No-Drama Friday

A couple months ago, we had several Fridays that were just completely full of drama at work. Not small drama...weird, crazy drama that I won't even start to go into. It wore us out! Not a good way to end the week. So Chelley and I decided that, in addition to Jeans Fridays, we were going to start having No-Drama Fridays. Now, this is a great idea and actually works. It's amazing how much less things bother you when you decide you're going to just let them go. Except for some days. Like today.

It all started at straight-up eight o'clock. This particular incident was my own fault; I willingly stepped right on in knowing full-well what I was getting myself into. But for some reason, I was still surprised at the result. Can my patience level for certain people/situations be lower than zero?

OK, shake it off, it's only 8:00 on No-Drama Friday. It's going to be a good day. And it was until about 2:30 when a student and her mother came in and threw an complete withdraw form at one of our staff members. It didn't have all the signatures it needed, nor was it filled out completely. When our staff member nicely told the student this, the mom threw the form across the desk, said they didn't have time for this, and they stormed out. Definitely the mature road.

It's No-Drama Friday. But in the middle of the 2:30 event, I was pushed overboard. This time it was an angry dad calling about his son being on suspension. Yes, the dad called, not the student. (Note: If you are the parent of a college student, or if you ever will be, or if you know anyone who is, or if you ever will know someone who is...Please...Make the student grow up and take care of his own academic and social issues and make him take the consequences for his decisions/actions.) So this dad called mad because we won't let his son take summer classes. Now, I had already discussed this issue with another person on campus yesterday, who apparently told this dad to call our office and ask for my boss by name. I was furious.

Finally at 4:00 Chelley and I decided it was, no matter what, going to be No-Drama Hour. And it was. (This is where a picture would go if Chelley and I had taken one this morning like we should have instead of waiting until 4:00 when neither of us looked like picture-time. So this is where the picture isn't. We'll take one someday.)

I came home and got online b/c I was trying to remember the second class I enrolled in for fall. And I don't have a second class. OSU doesn't bother telling students when they cancel a class, it just disappears from your schedule. That's fine...I firmly believe students should pay attention and take responsibility for their educational needs, so I'm OK with checking my schedule. However, they do seem to cancel at least one important class per semester in my program, which is frustrating. So now I don't know what I'm going to take to get me back up to 6 hours. I'll figure it out, but I'm really afraid the only other thing will be on Monday nights. And this, of course, is not a good plan for me. I have prior obligations on Monday nights. :)

Amy came over tonight and we ate and talked a lot. We watched The Great Debators which is great. Bekah, you really should watch it. Oh, and I went to the grocery store tonight. They're celebrating their 45th anniversary, so they had a Jupiter Jump, sno cones, and Safari Joe there. For those not from this area, Safari Joe has lots of animals. Like a giant snake he lets people put around their necks. Uh, no.

Cats, heels, and cows

"Do you have a cat? Or did the people who lived here before you have a cat? Because I smell cat." That's what every non-pet-owner wants to hear from the carpet cleaning man. For real. I came home for lunch today and my landlord was walking down the sidewalk and told me the guy was here to clean my carpets. Happy lunch. Oh, but seriously a lot happier than two weeks ago when I came home to the plumber and...well, anyway. So today I told the guy, no, I didn't have a cat and I didn't know about the people who lived her before, that was four years ago...But my upstairs neighbors have dogs and maybe the smell drifted down. OK, that's just gross and embarrassing that he smelled cat in my house and I don't have one. For the record, no, I don't pee on my carpet. Oh, other than giving me clean carpets and a better smell, the carpet guy was going to recommend new carpet for me to my landlord...at least in my hallway where, literally, the carpet has pulled away from the carpet backing. That happened during the two times I had a leak with water all over the hallway and they pulled the carpet back to dry it out.

I fell off my heel today. I was in Chelley's office reading her mother/daughter calendar quote to her, which is a daily ritual. Today's quote was, "A light-heel'd mother makes a heavy heel'd daughter." Then I fell out of my shoe.

