Small Town Wren

So after being sick and then having Spring Break #1, and then the weather becoming pleasant for a turn….I stopped doing my homework. I just didn’t get to it. I needed some real time off, and then I just couldn’t get back in the swing of things. And now I have found myself in full out meltdown mode. I did 11 hours straight of homework today, about 13 hours of work total.

That is far too much, and I’m really kicking myself for letting me do this to myself. Really, Miss Wren, you should have been doing work for the past two weeks. I shouldn’t have let it get pushed back so far. Now I have three projects due this week and I’ve only just started on them. Ah crud.

And I got all my travel vaccines today (and I didn’t have to get my tetanus after all!). But three vaccines in both arms plus lots of heavy books put my arms completely out of commission after I got home from the library. It was really quite pathetic. I had to ask my father to pull my bag and books out of the car because it felt like my muscles were going to tear themselves to shreds if I even moved my arms. It’ll be totally worth it when I’m in Xela though. I’ve got another 12 hours or so of work lined up for tomorrow, too. At least I got my girl Aurora on my back. We’re library hopping tomorrow.

I just have to make it through Wednesday. Wednesdays are my new night off, so I just need to finish my Thursday project on Wednesday and I’m golden. Never mind the huge Tuesday Project and huge Monday project and presentation. I might actually cry.

I’m going to Guatemala.

Yes, you read that right. I’m going to Guatemala. I bought the plane tickets earlier today, which is incredibly exciting. I’m going to do a week of Spanish immersion with my sister in Xela. This is the first time I’ll be leaving the United States for any appreciable amount of time and to any place that isn’t, like, Canada. I’m psyched! I don’t even know what else to say beyond “EEEEEE!”

Yeah, so remember how I said I was feeling better? That was totally a lie and I got sick again a few days later. I’m still a little achy, but I’m hoping to be triumphant once and for all. I mean, jeebus, this whole mono thing is incredibly lame. I’m so over it.

But I’m still on spring break, and I have refused to let a stupid thing like being horribly diseased ruin that. If I’m going to be sick, I’m at least going to have fun, dammit! So I bought myself a present: new crochet hooks and a bunch of yarn. I sort of have this thing where I feel a thousand times happier when I’m physically making something, so I crocheted up a storm this week.  Case in point:

Those are going to turn into a blanket at some point. I only need to make, oh, you know, 42 more of them. I also made a delightful hat. I’m wearing it right now. How snazzy is that?

So about that Mono…I’m starting to feel a lot better. I’m still having my sicker-than-anything moments, but I feel okay more often than I don’t. I finally have enough energy to do more than sit on my sofa in a sad, sick, stupor watching Law & Order reruns.

Which is nice, because it’s just in time for my first spring break! One of the perks of being in a teacher-education program and working in a public school is that I get two spring breaks. I’m out of classes this week, and at the end of March I’m out of work for a week, and most of my classes that week have been cancelled. It’s nice to have professors who work in the same sector.

This whole mono thing started several weeks ago when my sister threw her birthday party at Delilah’s that she didn’t attend due to having mono. We still had the party though, and I went, and had my last huzzah before I got mono. Well, since we’re both feeling up to being people again, we went into the city for a makeup party at Tavern. This was the first time out I’ve ever had to buy a drink for myself. I guess one out of four is still okay, but not what I’m used to. For record: at the first party, I paid exactly $0 and got 2 glasses of wine, 4 shots, and a gin & tonic. I don’t really drink a lot, but when I do, I drink whatever is bought.

Also for the record: the drinks at Tavern are awful and overpriced. Regardless, we had a good time. Lots of friends showed up, a game of impromptu charades was played, and there was lots of random fake-dancing. I also got to show off the arrows I’ve been drawing on my fingers of late at work to help redirect my buddy’s focus.  They were definitely used in the night to point out random things to a bunch of drunk 20-somethings. I’m just glad I didn’t get groped by the bros who weren’t in our group. Random gropings from bros is probably the biggest reason why I don’t go out very often.

I have been neglecting my blog for some time now. It turns out I’m pretty diseased. Considering I’m trying to take as few sick days as possible and still get to all of my classes (one of which is in finals right now), it has left me with very little energy to do much else.

You know it is bad when even your mother is concerned by just how much TV you’ve been watching and not much else beyond it. We’ll see when I make a return to regular posting, but as of now, I’m sick with that dreaded disease Mono.

I either got it from or gave it to my sister. She was even more of a mess than I was for awhile. She hibernated for a week while the whole family moved her out of her apartment. Me? I’ve just felt awful for two weeks now and don’t have the ADD energy level to which I usually have access.

I took my first ever paid sick day yesterday. I’ve never had a job before that offers such snazzy benefits, so I’m used to suffering like a dog through work for money I need, or being short on cash later on. I terribly needed the sleep, but it still felt a little naughty to be at home, getting paid, when I should have been at work. I was very sick–it’s still not clear if I have mono or the worst cold of my life–and the 12 solid hours of sleep made me feel a lot better. I would have died and been unable to do my job had I gone in, but it still felt like playing hooky.

