What the hell, old people? Why do none of you have tact?

There was almost a riot at the concert I was ushering for tonight. I wish this were one of my classic cases of hyperbole, but it is not.

The problem? The ticket salespeople showed up and discovered someone had stolen the mouse and keyboard to the ticketing computer.

The solution? Get a new mouse and keyboard and ask the people who needed to buy tickets to wait.

THAT IS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN A SANE UNIVERSE, ANYWAY. Instead, they started screaming at the poor ticketing girl. Actually screaming, people. And she just kind of sat there and wilted and tried to explain the situation, but the crowd was having none of it because God I hate people. Meanwhile, the other two ushers and I are standing by the door doing our best impressions of >:o

"Fuck this," I muttered to Daryl, tossing him my programs and walking over to the mob. (I have this vague feeling that I made out with the ticket girl freshman year. Or wanted to. Or maybe want to now. Who knows. Either way, I needed to save her.)

"How hard would it be for us to pay you and just have you take a count on a piece of paper? I do not understand what the problem is!" shrieked one of our regulars.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I said in my best teacher voice, and lo! the mob was silenced. "We are doing everything we can to get you all tickets and seats in a timely fashion. The concert doesn't start until 7:30, so if you bear with us and stop distracting the ticket people while they work out their technical issues, we shouldn't have a problem."

Stony stares.

"Any UPS students, please talk to the ushers by the door and take your seats now. We'll count you ourselves. Those of you who need to pay, please realize that someone has stolen the mouse and keyboard to the ticketing computer, which is what is causing the delay."

"That's terrible!" muttered a man in the back, and I listened while the news was passed back along the line.

"Why can't you just do it manually?" barked the ringleader.

"Ma'm, we are student staff, and there are a specific set of rules for ticket sales we are required to follow unless we want to lose our jobs. None of the management seem to have made it here tonight, and are also not answering their phones." (Believe me, we tried to call.)

"Isn't there a Plan B?!"

"I wish there were. Here, let me open the main doors so you don't have to hold them yourselves. Excuse me."

And thus the riot was quelled, and there were adulations from the ticketpeople, who have vowed to love me till the day I die.

Have I mentioned I fucking hate people?

Fuck you, Estella.

About this time last week, my computer decided to stop recognizing USB devices, essentially rendering deaf and blind. I've borrowed an old mouse/keyboard and am working on fixing the problem, but until then?

RAGE.

This is what OCD looks like.

Damnit. Damnit.

I asked for the hardcover boxed set of the Harry Potter series. I had the link to Amazon and everything so there was no guesswork involved. I got the children's paperback set, which has books 1-6. The seventh paperback book does not come out until July, and so I am incapable of completing the set. But it's okay--since they're paperbacks, the rest of the series will have fallen apart by then. No, that went from OCD to ungrateful, and I am glad I have six *twitch* of the books.

I am going to go insane. >.<

It's that time of the year again.

I hope this doesn't come off as bitter or self-serving, since I don't really mean it that way, but.

I'm really looking forward to the time in my life when I can spend Christmas with people I enjoy instead of being either alone or depressed for the entire thing.

But someone has to stay with the pets, so I guess it's all working out the way it's supposed to right now. I suppose the Christmas I am looking forward to happens at my house.

Notice

Until after NaNoWriMo is over, stalk me on Twitter.

::EDIT::
If you're wondering why, here, have Exhibit A.

squeaker: ...ignore that random g.
squeaker: wt ever living f
Maddo: sl--g?
Maddo: aj
Maddo: sprru
Maddo: adsf;aljgd
Maddo: sorry
squeaker: O.O
squeaker: :D
squeaker: finally, someone who speaks the language

Ze words, they fail us. I don't want this to happen to my blog posts!

Death is coming!

Goal: Stay up-to-date on NaNoWriMo
Goal: Attend NSTA conference Thurs-Sat.

Problem: Work tonight from 4-12
Problem: Leave for Portland Wednesday night
Problem: Need 30k words by tonight for NaNo
Problem: All of last night was spent fixing &^#*@! laptop.

