Aaaah. That was a long, end-of-the-day sigh. When I woke up this morning (to the sounds of my mom yelling for my brother because the cat had a chipmunk), my first thought was "Am I seriously going to get up and go to work now?" Not the best way to start the day. I did go to work, however, and it was ok. First, I did rooms. Another maid was supposed to come in at 1 o'clock to help, but she came at 11 and told me she was sick, so I did them myself. Then I manned the office until 6:30, which was when the manager returned, all drunk and happy. I can't even IMAGINE living at work and only being able to leave when someone was there to cover for you. Yuck-a-duck. So yesterday at school I met a parolee. [I blew the transition again.] I was reading in the lounge, waiting for my next class to start, and he just sat down next to me and we started talking. He is in one of my classes so it wasn't completely random, but anyway. He's been out for three weeks; he was in for 5.5 years. Apparently he was a Norteno and was involved in a gangfight down south, wherein he hopped out of the car with a twelve-gauge, chased a guy down, and shot him in the throat. And he shared all his feelings with me, about how hard school is for him and how he feels isolated now that he's out, etc etc, it was really cool but at the same time a little bizarre. I know what you're thinking, but DON'T WORRY. This isn't the kind of parolee you're thinking of, with the tattooed arms, greased-back mullet, and button-up shirt open with rolled sleeves. He's young, only 23, and very clean looking. I did tell my mom about all this, and it's not like a "Hey guess what, I met someone today. And by the way, he's a parolee." It's not like that. I was just happy to be able to be a listening ear, you know? Anyway. Danny just told me that he fell asleep driving the other night. That is so annoying. I mean he's okay and I'm glad, but I am so tired of hearing stories of stupid kids falling asleep. My older brother did it, wrecked his truck. This other chick did it, killed an elderly couple when she crossed the double-yellow and hit their car and she herself was in a coma for a long time. Falling asleep driving isn't as stupid as, say, driving under the influence, but it's still silly. So yeah. I've been in school for like three weeks now. I go to school four days a week, work two days a week, then Sunday is church. Last weekend was SOOOOO nice, I went hiking after chuch with a few friends, one NEW friend, which is always nice. Work tried to call me in, but luckily I wasn't around when they called. And I didn't take Monday, which was the best decision I've made in a long time. I realized today that I actually do need a day OFF sometimes. I thought I would be okay with this schedule, especially because I can only work two days a week and, frankly, that means I'll be poor. And a day off work means like $60 bucks in lost pay . . . the paycheck I got today was $220, so you can see that a missed day is no small potatoes. But it doesn't matter. I'm going to be poor all semester anyway [good thing I have money in the bank], so if I take steps to avoid working myself to death, even if it costs, it will be worth it. |