I mean, it was bad. Nausea, shakes, and a headache that would have been the cause of the Grand Canyon in another aeon. I didn't even notice when the altar caught fire after the rite, apparently. On top of that, I'd woken up that morning sore as all hell, and I can't figure out why. Might be an after-effect of the tumble I took down the stairs a few days ago.
Anyway, I got there after fighting legions of stupid people from various retail outlets, many of whom believed that food stamps solved all ills. . . I was interested to see that when the food stamps weren't able to purchase the mass amounts of alcohol they apparently needed, they were able to produce large sums of money to cover the difference. Over $100. Yes, the expression you have is the same expression I had.
I found myself grumbling silently about the need for welfare reform.
All this, of course, took quite a while. When I started, it was 5:00. By the end of it, it was half past 6 PM, and I was just leaving the store. The worst part of it, of course, was that I didn't have everything, but the stores I needed were closed (Sunday night, after 6 PM, you're pretty well shot to hell).
Of course, I also didn't have directions. I was traveling purely on my innate sense of direction. You may stop laughing, because I managed not to get lost once.
Add to this the late start I'd gotten due to stupid things (like leaving my runes at home and also getting stuck at the zoo earlier that day), and you realize just how "on time" I was, given how late I could have been, even though I was 45 minutes late.
The ritual itself went off very nicely. I was happy to see that we'd pulled record attendance at a rite, and most people seemed to really enjoy what was going on, and to get something good out of it. It was one of those rare times when the rite also felt pretty good to me.
Of course, I was still bound to my script. I think I'll have to make sure
Anyway, I got through the rite just fine, until the very end, when we lost someone. Fortunately, she got home just fine, and that's what's important. I don't care much about the rest. :)
All in all, it rocked. We'll need to do it again sometime soon.
(Wow. That was a quick review, and I didn't even get to mention all the people who were there. Grr. . . Maybe when there's more time!)