Yesterday and today were good days. No, seriously. Well, for the most part.
I'll start off by sharing the three big things first, and then I'll later dissect them in my normal chronological fashion:
- My paycheck was deposited into the bank this morning by my dad. I'm still waiting for it to clear, but it's been "pending" since early this afternoon and will clear in the overnight hours.
- The 2DS and Pokemon X has arrived.
- The Office of Academic Affairs did, apparently, receive my notice of appointment (read: my contract), and verified as much yesterday in an email.
I call this post "Goodbye, Weekend," because now I can actually get down to business and do a lot of the things I've been meaning to do, most of which involve money and stress-free time. As such, while I'll have time off, almost all of it will be occupied with one thing or another. When I'm not paying bills, I'll be grading. When I'm not grading, I'll be playing Pokemon X. When I'm not playing Pokemon X, I'll be sleeping. When I'm not sleeping, I'll be doing one of the other aforementioned things.
The weather and my allergies is slowly making my sinus infection come back, I think. I'm not sure yet. Some days I'll feel perfectly fine, and then others I'll have a lot of sinus pressure/aching in the usual spots. Today it's been the latter, though I would imagine a large part of that is because of the frankly insane weather we've had here in the past 36 hours or so.
When I got up yesterday morning to go to class, it was raining lightly. It was also still warm from the night before -- 55 degrees. It turned over to a steady rain around 6:45 or so, which was somewhat soothing to hear and smell.
By the time I left the house, the temperature had dropped nearly twenty degrees and it was sleeting, but it wasn't normal sleet -- it was those little hard ice balls that's like miniature hail. There's a name for it; Parker told me what it was, but I can't remember it now. Nothing was sticking, of course; it was 70 on Tuesday and nearly 60 on Wednesday (and 62 today). The ground hasn't been frozen in a week. On my drive to West campus, it alternated between that and rain, over and over, with high winds (we were under a wind warning all day). By the time I left campus to come home, it was raining ice. Sideways. By the time I got halfway up the interstate, I was driving through thick, almost whiteout-conditions snow -- none of which was sticking but made the drive miserable regardless.
As I pulled into my driveway -- and I stress this fact, as I'm not making it up -- the snow stopped and the sun came out. Like flipping a light switch. Almost as if it was waiting for me in particular to be done driving in it before it decided to stop. Stuff like this happens more often than you'd think -- between my allergies, sinus infections, and everything else, I'm pretty sure that nature itself has a vendetta against me.
I stayed awake all day -- I wanted to cook some food, and of course I was waiting for the games to arrive and to hear word on my paycheck from my mother. I got the latter shortly after 1PM or so, when she told me it was in my account. It cleared in the overnight last night, so now I can pay all of my bills again just fine.
The 2DS and Pokemon X arrived around 1:30, and I put it on to charge up so that I could actually use it. In the meantime, I cooked and ate lunch -- I made fried chicken and a large bowl of poutine (french fries, cheese curds, and gravy). The weather cleared up and got warmer again, up to the low 50s after the snow rolled through and finished. That's probably why, by mid-afternoon, I had the beginnings of a serious sinus headache -- the weather changing back and forth, back and forth, very quickly. I'm not a fan of that, obviously, as it wrecks my allergies, but I live in Kansas, and that's the norm for this time of year. Next week, apparently, we're having our yearly "tornado drill" on campus, where all of us will be crammed into a lecture hall/tornado shelter for half an hour while they test the sirens and the like. They do it every spring right before "tornado season" starts. Tornado season in the midwest usually runs from mid-March to around early June or so, as those are the months of the year where tornadoes are the most likely to pop up out here.
Anyway.
I booted up the 2DS and ran all of its setup programs and the like once it started -- and I was (and still am) really impressed with everything the little system can do. It has three digital cameras on it, has a bunch of little built-in games and apps, such as a web browser, an mp3 player, and a photo app, it comes with an SD card to save downloaded content on (and to save pictures on), it gets software/firmware updates via wifi, etc. It's a really awesome little machine -- it's basically a smartphone without the phone part. As for the graphics and the Pokemon game itself? So far I'm pretty stunned. I'm only a few hours into the game, but the gameplay is fun, the resolution is great, and overall the 2DS is a fairly comfortable system to hold (though it'll take some getting used to compared to my old DS Lite). I like it quite a bit. I'll have to be patient and soak up the gameplay over the course of the weekend to see what I can do while I have the time.
When it comes to the weird email from earlier this week regarding my contract and the Office of Academic Affairs, there isn't much to tell -- I had replied and told them that it was sent over to their offices on February 11 (last Tuesday, not this past one) when I was on campus, and that's the truth. As soon as I got my contract, I accepted/signed/dated it and sent it over there. Yesterday I received an email response from the woman who'd sent me the first email (telling me they hadn't received it) informing me that they indeed had received it -- so I'm guessing it was stuck in the mailbox, they forgot to file it, or it had otherwise been misplaced in the interim. No worries, however; apparently they have it now and it's done, so it doesn't concern me anymore.
