Day in Review

Today, in Silver I was in my Orgo lecture and with 15 minutes until the end of class, the fire alarm went off. All of us was like "What? Do they really want us to leave?" It was as though the very thought of leaving Orgo lecture early (especially since we most often leave late) was incomprehensible to us. Eventually, we all got up and left since it was the only thing to do... I mean they would have forced us out if we didn't leave and it's not like Fishman could continue his lecture with the fire alarm blaring in the background. Since it was 15 minutes till the end of class, there really was nothing we could do. We wouldn't be able to continue because to get out of the building, have the drill/fire resolved and to get back up there would take more than 15 minutes. So that was essentially the end of class.

We were on the 7th floor of Silver and since it was a fire drill (I'm pretty sure it was one since Silver has them often, even if this was my first), we couldn't use the elevators to go down. So it was stairs. I made the mistake of taking the fire escape. It was bad, so very bad.

Think rickety, rusty, decrepit metal stairs -- wait, metal grates made into stairs and image me, Sherry, walking down the damn things with the handrails a foot lower than they should be (the corners were hell since they weren't connected and I had to let go each time I went down a new flight). I was freaked out of my mind. For one thing, I'm very much afraid of stairs (I think the word is climacophobia). I can't avoid them and going up is considerably better than going down. I can do up. Up's not that bad. Down, even though it's an easier task scares the hell out of me. I have to clutch some sort of handrail so I'm always walking on the very sides of the stairs and I'm almost always very slow. A couple of steps is not bad, a flight of stairs is very scary. I look down at my feet because I just know if I take my eyes away, I'll take a misstep and fall to my death.

I've actually tried telling myself that it was all my head, I can go down faster on stairs, I don't have to hold onto the handrails, I don't have to look down and what does that get me? Me tripping over my feet, catching myself before I fall down (because even if I'm not holding the handrails, I'm almost always right next to them to grab them if necessary because I'm not totally confident about not falling). It's happened more than once too.

I've fallen down the stairs twice in my life, both very unpleasant experiences. I was never more than bruised but it's definitely added to my fear of walking down stairs. So today was just terrible.

7th Floor, seven flights of stairs, metal grates in the stairs, me constantly looking down... I also have just a little fear of heights as well so... Not good, not good at all. All the way down, I was just way too aware of my fear and it took me so long to get down! I was slow, you see, and I knew I was holding up the people behind me (at least I feel like I was) and by the time we ended up at the first floor, I was just so damn relieved... *sigh* I'm alive! Next time, I'm taking the normal stairs. Those are pretty scary as well since they are stairs and I am scared of stairs, but they don't have metal grates where you can see all the way down and their handrails are much better positioned. God, I hope I never have to suffer through a fire drill in Silver again. *shudders* Almost all my classes are like on the 7th floor (why is that?!) so if it were to happen again while I'm in Silver, it'll be today all over again.

And before Orgo lecture, I had Japanese... It was bad, so very bad. Our teacher is EVIL and she likes to spring questions on unsuspecting students... Today we were doing katakana and ordering from a menu. We were supposed to ask if something exists (a food category, i.e. soup) and the person answer will say that they do and then start listing the various items that they have in that category from the menu. The problem is that the menu is all in katakana and we've only started doing katakana two days ago.

When it got to me, she expect me to pick two different things in two different categories and say if they have them. That meant reading the damn menu and I don't know katakana worth shit right now. I've just been a little too focused on MolecCell, Orgo and ConWest for me to start memorizing katakana so... I fucked up. It was a dismal failure, and in front of the entire class. I was mortified. T_T

Thankfully today was a half day for me otherwise I don't know how I would have survived. ConWest was fun -- we discussed Euripides' "The Bacchae" today and that was a fun read. We're reading Plato's "The Symposium" right now and I am finding all the instances of "the lover" and "the boyfriend" awfully amusing.

After my ConWest lect, I went to K-Mart with the sole intention of buying a lamp since we lack a lamp in the common room. It's just totally unusable after sunset which is stupid. I found one for $10, which is a good price for a lamp but it requires a 3-way bulb. So I went looking for a 3-way bulb and of all the stupid things, they didn't carry it in the right voltages. I needed a 75, 100, 150 one but they only had 30, 50, 100 and 50, 150, 200. How stupid is that? They sell the lamp but not the bulb? So I ended up not buying it. What would be the point? I can always buy it later, after I have a bulb for it. Otherwise, it would be all set up in our common room and standing there, useless, taunting me for not finding a suitable bulb for it. And that would be very sad...

I got back after that around 1:30 and I did stuff for another hour and a half...Ate lunch (yummy sugary grilled cheese with egg), random stuff... And then I took a nap for four hours. Surprisingly, I'm still tired. *sigh* Must catch up on sleep...