This is where my work ethic is in hyper-drive. It’s really hard for me to take day off and not feel guilty about it. I’m really committed to my job. I feel obligated to be there for all the children I serve (well beyond just my super buddy), and I should. They depend on me for a lot of things and I’m in no position to let them down.

I’m supposed to be taking care myself though. I made that commitment, too. And boy, if I can’t put myself to bed when I’m terribly ill, I’m in real trouble on that front. Nobody said I had to like it. But there really is no reason for me to feel guilty for doing what was best for me, and ultimately my co-workers and students. I shouldn’t feel bad for taking the sick pay, because, in reality, I did my job a favor by not coming in sick, right? I need to hold on to that.

I’ve had to deal with an astonishing amount of unprofessionalism today. I can’t even wrap my brain around all of it. Nothing like someone breaching your confidence, but then not evening getting that breach right. Nothing like having your ass over the fire due to something you never even said.

Dear Douchebags Driving Nice Cars:

I get it: you have a lot of money. You also have really poor self-esteem married to a glaring sense of entitlement. These three things have led to the Lamborghini, Jaguar, Porche, or whatever that you are driving that is in mint condition and the new wax job. It also explains why your car is that horrible color burnt orange, pea green, or whatever.

I, on the other hand, am driving an 11-year-old White Honda that isn’t even mine. And has shitty brakes and awful traction. I am not the person to play Asshole Highway Chicken with.

I’m sorry 80 mph on the Eisenhower is not fast enough for you. But I will never get out of your way for throwing a temper tantrum with your brights over how terribly slow I am driving. And I will certainly not brake when you cross four lanes of traffic to get around all the cars and then get back in front of me and try to slow down to 30 mph.

Let me tell you a story of another one of your kind. I was walking through a construction zone in New York City that had a flagger directing traffic and pedestrians. I had the right of way, and Mr. Brand New Jaguar had the stop sign. It was real cute how he faked a slow down, swerved around the flagger, and then slammed on the brakes when he realized that, gee, there was a person there.  A person wearing steel-toed boots. A person who can kick hard enough to leave a boot dent in their shiny new car. A person who may have been me.  Those cars you drive might be expensive, but the siding is cheap.

I will not slow down for your entitled belief that you think the Eisenhower is the Autobahn. I will laugh when you flick me off as if I were the most horrid person on the planet. I will cackle as you realize I’m not slowing down to protect your precious little sports car. And I will reach for my phone and I will call the police, and I will tell them you are speeding 100 mph and driving recklessly and that you are the only burnt orange Lamborghini heading into the city on a Friday night when there are cops all over the highway.

I hope you like your ticket, asshole. It made my day seeing you pulled over.

But here’s a tip for the rest of you Douchebags Driving Nice Cards. When you are driving a really expensive sports car that is so obviously a stand-in for the shortcomings in your life: don’t piss off the people around you. We don’t have overpriced physical egos to protect and we can cost you a fortune for doing something that’s free.

Sincerely,
Wren

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I’m pretty late to the game on this one. But please forgive me; I didn’t have Logo until quite recently.

I’ve got to say it: this show is amaaaaaaazing! I spent my afternoon off watching the first two episodes of the current season. Oh the magic of DVRs. It really makes me miss Lucky Cheng’s in New York and more than one NYU anthropology professor. Though I have yet to see a drag queen who could best my friend Drue from high school. He looked better in a dress than most women. He just flat out looked better than most women.

I’m a sucker for camp.

Between my server going down and a ridiculous amount of work that had to get done yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to post. Much apologies for the interrupted service.

Let’s see, what have I missed? Well, there was the earthquake that happened yesterday morning. You know, the 3.8 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter about 12 miles from my domicile that woke pretty much everyone up at exactly 4:00am. I had the added pleasure of having a puppy launch herself onto my body in a fit of panic.

Another thing that happened yesterday was a touch embarrassing. I was taken out by a first grader. And I don’t mean on a date. I was pretty much bowled over by an autistic seven-year-old. Sweet kid and, to some extent, my fault. If I’d been watching my buddy a little closer I could have stopped him from waving and thus prompting a bit of a freak out on the other child’s account. Gosh darn my kid being so friendly! Luckily, it turned out okay and I managed to get my buddy out of the way so I was the one who got run into and not him.

As for today: today was a special day. Today was 100 Day! Our kids had their 100th day of school today (thought it’s only my 97th; shhh). So I got to wear my educational tshirt on a non-friday and was given an awesome sticker. And boy did we count to 100 a ridiculous amount of times. Out entire day was filled with math activities involving counting to 100 and kids brought in collections of 100 things and it was awesome and silly.