it’s friday night, so of course….

….it’s a survey! Apparently I’m too tired on Friday nights to manage anything else. Like original thought. It shouldn’t have been a very trying week, but it kind of was. It was quiet, but we had to check out all the seniors once we finally got the tools we needed to actually do that, and then we had to check them again, and then again on top of the first two times. Yeah, we kind of do overkill with the double and triple checking. But I’m okay with that. Because it’s SO easy to make one little mistake and graduate someone who is actually still lacking major vital important things. But it made me tired. And D was gone today and yesterday, because her son had a fall at work and has ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung. After insisting for like three days that he was perfectly fine and everyone just needed to leave him alone and it’s completely normal to not be able to take a breath without stabbing horrible pain. Anyhow, he’s okay and was due to be discharged today but as he and his wife have a practically brand new baby, D has been helping them out. So I got a taste of life on my own. As boss. The good thing is I actually am pretty comfortable with most issues that have cropped up so far. So I think we’ll manage.

The other good thing is I’ll get her great big office at the end of the hall where it’s quiet and peaceful. Oh, and the other good thing is they’re still trying to get me a raise. So that may work out after all.

So that’s my exciting week. I swiped this survey from darlingnikki.

1. Your ex is on the side of the road on fire. What do you do? Well, of course I’d stop and throw water on him. My ex was actually a nice guy. I certainly wouldn’t want to stand by and watch him go up in flames. 

2. Your best friend tells you she is pregnant. What is your reaction? Disbelief, mixed with great dismay. That would be pretty much the last thing she needs to have happen. And honestly, it’s just exactly the kind of thing that would happen to her, so I better not even joke about it. Pregnant at 46! She actually DID have a disaster this week, involving getting hit by a drunk driver, and totaling her car. Amazingly neither she or the friend with her were seriously hurt, but it was plenty of trauma.  

3. When is the last time you wanted to punch someone in their face? You know, I’ve gotten really mad at plenty of people, but I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to punch someone in the face. Stomp their foot, maybe. Scald them with blazing sarcasm. Punching in the face, not so much.

4. Congratulations! You just had a son. What’s his name? I got asked this in another survey, and I don’t think I can beat Astonisharia. Although that’s more a girl’s name. Bewildero, maybe.

5.Congratulations! You just had a daughter. What’s her name? See the last question.

6. What are you craving right now? I’m not sure, but I do want something. I just can’t quite figure out what, and I’ve already eaten too much dinner. I think what I’m craving is sunshine and warm weather because it’s been cold and dreary most of the week.   

7. What was the last thing you cried about? Coming home from work I was getting all teary about, oh, TEN different things, none of which made any sense at all. I don’t even remember half of what was making me weepy, but I do know it was getting kind of funny before I got home. Perhaps a good sign, as I’d think if you find your crying jag even a little amusing, it seems like you may not be completely crazy.

I’m starting to believe I may have some mild blood sugar issues. When I get hungry, I get amazingly melancholy. Out of the clear blue. We even got off work early today, which should be a cause for happiness. I think the fact that I was just going home instead of doing something fun set me off. Because I ought to do something fun, and not just go home, but it was rainy and dreary and I didn’t know where to go or what to do and I was hungry and Baker B sounded short and snappish with me when I called him before I left, and what am I going to do when D is gone for good and I’m in charge and find I’m too wimpy to survive in that job, and I’m going to get fired and die penniless in the gutters and what’s going to happen to everyone who is left on the island on Lost and no good can come of that whole freighter loaded with explosives situation and I don’t want everybody to die and how will I stand it after the finale and I have to wait till January for the next season and they’ll probably cancel it because it’s just gotten so bizarre that where else can they GO…..

Yep. Craaaaaaaaaazy. On the plus side, I’m much better now. I had a nice relaxing evening at home, Baker B was not being short and snappish with me in reality, and I’m sure that the Oceanic Six will find some way to go back and manipulate time and save everyone if in fact they do all die.

8. When you buy something and your change is a penny. Do you keep it or tell them to keep the change? If there’s a penny dish thing there, I’d leave it if that’s all I was getting back. Otherwise I’d stick it in my pocket.

9. What color is your tissue box? I have a pink one at work in case of students dissolving into tears over their grad audits. Or the previous night’s Lost. I don’t have one here, oddly. I’ve got a bunch of random little packs around.

10. Do you have a ceiling fan in your room, and if so, is there dust on that fan? I do have, and boy is there. Ewwww. 

11. What is the last voicemail you received about? It was either Hillary or Bill, telling me to vote for Hillary in our primary. Oddly I haven’t had a voicemail in ages. Maybe I should check my machine. 