Daisy arrived home from Kansas City yesterday afternoon. I Skyped with her for a while last night, despite the fact that my sinus headache was absolutely pounding by that time, until the sinus/pain pills I took kicked in and I was able to go to bed around midnight. I woke up around 10AM.
Today has been much the same as yesterday, really -- I made food and played the 2DS for a while before it needed to be recharged again (which it's currently doing now). I ran and unloaded the dishwasher. I filtered three big jugs of water for my coffeemaker. I checked my school email as well as my personal email, and showered. I got dressed, as I have to go to Walmart tonight, in a little while, to pick up a few essentials. I'm enjoying the somewhat warmer weather for the moment before it gets colder again (and more back to normal, so to speak) next week; while we're not supposed to get any more snow or anything like that, the high temperatures are only going to be in the 30s again instead of the 50s and high 60s that I've seen for the better part of the past week here. After the sun went down this evening, the temperature dropped by fifteen degrees almost as quickly, so I'd like to go out and do my shopping before it gets too cold for me to not wear a jacket.
Tomorrow, and for most of the rest of the weekend, actually, I'll be grading. I have three sets of assignments to go through -- the first paper for my 011 students, the third paper for my 210 students, and the quiz I gave to my 102s. They're all fairly short assignments; the longer ones won't kick in for another few weeks at the earliest, but still, it'll take some time. This is why I wish there were football in the spring, so I could have something on the TV in the background while I grade. I don't even know if the Olympics are still on; I haven't watched a single minute of actual television since the Super Bowl ended, and haven't cared in the least about the winter games. I really don't watch TV; the televisions in my house serve primarily as display devices for movies and video games, and I haven't even turned on my PlayStation or Xbox in about six months. That's probably shocking to those of you who play games for hours every day, but I'll remind you, I'm not a gamer. I only play the Pokemon games, and only then until I beat them and/or become bored with them...by which point the next one has usually been released.
In addition to that, I'll be paying my bills this weekend; I still have my Discover bill and my Citi card bill to pay, both of which are due by the end of the first week of March or so. I need to write out my rent check as well, so with those three things, most of the paycheck I had deposited will shrink and vanish. I can't pay off both cards fully, of course, as that would take more money than that entire check provided me, but I can take a few good chunks out of them and pay them down a little more quickly than I could before. I probably won't be able to completely pay off the Discover card until the wedding or a few months after the wedding, depending on how much I need to use it between now and then, and on what. That's another reason I'm going shopping for some essentials tonight -- I need stamps.
I'll get paid again a week from today, but it will be the "adjusted" check based on the advance check I just got, so it will be half of one of my normal paychecks. I'm fine with that; I get it. My checks will be normal from Spring Break forward, basically, and until then I'll still be budgeting for bills a little tighter than usual. At this point I've become so used to penny-pinching for everything that I almost no longer bat an eye; I have truly become one of those "living paycheck-to-paycheck" people. To help combat that a bit, next weekend I have already set aside time to do all of my taxes, and to take care of all the work that entails. I'd do it this weekend, but again, paper-grading and Pokemon X. I want to have some free time to focus on all of it fully, and it looks like the soonest I'll have the time to do that will be next weekend.
Mind you, I don't have to grade all of my students' papers this weekend if I don't want to. Keep in mind that I have an eight-hour stretch between classes on Tuesday where I'm basically alone in my office on main campus with peace and quiet if I want to be. Even though I do spend most of my day on Tuesday hanging out with my friends and colleagues I never see, I still have plenty of time to work on my students' work. We'll see how it goes. I may grade the 210 assignments there at the very least, as they should take the least amount of time to go through. I do need to grade my 102 students' quizzes this weekend so that they can get them back on Tuesday morning, as I have student workshop copies coming in that day and I'll need to be able to devote time to them between Tuesday and Thursday as well.
I started my grocery shopping a little early, I suppose -- this evening I purchased incense and the cats' special Purina ONE urinary tract health food on Amazon (both are cheaper there) and picked up a copy of Tetris Axis for the 3DS, since it was marked down to $7.50 new and had really good reviews -- not that I'll have time to play it for at least several more weeks. In those coming weeks, I actually have a lot of stuff I need to get from Amazon, once I've built up a few paychecks in the bank and have my bills covered fully. Many things I get there are much cheaper than I can get them at the grocery store or at Walmart.
In other news, Daisy, as mentioned before, ordered the ring I showed you here in my last post for her wedding band. It arrived quickly, and...she doesn't like it. At all. Well, okay, it's not that she doesn't like it, it's that it's too thick/wide to wear with the bigger/wider engagement ring, and she has short fingers. Wearing them both at once means the rings go up to her knuckle. So, apparently, she's back to square one.
