Bound and determined to screw things up

2004-11-08 - 10:54 p.m.

Well, I accomplished a lot today, but managed to mess it up in the end. I did some packing (textbooks and shoes are ready to go), but mostly I made phone calls and got things arranged. I set up my DSL and phone for my apartment and got a new cell phone and cell phone service for up there. I called Hospital #3 and told them I wasn't accepting their job offer and faxed Hospital #1 my signed acceptance letter of their job offer (it cost me $4.25 to do it at the UPS Store--what a rip off!). I called my apartment building to verify that my background check went through and that it's still a go for moving in on Friday and I called employee health at Hospital #1 to make an appointment to have a TB test and to show them my vaccination records. I called my health insurance company to cancel my policy starting the first of next month, but they told me I had to do that in writing, so that's not quite taken care of. But I'd say I got quite a few things taken care of today. No more phone calls to make, I think, just more packing.

Before today, I had my mom and I sharing a cell phone plan and I was paying for both of us. But when I talked to the guy who was helping me set up my new plan, he informed me that I can't do that anymore now that we're going to be living in two separate states. So I took my parents down to a cell phone store and got them all set up with a new plan and new phones. Yes, my dad now has a cell phone, too.

And then I went to play volleyball at my last open gym. You know I was all excited about it because they were going to throw me a going away party. But I managed to mess that up by landing on some guy's foot and spraining my ankle. It hurt(s) quite a bit, but my biggest problem was that I couldn't stand up without passing out. Shock or something, I don't know. You know I've complained about my low blood pressure. So I had to lay there on the gym floor with my ankle wrapped in an ice pack. My whole Thursday night team had showed up to open gym (they don't usually) just to have a going away party and I managed to hurt myself. So the party was cancelled. Someone offered to drive me home. But I still couldn't stand up without passing out, so two guys ended up carrying me out to the parking lot in a chair. I'm not a light girl. Those poor guys.

Someone drove me home and when I got inside I told my parents that I had sprained my ankle and that I had left my car at the gym (not very far away). They were in bed messing with their new cell phones and weren't particular pleased about having to get up and drive down to pick up my car. In fact, my dad decided it would be helpful to yell at me about it. "You're bound and determined to screw things up, aren't you?" he yelled. And on and on about how I get hurt every time I play (not true! at least not true enough to matter) and how he's told me over and over again how going to open gym right before getting ready to move was a bad idea (also not true). Blah blah blah. He ranted at me the whole drive over to the gym. Meanwhile, I think, I was taking it very gracefully (as he was, after all, doing me a favor by getting out of bed to retrieve my car) and trying my best to pretend like I wasn't in much pain at all. I didn't expect any sympathy, but I really could've done without the yelling.

When we got home again, my parents went back to bed and I went out to the living to have myself a good snotty cry. Ugh, it hurts. I think I didn't injure it too badly, though. I thought I possibly heard something pop, but it wasn't obvious. And it doesn't hurt that badly. And it hurt quite a bit but I could put my weight on it when pretending for my dad that it did't hurt. And it's not too swollen yet. So I'm hoping that I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be just fine. Or it'll at least be just fine in a few days.

After I got home, two of my Thursday night team members called me to make sure I was ok. Wasn't that sweet of them? I was in the middle of my snotty cry by that time and I'm not sure I was entirely able to hide that fact from them, but I think I was able to convince them that I was ok enough. They also gave me a present and a card they all signed. I saw them sneaking out of the gym to sign it when I wasn't looking and pretended not to notice. But I haven't opened it yet. I set it down in the other room and I haven't gotten up the courage to make the trek in there to get it.