot is gorgeous.

Reality- I lost Wi-Fi at work… for the majority of the day.

Expectations- Our apartment doesn’t have a dishwasher which means we’ve got some dishes in the sink. I would have enjoyed getting those done while listening to “Portals” from the Endgame soundtrack on a loop. I freakin’ love that piece. All the feels. I probably would have shifted over to my Game of Thrones playlist at some point for the variety.

Reality- We lost power at work. Everything shut down. Darkness. For serious. No power. Kind of fun but not fun enough to get me sent home.

Expectations- I honestly don’t even know. I could have gone for a walk since it’s gorgeous outside and listen to a podcast. This would have put me back in the lead with our competition. I could’ve taken a nap while watching some old Rick and Morty episodes or maybe even play some video games. The world was my literal oyster.

Reality- I worked till after five and listened to a podcast on the way home. I also had to stop for gas because I was running on fumes.

I should have stayed home…