Due: Semantic Web, Thursday
Due: Rubric for Performance Assessment, Thursday
Due: Performance Assessment Handout, Thursday
Due: Criterion Assessment Handout, Thursday
Due: Outline of state standards, Thursday
Due: Student Samples, Thursday
Due: Tensions Paper, Friday (Optional: Monday)
Due: Student Questionnaire, Friday

Solution: Call in sick to work. Turn all of assignments listed above in on Wednesday. If I am lucky, sleep.

Prognosis: Proper fucked

::EDIT:: Holy shit, would you look at that?

This is your brain on rage.

How to annoy Wren in a few easy steps!

1) Invite her to hang out.
2) Tell her to take the bus when she says she has no way to get there.
3) Decide you don't believe her when she says how long the route will take. Look up your own route and tell it to her in a manner that insinuates you think she was lying.
4) When she points out that she wouldn't be able to get home due to holiday schedule, or would only be able to stay for an hour, snark.
5) Magically conclude she is right after all, then decide to leave her to her own devices without any further attempts to solve the problem.
6) Cover your ass by saying you're "in a weird mood" and then going afk.

Stop. Fucking. Punishing me for not having a car. I am not a charity case! I was in a perfectly good mood before this happened, and now I am not because all I can think about is how fucking upsetting it is to be stranded in U-Place with no way to do anything because nothing is within walking distance and biking on Orchard is certain death. And of course I have no way of knowing when I will finally have wheels again because the insurance companies are dragging their feet and I can't get new insurance or a new car until I know what they have decided. And this would be totally fine if people would stop pointing out how much this fucking limbo I am stuck in sucks.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go clean something. Happy fucking Fourth of July.

All you need to know about graduation:

1) They misspelled my name on the programs. I am now "Renn Williams."
2) My family isn't showing up until Sunday morning, one hour before Commencement.

The College Student's Dilemma

1) I am tired.
2) I have class.
3) If I go to class, I will still be tired, and I have a paper to work on.
4) Crap, I forgot my postlab was due.

*brushes teeth and hair, finds clean underwear.*

1) I'll just nap after class.
2) But I have that paper to work on.
3) But am sleepy now.
4) But if I sleep now, I might be too awake to sleep before work.
5) But if I don't sleep now, I might not be productive on my paper.
6) So maybe I should just stay awake and work on the paper instead of nap.

This is where Matt stepped in and screamed "NAP."

It's 5 AM

I have a headache and feel like I am going to puke!

God, I love my job. When am I ever going to get sleep?

::EDIT::
I have figured out why the phrase "students of color" annoys me so much. Do I not have a color? Or am I suddenly literally, scientifically, white? Also, what about people who are white but culturally different, like South Africans or second/third generation American emigrants (which do exist)? Do they not get to be supported by the campus multicultural committee because they reflect light?

White people: Too fucking shiny. I'm sick of people looking at me, seeing a WASP, and assuming I know nothing about racism thanks to my sheltered upper-middle-class upbringing.

This has been a weird semester for "campus diversity", and I blame guilty white liberals. (Oh, see that irony there? XD)

It's like a marathon

The end of the semester is doing its thing, and I am still trying to find my work ethic. So, a general update:

1. Matt and I sign our leases on Friday. In the meantime, I need to find a way to scrape the pet deposit together and get a new copy of my credit card so I can eat until I get paid again. I am hoping with graduation will come my family bearing large, green bills. (>.<)
2. Summer financial aid is taken care of, so I have a little more time to get loans together. The sooner the better, though, because see 1). Also, Daryl applied for patrol, and I am hoping Big Boss will consent to let us work together over the summer. That would be amazing, since he and I spend 40 hours a week around each other as it is, so I know he won't drive me insane.
3. I have told both my aunt and uncle about graduation stuff. Got my ticket for the Senior Brunch (which I need to find), and dutifully told them both about it. Aunt has no interest in attending, but Unc is surprisingly gung-ho about the entire deal and wants to go to everything.
4. On those lines, Unc is also asking me to head back to STL soon and get everything ready to take to my apartment here. Apparently he has "a lot of furniture" for me to sort through, and I can take what I please. He sounded oddly excited. I hope a large set of towels is included in the bargain.
5. Also on those lines, Fam will be coming here straight from Amsterdam, which means entire ceremony will be her jet-lagged, or jet-lagged and ranting about Amsterdam and how multicultural she is. Since High School Graduation was all about how Claire had done on her developmental tests, this is par for the course.
6. My hair has been re-dyed a new fun color since I discovered it will cost me at least $200 to become a brunette again without risk of baldness (either from fallout or the peanut.) Pics when I have time to breathe.
7. Attempting to become a plant for three days prior to my Plant Phys exam was only seven points more effective than not studying at all. New tactic: FUCK IT.
8. Powers of bullshit, however, are as strong as ever. I got an A on my Blake paper, which I can add to a growing list of other As in that class. It certainly looks like I know what is going on.
9. Have discovered the wonders of spray salad dressings. Is normal salad dressing, but thanks to delivery method, is nice and light, coats evenly, and has roughly twelve thousand fewer calories. Now just need to discover lettuce that is secretly made of meat.
10. List posts are still boring to write.