"Just get a thin, plain band, babe," I said. "Like, a 2mm or 3mm band."
My own wedding band is 6mm; it's wide because it's a mens' ring. I looked to see if there were thinner versions of my own ring so that our bands would match, but there aren't. 6mm seems to be the thinnest width ring I could find for mens' rings; many others were 8mm or larger.
I was, however, able to find many thinner, plain-band women's wedding bands at 2mm or 3mm, and showed some to her. She's still trying to figure out what she wants to do, and finds herself becoming continually more frustrated with the ring situation. While her new engagement ring is growing on her more and more, finding a ring that will go with it for her wedding band is really troubling to her.
By the way, this was the "hideous" wedding band she'd picked out originally, the one I didn't like:
Mind you, I still don't really like it, but...ahem...it's growing on me. More than anything else I'm afraid she's going to have the same "wear thin and break" problem with this ring that she had with the original engagement ring I bought her. It's very thin, the metal is even thinner in some places (most notably around the curvy designs) and...well, it just rubbed me the wrong way. It is, indeed, a very Daisy-esque style of ring, which is to say that it fits her personality and style well. But, if you scroll back a post or two to compare it with her engagement ring, it doesn't really go well with it. It is, indeed, one of those rings that doesn't really go well with anything.
"I don't have anything against it or your choice, babe," I told her this afternoon. "It's your ring, your choice, your finger that has to wear it every day. It's up to you if you get it, but..."
She gave me her classic "Daisy look," which is halfway between a glare and a grimace.
"...but," I continued, "it looks like a toe ring a hippy would wear. Or a bracelet. I think if it were bracelet-sized and you were wearing it on your wrist like a bangle, it would be really pretty."
Mind you, this is me being completely honest. I don't hold anything back from Daisy, nor do I zip my lips (even though at times, I probably should). I am always completely up-front with her when it comes to all of my thoughts and feelings, even to a fault -- and she, generally, is the same way with me. Our truly open back-and-forth communication makes our relationship strong, and for the most part I never feel a genuine need to bite my tongue. It's just part of who I am -- I have always been completely transparent in all of my thoughts and feelings with Daisy. I figure if I'm going to be marrying the kindest and sweetest -- as well as the most honest, non-violent and non-threatening person I've ever met on this planet, I should at least be the same with her. I'm not going to smile and nod and grit my teeth. That's not the person I am anyway.
I fully support her in her decisions either way -- if she wants that ring, I will be happy for her that she's found something she wants and loves. If she chooses another ring? I'll still feel the same way. I just want her to be happy. Life's too short to stress about a little piece of metal, even if that piece of metal is a wedding band.
In the meantime she's still figuring out what she wants. While she may not share my opinions on different rings -- believe me, there are some I loved that she absolutely hates and vice versa -- she'll make her decision sooner or later on what she's going to get, and I'm not going to badger her about it.
Two hours later...
I have gone to and returned from Walmart, where (of course) since it's Friday night -- payday for a lot of people -- it was busy and annoying to navigate through. I only needed a few things, such as coffee and cigarettes, a roll of paper towels, some bleach (one of the pairs of Dad's pants had a few darkish spots and some slight staining that could be removed with a good bleach rinse) and some cooking oil. While I was there, since I couldn't get any the last time I was at the Dollar Tree with Daisy, I picked up the items to make homemade laundry detergent.
I've probably written about this here before, but it's remarkably easy and cheap to make your own laundry detergent -- for one batch, it's one cup Borax, one cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, and 3/4 or so of a bar of soap grated finely with a cheese grater. That's it. Mix 'em together evenly. 1/4 cup of it (or so, give or take) will do an average laundry load. I make massive batches of this stuff, and split it into airtight containers, such as empty cat litter jugs. Tonight I made enough to fill a 1.5 gallon Gatorade jug and the container that previously held the pretzel nuggets I got for me and Daisy over Valentine's Day. It lasts forever -- just don't get it wet.
There's a way to make the liquid stuff too, though it's much more time consuming and involves using a double-boiler system to melt the soap and the like. It's not worth the time or effort involved when I can spend half an hour and make a massive batch of the powder version that'll last me months.
Oh, and use a hard soap and not one that has any oils in it, either -- I usually buy a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap (I did tonight) and then supplement that with a bar of another hard soap, like Dial or Irish Spring. Ivory is too light and airy to shred properly in the grater, and it'll all stick together in clumps.
Ahem. Anyway.
I came home and put away the groceries and made that laundry detergent mixture. Daisy was out with friends tonight going dancing -- she didn't have to be at work until 10:30 or 11, since on Friday nights now she goes in late and then stays late in the morning to help train new hires there, as she's one of their best, smartest employees and knows how to do that.
So, soon I shall go to bed and the first day of my weekend will already be over. I'm tired again anyway. But tomorrow, tomorrow I shall pick up where I left off and begin doing actual work again.
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