Murder by Numbers in 2021

But here’s the twist - nobody’s dead today but Larry King. (I wasn’t a fan.)

Jterm has begun. I’ve got that one fiction prof back, the one who never posts the schedule ahead of time so you never get to work ahead. He gave us the first week, which is great, but now he’s quite forgotten that week 2 is on the way. I know what two assignments to do next - workshop for Tuesday, a tiny little story about an American Indian lawyer and a golf course, a dragon, and some ketchup, for Wednesday. After that, though, my goose is fried. He admits to ADD, and I know it’s hard to plan ahead, but if you teach university and you expect a girl to pay 6k for her seat in your class, you better believe she’s expecting a fucking syllabus and calendar.

And on the other side of things, my internship. I still love it, it’s true. But I feel like I’m on three blind dates with three different people in three different places, and it’s like an explosion in my head. My clients - all lovely AF - but they’ve all been in our system a bit, or they’re VERY far out of field (two counties/40 miles one way out of field) and I didn’t do the prep, and I don’t know what I’m permitted to do in the shape of contact, and so I jumped in the deep end and started banging out apps and stuff. I was supposed to go the other way, and do discovery, then suggestions, then site visits and informational interviews…And that’s just a third of what’s on my overfull plate. I am also learning case management, which I like, and I am ALSO hopping about trying to do community engagement, which in this case is finding places where my clients could happily work. And the biggest problem there is phone dread. I hate to make phone calls. I need to work on that.

COVID is making my internship insanely hard. And one of the hardest factors is that I just don’t get enough sleep, which I found out this week when my dumb ass bought a Fitbit ($25, used, off Poshmark - no way was I coughing out for new until I knew I would use it!) It turns out I only sleep about 6 hours a night, and I spend about an hour a night awake, in different chunks. On Wednesday night, I only had 22 minutes of REM sleep. What? It’s got to be the noise and the space - bed’s fine, although cold AF. I need better sleep. I also need to move more. Most days, I apparently walk about 5k steps, but since I barely leave the house, that could improve so much.

Other news…

Desk wasn’t measured for before Spouse bought it. $300, and it’s too large for the space. I had to turn it sideways and put my bookshelf and bed together. It’s also too tall, so my lap is like a foot down there....I have to get a real chair. I have a rocking glider now, because I don’t sit still well, and I loved that. But this desk and this chair don’t get along.

The car radio is fine. I love it. Surprised? Me, too. I figured I’d be furious because I was neither consulted nor asked about it, but the Car Toys guy did a great job (HE chose it, not Spouse.) Next job: Catalytic converter. It went out Friday night, and now I have a “check engine” light. I don’t like those. Going to ask about that when I get an oil change in early February (because that’s next week.)

Chairs for the table (finally) are in pieces in the living room. Maybe I should go build those and stop bitchin’. I kind of miss my therapist. I’ll call and check in on her Tuesday (Monday’s full.)
(Why? Because she’s waiting on her license, post master’s degree - she’s not permitted to have clients until she has that.) I figured she’d email me, but she also said “mid to late January” as a timeline, and if she’s not ready, well, she maybe forgot.

Spouse’s latest annoying dumb trick is serving us all dinner, then declaring we didn’t leave him any. (Note: he is serving the plates!) He’s eaten out all week for dinner by claiming this. I am not amused. But part of the problem is being unable to guess what nights the roommates will eat what I’m serving, and sometimes I didn’t make “extra” because I figured they wouldn’t eat it, and you get the idea. It’s starting to be more than irritating to have roommates. We’re going on three years and I hate it. Also, I worry I have to domesticate her kid. She bled all over the toilet seat this morning and LEFT it there. (There are wipes for that on the sink! Also, toilet paper and water. Who the hell leaves blood on the seat???) Did I remember to tell you guys about cat #8? Yeah…they brought home a kitten and didn’t give me any warning....

I don’t think we’re going to come out the other side of this friends. We might come out the other side waving knives at each other....