Life, or Some Semblance Anyway

The past week has been quiet. Really, really quiet.

Most of the time this is not, repeat, not a good thing. This time around it isn't either. Here's a brief rundown of what's happened in the past week since I last wrote a post here, as a lot has gone down in that time:

1. First and foremost, I did not go to Lady's graduation; this is probably good, as she told me she'd had an absolutely hellish weekend with her mother and aunt anyway, and that her graduation day was one of the worst days of her life. While my presence probably could have helped ease tensions between the three ladies, it could've exacerbated things further as well, so yes, it is probably good that I wasn't there. Lady called me the night before her graduation from the hotel room all of them were staying in, and was in good spirits then, so apparently all of the rather unpleasant stuff happened after that.

2. After her graduation Lady successfully made her trip back across the country to the east coast with no problems, in the span of about three days. Last night she was staying with family about an hour or two from her home, and was planning to surprise the family today by showing up earlier than expected. Whether that happened or not, I don't know; I sent her a text this afternoon asking how things were at home, and never got a response...which probably means she's busy and/or asleep. I'll catch up with her more tomorrow, I assume.

3. My landlord came by and caught me by surprise last weekend, before I was even able to call him to have him look at the air conditioner/furnace fan belt. I was actually going to call him about an hour later, but my neighbors had already called him for a drainage problem in their tub and he thought it had been me who called. While he was here, however, I did have him look at the furnace -- it turns out that I have the type of furnace that's a direct-drive system, no belt involved, and that the problem more than likely lies in the actual thermostat unit on my wall upstairs. However, just like any other problem I seem to have him come by and fix, when he turned it on it began running just fine as always. The electric company has a new digital thermostat they're giving out/installing for free, called the "WattSaver," and he gave me his okay to have one installed whenever I wanted -- if they needed the paperwork to give them permission, he had it on file at his office, and he'd sign it/send it off to them. If nothing else, if it's in the thermostat, that will fix the problem. In the meantime, if I have any other problems with the fan/AC system (like, say, if it goes on the fritz again), I told him I'd tell him and he could look at it while it was acting up. So far, it's been running just fine when I've needed to run it (and I run it quite sparingly, as to save money on my electric bill).

4. Money is really, really tight right now, and will continue to be, terribly, for the rest of the summer. To brace for this and "hunker down," sort of, I've done all the grocery shopping I'll need to do for the next three weeks or so and have refilled my phone minutes with what little cash I can spare right now. My car has about 100 more miles before the gas tank needs refilled, and all of my bills are paid except for the cable bill, which I'll have to write out and mail this weekend if I want it to get paid on time. All of this will keep my expenses at the bare minimums for a while though, which is very good. I'm well-stocked on food and supplies for a good chunk of the summer, with the exceptions of cat food/litter and other small things (like milk, bread, etc) that I will need to continually replace on occasion. However, judging on my rate of pay and my bills, I'll only be able to survive without help until the end of June or so, when my car insurance comes due. I will more than likely have to ask (read: beg and plead horribly) my parents for help on paying that, otherwise I'm going to be homeless -- it's almost as much as a month's rent, and I don't make enough money as a teacher over the summer to pay both during the same month, not to mention cover all of my bills as well. I've mentioned before that my car insurance comes due twice a year, and both times it's in the absolute worst months possible -- June and December. Both times are when my bank account is always at its absolute lowest point.

5. I've been really bored, lonely, and really listless. I'm not sure much more explanation is needed on that. When the semester ends, everything just stops. Because of that, I find myself responsibility-free, which is almost as much of a burden on my psyche as being laden-down with all sorts of things to do is. Adding to the loneliness is the fact that I didn't get to see Lady again before she left to go back home for the summer, and that almost all of my friends from the department are already gone for the summer (or permanently, in some cases) or will be soon enough. I've been reading, writing, trying to catch up on sleep, and taking care of household chores to pass the time, as well as playing a few video games and listening to my collected podcasts, but there's only so long before all of that gets old and boring as well, and I'm rapidly reaching that point.

6. I start teaching on Tuesday night. That's four days from now. I have a full 25-person class, none of whom I've ever had before for 101 or any other class I've taught. I have yet to receive any sort of literature/syllabus/lesson plan for the 10-week course from my boss, so I'm guessing I'll have to venture to campus on Monday to take care of all of that stuff unless I hear something this weekend. I'll more than likely have to go to campus on Monday anyway in order to get copies made of the syllabus and other materials, so there's not really any getting out of that.

7. I got my grades on Wednesday -- all of them have been posted at this point -- and once more I got straight A's. Of course, I was expecting this. My cumulative grad school GPA is a 3.97, only because last fall I got an A- in a class. Still an A in my book.


There are other things going on, of course, in the background, that I'd rather not write about here in such a public place. I'd like to think that everything's staying on an even keel, but I'm not sure. I'm just trying to live day-to-day at this point, and don't see that changing anytime soon. I will, of course, update you when/if anything new happens, but for the moment, things are okay. And that's all I can really ask for.