Sing for the whole world

2006-12-08 - 6:58 p.m.

I'll admit it--things are looking a lot cleaner around here than they did a week ago--but man, what a mess! I know, I can't exactly expect things to be perfectly neat seven days after moving, but I'm getting really tired of the mess. I want to be able to walk without having to watch my step. I want to need some tape and know exactly where to find it. I want to not get my knives from a pile on the kitchen counter. I want to look around me and not see cardboard boxes. I want things to be normal again.

On the other hand, living with Lolo is going fine. I've been working the OR shift all week and he's been working the EOR so we've hardly seen each other, but we have seen each other, and so far so good. The first day I worked this week I decided to drive. It was early so traffic wasn't bad, but I was appalled at having to pay $10 to park. Yes, I knew I would have to pay so much, but it still made me unhappy to hand over the cash. So I bought a bus pass and have been riding the bus every day since then. When I work the OR shift I need to be there at 5:30. The bus that I can pick up a block from my apartment will drop me off about six blocks from work (about a five minute uphill walk at a brisk clip). I could either be dropped off there at 5:27 and be two minutes late every day, or catch the next earliest bus and be dropped off at 4:30. I decided two minutes late isn't so bad.

Speaking of work, I got my paycheck today and discovered I got an 87�/hr raise. I'm assuming this is the normal cost-of-living adjustment raise we should get every year. It comes out to about a 2.11% raise. I'll have to ask Lolo if he got a raise too, and hope he did.

And speaking of money, for some reason I decided to pick up an overtime shift tomorrow. I was working last weekend and Twinkie was talking about trying to find some people to fill some open shifts and then I heard myself volunteering for one. I didn't really want to, but I often say "no" to things only to think about them a while, change my mind, and wish I'd said "yes." So I've gotten into the habit of saying "yes" to things I don't want to do and hoping that I'll eventually change my mind and be glad I said "yes." Usually this new tactic turns out well. But why are there open shifts for me to pick up? Because Banana's visa expired. She's from Nigeria. (The nickname, by the way, is entirely in reference to her enormous smile.) Apparently it's something like a $10,000 fine to my hospital every day they employ her after her visa has expired so until she gets her visa renewed, all of the shifts she was scheduled for are open. I don't quite understand how something like that could happen. I mean, it couldn't be a surprise that her visa was going to expire, could it? How could she just let it go? But then I know nothing about visas, maybe it's not nearly as simple as that.

Another bit of major news for me is that I got my hair cut. It's right about shoulder length now--I cut off nearly two feet, can you imagine? I needed that haircut badly. I was a little scared when I went in to get it done--it's not a decision that's easily reversible--but the lady who did it was wonderful and kept telling me how great I would feel once my hair was shorter and how good it looked. She made me believe it. I like my shorter hair. Plus, I donated my frizzy locks so somebody may end up with a wig made out of my hair someday. Somehow that makes me feel good, too.