3 Seconds To Inversion

We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

This week was a doozie. A 12 hour day on Monday (and no lunch), 14 hours on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday (I forced myself to have lunch), then wound down to 10 hours on Thursday and a much lighter day on Friday. It really was a nightmare.

* 3 of 5 of my camera operators quit the day after training and the night before their classes began.

* We NEVER have the equipment that we use to connect (via high-speed internet access) to the off-campus sites fail. In 5 days, all 5 units went ka-pluie (1 of them, twice. 2 of them, new.) RIGHT as class was beginning. I was really beginning to think that someone had cursed us, or had voo-doo replicas of our equipment and were sticking pins in them. Two different people informed me that Mercury is in retro-grade and that this is the culprit. So, what do I say to that? FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF MERCURY!!! DAMN IT! WHAT? IT'S ALLLLL ABOUT YOUR SCORCHED SMALL PLANETARY ASS SPINNING SO CLOSE TO THE SUN THAT YOU'VE GOT TO START SPINNING BACKWARDS JUST TO FUCK EVERYTHING UP? (Actually, it just appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac. It's actually an optical illusion.) What's THAT all about? Huh? Jackass...you ain't so bad. Can't stand the heat? Spin away from the sun then! (Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that's what you're trying to do...) Fucking small ass little piece of burnt shit with your Napoleon complex.

* I actually have blisters on my toes from literally running back and forth between buildings all over campus. I really should've worn my roller-blades (instead of those heels). But then, I would've had a dislocated head. Either way, I was limping by Wednesday afternoon.

* I almost started screaming at the top of my lungs one morning when I couldn't find a pair of matching socks.

* I dumped eggplant Parmesan that Will had made (my future dinner) down my bare leg and into my shoe by 8am Wednesday morning in my office. Someone later that day asked if my leg was bleeding. I said flatly without emotion, "No, it's marinara sauce" and kept working.

Other things kept happening that I won't bore you with (or won't bore you more with), just know that everytime my cell phone rang I was like a rat in a psychology experiment waiting, cringing for the shock. Because when the phone rang, it wasn't going to be good. In fact, it usually indicated that I would have to break into a sprint to wherever the problem was and when I would get there, I would have a professor and a lecture hall full of people glaring at me.

So, by Thursday morning after working my ass off (then dreaming about it at night) I was beat. Kind of shell shocked. After working for so long in hospitals and social work and the Coast Guard, I really try to stick with the motto, "It's only a bad day when someone dies". That usually keeps it all in perspective. But by Thursday morning, I really was worn out.

I ended up getting angry with Will that morning when he gave me a little bit of attitude when I asked him if he could take the dogs out for me. I needed help, not attitude. We didn't part on angry terms, we really try not to. But, we did part on irritated stupid terms.

As I was driving to work shortly after our little argument and bracing for the day ahead talking to my best bud Dor on the cell phone (which I've continuously stated that I wouldn't talk and drive) bitching about Will and how horrible the week was and I just needed a little bit of help and some acknowledgement and...and...and...I came upon a brutal accident no more than 60 seconds after it happened. People running, glass shattered, twisted metal, smoke billowing, a car slammed into the median and another one upside down. There were legs hanging out of it. And I hoped that they were still attached to their owner.

My heart sank and my eyes dampened. I remembered my motto and stopped my belly-aching. I told Dor what I had seen. I told her that I loved her and needed to hang up the phone. I pulled over and called Will and left him a message telling him that I loved him and felt immense gratitude for having him in my life. And I thought, how quickly it all can change, in a matter of seconds. And I thought, there's not really a whole lot that matters, not really. We dilute ourselves in thinking that there is. Any of those people involved in that accident would've traded me for my week in a heart beat, of which I still hoped they had.