Tomorrow, well, today now that it's 1 AM, I have to go visit my AR school. I ended up having to do AR again... :( But I'm assigned to a high school this time and will be tutoring kids in more than just reading. I suspect I'll be doing a lot of sciences but that's okay, I can do sciences. :)

But I have a meeting around 3:15 so I'll have to wake up earlier than that to get there... I think noon is about right... Take an hour and make food, leave around 2 PM to walk there since I have no idea where it is and how to get there or how long it'll take... It looks like it's just under the Manhattan Bridge so it should be okay... I think about 20-30 mins of a walk? It shouldn't be too bad. And then I'll start work next week... Hopefully, it'll be okay. I'm bad with people, especially people I see as authority figures (the "adults") so I'm just a little anxious about this first meet and greet. It is sad losing my Thursdays and Fridays though... :(

Ah, well, I'm going to enjoy my last weekend to its fullest. Right now, Gokusen 2! I'm slowly aquiring each episode on BT and it really is good. :) And every time I heard Kizuna, I can't help but squee over the song. It's just that good. :)

I am...

Stolen from the_pangolin. ( According to memes, I am... )

Bad dreams...

Last night, I had a dream where I lost three of my teeth. I had not realized it was a dream (though now I wonder how I couldn't since the teeth that had fallen out were the size of my palm) and it surprised me how I didn't totally freak out over it...

But now that I'm awake and aware, I'm very much freaked out. See, this isn't the first time I've had dreams where teeth were falling out...

I've done some Googling (since that's the only way I know to do research quickly) and there's actually quite a bit on it. I've heard that people actually have dreams where teeth fall out quite often... From what I've found, it seems to me that it's connect to stress. Or failing health, loss of control, victimization, anxiety about your personal appearance, even fear of growing older.

Gah, this sucks. I have no idea which of these it might be... I just want to stop having those damned dreams. One almost always pops up every couple of months and it's getting a bit annoying... *hmph*

Well that was fun...

My meeting for AR at UNHS was at 3:15. I left Water Street at 2 o'clock. I just managed to make it there on time (maybe a minute or two late actually). When I walked back, it took me about 20 minutes.

Does anyone see a disparity on that? Do you want to know what happened?

Well, it's rather obvious, isn't it? I got hopelessly, ridiculously, incredibly lost. It stopped being funny probably 45 minutes before I actually go to the school. Seriously, I was like walking in circles for almost an hour, trying to find the damn place. I hate the Lower East Side. How the hell do people navigate through these streets? What kind of street stops and then start up again? You'd have like multiple stops (usually with some sort of project complex in between) and it's was just tucked away in this little side street... Gah, that was hell.

So, it looks like I'll be working with a new teacher, again, this year. And will mostly be doing humanities and math. It's okay, I actually am quite good at humanities (English and History apparently -- my school district never had a Humanities class you see). Math, well, as long as it's up through pre-calculus stuff, I'm okay. They've assured me that it'll probably be 9th grade math so it should be okay. I mean, they're just starting algebra at that time, right? That's child's play.

I wish I were doing more sciences... Even though there is a demand for science types of tutors, the teachers who do teach science don't want tutors in their classroom. :( But when it comes to those study periods and after-school, it'll be mostly students who want help with the sciences and with math so I should be good.

I'll be working Thursdays from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM and then Friday from 9:00 PM to 5:00 PM. That's a total of...12 hours per week. And with that at $10 an hour (which is the nice thing about AR -- practically double the minimum wage of NY), it'll be $120 a week! And we get paid biweekly so every paycheck should be around $240...with tax taken out though. Taxes are high here... I'm so gonna do direct deposit, if I ever remember how to do it... It'll just be so much easier for me, even if there'll be a one month delay... I can deal for a month, no big.

And I don't have to do timesheets or turn them in. Yes! That was such a hassle last year and half the time I forgot so I'm much happier... Hopefully I won't be exhausting my work study money though... I'll have to take off for two weeks for midterms (twice for MolecCell and three times for Orgo) plus there's always finals... It's not like I can work those periods.... So hopefully it'll all be okay and I can use the bulk of my work study before the semester but not exhaust it complete before then.

Well, I'm looking to a night of Plato's Symposium and probably early sleep... Tomorrow's Saturday, right? Must catch up with Bio, Orgo, Orgo lab, and well, everything. Bah. Long weekend ahead... *dies*

edit x1: Bah, sorted into Gryffindor AGAIN. :(

Ne, Diana-chan...

You'll tell me if you received the package, right???? Have you? I'm assuming you haven't since you haven't told me anything about it but if you have, please tell me because I'm worried about it...

And remember, you said you'd download Kizuna. Have you? If not, this is my convenient little link, http://homepages.nyu.edu/~smc449/KAT-TUN_-_Kizuna.mp3

You must tell me what you think of it. :)

Are you at OSU yet? When will you be going back? Tomorrow? Have a nice day of classes on Monday! Call me tell me about it! You must, you simply must! :)