Recover or repeat?

Sometimes I wonder if I am turning into my family, and that I am never going to be content.

"Oh, I'll be happy if I get my apartment, my boy, and get into grad school."

But what if I'm NOT? Am I happy now? If no, why not?

God, attaching my happiness to goals is so damn stupid. That's what is going to turn me into Fam.

Please tell me how I can have a $40 overdraft charge when there is $500 in my account and my balance never dropped below $97 the day before the charge.



::EDIT::
Two hours, an e-mail, and a bank trip later, it's all sorted out. Hair dye company authorized me three times for one order of hair dye, and the bank went WHOAWTF and overdrafted me even though the authorizations hadn't deducted any money.

So, I now have a savings account and a new checking account. Unfortunately, I didn't qualify for overdraft protection because Unc fucked me over last semester and overdrafted my account for almost $1k.

Fucker.

My car had better last a while longer, is all I am saying.

I am looking at an $800 paycheck this month.

Which is good, since I still have to pay for more grad school apps. The rest is going to pay for comics Dark Uncle wants me to read, bills, and the Ball-less Wonder's surgery. That's right. Percy got snipped. :D

It has been a weird day. I woke up strangely motivated and went and finally finished my clam paper stats. I was thrilled because now that was done, all I had to do was write my results and discussion and the paper would be complete. I head home, load up my flash drive...and cannot find the paper.

Cue nervous breakdown. I open every document on my flash drive, both computers, and my two back-up drives to make sure I didn't save it under another name. I am crying, I am hyperventilating. Visions of hours of time wasted dance through my head. I call Maddo and tell her I want to die. What does she do?

She calls her father, who has excellent advice. I do a full-text search of all the files on my computer and find a copy hanging out in my temp files. Instantly, I am thrilled. My brain, quite confused at this point, interprets this as "whee, now is the time in which we faint," and I have too go have a lie-down.

So. Here I am at work, with a finished paper in front of me. I have a headache, but I never have to look at clams again.

One more assignment, and I am finished with my incompletes.

Yesterday was one of those days.

I was supposed to take my last make-up exam after class with Mrs. Replete, but the professor was not there, so we had to reschedule again. So I went home and ran into a shelf that I've known was there for three years and received an enormous bump on my head. Then I went to work, did grad school stuff, went crazy, and came home. Two valium later, I am in bed.

Twelve HOURS later, I wake up and discover I have slept through all my classes.

*throws up the horns*

Fuck it, I am renaming all my novel characters and picking out a properly English name for the new rat.

Lovely.

Thought quitting soda was a bit too easy. Am trying to do Geology homework, and am shaking uncontrollably. Want bed. D:

I'm my own damn reality show.

Put list of make-up work I have left to do in sidebar to encourage me to work on it. I think it may have been a little counter-productive, because now I am just overwhelmed. Which may also be a good thing, since it will encourage me to work.

Right then. Geology labs it is.

Dear University:

Please stop making it so clear you would rather I just dropped out.

Thanks.

This week, in brief:

1) Take exams I missed on Wednesday.
2) Study for Praxis Biology Subject test.
3) This weekend: catch up in classes.

I am terrified of the future.