12. Scariest thing you’ve experienced in the last year? Probably having to drive five hours from Charleston back up here by myself in a car that I was not at all convinced would make it. Last summer. After that whole Killed The Engine With A Puddle Of Water thing. And knowing Baker B had no way to come rescue me if the car did break down. 

13. What do you order when you go to Taco Bell? These surveys sure are obsessed with Taco Bell. I have not been to Taco Bell in… oh, wait, I think I went with Cousin E and her daughter when they were visiting Asheville, but even that’s been several years. And I don’t rememberwhat I got. I used to get a Taco Salad once in awhile, but I’m talking back in the 90s. I don’t even think about it, for some reason.

14.Have you ever had a garage sale? No. It just sounds like way more work than I’m willing to do. Our church used to have them once in awhile when I was growing up. They were always more work than fun. 

15. When was the last alcoholic beverage you had? Why, I’m having a glass of Shiraz right now.

16.Are you happy right now? Yes, I am. I’m having a glass of Shiraz, I’m not starving, and it’s Friday night. And I’m sure everyone on Lost will be just fine. 

17. Who came over last? To my house?? Does the Fedex guy count? Other than that… the nextdoor neighbor came by to ask Baker B something in fairly recent memory. As in an actual visit, I’m sure it was Kim. And that was, like, MONTHS ago. Nobody would ever accuse us of being social butterflies. Or even slightly friendly.  

18. Do you drink beer? I do, but I’ve been on a wine kick lately.

19. Dark or light jeans?  Dark. I have a light pair that I like, but I prefer dark. 

20. What was the last movie you watched at home? Surely it wasn’t Wild Wild West all those weeks ago when I was home sick and too weak to change the channel. I can’t think of anything else, though. I did just get Juno in the mail today, so hopefully we’ll watch that tomorrow. We just haven’t been watching movies lately. 

21. What is in your pocket? I’m currently pocketless, being clad in yoga pants. If I have pockets, usually I have change in them, and perhaps a tube of lipstick. And random scraps of paper.

22. Who introduced you to your boyfriend? Baker B might be a little peeved at me if I had a boyfriend. But if we’re talking about when he was my boyfriend, it would actually be another friend who introduced us. A friend who I was kind of dating at the time. It’s a long and complicated story. Baker B was also good friends with my first husband. But this other friend introduced us first. I was a sophomore in college, and I’d gotten in the habit of meeting Paul in the cafeteria in the evening and eating dinner with him. One day he said, "I’ve got someone I want you to meet", and came back with Baker B. I’d seen Baker B around for ages – he was always sitting in the very back of the cafeteria, surrounded by piles of books, writing in great big notebooks. He carried this weird bag that looked like a doctor’s bag. And probably was. And he had hair down to his shoulders. I always thought Baker B looked incredibly interesting (I was always attracted to the oddest people possible) and was pleasantly surprised to find he was also friendly. And hysterically funny. 

23. Where do you hurt? My brain, from starting yet another never-ending survey. I’m a little achy but that’s nothing new. Other than that, no complaints. 

24. What is your favorite aisle at Wal-Mart? The one that leads me to the magic doorway propelling me OUT of Wal-Mart, because I HATE WAL-MART. I also think I’ve answered this not long ago.

25. When is your birthday? June 3 – right around the corner. 

26. What are you going to do after this? Try to recover from this grueling survey.

27. What is your favorite dessert? Anything chocolate.

28. Do you have the same name as one of your relatives? Not exactly, although there were two Elizabeths in the family tree. One was my father’s sister who died at a year and a half of not-hairballs. The other one was my father’s grandmother, Elizabeth Jane. When I was in high school I did a family tree thing for a project and found out that this Elizabeth was born on June 2, 1891 – almost exactly 100 years before me. I was born June 3, 1961. Since she died on December 26, 1919, I used to fear that I’d die on, oh, December 27, 2019. Oddly, I just looked at a list of birthdays in the old pictures from my aunt’s house, and baby Elizabeth died on June 2, 1923. 

29.Is someone in love with you? Well, I certainly hope so.

30. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a family member? Not that I know of. 

31. Does someone like you right now? AAAGGGHHH!!! END, SURVEY!!! END!!!!!!
 

32. Do you know anyone in jail/prison? One of my cousins did some prison time. I don’t think he’s still there, but I know when his mother died a few years ago he wasn’t allowed to leave the state of Texas to come to NC to her funeral. Which seemed really strange. I haven’t seen him since I was a teenager, but always liked him a lot. I think he was in jail for drugs. And deserting the army. 

33. Do you like the color green? I like the color of ended surveys much more.

34. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now? Everyone I know is probably asleep by now.

OH, thank GOD!!