I’m getting out….I’m getting out… I’m getting

That’s my new mantra. Especially when I let the answering machine pick up because I have to finish a project for the associate dean NOW and in ten minutes I have five voicemails from people who faxed me something that they need something done with but they aren’t sure what and they guess it should go to me but they aren’t sure what it is or what they need or who they are or where they are.

And people who graduated in 1985 and they didn’t get their license then because they got married and they moved away and they got a great job but it wasn’t a teaching job but they really liked it and then they had five kids and they really enjoyed being a mom and they quit that other job and they started this new job and that was in 1994 and they had that job for awhile and then their husband got a promotion and they moved to another state and that was in 1999 and they really missed North Carolina but it was a good move and now they’ve come back and all the kids are grown and they want to get that teaching license now because they’re just needing something to do with their lives and can I sign the form for them today?

And two different people who had me fill out a Teacher Assistant Scholarship Form for them back in February and they had me fax it to them back in February and now that it’s June they find the fax isn’t acceptable and they have to have an original so can they come by and let me do a whole new one for them? RIght now? Never mind that I kept telling people back in February that I didn’t think the scholarship people would take faxed forms. No, let’s just fax them one anyhow and have a crisis in June that requires me to drop everything and do a new one for them! 

I’m getting out…. I’m getting out…. I’m getting out….

And I’m here by myself because K is out sick today after coming in sick all week, including while I was gone, and seriously sounds like she may have pneumonia. But let’s not stay home and stop spreading germs!!! No, no, too much work for that!!! At least she finally gave up and stayed home today.

And Insane Boss is due in any minute, so I’m taking a little break while I can. Insane Boss is pretty much over the brink by now. Insane Boss spent quite some time yesterday afternoon trying to talk me out of taking the new job. She tells me, very sincerely, that I am making a mistake. That this is not a good move for me. She says she got permission from the Dean to get me a raise, although I notice she didn’t mention how much. She says I would be much better off staying here and when the higher grade position opens up over there, I can apply for it then! That made so little sense that it didn’t even occur to me to point out that if I’m already over there I’m in line for the higher position – if I’m here, I’m not in line. In all likelihood they will promote someone already there for the higher position. Like, ummmmm – ME. She went on and on about how J was just so negative and complained all the time and she knew that made my working conditions very unpleasant and now J is gone and we can start all over with a new person! Yeah, THAT’S hard to pass up. She’d also told K that J’s complaining and general bad attitude were why I was quitting. So I took that opportunity to tell her than J was as pleasant an office mate as I could hope to get and she in no way drove me off.

Of course it is very hard to be diplomatic and non-accusatory when I’m trying to explain exactly why I am leaving. I told her I need a change, I’ve done this for seven years, I’ve been unhappy with this job for the last three years, it’s not because of her (although she sure hasn’t helped and in many ways it IS because of her, at least in the sense that she’s the last straw) and I am completely burned out with what I do here. And it’s a chance to advance. And it’s a chance to escape the chaos and idiocy and insanity of teacher education! No, didn’t say that but I probably should have. I do have to continue to work for her for a few more weeks.

Wow, maybe I’m making a mistake!! Maybe I better stay here!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

I have to note that the Associate Dean, who I used for a reference and who is also my boss in many ways but isn’t officially, called specifically to congratulate me and tell me how sorry she was to lose me but how happy she was that I have this wonderful opportunity and how she wishes me all the best.

Oh, and my car!!!! The Honda place called yesterday and looks like the idle air control valve needs replacing. For about $350. And there’s an axle leaking grease that could have been caused by the engine replacement. So Baker B and I marched down to State Farm yesterday and stormed the office and the very nice guy who was working called the claims people for us and has an adjuster coming to look at it again on Monday. And it will be covered if it’s the used engine, which of course it is. I’m driving it – I have to take poor Stella to Asheville Sunday to stay with Kim next week while the house is being jacked up and shored up and there will be vast noise and upheaval and strange men in and out. But it’s more of a nuisance thing than a danger thing, and okay to drive. But what a pain. At least State Farm is being very very cooperative.

And now Insane Boss is here so I can give up getting anything done for the next hour and a half. This was my lunch break, which I didn’t physically take since I was the only one here.

How about some Charleston pictures?? I took so many I can’t figure out what to post, but here’s a smattering.

 

Really neat red doors on a church in town. I think this is the Baptist church. They are right beside the Unitarian church with the crazy wild weedy cemetery I love so much. They have a cemetery also which is very neat and well kept and adjoins the Unitarians. I’ll get to cemeteries later.

 

 

 

Very pretty bench and flowerboxes on Rainbow Row.

 

 

More Rainbow Row.

 

 

 

 

Nifty old ruins. I ‘m not sure what this was but it’s right off King Street.

 

 

 

 

I am always highly amused by this statue, which is on the Battery. This is the Defender of Charleston. And yes, he is indeed defending Charleston without a stitch of clothing on. Personally, I’d really hope my defender would be fully clothed so that he isn’t more worried about defending his, ummmmm, exposed bits than he is about defending me. I am not sure who that is over his shoulder, but they are probably trying to convince him to cover UP for god’s sake!!

 

 

<img alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1213/563339165_c16b8bb6eb.jpg?v=0&#8243; />

 

This statue is pointing at the Naked Defender. Probably saying, "Give that guy a suit of armor! Or at LEAST a pair of shorts!!"