~Tuesday~ I made random good decisions today that started my day off on a good note. I chose to wear long pants (I’ve worn shorts for the past week), and it was cold out. I grabbed my umbrella at the last minute, and there were tiny rain drops on my windshield. And I pulled up to the bus stop just as the Greek Village Tripper to DH Hill was pulling up.
It was the weird kind of bus again, which to most people would appear to be a “normal” bus, in that all of the seats were facing the front, two people to a seat. In an odd occurrence, a guy took a seat with me, when there were a bunch of empty seats, but I certainly didn’t mind since he was a little hottie.
He had on a black North Face fleece jacket and red sweat pants, and he carried a rolled-up, green exercise mat with him. What got me though was that he was wearing flip-flops. I shivered for his toes.
I had my weekly staff meeting with my boss, which was uneventful and mercifully did not go the entire hour it was scheduled.
At 1:00, I was thankful to receive an e-mail from the student leader of our spring break trip saying, “Just a reminder that our final checklist meeting is at 2:00. See you then.”
I was frustrated that this was not on my calendar, as I distinctly remember calendaring it, because we had to reschedule it once. Coincidently and fortuitously, that same student leader sent me an e-mail about a completely different thing she’s involved with, and when I went to put a hold on my calendar for that event, which was on March 22, I saw the entry for today’s meeting. I must have put it on March 22 instead of February 22, both of which are Tuesdays, due to March’s mirroring of February when it’s not a leap year.
I met our student leader, Tracy, and Joyce, the other advisor, and Adam who works in the office that overseas all of the alternative service break trips for the university, arriving a little bit early. I sat in an area where two guys were talking, and one of them said to the other, “Yeah, I can’t dial an 8 or a 9 on my phone. So, like, my texts have crazy symbols all in the middle of them.”
In the evening, I left my house at about 8:10, and I stopped by the university student center to deliver a towel, a pillow, and a set of sheets to Tracy. During our spring break trip we’re staying at volunteer housing in a church in New Orleans, and we have to bring those things with us, and in order to avoid having to check a bag, Tracy is going to mail a box down there for anyone who wants to mail theirs to avoid the hassle of traveling with all of it. I was one of them.
While I was there, I also paid for my trip. As an advisor, I only have to pay for half of what the students are paying, as the university chips in the other half, since we’re essentially “working” the entire time we’re there. Only university employees can drive rented transportation, so both Joyce (the other advisor) and I will be doing that. I’m driving the 15-passenger van, and she’ll be driving the 12-passenger one. We’re also “on duty,” if you will, whenever we’re not sleeping on the trip to advise the student leader if/when necessary, handle anything unforeseen that might come up, and to make sure no one’s violating any of the rules of the university or the Alternative Service Break program. My portion of the trip came to $423.98.
From there, I stopped at Kmart, where I picked up my Nexium refill at the pharmacy, and while I’ve known that Nexium is expensive, I’ve never looked at the actual price of it until tonight. Because it’s not a generic brand, my co-pay for it is either $50 or $55, but I’m in the “Purple Pill Club” (or some such nonsense), which discounts it down to $25, for a 30-day supply.
I noticed tonight that the actual cost, or “retail price” as it says on the receipt, is $239.97. Really??? $239.97? For 30 pills? That’s $8.00 a pill. Crazy.
I arrived at the gym at just after 9:00, where I did 60 minutes on the stationary bike again and read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks while doing it. This time I brought my glasses in, which made the reading much easier, and therefor, faster.
I’m officially ahead of schedule, as tonight’s goal was to be at 120 pages read. Who’s counting?