The cow that jumped over the fence could be coming to a hamburger near you. John and Missy got a new cow and calf not that long ago and put them in the fence. Which the cow quickly jumped. So they put her in again. She jumped again. So they built it higher. She jumped again. Yesterday Missy called me and said she was just standing there staring down the cow, that that's the only way it wouldn't jump. One day, three tranquilizer darts, a tractor, and several people later, the cow and calf are both gone.

Two Plus Two...

...equals a good weekend.

RSU has great benefits because we not only get free days off for fall break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, and a few one-day holidays throughout the year, but we also accrue ten vacation hours each month AND get three personal days per year. Since personal days have to be used by July and I still had two left, I took one today and made this a four-day weekend. I've decided that, as long as I have something to do other than sit around, four-day weekends are really good.

Friday night we went to the game, but you already know about that. On the way home, I stopped by Wal-Mart because I wanted to make some covers for throw pillows. I found some super-cute fabric on the dollar rack. But since it was 11:00 at night, there was nobody who could cut it for me. So I hid it under some other fabric and came home. When I told mom that she said, "Joy Lin!" like she never has hidden anything at the store before so she could come back and get it later. Where do you think I learned it??? So, anyway, I did go back and buy three yards on Saturday. I wanted some trim for it, too, but they don't have a very good selection so I have no trim on my pillows. Oh well. I made them this morning. They turned out all right, I guess. Don't match my living room at all, but that's fine. They add a splash. Or something. It was fun making them, anyway, and they were really easy. So now I'll just keep an eye on dollar fabric so I can change up my living room every now and then.

Sunday night I went to the Reeds' house. For those of you who can't remember who's who, they're the ones who have six (now that they've adopted one- yay!) kids and one foster baby, plus lots of grown kids who like to hang out at their house. Anyway, we played golf (cards, not clubs) until really late and laughed a whole lot. If you've never sat around with a bunch of people and imitated each others' laughter, you should...it's hilarious!

Yesterday afternoon I went up to the church and played around on the piano for a couple hours. It was so much fun. I wasn't great, but for not even having touched a piano in several years, I didn't think it was too bad. Steph was there working on some stuff, so she might have a different story about how it sounded. But it really was fun.

Last night we had a Memorial Day cookout. Amy was house-sitting for some people who have a great outdoor set-up. Big deck, lots of grass, and a huge pond. Ooooh, and we had brats with saurkraut and sauteed onions and green peppers. Mmmmm. I played frisbee for the first time in forever...while dodging dog poo in the yard.

On a movie note, I watched P.S. I Love You today. It was good, but if you don't want to cry for two hours straight you might want to stay away from it. No joke. I had to come get my box of Kleenex, and I can't think of another time I've done that with a movie...and I'm even a movie-crier.

Thank you to all veterans and those who will become veterans. Thank you for making sure the flag still flies and speaks of freedom and a good life.

At the ol' ballgame

Cool breeze. Best friends' laughter. Baseball. Ahhhh.

Last night I went to my first Drillers' game of the season, and it was exactly what I needed. There is something about a baseball game that helps me breath. Maybe it takes me back to when I was a kid watching John play Little League. Or maybe to the (very few) times we stayed in a hotel on vacation and saw a game on TV. Or maybe it helps me remember what it means to be an American.

Steph, John, Amy, Joel, Karen, and I showed up to see the Drillers, sadly, lose their game. But the fact that it was free general admission night meant there were thousands of others there, too, giving us plenty of opportunity to people-watch. A Miami-Vice Guy sat beside us. He kept his shades on the entire time, even as the sun went down and it gradually got dark, darker, and very dark.

I wanted to take a picture with Steph, so I asked John to snap it for us. It took him forever to take it. I later realized why. He was trying to get Joel, his BFF since birth, to jump in. Which, as you can see, he obligingly did. I later asked Karen to take a "real" pic of Steph and me...Which John then jumped in on. Boys...I tell you what. Finally we got one with Amy in it, too. At this point, it was only us plus John in our group. So we were safe having John taking the pic for us. I love my friends...and baseball.