Please
Note:
I was away from my computer for the most part of the week August 20-26. The
entries you find here form that week were written at random moments on each
of the days. No highs, lows, or other information was recorded. Also, there
is no quote or lyric du jour for these entries.
About 4 p.m. Monday
afternoon, I had my "one for the road" with the FD. A tractor shed caught
fire after a nearby tree was struck by lightening. The shed and most of its
contents were a total loss... but I was able to contribute in several ways...
and I like it when I have the chance to do that. I even earned some time
on the "tip."
There are many duties on the fireground... but only one man gets the nozzle.
It's a nice place to be and probably everyone wants to be controlling the
hose nozzle at a fire. Unfortunately, some folks have a philosophy that squirting
water is the only important task... Of course, they're dead wrong. I try
to do whatever is necessary... and if I get to squirt water, it's just a
perk.
BTW, I'm really gonna miss this. ((0334))
These last few days have been tough for me. Not so much that I don't
want to go back to school... Or that I don't want to stay at home... But
just dealing with the struggle between my two worlds. For some reason, it
doesn't feel like I'm the same person at home and at school. Well, it feels
like I'm the same person, but I'm leading two separate lives. Many of the
things I value when I'm at home (this firefighting thing for example), I
lose when I go to school... And many of the things I value at school (like
my really good friends), don't carry over to the times when I'm home (that's
because those friends live in another state). Once I get into the swing of
either life, I have little problem with it. But during the periods of transition
like the past few days... It starts to get to me. I guess the good side is
that classes start Wednesday and my school life will get going once again.
That may be the first time the first day of school was a good thing. heh,
heh. ((0338))
This could be
my last entry for a while. I won't have the computer at school initially...
and the Macs at have at my office down there really don't do the job well.
I'll probably be keeping notes on paper and will upload them once I'm reunited
with my computer. ((0340))
My computer won't be the only thing I'll be leaving behind. I'm travelling
as light as I can just in case I have to relocate once I arrive at school.
I called my old dorm room tonight and no one answered. I wish that was a
good sign... a sign that they haven't assigned anyone new to the room and
that I'll get to keep it as a private room. But in the back of my head I
know that they'll stick someone in there. And that I'll have to wait in line
to get a private room. And because it's the fall, I might not get one in
the same dorm.
One of the main reason's I'm travelling light is that I really have a deep
hatred for moving. I've had to move in and out of a dorm every semester I've
ever lived in a dorm. My first semester of college, I moved in and decided
that I wanted to leave the school, so I had to move out in December. When
I started going to my current school, I moved in in August and changed dorms
during the break, so I had to move out and move back in again. You can't
keep your stuff in the rooms during the summer, so I had to move out again
at the end of my second semester.
I moved back in to the same room at the beginning of my third semester, but
had to move out before the Christmas break because my roommate changed rooms
and so they kicked me out, too. I moved into another room at the beginning
of the Spring 2000 semester but wanted to go the private route. I waited
in line to get one and had to move again. By the time I checked out of the
dorm after the Spring semester, I decided that there are only so many times
a man can carry a computer, clothes and a mini-fridge up and down stairs.
I can only hope that this hatred for moving wears off before my kids get
to be college age. May the Good Lord help them if it doesn't. :-)
((0346))
Of course, my
last move out of the dorms really left a bad taste in my mouth. No. Wait.
That was the beer I was tasting...
The night before check-out, I went out and had a depression-induced drinking
binge that resulted in my pacing across a multi-lane city street crying into
a cell phone about my problems. Not a pretty site at all. What was even uglier
was when the R.A.s went door-to-door at the butt-crack of dawn to get everyone
up and moving their stuff out. For some reason, I felt a real urgency to
get going, so I slipped on a pair of jeans and hauled a box three stories
down to my truck. My nasty-ass needed a shower real bad, it was damn hot
outside and I was hungover. So you can only imagine the pain I was feeling
as the heat of the air, funk on my body and the alcohol in my blood worked
against each other. By the time I got the box down to my truck, I just knew
I was going to have a heart attack in the parking lot. And that's not exactly
how I plan to go. The experience did teach me one thing. You can work the
alcohol out of your system if you walked up and down three flights of stairs
enough times.
I am my own worst enemy.
Because I procrastinated in the morning Tuesday, so I worked all afternoon.
They kept giving me more work to do... and I kept running out of time. There
are only so many hours in the day, you know. I had no problem doing the stuff
I was supposed to do... but with less than 24 hours before my first class
at a college in another state, don't find new stuff for me
to do.
I left there and dropped by
Jessie's apartment to say goodbye
and to hopefully get a farewell back rub. I accomplished both tasks but fell
asleep afterwards. She finally woke me up shortly before 7:30. Yeesh. I had
two and a half hours to gas up, pack my truck and drive the 81 miles to
school.
The good news is that I made it. And contrary to how that last sentence sounded,
there really is no bad news. I spent the night at
Jonathan's place because I
had been assigned a roommate. No, I'm not that cold of a person, but I knew
I had planned to get a private room and I didn't feel like socializing with
strangers.
I was pleased that a note was posted on the lobby door that room changes
and assigning of private rooms would take place Wednesday. This is a deviation
from the usual practice... which may take several days before you can change
rooms. And for me, the quicker I can get settled and have a base of operations,
the happier I'll be.
I have to have a base of operations. I've got to have a personal HQ. I'm
not sure what that is.. but I don't feel comfortable until I've set up camp
somewhere. I guess it's a feeling of security thing. I dunno. Just one of
my quirks. Hopefully, I'll have that sense of security tomorrow night in
my new private room.
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