Peeing for Freedom

Hellooooo, Matt Smith.

Good evening to you as well. It is evening here; in fact, it's pretty much been evening here since about 6 o'clock in the morning... on Monday. The sun really hasn't made an appearance this week, but perhaps it's sympathizing with me. I've had to get up at about 6 in the morning every day this week, but more on that later.

News on the car: it IS "fixed." I use the increasingly appropriate ironic emphasis of the quotes here. (And they are "finger" quotes, of course. The internet, however, does not allow me to have fingers.) Apparently, I "flooded" the "engine," and this is "bad," according to the "guys at the shop." After driving a non-fuel injected vehicle for so long, I fully understand the concept of cars not starting. My only downfall was treating all cars the same. All cars are not created equal.

I did tell the tow truck man that this was my annual car trouble. He said, "This happens every year?" And I said, "Yeah, pretty much." He said, "Does it always happen around the holidays?" And I said, "Yeah. Pretty much." Such was our conversation that very, very cold Friday morning at seven.

Bonus to having the car towed that early? I got to eat McDonald's breakfast! Woo-hoo! So exciting! Usually I crave Egg McMuffins at approximately 10:31 in the morning. It's a trick my body likes to play on me, knowing full well that McDonald's -- for whatever cunning corporate reason -- stops serving breakfast at 10:30. The reasoning behind this completely ELUDES me, as any normal McDonald's-breakfast-eating 20-something doesn't even roll out of BED until eleven. It's just wrong. That's all I'm saying. Not very effective marketing, if you ask me.

Waking up at 6am all this week reminded me faintly of working at Starbucks. Only this time, I come home from work smelling of contemptuous middle schoolers instead of scorched milk and stale coffee. Needless to say, I took a shower. I needed to wash off all the "I-don't-care-what-you're-trying-to-teach-me's," the "I'm-going-to-make-fun-of-everything-that-you-do-because-I-have-no-developed-sense-of-humor's," and the "I-have-to-look-cool-and-the-only-way-I-know-how-to-defend-that-is-by-using-sarcasm's." Quite honestly, it stinks. And I didn't want to sit and stew in that all the live-long-Law-&-Order night.

I'm sorry to hear you've come down with a cold. I heard it was going around.
Okay, actually, I didn't. That just seemed to be something that people say to make sick people feel better.
"I've got a cold."
"Oh, really? I heard it was going around."
Or... "I've got bronchitis."
"Really? I heard it was going around."
Or... "I've got anemia."
"Oh, really? I heard it was going around."
(I guess it's one of those "safety in numbers" things. I don't know.)

For the cold and the voice thing, though, I recommend drinking a lot of warm water. Sarah used to make fun of me for drinking what she referred to as my "bath water," but it's better for your vocal chords. Doesn't rip them apart and dry them out the way that ice water will, and the water bottle will double as a handy heat source when your hands get cold.
I've actually been drinking a lot of water lately, believe it or not. Yes. Me. The self-proclaimed Water Hater. I used to think the only thing that could make water bearable was Kool-Aid, but I stand corrected. A body -- well, my body -- goes through a great deal of fluid when it carries all the strain and stress that comes with teaching children. So, I get rid of that stress by drinking water. And peeing a lot. It guarantees that I get at least 2 or 3 minutes to myself every hour or so.

Unless some wandering school official follows me into the faculty bathroom, which hasn't happened YET, but it's just the sort of thing that would happen to me.

And then my car would break down.

Happy to be coming home for the holidays,
Meredith