Happy 6th of July!

Here's a riddle: Does Canada have the 4th of July? Answer: Yes, they do have July 4. But today is July 6!

I shut my thumb in my car door after I ran to Taco Bell for dinner. I guess that's a good way to make sure I don't eat too much--I was so sick to my stomach I just couldn't eat much of my taco salad. And it's my right thumb, so I keep using it. Like now, I am used to using it for the space bar. I can't shake it. I'm taking great pains to write this blog.

I got my office kind of set up. My chair is terrible. It's too short for the desk, and it has a couple of tricky wheels so sometimes it'll roll, and other times it'll roll in the opposite direction I want it to. And the desk is too deep and too tall. I hate it. I'm sure I'll get used to it. But until then, it's making my shoulder hurt. and my wrist. Whine Whine.

In keeping with tradition, I was sick on Friday (the 4th of July). I woke up with a migraine. And those are the ones that kill. I spent the entire day in bed and on the couch. My poor shoulder--my migraines are on the right side of my head, and I have to lay on my right side to lessen the pain. But it's my right shoulder that's bummed up and I'm not supposed to lay on it. So it was a bit sore. It's better now. Anyway, Jen and Amy and I were supposed to go to festivities by the Casino and then go to a park and listen to the St. Joe symphony until the fireworks. With my head, I nixed the festivities part. But I really wanted to see fireworks this year. So we decided to just head for the park with the symphony. Which turned out to be adjacent to the Casino, but we didn't know that. Anyway, thinking that this was going to be a big deal, like most town gatherings for fireworks, we went early to get parking and a good spot. Well, there were about five cars in the parking lot and no sign of a symphony. So we went to the Casino, where music was blaring outside and people were wandering with hot dogs and stuff. I had to stay on the periphery because I couldn't take the noise. Jen and Amy went over to the noise and discovered it was just music, not a band and that there wasn't food. So we went inside. It was really crowded, and there was a band playing. So I couldn't stay. I told them to stay, but they didn't want to. So we went back over to the park to see if anything was going on. There were more people, so we followed them. And it turns out that it was a concession stand and eating area, so we got some nachos and sat and chatted until the 10 person symphony started. Let me tell you, there were maybe 50 people there total, and it was a very good cross section of the St. Joseph population. We saw all types. And the symphony that was supposed to play to the fireworks stopped and watched the fireworks with us instead. And when the fireworks were over, they packed up and left. It was rather amusing. But the fireworks were good. Not outstanding, but good. We probably could have seen them from campus. Next summer, I'm climbing to the roof of the LLC to find out.

Then yesterday Kathy, the administrative coordinator for the associate dean (and who I shared an office suite with when I was doing orientation), and her husband and brother and father opened their new pub for friends and family. Jen and Amy and I went to dinner then went to check it out. It's a nice place, very casual and not "club" like, which is good for old people like me. The assistant to the Provost was there and she and her husband took off after awhile to go to the gay bar to watch a drag show. So a bunch of us decided to go too. I haven't been to a bar where I had to pay cover, get a stamp and had to walk on sticky floors in a very long time. But I was totally comfortable in the gay bar sense. Others in our gang were a little out of their comfort zones. The Queens were taking a while to get ready so we had to stand around and get crowded and watch gay boys dance. Then the show started and it was pretty good. I enjoyed it, but then I looked over and saw that Amy was a bit miserable, so we left. By that point I had had three beer-type beverages, so I said I wanted to go home. It was 10:30 and past my bedtime, and my lips were tingly. I don't drink often at all, and when I do, I'll have just one, because I'm on three different medications that have big labels saying "Don't Drink Alcohol While Taking This Medication". So it was good to know that three drinks won't kill me. And I kind of felt drunk after I had the first drink, but then while I was on the second I sobered up. Then on the third my lips got tingly. So I came home, took off the makeup, and drank a bunch of water.

Today I woke up alive and well and ready to do laundry. I haven't done laundry in a community laundry room in over 4 years. And our custodial staff does not clean the laundry rooms, so the washers and dryers haven't been cleaned in a very very long time. I really debated going off campus to a laundromat, but decided that those probably wouldn't be much better, and that I have stuff to do in the apartment while the laundry is going. I took up all of the washers. I've been saving up. And my timing is pretty good, I think. By the time I really need to do laundry again, I'll be going home. I haven't taken laundry home since grad school, when I had to trudge through the snow to get to the laundry room. And then, according to the construction plans, I should be able to move into my real apartment just in time for the next massive load. But what I did like was that I got it all done in a matter of three hours, as opposed to two days if I was doing it in my own washer and dryer.

So I did my laundry and picked up my apartment and changed out the sheets on the bed, and then lounged on the couch and watched crime specials on MSNBC until I decided I should go get some food. Which is where we began. My thumb is throbbing less, and it's not hurting to type as much. It's pretty swollen, and it looks like it's purple under the nail. I'll have to take the polish off to know for sure. That's just a sad situation.

We start Pro-Staff training tomorrow. I'm still kind of not ready for it, I feel like I didn't really have a break, since I was travelling and stressed out during the entire month and a half after we closed. But I am ready to move on with it. My plan is to stay for two years so I can be vested in our retirement. I'll look mid-year that second year, because I'll be vested in January of '10. Then we'll see. Maybe by then we'll get another Assistant Director position here and I really can just stay forever.

So now you know what my world looks like right now. This week will be pretty boring. Maybe I'll find some good clips and pics to share with you. I'm hoping to take a road trip to the Grove next weekend (Laura, if you're reading this, let me know if I can come visit you!) I've not been there, and I'm hoping there will be fun picture opportunities along the way. Jen and Amy and I were talking about taking a cruise over winter break, but I've decided that I need not spend that kind of money. 4 years and 3 months! If I want to stay on that plan, I can't be taking cruises. But day trips to the Grove and maybe even some weekend trips to random places like Branson aren't out of the question...